Townsend Means Bicycles Begin

Making sure to capitalize on the momentum, today the City of San Francisco started striping the first of the, tragically, delayed bike plan lanes at Townsend and 4th St. I hear the Mayor was there, as were several other notable folk (I was not among them). It is only a symbolic start, just a few feet long, but it is the beginning of a lot of painting.

Cameron and Úna were the first kids to be observed on the lane, and just to make it an official San Francisco bicycle lane, they were stopped by the first person to double park in it.

I am really looking forward to the day that the kids will be able to get all the way across San Francisco in a bicycle lane. They may not be the safest form of infrastructure available to us, but they are the beginning of the change we all really want to see.

San Francisco Is Having A Very Good Week!

After way too long, with too much wasted money and time, the bicycle injunction that has been the albatross around the neck of two wheeled San Franciscans is done! Bring on the lanes, bring on the traffic calming, bring on the bicycle parking!!

The Wicked Ol' Witch at last is dead! (and she took that crappy Prop 8 BS with her, too!)

"San Francisco Superior Court Judge Peter J. Busch issued an order late this afternoon finding San Francisco in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, in seeking to implement its Bicycle Plan citywide. The ruling effectively dissolves an injunction that continued to prohibit City engineers from moving forward on some planned bicycle route improvements intended to enhance the safety and usability of streets for bicyclists. A previous order from Nov. 2009 lifted significant portions of the original 2006 injunction, but left limited restrictions intact while the adequacy of environmental review for certain projects was adjudicated.


"I am very gratified by the ruling from Judge Busch, who carefully considered an enormous amount of evidence in this case, and found that the City met its environmental review requirements," said City Attorney Dennis Herrera. "Today's decision clears an important hurdle toward making San Francisco safer for bicyclists, and healthier for all of us. I am very thankful to the many dedicated public servants involved in this policy initiative and meeting the stringent legal requirements to fulfill it, including Mayor Gavin Newsom and the Board of Supervisors, the Municipal Transportation Agency, and the Planning Department."

The case is: Coalition for Adequate Review et al. v. City and County of San Francisco, San Francisco Superior Court No. 505-509, filed July 28, 2005. A copy of the order is available on the City Attorney's Web site at http://www.sficityattorney.org/." (press release from City Attorney Dennis Herrera's office- Via Streetsblog)

Greenology.

Here is our Change Your Life, Ride a Bike - post for riding on the greeway.

June 28-July 18: New Territory
* Ride a greenway

3 out of 4 from this blog (the 3 here in San Francisco) ride this path quite often. It has been the first step on (insert potentially long city-wide politics injunction here) moving forward with a friendlier pedestrian + cycling San Francisco.

At any rate, here are our photos. We have all (synchronized, not kidding) immediately texted each other the second we came across this. And since then, riding on the green lanes, makes you wonder - how come the whole city is not painted like this.
In the meantime, here are some of our green pictures.

So you can imagine the thrill. Here are some pictures of this green milestone. Cheers!

I recently talked to one of my favorite baristas around town. He was telling me about the time (long before the blogesphere) when he visited his boyfriend in the ealry 90s in Europe, they had such easy routes for people on bikes, he said he biked there all the time. What happened when he returned to the city?, I asked.He is a San Franciscan and told me that since then, he has not ridden a bike much. I have been keeping him posted on the Sunday Street dates and he has had tons of fun with them. I asked if he was scared of everyday traffic, he said he was hit by a car shortly after his European trip, and that since then he became a happy pedestrian. Anyways, thought I'd share that story.

'you taking a picture of me and the frenchie?!'


smelly you

bus. bikes. only.

One Block At A Time

San Francisco just got its first separated bike lane. It is on Market Street. It is one block long. When first I heard of it, I was terribly unimpressed. A single block. Meh. Then I saw that it was put on one of the stretches that bothers the crap out of me every time I ride on it- it is a stretch that always has mail vans and UPS trucks double parked in it! Hah! Double park on that!

So while I want more, at least we get this for now!