SFist: Bike Plan Injunction Injunction, What's Your Function?

Rob Anderson

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 12:57:59 -0800

"...i honestly can't understand what there is to even study about this..what are they worried about environment wise?.. cars will have a harder time getting around so they spend more time in traffic and more exhaust fumes are spread into the city?...i looked at rob anderson's site to get some kind of insight but it's a tome and i'm too lazy to dig through those archives." Yes, this is typical. Bike people in SF seem to think they are exempt from having to read anything---the Plan itself, the litigation documents, or my critiques---before they pronounce on this issue. After all, Bikes are Good and Cars are Bad. What else do you need to know? To see detailed postings about the Bicycle Plan, all you have to do is enter "Bicycle Plan" in the search engine on my blog, District 5 Diary. Of course if you remove traffic lanes and/or street parking on a busy street, you will probably make traffic worse in that part of the city. And you will make it worse not only for cars but also for Muni and emergency vehicles. This is the sort of thing that has to be studied in the EIR. If, as we urged more than two years ago, the city had simply done the EIR on the 527-page Bicycle Plan in the first place, it would probably be done by now.

sf_love

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 12:29:25 -0800

I would love for them to put this up to the voters. If every member of the Bicycle Coalition (that has taken 15 years to grow to 7,500 members) lives in San Francisco, that represents just 1% of our population. I guarantee you that there are many more people that would love to vote down this anarchist fringe group that thinks traffic laws don't apply to them.

wsanders

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:59:25 -0800

Go into the office of the Sierra Club, Save the Whatever, etc, and you won't find eager young environmental activists, you'll find lawyers. And what do lawyers like? They like to file injunctions. So the whole "environmental movement" is just a bunch of lawyers filing injunctions with each other. My guess is the SFBC is no different from any other organization of its type, it's just a vehicle to provide employment for MORE LAWYERS. There's no injunction stopping me from riding my bike to BART every day, and WTF do I need a "bike plan" for? I just get my ass on a bike and ride.

DXW

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 09:23:34 -0800

The only other comprehensive environmental review of a bicycle plan done in California was recently completed in Oakland. It took 30 months to complete. San Francisco’s process as currently scheduled would be about six months faster than what what was done in Oakland, and for a far more complex project.

DXW

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 09:21:01 -0800

aj

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 08:53:39 -0800

Sorry about the duplicate comments. Damn internal server errors.

aj

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 08:44:28 -0800

I dunno, the bike plan IS delayed and it IS stupid. Leah has a fixed term, per the charter. She doesn't have to resign if she doesn't want to. She was appointed in 2006, so unless she was serving out someone else's term, she's there until 2010.

aj

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 08:39:27 -0800

smellslikecity

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 21:55:48 -0800

let me get this straight - sfbc head leah shahum is also on sf's transportation board? was she was one of the many peeps that newsom asked for a resignation from a few months ago, and now he might be asking her to leave the board when his new term begins in january? it's no secret that the sfbc hasn't been too friendly to newsom. i'm all for the bike lanes, but this seems fishy. seems like the sfbc is calling out newsom so he'll look bad if he cans shahum. sounds like sfbc members are being used as pawns in shahum's political battle with newsom.

KWillets

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 20:47:35 -0800

The CEQA doesn't promote the environment, it promotes Environmental Impact Reports. The "environment" in each EIR is whatever people dream up, including the environment inside their wallets. It has only a tenuous connection to environmentalism as people generally think of it.

mariconsoy

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:51:17 -0800

Didn't SF just lose a case at the Ca Supreme Court level re the city master plan and EIRs? To circumvent the ruling, the city attorney said that the master plan now in effect is the 1990 master plan. So does the EIR now under review have to conform to 1990? Is all the work already done on the current EIR void?

DC1974

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:24:02 -0800

"A brace of Supervisors"? I think perhaps a supervision of Supervisors would be the proper group name.

andyc

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:05:56 -0800

the mind boggles. i honestly can't understand what there is to even study about this..what are they worried about environment wise?.. cars will have a harder time getting around so they spend more time in traffic and more exhaust fumes are spread into the city? or are they worried that we'll be overpowered by sweat and dreadlocks? i looked at rob anderson's site to get some kind of insight but it's a tome and i'm too lazy to dig through those archives.

pdx6

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:50:55 -0800

I hope that the SFBC crew was able to get some of the higher ups to listen. The injunction has taken too long, and the city desperately needs to move forward with it's bike program. Build it and they will come, and once there are more riders the cops will pay more attention and scofflaws that run stop signs and red lights will actually get ticketed.

Greg

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:39:24 -0800

Wow, EIR studies and whatnots take a long time??? Who knew? Maybe now SFBC will find common cause with those who want to build affordable housing, but face years of red tape? hey, it could happen!

vsgoliath

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:22:51 -0800

ah, to the LEFT of the UDG, got it, Amiano. http://www.flickr.com/photos/vsgoliath/2104639370/

vsgoliath

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:21:24 -0800

That Unidentified Dapper Gentleman is none other that the SF Bicycle Coalition's program director Andy Thornley. http://www.sfbike.org/?staff a holiday-related sign from the rally...

Akit

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:10:18 -0800

Gotta love our government... it'll take years for something to even get done. On the immediate concern, how do we get bikers to stop at red lights and stop signs? I almost hit one with my car yesterday!

fizzandpop

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:58:54 -0800

Those Environmental Impact Plans seem to take eons and cost buckets of cash. It must be nice working with no deadlines and bottomless budgets. Just a remark from someone who lives in the real world and foots the bill for this slackerdom. Government jobs, you gotta love 'em.