What are the rules?

From The Wall, a local chatboard:

I just got back from UCSF where paramedics brought my daughter after a cyclist crashed into her as he speedily tried to pass her on her bike. She ended up with a fractured arm, a bloody nose and many cuts and bruises (no apology from the cyclist---he just seemed annoyed and anxious to go home to put ice on his elbow). And I'd just signed a petition for Healthy Saturdays thinking this would be so much safer than my own neighborhood! Seems I saw more than a few close calls of speeding racing bikers almost knocking over slower cyclists and roller-bladers. What are the rules? My daughter was just riding along slowly, and he approached her at racing speed from behind.

It's a Darwinian world on the streets of the city, with motor vehicles intimidating cyclists, cyclists intimidating pedestrians---and, evidently, other cyclists---and both intimidating pedestrians. Many in the cycling community often travel at unsafe speeds, and they hate to stop at stop signs. What's the hurry? I think it was Camus who pointed out that speeding is a form of violence.

Today's Hearing on UC's Land-Grab

Today's Planning Commission meeting starts at 1:30 p.m. in room 400 at City Hall, but UC's land-grab is the last item on the agenda, which means it probably won't be heard until this evening. You can watch the meeting online. See the broadcast live on Cable Channel 78, or see the re-broadcast on Friday at 8:00 p.m. on Cable Channel 26.

UC'S WRECKING BALL

Thanks to Sue Hestor, San Franciscans have a bird's-eye view of what the future will bring. Only airborne creatures will have the opportunity to enjoy our diminishing downtown views. In the heart of the city, a smaller yet deep wound is about to occur. San Francisco's second oldest college, the UC Berkeley Extension campus located at Buchanan, Haight, Laguna, and Hermann streets could be partially demolished and privatized in favor of mainly market-rate housing and retail space. The struggle to save public zoning there is about to rage. On March 15, room 400 at City Hall, the Planning Commission will hold a hearing on the Draft Environmental Impact Report on the proposed project. This will be a key opportunity for the public to weigh in on the fate of the 5.8-acre, National Register-eligible, publicly zoned campus.

Lavon Taback
San Francisco

Please sign our Petition to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to require the Planning Department to convene a Citizens Advisory Committee to evaluate the proposed privatization of the UC Berkeley Extension Laguna Street campus.

The San Francisco Planning Department is accepting public comments on the proposed UC/AF Evans/openhouse project through March 19, 2007: Send written comments to: Paul Maltzer, Environmental Review Officer, SF Planning Department, 1660 Mission Street, Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94103. A copy of the Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) titled, "55 Laguna Mixed Use Project" can be found here.