Streetsblog

The Oregon Legislature has flushed an effort to bring the Idaho rolling stop law to that state. It's a bit of a surprise, given both the simple and proven efficacy of allowing cyclists to make rolling stops, as well as Oregon's big reputation as a bastion of cycling sanity. I've been an "outlaw bicyclist" for 30 years in San Francisco, running stop signs and red lights routinely. The design of traffic laws and the engineering of our roads are focused on automobile throughput, parking-and-shopping, and not much else.

Those of us who have embarked on a generation-long effort to reinhabit the urban environment, partly by daily cycling, have had to refashion the streets through our own patterns and habits. Rather than acquiescing to "the law" or to self-defeating rules, we've made safe but creative use of the rights of way. When I come to a stop sign, it's always a yield, unless there is cross traffic there ahead of me, or if there's a cop waiting to nab me. (I've only been ticketed a couple of times in 30 years, mostly because I never cause anyone danger or inconvenience by my behavior.) If I come to a red light, depending on how far I can see the cross traffic, I'll either stop or pause, and proceed if the coast is clear.

The safest place for me is on the OTHER side of that red light, where the road is empty. Waiting to start on the green with the automobiles is to remain shunted to the unsafe corridor between parked cars and moving traffic, and often enough, being threatened by a right-turning car. You'll end up spending most of your urban cycling time in hazardous narrow corridors anyway, but whenever you can get into an open road without moving cars alongside, you're safer. It's self-evident! It's also helpful to be pedaling ahead of traffic, keeping a healthy distance from the door zone, where approaching motorists can see you clearly and make adjustments to accommodate our presence on the road.

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The MTA Board did it this week, and now AC Transit may become the second transit agency in the Bay Area to declare a fiscal emergency. Such a declaration allows the agencies to bypass environmental review in order to implement service cuts.

The AC Transit Board of Directors voted yesterday to hold a public hearing on the issue next month. From the press release:

The projected drop in resources will force the District to deplete its financial reserves, leaving the District with a shortfall in “net working capital” of $9.74 million during the next fiscal year (2009-2010.)  The deficit is expected to worsen by the end of fiscal year 2010, ballooning to as much as $57 million.

Fare increases are already scheduled to take effect July 1st. The agency has also instituted a hiring freeze, among other things.

The public hearing will be held Wednesday May 27th, in the second floor Board Room, 1600 Franklin Street, in Oakland.

Nearly a month after a San Francisco federal judge ruled against a discrimination lawsuit against the MTC on behalf of AC Transit riders of color, attorneys representing a broad coalition of riders, labor and environmental justice advocates have appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals. 

"We're not done fighting," said plaintiff and AC Transit rider Sylvia Darensburg of East Oakland.

As we noted in our original post, the lawsuit claims the MTC has a long history of channeling funding to mostly white riders on Caltrain and BART at the expense of AC Transit bus riders of color. It named as the plaintiffs Darensburg, Vivian Hain of Berkeley and Virginia Martinez of Richmond, along with Communities for a Better Environment and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192.

In her ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Elizabeth Laporte said she sympathizes with the plaintiffs but "the MTC has met its burden of showing a substantial legitimate justification for the challenged funding practices." Even though she sided with the MTC, advocates point out it's significant that she noted the "disparate impact" MTC's funding practices have had on AC Transit riders of color. 

From the press release:

While vindicating minority bus riders’ claims in some respects, the judge accepted MTC’s excuse that the discriminatory impact of its decisions was outweighed by other goals.

Plaintiffs intend to argue on appeal that the Court applied the wrong legal standard in concluding that MTC had adequately justified the discriminatory impacts of its decisions.

“The trial court held MTC to too low a standard,” said Adrienne Bloch of Communities for a Better Environment (CBE). “Civil rights laws require that when otherwise lawful actions have a discriminatory impact on racial minorities, they must meet a much stricter standard of justification; there must be a ‘necessity’.”

Randy Rentschler, a spokesperson for the MTC, said in response to the appeal: "This action was expected and we’ll deal with it as we must as a public agency."

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) yesterday approved its 25-year "Change In Motion" Regional Transportation Plan (RTP), after more than two years of work coordinating with the 26 regional transportation operators, the public, and the many authorities under its control. A slew of bicycle and transportation advocates lined up to thank the MTC for the more than $1 billion it has committed to completing the regional bicycle network and increased funding for Safe Routes to School (SRTS) and Safe Routes to Transit (SRTT) programs.

Andrew Casteel, Executive Director of the Bay Area Bicycle Coalition, urged commissioners to start funding SRTS, SRTT and bicycle network improvements within the first two years of the RTP.  Citing climate action plans in Portland, Oregon, to realize 20 percent of all trips in the city by bicycle by 2030, Casteel said, "The more available infrastructure for bikes, the more people will shift into bikes as a mode of transportation.  The investment in bicycling can be done quickly.  Completing out that network has a lasting effect after it's put there.  It does continue to create that mode shift."

Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition Executive Director Christine Culver echoed praise for increasing funding for the regional bicycle network and for SRTS and SRTT funding, explaining how she traveled by bicycle to Golden Gate Transit from Marin into San Francisco, then took BART to Oakland.  "I like Safe Routes to Transit; this rocks!"

While most of the public comment was laudatory, some expressed concern the RTP fails to make meaningful inroads in meeting climate change goals set out in AB 32 and SB 375.  Stuart Cohen, Executive Director of TransForm, called it a "test run," and said the commission needs to reevaluate the way it plans RTPs and should think outside the box.

"Our objectives used to be congestion relief and mobility, and now it's saving our planet and some pretty imperative stuff," said Cohen. "There's a lot of discussion about how far regions can go in really addressing vehicle miles traveled. What is becoming clear is that if any region is going to lead the way, it's going to be ours.  There's not a lot of innovation that I'm seeing coming out of the other MPOs."

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OK, so we still really don't like the name of the DOT Secretary's blog, The Fast Lane. (Not to mention the design -- could someone do something about those graphics, please?) But more and more, we like what we're reading there. Like yesterday's post, titled "Bicycling Is an Important Factor in Less Carbon-Intensive Commuting," in which Secretary LaHood discusses funding opportunities for bicycling infrastructure in the stimulus bill and beyond:

In Silicon Valley, the future is now: this new bike and pedestrian bridge is now open. Photo courtesy of LERA.

When I told the League of American Bicyclists National Bike Summit that "Cyclists are important users of America's transportation systems," I meant it. And, when I wrote that "With DOT, bicyclists have a full partner in working toward livable communities," I meant that as well. President Obama has challenged us to transform the way transportation serves the American people by creating more choices and encouraging less carbon-intensive transportation, and we are working hard on that challenge.

The upcoming reauthorization of DOT’s surface transportation programs provides an opportunity for us to feature bicycling as part of a new American mobility within livable communities. As I said today in testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, this includes fostering communities where bicyclists feel both safe and welcome on the roadways. Bike-friendly development also has the potential to contribute significantly to the revitalization of downtown districts and offer an alternative to sprawl and automobile-focused commuting.

Earth Day is today, but we'll need the sustained engagement of bicycle commuters and their advocates in the weeks and months to come to help keep the wheels of bicycle-friendly legislation on the road.

Hear that, folks?

The member blogs of the Streetsblog Network know all about sustained engagement. Today, we're featuring a post from Transbay Blog on some new bike infrastructure in Silicon Valley, the result of years of advocacy and commitment:

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• MTC Adopts Transportation 2035 Plan (SF Gate)
• Muni Could Lose  Up to $3.8 Million Because of Street-Sweeping Cutbacks (SF Gate) 
• SF Examiner: "Builders Accuse Pedestrian Safety Program of Shakedowns" 
• Stim Funds Will Restore 50 United Nations Plaza Building (SF Biz Journal) 
• Berkley City Council Delays Vote on Climate Action Plan (SF Gate) 
• Petaluma City Council Votes Down Kentucky Fried Potholes Offer (Press Democrat)
• GG Bridge Commish Appt. and the Uneasy Relationship Between Labor and Progressives (SFBG)
• Sacramento Railyard Makeover Underway But Financial Questions Remain (Sac Bee)
  
• New Silicon Valley Bicycle Bridge Opens (Merc) 
• Bay Area Toll Authority Approves Bay Bridge Bike Lanes Study (BCN via KRON)
• Montreal Set to Launch North America's Biggest Bike-Share (Transport Politic via Streetsblog.net)

Mayor Gavin Newsom sure knows how to milk a press conference when it suits his needs and beefs up his image.  My favorite has been all the press attention he got for announcing a proposal for the one of the world's smallest public-use bicycle share programs (right up there with Pinerolo, Italy, and Porsgrunn, Norway). Fifty bicycles to the tune of $1 million.  Subsequent news reports about bike share programs in Seattle and Boston mentioned San Francisco in the same breath as Paris and Barcelona, despite the fact that San Francisco's proposal is laughable and arguably could doom a real public-use bike program from getting traction.

That said, I'm mystified by the above photo, snapped this morning before Mayor Newsom's Earth Day breakfast.

C'mon, Gav, that's not just stupid, it's callous.  Just before introducing Urban EcoMap, which is touted as an "internet-based tool that gives San Franciscans the ability to see the collective results of their individual climate change actions, while also motivating people to make responsible environmental choices," you drive to work in your SUV?

Of all the days to ditch the gas guzzler and ride "Muni incognito" or use the bicycle, wouldn't today be the day?

Hey Nathan Ballard, how you gonna spin this one?  "Green mayor" be damned.

San Francisco Board of Supervisors President David Chiu has introduced a resolution (PDF) that would allow his colleagues to reject the MTA's budget, which is due to be finalized and voted on by the MTA Board next week.

As we've reported, Chiu testified before the MTA Board earlier this month that he is concerned about work orders from other departments that are draining Muni's budget. He is also "deeply concerned" about fare hikes and service cuts.

Chiu called Streetsblog San Francisco this afternoon for a brief interview:

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Transportation Alternatives' Safe Routes for Seniors campaign began in New York City in 2003 to encourage senior citizens to walk more by improving the pedestrian environment. Funded by the New York State Department of Health, it was a pioneering program to address the needs of elderly pedestrians.

In 2008, New York City launched its own Safe Streets for Seniors initiative based on Safe Routes for Seniors. While this program, with a focus on 25 areas with high senior pedestrian fatalities, is breaking new ground, advocates and seniors who live outside the target zones question whether it goes far enough. Stats released by Transportation Alternatives show that:

• People aged 65 years and older make up 12 percent of the population, but comprised 39 percent of New York City's pedestrian fatalities between 2002 and 2006.
• The fatality rate of senior pedestrians is 40 times greater than that of child pedestrians in Manhattan.

This Streetfilm is an overview of what Transportation Alternatives, the New York State Department of Health, NYC DOT, community groups, and elected officials are doing to promote safe streets for seniors.