Fell, Oak Streets SFgo Signs Are Down and Out

From this ....on Fell Street

to this...all that remains of Fell Street Sfgo sign

Early Saturday morning the SFMTA removed the much-maligned SFgo "freeway-style signs" from Fell and Oak Streets near Divisadero. A contracting firm lifted, dismantled, and drove the sign standards to storage at the City Yard on Rankin Street. Neighbors in the North Panhandle and Alamo Square districts strongly objected to the placement of the "message display boards" (SFMTA's preferred description) nearly as soon as they were erected last summer, as noted in this first SFgo post last August. NOPNA and Alamo Square Neighborhood Association (ASNA) representatives worked with Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi's office and with SFMTA Traffic Engineer Jack Fleck and his staff to negotiate the removal of the SFgo signs.

"This is a great day for the neighborhood," cheered former NOPNA President Leela Gill when told of the sign removal Saturday morning. Gill and many other neighbors objected to the SFgo posts for several reasons as outlined in previous BIKE NOPA posts. Residents felt the design of the signs -- so similar to freeway message boards, if not the same size -- would give drivers one more visual cue that fast driving is expected. Others also felt the signs were completely counter to the revitalization of the Divisadero Corridor still underway through the neighborhoods. Most recently, the city capped the street lights along Divisadero to give a softer glow and more attractive look -- in stark contrast to the previous cobra-head design lights and the SFgo standards as well.

The Oak Street sign was abandoned by SFMTA relatively early during the protests, but the Fell Street sign was erected partly to advise motorists heading toward Golden Gate Park museums when the Concourse Authority garage is full. Inner Sunset residents have been frustrated by the traffic congestion as museum-goers sought street parking in their neighborhood. Supervisor Mirkarimi's office expects to negotiate a plan involving SFMTA, the neighborhood associations, and representatives from the Concourse Authority, the Academy of Sciences, and the deYoung Museum to place an experimental, portable street-level message board to advise motorists where to seek alternative parking when the Concourse garage is full.

A personal note: Thank you to Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi and his aides Vallie Brown and Jeremy Pollock for their research, receptivity to the neighborhoods, and persuasion with SFMTA on the SFgo issue. Thanks also to SFMTA staff: Jack Fleck and SFgo Program Manager Cheryl Liu and Assistant Manager Cathal Hennessey for their responsiveness and willingness to find alternative solutions. And, most importantly, to everyone from the Alamo Square and North Panhandle neighborhoods who signed petitions, attended meetings, and sent emails to have the SFgo signs removed. Much appreciation to this morning's "eyes on the street", Christian Nguyen, who alerted BIKE NOPA of the SFgo action.

Supervisor Mirkarimi Proposes Pilot Project for Fell Street Traffic Management

Fell sign to be replaced by street-level, portable display sign

Oak Street sign not needed, city looking to store it

A street-level, portable message board will replace the freeway-style SFgo sign on Fell Street in a pilot project proposed by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi. The project is expected to be a joint undertaking by the MTA, the Concourse Authority, the Academy of Sciences, and the de Young Museum with input and monitoring from the Recreation and Parks Department and nearby neighbors. The trail effort will address the traffic congestion caused by museum-goers travelling by car who seek alternative parking when the Concourse garage is full.

Representatives from the Golden Gate Park institutions, the MTA, Recreation and Parks, and west-side neighborhood associations met at City Hall January 29^th in a meeting organized by Mirkarimi’s office. (Note: NOPNA, ASNA, and Cole Valley were present; I was one of two NOPNA representatives). Following a review of current efforts to deal with the traffic problems, the supervisor told the group of his plans for the pilot project. “I will ask the museums to share the costs and will ask the MTA to establish metrics and assess the impact.” Jack Fleck, MTA Traffic Engineer, estimated on the spot that the project would cost about $20,000 year with the MTA providing the sign and labor.

The museum representatives at the meeting did not object to Mirkarimi’s suggestion of financial support, but neither did they voice agreement. When asked about the timeline for initiation of the project, Mirkarimi said the prep work will be undertaken in February with answers from all parties by March 1^st.

Initially, the museum representatives expressed some resistance to further involvement with the traffic issue. An Academy of Sciences representative questioned, “What’s under our control?" She added that determining traffic and parking solutions were really “outside of our expertise.” Patricia Lacson, Director of Facilities for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco which includes the de Young, commented, “We’ve really made a lot of effort on this already.” And, in fact, both institutions have undertaken measures to encourage visitors to use transit and bicycles, including entry discounts for those traveling by MUNI or bike, transit discounts to employees, helping finance the inter-park shuttle, and staff time directing traffic.

Museum parking managers are especially frustrated by visitors who expect free parking or the easiest of directions to alternative parking. “It’s almost as if they just want to hand us their car keys,” remarked one Concourse representative. The concourse staff has tried to direct motorists to the nearby UCSF parking garage, but the few streets and turns involved seems to boggle the minds of out-of-town visitors. Museum and garage staffers have found it much easier to direct visitors to the free parking along the Great Highway and then use of the shuttle. “We tell them to turn and keep going until you get to the ocean,” one director explained.

But neighborhood representatives countered it was hardly efficient or environmentally wise to encourage a few extra miles of travel when the UCSF garage was so close. And, indeed, it is ironic for an institution like the Academy of Sciences, one of the “greenest” buildings in town, to encourage the less environmentally friendly parking option. Mirkarimi weighed in on the discussion, commenting, “It makes more sense to direct people to the UCSF garage and not depend on “free parking” as an expectation for visitors.”

NOPA and Alamo Square neighbors are not affected by the traffic congestion related to the museum-goers, and would not be involved in the discussions if the MTA had not erected the SFgo sign on Fell Street last August as a means to alert motorists when the Concourse garage is full. Neighbors found the signs near Divisadero – and a second one on Oak Street – too intrusive with a “freeway style” design likely to encourage motorists’ to speed even more on the corridors.

When the SFgo sign standards come down – by April according to the MTA, as reported here yesterday – NOPA and Alamo Square neighbors’ immediate concerns will have been met. But a portable sign will be placed on Fell, and traffic problems elsewhere in District 5 certainly have an eventual impact here as well. For now, in the assessment of NOPNA board member Dan Nguyen-Tan, the other representative at the City Hall meeting, "We're pleased to hear that Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi and the MTA are committed to removing the permanent signs."

Politics Bounces SFgo Sign Along Fell Street

UPDATE 2:30 pm Monday: Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi's office has decided to delay delivering a recommendation to the SFMTA regarding where the SFgo sign on Fell Street might be located. In a conversation this afternoon with NOPNA board member Larry Griffin, Vallie Brown, an aide to Supervisor Mirkarimi, said they needed more time to research the SFgo matter. Previously, as noted in the post below, the Supervisor's office had expected to recommend a site for the Fell Street sign to the MTA this Wednesday. Since learning from SFgo staff last Friday that Mirkarimi "strongly encouraged" placement of the sign along the DMV lot on Fell, NOPA and Alamo Square neighbors objected to what appeared to be a "rush to recommend" without consulting neighbors. Another NOPNA board member, Dan Nguyen-Tan, suggested in a message to Mirkarimi earlier this afternoon that a meeting of all interested parties be convened to craft a solution for the traffic conditions on Fell Street including the role and location of the proposed SFgo sign.

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Political maneuvers by city transportation officials and Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi’s office may determine the next location of the freeway-style SFgo sign on Fell Street, leaving NOPA and Alamo Square neighbors out of the site-selection process once again. But a push-back is coming from neighbors who don’t want their streets stuck with the SFgo eyesore at the entry to Panhandle Park.

The new developments occur even as neighbors celebrated the decision to remove the SFgo sign from Oak Street near Broderick. Last Friday Cheryl Liu, SFgo Project Manager, informed BIKE NOPA that the Municipal Transportation Authority (MTA) had decided to remove the message display sign on Oak “based on community input” and a meeting with Sup. Mirkarimi on September 30. That decision leaves only the Fell Street sign, recently installed next to a gas station just west of Divisadero. Liu also wrote that MTA was considering moving the Fell Street sign to a different location, perhaps along the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) property on Fell between Broderick and Baker.

Previously MTA took the brunt of neighborhood criticism for placing the SFgo signs near the Divisadero Corridor. NOPA and Alamo Square neighbors objected to the lack of community outreach by the agency and the inappropriateness of both the signs and the locations. To its credit, the MTA will remove the Oak sign. But they seem to be shifting responsibility for finding a new home for the Fell St sign to Sup. Mirkarimi. And, for some reason, his office appears poised to make a decision with little community outreach.

“Supervisor Mirkarimi strongly suggested that we consider moving the Fell Street sign to a location next to the DMV, and we are looking into that possibility,” Liu explained in her message to BIKE NOPA. She added that the staff will consider neighbors’ comments “prior to installing any sign,” but the suggestion was clear that the DMV site was the supervisor’s idea.

Last Friday Mirkarimi’s aide Vallie Brown said the staff would likely propose a new location for the Fell sign by Tuesday this week, and that the supervisor would likely make a recommendation about the sign relocation to the MTA on Wednesday. What the supervisor’s staff has apparently not allowed for during its rushed two-day research is any community input about whether the SFgo sign should be placed on Fell at the DMV. NOPA and Alamo Square neighbors learned of the proposed DMV site from the MTA not from Mirkarimi’s office, and three to four days is hardly enough time to gather input about a location no one had previously considered. Although Brown said the DMV site was not a “done deal,” she did not propose any other location for the sign.

Neither NOPNA nor ASNA, the neighborhood associations, suggested SFgo locations further west of Divisadero. The groups proposed instead that the Fell sign be moved closer to the off-ramps of the Central Freeway where it might be more effective in alerting motorists when the Golden Gate Park Concourse Garage is closed. But Mirkarimi and the MTA are also hearing from the California Academy of Sciences, and from Inner Richmond and Inner Sunset neighbors, according to Brown, and they want a “garage advisory” sign placed on Fell somewhere between Masonic and Divisadero. Supervisor Mirkarimi must balance differing concerns among his constituencies, and he may believe that the removal of the Oak sign and the relocation of the Fell sign are enough of a nod to NOPA and Alamo Square neighbors while the DMV location still gives the Academy and residents west of Masonic what they’ve lobbied for all along. But does anyone really want a SFgo sign, or something like it, at the entrance of Panhandle Park?

Rather than rush to a Wednesday recommendation, why not avoid the likely opposition from NOPA and Alamo Square neighbors by opening the discussion with effective community outreach? Remove the Oak and Fell signs and encourage all the neighborhood constituencies, the SFgo staff, and other interested parties to consider all the options and work toward a consensus.