[TLC News & Alerts] 2 actions for a more livable city...

Mon Feb 28 14:24:03 MST 2005

Dear advocates for a more livable city-

Several important actions are included in this alert, as well as some
interesting upcoming TLC co-sponsored events.

Please forward this e-mail to a like-minded friend, family member, or
colleague and ask them to sign-up for occasional updates from TLC at
http://www.livablecity.org/signup.html.

As always, thanks for your continued advocacy and support of TLC- Jeremy

=========================

1) URGENT ACTION:  Tell the MTA: "No more Muni fare hikes or service cuts!"

2) Action:  Tell MTA to remove dangerous double turn lanes and prosecute
drivers who murder pedestrians!

3) Update:  56 units of affordable car-free housing approved at 787 Brannan.

4) TLC Recommends:  Cool events, happenings, and clippings for
urbanists, enviros, and sustainable transport junkies...

=========================

1) URGENT ACTION:  Tell the MTA: "No more Muni fare hikes or service cuts!"

As part of the Platform for Transit Justice, TLC continues to work with
a diverse group of transportation activists, environmentalists,
advocates for economic equity, and transit unions to urge the MTA Board
to pass a budget that asks drivers to pay for the full social and
environmental costs they impose on others (including congestion delays
to transit), rather than asking transit riders to pay more for less service.

TAKE ACTION:  Here's how you can help:

- ATTEND MONDAY'S (TODAY!) PRESS CONFERENCE at 1:30 on the steps of City
Hall.

- ATTEND MONDAY'S (TODAY!) MTA HEARING at 2pm in the Legislative
Chambers (Room 250) at City Hall.  Tell the MTA Board you want them to
reduce the public subsidies for driving and parking in our
'transit-first' city (see
http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2005-02-16/smith.html for just one local
example of subsidies for automobiles, and
http://www.sierraclub.org/sprawl/articles/subsidies.asp for several
others).  Tell them to approve "Budget Scenario 2" presented at the 2/15
Board hearing, a budget which allows the MTA to balance its budget by
raising the cost of various parking-related fines and fees without
raising Muni fares or cutting service.  

- If you can't attend the hearing, SEND A FAX
(http://www.local-impact.org/takeaction9.html) OR E-MAIL (c/o
mailto:Roberta_Boomer at ci.sf.ca.us) to Cleopatra Vaughns, MTA Board Chair.

=========================

2) Action:  Tell the City to remove dangerous double turn lanes and
prosecute drivers who murder pedestrians!

WHAT'S AT STAKE:  Cars (continue) to kill Bay Area pedestrians:  in just
the last month, drivers killed 4 Bay Area pedestrians (three elderly
people and one 6 year-old girl).  Newspaper reports suggest that all
these pedestrians had the right of way and were crossing in the crosswalk:

1) San Francisco, Western Addition, 2/17:  Nelly Bagdasarova, Age 68.
http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/02/21/news/20050221_ne04_hitandrun.txt

2) San Francisco, Mission District, 2/11:  Sundee Webster, Age 58.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/g/a/2005/02/11/pedestrian11.DTL

3) Oakland, Chinatown, 2/7, Homer Leong, Age 84. 
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/08/BAGKEB7KNA1.DTL

4) Vallejo, 2/4, Joanie Marcos, Age 6 (her sister Sheree Marcos, Age 14,
was critically injured).
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/04/BAG31B579649.DTL

After the Vallejo murder, traffic engineers refuse to install crosswalk
signal out of fears that it might "disrupt traffic flow" (sound
familiar?):
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/11/BAEBDIGEST3.DTLhttp://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/02/03/news/20050203_ne03_pedestrians.txt

It's outrageous to prioritize moving speeding cars over human safety,
but this same argument was used a few weeks ago by City bureaucrats to
reject a proposal brought forward by the DPT to remove a dangerous
double turn lane at 6th & Harrison.  In addition, the DA does not appear
to be treating pedestrians killed by cars as a serious matter:  it has
been two months since Beverly Kees
(http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/12/11/BAG70AACAG1.DTL)
was struck and killed while crossing in a crosswalk at Harrison and
Main, but still no charges have been filed against the responsible driver.  

TAKE ACTION: 
- TELL THE MTA to prioritize human safety over speeding car traffic. 
Send an e-mail to MTA Director Michael Burns
(mailto:michael.burns at sfgov.org) and Ricardo Olea
(mailto:ricardo.olea at sfgov.org) and thank them for their efforts to
remove unneeded double turn lanes throughout the city.  Let them know
that these double turn lanes endanger pedestrians and bicyclists (see
http://livablecity.org/pipermail/news_livablecity.org/2004q4/000050.html),
and encourage them to step up this effort to improve pedestrian and
bicyclist safety by bringing forward all the unneeded double turn lanes
for removal.  Specifically, ask them to approve the removal of the
double turn lane at 6th & Harrison that ISCOTT rejected based on
anecdotal and undocumented concerns about potential impacts on car traffic.

- CONTACT WALK SF (contact info at www.walksf.com) and let them know
that you would like to get involved in their efforts to pressure the
DA's office to file manslaughter charges when a driver is at fault for
killing a pedestrian.

=========================

3) Update:  56 units of affordable car-free housing approved at 787 Brannan.

Thanks in part to e-mails sent by TLC supporters in response to our
recent action alert (see
http://livablecity.org/pipermail/news_livablecity.org/2005q1/000053.html),
the Planning Commission recently approved 56 affordable car free housing
units at 787 Brannan.  A survey conducted for the hearing, the project
sponsor (Tenderloin Housing Clinic) found that only 30 tenants among the
1253 units THC currently leases own cars (for those keeping score at
home, that's a car ownership rate of 2%).  Learn more at
http://www.beyondchron.org/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=110&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=1449&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=

=========================

4) TLC Recommends:  Cool events, happenings, and clippings for
urbanists, enviros, and sustainable transport junkies...

- EVENT:  San Francisco and the Future of Cities, with TLC executive
director Tom Radulovich.
Mondays, 11:45-1:45p, February 28--March 4, SFSU Downtown Center, 425
Market St. (This class is open to anyone 50 years of age or older). 
What are the ideas and forces shaping San Francisco today, and how do we
keep our city livable tomorrow?  This third installment of the extremely
popular course at SFSU's Olli Lifelong Learning Institute explores the
ideas and disciplines that contribute to the making of cities, including
architecture and urban design, city planning, economics, housing, and
transportation, with a focus on current issues and decisions facing San
Francisco. It celebrates and examines the place we live, poses questions
about and discerns opportunities for our future, and explores the
alternatives before us in how we choose to build a better place to live
and work, recreate and grow old.  Call 415-405-7711 for registration
information or visit http://www.cel.sfsu.edu/olli/.

- EVENT:  Public workshop Van Ness Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project,
co-sponsored by the Transportation Authority and TLC.  Tuesday, March
1st, drop-in anytime between 6-8 p.m. Holiday Inn, Oregon Room, 1500 Van
Ness Avenue.  Please attend this workshop and tell the MTA that the Van
Ness BRT project should include a full complement of streetscape
amenities and urban design improvements that calm traffic, create a
vibrant streetscape, and improve the safety and convenience of transit,
biking, and walking.  More on Van Ness BRT at info at
http://www.sfcta.org/vanness/index.htm.

- EVENT: The World's Best and Worst Parks, with Project for Public
Spaces President Fred Kent.
Wednesday, March 2, 6:00pm, at the Little Fox Theatre
(http://www.foxdream.com/), Downtown Redwood City
(http://www.redwoodcity.org/downtown).  $10 admission at the door, doors
open at 5:30pm, 21 and over only.  Placemaking expert Fred Kent will be
speaking on why great places are successful, why bad ones are not, and
how the principles of great places can be applied to our cities and
towns to improve life in the Bay Area.  Examples of the great parks and
public spaces of the world, as well as some places that are in the 'Hall
of Shame.'  The presentation and discussion will be followed by an
optional, no-host dinner with the speaker at a nearby restaurant in
downtown Redwood City. [The sponsors foolishly suggest that you "visit
http://www.redwoodcity.org/cds/redevelopment/downtown/parking.html for
parking information".  Since we all know that too much traffic-inducing
parking undermines the vibrancy of any place, TLC suggests that you
"click here Caltrain http://www.caltrain.com/schedule.html]. 

- EVENT:  Octavia Boulevard Walking Tour, co-sponsored by Walk SF and
Transportation for a Livable City.  
Sunday, March 6th, Noon-2pm.  Meet in front of the GLBT Center, 1800
Market Street at Octavia.  Robin Levitt, neighborhood activist, and Tom
Radulovich, executive director of TLC, who among others spearheaded the
effort to replace the Central Freeway with Octavia Boulevard, will lead
this walking tour of this emerging, world-famous boulevard and discuss
the concept and history behind it as we tour the former freeway trace.
We'll talk about the other projects in the works related to it as well,
including parks, public art, mixed-use housing and traffic calming. 3-4
miles. Heavy rain cancels.

- EVENT:  Benefit for TLC-partner group Housing Action Coalition.  
Friday, March 11,6-10pm, 461 2nd St., Loft 127.  David Baker + Partners
Architects are hosting a benefit party for Housing Action Coalition ($10
suggested donation). More info at http://www.dbarchitect.com/.

- CLIPPING:  TLC Board Member and Bicycle Advisory Chairperson Bert Hill
profiled on bicycling in the city.  Lots of good tips and tricks at:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/02/17/SPGGJBCK5Q1.DTL

- CLIPPING:  Design competition makes startling breakthrough: 
well-designed Secondary Units (aka 'Granny Flats) can be good for
single-family neighborhoods!  Learn more:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050130/news_1h30granny.html

- CLIPPING:  First, the District of Columbia raised registration fees
and sales taxes on all autos, and imposed an even higher assessment on
SUV to pay for the additional damage they cause to roads, the
environment, and public safety.  Now Philadelphia is considering doing
the same (http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/view.php?id=8846).  Will San
Francisco be next
(http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/01/31/news/20050131_ne04_suvs.txt)?
 Stay tuned for update from TLC for how you can help support this effort.

- CLIPPING: Congestion pricing for San Francisco?  Supervisor McGoldrick
has asked the TA to study congestion pricing in downtown San Francisco
(http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/02/15/news/20050215_ne01_toll.txt),
an idea that has been extremely successful in reducing auto traffic
congestion, improving transit, and reducing pedestrian and bicycle
injuries and fatalities wherever it's been tried
(http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/02/15/news/20050215_ne02_london.txt).
 Oddly, the County Transportation Authority appear somewhat less than
enthusiastic in this proven traffic-reducing, transit-improving,
life-saving idea
(http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/02/21/news/20050221_ne04_toll.txt).
 We'll keep you posted.

- CLIPPING:  High cost of driving NYC causes some hard core motorists to
give up their cars and (surprise!) the sun still rises in the Big Apple
(see http://www.crainsny.com/article.cms?article_id=22482&arc=n.
registration required).  By continuing to dole out public subsidies for
parking and driving
(http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2005-02-16/smith.html), do San Francisco
policymakers know something that their NYC counterparts in that
backwater of a city do not?