As Real as Motorist's First World Problems.

https://twitter.com/Bob_Gunderson

[bobgunderson]

Changes Proposed to Keep Cars King of Golden Gate Park

Cars - Golden Gate Park’s most cherished resource. 

Anyone who goes into Golden Gate Park by foot or bike, immediately knows they don’t belong there.  Last year a bicyclist even died in the park, and that’s why the SFMTA is ready to protect our most cherished San Franciscans - cars.  So the mayor asked the SFMTA to devise a plan that does the bare minimum and keep cars driving and parking everywhere for free.  The project’s goals can be found here. 

SFMTA makes note of a person dying in Golden Gate Park as a reason why they’re willing to make tepid car-friendly changes to the park.  

The SFMTA used index cards to collect all the potential ideas for Golden Gate Park.  Ideas included:

Remove free on-street parking

Manage and charge for parking

Install bike lanes on all park streets

Divert all through traffic to the 2 ARTERIAL roads surrounding the park

Limit speed to 15 mph 

Triple traffic fines within the park

Once all the ideas were collected, they were thrown into a dumpster and set on fire.  

The SFMTA then came up with “solutions” that wouldn’t impact motorists in the slightest, honored suburban style street design, and treated bicyclists and pedestrians like second class citizens.  

The SFMTA proposes adding a smattering of paint, some signs, and maybe even a few raised crosswalks and blinking lights in a grand show of safety theater.  Fortunately none of the proposed changes will do anything to reduce the amount of people driving and parking for free in the park.

If you want to thank the SFMTA, Mayor Ed Lee and Ed Reiskin for all their hard work keeping cars everywhere in the park, you can thank them by filling out their survey here.  

We heard you don’t want cars in the park, but we’re putting cars in the park, because of cars. - SFMTA

[bobgunderson]

Reckless Bicyclists Offered Chance at Redemption With Car Exchange Program

Anecdata like this cannot be ignored any longer  https://twitter.com/bkerogers/status/873717223117946880

Anyone who drives around NYC in a 2-ton metal box knows the sheer terror bicyclists bring to a dense city core.  Not a day goes by without hearing about some victim who needed to go to the emergency room for “nearly hit” injuries. 

Doctor looking over "nearly hit" patient's x-ray, filled with unbroken bones and non-contusions.

With their small, light, nimble bikes propelled by their human bodies and sense of entitlement, bicyclists are a force to be reckoned with.  Hospitals are filling up with “nearly missed” and “almost killed” victims by the minute.  There aren’t enough hospital beds to hold everyone with theoretical injuries.

After hearing complaint after complaint from unscathed victims, NYC finally had enough and came up with an innovative approach to curing this hypothetical catastrophe. 

Glen Sandstone, NYCDOT safety think tank leader explained, “We had to think to ourselves, what's going to stop these reckless bicyclists from hitting people, falling over, getting up, mending their bones, fixing their bikes, and leaving?! That’s when we had an ‘eureka!’ moment.  Get these reckless bicyclists into cars!” 

"Read the news and you won’t find much about motorists causing injury and death to people.  If a motorist is even mentioned, usually it’s just an ‘accident’ anyway.  So why not get these reckless bicyclists into cars where they’ll magically turn into patient, safety conscious, law abiding motorists?” said Glen.

The program is a simple yet a powerful tool in preventing bad bicyclist behavior by removing the source; eight pounds of aluminum and rubber.  “We give bicyclists an option, you either pay the fine for rolling through a stop sign, or we exchange your bike for a 2-ton, 350 horsepower metal box.  The results have been nothing short of extraordinary.”  

Reckless, helmetless bicyclist gives up bike for SUV.

Model behavior exhibited once a reckless bicyclist is put into a tinted 4-ton entertainment system. 

“It’s like night and day.  Once they connect with their fellow motoring community, they pick up all their responsible behaviors quickly.  Former bicyclists now come to a complete stop at every single stop sign and always allow pedestrians the right of way.  Don’t even get me started on stop lights! It’s as if there’s an invisible force field preventing their car from even entering a yellow light.”

“The real reward is just that look in an ex-bicyclist’s face when they’re able to reconnect with humanity through the windshield of an extended cab truck”, Glen said with a tear in his eye. 

[bobgunderson]

SF Uses VisionZero to Crack Down on Most Dangerous Offenders: Pedestrians and Bicyclists

SF Uses VisionZero to Crack Down on Most Dangerous Offenders: Pedestrians and Bicyclists

Which one of these is more dangerous in the eyes of the SFPD and Mayor Lee's "Vision Zero"? Answer, ALL OF THEM

In what many cities across the country would consider at best "an abject exercise in futility" or at worst "a crime against humanity" the SFPD is ready to spend their limited time and resources to crack down on entitled bicyclists and stupid pedestrians that rob motorists of the experience promised in car ads. According to SFist, special enforcement periods of January 4th, 6th, 9th, 12th, 20th, 23rd and 31st. And even though the three pedestrian collisions this year involved people walking in a crosswalk, the SFPD is ready to crackdown on a auto-industry shame campaign term known as "jaywalking".  

According to SFPD's enforcement plan [Officers] will cite for violations when pedestrians cross the street illegally or fail to yield to drivers who have the right of way. Bike riders will be stopped and citations issued when they fail to follow the same traffic laws that apply to motorists. All riders are reminded to always wear a helmet – those under 18 years of age must wear helmets by law. Pedestrians should cross the street only in marked crosswalks or at corners.



Missing from the report?  The countless number of of people killed by stop sign rolling bicyclists and distracted pedestrians.

When asked where these undisclosed areas were, the police captain said "well it certainly isn't going to be Valencia Street, SOMA or Golden Gate Park!  But, seriously we're looking for areas where it's clear that people on foot or on a bike bear the responsibility of their impact on the freedom of autos to move about the city unimpeded." 

"Everyone plays a part in safety! AHAHAHAHA!!!"

Mayor Lee said, "it's great to see our mangled shame campaign version of Vision Zero in full swing!  We want to continue to enforce the idea that ~everyone plays a part~ in safety, from the innocent motorists who make mistakes, kill & maim people, down to the reckless bicyclists and pedestrians who theoretically have been killing themselves on motorist's cars. 

The SFPD and Mayor hope they can follow the success of their pedestrian and bicyclist crackdowns and move towards preventing equally dangerous practices; such initiatives as cracking down on pea shooters and rubber band guns in SF.  One officer replied "We take great pride in the time honored tradition of picking on vulnerable minority groups in the name of safety."

Officer valiantly defending the city from reckless bicyclists on relatively slow, nimble, lightweight devices.

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[bobgunderson]

SFMTA Immediately Removes Small Plastic Posts to Make Room for Double Parking

SFMTA Immediately Removes Small Plastic Posts to Make Room for Double Parking

The SFMTA is "required" to remove these posts so they can make room for everyday double parking. image via SFMTrA

There's a major problem on the streets of San Francisco these days and the SFMTA is working diligently to fix it.  No, I'm not talking about the countless deaths and injuries that happened on our streets.   It's small plastic posts that the rouge group called SFMTrA have installed all over the city.

Illegal median parking on Valencia street that the SFMTA valiantly ignores every week.  Image found here

The SFMTA, which recently enshrined free double parking on Sundays despite countless organizations and neighborhoods saying they didn't want it, removed the plastic posts at an unprecedented speed.  They responded to this incredibly dangerous activity by saying they are "required" to remove the little posts from the streets.  They went on to say, "We also need to make sure that there's plenty of room for the double parking that occurs on Valencia Street on a daily basis.  If we don't stop this kind of behavior, what's next, they'll block illegal Sunday median parking on Valencia, too?"  

SFMTA righting the wrongs of of the SFMTrA so Valencia street is back to its natural state. image found here

The SFMTA is hopeful that they've removed the small posts so they'll be filled with incredibly safe daily double and median parking.  A SFMTA representative said, "As a direct arm of our wimpy leaders, we want to ensure voting motorists aren't denied the promise given to them in car commercials." 

Flex posts are a menace to the streets of San Francisco.  Median parking on the red zones of Dolores Street is ~perfectly safe~ image found here

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[bobgunderson]

SFMTA Immediately Removes Small Plastic Posts to Make Room for Double Parking

SFMTA Immediately Removes Small Plastic Posts to Make Room for Double Parking

The SFMTA is "required" to remove these posts so they can make room for everyday double parking. image via SFMTrA

There's a major problem on the streets of San Francisco these days and the SFMTA is working diligently to fix it.  No, I'm not talking about the countless deaths and injuries that happened on our streets.   It's small plastic posts that the rouge group called SFMTrA have installed all over the city.

Illegal median parking on Valencia street that the SFMTA valiantly ignores every week.  Image found here

The SFMTA, which recently enshrined free double parking on Sundays despite countless organizations and neighborhoods saying they didn't want it, removed the plastic posts at an unprecedented speed.  They responded to this incredibly dangerous activity by saying they are "required" to remove the little posts from the streets.  They went on to say, "We also need to make sure that there's plenty of room for the double parking that occurs on Valencia Street on a daily basis.  If we don't stop this kind of behavior, what's next, they'll block illegal Sunday median parking on Valencia, too?"  

SFMTA righting the wrongs of of the SFMTrA so Valencia street is back to its natural state. image found here

The SFMTA is hopeful that they've removed the small posts so they'll be filled with incredibly safe daily double and median parking.  A SFMTA representative said, "As a direct arm of our wimpy leaders, we want to ensure voting motorists aren't denied the promise given to them in car commercials." 

Flex posts are a menace to the streets of San Francisco.  Median parking on the red zones of Dolores Street is ~perfectly safe~ image found here

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[bobgunderson]

SFMTA Removes Small Plastic Posts to Make Room for Double Parking

http://dlvr.it/MYh01N

[bobgunderson]

SFMTA Removes Small Plastic Posts to Make Room for Double Parking

SFMTA Removes Small Plastic Posts to Make Room for Double Parking

The SFMTA is "required" to remove these posts so they can make room for everyday double parking. image via SFMTrA

There's a major problem on the streets of San Francisco these days and the SFMTA is working diligently to fix it.  No, I'm not talking about the countless deaths and injuries that happened on our streets.   It's small plastic posts that the rouge group called SFMTrA have installed all over the city.

The SFMTA, which recently enshrined free double parking on Sundays, despite counties organizations and neighborhoods saying they didn't want it, removed the posts quicker than they've ever installed anything.   They responded to this incredibly dangerous activity by saying they are "required" to remove the little posts from the streets.  They went on to say "We also need to make sure that there's plenty of room for the double parking that occurs on Valencia Street on a daily basis.  If we don't stop this kind of behavior, what's next, they'll block illegal Sunday median parking  on Valencia too?"  

SFMTA righting the wrongs of of the SFMTrA so it's back to its natural state again. image found here & here

The SFMTA is hopeful that they've removed the small posts at an unprecedented speed, so they can replace it with incredibly safe double and median parking.  A SFMTA representative said "As a direct arm of our wimpy leaders, we want to ensure the voting motorists aren't denied the promise given to them in car commercials." 

Flex posts are a menace to the streets of San Francisco.  Median parking on the red zones of Dolores Street is ~perfectly safe~ image found here

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[bobgunderson]

SFMTA Removes Small Plastic Posts to Make Room for Double Parking

SFMTA Removes Small Plastic Posts to Make Room for Double Parking

The SFMTA is "required" to remove these posts so they can make room for everyday double parking. image via SFMTrA

There's a major problem on the streets of San Francisco these days and the SFMTA is working diligently to fix it.  No, I'm not talking about the countless deaths and injuries that happened on our streets.   It's small plastic posts that the rouge group called SFMTrA have installed all over the city.

The SFMTA, which recently enshrined free double parking on Sundays, despite counties organizations and neighborhoods saying they didn't want it, removed the posts quicker than they've ever installed anything.   They responded to this incredibly dangerous activity by saying they are "required" to remove the little posts from the streets.  They went on to say "We also need to make sure that there's plenty of room for the double parking that occurs on Valencia Street on a daily basis.  If we don't stop this kind of behavior, what's next, they'll block illegal Sunday median parking  on Valencia too?"  

SFMTA righting the wrongs of of the SFMTrA so it's back to its natural state again. image found here & here

The SFMTA is hopeful that they've removed the small posts at an unprecedented speed, so they can replace it with incredibly safe double and median parking.  A SFMTA representative said "As a direct arm of our wimpy leaders, we want to ensure the voting motorists aren't denied the promise given to them in car commercials." 

Flex posts are a menace to the streets of San Francisco.  Median parking on the red zones of Dolores Street is ~perfectly safe~ image found here

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[bobgunderson]

SFMTA Finally Pilots Double Parking After Decades of Law Breaking

SFMTA Finally Pilots Double Parking After Decades of Law Breaking

San Francisco is known as for innovation, and nothing could be more innovative than the SFMTA's latest pilot program which will enshrine double parking for decades. "We're so excited this is finally happening!  After decades of completely disregarding the law and public safety or the movement of traffic, we're getting a pilot!" said one motorist while abandoning his car in the middle of the street. The SFMTA said it took a lot of hard work to make this happen. "First of all, we had to completely disregard the community process, because they voted it down 4 to 3.  It was deeply unpopular with the community, but we came up with some arbitrary need for 5 people to vote it down, not just a majority.  So we easily cleared that hurtle. The second part was completely disregarding the separation of church and state.  I mean we made it legal  near churches and on Sunday mornings, but it's not for church people or whatever.  It's just that easy!"

And what the pilot will look like is anyone's guess, since the program hasn't been finalized and it's making something most cities consider undesirable and dangerous practice a weekly occurrence.  "We'll just do what we usually do," said one SFMTA employee, "We'll delineate between the legal double parking and illegal double parking.  People will start respecting the laws surrounding double parking once we have rules in place... even though the reason why we're doing this pilot because is because people broke the law in the first place.  We also will rely heavily on 'enforcement'" he said with a hearty laugh.  Motorists are hoping the SFMTA will forgo other projects like making bike lanes safer or improving public transit to pilot other previously illegal and dangerous practices. "It could be blocking the crosswalk, blasting through red lights, or the time honored tradition of driving over the speed limit," tweeted one motorist while searching for double parking.

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[bobgunderson]

SFMTA Poised to Experiment With People's Lives to Save Parking Along L Taraval

SFMTA Poised to Experiment With People's Lives to Save Parking Along L Taraval

"We know that motorists don't have any reverence to signs, paint, speeds or pedestrians, but hey it could happen right?" SFMTA "Planner"

With any SFMTA project, be it adding a bike lane to Polk street or any pedestrian safety improvement, the question is, "how can we save all or add more parking?"  The L Taraval ~Improvement~ Project is no different.  The SFMTA is ready to experiment with the lives of people to satiate the perceived need of parking on every square inch of an arterial street.

Such great features as "people walk into the streets hoping they don't die" and "parking saved"!

Ed Reiskin, the SFMTA's Politician of Transportation, said "we completely understand that Ninety-five percent of collisions have occurred as people were getting off the light rail.  But I want to keep my job, so we came up with an innovative paint and sign idea that saves parking, and our jobs.  It's a hell of a lot easier than conjuring up political will and leadership in this city.  Oh, and Vision Zero something something."

"We just want to see how many people will stop because of signs and paint, because they usually don't stop for signs and paint.  image found here

"This kind of pilot is unprecedented," said one self proclaimed SFMTA Planner.  "You just don't see this kind of innovation anywhere else!  It's really quite elegant really.  Only five people need to get severely injured before we add real bus islands to these areas.  Think of it as 'Vision 90 Percent.  If we can prevent just one person from never experience the displeasure of searching for parking, we've really done our job... on this Muni improvement something something.'"

"This kind of thing happens every day on our streets, but the L Taraval "Bus Islands" will totally probably be different! image found here

L-Taraval Shitshow Public Hearing

July 22, 10am

City Hall

At this public hearing, members of the public can scream and complain about their loss of parking and demean human life on this latest proposal for the L-Taraval.

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[bobgunderson]

Last Chance to go Speedin' up and Down Masonic Before They Screw it up!

Last Chance to go Speedin' up and Down Masonic Before They Screw it up!

Dear motorists, despite all our efforts to "Save Masonic", the countless flyers filled with exclamations!!!, bold lettering, and RAGE CAPS, we have lost a battle in the perverbial ~War on Cars~.  The Masonic Avenue redesign is only a few days away.  It's now a time of mourning, and to enjoy the last few days of this perfect Avenue, born out of a freeway and parking.  Get your fill of free arterial on-street parking, and watch your "high scores" on the radar speed sign while you race back and forth between Oak and Bush without even the slightest worry that there's law enforcement near.

Elmer Snodgrass, neighborhood parking activist, bemoaned, "You knows that once they start this so-called 'improvement project' that traffic is gonna be gridlock.  I'm thinkin' about movin' to San Jose.  I hear they got it good down there with wide roads, loads of free parkin' for ya' and there's ain't stupid pedestrians wanting to walk all out in the road all of the time. 

Used to be a time here when the mayor and the MTA cared about people and cars. Not no more. Now they just care about 'safety' and 'multi modal use' and other code words for stealin' from cars and drivers.  First they stealin' our parkin'.  Now they's puttin' in bike lanes that no one's ever gonna use.  I don't even see many bikers risking their lives biking down this suburban wonder.  It's just like the saying goes, 'you don't go building bridges until you see people swimming across shark infested waters.'"

Ellis Hendrickson screamed, "theres's a perfectly fine bike alternative that non-biking people whipped up.  Bikers just need to go through the Baker Street sharrows and dooring lanes, hit several stop signs along the way, climb a major hill while the bike lanes disappear in favor of angled parking.  Then Cross six lanes of Turk street highway, continue to climb up the hill until it plateaus, then ride down a steep hill without any bike lanes, pray that you don't get hit by cars exiting the garages, and on-street parking.  Take a right turn and continue down a steep hill, more stop signs, hang a left and continue to spiral down through moving and parked cars, continue across Geary's eight lanes of traffic, then go on the left side of Baker for some reason, hang another left at the stop sigh and go back up Post Street's steep hills.  Oh, and then hang a right on Presidio's non existent bike lanes.  Now isn't that much easier than just biking straight through Masonic Avenue?!"  When asked if motorists should use that route she exclaimed, "that's a burden no motorist should ever have to bear."

Despite all this common sense from people who want absolutely nothing to ever change, the city is still bent on creating an "active transport" hellscape on Masonic Avenue. It's hard to imagine anyone will continue to live on this street for much longer, given the lack of arterial on-street parking.  In the meantime, go out there and enjoy the glory days of the 50's before they screw it up!

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[bobgunderson]

SF to Replace "Transit-First" with "Parking-First" Policy

http://dlvr.it/LFKt2J

[bobgunderson]

SF to Replace "Transit-First" with "Parking-First" Policy

SF to Replace "Transit-First" with "Parking-First" Policy

It's been a banner year so far with SF Supervisors dismantling transit projects that have been decades in the making.  Marc Farrell helped dismantle 30 Stockton bus changes, as well as add parking back on Polk Street.  There's David Campos and John Avalos fueling the fires of hatred for the red transit only lanes along Mission St.  More recently, Katy Tang shut down the L Taraval safety plan to appease a few merchants and residents who prefer their parking to any pedestrian safety.  And we can't forget Mayor Lee and his brave work vetoing a "bike-yield" law that would treat bikes differently than a 2 ton speeding metal box.

"It's becoming more and more difficult to tout this whole 'Transit First" mantra, while appeasing some of our merchants and car loving constituents.  So that's why we decided to modify the policy.  We do it with every transit project anyway, so this will save time and energy" said one supervisor.  SAN FRANCISCO CHARTER PARKING-FIRST POLICY. (§ VIIIA_8A.115) (a) The following principles shall constitute the City and County’s parking-first policy and shall be incorporated into the General Plan of the City and County. All officers, boards, commissions, and departments shall implement these principles in conducting the City and County’s affairs:           1. To ensure quality of life and economic health in San Francisco, the primary objective of the transportation system must be the safe and efficient movement of people and goods, by private automobile.           2. The “Poor People’s Shame Cab”, including taxis and vanpools, is a pathetic and ridiculous alternative to glorious transportation by individual automobiles. Within San Francisco, travel by public transit, by bicycle and on foot must be an unappealing alternative to travel and storage of private automobiles.           3. Decisions regarding the use of limited public street and sidewalk space shall encourage the use of public rights of way by privately owned automobiles, and shall strive to reduce bicycle and pedestrian traffic and improve public car use and storage.

4. Transit priority improvements, such as designated transit lanes and streets and improved signalization, shall be halted at the whim of merchants, several motorists and pandering supervisors.           5. Pedestrian areas shall be enhanced wherever it doesn’t, in any way, impact a motorists ability to live out the dream promised to motorists in car commercials.           6. Bicycling shall be half-heartedly promoted by throwing some paint scraps on the streets to allow easy access for delivery trucks, especially UPS trucks.  SFPD Bicycle crackdowns are mandatory.           7. 20th century parking policies for areas well served by public transit shall remain priority by even a single screaming merchant to encourage travel by combustible metal boxes.           8. New transportation investment should be squandered to meet the demand for private suburban style transport.

         9. The desire of the City and County to reduce traffic congestion depends upon their ability to get re-elected and get to and from their jobs.  The City and County shall promote the use of personal combustible metal boxes so long as it suits their personal and political needs.           10. The City and County shall encourage 20th century solutions to meet private combustible metal box transportation needs wherever possible and where the provision of such service will not adversely affect the promise bestowed in car commercials.           (b) Sunday double parking is a sacred motorist right and shall never be mentioned by any supervisor or mayor.           (Amended by Proposition C, Approved 5/6/2016)           Editor’s Note:           Formerly Sec. 16.102.

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[bobgunderson]

SF to Replace "Transit-First" with "Parking-First" Policy

SF to Replace "Transit-First" with "Parking-First" Policy

It's been a banner year so far with SF Supervisors dismantling transit projects that have been decades in the making.  Marc Farrell helped dismantle 30 Stockton bus changes, as well as add parking back on Polk Street.  There's David Campos and John Avalos fueling the fires of hatred for the red transit only lanes along Mission St.  More recently, Katy Tang shut down the L Taraval safety plan to appease a few merchants and residents who prefer their parking to any pedestrian safety.  And we can't forget Mayor Lee and his brave work vetoing a "bike-yield" law that would treat bikes differently than a 2 ton speeding metal box.

"It's becoming more and more difficult to tout this whole 'Transit First" mantra, while appeasing some of our merchants and car loving constituents.  So that's why we decided to modify the policy.  We do it with every transit project anyway, so this will save time and energy" said one supervisor.  SAN FRANCISCO CHARTER PARKING-FIRST POLICY. (§ VIIIA_8A.115) (a) The following principles shall constitute the City and County’s parking-first policy and shall be incorporated into the General Plan of the City and County. All officers, boards, commissions, and departments shall implement these principles in conducting the City and County’s affairs:           1. To ensure quality of life and economic health in San Francisco, the primary objective of the transportation system must be the safe and efficient movement of people and goods, by private automobile.           2. The “Poor People’s Shame Cab”, including taxis and vanpools, is a pathetic and ridiculous alternative to glorious transportation by individual automobiles. Within San Francisco, travel by public transit, by bicycle and on foot must be an unappealing alternative to travel and storage of private automobiles.           3. Decisions regarding the use of limited public street and sidewalk space shall encourage the use of public rights of way by privately owned automobiles, and shall strive to reduce bicycle and pedestrian traffic and improve public car use and storage.

4. Transit priority improvements, such as designated transit lanes and streets and improved signalization, shall be halted at the whim of merchants, several motorists and pandering supervisors.           5. Pedestrian areas shall be enhanced wherever it doesn’t, in any way, impact a motorists ability to live out the dream promised to motorists in car commercials.           6. Bicycling shall be half-heartedly promoted by throwing some paint scraps on the streets to allow easy access for delivery trucks, especially UPS trucks.  SFPD Bicycle crackdowns are mandatory.           7. 20th century parking policies for areas well served by public transit shall remain priority by even a single screaming merchant to encourage travel by combustible metal boxes.           8. New transportation investment should be squandered to meet the demand for private suburban style transport.

         9. The desire of the City and County to reduce traffic congestion depends upon their ability to get re-elected and get to and from their jobs.  The City and County shall promote the use of personal combustible metal boxes so long as it suits their personal and political needs.           10. The City and County shall encourage 20th century solutions to meet private combustible metal box transportation needs wherever possible and where the provision of such service will not adversely affect the promise bestowed in car commercials.           (b) Sunday double parking is a sacred motorist right and shall never be mentioned by any supervisor or mayor.           (Amended by Proposition C, Approved 5/6/2016)           Editor’s Note:           Formerly Sec. 16.102.

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[bobgunderson]

Biking Increases Despite City's General Ambivalence

http://dlvr.it/L7xtF5

[bobgunderson]

Biking Increases Despite City's General Ambivalence

Biking Increases Despite City's General Ambivalence

"We allowed a dumpster to sit in the bike lane for over 20 days, and people still want to bike in this city.  It's fascinating!" image via Chema Hernández Gil

In a recent Examiner article, Joe "The Transit Nerd" buys into the anti-car propaganda that shows "Annual bike count shows commutes in SF up nearly 9 percent".  According to the SFMTA, "There are an estimated 82,000 bike trips in the city per day, an 8.5 percent increase in bike trips from 2014 to 2015".  And while I wholeheartedly disagree with data in favor of cold hard firmly held beliefs, I'm delighted to see that the city continues to show general ambivalence despite their increase in numbers. SFMTA representative said, "Yeah we're really shocked the numbers went up, even with our disjointed 'bike network' or whatever you would call it.  SF even had a 'bike injunction' from 2006-2010.  The bike plan was held up in court on the presumption was that the bicycle plan could cause "significant damage to the enfiroment and therefor require an environment review under the California Environmental Quality Act.  Can you imagine?  Our self proclaimed 'green, environmentally friendly, progressive city' couldnt even put in bike sharrows or bike racks because it could ruin the environment?! The premise that it removing travel lanes and parking spaces  CAUSE cars to CAUSE more congestion."

"This is the best we can do for your bicycling children, because Parking > Children"

Unfortunately the bike injunction was lifted, but the spirit of saving parking remains, even with our SFMTA Director of Sustainable Streets Tom Maguire.  Maguire said he enjoys cycling with his kids on that small sliver of space dedicated a mile of Golden Gate Park.  The stretch of space which features bike lanes separated from traffic by on-street parking. That’s a design choice the city will employ, because just like Golden Gate Park, the city sorely needs as much on-street parking as possible.  Maguire said.“We don’t want to make a choice between parking and cyclists.”

The SFPD has been trying to curb biking for years, and had the following to say, "We also can't believe bicycling increased even though we rarely ticket motorists in bike lanes.  We had police officers dedicating thousands of dollars to pulling people over in those tiny, nimble, relatively slow moving vehicles and the numbers still increased!  We don't even crackdown on Valencia street, where you'd be hard pressed to find a second of the day when there's not some car parked in the bike lane, and we even have police station on the street!  What are these bikers thinking?"

"Don't expect us to unblock bike lanes when we have Wiggle stop sign rolling bikers to deal with." image via SFGreen

"Despite the fact that none of this paint 'infrastructure' is adequately enforced, we'll continue to install miles of paint on SF.  image via 0xEugene

Even the Mayor is taking his piece of credit for the uptick.  Despite only using his bike for photo-ops, he said, “as San Francisco grows in population, housing and jobs, it is critical that we offer shoddy and disjointed bike infrastructure that never removes even a thread of parking.  We'll also make sure to increase enforcement on this safe and affordable ways of getting around the City.” said Mayor Ed Lee. “And that's why I vetoed the 'bike yield law', to help make biking an even more unattractive option on the city."

"I want to treat these 'vehicles' exactly the same, for safety or course!" - Mayor Lee, probably.

“Despite our lack of efforts, bicycling is San Francisco’s fastest growing mode of transportation,” said Ed Reiskin, SFMTA Director of Transportation. “We're not entirely sure why it's happening.  Have you seen Market Street before?  Yikes!  With hundreds of thousands new bike trips each year, we’re committed to watering down our bike plans while making parking plentiful for everyone.  Expect to see more half-hearted bike 'infrastructure' that will undoubtedly be blocked by hordes of cars, and expect more SFPD bike crackdowns of course."

The city is full of poorly painted bike lanes with motorists double parked daily.  If we reach our city's official goal of 20 percent of trips by bike by 2020 it won't be from our efforts.” Ed Reiskin, probably. image via Adam Long

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[bobgunderson]

Biking Increases Despite City's General Ambivalence

Biking Increases Despite City's General Ambivalence

"We allowed a dumpster to sit in the bike lane for over 20 days, and people still want to bike in this city.  It's fascinating!" image via Chema Hernández Gil

In a recent Examiner article, Joe "The Transit Nerd" buys into the anti-car propaganda that shows "Annual bike count shows commutes in SF up nearly 9 percent".  According to the SFMTA, "There are an estimated 82,000 bike trips in the city per day, an 8.5 percent increase in bike trips from 2014 to 2015".  And while I wholeheartedly disagree with data in favor of cold hard firmly held beliefs, I'm delighted to see that the city continues to show general ambivalence despite their increase in numbers. SFMTA representative said, "Yeah we're really shocked the numbers went up, even with our disjointed 'bike network' or whatever you would call it.  SF even had a 'bike injunction' from 2006-2010.  The bike plan was held up in court on the presumption was that the bicycle plan could cause "significant damage to the enfiroment and therefor require an environment review under the California Environmental Quality Act.  Can you imagine?  Our self proclaimed 'green, environmentally friendly, progressive city' couldnt even put in bike sharrows or bike racks because it could ruin the environment?! The premise that it removing travel lanes and parking spaces  CAUSE cars to CAUSE more congestion."

"This is the best we can do for your bicycling children, because Parking > Children"

Unfortunately the bike injunction was lifted, but the spirit of saving parking remains, even with our SFMTA Director of Sustainable Streets Tom Maguire.  Maguire said he enjoys cycling with his kids on that small sliver of space dedicated a mile of Golden Gate Park.  The stretch of space which features bike lanes separated from traffic by on-street parking. That’s a design choice the city will employ, because just like Golden Gate Park, the city sorely needs as much on-street parking as possible.  Maguire said.“We don’t want to make a choice between parking and cyclists.”

The SFPD has been trying to curb biking for years, and had the following to say, "We also can't believe bicycling increased even though we rarely ticket motorists in bike lanes.  We had police officers dedicating thousands of dollars to pulling people over in those tiny, nimble, relatively slow moving vehicles and the numbers still increased!  We don't even crackdown on Valencia street, where you'd be hard pressed to find a second of the day when there's not some car parked in the bike lane, and we even have police station on the street!  What are these bikers thinking?"

"Don't expect us to unblock bike lanes when we have Wiggle stop sign rolling bikers to deal with." image via SFGreen

"Despite the fact that none of this paint 'infrastructure' is adequately enforced, we'll continue to install miles of paint on SF.  image via 0xEugene

Even the Mayor is taking his piece of credit for the uptick.  Despite only using his bike for photo-ops, he said, “as San Francisco grows in population, housing and jobs, it is critical that we offer shoddy and disjointed bike infrastructure that never removes even a thread of parking.  We'll also make sure to increase enforcement on this safe and affordable ways of getting around the City.” said Mayor Ed Lee. “And that's why I vetoed the 'bike yield law', to help make biking an even more unattractive option on the city."

"I want to treat these 'vehicles' exactly the same, for safety or course!" - Mayor Lee, probably.

“Despite our lack of efforts, bicycling is San Francisco’s fastest growing mode of transportation,” said Ed Reiskin, SFMTA Director of Transportation. “We're not entirely sure why it's happening.  Have you seen Market Street before?  Yikes!  With hundreds of thousands new bike trips each year, we’re committed to watering down our bike plans while making parking plentiful for everyone.  Expect to see more half-hearted bike 'infrastructure' that will undoubtedly be blocked by hordes of cars, and expect more SFPD bike crackdowns of course."

The city is full of poorly painted bike lanes with motorists double parked daily.  If we reach our city's official goal of 20 percent of trips by bike by 2020 it won't be from our efforts.” Ed Reiskin, probably. image via Adam Long

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