San Francisco Bicycle Advisory Committee

Minutes of the Meeting on October 22, 2009

Members Present:

Richard Tilles, District 2
Bert Hill, District 7 (Chairman)
Jerry Ervin, District 8
Rachel Ebora, District 9
Rufus Davis, District 10
Casey Allen, District 11

Introduction

Meeting was called to order at 6:45 PM by Chairman Hill
Minutes from the September meeting were approved.
Because of the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, the next meeting will be held in early December. Chairman Hill will announce the date.

Public Comment

Magnus Barber told of being cut-off by a taxi driver. Wanting to file a complaint, he was directed to various agencies and was not able to do so. Damon Curtis of SFMTA said that the taxi commission was now under the MTA and that he would look into the process for complaint filing.

Committee Member Reports

Rufus Davis said that Sophie Maxwell has been asked by the SFBC to identify potential locations for bicycle boulevards in District 10.
Richard Tilles described his impressions of the traffic calming trial in the Presidio. He said that the closing of Crissy Field Avenue was good for bicyclists and could eventually provide a 2-way path for bicycles from the Golden Gate Bridge to Crissy Field. The closure of Presidio Boulevard might not be good for bicyclists since it has moved some of its traffic further into the Presidio where more bicycles are present. He hopes to have some hard data for the next meeting.
Ariella Hyman, who will become the District 1 representative, described a moving memorial bike ride for a Bay Area bicyclists killed in Cleveland.

Chairman’s Report

Chairman Hill said that we now have a vacancy in District 6.
Hill met with the new police Chief Gascon and was encouraged by his interest in bicycling and desire to improve the accuracy of reports on bike accidents.
The bike practice area in Golden Gate Park will eventually be phased out to make way for a skateboard park and farmer’s market. A substitute site is needed.

SFMTA Report

Damon Curtis delivered the report and handed out written information.
He noted that November 2 is the date for arguments to end the bike plan injunction. The City’s tactic is to argue for ending the injunction and not decide the underlying EIR lawsuit.
He said that the results of the August bicycle counts will be published in November. The overall results show an 8 ½ percent increase of 2008. Hill said that these numbers are a little disappointing after major increases in the two preceding years. Curtis said that the lack of bike improvements may account for this – plus the fact that percent increases usually get smaller as absolute numbers increase. Tilles also noted that the big increase in gas prices occurred in 2007/2008 and that these accounted for much of the increase. Tilles also said that the one-day count provides very shaky data (weather may enter into the results) and that automated counters providing continuous data are much more valuable. Curtis agreed and noted that the SFMTA will be getting more counters to provide better data.
Davis asked about ARRA funding applications and Curtis said that would probably go for bike sharing.

Task Force Reports

· Mariana Parreiras of the BART Access Task Force e-mailed her report because she was taking a midterm exam at UC Berkeley. The main points of the report concerned a $250K grant for a BART bike plan and conversion to self-service at the Embarcadero bike station.

San Francisco Urban Riders

· Daniel Schneider, Executive Director of SF Urban Riders made a presentation to the Committee. Julie Bates, a Board Member of the organization was also present.

· Schneider described the organization as an SFBC for off-road riding in the parks. They focus on getting inner-city kids onto bicycles.

· Current projects include clearing trails in Mt. Sutro and in McLaren Park. They are particularly interested in developing a bike skills area in McLaren Park near the golf course entrance.

· They would also like to develop an off-road course in Golden Gate Park on currently seldom-used trails near Fulton Street.

· Davis suggested that they talk to Supervisor Maxwell regarding McLaren Park.

· Hill said the Committee was impressed with their presentation and should stay in touch with the BAC and let us know if they needed our support for their activities.