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MEDIA ADVISORY

FOR RELEASE: May 3, 2019

CONTACT: Jodie Medeiros, Executive Director, Walk SF, jodie@walksf.org, 415-596-1580 (cell); Marta Lindsey, Communications Manager, Walk SF, marta@walksf.org, 617-833-7654 (cell)

Vigil tonight for pedestrian who died yesterday; 12 traffic deaths already in 2019

On Friday, May 3, from 6:00-7:00 PM, Walk San Francisco hold a vigil for the most recent victim of traffic violence in San Francisco: Galina Alterman, 77. Galina Alterman was hit on May 1, 2019 at Divisadero and Sutter; she died the morning of May 2. The vigil will be held at the site of the crash. Divisadero is designated as one of the city’s deadliest streets, known as a ‘high-injury corridor.’

Alterman was the twelfth person to die in a traffic crash in 2019 on San Francisco streets, and the eighth pedestrian.

At the vigil, there will be signs representing each of the nine people hit and killed while walking and biking in 2019.

We will put temporary shoe prints on the sidewalk in memory of Galina Alterman. We will create a memorial for all victims by writing messages on and hanging yellow hearts.

There will be no official remarks at the vigil, but there will be brief words by Alvin Lester and a moment of silence for Alterman. Lester is the father of Arman Hakeem Lester, who was killed in a traffic crash in 2014 in San Francisco.

Walk San Francisco will release a statement later today of the emergency actions we believe the city must take to address the crisis on our streets.

Location: Northeast corner of Divisadero and Sutter Streets.

Date and Time: Friday, May 3, 2019 from 6:00-7:00PM

Attending:

  • Jodie Medeiros, Executive Director, Walk San Francisco
  • Alvin Lester, father of son Arman Hakeem Lester who was killed in a traffic crash in 2014 in San Francisco. Alvin is a founder of San Francisco Bay Area Families for Safe Streets, which is made up of survivors and families whose loved ones have been killed or severely injured by preventable crashes on our streets.
  • Ed Reiskin, Director of Transportation, SFMTA
  • Kristen Lecke, Community Organizer at SF Bicycle Coalition

Related Facts:

  • The eight pedestrians lost in 2019 are: Lucy Morales; Nancy Ng; Zhao Guan; Jose Manuel Haros Carrasco; Janice Higashi; Madlen Koteva; Pablo Ramirez; and Galina Alterman. Tess Rothstein was hit and killed while riding her bike in 2019.
  • Four of the eight pedestrians killed in 2019 were seniors; on average half of pedestrian deaths each year are seniors, though they make up only 15% of the city’s population.
  • In San Francisco, on average, more than three people a day are hit by cars while walking.
  • In 2017, there were close to 575 people severely injured in traffic crashes on our streets, and this figure has not improved in the past seven years the City has been monitoring it.
  • Of all severe and fatal crashes in San Francisco, 75% happen on only 13% of our streets. These streets, our city’s most dangerous, are called high-injury corridors. Divisadero Street is a high-injury corridor.

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Walk San Francisco (‘Walk SF’) advocates for safe streets for everyone who walks, which is everyone! Since our founding in 1998, Walk SF has been leading the way to make San Francisco a pedestrian-first city where people of every age and ability can walk safely. Learn more at walksf.org.