Vision Zero and reality 2

Last Sunday Hoodline posted a story on Vision Zero informing readers that so far Vision Zero has had zero effect on traffic fatalities in San Francisco (‘Vision Zero’ Has Yet To Reduce San Francisco Traffic Fatalities). This is not news, since Brian Goebel broke the story on KQED back on January 1, and I blogged about his story later that month.

That Hoodline story got 210 comments, showing that people in SF are very much concerned---and often skeptical---about what City Hall is up to (See also the comments to yesterday's Examiner story on night parking meters).

In one of my comments, I linked a 2010 MTA document (New York City’s Pedestrian Safety Study and San Francisco Data) that puts city traffic fatalities in historical perspective.

Look in particular at pages 4-7 where there are numbers for traffic fatalities in SF from 1915 through 2008. During that time there's been a dramatic drop in traffic fatalities here, since it wasn't uncommon for there to be more than 100 deaths a year on city streets through the 1960s.

The main reason pedestrian fatalities in SF remain relatively high: people walk a lot more in San Francisco than they do in other cities (see pages 10-12).

See this Vision Zero document, page 2.

Thea Selby no longer on HSR board

Just now catching up with the news that District 5's Thea Selby is no longer on the High-Speed Rail's board of directors. Appointed to the board two years ago, Selby was replaced/resigned in January. 

Maybe she needs more time to work on the Silly Bunny project here in District 5. Or maybe she's going to run for District 5 Supervisor again. Selby got the Bay Guardian's endorsement for supervisor in 2012, and the Chronicle endorsed her successful campaign for City College trustee in 2014.

Van Jones makes a comeback

There of course are often second acts in American lives. The career of Van Jones, a former Bay Area activist, is proof of that. Dumped early in the Obama administration for calling Republicans "assholes" and for signing a 9/11 "truther" petition in 2004, Jones has now re-emerged as a left liberal commentator on CNN.