Second Street and Vision Zero: Suspicions confirmed

Willie Brown writes about the "improvements" the city has made on Second Street:

If you think traffic in downtown San Francisco has actually gotten worse since the Super Bowl, you may well be right.

The planners at the Municipal Transportation Agency have decided to ban left turns along Second Street, effectively cutting off access from the Financial District to one of the key feeders onto the Bay Bridge.

The result has been gridlock during the evening commute, with backups on Battery Street extending all the way past Broadway on some nights.

The transportation agency got the message from locals that Second from Market to King streets should be a “primary pedestrian, bicycle and transit throughfare,” says spokesman Paul Rose, explaining the latest in a series of traffic reconfigurations intended to make the city’s streets safer.

From what I see, if the traffic czars really wanted to make the streets safer, they would do something about all the motorized scooters, skateboards and unicycles that are ripping through traffic and along sidewalks at unsafe speeds.

Meanwhile, car drivers should watch out for the cops. I spied five motorcycle officers lined up at Second and Harrison streets the other evening, all pulling over bewildered motorists who had made newly illegal left turns.

Of course, the drivers shouldn’t expect any sympathy from City Hall. Most of those tickets are going to commuters headed to the East Bay. They don’t vote here, so as far as City Hall is concerned, they don’t count.

Rob's comment:
And how's the Vision Zero campaign going? Surely after all those "improvements" to city streets, everyone is a lot safer, right? 

Even the transportation reporter for the Chronicle reports that it's not true in a front page story: Deaths in S.F. traffic not falling despite Vision Zero efforts.

Call it "art"

From the NY Times: Columbia Students Protest a Henry Moore Sculpture.

Yes, that's pretty bad, but it's no worse than this:

Photo: Russell Yip, SF Chronicle

...this:

...this

...or this:

Divisadero Corridor

Check out Kathy Drasky's photo blog, Divisadero Corridor, which also provides links for local businesses and activities.

Thanks to Hoodline.