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by Chris Jones
Unsuspecting pedestrians and MUNI patrons should be warned that tonight's Critical Mass ride may be a little more celebratory than usual. Last night the San Francisco Planning Commission voted unanimously to certify the EIR for the City's Bicycle Plan. You may recall that three years ago the City's Bicycle Plan was placed under injunction pending completion of an EIR, thanks to the efforts of a couple crazed neighborhood NIMBYs lead by local anti-bike menace and perpetual District 5 supervisorial candidate, Rob Anderson. Since that dark day so very long ago, only cruddy bicycle infrastructure improvements that were already approved were allowed to move forward. Once the Bicycle Plan has finally been adopted, cyclists can expect the beginning of major improvements to city streets, including the addition of 34 miles of new bike lanes, bike oriented traffic signals, and colored pavement for some lanes. Yay Bike Plan!
Next stop, the MTA, where this morning the board will vote to adopt the EIR findings and the Bicycle Plan itself. It's anticipated that the meeting will be fraught with emotion as the same local crazies who opposed the plan in the first place are expected to show up, tear off their blouses ala Code Pink, and holler for automobile justice (and freedom for Mumia) before being dragged from the room, kicking and screaming that the Bike Plan is bad for children and other living things. Should make for high quality theater. Stay tuned for details.
Update: The meeting is being streamed live here. Thus far, it looks like bike fans are dominating public comments. The Bike Plan should be a shoo in
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Why does God take away crazy, creepy, egomaniacal celebrities but leaves us with happy Critical Massholes?
Fuck you, God.
sucks to be you
Rob was only exercising his right to demand an EIR. The same right that locals enacted to keep that theater on Divisidero (next to the Independent) from being developed. That 4 million dollar property will remain an eyesore and attractive nusiance for years to come, while the locals dream of a "community theater".
I don't drive, but they're taking away parking on my street for this (bringing down property value). My one-way street will have 2 bike lanes going - one going against the flow of traffic,directly into a curve with a blind spot. This would be lots of fun to watch; however, there are only 2 bike riders in my entire hood (and they use the sidewalk or walk up the hill anyway).
That should be entertaining. Particularly when the bike riders are listening to their iPods.
Thanks for the CM reminder by the way. The Pride visitors will *love* that.
If it keeps them off the sidewalk and safe, I'm all for it!
Cynical comments aside (and I have many, particularly about Critical Mass which needs to take a one-way ride out of town IMHO) this is really good news. More bike lanes will make it easier to get around town on a bike, which is only a good thing.
Delaying Muni however is NOT acceptable. There will need to be detailed review of the cases where Muni would be delayed.
Yes this IS good news. 800 less parking spots and turn lanes elliminated will mean more idling cars circling the blocks looking for parking. More traffic congestion will slow down Muni even further at a time of service cuts and will overall increase the amount of pollution. Yeah, this genius!
I mean, sure, this is true if you assume that these changes will result in absolutely zero modality shifts. But bike ridership is still increasing even with the improvements proposed by the bike plan, and infrastructure improvements similar to those suggested in the bike plan have resulted in increased bike ridership in other cities. This increase doesn't happen in a vacuum—these are trips being shifted away from other modes of transportation. This isn't an argument for any of the specifics, and the Muni-bicycle conflict is worrisome, but really, now, c'mon.
Sorry. Extremely confusingly written and riddled with mistakes. "even with" = "even without" and blah blah I'm an idiot.
And you used the word "modality" like it's a real word used by humans.
Yaah for bike riders, but, one has to be delusional if one thinks there is going to be a net positive to congestion by removing the 800 parking spots....NO way are 800 (or more depending on how many people are in those cars) more bicyclists going to offset this.
the comments here and on SFGate seem to be against this thing. Perhaps because the people for this thing actually got off their asses, took time off work, and went. If Iran were populated by the "CRITICAL MASS SUCKS" crowd, Ahmadinejad would be a happy man.
HA!
I love critical mass because I love seeing people get pissed off; however, have they changed anything? Nope. It's just a drunken/high street festival on the move. Let's celebrate it for that and not pretend that they have the power to change society.
Maybe the supporters who showed up are "funemployed"?
Seriously, can't SF govt EVER hold meetings at a time that actual, working people can attend?
And I say this as a *supporter* of the bike plan.
FYI sfgate.com comments are usually more of a cross-section of opinion in Fresno or Bakersfield than of anywhere around here.
Pass, minus 2nd St which will be reconsidered.
Crumpety old fart, ball in your court, you can delay it 30 more days but that's it.
this isn't freaking Bismark or even Buffalo, it's warm (enough) and rain-free at least 300 days a year, there's no reason in hell we shouldn't have a huge bicycle presence.
Just hook us up with some Paris-style pickup/dropoff anywhere bike rentals and make it easier to get bikes over the bay bridge (say, at 2 am when you want to get your drunk ass back (to/from) the east bay?) & things would be looking pretty good.
oh, and can we get a tow rope running up laguna st? :)