Draft Minutes September 11, 2018

Draft Minutes September 11, 2018

Meeting started at 6:00 PM.

Present: Howard Bloomberg, Walk Advocate; Becky Hogue, Senior and Disability Org; Kevin Stull, D-9; Bettina Cohen, D-6; Meridith Osborn, D-5; Evy Posamentier, D-8; Howard Strassner, Transit or Environmental Advocate; Thomas Rogers, D-10; and John Winston, SFUSD. Excused: Martin Fein, D-4 and Andrew Jacobs, D-2. Absent: Jacquie Chavez, D-11. There are currently 12 appointed members. Vacant Seats: D-1,3,7, Bicycle Org and Senior Org. Staff: Victoria Chong left early due to illness.

1. Comment Public: Catherine Orland, BAC: BAC passed a resolution to create two shopping zones on Valencia, as a pilot project, to eliminate through traffic. PSAC Comments: Concerned with blue and yellow parking zones. A sketch will make the proposal easier to follow.

2. SFPD Report: Sgt. Embody: A) On 9/7 83 year old man was injured while crossing outside cross walk. B) On 8/8 58 old was injured by hit and run and died six days later. C) On 8/31 14 year old injured while crossing in cross walk.

D) On 8/14 bicyclist crossing on red was hit by drunk driver. E) Bus driver in out of control bus on Lombard probably had a medical condition.

3. SFPD Traffic Company Staffing: Luke Martin, Capitan: Total staff is at all time low of 43 spread over two shifts and seven days. In addition to traffic enforcement they also are called to escort dignitaries and for funerals. Current first priority for police service is homeless. Second priority is for foot patrols. All SFPD officers are supposed to enforce traffic violations Bob Planthold: Pedestrian Safety advocate for 41 years: In 1990s the company had 109 staff. Last police training class was five years ago. Red light citations are decreasing and one traffic court is closing due to lack of citations. There is too much plea bargaining to eliminate points which could cause loss of a driving license and 80 to 90% of citations are contested requiring police presence. The first step toward more police classes is to find out the cost of a class. Yellow cross walks are slippery and little can be done except being very careful. Red light cameras have not helped enforcement and red light cameras are being shut down. PSAC: Who is responsible for red light cameras? Would different paint be useful?

4. Minutes: Approved August minutes with spelling corrections.

5. Muni Forward: Steve Boland: Presented on Third Street. SFMTA: PSAC Comments: What are the stop spacing standards? There are problems with double right turn lanes. There is a need for a bike lane on the left side of 3rd street connecting Howard and Folsom. We need more day lighting for curbs. Was fire truck access considered on 3rd St? There seems to be an overlap on the work on 2nd and 4th streets. Cars turning right on red lights are dangerous for pedestrians.

6. PSAC Bylaws: Meridith: Cleaned up old bylaws. Tabled due to lack of quorum.

7. Chair’s Report: Becky: Will miss next month for an operation. Vice-chair Kevin will chair the October meeting.

8. Future Items: New: Annual Report, Becky; Scooters, Stuart; Upper Market; Vision Zero; Muni Equity and Public Health. Along with name of responsible member: Older: A) Issues from BAC, Howard S; B) Speed Cameras. C) Chinatown, Stuart; D) Uber and Chariot; E) Road rage, Evy

9. Adjournment: 7:30. Next scheduled regular meeting is Tuesday, October 9, Room 400 at 6:00. Howard S and Kevin took notes.

Agenda November 13, 2018

City Hall, Room 400

6 PM

1)Call to Order

2)Roll Call

3)Approve Agenda

4)Approve September Minutes

5)General Public Comment

6)SF Police Department Report
a)Sgt. Embody

7)Sloat Boulevard
a)Howard Strassner

8)PSAC Bylaws
a)Meredith Osborn

9)Valencia Shopping Zone
a)Catherine Orland

10)Congestion and Pedestrian Safety
a)Bettina Cohen

11)SFMTA Report
a)Victoria Chong

12)Members Reports

13)Chairs Report

14)Future Membership Meetings

15)Adjournment

Agenda July 10, 2018

City Hall, Room 400, 6PM

1) Call to Order

2) Roll Call

3) Approve Agenda

4) Approve June Minutes

5) General Public Comment

6) SF Police Department Report
Sgt. Embody

7) Lower Great Highway Project
Nick Smith

8) Scooter-Sharing Updates 
Jason Hyde

9) SFMTA Reports 
Victoria Chong

10) PSAC ByLaws
Meredith Osborn

11) Members Reports

12) Chairs Report

13) Future Membership Meetings

14) Adjournment

Draft Minutes, June 12, 2018

Meeting started at 6:05 PM.

Present: Howard Bloomberg,Walk Advocate; Jacquie Chavez, D-11; Becky Hogue, Senior and Disability Org; Kevin Stull, D-9; Bettina Cohen, D-6; Martin Fein, D-4; Andrew Jacobs, D-2; Meredith Osborn, D-5; Howard Strassner, Transit or Environmental Advocate; Thomas Rogers, D-10; Stuart Watts, D-3 and Jon Winston, SFUSD. Excused: Absent: Evy Posenentico, D-8. There are currently 13 appointed members. Staff: Victoria Chong.

Minutes:

1. SFPD Report: Sgt. Embody: A) No new incidents and no new information on recent past incidents.

2. Geary Rapid Project: Liz Brisson, SFMTA presented: This is the first part, from Market to Arguello. Geary has an average of 26 injury collisions per year and bus and pedestrian bulbs plus medians and longer crossing times should help. Buses will run along the curb in a mostly bus lane and this plus transit signal priority will improve speed and reliability. The Buchanan pedestrian bridge will remain as a neighborhood icon. The Steiner bridge will be removed because 80% of those crossing use the surface. The Geary bus route from Arguello westward will be more costly, center running and work will start later. The transition from center to side running will have a transit “jump” signal stopping all other traffic. Future Muni will be all electric. PSAC Comments: 

A) Countdown signal lights seem to be fading and should be checked. 

B) The north side of Geary at Masonic needs a median to provide safety for very slow walkers, as discussed in a PSAC Resolution. The south side includes a median as part of the Masonic project. C) Additional injuries show up at the hospital a few days after the collision.

3. SFMTA Report: Victoria Chong: 

A) Answered PSAC questions from our April meeting via an email. B) Work on Masonic is nearly complete. C) Safer Taylor has a scheduled outreach meeting.

4. Para Transit: Johnson Cheng, SFMTA, presented: A slide show describing: ADA mandate, Scope, Fares, Reservations, Service and Training. The slide show will be submitted via email.

5. Side Walk Parking Enforcement Resolution: Jon: presented: Discussed limited enforcement and described some additions to the resolution as published. PSAC voted unanimously to support.

6. Members Reports: 

A) Howard S: Our resolution on Stockton Street bus lane and wider sidewalks was not supported by the Bicycle Coalition, Walk SF or the Sierra Club. It seems that the Chinatown neighborhood defines Transit First for themselves. 

B) Jacquie: Walk to School week will add Car Pool and Transit week.

C) Meredith: District five is working to make the signage for Ninth, Seventh and Fifth, and approaches to Golden Gate Park safer for pedestrians.

7. Bylaws Update: Our revised Ordinance should have revised bylaws. Meredith will produce a draft update of the bylaws.

8. Chair’s Report: Becky: Needs some input, from PSAC members for future meetings. Martin offered to help for July.

9. Future Items: New: Annual Report, Becky; Scooters, Stuart; Upper Market; Vision Zero; Muni Equity and Public Health. Along with name of responsible member: Older: 

A) Issues from BAC, Howard S; 

B) Speed Cameras. 

C) Chinatown, Stuart; 

D) Uber and Chariot; 

E) Road rage, Evy

10. Adjournment: 7:35. Next scheduled regular meeting is Tuesday, July 10, 2018 Room 400 at 6:00. Howard S. took notes.

Draft Minutes February 13, 2018

Meeting started at 6:00 PM.

Present: Howard Bloomberg, Walk Advocate; Becky Hogue, Senior and Disability Org; Meredith Osborn, D-5; Evy Posenentico, D-8; Howard Strassner, Transit or Environmental Advocate; Thomas Rogers, D-10; Kevin Stull, D-6; Stuart Watts, D-3 and John Winston, SFUSD. Excused: Martin Fein, D-4. Absent: Kevin Clark,

D-1; Jacquie Chavez, D-11; and Dan Golub, D-2. There are currently 13 appointed members. Staff: Victoria Chong

Minutes:

1. SFMTA Capital Budget: Luis Montoya presented: A) Budget was $3.6 Billion over five years, including LRVs, new buses and the Central Subway. B) The new budget is $2.8 Billion mostly for transit facilities and about $1 Billion for streets, pedestrians and bicycles with about 75% of this in high injury streets. He distributed a list of these projects. Some money will be held for newly discovered needs. C) Only 43% of all trips (as determined by survey) are in a private auto. D) Annual traffic deaths are down to 14 pedestrians and 6 in autos.

2. SFPD Report: Sgt. Embody and Captain Vaswani presented: A) The Captain’s 25 years in the SFPD includes: Being Captain in Bay View where he dealt with changes in the traffic pattern due to new developments; Park Station where he dealt with pedestrians and bikes and investigated injuries and deaths. B) He distributed copies of the December and annual fatality numbers. C) SFPD wrote 80,000 tickets in 2017. D) Future: He will work with neighborhood stations to help on problem streets. They are beginning to use E data to study causes of pedestrian problems. They have only 39 motorcycle officer down from 70. He is getting involved in automated cars. 

PSAC Comments: Are reduced speeds due to congestion a factor in reduced pedestrian fatalities.

3. Minutes: PSAC approved the November and January minutes.

4. Stockton Street Mall Resolution: Howard S. presented: PSAC voted 9-0 to support a Resolution Requesting Converting Lower Stockton Street to a Pedestrian Mall.

5. Distracted Walking Resolution; Evy presented: Some comments: this seems to blaming the victim. PSAC voted 3-6 and the resolution was not supported.

6. SFMTA Report: Victoria Chong: A) Para Transit: SFMTA oversees the contractor. Funded by grants from State Federal and SF. B) Working on area safety designs. Victoria will send Becky info for distribution. C) Our website includes agendas, minutes and resolutions. PSAC Comments: Beige painted corner bulbs are not visible. Oakland uses purple or could be orange for Giants.

7. Chairs Report: Becky: A) Bicycle member should be on board soon. B) Becky will ask the SFMTA if we can meet at One Van Ness at 5:30. C) Annual report to Supervisors will include PSAC: agendas; minutes; resolutions and handouts.

11. Members Reports: A) John W: A group has formed to work for funding for the Ocean Ave safety improvements.

12. Future Items: New: Upper Market; Vision Zero; Muni Equity and Public Health. Along with name of responsible member: Older: A) Issues from BAC, Howard S; B) Speed Cameras. C) Annual Report; D) Chinatown, Stuart; E) Uber and Chariot; F) Road rage, Evy

13. Public Comments: Andrew Jacobs: Considering joining PSAC from D-2. Concerned with high injury California street with two lanes each way.

14. Adjourned 7:45. Next scheduled regular meeting is Tuesday, March 13, 2018 Room 400 at 6:00. Howard S. took notes.

PSAC Agenda, April 10, 2018

City Hall, Room 400, 6PM

1. Call to Order (2 minutes)

2. Roll Call and introduction of new members (5 minutes)

3. Approve Agenda (2 minutes)

4. Approve March Minutes (5 minutes)

5. General Public Comment (10 minutes)

6. SF Police Department Report
   1. Sgt. Embody (10 minutes)

7. ConnectSF Presentation (20 minutes)
   1. ConnectSF Staff

8. SFMTA Report, Sidewalk Parking Questions
   1. Victoria Chong (10 minutes)

9. Bike, scooter shares in SF
   1. Stuart Watts

10. Uber Autonomous Vehicles, Walk to Work Day
    1. Bettina Cohen

11. Bike and Roll to School Week
    1. Jacquie Zapata

12. Annual Report
    1. Becky Hogue

13. Members Reports

14. Future Items

15. Adjournment

PSAC Agenda - February 13, 2018

Special Location

MTA Offices 

1 South Van Ness

7th Floor

Union Square Conference Room

1. Call to Order (2 minutes)

2. Roll Call (5 minutes)

3. Approve Agenda (5 minutes) Action Item

4. Approve November and January Minutes (10 minutes)

5. General Public Comment (10 minutes)

6. SFPD Report
   1. Captain Vaswani and Sgt. Embody (15 minutes)

7. SFMTA Budget
   1. Lulu Feliciano (20 minutes)

8. SFMTA Report
   1. Victoria Chong (10 minutes)

9. Stockton Street Resolution - Action Item
   1. Howard Strassner (10 minutes)

10. Distracted Walking Resolution - Action Item
    1. Evy Posamentier (15 minutes)

11. Members Report (10 minutes)

12. Annual Report
    1. Becky Hogue

13. Chairs Report

14. Future Items

15. Adjournment

PSAC resolution urging the Board of Supervisors to raise awareness of the dangers of distracted by pedestrians while using any mobile electronic device while crossing streets

WHEREAS, the rise in cell phone distracted walking injuries parallels the eight-fold increase in cell phone use in the last 15 years (National Safety Council 2015), and

WHEREAS, the Governors Highway Safety Association 2017 report finds that both drivers and predestrians who are distracted by smartphones are less likely to be aware of their surroundings; and

WHEREAS, Pedestrians and drivers using cell phones are both impaired and too mentally distracted to fully focus on their surroundings (National Safety Council 2015); and 

WHEREAS, a Stony Brook University study in 2011 documented the effect of texting on navigation while walking and found it significantly more dangerous than talking on a cell phone; and

WHEREAS, one in 10 pedestrian injuries is now related to distracted walking and that distracted walking causes more accidents than distracted driving, even if the severity of injuries is lower (University of Buffalo 2014); and

WHEREAS, A professor at William Paterson University conducted a study of more than 21,000 pedestrians at five of the most dangerous intersections in Manhattan and found that nearly half of pedestrians crossing on a “DON’T WALK” signal and about one-third crossing on a “WALK” signal were distracted while wearing headphones, talking and/or looking down at an electronic device (Journal of Community Health 2015); and

WHEREAS, Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, who has acknowledged that distracted walking is a factor in increased pedestrian deaths and injuries, has awarded grants totaling $1.6 million to Louisville, New York City and Philadelphia for safety programs, noting that, “We’ve got to encourage people to have an awareness that this problem is a real problem” (Pew Charitable Trust Stateline, Dec. 11, 2014); and

WHEREAS, Jurisdictions as varied as City of Honolulu, the State of Utah, Fort Lee, New Jersey, Chicago, New York City, Ontario, Canada, and Pennsylvania have either passed laws, or are contemplating to, pertaining to pedestrian distracted walking in crossways; and

WHEREAS, New York State has recognized the problem of distracted walking and has passed legislation which "Directs the department of transportation of the city of New York to study and report on its efforts to educate pedestrians and drivers on the dangers of pedestrians being distracted by use of a mobile device" (Sept. 3, 2017); and

WHEREAS, the World Health Organization has recognizes that distracted walking is a growing and serious concern (Make Walking Safe:  a brief overview of Pedestrian Safety (WHO/NMH/VIP 13.02)); thus be it 

RESOLVED that

PSAC urges the Board of Supervisors to raise awareness of the dangers of distracted walking by pedestrians using any mobile electronic device while crossing streets.

Draft Proposed PSAC Resolution Requesting Converting Lower Stockton Street to a Pedestrian Mall

Whereas construction for the Central Subway has required elimination of all traffic from Lower Stockton Street, formerly south bound only, with one lane for the Muni 30 Stockton route and two traffic lanes from Sutter to Market Street, for six years, with the exception of traffic to the Union Square Garage; and during this time the adjacent Union Square District, San Francisco’s premiere shopping/theater/hotel area, and the Chinatown shopping district, north of the Stockton Street Tunnel have both continued to prosper, and

Whereas during the Central Subway construction period the ‘3O’ Stockton south bound bus has been detoured to Mason street adding many minutes and inconvenience to the route while south bound general traffic dispersed to cross Market, and the northbound 30 bus and most general traffic moved on Kearny Street to Sutter Street to the Tunnel, unaffected by construction, and

Whereas before Lower Stockton Street was closed down for subway construction these four intersections averaged about seven injury collisions per year and during the construction shut down injury collisions were reduced to about four per year and the difference was not due to no automobile traffic on Stockton but was due to to turns on to Stockton, in addition the Muni bus had about three collisions per year before the shutdown, and

Whereas during the last five yearend holiday shopping periods subway construction on lower Stockton was essentially stopped to allow the conversion of most of the street level to Winter Walk, a festive traffic free green carpeted mall which was greatly appreciated by shoppers and children, and

Whereas the SFMTA has prepared a proposal for Lower Stockton, after subway construction is completed, which includes: a twenty two foot wide sidewalk on each side of the street, suitable for special events and pedestrian amenities; a twelve foot wide bus lane, which greatly segregates buses from moving traffic minimizing future Muni collisions and improves transit reliability; no turning traffic at intersections, which improves pedestrians safety; two five foot wide bicycle paths, which is necessary because nearby downtown streets currently have no bicycle lanes and also provides room for a bus to pass a disabled bus and ample yellow, white and blue parking zones around the corner from Stockton Street, for deliveries to stores, the drop off of passengers and access for the disabled, and

Whereas this proposal is supported by the Union Square business community because similar designs of traffic free malls combined with transit are working well and producing increased business activity in many American and foreign cities, and

Whereas an exhaustive traffic study shows that while returning lower Stockton Street to the former configuration, before the start of Central Subway construction, would add about a 1,000 cars an hour to south bound capacity, this traffic when added to the increase in downtown traffic, since the start of construction would result in no new net additional capacity to leave upper Stockton Street because the traffic would bog down soon after it crossed Market Street before it got to the freeway, now

Therefore the Pedestrian Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC) Resolves to support the SFMTA Lower Stockton Street proposal and urges rapid implementation of the Proposal to improve: pedestrian and bicycle safety and amenities while improving transit and commercial prosperity.

Jan 9 2018 Agenda

PSAC Agenda

January 9, 2018

City Hall, Room 400, 6PM

1) Call to Order (2 minutes)

2) Roll Call (5 minutes)

3) Approve Agenda (2 minutes)

4) Approve November Minutes (5 minutes)

5) General Public Comment (10 minutes)

6) PSAC Election (15 minutes)

     a)Thomas Rogers

7) SF Police Department Reporta)Sgt. Embody (10 minutes)

8) Better Market Street (20 minutes)a)Simon Bertrand

9) SFMTA Reporta)Victoria Chong (10 minutes)

10) Stockton Street Resolution - Action Item (10 minutes)

11) Distracted Walking Resolution - Action Item

      a) Evy Posamentier (10 minutes)

12) North Beach Neighborsa)Stuart Watts (7 minutes)

13) Vision Zero Update 

       a)Stuart Watts (8 minutes)

14) Chair's Report

15) Future Items

16) Adjournment