February 23, 2005
Your Commute: Prettying Up Valencia
Ah, Valencia Street. Who hasn't nearly been run over by a car, a bus, a biker, or frantic pedestrians running to make their reservations at Luna Park, on the Mission District's own Fifth Avenue thoroughfare? Who hasn't either parked in the median, or gleefully snickered as cars parked in the median were towed away?
Well, the DPT is taking a small break from tyrannically chalking tires and booting cars to actually listen to community concerns about improving Valencia Street traffic flow. (That's so weird and Chronicle-Watch-y!) As part of the DPT's Livable Streets program, (non-helmeted) DPT employees are soliciting comments and suggestions on how traffic on Valencia Street can be improved. Previous Livable Streets projects include the Potrero Street corridor, Market Street, and Bernal Heights.
Their first meeting was last December, and the next meeting is tomorrow, Feb. 24, at 6:30 at the Mission Police Station. Hott and contradictory proposals from December included median parking (love it, put trees there, keep the space for U-turns); bike lanes (keep 'em, ditch 'em, repaint 'em, move 'em); and parking (more! less!). In light of the recent pedestrian death on 17th and Valencia, DPT is particularly focused on foot traffic safety these days, but welcomes suggestions on any aspect of the proposal.
If you've got thoughts, stop by tomorrow's meeting, which promises to be contentious in the best possible civic-awareness kind of way. Them bikers sure are feisty! Or, if you like, leave your thoughts in the comments, and we'll forward them all to the Valencia Street contact person at DPT, Nick Carr.
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So they talked about this at the Mission police dept's community meeting last night (don't ask why I was there), and what seems really challenging about this project is that everyone has competing interests. On the one hand, it'd be nice to put more trees up either on the sidewalk or the median. But on the other, that's going to really interfere with traffic flow, and the sidewalks and streets are jammed up enough already. Cars in the median aren't really safe -- but businesses like parking trucks in the median and hey, Marina people need free parking too! (C'mon! Would it kill ya to take the 22?) Do we encourage bikers at the expense of pedestrians, or do we continue letting bikers get doored on the narrow streets? Oh, it's all very tough.
Anyways, the meeting tomorrow should be hilarious. Here's hoping Chris Daly makes an appearance at tomorrow's meeting too, for that extra cherry on top!
Let's see, is the problem Valencia street, or cars? I'm going with cars.
I noticed that Potrero Ave is also part of their 'Livable Streets' program, which should give you an idea of the level of optimism. Potrero is a noisy death trap full of people sneaking off the 101, with absolutely no interesting street life.
I moved to SF this past Summer from Philadelphia, where where median parking, though illegal everywhere, is commonplace and tolerated in certain places, notably South Broad Street (the main thoroughfare leading into Center City). Consequently, the median parking on Valencia Street sort of makes me feel right at home. That said, I much prefer driving on Dolores, where the planted median is much pleasanter, and much safer.
Let's see, is the problem Potrero Ave or 101 (note, this is Northern California, one does not refer to it as "the 101")?
What brilliant mind cooked up the idea to have 1/3 of the highway be exit only lanes coming north into downtown?
If a significant amount of traffic takes Potrero, a surface street, through the city, rather than taking the highway, doesn't it say something about the inadequacy of the highway?
But back to Valencia St. While I do experience considerable schadenfreude, when I see an SUV towed from the Valencia median, I think allowing parking there makes more sense than not. It's certainly better than bicyclists having to swerve around the layers of double parked cars waiting for parking spaces.