Heather Knight is "with the car-free program"
Letter to the editor today in the SF Chronicle:
Each end of the current car-free John F. Kennedy Drive may as well have a sign stating “Restricted to the young and fit,” as that is the result of the closure, limiting the ability of me and others from accessing the major attractions of Golden Gate Park.
It is not as though the closed area does not already have a bicycle lane, footpaths on either side of the road, an inline-skating area and open space for recreation. Plus, countless other areas of the park for recreation.
For those of us with mobility issues and parents with babies and toddlers, the remaining 6,320 parking spaces Heather Knight mentions are too distant for us to access the museums, etc., eliminating our ability to enjoy the major attractions and discriminating against a percentage of the population.
My bus runs only every 30 minutes, is often late or does not come.
The stop has no seating or shelter, and then I must change buses to reach the park. For older people, up to a two-hour trip each way is too exhausting.
Let’s not be selfish. Open JFK to all San Franciscans.
Suzanne Kirkham
San Francisco
Rob's comment:
From Knight's January 9 column:
Supervisors are supposed to represent the will of their constituents — and the respondents in all but one ZIP code in the city, 94132 in the southwest corner, supported the permanent closure in a just-released survey by the SFMTA and Recreation and Park Department. Nearly 10,000 people responded, and 70.4% supported keeping JFK Drive closed to cars. Groups of every income level and all races and ethnicities also supported it.
But this poll---the same poll?---tells a different story: people overwhelmingly chose the "reopen to cars" option.
The online version of the Chronicle has a more peevish hed on Knight's column: Why I’m not renewing my membership to S.F.’s de Young Museum.
See also Heather Knight and the Big Lie about the pandemic and How the Chronicle failed San Francisco.
Labels: Anti-Car, City Hall, Golden Gate Park, Heather Knight, History, Muni, Parking, SF Chronicle, Traffic in the City
posted by Rob Anderson @ 3:43 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Let’s not be selfish. CLOSE the entire length of JFK!
I am a proud member of the Fine Arts Museums AND I want most roads in a PARK (it's not a PARKing lot) to be closed so that citizens can enjoy fresh air in an increasingly car-ridden City.
My contribution/solution to this ongoing debate about cars in GG Park:
The great cities of the world don't have cars plying their way through parks that are supposed to be a respite from urban activity. The amount of car/bus traffic allowed is absurd. Have you seen the year-round weekend traffic back-ups at the 9th Ave. entrance–especially when the museums are open? Yes, some cars are trying to get to the underground garage, but many are searching for free parking spots. And they are holding up the #44 bus, which has a long cross-town route, serving people of mostly modest means and students.
Generally close the park to vehicular traffic, especially tour buses and those open-top monstrosities. (diesel/noise = serenity?), except for the 2 main north-south routes. Tourists and residents can take the 5, 7, 18, N, 33, 28, 29, 43, 44 (needs greater frequency and articulated bus) and hopefully the 6 and 21 if/when they resume to get into, alongside or near the park. If you can walk a few blocks, those are plentiful options.
Operate a free (or donation requested) frequent year-round open-sided (for easier access) electric shuttle that is well advertised and connects directly with Fulton and Arguello/Lincoln Streets (app-tracking of course a la NextBus). And yes, it can stop at the buffalo paddock.
Allow only for disabled to gain access in a controlled way, including facilitation with connecting with the aforementioned shuttle. Eliminate people parking in the park and commuting to downtown jobs. The garage has a policy of allowing for the disabled to be dropped off. If the museums are concerned with lower usage during normal times, then drop the prices.
For equipment to be delivered to places like the Polo Field — obtain a permit in advance and have an attendant at the gate to let you in. (For you Rugged Rug Bees–you can’t hike into the park to get to the Polo Fields?)
Deal with the legitimate concerns of surrounding neighborhoods being indundated by traffic by social/mass media alerts to Bay Areans and tourists thinking about coming to the park, stating that one should take transit and beef up those MUNI lines for event days, better than what has been done in the past. Have PCO's working on weekends patrolling the neighborhoods aggressively ticketing violators–responding to residents’ texts/calls and pro-actively monitoring. Assign the expected ticket revenues to support any of the above actions, as needed.
Address a certain Supervisor’s comments about parking in GGU being an equity issue for people who live in the southern portion of the City. Well, there is a very large park in that part of the City—McLaren Park, and in order for me to get to that park from the central part of SF, I would have to take 2 buses, but that's not a complaint and I’m 70 years old. The equity issue should be about people, including the disabled, their pets vs. cars and tour buses. And it's also about climate change, if anybody forgot about that. This supervisor should instead work on increasing the frequency of the 44 O'Shaughnessy bus and making it a 60 footer to accommodate the many seniors and schoolchildren who take it, as I believe he has done with the insistence on increasing the frequency of the 9 & 9R buses, which I applaud.
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