Special interest groups, City Hall using pandemic to push anti-car agenda

Anti-car special interest groups---Walk SF, the California Bicycle Coalition, the SF Bicycle Coalition, and Streetsblog---are using the pandemic to further their pro-bike, anti-car agenda on city streets.

Dave Snyder---who was head of the SF Bicycle Coalition for eleven years---is now head of the California Bicycle Coalition.

From his recent fund-raising message:

“Never let a good crisis go to waste,” said Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s Chief of Staff, in 2008, as that recession deepened. The COVID-19 crisis is bringing to light many weaknesses in our systems—including in our transportation system. And people are more open to transformative change than they have been in decades...

Despite the difficulties and tragedies of this pandemic, we don’t want to return to “normal” after this crisis is over. “Normal” killed nearly 4,000 Californians every year in traffic crashes. “Normal” obscured beautiful views with pollution, and afflicted thousands of Californians with asthma and other pollution-related diseases...

The City of San Francisco is using the pandemic to implement anti-car projects it couldn't normally do, and it's doing that with a dubious legal haste and without public input because, you understand, this is an emergency! (plug in Rahm Emmanuel quote here):

SFMTA provides some bullshit as justification:

Beginning the week of April 20, some streets will be closed to through vehicle traffic to prioritize walking or biking and to provide more space for social distancing during essential travel. Sometimes it is difficult to maintain social distance, especially outside of grocery stores and other essential services. 

Because of this, many pedestrians are choosing to walk in the street, exposing themselves to vehicle traffic. The SFMTA is implementing the Slow Streets program to allow roadways to be used more as a shared space for foot, bicycle and wheelchair traffic, taking advantage of low vehicle numbers on some roads...

I'm out on city streets every day to shop for groceries and/or take a walk, and I rarely see people walking in streets so they can practice social distancing. 

I've never seen people lined up in the street outside grocery stores. Whole Foods, for example, at Haight and Stanyan often has a line of customers that goes from the parking lot onto the sidewalk without endangering anyone. At the Lucky market at Masonic and Fulton where I often shop, customers have never lined up outside the store.

From Grist on New York where some streets are closed:

I confess that walking down the middle of the street during my daily stroll, and seeing others do the same, gives me a quiet thrill. What if New York City streets were like this all the time — spaces for people first and cars second?

Because, you know, people don't drive those cars, and those who do won't be fully human until they start riding bikes and joining the anti-car movement.

SF Chronicle columnist Heather Knight supports the anti-car opportunists:

But like with any crisis, some good has emerged. And before we rush to get back to normal — which frankly won’t ever quite happen — we should consider the positive parts of shelter-in-place that are worth fighting to keep.

Closing city streets is at the top of her list! Knight routinely uses anti-car lobbying sources for stories.

She quotes Jeffrey Tumlin approvingly:

Jeffrey Tumlin, executive director of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, said the city’s “slow streets” program — which closes some neighborhood streets to through traffic — has received 95% support. “There’s going to be an entire generation of kids who learned to ride a bike and be an expert skateboarder as a result of this crisis,” Tumlin said. “The complaints are about, ‘Why haven’t you done this in my neighborhood yet?’” Tumlin said he’s shutting streets as quickly as his sign shop can print closure signs.

"95% support" from who exactly? No need to practice ordinary journalism by citing a source because this is an emergency!

And we must use the pandemic to get the city's children on bikes, which has long been city policy: Whereas $564,460 to get kids on bikes.

Never mind that experts, including the Centers for Disease Control, tell us riding a bike is the most dangerous thing children can do, as reported in the Chronicle itself: "Bicycling was No.1 for 8- to 11-year-olds, and it was the only [injury]activity to be in the top five for kids of all ages." The Chronicle buried that sentence under this deceptive hed: "Basketball, football top youth injury list."

See also the American Association of Neurological Surgeons telling us that cycling accidents cause the most traumatic brain injuries in children and adults.

As I've pointed out, the Chronicle also never did a single story on that UC study on cycling injuries in San Francisco.

See also BikeThink: The ideology of bicycles.