You know what the architect of excessively-wide Octavia Boulevard says about it now? She says we built it too wide.
Anyway, at the time, former District Five Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi warned about the unintended effects of this brainchild of property-owning Hayes Valley millionaires.
One of the effects of gridlock on and around Octavia Boulevard is that it now makes sense for drivers to avoid Oak in the AM.
Thusly:
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Is this a good thing?
I think not.
You know, before somebody, some ped gets clobbered?
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It will happen like this – a roadie traveling west, the downhill direction, will be “making time” or “flying” at 20-something MPH and s/he will clobber a pedestrian, perhaps Chris Bucchere-style.
So, I think wider would be better.
I mean, you wouldn’t want to narrow the thing, would you?
Going uphill, cyclists use the ridiculously wide sidewalks of poorly-designed Masonic Avenue, but going downhill, people don’t really have that option.
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There’s a reason why Masonic is here, why it’s a major north-south route. The alternatives for cyclists are a half-mile to the west (Stanyan) and a half-mile to the east (newly “improved” Divisadero with extra small lanes, which were sacrificed for an embiggened median).
Our City Family has a plan for changes, sometime, but it costs $30,000,000 per mile…
From The Stark Insider (“All things West Coast”) comes news of a 12-foot tall, 10-foot wide Santa Yoda made out of LEGO bricks. It will go up in Union Square starting Friday, November 18th,* 2011.
Get the deets at LEGOSantaYoda.Com. (No, I’m not joking, I’m srsly.)
Click on me you will. Expanding I am.
All the deets:
“LEGO Master Builders Construct 12-foot Tall by 10-foot Wide Santa Yoda out of LEGO bricks
WHAT: Inspired by the LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar, this three-day community build where families help LEGO Master Builders to create a 12-foot tall by 10-foot wide LEGO Star Wars™ Santa Yoda made entirely of LEGO bricks to kick-off a countdown to the holidays found at www.LEGOSantaYoda.com. Building event supports the local Bay Area Boys & Girls Club, and consumer engagement via the web site donates LEGO toys to the U.S. Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots program.
WHEN: Friday, November 18th to Sunday, November 20th 10am-6pm daily (or until completed)
WHERE: Union Square (next to the Holiday Ice Rink in Union Square), San Francisco”
(This would seem to be a more honest way of promoting LEGO than lying about a viral video ala the LEGO Indiana Jones game people.)
See you there!
*You know, it seems like Santa Yoda goes up earlier each year…
Actually, medians suck, generally. I mean, who are you trying to impress, 23rd Avenue?
Useless trees in the middle of the street, as seen betwixt Cabrillo and Fulton in the Richmond District:
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Here he is, on Divisadero (that street that just had its lanes shrunk in order to widen the useless median in order to please local merchants and real estate interests – they call that a “road diet,” I think).
Up and down and up and down, just like on a real car:
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See?
Elim Street is very narrow:
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Maybe someday, the sun will shine on Elim once again…
[UPDATE: Oops. Speaking of which, there are a lot of different possibilities for Oak betwixt Baker and Scott. Taking out the parking lane on the south side of Oak is an idea. In the meantime, take the lane. Or head up Baker to Fulton to Divis to McAllister and then roll all the way down to Mid Market and beyond - that way you avoid the horrible part of Octavia and SFPD bike enforcement actions, etc...]
Appears as if Carly Schwartz, Founding editor of Huffington Post San Francisco, has a beef with the Livable Cities / Livable Streets movement, at least as far as Divisadero is concerned:
“Then put a flippin bike lane on Divisadero! Thanks. http://bit.ly/nwO7u9“
Now that’s interesting because the City, instead of just taking out the useless median on Divisadero, well, the Powers That Be, the City Family, actually went in there a few years back and made the median wider so now there’s less room for bike riders.
See?
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Does it look like, as some say, there’s “excess roadway space” here? Not at all, IRL.
And the sidewalks are like ten feet wide.
So sure, ride your bike on the wide sidewalks of Divis. I mean, I seriously doubt you’ll ever get a ticket.
Or “take the lane,” it’s your choice. (But I don’t advise taking the lane on Divisadero, uphill or down, personally.)
So, how do we fix the horrible thing our City Family and the Livable City movement just inflicted on the Commonweal?
Well, how about narrowing the fast lane to make the slow lane wider?
Or, how about narrowing the median to the width you’ll find north of Geary and then taking out the useless vegetation?
Or, how about just taking out the whole damn useless median? What’s that, it would cost $$$ to move the light standards? Well, get some money from the Feds. Didn’t they just pay money to fuck up Divisadero just a few years back? I think so. So maybe they’d pay to take the light standards out of the middle of the street and put them in the comparatively wide sidewalks of Divis. You know, shovel ready, jobs jobs jobs! What’s that, local businesses and area NIMBYs and real estate interests prefer the trees in the useless median and other aesthetic stuff? Well, who put them in charge?
(Or, maybe we could narrow the wide sidewalks, but that would cost even more.)
So maybe Divis doesn’t deserve a bike lane, but how about just giving back the space that was taken for useless trees?
Wouldn’t that be a start?
Tiny Elim Street used to labour in obscurity, but no longer - it’s gotten a lot of attention this past year.
Anyway, it might not be long for this world.
Oh well.
Confronting The Pigeon:
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The part between the two buildings that face First Street is about seven feet. (My man-hands would need to be ever so slightly larger to be able to touch both buildings at the same time.)
And here’s the rest of Elim, a haven for smokers near Golden Gate University, apparently.
A possible future occupant:
See what this gal is doing? She’s riding her bike on the wide, wide sidewalks of poorly-designed Masonic Avenue.
Do you have a problem with that?
Some do.
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I don’t.
Do you want her in the street with the MUNI buses?
Do you want her to “take the lane” from the drunk drivers? Really? ‘Cause drunk drivers have killed a ped and a cyclist on this particular block of Masonic the past year.
So what’s wrong with her doing this?
