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.

Art Walk Rocks Divisadero

NOPA neighbors filled the sidewalks Thursday night for the Divisadero Corridor Art Walk, a celebration of art, food, drinks, and shopping from Geary to Haight Streets. More than 40 shops, restaurants, cafes, galleries, and bars participated in the event. With street trees strung with holiday lights and a bit less rumble on a much smoother Divisadero, no one seemed to mind the chill in the air.

A few highlights:

• Patrick Prescott playing steel drums that transported at least one listener to Queen's Park Savannah in Port of Spain, Trinidad
• Mojo Bicycle Cafe packed with tables even in the bike shop for the live performances and the "all I want for Christmas" bike hanging in the upstairs window
• photographs by G. Gole Aillee at Refractions, the gallery at 537 Divisadero
• photographs of rooftops and buildings in Copenhagen at the photo show hosted by Skin City
• the light of the nearly full moon casting shadows

NOPA continues to re-connect with its public spaces making them more lively -- certainly more livable -- and all the city benefits. Thanks to the Art Walk organizers, merchants, and neighbors for their hard work organizing this great event one more time.

NOPA at NIGHT

Two big night-time events in and through NOPA: one happened Tuesday night but you can experience some of the fun here via a Youtube vid provided by Dan Nguyen-Tan. The other is on for tonight and you don't want to miss it.

Here's the set-up:

Event 1: The NOPA BIKE, MEET, & MINGLE Tuesday night was a great event with at least 20 NOPA cyclists and friends gathering at On the Corner Cafe* for drinks, sandwiches, and to share the day's excitement over the city's first new bike lane installed that morning. Plans are underway for a monthly bike ride to start and stop in NOPA with the first ride expected in the new year. By 7pm we were anxious to get to the other bike party of the night hosted by SFBC at the Duboce Park Cafe. There seventy or more cyclists and friends cheered all the work leading up to the new bike lane on Scott Street. Kudos to SFMTA, SFBC, a huge number of volunteers, DPT paint crews, and city officials.

For an inaugural group ride, dozens of cyclists flicked their blinkies and kicked off from the Wiggle from Duboce and Steiner and up to Scott Street. Deep kept the tunes coming and Dan NT plus six hearty pedal pumpers spun the Funcycle down the lane and out to Panhandle Park. Catch the action and the tunes here:

Event #2: It's tonight: The Divisadero Corridor Art Walk, 5pm to Midnight from Geary to Haight. Art * Food * Drinks * Shopping * Community. A great event, hook up with your neighbors for a stroll, check out the art, grab a bite, celebrate the tree lights (and new median trees!), enjoy the smooth streets, fill up the new bulb outs. See you all there.

* Many thanks to Rich and his staff at On the Corner Cafe; NOPA cyclists love meeting here.

First City-Installed Bike Rack in NOPA in More than 3 Years

A tight fit for two bikes to maneuver around and park next to rack.

It's good once you find it.

Just fits.

Choices

The Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) installed a standard, "inverted U" bike rack Monday on Baker Street near Grove, making it the first city-owned bike parking improvement in NOPA for more than three years. The rack is situated on the Baker Street side of the "old building" of the Pacific Primary School. Thank you, MTA!

The MTA announced that it had 750 applications for bike racks throughout the city; the agency has reviewed and processed 60 of these. With much fanfare Monday, the MTA installed a new bike lane on Scott Street between Fell and Oak, added sharrows (bike and arrow graphics indicating shared use of the roadway), and prepped the bike box on Scott at Oak for an official re-painting with Mayor Gavin Newsom presiding (or painting it, perhaps?).*

Like all neighborhoods in the city, the North Panhandle needs bike parking for its hundreds of residents who use bicycles for basic transportation. To its credit Pacific Primary parents and administration erected their own custom-designed bike racks along both the old building and the new building across the street last summer, as reported in BIKE NOPA here.

Every new bike rack helps, so we're hesitant to suggest the location of NOPA's newest one is a bit curious. Both Grove and Baker have especially wide sidewalks and ample space between most street trees. Yet MTA chose the most hard-to-find and confined space for the new rack. Grove Street offers so many better-suited spaces that would also be more in the open and thus more secure. Ease of arrival, parking and secure parking becomes even more important as more teachers, parents, and students bike to school. For now, we're happy to get one more rack.

The Divisadero corridor also received a new rack, this one at 268 close to Little Chihuahua restaraunt; a second is due at 248 but, as of Tuesday afternoon, had not been installed.

* The Mayor's Press Conference is scheduled for 1pm, Thursday, Dec. 3 at the corner of Oak and Scott Streets. During or immediately after the conference, the "bike box" at that intersection will be painted to green to encourage bicyclists to assemble there before crossing Oak -- and to inform motorists that it's a sanctioned bike stop.

First New Bike Lane in 3+ Years

Let's let the photos tell most of the story here. Just a few notes: This morning the new Scott Street bike lane was installed between Fell and Oak. Wiggle Bike Route travelers can push off from the about-to-be-painted-green bike box on Scott at Oak and continue north right up the center of the block in the striped bike lane.

Some adjustments and re-orientations will be required of cyclists and motorists. Cyclists can turn left from Scott onto Fell from the new bike lane, but motorists can only turn left onto Fell from the traffic lane. The previous left turn lane for motorists no longer exists. Motorists need to take a wide turn and wait their turn for the southbound Scott traffic to pass.

No parking spots were removed in this new bike lane installation. In fact, two new spaces were added. OK, one is so tiny that only a Smart Car or motorcycle could fit but no spaces were removed.

Thanks to the great work of the MTA/DPT paint crews; this team was led by Charlie Ruaro. When I spoke with Charlie early this morning when the crew was just getting started, it was so cool to hear him talk about how excited THEY were to be installing this first bike lane. "We're like the Marines, in a way," Charlie said, "We're establishing a bit of a beach head for new bike lanes in the city." After the lane was striped, Charlie congratulated all the bicyclists.

Perhaps no other bike lane striping has enjoyed such an audience as dozens of bicyclists turned out to cheer and celebrate. Champagne corks popped after the white stripe went down. SF Bike Coalition staff, members, and friends whooped. (And cookies were offered to all of the DPT crew for their fine work).

Parties tonight: NOPA BIKE Mingle: 5:30 pm at On the Corner Cafe, Oak @ Divisadero; meet and mingle and then we'll all head to the BIG PARTY: SFBC Celebrates FIRST Bike Lane in More than Three Years at Duboce Park Cafe, Duboce & Sanchez, 5pm to 8pm.

(Press conference Thursday, tentatively at 1pm, at the Scott Street bike box with Mayor Gavin Newsom).

Day of Remembrance

Photo by ebogjonson.com on Flickr

Many of us don't need a World AIDS Day to jog our memories of people we've lost to AIDS. They gave so much and they are missed so greatly that we cannot forget. San Francisco is widely celebrated for its diversity and inclusiveness and forward-thinking moves. Yet how much more diverse, more creative, more progressive, and more compassionate the city would be if the tens of thousands of people we lost to AIDS were with us still.

Today, December 1st, is World AIDS Day. Stop a moment to remember and honor. Ask your colleagues or friends if they have lost someone to AIDS. As with other painful times in our past, we tend to move on and not dwell on the difficult. But our history enriches us and increases our appreciation for where we are and who we've become.

Don't stop with remembrance. World AIDS Day is also about activism. Pause and reflect and then get back to making our neighborhoods better, our city more livable, and our lives more full.

NOPA neighbors regularly join the AIDS/Lifecycle Ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles each June. Last year Dan Nguyen-Tan and Jarie Bolander undertook "The Experience of a Lifetime" and biked the seven day, 545 mile ride to raise funds for AIDS prevention and HIV treatment. If you know bicyclists making the ride this year, support their efforts with a donation.

Note: Join the 16th Annual Observance of Worlds AIDS Day at the National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park, at the intersection of Bowling Green and Middle Drive East, today from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. The program begins at noon and features the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus and VOICES Lesbian Choral Ensemble. More information here.

A history note: Take a look here for a history of how a San Franciscan, KPIX-TV reporter Jim Bunn -- on loan to the World Health Organization -- conceived the idea of World AIDS Day and helped launch the first observance in 1988.

Scott St/Wiggle/Bike Box: All To Get Improvements Dec. 1st: first major bike improvements in 1259 Days! Time to Celebrate.

The SF Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) has selected Scott Street for the first new bike lane striping in San Francisco in 1259 days. The MTA announced its decision today after last week's partial lifting of the bicycle injunction that kept all bike improvements on hold for more than three years. Marc Caswell of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition confirmed the plans for tomorrow's activities.

A press conference scheduled for Tuesday morning, Dec. 1st will kick off the lane work and the festivities for the day. The paint crews will begin work at the conclusion of the official remarks by striping the new lanes (white, of course) and also painting the bike box at Scott and Oak GREEN in a six month trial. Spontaneous DYI celebrations will occur throughout the day and then start up again officially in the late afternoon and evening. (5 pm UPDATE: the press conference has been postponed until Thursday; all other events are on for the afternoon. -- I guess it works if it's AFTER the event).

Highlights of tomorrow's activities:

In the morning: Paint crews begin the work: stripes and paint

5-7pm SFBC Outreach at Duboce/Market and at new GREEN bike box

5:30-6:30 pm NOPA Bike Mingle at On the Corner Cafe, Oak and Divisadero, (happened to land on the same day; let's do this and then go to the all cyclist party at Duboce Park Cafe with a stop at the Green Box along the way!)

5:30-8pm: SFBC and all cyclists party at Duboce Park Cafe, corner of Duboce and Sanchez -- the party we've all been waiting for!

And there's more:

• MTA will install a temporary on-street bike parking corral at Bean There Cafe, 201 Steiner @ Waller. Check out what the next generation of bike parking looks like. And quick: it's up just for the day.
• Other bike racks along the Wiggle (locations still being determined)
• Bike sharrows for shared-use traffic lanes
• Unanswered question: Will temporary improvements on Fell near the ARCO station join the other improvements?