September 26, 2013

BICYCLE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Regular Meeting

Minutes

 

1. Roll Call – Determination of Quorum
Present: D1 - Kevin Dole, D2 - Richard Tilles, D3 - Marc Brandt, D4 - Edward Nicolson, D5 - Morgan Fitzgibbons, D6 - Richard May, D7 - Bert Hill, D8 - Tim Doherty, D11 - Casey Dos Santos-Allen

The meeting was called to order at 6:30 PM

2. Announcements & Acknowledgments
There were no announcements.

3. Approve Minutes - August 22, 2013 BAC Meeting
This minutes were approved with the following corrections:
● Mr. Brandt’s name was misspelled
● Brandt discussed the new bicycle lane paint on the Embarcadero, not Polk St.

4. Public Comment:
● Patrick Traughber offered information requested by committee members about his presentation at the 8/22 meeting. The total cost of double parking citations for 2012 for the following companies:
○ UPS $1,093,969
○ Federal Express $610,416
○ Together the two companies were cited 20,879 times.

5. Chairman's Report
● The D10 committee seat remains vacant.
● Lena Nsomeka-Gomes has been nominated for the D9 seat. She will go before the Board Rules Committee on October 3, 2013
● Chair Hill spoke before the Board Audit and Oversight Committee on Sept. 12 about the recommendations of the 2012 - 2013 Civil Grand Jury report

6. Committee Member Reports (Information)
● Mr. Fitzgibbons has requested to represent D5 on PSAC and hopes to increase “cross fertilization” between the two committees
● Mr. Nicolson recently visited Chicago and was impressed by their bicycle infrastructure, which is very comprehensive and was implemented rapidly.
● Brandt attended an interbike industry trade show and reported on improvements in electric bikes and electronic shifting.
● Mr. May spoke with approximately one dozen people in D6 about the Bay Area Bike Share Program. He said he heard no negative feedback and that persons requested an expanded network. He also notified the SFPD about an alleged bicycle chopshop in D6 and was told that there is an ongoing investigation.

PUBLIC COMMENT:
● Traughber unfavorably compared BABS to the bicycle share programs in New York City and Washington, DC and Paris.
● Ofc Matt Friedman, SFPD reported on various aspects bike theft related investigations. Two BABS bikes were stolen so far but both were quickly recovered. The SFPD Bike Theft Twitter account has proven very effective in gathering information on stolen bicycles and communicating warnings to the general public. The GPS trackers in BABS cycles have not been activated yet.

7. Governmental Reports
a. MTA Bicycle Program Report

Discussion:
● Antonio Piccagli, SFMTA Liveable Streets: The most recent BABS station was installed on Market in front of the Twitter building. The Bayshore Blvd bike lane has been approved and and is expected to be approved by Caltrain
● Fitzgibbons asked about the timeline for the anticipated expansion of BABS. Piccagli: MTA is working with the vendor.
● Fitzgibbons: Any update on permanent concrete buffers for Oak and Fell? Piccagli: None yet bu will follow up.
● Piccagli: MTA installed a two way cycle track for along the waterfront for America’s Cup. Two 24 hours periods of video were recorded over the course of eight days. Video is being analyzed.
● Changes to the detour around the Moscone Center are being considered for implementation before a November conference.
● Hill asked about funding complementary lights to SFPD for distribution to night-riding cyclists. Piccagli: There are too many officers and not enough lights. Hill suggested focusing on traffic officers.
● The long delay on sharrow installation and the complexity of funding sources was discussed. Piccagli said would research issue and report back. Hill: Committee agrees on the need to streamline sharrows and will write a letter as necessary.
● Fitzgibbons asked about cycle improvements on Folsom promised by Mayor Lee in response to the most recent fatality. Piccagli: Doesn’t know full details but implementation expected before the end of the year.
● Fitzgibbons also asked about 3rd and King, also the site of a fatality. Piccagli: the venue for that issue the Mayor’s Working Group. Unknown if that group is meeting.

b. BART Task Force

There was no report.

c. Report on PSAC Joint Initiatives

Mr. Doherty was unable to attend the meeting so there was no report.

d. SFPD Report on Safety and Security Issues – Officer Matthew Friedman, Park Station; also progress on 2009-10 & 2012-13 Civil Grand Jury Approved Recommendations

Two SFPD officers were present, Ofc. Friedman and Frank Harrell from traffic division.
● Ofc. Harrell said he was formerly assigned to SPFD bike patrol and understands what it is like to ride a bike in the city. He apologized for the absence of an SFPD representative for many months and attributed it to internal miscommunications.
● Hill requested information on the three cycle fatalities in 2013. Ofc. Harrell was a first responder to the scene of Diana Sullivan’s death. Amelie Le Moullac’s death at 6th and Folsom is undergoing secondary review. Harrell had no information on Dylan Mitchell’s death but said he would come to the October meeting with answers.
● Ofc. Friedman has been with SFPD for six years and recently relocated to Park Station. He described is as an “exciting time” for bike theft in SF in the wake of the recent Board resolution. A citywide bicycle registry is anticipated by the end of 2013. It will be run by the nonprofit SF-SAFE. (Safe Awareness For Everyone, SFsafe.org)
● SFPD is engaging in “bike baiting operations” all over the city. Several thieves have already been arrested. A chop shop at 13th and Mission had been closed. Social media outreach has been very effective.
● Fitzgibbons asked about the technology behind the registry program. Friedman: Database operations have been outsourced to Salesforce. SFPD will have no direct access, everything will be directed through SF SAFE.
● Friedman: Approximately 1000 recovered bikes are stored in SFPD building 606 at the Hunter’s Point shipyard. Individuals are encouraged to file police reports.
● Doherty asked about relieving traffic on Market St, and issues of chronic red light running near Embarcadero. Friedman acknowledged the existence of “hot spots” all over the city. Harrell said he was unaware of issues in Lower Market but will notify the captain.
● Friedman offered some statistics on citations issued by SFPD. In August 2013, 6994 moving violations were cited but only 65 went to cyclists.
● May asked about why the bikes in Building 606 haven’t been returned to their owners and how the bicycles were determined to be stolen. Friedman: stolen bikes are hard to return without a police report, especially after having been in a chop shop. Serial number tampering indicates that they may have been stolen, other contributing factors. The “totality of circumstance” need to be considered.
● Friedman suggested calling 911 for thefts in progress and tweeting information to @SFPDBikeTheft
● Dole advocated for improved SFPD training on issues relating to bicycles and traffic laws. Friedman has talked to SFBC about working with SFPD and possible training seminars.
● Fitzgibbons asked about the bikes at Building 606 that were not returned to their owners. Friedman: all bikes in 606 are evidence and thus SFPD property. Previously sold through a clearing house company but contract failed to meet county criteria. Bike have accumulated since then. Will investigate and report back next month.
● Fitzgibbons asked about what prompted recent sting operations on the Wiggle. Harrell: operation was in response to complaints from residents. For first few days no citations were issued. Cyclists who were pulled over were given electronic written warnings. Citations given to most flagrant offenders who honor neither the spirit or the letter of the law after multiple days of on the street education.
● Hill requested that citation statistics be tracked and published.

PUBLIC COMMENT:

● Traughber thanked the officers for their presence and discussed the public response to his list of cyclist fatalities.
● Howard Bloomberg, PSAC expressed gladness that Fitzgibbons would be joining the committee and discussed the need for speed reduction. An intermediate goal has been set by the Mayor’s ofice for June 2014, which PSAC will monitor.
● Madeline Savit, Folks for Polk expressed her appreciation of for Ofc. Friedman and called for better understanding between cyclists and SFPD.
● Paul Skillbeck discussed the need for thoughtful enforcement. Aggressive ticketing by police in Sausalito has resulted in strained relations.

e. Polk Street Working Group Progress – Richard May and Richard Tilles

Tilles and May received the notes shortly before the meeting. No report.

PUBLIC COMMENT:

● Savit discussed the activities of the working group so far. It is focused on streetscaping. She also discussed the recent activities of Folks for Polk.
● Savit and Brandt discussed the merits and expense of street level lighting.

8. Safe Routes to Transit Grant Application – The SFMTA is submitting three requests to TransForm, the grant administrator in the Bay Area, totaling to $1.0M for projects to facilitate walking or bicycling to regional transit services and requests Letters of Support from the Committee on the following subjects:
a. Bicycle Wayfinding Implementation

Discussion:
● Hill asked if sharrow wayfinding would be included.
● Piccagli: nothing is being actively funded yet, decisions will be made as project nears construction.

Motion: Dole
Second: dos Santos-Allen

The letter of support was approved unanimously.

b. Balboa Park Station:

Motion: Dole
Second: Nicolson

The letter of support was approved unanimously.

c. Safe Routes to Transit grant application (SFMTA) Business Plan for Long-Term Bicycle Parking in San Francisco. I

Discussion:
● dos Santos-Allen asked if automated bike parking was being considered
● Piccagli said that he didn’t know and would bring it up
● Hill commented that the automated systems he knew of are very expensive
● Brandt: if RFP was not limited to attended parking it might increase the range of proposals.
● Piccagli: Funding is just for the discussion of the business model, not actual construction
● Hill: Will modify letter to to include non-attended language

Motion: dos Santos-Allen
Second: May

The letter of support was approved unanimously.

9. Procedural Revision in Quorum – The Committee has a recurring problem in reaching Quorum due to vacant appointments by members of the Board of Supervisors. Currently a Quorum is constituted by six members of the Committee in attendance. A motion will be introduced to require a majority of APPOINTED seats for quorum.
Action: Motion for Change of Quorum Requirement, requiring eight Committee Members present.
Sponsor: Bert Hill, District 7

Motion: May
Second: Dole

The revision was approved unanimously.

10. Continuing Status Review on Spot Project Requests

Discussion:
● Dole requested that the intersection of Cabrillo and Park Presidio be reviewed. Currently, the Cabrillo bike lanes on either side of the intersection are replaced by sharrows in the blocks immediately before Park Presidio and no cycle wayfinding through the intersection. The intersection of Lake and Park Presidio has continuous bike lanes and intersection way finding.
● Fitzgibbons inquired about adjusting the height of the “no right turn” sign at Divisadero and Oak. Piccagli: the only poles at appropriate height are owned by PG&E and not approved for street signage.
● Discussion of wayfinding/signage to the “Shrader Valve.” Since the Panhandle is part of Golden Gate Park such signage requires interagency cooperation between SFMTA and Rec and Park. Piccagli said would follow up.
● Nicolson requested 6th and Folsom and 3rd and King be added to the project list since they were the sites of recent fatalities. Piccagli will report on 6th and Folsom at the October meeting “doesn’t know” about 3rd and King
● Brandt proposed a resolution for MTA mitigation at 3rd and King
● dos Santos-Allen asked about a long term solution to “the Hairball” and advocated better linkage to the green stripes on westbound Chavez. Piccagli said discussions about changing S-bound Potrero to a transit only lane are ongoing. Will report back in October.
● Hill expressed concern about wayfinding through W-bound Castro and Market during construction.

PUBLIC COMMENT:
● Savit expressed concern about changes to loading zones in the preferred Polk plan. The floating bike lane would be confusing and local merchants are very vocal opposition to limiting loading times.
● Skillbeck expressed concern about cars driving in the bike lane at Marina Blvd and consufing striping in the area.
● Nicolson said the striping at Marina green appears to have to gone back to its pre-construction state, departing from the design presented to the BAC. Piccagli said would try to find out what the cause was and report back.

11. Change of Venue – The Housing Authority will be occupying Room 408 on the fourth Thursday henceforth, as part of their move to City Hall for twice monthly meetings. The BAC meeting in Room 406 is temporary. There will be a presentation/discussion on a change in schedule or location to adapt to this change.
Action: Motion for Change of location and/or time and date of BAC meetings.
Sponsor: Bert Hill, District 7

● Alternative dates and meeting locations were discussed.
● The decision was tabled for offline discussion.

12. Adjournment

Motion: Brandt
Second: Doherty

The meeting adjourned at 8:46 PM

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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