NOPA In Pink

A huge thank you to all the neighbors who planted pink during the several tree planting efforts by NOPNA and Friends of the Urban Forest in years past. What's your favorite pink block at this time of year? Lyon between Fulton and Grove? Grove between Lyon and Baker? Or perhaps one special tree?

NOPA VELO Draws On Death-by-Duel Drama: Second Ride Set for February 28

Design by Rick Helf

NOPA VELO, the North Panhandle's much buzzed-about bicycling group for neighbors and friends, is geared up and ready for its second ride. More than 35 cyclists helped NOPA VELO launch its first outing, the wondrous Patty/Tania Hearst / Presidio tour. Organizers invite everyone to return for a trip just as memorable. Newcomers are definitely welcome.

On Sunday, February 28th NOPA VELO cyclists will meet at the Matching Half Cafe to get charged up and primed for the dastardly "Death-by-Duel" dash down the coast. Each month the group delves into the neighborhood's vast and arcane "NOPA Lore" to define its ride and determine its destination.

On the last day of February, VELO vibs spin their wheels in memory of the last days of David C. Broderick, the U.S. Senator from California who was shot and killed in a duel by a California Supreme Court Justice in 1859. Both Broderick and David S.Terry were Democrats, but they disagreed on abolition. Broderick was an anti-slavery advocate, and his one-time best friend Terry wanted to bring slavery into California. In the heat of arguments, they defamed each other's good name and then agreed to a duel near the shore of Lake Merced. Broderick's pistol fired prematurely, and Terry didn't wait for a second round. He shot and mortally wounded Broderick, who died three days later in a house at Fort Mason. The current resident reports that the house is haunted by the man who gave his name to a NOPA street.

February's ride will accommodate bikers of all levels with an emphasis on good times and pumped-up exercise. Kids with their own bikes who are accompanied by a guardian are definitely welcome. The death-by-duel ride will be a flat jaunt from NOPA through the Panhandle and Golden Gate Park to the Great Highway and then south to Lake Merced, a ten mile, one hour easy ride. Along the lake shore, the site of the deadly duel has been preserved for occasions like this. Memorial posts mark how far the two politicians paced before turning and taking their best shots. A re-enactment seems inevitable!

Flickr hoto by uzvards

After contemplating politicians who couldn't talk things through, NOPA VELO riders return by 12:30 pm for drinks and lunch at one of the North Panhandle's new restaurants, Bistro Gambrinus on Fulton near Masonic.

Heavy rain cancels; otherwise the ride is on. For more information contact Lenore at (415) 300-6744 or at lmcjunker@gmail.com. Get all the NOPA VELO news and ride pics at the group's Google group here and look for future BIKE NOPA coverage of the Death-by-Duel ride.

Sunday, Feb. 28th

9:30 am Meet and Mingle @ Matching Half Cafe, 1799 McAllister at Baker

10:00 am Kick off for the ride

12:30 pm Drinks and lunch at Bistro Gambrinus, 1813 Fulton near Masonic

Site of Broderick-Terry Duel, California Landmark No. 19

Soaked Surface Stalls Smooth Spins: JFK Drive Repave Update

Can't wait until all of JFK Drive is smooth like this to the Great Highway

The work stops here for now at 30th Avenue

If you've biked JFK Drive west of Crossover Drive these last few weeks, you never want the smooth spinning to end. And then it does, right about at 30th Avenue. In the midst of biking bliss, the old cracked, ridged, mogul-seeming surface re-appears. If you caught our recent post here, you know it's all about the weather and the winter rains. But haven't we had a clear and dry patch lately?

Rick Thall, Project Manager of the Recreation and Parks Department, provided BIKE NOPA with the back story. "I had hoped that we could get another section of paving done during this dry stretch, but no such luck," Thall wrote in an email.* He explained that both the roadway and the ground below is holding too much moisture. The soaked "under-surface" is an important factor because the repaving involves adding a layer of fabric to the road and then paving over it. "This fabric minimizes current cracks in the road that 'telegraph' through to the new layer of asphalt," Thall wrote. He added, "The main source of failure with this method is from moisture trapped under the fabric."

Recreation and Park is right with the city's cyclists (and motorists) in wanting the route to the Great Highway completed. "As much as I want to get the rest of this paved as soon as possible," Thall wrote, "Paving funds are limited so we need to make sure we follow the proper measures and make sure this paving lasts."

Check the weather forecast and note that rain is expected this weekend. What the repaving effort really needs is a stretch of sunny, clear days so the road bed, the surface and below, dries out. When conditions permit, Thall expects the repaving to be completed in three more stages. Celebrations pending!

* BIKE NOPA quoted Thall, with his permission, from an email he sent to the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition in response to an inquiry about repaving progress.

SFPD Vows to Increase Monitoring of Illegal Red Light Turns at Fell and Masonic; Will Begin Pedestrian Stings Too Next Week

The busy, multiple-use, dual signaled crosswalk at Fell and Masonic

Captain Teresa Barrett of SFPD Park Station announced greater monitoring of the hazardous traffic conditions at Fell and Masonic -- including several reports of illegal left turns by motorists -- will begin next week. The operation will be a joint Task Force with SFPD Northern Station involving four or more motorcycle officers at intersections throughout the two adjacent police districts. Officers will ticket motorists who fail to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians in crosswalks and will target drivers who run red lights. The Task Force will be on the streets every other week.

Barrett readily agreed to provide statistics from the Task Force operation with a listing of intersections monitored, times of day, number of citations, and types of infractions. She noted that Tuesday of this week Northern Station cited 22 motorists at intersections in that district.

Barrett previously described the joint effort, reported here in BIKE NOPA, but she re-emphasized the focus on illegal left turns at Fell and Masonic after criticism of SFPD's handling of the collision between a taxi driver and bicyclist in the crosswalk there on February 13th. In that case SFPD decided not to cite the driver. Several pedestrians and cyclists commented on that report, noting the frequency of illegal left-hand turns at the intersection.

In a related development, North of the Panhandle Neighborhood Association (NOPNA) President Jarie Bolander has requested that Captain Barrett and MTA Traffic Engineer Jack Fleck describe what their departments are doing to reduce the hazards at Fell and Masonic during the organization's next general membership meeting on March 18th.

All users of the street, the path, and the sidewalks at Fell and Masonic are encouraged to report both sightings of stepped-up sting operations and illegal left turns to the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition or here at BIKE NOPA.

No Citation for Taxi Driver in Fell/Masonic Collision that Injured Bicyclist

Crosswalk linking the Panhandle Path at Fell and Masonic Streets

Captain Teresa Barrett of SFPD Park Station confirmed this afternoon that there will be no citation for the taxi driver involved in a collision with a bicyclist in the crosswalk at Fell and Masonic Streets February 13th. Barrett told BIKE NOPA that officers often do not issue or recommend citations unless they witness the incident directly or unless there are no conflicting statements from witnesses at the scene.

In this case at least two independent witnesses stated that the bicyclist was in the crosswalk with the right-of-way. One other witness was a passenger in the taxi; that person expressed some uncertainty about whether the driver had a green light to turn onto Masonic from Fell, as reported in this earlier post. The officer who interviewed these individuals told BIKE NOPA that there were conflicting stories among the witnesses, leaving the responsibility uncertain. The officer also suggested the bicyclist might also have been crossing the street during the crosswalk warning period, but that appears to not be the case as reported here.

Captain Barrett advised that often the greatest consequences for motorists in cases like these are the increased charges from their insurance company. "A taxi company is going to have insurance," Barrett said, "and the company is going to look at collisions on the record." She also mentioned that even if motorists are given citations, the traffic court might toss them out.

Although the officer who completed the Incident Report said that the SFPD Traffic Unit would investigate whether a citation will be given, in reality the process appears to work differently. If the officer who completes the report does not indicate on the document that a citation is merited, the form will reach the Traffic Unit and only get filed for insurance purposes and for reference in any subsequent civil case. In effect, officers at the scene do determine the outcome of the case if they don't suggest a citation since further investigation is unlikely without that notation.

Capt. Barrett suggested that while no citation has been recommended to the taxi driver, the bicyclist injured in the collision "has a huge chance for obtaining damages in a civil case."

Note: Individuals can generally receive copies of the police/incident report once they follow the directions provided on a recorded message at SFPD Report Management Section (415) 553 1286. The case # for this collision is 100148285; Officer W. Wong filed the report. The date of incident: Feb. 13, 11:30 pm. You will need to provide your reason for requesting the report.

Getting Clear about Right-of-Way at Fell and Masonic Crosswalk: Different Signal Phases for Cyclists and Pedestrians

Operation of bicycle and pedestrian signals at Fell & Masonic, site of a collision on Feb. 13

Video: San Francisco Bicycle Coalition YouTube .

An observation by the SFPD officer who interviewed witnesses at the scene of a bicyclist/motorist collision at Fell and Masonic February 13th suggests a review is needed of how the California Vehicle Code (CVC) relates to the crosswalk signal operations at this site.

According to witnesses interviewed by BIKE NOPA the day following the incident, the cyclist was clearly in the crosswalk with a green light and had the right-of-way. One noted that the pedestrian countdown signal was at "6" (it runs from 15 to 1).

The SFPD officer also obtained this information from the witnesses. However, he suggested to BIKE NOPA that the cyclist might share some responsibility or fault if she had entered the crosswalk during the countdown. He explained that the countdown is meant as a guide and warning to those already in the crosswalk. This interpretation of the CVC is accurate for pedestrians but apparently not for bicyclists who have their own crosswalk signal.

Pedestrians receive a walk signal for crossing that holds for about three seconds before it begins the countdown from 15 to 1. Then the signal displays an orange hand. The bike light, however, has a different sequence. It turns green at the same time as the pedestrian signal, and remains green through the pedestrian's warning countdown. The bike light turns yellow for three seconds before turning red at the same time as the pedestrian light.

Why does this different sequence for bicyclists and pedestrians matter? The California Vehicle Code (CVC) states that pedestrians should not enter the crosswalk after the warning flash and/or the countdown has begun. However, for bicyclists the CVC states: "an operator of a bicycle facing a steady yellow bicycle signal is, by that signal, warned that the related green movement is ending or that a red indication will be shown immediately thereafter." (CVC, 21456.3 (b). The code does not prohibit the cyclist from being in the crosswalk during the warning phase.

In the case of the injury collision the night of February 13th, if the bicyclist was in the crosswalk during the pedestrian countdown, as witnesses stated, she had a full green bike light and, thus, legal right-0f-way when she collided with the taxi van and sustained injuries to her shoulder.

The crosswalk linking the Panhandle Path is unique in the city. Bicyclists have the legal right to ride, not walk, through the crosswalk according to a new state law reported previously here. The crosswalk is also unusual since it has the two different signals, one for pedestrians and one for bicyclists.

Bicyclists should take caution at this intersection where illegal left-hand turns by motorists occur frequently. Cyclists only get approximately three seconds of a yellow warning bike light before the red appears. At the same time, SFPD should be clear that cyclists retain the right-of-way throughout the green bike light sequence even while the pedestrian light shifts into a warning countdown.

Get Your Mojo But Park Your Bike?

Cool spin past Mojo Bicycle Cafe - but where to park the ride?

Trees, meters, rack -- still not enough parking at Mojo on Divisadero

Bike parking pile-up a half-block away from Mojo Cafe too

You can always walk to Mojo Bicycle Cafe and peds are always welcome, but, hey, it's a bicycle cafe. The always buzzing spot on Divisadero already has two basic inverted-U bike racks, but they're usually taken. And the bikes at trees and meters, and bikes locked double- and triple- wide only crunch the street's already skinny sidewalks. Something new, better, more practical, more sidewalk-friendly, more bike-on is so needed here.

So, that was the teaser lead: something new and better really is in the works, as reported today by Matthew Roth in Streetsblog with some great photo simulations of a proposed build-out along the sidewalk to accommodate pedestrians, cafe customers, and anyone who wants to sit a bit and appreciate the improvements on Divisadero. And, yes, there will be additional bike parking included in the design.