"Rob, thank you..."

A reader writes:

Rob, thank you for presenting an opposing point of view to the Bike Cartel. Leah[Shahum] responded to me stating that streets like Cesar Chavez were "traffic sewers," but of course didn't propose where to send the traffic. Punishing people out of their cars has never worked, and never will work.

Jamey Frank 
Pedestrian

Rob responds:

Thanks for the positive feedback, Jamey. As you can imagine, I get mostly negative feedback from the bike zealots. You are right to address your concerns to Supervisor Dufty, who has been completely on board for all the bike bullshit until now. And Dufty presided at the meeting described in this post. Note that the parking was taken away in front of these businesses on Market Street quickly to have the bike lanes done in time for Bike To Work Day.

Date: Sat, 8 Oct 2005

To: bevan@bevandufty.com

From: Jamey Frank

Subject: Streets are for cars and pedestrians, too

Cc: leah@sfbike.org

Bcc: Dean Piotrowski

Dear Supervisor Dufty,

We appreciate all of the hard work you are doing for our district! I wanted to express my dismay at the way the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition has been over-representing themselves to commandeer facilities and space for themselves. The Coalition is behaving more like a Cartel in my opinion, but they probably represent less an 1% of San Franciscans. I do not drive---haven't owned a car in years---but I recognize that car (and bus) traffic is vital to the operation of San Francisco, and that increasing congestion increases air pollution. But the Bikes are now having a disproportionate influence on the way the San Francisco plans and implements "solutions" to transportation. For example, the Central Freeway is no more (after THREE elections), but that wasn't good enough. Now, from Market Street motorists cannot turn on to or off Octavia Boulevard! It's fine to build a freeway ramp---just so long as no one actually USES it. That's outrageous, and it simply encourages scofflaws. 

Worse yet, I now understand that Bikes want to squeeze traffic into a single lane on Cesar Chavez Street, a major artery for traffic. Do they think traffic will simply vanish? More likely, Chavez will simply become a traffic-choked, smog-belching mess. Punishing motorists out of their cars never has worked and never will. It only further increase frustration and yellow-light running. Sometimes, I can't even cross the street on some Friday nights because of the monthly demonstrations. Nearly every day, I see cyclists rudely run stop signs, riding on the sidewalk, nearly running into my dog, then flip-off the motorists or pedestrians who had right-of-way. If they want any sympathy, try behaving with courtesy and responsibility. Try promoting a symbiotic relationship to transportation. Like I said, I don't even drive a car. But I'm tired of the Bikes pushing their self-righteous, self-serving, "politically correct" agenda on everyone. They seek only to win, not to compromise. We've even lost Trader Joe's because of that mindset. I would like major city planning initiatives to be decided by all the voters. Thank you for continuing to represent everyone, not just a vocal, very minor, minority.

Sincerely,

Jamey Frank, Pedestrian