scott f @scott@carfree.city

The new VCMA proposal is to bring back the Valencia pedestrianization only in the warm months, May to October, and only on Saturdays, and will have activation with music. Also 16th-17th is out, only 18th-21st will stay. Ouch.

Manny is on the Valencia Corridor Merchants Association board and is proud to be on what he says is the longest strip of independently owned businesses west of the Mississippi, but it hangs in the balance because of crime. Encourages us to stay engaged

Not gonna transcribe this IRL comments section, some good some WTF. Manny says he’s gonna announce something about the weekend pedestrianization though.

Now the fun part: Manny reads written comments while the panelists react, including Santiago Lerma from Ronen’s office.

(I have to admit, they’re winning me over to an extent. Like this might be a reasonable path toward something decent. No long-term parking along Valencia is a win.)

Q: How will we know if the project is a success?

Jamie: The safety record of the street. No more tragedies. Also, a clear bike lane with no UPS drivers parking in it, only bikes and maybe an occasional emergency vehicle with its siren.

Jamie: the pilot for the Mission red lanes was permanently approved by the MTA board in June 2020. On Valencia the concrete curb would be using a temporary material.

Very interested in doing a Mission community based transportation plan, but we have a specific problem here that can’t wait. Want to be “yes and” and not waiting.

(I’m pretty sure the thing about the Mission red lanes being a quick build is also false. I think they were planned in 2015 or earlier while the quick build program was created in 2018. Would have to check exact years—something like that)

Q: falsely states the “community” rejected the Mission St red bus-only lanes. Those were a quick build and they stayed, so this, too, is a “done deal.”

Q: we should look at the entirety of the Mission instead of piecemealing it. Pull this project, and do a Mission transportation plan like Bayview and Vis Valley.

Q: could you do different things on different blocks, like one car free block?

Jamie: we’ll do a bigger study along with the pilot to see if there’s a pilot block that works one way or for pedestrianization. But cognizant of not making the Mission a guinea pig.

Q: I asked how am I supposed to exit the bike lane to access businesses.

Kimberly: the curb will have 10 foot gaps every 100 feet or so.

Jamie: challenging to work with Doordash etc. They have no incentive to work with us. We’ve increased tickets but it hasn’t changed delivery drivers’ behavior. We’d welcome legislative solutions.

Kimberly clarifies earlier comment about enforcement: SFMTA PCOs will help with enforcement, not just SFPD.

Trying to enhance from flex posts to curbs to deter cars parking in center bikeway.

If a car double parks, they’ll be blocking entire flow of traffic, which they hope will make it self enforcing.

Q: how to hold Doordash and other such companies accountable?

(It’s a good question!)

Q: (more of a comment) Even businesses with yellow loading zones don’t use them but double park.

Jamie: It facilitates our jobs when we hear a consensus from the community. (In other words, if you want it pedestrianized, get business owners etc on board.)

Jamie: Center running is the most compatible with the weekend pedestrianization, parklets, and incremental change toward pedestrianization; that’s one of the reasons we favor it. 🤔

Could be easily adjusted to one way blocks whereas side-running bikeway is all or nothing.

Kimberly: We received a lot of negative feedback about parking impacts of the proposed side running protected bike lanes [19th to Cesar Chavez, Feb 2020].

More ambitious proposals like one way or pedestrianized require studies that can’t be done as a quick build.

If we see negative impacts, yes we could shorten the 18 month pilot.

First round of Qs:
Why pilot a new design in the Mission?
Could we abandon the pilot after say 5 months if it’s clearly not working?
Why not extend the 15th to McCoppin treatment?
Can we fast-forward to pedestrianization? (some finger snapping and polite quiet applause, which Manny scolds the audience for)

Manny: How do you avoid double parking blocking flow entirely?

Jamie: No easy answer but reallocating curb space toward short-term parking and loading. Converting as many spaces as we can to short-term loading uses, on both Valencia and side streets.