San Francisco Bicycle Advisory Committee

Minutes of the Meeting on April 24th

Members Present:

• Andy Bindman, District 1
• Richard Tilles, District 2
• Susan King, District 5
• Jake Wegmann, District 6
• Jerry Ervin, District 8
• Mark Hotsenpiller, District 9
• Rufus Davis, District 10
• Casey Allen, District 11

Introduction

• Meeting was called to order at 6:45 pm by Vice-Chairman Davis
• Approval of the minutes from the March meeting was deferred until the May meeting.
• Two new members were introduced:  Mr. Wegmann from District 6 and Mr. Hotsenpiller from District 9.  The only vacancy now is in District 4.

Public Comment

• Sylvia Dodson complained about poor signage on Muni
• Steve Cartall complained about excessive double-parking on Upper Market where he recently noted six cars parked in the bike lane.  He said that these are not being ticketed and that random enforcement by would be very effective.
• Casey Allen and Susan King suggested that he contact his Supervisor directly as this was the best way to get action.
• Jane Martin of 23^rd and Harrison noted that the draft Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP) recommends that the bus routes currently on Bryant and Folsom be moved to Harrison Ave.  Since this is a narrow street with bike lanes, she believed that this would cause inappropriate conflict between bikes and buses.
• Rufus Davis said that BAC members should review the TEP for potential bus/bike conflicts in their districts and asked Dustin White of SFMTA to respond to Ms. Martin’s comments.
• White said that the MTA Bike Program is aware of the Harrison conflict and that it was the only example of buses being rerouted to a bike route street.  However, there are other bike routes where increased bus service is recommended. 
• Richard Tilles noted that increased bus activity could also be a problem for bicyclists.
• Greg Hayes said that the City Attorney filed a request for exemption from the bike plan injunction for safety problems at Masonic/Fell and Market/Octavia intersections.  This will be ruled by the court on April 29^th. He requested that members contact their Supervisors to see if they would support a more far-reaching exemption for safety-related improvements.
• Susan King said that there really was not much that could happen in the short term – Prop. A foreclosed the option of having the Bike Plan avoid CEQA.  In the longer term we should work to reconstitute Level-of-service as currently defined by CEQA as applying only to vehicles.
• Davis said that we should wait to see what happens with the court on April 29^th before deciding what to do next.
• Casey Allen said that it is important that CEQA be modified and that the BAC should become part of the process.

Chairman’s Report

• There was no Chairman’s report since Chairman Hill was not present.

Committee Reports

• Rufus Davis said that Home Depot will not be developing the Goodman’s Lumber site.
• Allen said that we should go out and see the landscaping improvements that are supplementing the existing bike lanes on Alemany.
• Jake Wegmann said that new bike lanes are being proposed in west SOMA.
• King said that the new SFPark system for variable parking pricing could be rolled out in the Fall.  This will include parking meters that cannot be used for bike parking.  Therefore, it will be very important to get more bike racks on the sidewalks – racks that are currently prohibited by the bike plan injunction.
• She mentioned that FixMasonic has petitioned to have the speed limit on Masonic reduced from 30 to 25 mph.  Also, she has been making counts of bikes and peds crossing Masonic at Fell Street.

MTA Bike Program Report

• Dustin White delivered the report in Oliver Gajda’s absence.
• The Bike Plan EIR Transportation Study should be completed in May, with a full draft out in the Fall.
• There will be public meetings in various parts of the city on May21/22 and June3/4.
• He handed out policy framework changes and requested comments at the next BAC meeting. Allen is heading up a subcommittee to include Tilles and Wegmann regarding review of the policy framework changes.
• There will be an all-day bike sharing forum on May 3.
• He said that the no-right-turn sign on Shrader St. leading into Fell Street has been removed at the request of the residents.  This could pose a problem for bicyclists exiting the Panhandle bike path.
• Bike to Work Day is May 15 and Allen suggested that members contact their supervisors to ride with them to City Hall.
• May 30 is date for issuing draft Bike Report Card report.

Muni Islands on Market Street

• Javad Mirabel of MTA presented proposed changes to the Market Street Muni platforms and surrounding areas to improve bike and ped safety. This includes a 10 mph speed limit, a ‘don’t walk’ sign at the platform fence openings to discourage jaywalkers, moving back the stop line to create an area for bicyclists to queue in from to vehicles and ‘dots’ to alert vehicles that get near the island..  They would also consider a ‘rumble strip’ in the vehicle lane to slow traffic.  Four locations would be used for a pilot project.
• Allen said that ‘dots’ are a problem to bicyclists though Mirabel said they would not be in the bike lane.  Allen said that safe posts are a better solution.
• Mark Hotsenpiller asked where the four pilot projects would be located but Mirabel said that no decision has been made on that.

Adjournment

• The meeting adjourned at 8:50 PM.