SFist: Your Commute: Prettying Up Valencia

Sarah Lockhart

Thu, 24 Feb 2005 00:07:59 -0800

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.

The Continental Op

Thu, 24 Feb 2005 00:01:00 -0800

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.

Jackson West

Wed, 23 Feb 2005 13:22:43 -0800

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.

rita

Wed, 23 Feb 2005 13:18:15 -0800

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!