Merchants Rally to Slow Down Plan to Transform Geary

By Paul Kozakiewicz

Geary Boulevard merchants held several meetings in October with city officials to address what they perceive as a "rogue" transportation subcommittee trying to undercut their livelihoods.

At the heart of the issue is a plan being promoted by the SF Transportation Authority (TA), in concert wit the Geary Citizen's Advisory Committee (GCAC) and other city agencies, to implement a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) plan on Geary that merchants say could be detrimental to their economic well-being. In order to implement a bus system that has dedicated traffic lanes and passenger loading platforms in the center of Geary Boulevard, traffic lanes may be eliminated, left-hand turns would be restricted or banned, and an unknown number of parking spaces serving local merchants would be lost.

David Heller, president of the Greater Geary Boulevard Merchants and Property Owners Association, joined other concerned merchants and presented their qualms Oct. 27 to SF Mayor Gavin Newsom. The mayor reportedly told the merchants that their concerns would be addressed before any action was taken.

Later that day, about 50 merchants were briefed about the current situation and aired out their concerns with SF Supervisor Fiona Ma at a meeting at Gaspare's Italian Restaurant. Numerous community leaders were present at the meeting, including several candidates for treasurer, Francisco Hsieh, Ed Jew, Joseph Blue and political consultant Jack Davis.

Ma was miffed that a committee operating under the jurisdiction of the Transportation Authority, which is comprised of the 11 members of the SF Board of Supervisors, would be advocating for a project without objectively looking at the consequences to local merchants, commuters and the people who live in the neighborhood.

"It's getting out of control," Ma said of the committee's actions to push implementation of the plan as soon as possible without considering all of the stakeholders' positions. "Businesses could be put out of business."

The BRT plan is being pushed by District 1 Supervisor Jake McGoldrick, who feels the plan is the best given limited public funds. Earlier this year, McGoldrick told the GCAC that he has worked for three years to get the plan going.

The BRT is supposed to provide a faster and more reliable ride for Muni passengers traveling through the east-west corridor. Any plan would be adaptable for a light rail train system when funds become available.

The BRT plan and potential light rail plan would be paid for by Proposition K funds, a 1/2 cent sales tax increase passed by city voters in November 2003. The proposition will provide about $2.5 billion for transit projects over the next 30 years with about 65 percent of that money earmarked for rail projects.

The TA and Muni is hoping to break ground on a Geary transit plan in five years, an ambitious plan given the project's potential $1.5 billion price tag.

The merchants want a full economic impact study to be undertaken before any bus or light rail systems are developed for Geary. Then the City would know how many businesses could fail and what the cost in lost tax revenues to the City would be.