Only misinformation can justify the Masonic bike project

Yesterday's hearing on the Masonic Avenue bike project ended with comments by the supervisors that demonstrated once again that they were basing their support for this project on misinformation about both the project itself and the overall safety of Masonic Avenue (I've analyzed the city's study of Masonic Avenue in some detail here). Apparently neither the supervisors themselves nor any of their staff have read it, since it actually shows that Masonic is now remarkably safe for everyone, especially considering the volume of traffic it carries---more than 32,000 vehicles a day.

At yesterday's hearing, some of those who made public comments and the supervisors themselves referred to well-publicized accidents that supposedly show how unsafe Masonic is. The death of Nils Linke, who was killed by a drunk driver late at night at Turk and Masonic, was referenced several times. From the SF Examiner story on the accident that killed him:  

On the night of Aug. 13, Nils Yannick Linke was riding a borrowed bicycle to go to a party at Divisadero and McAllister streets when he was struck from behind. He crashed and died from blunt-force injuries to his head, according to the recently released autopsy. Linke was not wearing a helmet.

This project wouldn't have protected Linke from that drunk driver.

Others referred to a woman who was killed when she jaywalked in front of the Trader Joes at Masonic and Geary, which isn't even in the project area.

Others referred to a pedestrian killed in a crosswalk on Masonic late at night by another drunk driver. Neither this project or any other "improvement" to Masonic can protect pedestrians from drunk drivers.

And the bike people quickly demagogued these incidents shamelessly to push this anti-car project on Masonic Avenue: here and here.

That Supervisor Breed doesn't know what she's talking about is reflected in a message from one of her aides (below in italics):

The outreach and planning for this project preceded her election to the Board of Supervisors. In fact the process started a few years before. Now that she is on the Board, she is committed to improving the process so that it takes your concerns into account.

Yes, of course the "process" to screw up Masonic Avenue for everyone but cyclists began long before Breed was elected. The Bicycle Coalition has been working on it for years, fanning political hysteria with misinformation and outright lies about the safety of the Fell/Masonic intersection and Masonic Avenue in general. Breed promised to implement the project on her campaign website, and she's following through on that promise (But what about Polk Street? She promised the SFBC she would support that bike project too, but she's been quiet like the other supervisors since neighborhood opposition is putting that "improvement" in doubt. Groupthinkers like to run in packs, even when they're running for cover).

The Masonic project is not about bike lanes. It’s about making this corridor safer for everyone...The truth is this corridor is fundamentally dangerous in its current design. Doing nothing will continue to put residents, transit riders, motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists at danger.

That's the opposite of the truth, as the city's design study---which actually has the unimpressive accident numbers---tells us. There are now very few injury accidents to either pedestrians or cyclists on Masonic Avenue. And I don't know of a single accident where a Muni passenger has been injured on Masonic. These folks are on automatic, deploying blocks of meaningless verbiage to justify the unjustifiable. The street now works well for more than 44,000 people every day---32,000 vehicles a day plus 12,000 daily passengers on the #43 line. "Doing nothing" would actually be the best thing to do.

We need to ensure that transit riders are better served by the redesigned Masonic.

This is where Breed's aide shows his ignorance---and no doubt that of his boss. There's nothing about this project that does anything to "better serve" Muni passengers on the #43 line. Nobody boarding the bus on Masonic has any problems with the current design of the street, but the "bus-bulb plazas"---see page 49 in the design study---in the project will do what was done on Divisadero: buses pulling up to bus stops will block the traffic lane behind them, trapping unwary motorists in the intersection. More importantly, taking away all the parking on Masonic will mean that those lanes will no longer be available as traffic lanes during commute hours as they are now, which will delay all the traffic on the street, including the 12,000 daily passengers on the #43.

Please bear in mind the lion’s share of the funding will come from the federal government, not city sources. 

That the city will be wasting federal money on the project doesn't make it a better project or any more acceptable. (I've heard Supervisor Chiu make the same argument for the Central Subway boondoggle: it's mostly federal money so who cares?)

Thank you for contacting us, Sherrie.

Supervisor Breed takes your concerns very seriously.

The outreach and planning for this project preceded her election to the Board of Supervisors. In fact the process started a few years before. Now that she is on the Board, she is committed to improving the process so that it takes your concerns into account.

The truth is this corridor is fundamentally dangerous in its current design. Doing nothing will continue to put residents, transit riders, motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists at danger. In the interest of public safety, Supervisor Breed chooses to move forward with this project. But in doing so, she will absolutely address your concerns and work to mitigate any negative impacts of the project.

The Masonic project is not about bike lanes. It’s about making this corridor safer for everyone. There have been several serious accidents recently and neighbors along the route pushed for changes to make it safer. Something has to be done to make it safer.

But she understands your concerns.

She drives a car and has to find parking in Lower Haight everyday (which is almost as hard as finding it in Nopa). She is working hard to offset the parking impacts. We are meeting with MTA, City College staff and others to look into:

Expanded and improved residential permit areas

Opening the Target store, blood bank, and/or John Adams college campus lots for evening parking
Changing side street parking to diagonal instead of parallel to increase spaces
Working with USF to develop programs that encourage students to bring fewer cars into the neighborhood during the day, e.g. by busing, carpooling, living closer to campus, etc.

I am optimistic that we can offset the parking losses along Masonic.

In the next few weeks we will be meeting with MTA and the Fire and Police Departments to ensure the project will not impact emergency vehicles’ access. We will also discuss all of the Target store and ADA and access issues that have been raised. We need to ensure that transit riders are better served by the redesigned Masonic.

Please bear in mind the lion’s share of the funding will come from the federal government, not city sources.

Supervisor Breed is working hard to improve safety along Masonic and make the area more hospitable for residents like you.

Conor Johnston
Office of Supervisor London Breed 415-554-6783