San Francisco Bicycle Advisory Committee

Minutes of the Meeting on May 24, 2007

Members Present:

Andy Bindman, District 1
Richard Tilles, District 2
Susan King, District 5
Hitesh Soneji , District 6
Bert Hill, Chair, District 7
Jerry Ervin, District 8
Casey Allen, District 11 (arrived at 7:30)

Introduction

Meeting was called to order at 6:48 pm.
Marc Brandt, the upcoming District 3 representative, was present. He has passed the Rules Committee and will come before the full Board next week.

Public Comment

Andy Thornley of the SF Bicycle Coalition commented about recent activities of the SFBC:
The first “Healthy Saturday” is scheduled for May 26. This involves closing JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park between Tea Garden Drive and Transverse Drive.
There was a bike tour of District 6. Especially interesting was the new Mission Bay Development where there is potential to make the area more bicycle friendly than currently planned. Increased coordination with UCSF and developers is required.
The SFBC is also working with the SFPD’s outreach program to make bicyclists more aware of regulations and to provide citations that lead to education rather than fines.

Critical Mass

Hitesh Soneji went on the critical mass of April 25, which had increased police and DPT presence. He said the officers had a calming influence that led to a peaceful and enjoyable ride.
Richard Tilles related the conversation he had with Commander Steven Tacchini who confirmed that the ride was successful. There were 11 incidents involving the police, none of which led to citations. Seven of those were probably caused by frustrated drivers. He also said that the police-facilitated rides prior to 1997 involved over 100 officers, a number that could not be matched at this time due to staffing shortages.
Soneji prepared a resolution thanking the police for their efforts on the ride. After some discussion, it was decided to approve the resolution without a paragraph inserted by Tilles that called for the police to consider facilitated rides when staffing increased. The resolution passed unanimously.

TDA Funding

A second resolution called for support of the MTA’s application for Transportation development Act funding for activities not restricted by the current injunction, including planning and engineering. The resolution passed unanimously.

Bicycle Plan EIR

Oliver Gajda of the MTA presented an update on the EIR activities. MTA has met with City Planning and a public scoping meeting is scheduled for June 26^th at 101 Grove Street. Rana Amadi is working for MTA as a liaison to City Planning for environmental review as was introduced to the BAC. MTA is responsible for the Plan while Planning is responsible for the EIR.
Andy Bindman asked what the Committee would be reviewing during this process and what was involved every time there was a change to the Plan.
Amadi said that changes prior to EIR certification would require approval by the MTA Board. Afterwards, Planning would determine if any changes were major enough to require further environmental analysis. The EIR does not need to go back to the Board of Supervisors.
Chairman Hill asked when the BAC would be reviewing the document. Gajda said within the year, but not immediately.
Jerry Ervin asked how level of service would be analyzed – just for motor vehicles? Amadi said that was the currently established system; a meeting to expand it to other modes was delayed from May to June.
Amadi said that the main problem with the previous EIR was that it did not adequately address cumulative impacts. Susan King wondered why it was so important for the bicycle plan and not for the Golden Gate Park Concourse projects.
Hill asked if there would be adequate notice of the scoping meeting. Amadi said that all relevant organizations would be contacted along with advertisements. Over 2,000 persons are currently in the bike plan mailing list.
Hill asked that the BAC establish an EIR task force and that Tilles head the Task Force.

Task Force Reports

King spoke about persons being denied access to the bike room at City Hall and the lack of secure bike parking at 850 Bryant and 400 McAllister courthouses. Gajda said that by law all city buildings must have secure bike parking – though obviously some are not complying. Tilles mentioned that visitors to City Hall could park in the Civic Center garage.
Hill said that the MTA should inform City Planning on proper bike racks – those with outdated designs are being used to satisfy the legal requirements in buildings and garages.
Casey Allen said that he attended a very productive meeting on traffic calming on Holloway.

MTA Report

Gajda handed out written reports on work by the MTA’s Bicycle Program.

SFBC Reports

Thornley spoke about a very successful Bike to Work Day on May 17^th. For the first known time, bicycles outnumbered motor vehicles on Market Street at Van ness on BTW day. Six supervisors and the Mayor rode to City Hall and a number of problems such as poor paving on Arguello and misdirected sprinklers on the Panhandle were noted.
It was noted that there is no way to cross Market Street to get from the Duboce bikeway to Duboce Street. Gajda said this was a real signal timing problem but that MTA would look into it further.
Gajda brought the Committee up-to-date on testing of colored pavements in the DPW yard.