Transcripts For SFGTV Government Access Programming 20180110

Road, no one wants to experience going to a crime scene on the road knowing your loved one has been hit by a car or sadly tragically killed. I remember years ago on turk street and laguna, when a lot of us were hanging out and just kind of enjoying the weather, it was a really nice hot time, like in the fall and my god son was crossing the street on turk at the intersection of turk and buchanan where theres no stoplight and he was hit by a car. We watched as you flew in the air and thought oh my god, oh my god, just to see it, and had no control over what was going to happen was devastating. And luckily he had minor injuries, luckily he survived, and i just really felt strongly, we have to do better as a city. We have to do better with the vehicles that are speeding on our streets. We have to do better with our infrastructures and when people push back on me about the improvements and bike infrastructure and all of those things we need to do, we have to make our roads safe. Its not about catering to a particular group. There are a lot of the bicyclists riding in our city, theres a lot of pedestrians walking in the city, we have to make sure that people know this is where bicyclists ride, this is where pedestrians walk, this is where vehicles are supposed to be, so that everyone behaves responsibly on the road and knows the infrastructure, it helps them to understand exactly where everyone is supposed to be. Our ultimate goal is Public Safety. We want everyone to be safe on our roads and everyone to make it home to their loved ones at the end of the night and that what this is about, this is about a team effort, working with our mta, the Police Department, department of Public Health, department of public works and families for safe streets, this is how were going to change the behavior of whats happening on our roads and get to the zero, the vision zero that we are promising San Francisco. This is an important thing we must all participate in. So, again, i just want to emphasize that i have been in Constant Contact with the chief because enforcement, enforcement is going to play a key role in helping us address those issues. Pulling over those vehicles running stop signs, pulling over the bicyclists who are sometimes doing the wrong thing, if you are breaking the law on our street, then there will be consequences for that behavior. Its not because the city wants to add another layer of bureaucracy or ticket you or collect that money, its because we want to make sure that people change their behavior so that theyre safe on our streets. Thats what this is about. This is about bringing the number of 20 in 2017 down to zero. We dont want another death on our streets because of human error, because of anything we can avoid. If we change our behavior, we change our roads and do a better job here in the city and county of San Francisco. Thank you all for being here. We have so much more work to do, but we are moving forward and working together to really make sure that vision zero is a reality and not just a dream. Thank you. applause thank you. I think what you heard there is leadership of vision zero is not always easy. It can entail making decisions that are not always popular and theres always tradeoffs when talking about redesigning streets and enforcing laws and that kind of leadership we have from mayor breed and the whole board of supervisors and were joined by supervisor jeff sheehy who has been strongly behind the difficult decisions we have to make, thats the kind of leadership we need. And the board of directors legislating the changes and faced with the tradeoffs but willing to move forward with things that will get us to zero. As mayor breed mentioned, enforcement is an important part of it. A part of ed lee approach to vision zero, theres not just one tool in the tool kit. Its not just about street design. Its not just about education, its not just about enforcement. Its about a collection of activities we can do together as city and community to drive fatalities to zero. The rules of the road are there to keep people safe, and the work that the Police Department has done in support of vision zero with direction from previous and current mayor, is a big part of the story of what were seeing out on the streets in terms of success with regards to vision zero. Welcome our chief of police bill scott. applause thank you. Good morning everybody. Id like to echo director and acting mayor breed comments, you know, when i first learned about vision zero in 2013 it did seem like a dream. We were not only in San Francisco but in other parts of the country because many other cities embarked on a vision zero initiative. It did seem like a dream but now four years into this and we have made significant progress in reducing the amount of traffic fatalities, that dream is becoming a reality. And i think its very much within our reach to actually realize that vision of zero traffic fatalities in our city. Before i go any further, when we talked about the numbers and the statistics and the fact that the numbers are down and the statistics are down, i dont think its lost on any of us that those numbers represent human lives and the families here today that have the courage to keep this on the forefront of our conscious, i thank you for being here. I know its very painful to keep having to relive the loss of a loved one by way of a traffic fatality. Thank you for being here today. From the perspective of the San Francisco Police Department, our role is enforcement and also education. Any time we have a Traffic Violation and we engage in a traffic stop or come in contact with a motorist or pedestrian or bicyclist, we have an opportunity to educate and that opportunity to educate is really probably one of the most important things we can do. Enforcement is very important but education is even more important. This year in San Francisco, we issued over 38,000 citations and i dont say that to brag, unfortunately thats 38,000 plus people that have violated the law. However, its also 38,000 contacts that we had the opportunity to educate people about really the impact of some of the violations that are more likely to cause traffic accidents. And our officers really take that work seriously. Its an opportunity to share stories about people that have lost loved ones and probably everybody in the room has a story. Mayor breed told one that was compelling and i have one and many of you have their own. But when our officers engage in enforcement, its more than enforcement. Its education. Its preventing these terrible acts from occurring by putting it on the forefront of peoples minds when they violate the law. I want to go through a couple of things of how we intend from the Police Departments perception to realize the vision. Our captains coordinate efforts with patrol officers and our traffic unit on the enforcement. We work carefully with mta to use data to determine which intersections and corridors are more likely to have accidents and thats one of the ways we focus on those particular streets and intersections. The five violations that cause, speeding, running stop signs, failure to yield to pedestrians, failure to yield to turns, running red lights. Those are the violations most likely to cause fatalities. This year there were 20 fatalities, 14 involved pedestrians. My ask of the public is number one, be aware of your surroundings, be aware of the laws, be aware of street signals. Be aware of crosswalks and try to work within the laws designed to keep you safe. It is really important that this effort be a partnership, not only with Law Enforcement but partnership between the community. If you follow the laws, you have much less of a chance of becoming involved in a fatality. That is particularly important with pedestrians. Just the laws of physics. It takes a little while for 2,000 pound or 3,000 pound vehicle to stop. Physics is going to win every time. If you pay attention, if you follow the laws you have less of a chance of getting involved in these type of incidents. For the elderly in the community, its more important. A majority of our Traffic Related Fatalities involve elderly. People cant get across the street as fast, they may not hear as well as some other members of the community. So for our elderly, lets pay attention. Lets help them in terms of paying attention to our roadways when we are driving and bicycling, that is a huge issue in our city. Our outreach is a huge priority and again we use traffic stops as a way of outreach but we also have many public campaigns to remind drivers and pedestrians and bicyclists of their responsibilities when they are often the roadways. The partnership we talk about between the mta, city government, board of supervisors, Fire Department, the department of Public Health, it really is a team effort to realize the vision of zero fatalities. I remind you, look at where we were and where we are. This vision will be a reality, it will be a reality and well Work Together to make that happen. I thank you for your time. Families thank you for being here and remember, vision zero is about all of us. Thank you. applause thank you chief. The chief made reference that back in 2013 it seemed not a very realistic goal and we were one of the first cities in the country, i think perhaps only new york had adopted vision zero and now its more common term and many more cities have adopted it. Back then one of the things we started doing differently from the transportation standpoint, thinking of it as a Public Health issue and not just Public Safety issue. With the leadership of department of Public Health is a large part of why we are where we are, taking that view of the issues not just street design or enforcement view, i think has been a game changer for us here in San Francisco. Were grateful to be able to colead between sfmta and department of Public Health and joined on behalf of Public Health director garcia and chief medical director argon. applause good morning everyone. First of all i want to thank acting mayor breed for being here today and being behind this vision zero, which is really important to the department of Public Health. I was born and raised in San Francisco. I grew up in the Mission District. I live in glenn park, i raised three children and my wife is a first grade teacher. We have been dealing with the issue of traffic and Pedestrian Safety all of our lives. And i can tell you that whats happened in 2017 is a big accomplishment. If you just walk outside and you see the volume of people, the volume of cars all the activity, and the fact that we are down in terms of the number of deaths is a huge accomplishment. Its a huge accomplishment and i think everyone should really take pride in that. The other thing to realize is for every person that dies, theres a dozen who were severely injured. So think of it as a pyramid. The whole pyramid is getting smaller. Again, thats a big accomplishment. We all have to remember that all of us, all of us every single day no matter how you get to work, school, wherever you go, all of us are always pedestrians. This is really this impacts all of us. From a Public Health issue, one of the side effects of having Pedestrian Safety is that it really promotes community health. It allows people to walk more, to bike more, to do what we call in Public Health, active transportation and this is really good. Its promoting health in other ways, reducing peoples stress as they feel they can take a walk in the neighborhood and feel safe while getting healthy. And i also just want to acknowledge the clinicians and workers at San Francisco General Hospital working 24 7 so when someone gets injured, we have a team of people part of the city family who are the best in the world of taking care of the patients who are injured. The last thing i want to say is for us in Public Health, everybody coming together, working together, this way, this collective action, this collective impact, to us thats the best way to do Public Health and were very excited. We have a lot of great staff, please visit visionzero. Sf. You can read about our collaborative success. Again, thank you so much. applause thank you dr. Argon. To echo the praise for the folks at the San Francisco General Hospital, i heard a stat a couple years ago, i dont know if its 100 accurate but nearly half of the admittance are from traffic issues. You think of the First Responders who bring the folks there and the impact it has on the system, it gives you the scope of the impact of Traffic Safety in San Francisco beyond what were talking about here today. The folks on the front line are largely from the Police Department, the First Responders to the scene and its not just fatalities but 200 or so people who are seriously injured each year in San Francisco. So the Fire Department plays a Critical Role in getting people to the Trauma Center to be helped as quickly as possible. I want to acknowledge and ask to say a few words our fire chief. applause . Good morning. Thank you for being here. I wanted to comment on the alignment around vision zero and acknowledge the progress being made and has been said by many speakers before me, one death is one too many. We come some times from different angles but the San Francisco Fire Department is fully committed. The men and women of the San Francisco Fire Department are some of the First Responders to the difficult scenes. We experience the emotion and have the conversations with the families and i want to acknowledge the families here that have lost loved ones due to traffic collisions and fatalities related to our congested city. And it is worth noting as dr. Argon noted, in a city whose population is rising, theres more vehicles and pedestrians and bicycles on the street, to have a reduction is significant but theres more work to do. There are three prongs i believe are part of vision zero, the education poliiece that the pol department has a role in. It is important to be alert and aware at all times. I know as a pedestrian, im the mother of three boys, one of the things i say, try to gain the eye contact with the driver and dont assume because you have a green light or ability to walk across that it will be safe. So awareness is a key factor. Our role is one of education as well. We have the contacts to support the family, enforcement obviously, the Police Department does very capably. I would like to touch on the engineering piece, the mta does a great job in engineering and reengineering our streets, we sit regularly with the mta, sometimes its looked at as a competing interest, we want to as First Responders be able to navigate to the scene of an emergency in a timely fashion but one of the things we heard loud and clear and i have seen, and we have worked closely with the city administrators office, we have taken bold steps, not always popular in my department but bold steps to shrink the responding apparatus. Very proud that just last year we took delivery of eight new fire engines with a smaller profile, easier to maneuver and increased visibility for the drivers to make us safer as First Responders and more responsive to the vision zero goals. I have driven the engines and theyre more responsive in the city streets. Were piloting two new ambulances, they work different, were hoping to work with our members to get them on board to take a look at a smaller ambulance as well. I drove that yesterday and its much more user friendly through our narrow streets. Were hoping from an engineering perspective as part of vision zero to be very responsive to the size of our apparatus to be able to continue to fulfill our goals of saving lives and property but also be responsive to our growing population and many different varieties of pedestrians, bicyclists, cars and Public Transportation on the street. So thank you very much. applause thank you chief. From the executive branch and other government agencies, department of public works, one of our Main Partners and Public Utilities commission, Planning Department with the unified school district, dozens of other agencies all working together. And i want to invite up some of our community partners, but before i do that, the bridge between the executive branch or one of the important bridges between the executive branch and our community are the elected officials that represent the community, our board of supervisors represent the citizens, businesses, schools, institutions in their district and that bridge is important to us in terms of feeding the Public Safety<\/a>. We want everyone to be safe on our roads and everyone to make it home to their loved ones at the end of the night and that what this is about, this is about a team effort, working with our mta, the Police Department<\/a>, department of Public Health<\/a>, department of public works and families for safe streets, this is how were going to change the behavior of whats happening on our roads and get to the zero, the vision zero that we are promising San Francisco<\/a>. This is an important thing we must all participate in. So, again, i just want to emphasize that i have been in Constant Contact<\/a> with the chief because enforcement, enforcement is going to play a key role in helping us address those issues. Pulling over those vehicles running stop signs, pulling over the bicyclists who are sometimes doing the wrong thing, if you are breaking the law on our street, then there will be consequences for that behavior. Its not because the city wants to add another layer of bureaucracy or ticket you or collect that money, its because we want to make sure that people change their behavior so that theyre safe on our streets. Thats what this is about. This is about bringing the number of 20 in 2017 down to zero. We dont want another death on our streets because of human error, because of anything we can avoid. If we change our behavior, we change our roads and do a better job here in the city and county of San Francisco<\/a>. Thank you all for being here. We have so much more work to do, but we are moving forward and working together to really make sure that vision zero is a reality and not just a dream. Thank you. applause thank you. I think what you heard there is leadership of vision zero is not always easy. It can entail making decisions that are not always popular and theres always tradeoffs when talking about redesigning streets and enforcing laws and that kind of leadership we have from mayor breed and the whole board of supervisors and were joined by supervisor jeff sheehy who has been strongly behind the difficult decisions we have to make, thats the kind of leadership we need. And the board of directors legislating the changes and faced with the tradeoffs but willing to move forward with things that will get us to zero. As mayor breed mentioned, enforcement is an important part of it. A part of ed lee approach to vision zero, theres not just one tool in the tool kit. Its not just about street design. Its not just about education, its not just about enforcement. Its about a collection of activities we can do together as city and community to drive fatalities to zero. The rules of the road are there to keep people safe, and the work that the Police Department<\/a> has done in support of vision zero with direction from previous and current mayor, is a big part of the story of what were seeing out on the streets in terms of success with regards to vision zero. Welcome our chief of police bill scott. applause thank you. Good morning everybody. Id like to echo director and acting mayor breed comments, you know, when i first learned about vision zero in 2013 it did seem like a dream. We were not only in San Francisco<\/a> but in other parts of the country because many other cities embarked on a vision zero initiative. It did seem like a dream but now four years into this and we have made significant progress in reducing the amount of traffic fatalities, that dream is becoming a reality. And i think its very much within our reach to actually realize that vision of zero traffic fatalities in our city. Before i go any further, when we talked about the numbers and the statistics and the fact that the numbers are down and the statistics are down, i dont think its lost on any of us that those numbers represent human lives and the families here today that have the courage to keep this on the forefront of our conscious, i thank you for being here. I know its very painful to keep having to relive the loss of a loved one by way of a traffic fatality. Thank you for being here today. From the perspective of the San Francisco<\/a> Police Department<\/a>, our role is enforcement and also education. Any time we have a Traffic Violation<\/a> and we engage in a traffic stop or come in contact with a motorist or pedestrian or bicyclist, we have an opportunity to educate and that opportunity to educate is really probably one of the most important things we can do. Enforcement is very important but education is even more important. This year in San Francisco<\/a>, we issued over 38,000 citations and i dont say that to brag, unfortunately thats 38,000 plus people that have violated the law. However, its also 38,000 contacts that we had the opportunity to educate people about really the impact of some of the violations that are more likely to cause traffic accidents. And our officers really take that work seriously. Its an opportunity to share stories about people that have lost loved ones and probably everybody in the room has a story. Mayor breed told one that was compelling and i have one and many of you have their own. But when our officers engage in enforcement, its more than enforcement. Its education. Its preventing these terrible acts from occurring by putting it on the forefront of peoples minds when they violate the law. I want to go through a couple of things of how we intend from the Police Department<\/a>s perception to realize the vision. Our captains coordinate efforts with patrol officers and our traffic unit on the enforcement. We work carefully with mta to use data to determine which intersections and corridors are more likely to have accidents and thats one of the ways we focus on those particular streets and intersections. The five violations that cause, speeding, running stop signs, failure to yield to pedestrians, failure to yield to turns, running red lights. Those are the violations most likely to cause fatalities. This year there were 20 fatalities, 14 involved pedestrians. My ask of the public is number one, be aware of your surroundings, be aware of the laws, be aware of street signals. Be aware of crosswalks and try to work within the laws designed to keep you safe. It is really important that this effort be a partnership, not only with Law Enforcement<\/a> but partnership between the community. If you follow the laws, you have much less of a chance of becoming involved in a fatality. That is particularly important with pedestrians. Just the laws of physics. It takes a little while for 2,000 pound or 3,000 pound vehicle to stop. Physics is going to win every time. If you pay attention, if you follow the laws you have less of a chance of getting involved in these type of incidents. For the elderly in the community, its more important. A majority of our Traffic Related Fatalities<\/a> involve elderly. People cant get across the street as fast, they may not hear as well as some other members of the community. So for our elderly, lets pay attention. Lets help them in terms of paying attention to our roadways when we are driving and bicycling, that is a huge issue in our city. Our outreach is a huge priority and again we use traffic stops as a way of outreach but we also have many public campaigns to remind drivers and pedestrians and bicyclists of their responsibilities when they are often the roadways. The partnership we talk about between the mta, city government, board of supervisors, Fire Department<\/a>, the department of Public Health<\/a>, it really is a team effort to realize the vision of zero fatalities. I remind you, look at where we were and where we are. This vision will be a reality, it will be a reality and well Work Together<\/a> to make that happen. I thank you for your time. Families thank you for being here and remember, vision zero is about all of us. Thank you. applause thank you chief. The chief made reference that back in 2013 it seemed not a very realistic goal and we were one of the first cities in the country, i think perhaps only new york had adopted vision zero and now its more common term and many more cities have adopted it. Back then one of the things we started doing differently from the transportation standpoint, thinking of it as a Public Health<\/a> issue and not just Public Safety<\/a> issue. With the leadership of department of Public Health<\/a> is a large part of why we are where we are, taking that view of the issues not just street design or enforcement view, i think has been a game changer for us here in San Francisco<\/a>. Were grateful to be able to colead between sfmta and department of Public Health<\/a> and joined on behalf of Public Health<\/a> director garcia and chief medical director argon. applause good morning everyone. First of all i want to thank acting mayor breed for being here today and being behind this vision zero, which is really important to the department of Public Health<\/a>. I was born and raised in San Francisco<\/a>. I grew up in the Mission District<\/a>. I live in glenn park, i raised three children and my wife is a first grade teacher. We have been dealing with the issue of traffic and Pedestrian Safety<\/a> all of our lives. And i can tell you that whats happened in 2017 is a big accomplishment. If you just walk outside and you see the volume of people, the volume of cars all the activity, and the fact that we are down in terms of the number of deaths is a huge accomplishment. Its a huge accomplishment and i think everyone should really take pride in that. The other thing to realize is for every person that dies, theres a dozen who were severely injured. So think of it as a pyramid. The whole pyramid is getting smaller. Again, thats a big accomplishment. We all have to remember that all of us, all of us every single day no matter how you get to work, school, wherever you go, all of us are always pedestrians. This is really this impacts all of us. From a Public Health<\/a> issue, one of the side effects of having Pedestrian Safety<\/a> is that it really promotes community health. It allows people to walk more, to bike more, to do what we call in Public Health<\/a>, active transportation and this is really good. Its promoting health in other ways, reducing peoples stress as they feel they can take a walk in the neighborhood and feel safe while getting healthy. And i also just want to acknowledge the clinicians and workers at San Francisco<\/a> General Hospital<\/a> working 24 7 so when someone gets injured, we have a team of people part of the city family who are the best in the world of taking care of the patients who are injured. The last thing i want to say is for us in Public Health<\/a>, everybody coming together, working together, this way, this collective action, this collective impact, to us thats the best way to do Public Health<\/a> and were very excited. We have a lot of great staff, please visit visionzero. Sf. You can read about our collaborative success. Again, thank you so much. applause thank you dr. Argon. To echo the praise for the folks at the San Francisco<\/a> General Hospital<\/a>, i heard a stat a couple years ago, i dont know if its 100 accurate but nearly half of the admittance are from traffic issues. You think of the First Responders<\/a> who bring the folks there and the impact it has on the system, it gives you the scope of the impact of Traffic Safety<\/a> in San Francisco<\/a> beyond what were talking about here today. The folks on the front line are largely from the Police Department<\/a>, the First Responders<\/a> to the scene and its not just fatalities but 200 or so people who are seriously injured each year in San Francisco<\/a>. So the Fire Department<\/a> plays a Critical Role<\/a> in getting people to the Trauma Center<\/a> to be helped as quickly as possible. I want to acknowledge and ask to say a few words our fire chief. applause . Good morning. Thank you for being here. I wanted to comment on the alignment around vision zero and acknowledge the progress being made and has been said by many speakers before me, one death is one too many. We come some times from different angles but the San Francisco<\/a> Fire Department<\/a> is fully committed. The men and women of the San Francisco<\/a> Fire Department<\/a> are some of the First Responders<\/a> to the difficult scenes. We experience the emotion and have the conversations with the families and i want to acknowledge the families here that have lost loved ones due to traffic collisions and fatalities related to our congested city. And it is worth noting as dr. Argon noted, in a city whose population is rising, theres more vehicles and pedestrians and bicycles on the street, to have a reduction is significant but theres more work to do. There are three prongs i believe are part of vision zero, the education poliiece that the pol department has a role in. It is important to be alert and aware at all times. I know as a pedestrian, im the mother of three boys, one of the things i say, try to gain the eye contact with the driver and dont assume because you have a green light or ability to walk across that it will be safe. So awareness is a key factor. Our role is one of education as well. We have the contacts to support the family, enforcement obviously, the Police Department<\/a> does very capably. I would like to touch on the engineering piece, the mta does a great job in engineering and reengineering our streets, we sit regularly with the mta, sometimes its looked at as a competing interest, we want to as First Responders<\/a> be able to navigate to the scene of an emergency in a timely fashion but one of the things we heard loud and clear and i have seen, and we have worked closely with the city administrators office, we have taken bold steps, not always popular in my department but bold steps to shrink the responding apparatus. Very proud that just last year we took delivery of eight new fire engines with a smaller profile, easier to maneuver and increased visibility for the drivers to make us safer as First Responders<\/a> and more responsive to the vision zero goals. I have driven the engines and theyre more responsive in the city streets. Were piloting two new ambulances, they work different, were hoping to work with our members to get them on board to take a look at a smaller ambulance as well. I drove that yesterday and its much more user friendly through our narrow streets. Were hoping from an engineering perspective as part of vision zero to be very responsive to the size of our apparatus to be able to continue to fulfill our goals of saving lives and property but also be responsive to our growing population and many different varieties of pedestrians, bicyclists, cars and Public Transportation<\/a> on the street. So thank you very much. applause thank you chief. From the executive branch and other government agencies, department of public works, one of our Main Partners<\/a> and Public Utilities<\/a> commission, Planning Department<\/a> with the unified school district, dozens of other agencies all working together. And i want to invite up some of our community partners, but before i do that, the bridge between the executive branch or one of the important bridges between the executive branch and our community are the elected officials that represent the community, our board of supervisors represent the citizens, businesses, schools, institutions in their district and that bridge is important to us in terms of feeding the Community Voice<\/a> to inform what were doing and as i said earlier, it requires great leadership and sometimes great courage on the behalf of individual members of the board of supervisors to support the work that can be controversial but ultimately is important and necessary for us to get to zero. One of the great champions of that, district eight supervisor jeff sheehy. I want to ask him to say a few words. applause thank you. And i think this has been said, but i really do think that it is time to reflect on mayor lees legacy. This is tremendous. Were here today recognizing the lowest level of fatalities because of the leadership of mayor lee. I think of his understated way of leading our city, the way he has brought our departments together and i do think once again we should think about this as an important piece of his legacy. And i want to commend mayor breed for her leadership on the board, as ed ruskin mentioned, through the work on the board and enormous amount of feedback we get when the changes come into our neighborhoods, the ability to work collaboratively with the executive branch and agencies has been key. So mayor breeds leadership first as board president has been essential for this and Going Forward<\/a> well continue to push the numbers down. Im grateful for her leadership. I know for me personally i focused on bike safety and i hope the next year brings significant improvement, getting protected bike lanes so people can bike around. I think of my daughter, 12yearold Public School<\/a> kid, we bop around all over town, Pedestrian Safety<\/a> is critical. School starts again on monday, so i hope as you are reporting today you will encourage people to slow down, to be mindful, to recognize that youre going to have more cars on the street on monday, more kids on bikes, more kids walking and thats one of the great things that the Transportation Authority<\/a> has been supportive of and mta, getting kids to get to School Without<\/a> necessarily having to be in a vehicle and the education for kids on Public Transportation<\/a> and walking and biking and Walking School<\/a> buses is an innovation that is great that i have seen folks in my neighborhood implement. If we could be mindful monday that kids are going back to school, not a lot of them are going to be happy about it. Youre going to have grumpy kids dragging their feet and be slow and mindful. Thank you. applause great messages, which i hope you will help us convey. Two of the leading voices that challenge us are walk San Francisco<\/a> and San Francisco<\/a> Bicycle Coalition<\/a>. Everybody, whether you live here, visiting here, work here, everybody starts or ends their trip on foot. Were all pedestrians. And bicycling is the Fastest Growing<\/a> mode of transportation in San Francisco<\/a>. You are more vulnerable road users traveling in those ways. I want to welcome walk San Francisco<\/a> and executive director from the San Francisco<\/a> Bicycle Coalition<\/a>. Thank you director ruskin. How did you know my speech would be do more, do better, do faster. I dont have to say anything. In all seriousness, were here to acknowledge the good news of 2017. I think after 2017 we could all use some good news. Not only did the total deaths on our streets from traffic collisions decrease dramatically in 2017 but pedestrian deaths decreased as well. Since 2013, every single year fewer pedestrians have been killed on our streets. This is really good news. Of course this good news does not mean that were all here today to pat ourselves on the back and move on. 20 lives lost is too many. And so each of the lives lost needs to be a call of action to everyone here to do better. No family should get a phone call that their loved one is in the hospital or their love one worse has been killed due to crashes we know are preventable. People talking in San Francisco<\/a> and so many folks have said this today, every one of us here shouldnt have to put their lives on the line walking down the street. In San Francisco<\/a>, low income communities, people of color, immigrants and seniors are more likely to be killed in crashes and we need that to change. Seniors should be able to grow old in our city. Instead, theyre the most likely group to be killed in crashes. These crashes, make no mistake, theyre not accidents, theyre predictable and that means theyre preventable and thats why the city has invested a tremendous amount of funding policy into vision zero since 2014 and which were extremely grateful for and why were here today. At the same time, we need to do better. To get to zero, theres the better part director ruskin, to get to zero, we need to step our game up a little bit. We have six years. We need to increase investments in safe streets and get projects into the ground more quickly, before more people get hurt and pass automated Speed Enforcement<\/a> in San Francisco<\/a>. City community, advocates, families, i believe working together well reach zero by 2024. Thank you. applause thank you. On behalf of the San Francisco<\/a> Bicycle Coalition<\/a>, im the executive director and our 10,000 members, i want to thank many people here, mayor breed, supervisor sheehy, director ruskin, chief scott and his wife and all the other departments who have worked to draw attention toward the progress on vision zero. In 2014 with pressure and leadership from many of the organizations and individuals here today, San Francisco<\/a> officially adopted the ambitious goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries from our street. The bold commitment will be one of the endearing legacies of mayor ed lee. I know he believed in achieving vision zero. He cared deeply about the safety of people walking and biking in our city and followed through by directing city agencies to deliver Infrastructure Improvements<\/a> with the speed and urgency necessary. We owe it to mayor lees memory to remain just as urgently focused on delivering safer streets faster. In 2017, San Francisco<\/a> proved to the nation that progress toward an ambitious goal like vision zero is possible. Because of that progress, 10 people are alive today. 10 people are biking and walking to work. 10 people are waiting for muni and 10 people are coming home today to their families. And i want to recognize alvin and San Francisco<\/a> bay area families for safe streets, those who have lost their loved ones for being here and continually sharing their stories. Were here to acknowledge progress but also to recommit ourselves to vision zero. We have to work harder, even harder moving forward if we want 2017 to be the beginning of the trend and not just an aberration. While we saw significant decreases in fatalities for people, and in particular people driving or riding in cars, the decreases were not nearly as significant for people walking and biking, our most vulnerable. In 2018 San Francisco<\/a> must show more resolve and urgency, starting with everyone standing here today. I want to highlight infrastructure is a key part of vision zero and we know there are plans in place for all streets in the city. Without all of us working together and strong leadership, the plans will remain just that. I want to highlight one project in particular, the better Market Street<\/a> project, transforming 2. 2 miles of the street into a safe and comfortable place to bike and take transit. We have watched as this project experiences delays and we cannot afford to wait longer. For the safety of the thousands of people who travel down Market Street<\/a> every day, construction must begin as soon as possible. The memories of those who have lost their lives are dishonored by further delays. So as we look ahead, we must prioritize the construction of safer streets. Dismantling the old barriers and throwing out the old excuses. There is no other way to continue progress in this new year. The lives of our friends, our families and our neighbors hang in the balance and there is not a moment to waste. Thank you. applause thank you kathy and brian. As the chief said, ultimately its not about numbers, its about people. So finally and i would say most importantly, were honored to have alvin lester here, one of the founding members of the San Francisco<\/a> bay family for safe street. I think the voice of those who have lost a loved one are one of the most effective and compelling tools we have to change the behavior that needs to change to get to zero. Please welcome alvin lester. applause good morning everyone. My story is simple but its necessary. Ill just get right to it. Im alvin lester. The father of amonde lester, he was struck and killed in the bayview neighborhood in the city. Im here to support safer streets so no one else has to suffer the pain i have from traffic violence. Im one of the cofounders for San Francisco<\/a> families for safe streets, volunteers who have lost loved ones. We are fighting to help change the culture of unsafe driving habits. We have endorsed Vision Zero Campaign<\/a> to put an end to traffic deaths and serious injury by 2024. Using education, engineering, and Law Enforcement<\/a>. It is critical that our city officials focus on the proven tools which will help reach the no death, no serious injuries goal by 2024. Join with us as we push Forward Together<\/a> to make San Francisco<\/a> a safe place to walk, ride, drive. And to add to that, im here to honor my son. He was a wonderful he was my only son and as a father, you put a lot of time and effort to raise kids and teach them the correct things to do and doing so, i had Great Expectations<\/a> his life would be satisfying not only to me but to himself. We fight today to bring honor to San Francisco<\/a>. Im a native and i have seen the changes in San Francisco<\/a> over the 2030 plus years dealing with high volume of traffic and Pedestrian Movement<\/a> on our streets. We need to take our streets back. We need to help people change the negative behaviors that they have built up over the years and we need to do it today. No parent, no Family Member<\/a> should have to go through the suffering of burying their children or mom or father because of preventable collisions. So, lets fight. Lets fight. Lets make a good fight. You know, there are good things we can do. We have proven tools that help people to drive correctly in our cities and i want to urge everyone at the sound of my voice to make some corrections. If you operate a motor vehicle, think about it, think about the person standing on the corner, think about how fast youre driving, think about the stop sign youre going to come to. Just think and just doing so, youll help someone live another day, i gandhi that. I guarantee that. So i just want to thank everyone for being here and i want to thank our public officials, walk San Francisco<\/a>, Bicycle Coalition<\/a> and everyone here who has a vested interest in saving lives. We all deserve to have safe streets. We shouldnt have to figure out which street to take this day or tomorrow, your life depends on it. You dont want to hear the phone ring and have the news that will rip your heart in two. Its tough, every day of the week i think about my son. He would have been 25 in may of this year. So he was in school, he was working, he had a promising future. However, the individual who took his life didnt care nothing about that. We have to care for those who are living. We have to care to make sure that crossing the street doesnt cost you your life. Or end up in a hospital with life threatening injuries. We have to do it. So im here today to bring honor to those who have lost their lives and support all the individuals here to help make these things, the numbers come to fruition. I want to thank everybody. Thank you. applause i cant say it better than that. We are certainly committed within the government to do more and better and faster. As alvin and the chief and supervisors said, we need everyone to pay attention, to slow down as theyre getting around the city. Its going to take all of us to get to vision zero but it is achievable. We can do this San Francisco<\/a>. Thank you for coming today. applause adjourned. Shop dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do their shop dine in the 49 with within the 49 square miles of San Francisco<\/a> by supporting local Services Within<\/a> the neighborhood we help San Francisco<\/a> remain unique successful and vibrant so where will you shop dine in the 49 my name is jim woods im the founder of Woods Beer Company<\/a> and the proprietor of woods copy k open 2 henry adams what makes us unique is that were reintegrated brooeg the beer and serving that cross the table people are sitting next to the xurpz drinking alongside were having a lot of ingredient that get theres a lot to do the district of retail shop having that really close connection with the consumer allows us to do exciting things we decided to come to Treasure Island<\/a> because we saw it as an amazing opportunity cant be beat the views and real estate that great county starting to develop on Treasure Island<\/a> like minded Business Owners<\/a> with last week products and want to get on the ground floor a nobrainer for us when you you, you buying local goods made locally our supporting Small Business<\/a> those are not created an, an sprinkle scale with all the machines and one person procreating them people are making them by hand as a result more interesting and cant get that of minor or anywhere else and San Francisco<\/a> a hot bed for local manufacturing in support that is what keeps your city vibrant well make a compelling place to live and visit i think that local business is the lifeblood of San Francisco<\/a> and a vibrant Community Good<\/a> afternoon. Welcome to the San Francisco<\/a> board of supervisors land use and Transportation Committee<\/a> meeting for january 8, 2018. Im mark farrell chairing the committee joined by commission peskin and commissioner tang and i want to thank sf gof gov for announcing the documents. Items acted upon will appear on the january 23 board of supervisors agenda. Commissioner madame clerk item one. The clerk revising 42 definition of gross floor area and remove redoundancies. Commissioner we have Planning Department<\/a> here to speak. Good afternoon, supervisors. The proposed ordinance would amend the planning coat to make amendments to the area. The department has not received any Public Comments<\/a> and on september 7, 2017 the Planning Commission<\/a> approved the ordinance. They could be packed as calculated in the planning code. The First Amendment<\/a> would remove the distinction removing the accessory buildings from the definition of gross floor area. And accessory buildings in the calculation of gross floor area. Its problematic. The code does not define accessory buildings and parcels could be interpreted from being an accessory building and the definition are included in the definition of gross floor area. Therefore there is no distinctive dove mission for the purpose of calculating gross floor areas for structure. The Second Amendment<\/a> would remove the car share parking retirement. Required car share parking say mandatory condition imposed by the city. Theyre mandate ford projects that meet certain conditions. Its a betterment to the public and Development Community<\/a> to exclude it from the definition of gross floor area in all zoning districts. This concludes the presentation. Thank you. Commissioner colleagues any questions or comments . Supervisor peskin well open it up to Public Comment<\/a> . Seeing none. Public comment is closed. Can i have a motion. I would be happy to make it forward with a recommendation. Commissioner we can take that without objection. Mada madame clerk, item two. The clerk the planning code article 8 to clarify nighttime typographical clarifications. Commissioner thank you. Same thing. Planning Department Speak<\/a> on item two. The proposed ordinance would amend the planning code to make clarifying amendments to article eight. The Planning Commission<\/a> vote to approve the proposed ordinance. Due to multiple revisions text has been dropped and spelling errors and some are not reflected in subsequent legislation. Its intended to correct errors in the code. This concludes my presentation. Commissioner thank you very much. Any questions or comments . Public comments is now closed. Ill make a motion for positive recommendation. Commissioner seconded by supervisor peskin. Commissioner to make them happy. Madame clerk, item 3. The clerk prohibiting nonretail professional services and limit lot mergers and catering within the Mission Street<\/a> nct and making appropriate findings. Commissioner thank you very much. Good afternoon, Planning Department<\/a> staff. Just for background on the legislation, this is part of the many strategies identified in the Mission Action<\/a> plan 2020 endorsed by the Planning Commission<\/a> and transmit to the board last much. Up on the slide will be the goal of 2020 and the categories under which the strategies and plan fall from tenant protection to Economic Development<\/a> to advance the target goal and objectives of the plan. Most of the strategies are already being implemented. This is the second youve seen this year and well have a bigger legislative package with alcohol and controls in the Mission Related<\/a> to what is next on your agenda today. Ill pass it to my colleague and im available if you have questions of the broader map 2020 process. Good afternoon, commissioners. Im staff at planning. Just to give you a little bit of background about the specific amendments that were proposing today, they are aimed at they come out of the map 2020 claudia mentioned and aimed at curbing business to business uses on Mission Street<\/a>. Theyre aimed at easing land use pressures on Retail Businesses<\/a> on Mission Street<\/a>. Expanding options for art activities and catering uses within the nct compatible with neighborhood uses. Protecting the Mission Street<\/a> and continuing to provide space for project. So the specific amendments we are proposing include the removal of nonretail professional services as a permitted use known as administrative uses and catering on all floors, limiting lot mergers in the mission nct. On parcels fronting Mission Street<\/a> to 100 linear feet and for projects with frontages with 50 and 100 feet it would require a special space less than 2,500 square feet. Theyd have to break up larger ground floor spaces to including one that is smaller. So just on the last issue of the lot merger issues, its probably the one amendment weve had the most back and forth upon we originally had a 150 foot limit. Folks of theed requested a 50foot limit and we wanted to limit lot mergers but not discourage project require a higher percentage of vmr. We looked at the soft sites adjacent to each other in parcels in the mission nct. We saw if we did a 100 foot limit and all the parcels were developed to full capacity wed get 105 units, 25 of which would be below market rate. You can get smaller projects below the 25unit threshold for a 25 inclusionary so you end up in fewer vmr units is how we came up with the 100 foot limit. That concludes my presentation. Im happy to answer any questions about any of these amendments. Commissioner colleagues, any questions or comments . Well move on to Public Comment<\/a>. I have a speaker card for item three, mark loper. If theres anybody else, feel free to come forward. Good afternoon, supervisors. Mark loper. Im testifying on behalf of a sponsor for Mission Street<\/a>. Its a 75unit mixed income project. The project was first proposed in 2014. We filed formal entitlement applications in 2016. It was approved by the Planning Commission<\/a> less than two months ago on november 30, 2017 that was nearly two years after entitlement application was filed. This project does involve a lot merger over the 100foot trigger talked about. While we believe state law protect the project from zoning change that are i am imposed we think a grandfathering clause would clarify the point and is common practice for legislation that affect Housing Project<\/a>s like 2019 mission that are approved that havent started construction yet. For example, this bord include provisions in recent legislation related to affordable house. The Transportation Demand<\/a> Management Program<\/a> in San Francisco<\/a>s own density project just to name a few. Grandfathering in this narrow instance recognizes the Housing Project<\/a> that complied when the project was proposed and should not be further delayed or be subjected to different requirements after receiving approving. We request adding language to the ordinance specifying the ordinance does not apply to those that submitted a complete application prior to the effecti effective date. Commissioner thank you. Next speaker, please. Cory smith on behalf of the San Francisco<\/a> action coalition. Ive been following this for a little while. Regarding if its a 50 versus 100foot merger weve been work with people on this in terms of the ground floor. We want to make sure everything second floor and up isnt negatively impacted. We dont want to see anything inhibit our ability to put subsidized affordable units on t the market. There is restaurants or retail or whatever we wont have an opinion on that. And specifically relate to the comments of the previous speaker as well, this has been a longtime conversation in San Francisco<\/a> about changing rules and moving the goal posts once everything is establish and we also ask projects already approved are not impacted by this simple, hopefully straightforward grandfathering. Thank you. Commissioner thank you. Next speaker, please. Good morning. Commission Economic Development<\/a> agency. I want to speak in support of this legislation and touch on a few of the important elements i think that are here and how theyll help with the stabilization of Mission Street<\/a> under stress right now. I think limiting the lot mergers is important in terms of keeping things within a scope and scale that is community serving. Historically we see which project end up being community serving. The accompanying store fronts though the legislation not specific to them, plays into that. I think the addition of adding art and catering is important as it will provide significant new opportunities for our displaced art and cultural groups and new groups to grow and thrive. We have a growing system. Were having a all in all we have provisions for the street as well. Commissioner thank you very much. Next speaker, please. I am here to speak about the controls. Given there is a conversation now about whats happening with the permanent amendments i want to weigh in on those. First, supervisor ronen is supportive and sponsored the proposed amendments. The outreach and the discussion that have gone on in preparing these has been take joan taken in time and theres vetting of data and theres been a result in the proposed amendments. They were introduced at the full board in november. Frankly hearing about the concerns about the lot mergers today has been a surprise. I think any consideration of whether or not theres to be grandfathering shouldnt happen today. The supervisor will take it under advisement and well be able to look at what the potential effects are and if the supervisor wishes to submit an amendment im hoping shell be able to prior to the full board hearing. I think thats all i need to say. We noticed there are large lots on Mission Street<\/a> and the fact that were trying to preserve smaller ones and ensure diversity of scale for the housing and retail use shes reason behind this. Thanks. Commissioner thank you. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon, supervisors. Im with the latino culture district in support of the legislation. Were trying to make sure the smaller businesses in the mission are able to survive the gentrification in the neighborhood. Theres pressure on the Small Business<\/a>es with rent increases and investortype businesses coming in and restaurants coming in and we want to make sure the playing ground is equal. Its one of the few places that are left that cater to lowincome working class folks in the neighborhood. A lot of the restaurants that have moved in are expensive and not affordable for a lot of us. We also see the spaces below are being kept vacant for a long time. Developers arent able to rent them out. In particular the development on Mission Street<\/a>, we wanted to work with the developer to get a neighborhood serving type business in the space but he refuse to deal with us and were looking for large developments coming in to have smaller spaces at the bottom to cater to the local neighborhood. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good evening, San Francisco<\/a> and everyone else watching. I support the Mission District<\/a> and everything theyre saying. I wish you had someone other than a black man to come and support us. We dont have no businesses on fillmore. Or have you seen fillmore lately . And im not here to point the finger at no one, particular queen bee. I go to district 5 and i cant get action because hes playing both parts and i know yall dont want know say this but im not saying it for yall but for the African American<\/a> lack negros however you want to say us. I hope you hear me, peskin, because you did a wonderful job for herman. You opened up the box and we cant stop. This is to the city and county because they say im not a media person. This say news bulletin being published so im part of the media. I dont want problems tomorrow when go to the chamber and im the only black person you stop. My name is ace, dammit in the city by the bay. Ive been trying to see our acting mayor. I went to her office, i cant get in there because they dont know what the hells going on. Im the acting supervisor of the district 5. My name is ace. Contact me. I know everything in the fillmore. When she was a little girl i was working in the fillmore. When she was born in the projects, i was working in the fillmore and im not saying this to get at you like this way but you need to see me. Ill be in your office in two minutes. My name is ace and im on the case. Thats a bulletin. I dont need a press pass tomorrow. You know who i am. Commissioner thank you,","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia800109.us.archive.org\/16\/items\/SFGTV_20180110_200000_Government_Access_Programming\/SFGTV_20180110_200000_Government_Access_Programming.thumbs\/SFGTV_20180110_200000_Government_Access_Programming_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240630T12:35:10+00:00"}