Fran Taylor checks in with an update on the status of the Cesar Chavez Street redesign. The short version seems to be that it’s moving forward,

One factor putting a fire beneath the usually sluggish bureaucracies is extensive sewer work scheduled for next year. City agencies realize that once Cesar Chavez has been ripped up and put back together, their opportunity will have been missed. To take advantage of the funding and heavy work that the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission will contribute to the reconfiguration of the street, the other agencies have to have their ducks in a row.

The article goes on to detail some of the proposals that are being considered. Worth reading if you’re interested in what may happen to the street, and the surrounding neighborhood.

The second rally today was the Bike Coalition’s reaction (PDF) to the announcement that the Environmental Review process of the City’s Bike Plan has fallen behind yet again.

There’s a sense that the city’s not pushing the EIR. Even though Gavin Newsom’s trying to build a reputation as a Green Mayor, there’s not been a lot of leadership on this.

There were even some mountain bike pioneers, pretty well turned out.

One of the projects I have been involved in over the last couple years is the effort to improve Cesar Chavez Street. While the street is broadly seen as a good way to blast through the Mission on the way to or from Highway 101, the reality is closer to what neighbors and some planners call a “traffic sewer.” Although it feels like a fast way to go, the experience is often something more akin to “hurry up and wait” than a smooth flow. And that’s only for cars. For everyone else, it’s worse. Biking along Cesar Chavez can be terrifying, and walking along the street only occasionally rises to unpleasant. Even crossing the street (which hundreds of elementary schoolkids do every day) is worrying.

Proposed Union Square tram station

Via green consumer porn site Inhabitat, I see that a local designer has put together a proposal for a suspended overhead tram that would take the place of the proposed Central Subway. The idea is that if you build a suspension bridge that only has to support a couple train cars, rather than hundreds of cars, you can build it more cheaply and elegantly than, say, the Bay Bridge.

Tomorrow is Drive Your Bike to Work Day.

Unlike Bike to Work Day, this event does not attempt to convince you to do something you’re not already doing (e.g. riding to work), it attempts to build awareness of the dangers inherent in doing things you may already do (e.g. putting your bike on top of your car and driving to work). In addition, it’s been certified as Not Requiring an Environmental Review Unlike that Dastardly Bike Plan.

The San Francisco MTA is holding a few meetings to update the community on the progress of the city’s Bike Plan.

CENTRAL NEIGHBORHOODS MEETING
Wednesday, May 21, 6-7:30 p.m.
SoMa Recreation Center Auditorium
270 6th Street @ Folsom Street

SOUTHEASTERN NEIGHBORHOODS MEETING
Thursday, May 22, 6-7:30 p.m.
Bayview Anna E. Warden Branch Library
5075 3rd Street

WESTERN NEIGHBORHOODS MEETING
Tuesday, June 3, 6-7:30 p.m.
Sunset Recreation Center Auditorium
2201 Lawton Street @ 28th Avenue

NORTHERN NEIGHBORHOODS MEETING
Wednesday, June 4, 6-7:30 p.m.
Golden Gate Valley Branch Library
1801 Green Street @ Octavia Street

I think these meetings are meant to enable the city to hit the ground running with the bike plan once the injunction’s lifted.

I was at the coffee shop at 7:30 to help lead a crew of newbies downtown.

District 9 Supervisor candidates Eric Quezada

and Mark Sanchez were there

we rode to 17th & Valencia, and it was quite pleasant

When we got there, the Energizer Station was mobbed.

Chris Daly was there to welcome us to District 6

This woman was riding to work for the first time. She had tried riding before, but got scared, and she figured that having other people to ride with would make her safer.

Here, her new bike buddy gives her a card, so she can get some commuting help.

I just got a press release from the Bicycle Coalition stating that there were twice as many bikes as cars this morning heading east at Market and Van Ness. That’s huge.

TWICE AS MANY BIKES AS CARS ON MARKET STREET
Bay Area’s First Spare the Air Day and Rising Gas Prices Boost Biking Numbers

(SAN FRANCISCO, CA) —There were twice as many bicycles as cars headed downtown on San Francisco’s Market Street on the 14th annual Bike to Work Day. Bicyclists made up 64% of the eastbound traffic at Market St. & Van Ness Ave., while motorists comprised 32% between 8am and 9am today. (The remainder was transit vehicles and taxis). This is a nearly 31% increase over the number of people biking last year on Bike to Work Day. The counts were taken by the Municipal Transportation Agency.

Tomorrow is Bike to Work Day in San Francisco. I’ll be riding with the Bike Bus from Nervous Dog Coffee on Mission at 30th, at around 7:30am.

Last year more cyclists than cars passed the intersection of Market and Valencia. This year the tremendous weather, in addition to the increased interest in cycling will likely mean a significant rise in the number of people riding to work in SF, and the Bay Area in general.

I don’t say this very often, but Matt Smith wrote a good article in the Weekly last week. Refraining from labeling something a sacred cow simply for the sheer pleasure of goring it, he writes something that, I think, resonates with cyclists:

But there’s a significant difference in the ways cyclists inconvenience motorists by disobeying traffic laws, and the ways motorists routinely threaten cyclists’ lives by doing the same. I’ve driven hundreds of thousands of miles, and never once felt personally endangered by the behavior of a cyclist. While I’m sure there are people out there who experience the roads differently, I think this is significant. Meanwhile, I’ve ridden my bike tens of thousands of miles, and find my life threatened by a law-breaking motorist nearly every day.

Now I know there are those who complain about cyclists on the sidewalk (and often with cause), but I am pretty confident cars are more of a risk to pedestrians than cyclists, and the numbers bear this out.