them with a scope of work that was approved by the variance because if you approved it for a larger scope of work that would not make sense because the variance would have been approved already for that limited scope of work. so essentially if the variance is upheld tonight a maximum extent is locked in. >> and if the variance is denied tonight, then we'll see them in another year when they come back -- >> they would have an option -- so the city charter allows, basically if you have a project disapproved, you can, one year later, basically apply for essentially the same project. >> or change the project, yeah. >> yeah, and right now, you'd have to change it in a way that would be significantly different from the original project. you can't tweak the project and say it's a different project. it has to be a significantly different project. >> yeah. thank you. >> thank you. >> commissioners the matter's submitted. >> variance commentator. >> because i always comment? >> exactly. you have the greatest wisdom. >> you know as i was listening, it was quite clear to me that you know, none of these buildings are conforming or cocompliac co-compliant, and the people arguing against the appellant's buildings also are non-compliant, so the -- it raises the question which one is more wrong, you know, and i was thinking about that in light of another case we had on russian hill, where the organizers of and owners of certain buildings went against a permit, and the rationale they used was, you know, in terms light, air, and everything else but it was their building that went to the rear property line. so as i started to think about those kind of things, then i realized just what i said earli earlier is this is not a project permit. it's a project variance, and whether we agree that the five findings as produced by the za were correct in our minds, and i have to say that i don't see that the five findings have been met. nobody in the audience talked to the findings. i'm speaking that i think only two have been met, but the majority have not been met. >> i remember that project that commissioner fung is referring to, as well as recently, we just had 68 richardson, which was very, very similar. in that particular case, i believe that we did allow the variance. in this case, even though that the, like 68 richardson, the neighbori neighboring properties were not conforming, it was a whole different project. it was a it was a 600 square foot home that they were making to 1200. i would concur with vice president fung that i would not support this either. and just to follow up the one that he was talking about the one on russian hill that came before us, i believe that we removed all the decks and conditioned that, and that that might have been prior to your coming onto this board. >> it was. >> no, i like -- i like the comment of commissioner fung that everybody was wrong in the first place, but the last building that's wrong gets punished for being allegedly more wrong or another version of wrong. it's -- it's kind of quizical. i don't think i'm hearing on this board tonight the support for the variance. i would love to -- it's tragic to have a -- i speak as a real estate-oriented person to have a -- a piece of property which could be improved significantly and a willing sponsor to improve that for the purpose of raising their family and improving the neighborhood go -- go fallow and continue to be a fractured. that's the best adjective that i can come up with at this hour of the night. i would have supported the variance but i don't think there's any will for that, so i won't raise that topic. can you make a motion? >> all right. let me float a motion and let's see if it gets anywhere. i move to grant the appeal and to deny the variance on the basis that the five criteria have not been met. >> vice president, you had mentioned in particular you thought there were two findings. do you want to identify which ones or do you want to leave it -- >> i would prefer to leave it. >> okay. so the motion for the vice president is to grant the appeal and deny the variance that the five criteria under 5 c have not about been met. >> my motion should be to deny the appeal. >> you're granting the appeal if you want the variance to not exist. >> that's correct. >> i know it's late. >> i lose it at night, i guess. >> okay. so on that motion to grant the appeal, commissioner lazarus. >> no. >> president honda. >> aye. >> commissioner wilson. >> will you go first? >> no. >> give me a second. let me think about it. >> it's rare you make the decision tonight. >> would you say it again, please. >> the motion would be to grant the appeal and deny the variance on the basis that the five findings required under the planning code have not been met. >> aye. >> commissioner swig. >> no. >> four votes are needed and there's voted 3-2 so that motion fails. lacking any other motion, the variance is upheld by default. >> i have no other -- >> no other motion being made, president honda, there's no other business before the board. >> hello, i'm the deputy assistant manage and project manager for the control system bureau i consider any department as my extend family i know every member of my department the folks are that that talented and skilled and have their credentials since the people in the site are coming to before they're put in operation it's a good place to visit we share information and support each other the water system is a program we got 26 national level with regards because of the dedication of any team the people are professional about their work but their folks they care about their community and the project i did this is a great organization with plenty of associations in you work hard and if you really do your job not only do you enjoy it but the sky is the limit we had a great job >> clerk: good morning and welcome to the san francisco county transportation authority meeting for today, november 14th. our clerk is still mr. steve stamos. could you please call the roll. >> clerk: commissioner breed? commissioner cohen? present. commissioner farrell? commissioner fewer? fewer absent. commissioner kim? kim absent. commissioner peskin. >> chairman peskin: present. >> clerk: commissioner ronen. >> supervisor ronen: present. >> clerk: commissioner tang? >> vice chairman tang: present. >> clerk: commissioner fewer? we have quorum. >> chairman peskin: thank you, mr. clerk. now we will hear from our citizens advisory committee. mr. larson. >> good morning chair peskin, vis chair tang and members of the transportation authority. -- vice chair tang and members of the transportation authority. i will be presenting the cac report today. beginning with item eight, the cac recommends approval for the allocation of prop k fundses as presented. there was particular support expressed for the valencia street bikeway impolicemen taths plan request -- implementation plan. the bike lanes were last striped in 1999 and valencia street has become a major bike commuter route in the city. at the same time, development along this corridor has resulted in many more conflicts and hazards with transportation network company or tnc and food delivery drivers making quick stops and double parking in the bike lanes. the item did pass. turning to item ten, the presentation on the 2017 facility's framework. a question was raised if any of the older facilities to be altered or replaced had any historic cig any chance. they don't -- significance. it was also noted the facilities owned by the city and county seemed to kon trait on the eastern side of the city -- concentrate on the eastern side of the city. and whether it would hinder growth and development in the future of transportation networks locally. we also heard presentations about the core capacity transit study and compliment sector action strategy. discussion concerned whether the impact of carbon admissions from tnc's and the single rides they provide could be factored in. that was interest in resiliency efforts in networks affected by sea level rise climate change and calling the effect of super storm sandy on the new york subway. citizens advisory committee members would like representatives from uber, lift to share what guidelines are offered to drivers about where to pull over and stop. instances where tnc double park when a curb side location or driveway is nearby, creating real traffic risks. that concludes my report. thank you. >> chairman peskin: thank you, mr. larson. are there any questions for mr. larson? seeing none, is there any public comment on this comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. mr. clerk, next item please. >> clerk: item three, chair's report. >> chairman peskin: thank you colleagues. in late october, i had the pleasure of well coming the self -- welcoming the self help coalition for the focus on the future conference. they have approved measures to fund transportation improvements. the theme was the power of partnerships, a fitting message given that it takes contributions from all levels of government to plan, funld and deliver -- fund and deliver transportation infrastructure. since the mid-1980s, california has been proving itself a leader in self help. revenue sources make up 75% of transportation revenues in the bay area. at a time when the federal tax bill contemplates removing funding for commuter benefits, rolling back incentives for alternative fuels and cutting funds for affordable housing, we must continue to be a leader in self help here in san fran and the bay area. this means putting, preserving and protecting sb-one funds by putting them to work. in fan francisco we -- san francisco we will get congestion relief. was must stand up to those calling for repeal of the funding package, a mix of reasonable and overdue gas and diesel thankses and veeblg -- reek -- taxes and vehicle ridge station fees. in -- registration fees. we will total and in turn their counties would act to place the measures on the june 2018 ballots. it will help tackle traffic congestion and traffic expansion symptoms of our growth. at the local level, we continue to work on a potential 2018 revenue measure through the transportation task force to boost transportation funding plans and provide local regional funds. as part of this work, i have asked our staff to initiate a public opinion survey to inform the transportation task force deliberations and recommendations later this year. as part of this effort, we are engaging our independent oversight consultant to look at the transportation authority's project and payment systems, all of which recently received a clean audit, but as with everything, can benefit from occasional review and fine-tuning. finally, i will close by noting our debt program is active again with our bond, which i signed 22 signatures on a whole bunch of papers to start the funds flowing just in time for the arrival of the new lrv's this friday. i will be away due to travel, but wanted to congratulate them on this milestone and thank the team for the successful financing to support delivery of these vehicles. with that i conclude my report and wish all of you and our staff a very happy thanksgiving next week. is there any public comment on the chair's report? seeing none, public comment is closed. next item, please. >> clerk: item four, executive director's report. this is an information item. >> vice chairman tang: thank you. just wanted to echo the chair's comments about the federal bill and the importance really of all of our local efforts from protecting sb-one to keeping our focus on 2018. regarding the statewide picture, caltrans is releasing and inviting public input on the final bicycle plan for 2020. this is something that they have been working on for -- actually a bicycle and pedestrian plan. the goal the to double walking and triple biscycling trips by 2020 and they are ready to skusz their -- discuss their findings. and the closest one is west oakland youth center in oakland. it will be happening tomorrow 5:00-8:00 p.m. in addition, at the state wide level, earlier -- actually in late october, director peskin and provided joint comments to the california dmv on their proposed drivers testing. we earlier commented in april and pleased many of our comments were incorporated. we further stressed the need for the importance of training for operators near pedestrian and cyclists reporting all collisions and disengagements. and ensuring two-way communication between remote operators and local law enforcement. and data collection of on board units before, during and after a crash is very critical as well. turning to another state program that we implement locally. we are continuing to refine the program. i want to thank chair peskin, vice chair tang and commissioner sheehy for fine tuning and shaping the recommendations. we hope to bring that forward on december 5th and the hearing on school transportation including the potential for yellow school buses has been rescheduled to a future date. i think we had previously scheduled it for late november, but we will probably move that to earlier in the new year. regarding vision zero, just wanted to thank all the departments mta and our staff, the whole task force on their workshop november 9th. they held a vision zero bold ideas workshop to really take a longer term view looking out beyond the traditional two-year cycle to reach our goal in 2024. they expressed an interest in deepening community engagement around all aspects of vision zero. some included taking another look at road pricing, major street redesign and bold ideas there. high visibility community engagement and curb management. those are the four ideas that emerged from their bold ideas workshop. next steps includes the staff will share the information on the workshop with community folks and also highlighted on the website and bring it back hopefully to the vision zero committee as well. turning to the local level, the canopies for the bart stations are -- have begun construction here in san francisco. palace street station construction has begun. they will also be starting on the civic center station at 7 and market street soon as well. these are the canopies that will shelter the escalators from the weather as well as other trash and things that gather at the escalators hindering their operation. they also have included in the project a digital display of the train arrival times, new security grills and new l.e.d. lighting as well as cameras. the $230 million project is funded by bart as well as matching funds from the state, prop 1-b and prop 1-a. our funds are also being put to work to improve elevators around town. we are happy to report work is nearing completion on the platform. the elevator safety and reliability upgrades project will provide upgrades to improve the safety and reliability of 12 elevators. work will begin on the church street station soon and mta has planned for the work to stake place in staggered ways to ensure accessibility for those who need these at each station. chair mentioned on friday we will be seeing the new lrv's rolling out. this was the larging single allocation of the prop k program the board took action on last year. i want to thank you all again for that. we are providing $131 million towards this program. the $934 million program which will expand by 24 lrv's and replace 151 of the brayda lrv's. we look forward to a second street opening. we whether report more on that next month and finally wanted to mention the van ness project is hitting a milestone by shifting the traffic to the center of the roadway allowing work to begin on the sides. but the traffic shifts are necessary to accommodate two utility work zones to replace major utilities including water, sewage and emergency. the mta is monitoring traffic in construction conditions along van ness avenue and is scheduled to provide a briefing at our december 5th meeting. with that, i'm happy to take any questions. >> chairman peskin: are there any questions for ms. chang? any public comment? seeing no public comment, public comment is closed. next item please. >> clerk: items five through seven comprise the consent agenda. aye semisix was a-- item six is for final approval. >> chairman peskin: is there a motion to move the consent agenda? made by commissioner sheehy. is there a second? seconded by commissioner kim. on that a roll call vote. public comment has already happened right? >> clerk: on items five and seven? >> chairman peskin: is there any public comment on the consent agenda? seeing none, public comment is closed. roll call vote please. >> clerk: on the consent, commissioner cohen? aye. commissioner farrell? absent. commissioner fewer? fewer aye. commissioner kim? kim aye. commissioner peskin. >> chairman peskin: aye. >> clerk: commissioner ronen? aye. sphere sheehy? aye. tang aye. commissioner yee? yee, aye. the consent agenda is approved. item eight, allocate $2,941,939 in sales tax fundses by request with conditions. >> good morning commissioners. i'm departmenty director. we have four requests and one request from the department of public works to present to you today. the first request is to upgrade the fire alarm systems at five of the muni facilities shown on the screen. the construction phase will be done by spring of 2019. next request is for the district eight neighborhood transportation improvement program planning project for the valencia street bikeway limb menation plan -- imme menation plan. this ---i implementation plan. there are a host of recommendations that will be explored including but not limited to protected bike lanes and parking and loading changes and potential enforcement needs. the work will kick off around the new year and will be completed in fall of 2018. one thing i will add is that since this is a ntip planning project, a final report will be presented to the board prior to adoption of the final report. and that's the case for all the ntip projects. next request is for the wide bike program that sfmta will funds in the spring semester of this year. this funds two-week classes at various different middle and high schools and for the first time at a handful of elementary schools, teaching kids how to bike and how to bike safely. the program was funded in the fall semester by a state grant to the department of public health and the work will continue next year as well. but the program will be funded in the spring through prop k. next request is from the smfta to fund their portion of the bike to work day 2018. this is organized by the san francisco bicycle coalition. this funds work that is leading up to and on the day of for all of the festivities that go along with that day. and it has traditionally we have seen increased bike cycling before and after bike to work day. and the last request is from the department of public works. this is for the construction phase of the stand-alone curb ramp improvements either for improving ramps that are not currently at the ada guidelines or to construct ramps where ramps currently don't exist. and folks can request a curb ramp by conducting 311. the work will be done in the spring of 2019. this is an annual funding request that we see from sf public works. with that, i can answer any various questions. >> chairman peskin: thank you ms. la fort. commissioner ronen. >> supervisor ronen: no questions. i just wanted to thank commissioner sheehy for using his ntip funds. it is important. i don't think it is enough. the way mta envisioned this part of the mission, south van ness was to be the main corridor for cars. mission was going to be the main corridor with red carpet for public transit. and valencia was to be the main corridor for bikes. but because of the proliferation of uber and lift cars, and because of valencia's restaurant and bar culture, it has become one of the most dangerous places for bike riders in the city. i think we absolutely need protected bike lanes to make the vision that mta had about making this a true safe bike corridor real. but it is not going to happen fast enough for me, and i'm very, very worried about the safety of all bike riders in that corridor. i did send a letter last week to the ceo's of uber and lift saying that they are the only ones right now that have the ability to urgently fix the situation by geofencing and preventing their drivers from stopping on valencia street. it wouldn't interrupt their business. they could easily just have their drivers pick up and drop off on all the side streets that feed into valencia street. so, i think this is a simple ask. i'm going to be meeting with both companies going forward to put on more pressure. i wish as a local body that we had the ability to regulate these companies and force them to do what they should be doing to protect safety of pedestrians and bikers in san francisco. unfortunately, we still don't have that ability. so, they need to step up and do the right thing to protect the safety in this very, var dangerous -- very dangerous corridor. i'm supportive and looking forward to the results of this study. >> chairman peskin: commissioner cohen. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. good morning ladies and gentlemen. hi. i wanted just to share a little bit of an experience that i had with the mta earlier this year. we had a situation in district ten where mta removed parking spaces largely due to giving poor notice to the removal of these parking places -- parks spots. and several meetings with the residences as well as mta staf, they reversed -- staff, they reversed their decision to remove the bike lane which takes up parking places. i want to make sure that we have -- that we are cultivating new cyclists and that we are creating safe spaces for walkers. i have a large number of seniors in the directed and i want to also cultivate a new kind of working understanding and knowledge and image of what and who bikes in san francisco. bike education is absolutely critical to me and for my perspective, i think it helps inform the next generation and build a stronger connection. so, really, my question is, do you have a list of the schools that will be receiving the bike safety dollars? could you share that with us publicly? thank you. >> yes. the list of schools that are being considered or actually, they will receive the bicycle education in 2017-18. i'm not sure if that includes the spring semester or if it is the entire year. the high schools -- the materials are shown in your enclosure to the prop k item and related to the use bicycle safety education classes allocation request materials. the high schools are ida b. wells, washington and wallenberg. willie brown, c. carmichael, everett and marina and elementary schools are to be determined. >> supervisor cohen: i encourage you to do more work on the schools. i only heard the willie brown middle school. we have three high schools in the district. maybe you can reconsider. thank you. >> chairman peskin: commissioner fewer. >> supervisor fewer: thank you, chair. i wanted to say thanks for the attention to cornwall street which continues to be a dangerous intersection. this is probably in mta's wheel house, but that is an intersection i think on cornwall because there's an elementary school there it is difficult to cross and people don't understand how to drive through it or they are very confused. i think there needs to be -- we have requested it already. it is very dangerous. we have a lot of walkers that walk across california and that traffic is very, very -- there's a lot of traffic. especially during the drop-off hours in the morning. i wanted to say thanks for these prop k improvements in my neighborhood. >> chairman peskin: thank you commissioner fewer. any other questions or comments from members? seeing none, we have a number of speaker cards on this item. i will call them. if you want to line up to your right, my left. robert, anna rossi, kyle. >> good morning. i'm a communitier organizer with the san francisco bicycle coalition. in 1994 we celebrated the approval of bike lanes on valencia. at the time this was a major win for the bicycling community in san francisco. lanes were striped in 1999 and the city has changed. but the lanes haven't kept up with the changing times. not only has population and density increased, the proliferation of u ber and lift it has caused an obstacle course. forcing people on bicycles to constantly merge into oncoming traffic is not only very dangerous, it has turned the bicycle route into a street that people try to avoid. protected bike lanes will provide safe passage and slow down vehicle traffic, making it safer for everyone who uses the treat. valencia's bike lanes are long overdue for improvements that change how everyone they're gait -- navigates this area. we want to thank supervisor sheehy for working on this and we look forward to working with his office and the mta on solutions that will address urgent safety concerns in the next year. i urge you to improve the funding to create the north bike route san francisco deserves. thank you for your time. >> chairman peskin: thank you. next speaker please. >> hi name is robert. i live in noe valley on 27th and church. i ride the valencia corridor almost every day. i have a car. i probably use it once every two weeks. i have lived there since 1993. i remember before there was no bike lane. the bike lane has been great for me and thank you supervisor ronen for your comments before. it has gotten severely dangerous in the past few years with uber and lift. especially at night. bikers are forced to swerve into oncoming traffic by cars that are double parked there. there was a comment i think saying we can't do anything because i guess the city doesn't have oversight for uber and lift. i think something needs to be done very quickly. i have a 22-year-old daughter who is also biking every day in the city and it is worrisome. thank you very much. >> chairman peskin: thank you. next speaker, please. and let me just call a few mr. speaker cards. matt, ivan. >> hello. i have been living in san francisco since 2004 and i have been driving my bike on valencia street since 2008. and since 2014, i own a small business on valencia and 25th and while i keep -- while i keep commuting by bicycle as well. i ride my bike daily as well off the people working on the business and many of our customers. we encourage them to commute by bike and avoid the lack of parking around the area. in the last two years, the commute has become more and more dangerous due to the bikes -- the bike lanes being constantly taken over by lift and uber surfaces, plus loading. i believe this change on improving the safety bike lanes on valencia street will raise the level of safety to cycle irss like me and -- cyclists and bring more business to the area. thank you. >> chairman peskin: thank you. next speaker, please. >> i'm a resident, long same valencia, over 20 years. i remember what it was like before there was a bike lane and i have to say it is worse now from when before there was a bike lane at all. so, that kind of shows how bad it is and i'm going to reflect the comment made earlier. i hardly ever use it anymore. if i can avoid it, i will go side streets, all that. and the protected bike lane that was built south of cesar chavez has been great. all of a sudden it is working. so, i would definitely also encourage to get this project expedited as fast as possible. thank you for funding it. but keep funding it and pushing the uber lift situation as other people said is completely untenable. it is out of control. so, something needs to be done in whatever form. but i will also add my voice to say this is really urgent. i have seen people actually getting hit. i have seen so many near misses. i have been in near misses. it feels like a battlefield and that's not good for drivers either. they get scared. they come from out of town. like what's going on? we need to do something to make it work for everybody and there are solutions. like the protected bike lanes and other stuff. thank you very much. >> chairman peskin: thank you. next speaker please. >> hi. i live in bruno heights and i have been living and biking in san francisco for five years. i have been hit by cars twice. once in the bike lane and the driver just wanted to leave because he thought i wasn't hurt. we need to protect bike lanes and cyclists because even painting some lines on the street isn't going to help you when the drivers just knock you and they are like oh you didn't fall over, it is fine. we need to change this. >> chairman peskin: thank you. next speaker. >> good morning. i'm a resident on the mission. i commute regularly on valencia street. valencia street bike lane is unusable at this moment due to the double-parked cars and it is lifts and ubers but it is not just them. it is delivery trucks, it is residents. there's no enforcement of parking on valencia street. often on my bike ride, i have to weave around six cars. what makes me nervous or passionate, there are so many parents using valencia. you see parents with one or two children on the back of their bikes and this is an accident waiting to happen. so, it is great that we are moving with the protected bike lanes. thank you supervisor sheehy for your leadership, the mta staff told me personally for years this was too difficult of a corridor to build protected bike lanes and that has quickly changed in the past couple of months. we appreciate that. but we need to do everything we can to keep cars out of the bike lanes and get them built as quickly as possible. thank you. >> chairman peskin: thank you. next speaker. >> i'm roger lake. i'm a 30-year commuter and i just want you to understand that we are the canaries in the coal miner era. if you don't put the barriers in, it won't make a difference. it is not just uber and lift. if you build a simple barrier, people figure it out. they go some place else. it is not product science. we need the barriers. thank you. >> chairman peskin: thank you, sir. next speaker, please. >> hello. i'm one of the organizers of the people protected bike lane and i want to thank jeff sheehy. i should tell you the people protected bike lane is we organize 50 or 60 people to stand on the line to protect the bike lane from traffic. people are motivated about that issue and valencia is one of the places we organize the most people. i want to focus on two items today. immediate pilot safety improvements and outdated curve management. in this funding allocation we called out immediate pilot improvements. i'm glad changes are happening but we can install immediate safety improvements today. the bike lane next to bike corrals, mid-block are protectable today. there's no reason a car needs to occupy that space or is legally allowed to. there's room for a two-foot buffer and white posts that we can install immediately. my wife bikes valencia every day from our house to her job teaching high school in the mission. i feel better with every inch of this bike lane that we protect. second issue is curb management. i live four blocks and bike, walk, shop and eat there constantly. i want to be clear this is not just a tnc issue. private cars, delivery trucks, taxis, they all occupy the bike lane. i want to partner with those marine chants -- merchants. we need to find a way that accommodates them. there should never be a reason for a car or delivery truck to have to cross through a bike lane to access a curb. pedestrianses do not wear armor. bicycles do not wear armor. we are pedestrians on wheels. cars need to be next to cars. thank you for listening today. >> chairman peskin: thank you. let me just call a few mr. speaker cards. paul valdez, chris, jeremy and kelsey roader. >> commissioners, i'm a 33-year commuter in san francisco. thank you for taking our testimony. i like to urge the passage of this item, item eight. bimding alarms -- building alarms and curb cuts are useful things. when we are teaching kids how to ride bikes it would be bondsful if as they move -- wonderful if they see people riding bicycles in a relack laxed manner. -- relaxed manner. you may have noticed as you ride down valencia street, that is quite exciting. valencia, the mission in general has many new cycliscyclists. a lot of young people like to move to the mission and like to learn to ride bikes. valencia is a dangerous place just like the street i live on, which is 17th street. i urge you to pass this funding and to move as expeditiously as possible. thank you. >> chairman peskin: thank you. >> hi there. i'm a 25-year resident of san francisco. i have lived on 19th street just off valencia for the last 21 years. before the bike lanes were there. i saw them go in. i have seen the neighborhood evolve and i still try to ride my bike, but it feels less safe. i can echo everything that everybody else said but i'm not sure in this works. if i held my leg up here and showed you the scars on my shin from when a car pulled over to pick up their furniture, stopped and i slammed into them and jammed by shin into my pedals. i bled a little. it hurt. we heard from someone else who has been hit twice today. that happens twa too often and someone is -- way too often and someone is going to get hurt. i love the idea of the immediate posts to block any bike corrals or parklets because waiting a year to find out yes we spent this money and indeed, valencia's bike lane needs to be improved, that's way too long. thanks. >> chairman peskin: thank you, sir. >> i'm a general manager of mission bicycle company. we are located on valencia street between 18th and 19th. as not only a cyclist, i ride valencia five days a week and it is a nightmare trying to get around cars parked in the bike lanes, vehicles pulling in and out. even walking has become an issue. as a business owner who caters to cyclists, i hear countless stories of near misses, close calls, severe accidents, everything, every single day and week. i'm in full support of doing something to make that a thing of the past. thank you. >> chairman peskin: thank you, sir. i have just one mr. speaker card. >> good morning. thank you for taking the time to listen to us. my name is paul valdez and i'm a 26-year san francisco resident. i'm a volunteer for the bicycle coalition, a former member of the bay area families for safe streets advocacy group. bottom line, i'm here to show my support in approving the additional funds that create protected bike lanes from market to mission. i choose to ride my bike in san francisco because i believe it is a wonderful, sustainable healthy way to get around in our city. i'm appreciative of the current bike structure but my bike rides have less enjoyable because of the people who lack the wisdom to share streets safely. there are many situations i was riding down valencia and was forced into oncoming traffic because drivers from companies like uber and lift were parked in the bike lanes for several blocks. an uber driver swerved in front of me to pick up passengers and compromised my safety and the safety of others. to take a ride down valencia street, saturday nights are the worst and it is a mess and unsafe. as one of the co-organizers for where we honor cyclists killed we know lives could have been saved. protected bike lanes are paramount and they will save lives. i urge you to improve the transportation improvement funds today and for a safer valencia street tomorrow. thank you. >> chairman peskin: thank you. >> public: thanks. one of the things that really is meaningful to me about bicycles is that they are for everyone and bicycles are the most equitable form of transportation along with walking. i wanted to echo supervisor cohen's comments about funding education for bicyclists in southeast of san francisco and i hope to see a future planning funding for bike lane between the southeast of san francisco and places where rich people live like valencia street. thank you supervisor cohen. >> chairman peskin: thank you, sir. next speaker. >> public: good morning. my name is kelsey and i bike on valencia street from 22nd to market every day. i have been riding my bike in the city since i moved here nine years ago i feel confident in my ability to be safe, courteous and predictable on my bike. in the two years that i have lived in district eight, i have seen a profound change in the safety of valencia street. what used to feel like a true walking and biking corridor now feels like any other street without bike lanes. i have to go around at least one car per block stopped in the bike lane, which means that i have to leave the lane that is for me and enter the car traffic lane. there, i'm vulnerable to even more uber drivers who are paying more attention to their phones than the road. even when i'm in the bike lane, i'm susceptible to cars as uber drivers pull over. i have had more close calls than any other street in san francisco. every day after i bike on valencia, i arrive to my destination shaken, scared and angry. this is an entirely preventable problem. clearly enforcement of these double parking violations isn't happening and something needs to be done. protected bike lanes have proven themselves to keep our streets safe for everyone. valencia street has been a safe and visionary corridor for people instead of a series of crashes waiting to happen. the time for doing nothing has passed. people deserve to be safe. i urge the board of superisors to support funding for protected bike lanes on the entirety of valencia street. thank you. >> chairman peskin: next speaker. >> public: my name is christopher. san francisco resident for about six years. although this isn't the first city i have learned to bike in. i lived in new york city and had been biking there for the past ten years also. i guess you could say i'm more of an experienced cyclist and so, i'm kind of used to the general flow of traffic, riding close to cars, the weaving in and out of streets and everything that existed in cities in the past 15 years, before we really started investing in making cycling safe. what is interesting for me is that recently i began a relationship with my partner. she has never ridden in a city before and going through her and riding with her in the city, i'm kind of seeing things in a different way. one of the things she came to me with in the past six months is she feels unsafe on va experience la street. -- valencia street. she won't ride it by herself on the weekends or after 6:00 p.m. just because there's so much traffic on that street. she said sew feels more safe riding in the red bus lane on mission street because that lane feels more enforced and more separated from cars and sometimes you just have to watch out for one or two buses between the trip of 16th to 24th than she does having to dodge six to ten cars on valencia street. i volunteer at the san francisco bike kitchen in the mission. i'm on the board of directors and from this opportunity i get to speak to lots of individuals and they their these sentiments. valencia seems to be one of those lotions that more and more -- locations that more and more people are avoiding for other streets. i feel stories people go all the way to the east side of the city, the east side of the mission going up harrison or folsom to completely avoid that area. [bell]. >> public: thank you for listening to me i would approve more bike lanes. especially on valencia street. >> chairman peskin: thank you. >> public: good morning. i'm a volunteer with the bike coalition. i have been a san francisco resident for over 40 years. i'm a bike commuter. my wife is a bike commuter and i want to start by saying that safety is a huge concern to me. 13 years ago i was run over by a bus while riding home from work. i nearly died. i wouldn't be here if it weren't for the fire department, if it weren't for sfgh, i wouldn't be here. i would be dead. it caused a huge disruption in my life, my family's life. i was in the hospital for three months. i was off work for a year. this cost the city millions of dollars from a suit that i had against the city. and i want to make it really clear that it is cheaper and better for citizens of san francisco to have safe cycling. that's just a no-brainer. motorized vehicles and pedestrians and bikes have no business being in the same place. we have to have bike boulevards, pedestrian areas in this city. i ride valencia five to six times a week. i have to say it has been fab seeing so many -- fabulous seeing so many new people and the growth of bicycles. but it is horrendous with what has happened with cars on valencia. there are countless cars and trucks double parking as everyone has said. you need to weave in and out. you have no choice. these are just accidents like mine waiting to happen. i think there's a toxic mix in san francisco today. you have a bunch of new people who have very fast cars and very fancy cars and like to go very fast. and then you have a bunch of new cyclists. [bell]. >> public: and they are all together and that's causing enormous problems. so, i think there's no question in my mind that we have to make things really different and we have to make cycling safe in this city. >> chairman peskin: thank you. next speaker please. and if there are anymore speakers, line up, otherwise this will be the last speaker. >> public: hi. thanks for listening today. i moved here recently over the summer and i have been biking for a long time before i moved here. i was in seattle most recently and there i was also involved in a lot of bicycle activism. it took people dying in order to get protected bike lanes there and i really don't want to see that happen here. i would rather move faster, put up posts like has been mention-ed before in areas where there are bike corrals and make temporary prevent tifr changes fast -- preventtive changes faster. i have seen bikes and cars and pedestrians co-existing. it is possible. it happens in a lot of places all over the world. ty don't see why we can't -- i don't see why we can't have that here. we can have cars and pick-up spots for uber and lifts out of the bike lanes and we can have protected bike lanes. all it is going to take is working for it and i think that we can do that. so, i just want to stry

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