May 27, 2007
Why Did You Skip Healthy Saturday?
Uh oh.
All that work, all that lobbying and compromising, all those broken promises, all those clipboards -- and nobody showed up for the first Healthy Saturday. Yikes. We've got lots of pix up on Flickr.
A biggish swath of JFK Drive was opened to pedestrians this Sunday; and maybe it was the gloomy weather, or Healthy Saturday's newness, or the fact that it's damn near impossible to find a map of the pedestrian area online; but it was about as desolate as Jerry Falwell's funeral.
However -- even with the limited strolling, bicycling, and rollerblading going on, it was still a nicer use of the park than a freeway. Having the park almost entirely empty is an amazing experience: peaceful, enormous, very beautiful and a little unsettling. Next weekend, we heartily recommend that you seize the opportunity to enjoy the park before everyone else figures out how cool it is when you've got it all to yourself.
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Wow, I may have braved the gloomy weather if I knew how empty it would be...
Sorry, some of us were busy.
Just as I suspected:
Shahum and 3 or 4 of her buddies were the only ones interested in Saturday road closure, and they held (and hold) the entire city hostage. How egocentric!
Talk about screwing up the town, this takes the cake.
And still the electeds will kowtow to these few selfish jerks, because they have a PAC, and therefore political "power" which they will continue to misuse for their own self-serving ends.
"Freeway:" what a load of rubbish... The roads were built in the Park to *get into the park*, not as a destination in and of themselves!
Well on a beautiful recent Sunday, my 7 year old daughter was bulldozed from behind by a guy flying past her on his Bianchi bike. He landed on top of her and her bike - claiming she was 'weaving' and it was her fault. She ended up being taken by paramedics to UCSF where in addition to many scrapes and bruises had a broken arm.
He left the scene saying he had to go 'put ice on h is elbow.'
We've avoided GG Park with our kids on their bikes ever since. (Hell, it'd have been safer to ride up and down our street.)
I saw countless close calls of speeding cyclists whizzing by wobbly kids - if someone hits you from behind, isn't it their fault?
Ah, Lorraine,
How naive you are!
Don't you know that if you ride a bike and get in an accident, it's *always* the other guy's fault (no matter what actually happened!)
Lorraine, I'm really sorry to hear your story. As a bicyclist (and someone who is sadly seeing all his friends with kids leave San Francisco), I want you to know that I think idiots like that hurt the cause of safer (generally) better-for-the-environment travel. CRS, why stereotype? That guy was a total jerk who should have been arrested. I don't hate all motorists or blame them as a group when one of them hits a motorcyclist or melts a freeway. Sheesh. Oh, and Shahum (of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition) has political power because there are many people like me who can make a difference at the polls, show up at city public meetings, protest, etc.--all means of democratic exercise in this country. So, to act like it's some evil cabal is far from the truth.
Myself and the kids made sure we were in the closed-to-traffic part of the part on Saturday--just to celebrate the new schedule. That said, it was very cold, damp, and foggy in the park and that's likely what kept the crowds away.
Also, we've never had trouble with my kids learning to bikes in the park. The adult bicyclists mostly understand that the closed part of the park is full of weaving kids and tourists (on those large rentable four wheeled pedal things). On the best days, this spot is San Francisco's Sunday best--a real joy to experience.
Hey, it was the first time, gloomy and moist, come on, give it a chance.. CRS, why don't you get yourself a PAC, and "hold the entire city hostage" to your gas guzzling pollution machines ?
It was a real healthy day for the turf day.Higher treading by bike rubber shoe plastics, as well as the human waste, that was parsed.
Street closed to cars, virtually no other skaters and bikers around, allowing me to roll about unhindered.
I'd say the first day was an unqualified success.
Way to go, chard!
I didn't go because it looked too frigging cold and foggy on Saturday to walk towards the ocean so we walked to The Ramp on the east side instead. And on Sunday, we hit the jackpot by going to "Hair" which was being performed at the Mountain Play on top of Mount Tam which seemed to be the only place besides the top of Mount Diablo that had any sun on Sunday. Today (Memorial Day) looks sunny and beautiful in all of San Francisco, which is wonderful for everyone but the now-shuttered Carnaval Festival and all its goose-bumped samba dancers.
CRS I don't really see how closing a couple of roads to cars and letting people ride their bikes into a park and around it is holding a city hostage... maybe you shold try getting out and enjoying this city rather than staying holed up inside and you won't be so angry. I went out to the park this weekend and had a great time and woke up feeling so much more relaxed than you seem to be.
DD, James, Joshk:
FWIW, I ride a bike in SF, and I've been a Bicycle Coalition member for 7 years, but its increasingly political take-no-prisoners direction has been diverging from me for a while now. I won't be renewing...
DD (12), The way I look at it, the GGP Saturday road closure is not necessarily about "... closing a couple of roads to cars and letting people ride their bikes into a park and around it ..."
What it *is* about is closing the road to *other* members of the public who have every right to use it. And that is where I do not agree with doing so on *both* days of the weekend.
What has been done has been a gift to a few while diminshing the rights of the many.
Now if the compromise had been the proposed "Lazarus Solution," I think that would have been just fine.
Or if the road were to have been closed on, say, Sundays and Mondays, that sounds reasonable.
I live in one of the outlying eastern sections of town, and getting to the park is a long and difficult haul from out here.
A lot of us out here rely on the park for picnics, and use it for family get-togthers. Hauling coolers, blankets, play and recreation equipment, etc pretty much necessitate using a car.
Not all of us are young guys who can bike long distances easily and still have energy left once we get there, or who do not have the obligations of family.
Yes James (8), I do own a car; I drive it about two-three times/week. The rest of the time I walk, take Muni, and yes, I bike to my destination. My car is a 2nd gen Prius, so it's not a "gas guzzler."
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In writing about the Bike Coalition I was writing about its paid staff, not the its membership.
(It's like writing about "the Democrats" and "the Republicans." When one uses those appellations, you aren't writing about the rank-and-file voters; you're writing about the members of the legislative body.)
The same goes for writing about "the Bicycle Coaltion." In this case I meant the paid senior staff.
Unfortunately, the BC does not represent a lot of us who are bike riders in this town, and the further the BC gets into partisan politics, the more of us they are leaving behind.
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Oh, and hey DD (12), I was at Carnaval yesterday.
CRS, you and your fellow "take no prisoners" carnies were holding ME hostage all afternoon yesterday, since I live inside the 11-block by 6 block perimeter that was closed off for Carnival, and they weren't letting residents drive in or out past the barricades. I managed to escape using BART.
mission resident (14):
I live in the closed-off area as well, and had cars parked blocking all the driveways on the street all day.
I also escaped the neighborhood after my Carnaval gander.
It's a bit much being surrounded by carnies for two days.
I was on JFK Dr. this past Saturday around noon-1 pm during the first closure. Despite the cold, overcast weather, I saw lots of skaters, bicyclists, walkers, and other people enjoying that stretch of the park.
I even saw lots of people enjoying a picnic just beyond the Rose Garden (where the big purple head art installation is located) along the stretch that's car-free.
The numbers of park users were not nearly as high as on a typical sunny Sunday. It will take some time for people to realize that Saturdays are car-free for a smaller stretch of JFK Dr., but soon car-free Saturdays will be a wonderful tradition just like Sundays.
As an SF native I applaud the efforts to close the park on Sat. Most of those complaining are 100% self-interested- they're upset they may lose parking, have a harder time getting someplace, or dear-god! have to wheel their coolers a couple blocks more. (my understanding is that any disability access issue will be dealt with within the strict ADA standards).
Its time for us to think "big picture" kids- get out of your car- and enjoy the park- and if you're not into that- hop into your Humvie- drive to Colma- and hang out with people who have Malls for "open space"- It's a park! not a parking lot!
lgh (17) wrote:
> It's a park! not a parking lot!
The issue here isn't the park, it's the *road*. A road which was built to, well, carry traffic into the park.
I beg to differ with this writer about who is opposed to, and who supports the road closure. And who is "100% self-interested."
It appears that the closure is supported by those who live near enough to the park to benefit from road closure, but not so near as to be adversely affected by it.
In other words, if you live around the Panhandle, you're apt to support closure.
Why? Because these folks can easily get to the closed roads, but are not affected by increased traffic looking for parking.
However, if you live in the area actually bordering the closure (west of the Panhandle) yer agin' it, mainly because of the people looking for parking.
If you are young, fit and a bicyclist, skater, etc then you are more apt to support road closure.
If you have a family, and/or live some distance away from the park, then you are more probably not going to support road closure.
So, *everyone's* got their own self-interest here, not just one group.
It's just mean and intolerant to assume SF residents are all moneyed enough to have humvees. Families who use the park are in a lot of cases working-class families, they are people of color from the southeast part of town...
The park belongs to everyone.
In my (13) post I tried to lay out in what I thought to be a reasonable manner the pros and cons, and how other compromise suggestions were better for both sides of the issue.
I guess "reasonable" isn't a concept we can use in this arena.