March 28, 2013

BICYCLE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Regular Meeting

Minutes

1. Role Call
Present: Bert Hill (7), Marc Brandt (3), Ed Nicolson (4), Richard May (6), Casey Allen (11) , Morgan Fitzgibbons (5)

2. Announcements: 40th anniversary of Transit week

3. Approval of minutes -> postponed

4. Public comment (none)

5. Chairman report:

The select committee met to talk about safe routes to school and transit safety. There are now too many cars around schools as busses are not used due to allocation issues. Schools are seeing a crush of people arriving by car. 23% of morning traffic is due to children being driven to school. This has a huge environmental impact since the routes are short. The end of bussing has resulted in an increase in pollution.

The citiation diversion program is currently held up by superior court and police. The problem is that the diversion program does not meet state law. One of the problems is that the people are not sworn if a diversion is given.

6. Member Reports:

District 4: Met with supervisor Tang. Discussed the bikelanes in golden gate park. Supervisor Tang mentioned her office had gotten a number of calls from residents who felt the lanes were difficult to ride in.

District 6: At the 12th and market intersection there is recommendation for a self actuated signal.
There has been discussion about Polk St. and the possible loss of parking.

Public comment:
Lee from District 1: Bike lanes should be all along Kennedy drive. There should be more signs indicating the bike lanes. Need more outreach about the positive impact of bike lanes in Golden Gate Park.

7. Governmental Reports:

BART: there is petition to allow the continued use of bikes on Bart. The petition went through the board of supervisors and passed. There is broad support for bikes on BART.

8. OBAG Program and Candidate projects:

OBAG: Presentation by Ben Stupka on the block grant updates.
A majority of the money will be spent in district 2.
Some design suggestions were given for Balboa park: there should be a bikeway from SF State through city college and on to BART.

The transbay transit center scored well due to the multi-modal nature of the project, but there is a funding issue. There will be room for 100 to 500 bicycles. 500 when Caltrain comes in. The lower concourse will have a larger portion of the bike parking.

Public comments: Is there a possibility of a bike valet service? For example “Warm Planet Bikes”.
Response: The Cal Train joint powers will be looking for a proposal.

9. Safety Sginage on MUNI Transit Vehicles resolution:
Postponed.

10. Marina Green Bicycle Trail improvements:

Marc and Richard reviewed the situation on site and concluded that it is better to have the bike lanes closer to the grass and not the roadway. The original MTA design from the previous meeting appears to be the best option.

Question: Is there still the intention to have a bike lane on the street? There should be some comment about this.

Public comment:
Madeline: Can dog walkers have a gravel path for dog walks? Could there be a jug handle at the crossings?

Paul: Should put pedestrians on the road side. Encourage dog walkers to be off of the bike path. Put yield signs on the roadway (where stop signs are) to encourage cyclist to use the roadway instead of the path.

MTA comment: The only funding that is available is for the restriping. i.e. there is no money for a gravel path.

A draft letter was put forward by Marc Brandt regarding the Marina Green improvements and restriping.
Motion to approve the letter was forwarded by Morgan Fitzgibbons (5) and seconded by Richard May (6). The letter was approved by the board with additional changes to recommend a dog path and to stripe a bike lane on the street.

11. Polk Street Complete Street Project:

Opening discussion points: Some members of the public want no loss of parking on Polk.

Brandt: In the case of Valencia street, business actually gained from cyclists having better access.

Discussion with local merchants: legacy customers want to be able to drive up and cart things away. There was some discussion about the use of cargo bikes to accomplish this task.

Open question: Should the committee voice support for a pilot project?
Open discussion: What is the availability of car share in the area? General answer: it is good.

Public comment:
Madeline:
- To improve urban public health people should move more and eat better.
- Met with many merchants in the polk st. area. There appears to be lots of mis-information and untruths have been said to manipulate opinion.
- There has been heated debate and bad blood. There is an us vs. them mentality.
- There are a lot of members of the public that are too busy to get involved, but they will be impacted.
- The way out of the conflict is to bring more people into the discussion. There is a need for infrastructure for dialog.
- There is a new organization: Folks for Polk: This involves crowd brainstorming and getting input from citizens.
- The mayor is getting nothing but grief from the neighborhood groups and other groups are getting blocked in talking to the Mayor.
- Merchants brought in people from outside the area “Rent a mob” tactics.
- Basically hard nosed politics, threats and arm bending
- Merchants are open minded, some are saying “yes this will work”, others will never change their opinion.
- Merchant question: If they go bankrupt due to loss of business, who will pay?
- Myth: Parking is required for business growth.
- Need a cushion for businesses that are impacted, through some sort of funding
- Some of the businesses are marginal due to their own choice.
- Could RPP (Residential parking permits) be used to maintain parking for residents?
- The goal is not just bike lanes, but also infrastructure improvement.

Paul
- Question about which option had the least parking removal.
- How does polk street fit with the transit first policy? How can the city sway public opinion towards a transit first policy.

Winston Parsons:
- MTA has done a lot of outreach.
- This is about making the neighborhood safer
- The board of supervisors should see that this plan is in the best interest of all citizens, not just bullying from a local faction.

Aaron Bacaluk (Streets Blog)
- MTA numbers indicate that there is very little impact on the parking. Only a 6% reduction in parking spaces.
- There still will be enough parking in the area.
- Most of the parking is actually not on polk
- 5100 parking spaces within a block of polk.
- 300 spaces currently on polk.; maybe 50% of this 300 will be lost.

MTA (Antonio)
- Surveyed customers at businesses on polk.
- 15% of those customers drove.
- The majority of patrons are local and walk.
- The businesses would not be successful if they depended solely on the parking on Polk

Madeline
- This is very much a walking neighborhood

MTA (Antonio)
- Polk street has the highest concentration of pedestrian and bicycle collisions in San Francisco.
- This is a safety issue
- It is an attractive street with many local businesses
- It is a good bike route due to the low number of hills
- Have worked with many merchant groups
- Recently outreach has increased. Earlier on in the process MTA attempted to engage merchants, but there was no response.
- Survey response:
o Vision: separation for bicycles, bulb outs, clean up alleyways, create gathering areas, not just bicycle but also pedestrian improvements
o Option 1: traffic calming, no specific bike lanes, parklets
o Option 2: curb running cycle track, painted buffer on one side, separation on the other, parking removal; this option pits public space vs. parking
o Option 3: bike lane but not complete separation, uphill side has protected bikeway due to slower bike traffic
o Option 4: daytime bike lanes only (unpopular by all)
o Option 5: full buffered lanes on both sides, remove all parking
o Option 6: one way street for cars. Would require a EIP.
- How do people get to polk: 15% car, 6% bike, 50% walk, 20% transit
- Net parking change is 7%
- All polk parking is 12% of the available parking in the area
- New apartments are being built without parking, so there will be more residents in the area without cars and they will need transit facilities.
- Traffic in the area is 17% bicycle.

Paul
- problem on polk is that cars squeeze bicycles out when passing
Antonio
- Safety is the issue. Right hooks are a big problem.
Winston
- separation is good for kids.

12. Continuing Status Review on Spot Project Requests / SFMTA Report
- No update on sharrows. There are applications for funding to complete this.
- Bert: Sharrows are needed on broadway east of the tunnel
- Bike sharing: launch planned in August
- Bayshore: regular bike lanes, not separated.

Adjounrment at 9:00pm. Forwarded by Marc and second by Richard, all in favor.

DISABILITY ACCESS:

Room 408 of City Hall is wheelchair accessible. The closest accessible BART Station is Civic Center, three blocks from City Hall. Accessible MUNI lines serving this location are: #47 Van Ness, and the #71 Haight/Noriega and the F Line to Market and Van Ness and the Metro stations at Van Ness and Market and at Civic Center. For more information about MUNI accessible services, call 923-6142. There is accessible parking in the vicinity of City Hall at Civic Center Plaza and adjacent to Davies Hall and the War Memorial Complex.

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