Coalition Hears Merchants' Pleas: Votes to Support Economic Impact Study

By Paul Kozakiewicz

The SF Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods voted Feb. 20 to support the district's merchants in their fight for an economic impact study concerning the city's planned improvements to the Muni #38 bus line.

The merchants want to know how the city's plan to put a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system on Geary Boulevard will affect them, both during the construction phase and afterward.

The SF Transportation Authority is getting ready to start an environmental review process on various BRT options. Options being discussed to improve the existing service include two which would run down the middle of Geary, and three variations of a plan to put BRT in the right-hand lanes.

Voters passed Proposition K in 2003, extending a half-cent sales measure to provide money for mass transit projects.

According to Elizabeth Bent, the planner assigned to the Geary BRT project, BRT will offer mass transit riders a better, faster ride to their destinations. She thinks more people would use the system if it was considerably improved. The Geary BRT plan calls for one lane of traffic in each direction to be dedicated for bus traffic only, for buses to have control over traffic signals to speed through intersections, and to use global position technology to better regulate buses and prevent "bunching."

The BRT plan has to be "rail ready" in case future funds become available for a light rail system.

Neighborhood critics say the more extreme BRT measures, primarily the center-lane options, would negatively impact the Richmond's quality of life, in-part by moving an estimated 600 vehicles an hour off Geary onto other east-west streets in the district during rush hours.

According the city's General Plan, a primary purpose of Geary Boulevard is to "divert traffic from nearby residential streets."

The SF Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods' resolution also called on the SF Board of Supervisor's Transportation Authority to retain 30-degree parking spaces on Geary, to include traffic-calming measures in neighborhoods adjacent to the BRT project, and to not reduce the number of left-hand turn lanes on Geary.

The SF Coalition for San Francisco neighborhoods is the umbrella organization for the city's various neighborhood groups.

In January, the SF Small Business Commission voted unanimously to support Richmond businesses in their call for an economic study and mitigation measures that would not have a negative impact for district residents.

The Clement Street Merchants Association also took up the matter of Geary BRT in February, but did not take a position.

"Clement Street is going to take the impact of that traffic," said Irwin Phillips, former president of the merchant organization. "We can't take it."

Ron Miguel, president of the Planning Association for the Richmond, attended the meeting. He said his group has written a letter in support of the merchants and that he sees potential problems with the Geary BRT plan.

"I don't think there is any confidence in Muni's ability to pull off this project," he said.