Vigilante Safety
Frustrated by what they believe to be a lackluster response from municipal officials after a motorist killed a toddler at Fourth and Channel streets, a group of traffic safety advocates set up flexible posts in an attempt to make the intersection safer for pedestrians. Safe Street Rebel – which previously took similar action at Fourth and King streets, where a four-year-old girl was hit by a car and killed in 2023, leading the City to eliminate a turn lane and install a traffic signal – placed six posts in about 10 minutes last month in the Mission Bay neighborhood. A two-year-old was killed at the spot in February while crossing the street with her mother, who was severely injured.
Fewer Homes at Bus Stop
Last month the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s board voted to substantially downsize an affordable housing project located across the street from Franklin Square Park. The original plan, hatched in 2018, was to build 465 residences priced for low- and moderate-income families. That shrunk to just 100 units. The transit agency said it reduced the scope due to Muni’s $307 million budget deficit, inflation and increased construction costs. The project, at Bryant Street between 17th and Mariposa, would sit alongside Potrero Yard, which accommodates dozens of buses. The plan includes a four-level bus storage and maintenance facility that’d hold 68 percent more electric trolley buses. Studio and three-bedroom apartments would be built along Bryant Street, set aside for households earning up to 80 percent of area medium income, $87,300 for a single person.
New Name
The New York Times has uncovered extensive evidence that Cesar Chavez, a United Farm Workers co-founder who died in 1993 at the age of 66, repeatedly sexually abused girls and women. Among his victims was his most prominent female ally in the movement and fellow UFW co-founder, Dolores Huerta. Community advocates are now debating a replacement name for Chavez Street.
Supervisor Curbed
Curb space in San Francisco is generally hotly contested, whether when trying to find a parking spot on a busy day on 18th Street, or determining to what uses it should be put. Choices must be made. It’s notable, then, that last month District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman introduced legislation to create San Francisco’s first curbside electric vehicle charging program, a potentially worthy use of public space. Yet, despite Dolores Park being the noisiest after-closing park in the City – see last month’s “Dolores Park and Silver Terrace Playground Beset with Afterhours Noise” – the Supervisor flatly declined to encourage the City to develop a plan to properly manage it, including refusing to advocate for afterhours residential parking only in the most impacted areas around the park. This isn’t the first time Mandelman has ignored constituents’ calls to champion improved pedestrian safety and public health in his district. Apparently, eyeing a campaign for the State Legislature, he cares more about other things.
