Pedestrian Safety Project Grant Application

 

Improving Pedestrian Safety by Improving Public Policy

 

 

1. Organization

 

Name of Organization: Walk San Francisco

                      Address: 7 Hallam St. #1A

                  Telephone: 415.358.5545 (voice and fax)

          Contact Person: Michael Smith (President of the Board)

                         Email: director@walksf.org

 

 

2. Organization Description

           

Walk San Francisco is a pedestrian advocacy group that promotes walking as a safe and sustainable form of transportation that increases our city's livability, enhances public life, and improves public and environmental health. We are a coalition of organizations and individuals that seeks to improve San Francisco's walking environment through activism and policy advocacy.

 

Our Goals:

 

        To reduce pedestrian deaths and injuries.

        To ensure the design of a human-scaled, pedestrian-oriented city.

        To promote community attitudes and government policies that favor walking.

        To increase funding for pedestrian-friendly transportation planning and projects.

        To make San Francisco the most walkable city in the United States.

 

Key Capabilities:

 

Though only a few years old, Walk SF has had early successes and garnered the respect and attention of city officials and other activist organization. We have done this by building three core organizational competencies: 1) grass roots outreach and communication, 2) effective government advocacy, and 3) strategic project management. Walk SF carefully selects and manages projects that will strengthen our organization, further our organizational goals, and capitalize on both our outreach and advocacy capabilities.

 

Our Constituents:

 

Walk SF represents the growing number of people who walk in San Francisco and notice the increasingly dangerous conditions that pedestrians face. In particular, we are organizing those who are most affected by pedestrian safety issues including children, elderly, and the disabled. By actively defining and promoting pedestrian issues, we are building awareness and coalition among people who might not otherwise rally for better pedestrian conditions. In practice, Walk San Francisco brings citizens and government agencies together in order to envision and implement a safer pedestrian environment.

 

Financial Status:

 

Walk San Francisco is a 501(c)(4) so that we can effectively lobby for improving pedestrian safety.  Grant money is handled by our fiscal sponsor Transportation for a Livable City (TLC), a 501(c)(3). TLC has three main goals:

  1. Reduce automobile dependence and use by increasing public transit service, encouraging and protecting pedestrians, improving bicycling conditions, and enhancing other alternatives.
  2. Build a coalition between housing and transportation advocates to promote housing construction.
  3. Expand and strengthen the city’s traffic-calming program.

 

 

3. Proposed Project - Improving Pedestrian Safety by Improving Public Policy

 

The proposed Pedestrian Safety Project is to identify and advocate for public policy changes that will enable community based groups to make changes that will improve the safety of pedestrians.

 

Background

 

One of the main problems with trying to improve pedestrian safety is that laws, policies, and bureaucracies are set up to promote vehicle flow over pedestrian safety.  Community groups are often prevented from making improvements due to outdated and counter productive policies.    Therefore in order to improve pedestrian safety in our communities, and thereby public health, we must first promote change within the institutions that affect the design of our streets.

 

The purpose of the "Improving Pedestrian Safety By Improving Policy Project" is therefore to facilitate policy changes that will enable needed pedestrian safety improvements. Specifically, three issues will be tackled: 1) changing local CEQA/LOS guidelines to take pedestrian safety into account, 2) initiating the creation of a pedestrian master plan, and 3) making DPT (Department of Parking and Traffic) policies more pedestrian oriented.

 

CEQA/LOS

State law requires local jurisdictions to have CEQA/LOS (California Environmental Quality Act)/ Level Of Service) guidelines that effect what changes can be made to traffic patterns.  The current San Francisco guidelines specify that changes, including pedestrian safety improvements, are limited if the Level of Service (LOS) for the area in question would degrade below a certain value.  This limitation means that pedestrian safety improvement are often not possible due to the current guidelines.  The Board of Supervisors has the authority to modify the guidelines to better serve all users of our streets.  Such a change requires an organized and concerted effort because the need for pedestrian safety will need to be balanced with the need for vehicle throughput.  Because the CEQA/LOS guidelines also affect transit efficiency and bicycle safety, any changes would be coordinated with representatives from those constituencies.

 

A specific example of how CEQA/LOS guidelines prevent pedestrian safety improvements are double-turn lanes.  A double-turn lane is inherently dangerous to pedestrians because drivers in the outside lane often cannot see pedestrians in the crosswalk due to the view being obstructed by a vehicle in the inside lane.  In order to improve pedestrian safety the double-turn lane could be converted into a single-turn lane.  Unfortunately, eliminating the second turn lane is often prevented due to CEQA/LOS requirements which prevent changes, even important pedestrian safety related ones, from being enacted if the flow of motor vehicles might be negatively effected for nearby intersections.  Therefore even if a community unanimously agreed that the change needed to be made, existing CEQA/LOS guidelines prevent the change from being implemented. 

 

Examples of double-turn lanes that have been unsuccessfully fought by community groups yet remain in a dangerous state due to current CEQA/LOS guidelines include Oak & Masonic, 3rd & Folsom, Howard & 9th, Howard & 6th.

 

Pedestrian Master Plan

A great deal of planning effort is being expended on transit and bicycle issues.  Much of this is due to the development of master plans for these modes.  As a result a bicycle network and a long-term transit plan are already being established. Other cities including Oakland are working on or have completed pedestrian master plans.  Unfortunately, current pedestrian planning in San Francisco is done in a piecemeal manner with only short-term goals. 

 

A pedestrian plan would provide coherent planning that would enable long-term improvements.  Developing a pedestrian plan can be a complicated and time consuming process.  Therefore a great deal of background work needs to first be done to determine the process and the goals for such a process.  It should also be noted that the DPT has stated that a pedestrian master plan would indeed by beneficial for the city but that they currently do not have the resources to initiate the project.  By Walk San Francisco initiating the process and determining the scope of the work as outlined in this proposal, it will be much easier to obtain the necessary funding from the city of San Francisco to actually complete the plan as the next step.

 

 

DPT Policies

The DPT (Department of Parking and Traffic) is in charge of  our street space yet has always had an auto-centric view.   In order to facilitate improvements to pedestrian safety, the DPT needs to raise the issue to a higher level of importance.  To do so, community groups need to be organized into a coalition in order to advocate for such change to the DPT, the Board of Supervisors, and the Mayor’s Office.  Because the DPT will be merged with MUNI over the next year, now is an ideal time to advocate for better policies.

 

A specific example of how current DPT policy does not adequately address pedestrian safety issues is the lack of adequate nighttime enforcement of parking violations.  Currently parking in crosswalks, in front of curb cuts, and on sidewalks is rampant in San Francisco.  This forces pedestrians to make dangerous detours into the street to get around the offending cars.  Due to the DPT currently emphasizing the flow of vehicles during the day time and assigning their PCO’s accordingly, the DPT is chronically understaffed during evenings when many parking violations occur that negatively effect pedestrian safety. 

 

 

Proposal

 

The “Improving Pedestrian Safety by Improving Public Policy” proposal is to work with community groups and government agencies of the City of San Francisco to identify and implement policy changes that will enable improvements to pedestrian safety.

 

The following steps will be taken:

  1. Create list of desired community based pedestrian safety improvements hindered by current policy
  2. Create coalition of organizations that will advocate for policy changes
  3. Facilitate changes to CEQA/LOS guidelines
    1. Establish relationship with soon to be formed Pedestrian Citizens Advisory Committee
    2. With help of a Environmental Law consultant:

                                                               i.      Determine what aspects of the CEQA/LOS guidelines can be changed

                                                             ii.      Determine what aspects of the CEQA/LOS guidelines need to be changed

                                                            iii.      Determine process how the CEQA/LOS guidelines can be changed

    1. Organize coalition of groups including those representing seniors, the disability community, school children, pedestrians, transit riders, bicyclists and others in order to apply political pressure to change guidelines
    2. Continue to facilitate process in order to make sure that changes will be completed
  1. Facilitate Pedestrian Master Plan
    1. Establish what should constitute a pedestrian master plan
    2. Establish process for creating master plan
    3. Work with neighborhood organizations to start the process of creating the pedestrian master plan
  2. Facilitate DPT Policy Changes
    1. Work with community organizations to determine which DPT policies are negatively affecting pedestrian safety
    2. Gather community input to prioritize possible DPT policy changes
    3. Work with DPT, the Board of Supervisors, and the Mayor’s office to implement DPT policy changes.

 

The results of the project at the end of the year will include:

 

The key to the success of this project is to have funding for a community organizer to create a coalition of groups, to do the necessary background research, and to advocate for the needed changes.  Therefore the bulk of the money for the project will go towards salary expenses for the community organizer.  Due to the technical nature of the CEQA/LOS guidelines, it is expected that we also use an Environmental Law Consultant to determine what can be done and how.  The community organizer for this project will work under the auspices of Walk San Francisco.  The organizer will be responsible for obtaining a significant number of volunteers to help with the project in order to achieve maximum possible effect from the project funding.  The remainder of the money will be used for facilitating communication with the community organizations.

 

 

 

4. Previous Pedestrian Safety Projects

 

Walk San Francisco has conducted numerous pedestrian safety projects covering both specific neighborhoods and the entire city of San Francisco.

 

            Past Pedestrian Safety Projects:

           

1.      Initiated the call for, and provided the ongoing political support for, the recently implemented increased DPT fines for sidewalk parking and other pedestrian encroachments.

2.      Organized and held successful activist demonstrations highlighting dangerous pedestrian condition in various neighborhoods of San Francisco including Hunter’s Point/Bay View, the Mission, Tenderloin, downtown Market St, and the Haight. Walk San Francisco coordinated these events and worked with the press in order to obtain favorable news coverage.

3.      Co-organized other pedestrian safety related community events with organizations such as Senior Action Network, Pedestrian Safety Task Force, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, and Stop for Kids' Safety.

4.      Was a leader in obtaining funding for the Livable Streets program in DPT, a city-wide traffic calming effort.

5.      Co-organized, along with Rescue MUNI and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, a mayoral candidates election forum to give citizens the opportunity to ask pedestrian safety related questions of the candidates

6.      Promoted the "Safe Routes to School" program that helps our children walk safely to neighborhood schools.

7.      Held meetings with the police, the District Attorney’s Office, and the DPT to achieve more and better police enforcement of traffic laws.

8.      Organized the creation and distribution of flyers to educate those who illegally park on sidewalks.

 

Current Pedestrian Safety Projects:

 

1.      DPH SoMa Project: Was awarded one of the Department of Public Health’s first pedestrian safety grants for a South-of-Market pedestrian safety analysis and improvement project that is on-schedule, on-budget, and nearing completion.

2.      Ped CAC: Walk SF, through ongoing efforts of key members, has been integral to the eminent creation of a Ped CAC to the Board of Supervisors for the purpose of advising top city officials on Pedestrian issues and creating a Pedestrian Master Plan.

3.      Market Street Coalition: Walk SF is working with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) to organize a coalition of groups to develop a plan for improving pedestrian safety, bicycle access, and MUNI efficiency on Market Street. (The coalition includes MUNI, Rescue MUNI, DPT, Planning Department, Redevelopment Agency, Chamber of Commerce, and Market Street Merchants Association).  Walk SF was instrumental in obtaining $200,000 of city funding for the project.

4.      Sidewalk Parking: Walk SF is taking the lead in organizing a coalition of groups, including Senior Action Network, DPT, the Mayor’s Office on Disability, to work with the Supervisors and DPT to find an effective and long-term solution to the sidewalk parking problem.

5.      Golden Gate Park Road Closure: Walk SF is working with Golden Gate Park museums, neighbors of the park, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, and park advocates towards implanting a compromise solution for a road closure in the park on Saturdays.

 

 

5. Previous Neighborhood Projects

 

Walk San Francisco has worked on numerous neighborhood-based pedestrian safety projects, including:

 

1.      Co-organized “Stop for Kids' Safety Walk/Run/Bike” in Hunters Point/Bay View district.

2.      Co-organized demonstration with school children to bring awareness to the dangers to pedestrians and especially school children at 24th & Bartlett in the Mission District.

3.      Raised awareness of dangers to children by organizing a demonstration in the Tenderloin at scene where a child was killed by an automobile.

4.      Worked with Forest City Enterprise to have them change their proposed building design to widen sidewalks around the new Bloomingdale’s store on Mission Street.

5.      Prevented DPT from cutting away the pedestrian island at Lotta’s fountain.

6.      Worked with DPT to create pedestrian head start signals on 3rd Street.

7.      Organized a large rally on Market Street to highlight need for pedestrian safety improvements.  Also organized well attended rallies at other locations.

8.      Worked with Department of Park and Recreation to redesign the entrance to JFK Drive at Stanyan Street to make the intersection safer for pedestrians and bicyclists by calming traffic.  Successfully lobbied to obtain adequate funding. The changes are currently being implemented.