Group Asks SHARP Questions about 19th Ave.

By Jonathan Farrell

Alice Wallace was the elderly woman who was run down by a speeding car June 3 as she crossed an intersection at 19th Avenue and Noriega Street. Her death at the scene prompted the forming of the 19th Avenue Pedestrian Safety Action Group, the next day.

Dr. William A. Miller and others who formed the action group demanded that efforts be taken to confront the lack of pedestrian safety along the busy 19th Avenue traffic corridor.

Miller was the keynote speaker at the June 27 meeting of the Sunset Heights Association of Responsible People (SHARP). More than two-dozen residents gathered at the Taraval Police Station on 24th Avenue to participate in a very intense and complex discussion about the issue of traffic and pedestrian safety along the seven-and-a-half-mile stretch of 19th and Park Presidio avenues, collectively a part of Highway 1, which travels from Mexico to Canada.

Miller described the horror of what he personally witnessed that Sunday morning while waiting at the stop light at the 19th and Noriega intersection.

"The oncoming vehicle struck her with such force that her light-blue down jacket literally burst into a cloud of feathers," Miller said.

Miller rushed to her side and did what he could to try to administer medical attention.

But, because her frail body ricocheted off the windshield of the car, Wallace was "thrown spinning head over heals a good 12-feet into the air," Miller said.

She died within minutes as a result of blood loss.

Lt. Mike Favetti of the Taraval Station, who attended the SHARP meeting, was the first officer to arrive at the scene.

According to Favetti, a 47-year-old man from Watsonville was driving the car that hit the woman. He noted that Wallace may not have been at fault in the accident.

"Most of the time pedestrians are not alert," Favetti said.

Miller said he learned a lot about traffic and pedestrian safety in the days following the incident of Wallace's death, as the action group has met each week since then.

Miller wants answers and he urges local residents to take action.

According to Miller, safety measures for pedestrians are woefully inadequate or nonexistent.

"Less than five traffic light signals have crosswalk signals," he noted. "Nineteenth Avenue is like a freeway going through a major residential area," Miller said.

Pi Ra of the Senior Action Network agreed, saying the statistics speak volumes. Highway 1 is the main thoroughfare by which commuters move to and from the Golden Gate Bridge and locations along the Peninsula. The highway is owned and maintained by the state of California.

There are approximately 78,000 vehicles that use the route on an average day, including commercial transportation, such as diesel-fuel delivery trucks and charter busses. It has a posted speed limit of 35 m.p.h. Nineteenth Avenue also has homes, businesses, schools, convalescent hospitals, shopping malls and parks, such as Stern Grove, located along it route.

It is adjacent to other busy traffic arteries as well, such as Sloat Boulevard, Ocean Avenue, Brotherhood Way and Geary Boulevard. A substantial amount of accidents occur along 19th Avenue. According to statistics between 1999 to 2004, there were 32 collisions.

"Police need to be empowered to enforce traffic laws and safety," Ra said.

Favetti agrees.

"We feel short-staffed having only two dedicated officers on motorcycles to work in traffic safety," Favetti said.

At the SHARP meeting, Miller confronted Stephen Nguyen, who was present at the meeting on behalf of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA). The authority, along with the Municipal Transportation Agency, have launched a 19th Avenue/Park Presidio Boulevard Transportation Plan. The effort will serve to coordinate several concurrent projects by multiple agencies, all funded in part by the SFCTA.

As the lead local funding agency, the authority is acting as project manager. Miller wanted to know why traffic signal upgrade work has not been done.

Ra pointed out that funding for it was approved years prior when voters OK'd the Proposition K ballot initiative. But Nguyen explained that while money is available for the project, there have been difficulties between the City and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans).

"Due to costs, only 10 traffic light intersections can be worked on at a time," Nguyen said.

The benefits of the plan would include signal upgrades, improved traffic signal visibility to motorists and pedestrian safety features like the countdown signal timers. Phase I would include 19th Avenue from Lincoln Way to Junipero Serra Boulevard. Phase II would work on the intersections along Park Presidio Boulevard.

Vernon Wayright, who worked for Caltrans for 40 years, knows the situation well.

"Caltrans is hard-nosed about what they want as criteria but so is the City," he said.

Nguyen said the SFCTA is holding money for the project. Decisions about spending the money are in the hands of the County Transportation Authority, which is comprised of the members of the Board of Supervisors. So far, two previous bids have been rejected and some estimates have come in over budget.

Lauren Wonder who serves as chief of Public Affairs, spoke on behalf of De Sio.

"Caltrans has begun a new (third) bid process. But this one will be open to any and all contractors who meet the requirements," she said.

Yet, she clarified that the advertising of the bid will begin in October, and the work will follow some time in December or January 2008.

Speaking on behalf of state Sen. Leland Yee was his director, David Burruto.

"The process is cumbersome, but Sen. Yee is pushing for it," Burruto said.

Ra said upgrading traffic signals and promoting pedestrian safety "will help, but not cure it all," he said. "We need an entirely new plan for 19th Avenue."

Meanwhile, Miller and his action group will continue to meet to address safety issues and lobby elected officials.

"This to me is just another bureaucratic storm. We hired our elected officials and they need to figure it out," he said.

For an overview of the city's proposed plan for 19th Avenue, visit the Web site at www.sfcta.org.