Wiggle Safety Upgrades Delayed Because Cars Can't be Everywhere

Car traffic wouldn't be allowed to go through one half of one street in all of San Francisco?  This is absolutely insane!
image found here.

The Wiggle, a patchwork of bike sharrows on pavement weaving through fast car traffic & parked cars has been around for quite some time.  The only reason why someone on a bike would take this route is because it's geographically convenient, and not because the city makes it any easier to ride through it safely. In an effort to remedy this issue, the SFMTA started the long arduous process of making some changes to the street to accomodate the thousands of people that walk and bike through the area every day.

According to Streetsblog, "A major feature of the planned Wiggle upgrades is a large sidewalk bulb-out which would physically block drivers from entering southbound Scott at Fell Street. That would reduce the car traffic on Scott, which runs one block parallel to Divisadero, that degrades the livability of the neighborhood and congests the intersection at Haight." The other part of the plan would divert traffic on Divisidero Street from taking a left turns onto Haigh Street.  After two years of planning, community input, the project was halted because a few merchants who weren't paying attention started screaming at the 11th hour.

Stop a car from doing a car thing?  Are you insane?  Leave the deterring to pedestrians and cyclists thankyouverymuch.
Image found here.

SFMTA's timeline is very similar to other projects that have gone through copeous amounts of community input, engineering and planning, then squelched by a few car loving merchants.  The Polk Street bike plan was changed at the 11th hour to accommodate the Mayor's Optometrist's desire for side car storage.  The Oak/Fell bike lanes were delayed to add more magical free parking on SF Streets.  Removing 57 parking spaces from a pedestrian and bike path in the Marina was also delayed so the Parks & Rec department could fullfill their clear duty to preserve as much car storage as possible.  This even works for coffee shop owners who want to keep two bus stops on the same block for their own personal gain. 

The SFMTA claims this was part of their timeline all along and part of the natural SF process:

Tuesday, June 11, 2013, 5:00 pm to 8:30 pm

Wiggle Neighborhood Green Corridor Community Open house

Wednesday, August 28, 2013, 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm

Scott Street Traffic Calming Meeting

Tuesday, September 24, 2013, 5:00 pm to 7:30 pm

Wiggle Neighborhood Green Corridor Community Open House #2

Wednesday, January 22, 2014, 5:00 pm to 7:30 pm

Wiggle Neighborhood Green Corridor Community Open House #3

Friday, January 17, 2014, 5:59 pm

View the proposals for the Wiggle Neighborhood Green Corridor

Friday, March 20, 2015, 6:06 pm

Show your support for the Wiggle Neighborhood Green Corridor!

Monday, March 23, 2015, 7:00 pm

Wiggle Neighborhood Green Corridor at Alamo Square Neighborhood Association Meeting

Friday, April 3, 2015, 10:00 am

Engineering Public Hearing, April 3, 2015

May - 11th Hour
Merchant Anger, Screaming & Delay 

June - TBD
Water down and negate project scope to appease merchants
  

The LoHaMNA (Lower Haight Neighbors and Merchants Association) sounded the 11th hour alarm after they heard that a vehicle wouldn't have unfettered access to all the streets of San Francisco.  A few equally important and long winded acryonym groups then followed suit. 

The PfCoESoSF (People for Cars on Every Street of San Francisco) and MWaAfSbKECT(Merchants Who are All for Safety but Keep Every Car Thing) all have voiced their concern and distain over this safety project that's been years in the making.

It's pefectly fine to limit pedestrians and bikers, but by no means can you limit a motorist's right to drive on any street, ever.

One MWaAfSbKECT member said, "Look, it's ok to demolish entire communities for city stroads like Geary Boulevard, place parking on every street in the city, but you can't ever divert traffic off any of them.  It's just assinine."  When asked about the safety benefits of having fewer cars on the roads near pedestrians and bikers, they just stared blankly for a few seconds and then proceeded to discuss much needed parking and traffic lanes.  He also went on to say, "and just think what could happen if people get this ridiculous idea that a car doesn't belong everywhere?"

Building areas like Masonic & Geary that cater exclusively to cars is fine.  Diverting traffic off one street in SF is absolutely forbidden.  Ask any merchant aka "traffic engineer".

The SFMTA expects to come back with a watered down, visionless Wiggle design sometime in June. 

Save Polk Street Crowd Still OK With Murderous Street Design

"Accidents happen.  If only there was something we could do.  Oh, we can?  No thanks. " - Save Polk Street
image courtesy of Folks for Polk

With its slog of parking spaces and wide speed lanes, Polk Street has been a Detroit dream for decades. It's enough to make the Michelin Man weep with joy. An average of 2-3 ped/cyclist are struck per month, making it one of the 6% of SF corridors classified as "high-injury". Some people like Folks for Polks argue that since 85% of people get to Polk Street through transit, walking, or biking that they shouldn't have to suffer the wrath of the 15% of motorists that blow through it.

A group crowds around an injured person to explain why parking is so critical to Polk Street's 15%
image courtesy of Folks for Polk

The Save Polk Street Crowd has been fuming at the idea of losing 18% of parking spots on Polk Street, but perfectly comfortable losing human life.  The livid crowd would discuss revenue losses that have yet to happen on more equitable streets.  People like Folks for Polk have argued that revenue increases on streets that actually cater to people's safety and well-being.  They have also argued that building a bike lane not only promotes safe biking but it also slows down cars which also saves pedestrians from injury and death.  The Save Polk crowd said logic has no place when it comes to parking a car.

Dawn Trennert looking insanely receptive to the safety concerns of the 85% of people who get to Polk by mass transit, walking or biking
Image courtesy of  Folks for Polk https://twitter.com/FolksForPolk

During a Final final final final Polk Street redesign project, a SFMTA representative broke down and allegedly (*wink *wink) asked the "Save Polk Street" group, "So are you all just comfortable with a street that WILL eventually kill people?"

Save Polk Crowd - *silence*

SFMTA - "Come on we're all trying to skirt around this question.  Now do you want a design that is safe for everyone?"

S.P.C. - "Yes, of course do"

SFMTA - "ok so we remove about 18% of the parking only along Polk.  You'll still have ALL the parking on every side street, adjacent street, and in the underutilized parking garages"

S.P.C. - "Noooooooo!!!  We need that parking!"

SFMTA - "You JUST said you want safe streets."

S.F.C. - "Absolutely, but don't remove this parking"

SFMTA - "We're not magicians.  You can't have a complete street where everyone is safe with this level of parking."

S.F.C. - *dead silence* *cough* *mumbling*  "Well we don't really know if someone will die, right?"

SFMTA - "I can assure you that it's a statistical certainty.  It happens every year or more."

S.F.C - "but we don't know who it would be or when, right?"

SFMTA - "Is that comforting to you?"

S.F.C. - *silence*

SFMTA - "Well this has been a shitshow.  I hope to never see you harbingers of death again."

The SFMTA representative left along with their faith in humanity.

Save Polk Street skirting around safety issues and focusing on more pressing factors of driving your car to your business and parking right in front of it.

Video courtesy of  folks@folksforpolk.org

Folks for Polk continues to try to draw attention to the deaths and injuries on this corridor that will undoubtedly happen again.  They will continue to be met with dead eyes, blank stares and angry chants from the Save Polk Street crowd that refuse to acknowledge simple statistics, physics and geometry.  Save Polk recently focused their attention on the Van Ness BRT in hopes to keep that a car clogged nightmare to promote business as well.  So far the city of SF has been very receptive to the parking wishes of the Save Polk street even if it collides with their Vision Zero campaign.

"Save a sliver of parking for a few broken pedestrians and cyclists every year so we can park in front of our business?  I guess that's just the price we have to pay" - Save Polk Street
Image found here