Mayor Swears in New MTA Commissioner Cheryl Brinkman, Says He Can't Imagine a Better Supporter of MTA's Work

Cheryl Brinkman, far left, and six other appointees to city commissions take oath of office

Newsom "very pleased and enthusiastic" about new commissioner

Newsom says he put Brinkman "through the wringer" over MTA appointment

Mayor Gavin Newsom swore into office a much-anticipated new member of the Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) Commission at City Hall ceremonies this morning. Newsom described Cheryl Brinkman as someone who is "qualified, capable, and deserves this position." The mayor said he expected Brinkman to serve the MTA for a long time, adding, "I'm absolutely confident that anyone who replaces me will re-appoint her. I'm very pleased and enthusiastic."

In an expansive introduction to Brinkman, the mayor remarked about the difficulty of serving on the MTA Commission. "I don't know why anyone would want to serve on the MTA, but I don't think anyone could be a better supporter of its work," he said. He recalled that he had put Brinkman "through the wringer" by telephoning her at least three times to propose different scenarios for her reaction. He said he respected her clear, candid, and informed responses.

Newsom added that he didn't hold it against Brinkman that many of her most ardent supporters were frequent critics of his own office's responses or pace for implementing city improvements. Brinkman has worked for several years, as Streetsblog recently noted, with organizations that advocate safer walking and biking, better transit performance, and safer streets for all users -- an admittedly large constituency. Her appointment has been widely applauded by the Board of Supervisors, MTA management, and citywide advocates.

Shortly after the City Hall ceremony, Brinkman reflected on her background and the importance of neighborhood-level advocacy for a better city:

I'm thrilled to be able to serve on the MTA Board, and I think that the fact that I came out of the public application process, and the fact that I come from the advocacy world, and the world of neighborhood involvement and neighborhood boards, is important because it says something about all the work we all do: the Citizen Advisory Committees, the neighborhood board and groups, it has meaning. It has value. All of the involved citizens are so important and know so much about their neighborhoods and the city.

It's hard work to be involved on the neighborhood level, it takes time and effort after a full day of work to go to your neighborhood group meeting, but it's important and bears fruit - NOPNA knows that, and DTNA (ed. note: Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association) where I served on the Board knows that. I am so grateful to have all those connections to people who care about the City and to know how committed so many people are to the livability and success of San Francisco.

Bike to Work Day 2010: Scenes from One Busy Energizer Station

Several hundred cyclists stopped at SFBC Energizer Station at 12th & Market

Mayor Newsom signed petition (line 5) to ... um .. himself

Hundreds of cyclists celebrated Bike to Work Day 2010 this morning at one of the busiest SFBC Energizer Stations in the city. Within an hour after opening, the 12th and Market Street outpost distributed several hundred gift bags, served coffee, fruit and pastries to commuting bikers, and encouraged at least sixty pedalers to sign up as new or renewing members of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. Each new member received one of this year's BTWD T-shirts.

Cyclists also signed petitions in support of a better Market Street, one that includes a fully separated bikeway from Octavia Street to the Embarcadero. Robin Levitt, Engergizer Station Captain, told BIKE NOPA he was thrilled to see all the cyclists and to get so much support for an even more bike-friendly Market Street. He also pointed out one notable petition signature, that of Mayor Gavin Newsom. The petitions will later be sent to the address Newsom listed for himself: City Hall The Mayor stopped by the Market Street station for a photo opp after swooping past earlier with his bicycle convoy. Supervisors Eric Mar, Bevan Dufty, and John Avalos, and Department of Public Works Director Ed Reiskin also stopped to greet the volunteers as part of their own bike convoys on the way to a City Hall press conference.

Volunteers greeted cyclists at 17 Energizer Stations this morning. At the end of the work day, from 5 - 7pm, cyclists will find similar stations full of gift bags, T shirts, and refreshments throughout the city. An after party with bike fashions rocks from 6 - 10 pm tonight at Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell Street to close out the biggest day of bicycling in San Francisco.

5pm Update: No wonder the bike bags, T shirts, coffee and pastries went so fast this morning on Market Street. Bicyclists represented 75% of all roadway traffic during the morning commute, according to the Municipal Transportation Agency. And everyone was buzzing about the huge difference the dedicated bike lane with soft-hit posts and new green painted lane made for cyclists' sense of safety. Read more here on SFGate's new transportation blog -- with content provided by SFBC and Streetsblog. You'll notice in the photo accompanying the story that "BIKE NOPA" joined the action this morning.

Mayor, Mirkarimi, SFMTA & SFBC Paint it Green

It was a bike box love-fest Thursday afternoon as city officials and bicycle advocates gathered around an asphalt gray patch of Scott Street at Oak. A dozen white buckets half-filled with bright green paint lined up with long-handled rollers along the center stripe -- almost as if they were on loan from a Fantasia exhibit at the Presidio's new Walt Disney Museum. The first bicycle box to be painted green in the state of California awaited the swoosh of color from dozens of happy helpers.

Mayor Gavin Newsom extolled the occasion as one of the city's first experiments with bicycle improvements that other cities like Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and, closer to home, Portland have already implemented. "We're going to be trying some things that candidly we wished we were doing for the last three years," the mayor said, reflecting on the prohibition against new bike enhancements due to the long-standing "bike injunction." The judge for that case recently allowed several bike facilities to go forward. Since this past Tuesday, city paint crews have painted hundreds of sharrows and bike icons and new bike lanes on city streets.

District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi biked to the press conference where he joined the Mayor and Supervisors Bevan Dufty and Sophie Maxwell. Mirkarimi noted the significance of the occasion and asserted that "we are all unified in the mission statement of making San Francisco bike friendly." He also announced, "We're going to put on-street bike parking in front of Remy's Mojo Bicycle Cafe" on Divisadero to celebrate the end of the injunction and to help "signifiy what a major arterial like Divisadero means." Later that evening during the Divisadero Art Walk, Remy Nelson, owner of the always busy Mojo, smiled in surprise when he learned of the supervisor's remarks. "He really mentioned my name?"

Mirkarimi suggested that the Wiggle bike route -- of which the new bike box is an essential part -- deserves Historic Trail status similar to the Barbary Coast Trail in the city. The Wiggle follows the route of the long-paved over Sans Souci Creek and today is one of the most-used bike routes in San Francisco.

Although the press conference was festive already, Supervisor Sophie Maxwell got everyone laughing -- and had Supervisor and mayoral candidate Bevan Dufty whooping -- with the conclusion of her remarks about making our streets serve more than vehicles. "We're going to make it exciting, we're going to make it fun, and we're going to make it funky."

Leah Shahum, Executive Director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, could have easily lit up the street herself with glowing enthusiasm. While she thanked the elected officials, the city staff, and SFBC's 11,000 members, Shahum also spoke for the 130,000 San Franciscans who already bike and the more than half of city residents who said they wanted to ride bikes for transportation in the city "if streets had bike lanes and were more inviting for bicycling."

At the conclusion of remarks, everyone was drawn to those paint cans and the Chief Sorcerer and his many apprentices dutifully dipped their poles in the paint and rolled a bright, new green box for bicyclists to stop and wait for the green light to cross Oak Street.

Streetsblog beat all the print, blog, and TV media to the big stories from the press conference -- the green box, the new proposal for bike sharing, and huge increase in number of bikes to be shared. And they posted a video of the full press conference. It hasn't taken long for Streetsblog San Francisco to become essential viewing for anyone interested in more livable streets and sidewalks and transportation policies. The video clip is below and the bike sharing news is here.