The challenge to Newsom...and all of us
Photo from Portland's recent ciclovia by Steven T. Jones
It's not easy to create carfree spaces in automobile-obsessed California, even temporary ones, as Mayor Gavin Newsom is starting to learn. His proposal to create a carfree "ciclovia" along the Embarcadero from Bayview to Chinatown was already scaled back from his original proposal of three consecutive Sundays in August to the recently approved plan for four-hour events on Aug. 31 and Sept. 14.
Merchant groups from Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf lost their minds, screaming with fears of lost business even though motorists will still be able to access their tourist traps by car, and they'll be joined by thousands of people pedaling, walking and skating past their businesses during prime breakfast and lunch hours. And now members of the Board of Supervisors have added their voices to this shrill chorus.
I knew there would be outrage, and there has been opposition in every city where it's been tried (and it's ultimately become popular everywhere it's been tried). Unfortunately, Newsom has a history of caving in to overentitled motorists. So the challenge now for Newsom -- and for all of us concerned about climate change, public health, and the promotion of sustainable forms of transportation -- is to do what's right in the face of fearful proponents of the status quo.
Because creating eight hours per year of carfree space along the San Francisco waterfront is the least we can do.
Newsom didn't come up with this idea all on his own, although he says he brought it back from the World Economic Forum in Davos, where former London Mayor Ken Livingstone talked up the concept, which was pioneered in Bogota, Columbia. No, this was something already being pushed by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, Walk SF, and other local groups, representatives of which attended the recent Towards Carfree Cities conference in Portland.
As Newsom's climate change director Wade Crowfoot explained to me, there was a broad coalition that has pushed this project, with lefty stalwarts Cheryl Brinkman and Susan King brought in to help with the outreach. "We've purposefully developed a broad coalition on this," Crowfoot said, noting that groups ranging from the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce to the SFBC have signed on.
Many of the lefties in that coalition were outraged this morning at reports that Sup. Ross Mirkarimi joined the Board of Supervisors effort to stop the events (or to delay them until after an economic impact study was done, which would kill the events for this year), but Mirkarimi told me that his name was included by mistake. "I'm actually not opposed. My name was added by mistake," he said. "This is a great idea, but the process has been horrible."
Mirkarimi said he agreed with Sup. Aaron Peskin, who is leading the opposition on behalf of the merchant groups in his district, that Newsom should have worked with the board on this idea and vetted it through groups such as the Small Business Commission. That's probably a fair point, and Newsom should be working more closely with the city's legislative body on many of his initiatives, particularly controversial ideas that seek to make San Francisco a more progressive city.
Yet this is an idea worth defending. As Gil Peñalosa, the father of ciclovias in Columbia, told me at the Portland conference, "There's always opposition to everything," particularly initiatives to challenge overentitled American motorists the way they must be challenged if we are to make real progress combating climate change and improving public health. But, he said, "At the end of the day, you were elected and you need to decide what’s best for the majority of the people.”
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Comments (4)
Thanks for adding the clarification about Mirkarimi. It's not often you see only his name alongside that of Alioto-Pier and Elsbernd in support of something.
Posted by Greg | July 16, 2008 02:33 PM
Thank you Steve for covering this story. This is a clear case where a great idea should not be killed by politics. The very people who criticize the Mayor of doing that too often would be playing the roles of hypocrites here. As someone who busted my butt to help win more car-free space in Golden Gate Park, I would expect that all of the supporters of the Healthy Saturdays effort would also support -- and try to build & expand upon -- this Sunday Streets effort. Does it really matter whose idea it was? I really don't think so. Let's just get some good things done in this City.....we're way behind right now compared to other cities.
Posted by Leah | July 16, 2008 04:21 PM
original proposal of three consecutive Sundays in August to the recently approved plan for four-hour events on Aug. 31 and Sept. 14.
To be clear, the original proposal was Aug. 17, 31 and Sept. 14. To address the merchants concerns, the Mayor dropped the Aug. 17 date.
Posted by Manish | July 16, 2008 09:14 PM
Leah, you all went Ahab on us when it came to Healthy Saturdays to the extent that it seemed to preclude any consideration for bicycle safety on the other 900+ miles of City streets.
Not only did you all go to the mat to only get a fraction of what you'd wanted, but you gave leverage to conservatives to press the recall of McGoldrick which had horrific consequences for those of us trying to fight gentrification due to the proliferation of luxury condominiums in the Mission.
All of this as the bike plan was headed for failure, as the response to the lawsuit was denial, denial, denial, as nobody was getting on the board of supervisors to front load an eir prior to the injunction, as nobody was doing anything realistic to fix the crappy pavement and as the notion of dangerous conditions was a fiction for advocates.
While the bike plan was dying on the vine, you all were oblivious to that dedicated your resources towards fiddling with Healthy Saturdays.
Likewise, this street closure project is but another of Newsom's confections that are designed for maximum press release impact at the cost of substance.
Is it a bad idea? No.
Should it be challenged simply because it is Newsom's idea? No.
Should it be challenged because the SFBC supports it? No.
But at what point do we have to grab decisionmakers and advocates by the scruff of the neck, shake some sense into them and say enough, don't waste scarce resources on perfecting the flowers on the cake when all that's coming from those quarters "let them eat cake!" when the last thing cyclists need is a meal of flour, eggs, sugar and shortening when we're hungry for political protein?
The City faces significant mission critical challenges on myriad fronts. The last thing we need is for electeds and advocates to self satisfy and congratulate themselves by rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic.
I resent being told by the prime practitioners of cootie based clique politics who have repeatedly dismissed correct solutions based on from whom they've originated that I'm being divisive by pointing out this pattern of destructive behavior.
"Let's just get some good things done in this City.....we're way behind right now compared to other cities."
Not to get all Jesus like on you all, but PHYSICIAN, HEAL THYSELF!
-marc
Posted by marc salomon | July 18, 2008 11:58 AM