Email the Mayor, SF Fire Chief and Dir of SFMTA - Build Protected Lanes Now!
Send to:
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Subject:
Build the Approved Upper Market Safety Project & Protected Bike Lanes Now
Body:
Mayor Ed Lee,
On Monday December 4th San Franciscans formed a People Protected bike lane on Upper Market Street. We use our bodies to protect bike riders and pedestrians. We demand immediate installation of the approved parking protected bike lane on Market Street. We demand the immediate installation of pedestrian safety enhancements.
All of Market Street is a high injury corridor and the Upper Market Street Safety Project is crucial to achieving SF's Vision Zero commitment. We experience the dangers of Upper Market daily. Cars double-park in the bike lane forcing us to merge into traffic. Cars travel at high speeds and ignore the 10mph transit boarding island speed limit. Motorists fail to yield as we cross wide intersections. Upper Market Street is too dangerous. SF Fire's own data tells us 98% of calls between Octavia & Buchanan are for traffic collisions and medical emergencies, while only 2% are for fires. Data supports the immediate need for protected bike lanes and pedestrian safety improvements on these blocks.
We came out to support the protected bike lanes when they were unanimously approved by the SFMTA Board in May. We spoke up when they were threatened by an environmental appeal in July, and the Board of Supervisors unanimously rejected the appeal. So why is the Fire Department allowed to ignore the safety and will of SF residents and delay construction of these bike lanes? The authority of the SFMTA Board, the Board of Supervisors and your Office is undermined when you allow rogue departments to ignore our democratic process.
Every day you delay, you threaten our lives.
Start construction NOW!
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Subject:
Build the Approved Upper Market Safety Project & Protected Bike Lanes Now
Body:
Mayor Ed Lee,
On Monday December 4th San Franciscans formed a People Protected bike lane on Upper Market Street. We use our bodies to protect bike riders and pedestrians. We demand immediate installation of the approved parking protected bike lane on Market Street. We demand the immediate installation of pedestrian safety enhancements.
All of Market Street is a high injury corridor and the Upper Market Street Safety Project is crucial to achieving SF's Vision Zero commitment. We experience the dangers of Upper Market daily. Cars double-park in the bike lane forcing us to merge into traffic. Cars travel at high speeds and ignore the 10mph transit boarding island speed limit. Motorists fail to yield as we cross wide intersections. Upper Market Street is too dangerous. SF Fire's own data tells us 98% of calls between Octavia & Buchanan are for traffic collisions and medical emergencies, while only 2% are for fires. Data supports the immediate need for protected bike lanes and pedestrian safety improvements on these blocks.
We came out to support the protected bike lanes when they were unanimously approved by the SFMTA Board in May. We spoke up when they were threatened by an environmental appeal in July, and the Board of Supervisors unanimously rejected the appeal. So why is the Fire Department allowed to ignore the safety and will of SF residents and delay construction of these bike lanes? The authority of the SFMTA Board, the Board of Supervisors and your Office is undermined when you allow rogue departments to ignore our democratic process.
Every day you delay, you threaten our lives.
Start construction NOW!
Backstory: 3 Blocks of Upper Market bike lanes are approved but not being built
In May, SFMTA Board unanimously approved the Upper Market Street safety project, which included water-down protected bike lanes on only 3 blocks (westbound from Octavia to Duboce and eastbound from Guerrero to Octavia). Several changes were made to this already watered-down project due to objections from SFFD. In July, the Board of Supervisors heard a CEQA repeal, which was certainly instigated by the SFFD trying to stop the project. Supervisors unanimously upheld the project as is. Construction was supposed to start in August. SFMTA Board and the Board of Supervisors are losing credibility as this project languishes. And we ride dangerously as this construction is already delayed 5 months. The Fire Department continues to delay this project behind the scenes. Publicly they claim they are concerned with overhead Muni Wires blocking their ladder truck access. However, Muni wires have been blocking ladder access across SF for decades and SFFD has never had any complaints until protected bike lanes began to be designed On these blocks of Upper Market 53% of SF Fire's calls were for collisions while 2% for fires. pic.twitter.com/Z0O0qjlrGf This is all part of a much larger trend where fire incidents have decreased dramatically while the majority of calls for SF Fire are for traffic collisions & medical emergencies https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/27/us/san-francisco-firefighters-become-unintended-safety-net-for-the-homeless.html This stretch of Market Street is a #VisionZero High Injury Corridor http://visionzerosf.org/maps-data/ This safety project will make pedestrians, bike riders, transit users and all road users more safe. The Mayor & Strong supervisors need to step in and get this APPROVED safety project built NOW! |