Our family has been doing the hardcore American suburban adventure thing for the last week. Some observations:
(1) Any family that chooses an SUV over a minivan is making an entirely ego-driven purchase. These mobile living rooms are the ideal suburban land yacht
Market street isnโt closed for the first time today, itโs finally open! Today is the first day I felt comfortable riding market street with my daughter. It was so quiet, safe, and full of life. This opens entire new parts of the city to our family
#carfreemarketstreet
@ryrzny
@FuckCarsReddit
I just love to sit out on my front porch and try to make eye contact (through giant trucks and SUVs blocking my view) with my neighbors walking by
Oh right. No one walks here anyway
In Golden Gate park, the directors of two museums, backed by the wealthiest donors in the Bay Area, are fighting to convert JFK promenade, enjoyed by thousands of kids, into car parking.
Meanwhile the garage directly beneath the museums is so empty teens play handball there ๐
@JerryTurin
@CarsRuinedCity
Um. No?
My kids are โinner cityโ kids smack dab in the center of San Francisco.
We would HATE to have to get in a car every day just to get to the pictures school. We usually bike or walk to our school and then spend afternoons in the giant Golden Gate Park.
The Chevy Bolt is literally the only electric car that I was considering replacing our 10 year old Impreza for.
America is unwilling to produce narrow, small, urban family cars. Itโs all Land Yachts and Monster Trucks from our auto industry. We need major weight, size and tax
GM is killing off the Chevy Bolt and retooling its factory to produce electric trucks.
In one fell swoop, a step backward for road safety, emissions mitigation, and EV affordability.
San Franciscoโs newest park is a former highway. The Great Highway is now I can not overstate the importance of this moment for ending car dominance of our urban public space.
My family lives 2 blocks from this crash. When someone sent me the video, this was my response
โCriminals fully run wild in California. No consequences. We are going to end a lot of politiciansโ careers when we vote them all out in 2024โ
Even
@CARandDRIVER
is getting the message. The battery of one tesla model S can power over 70 ebikes. Humans donโt need 5,000lb speeding boxes to move their bodies 2 miles
@SanFranciscoPOA
@SFPD
@SFPDChief
Uh, we pay you address dangerous situations in our city on both public and private property. Itโs literally your job. It is not MUNIโs job to transport police. If the public doesnโt want muni used that way (especially for police violence protests!), its fine. Use charter buses
@DavidSacks
You so badly want to be vindicated (or heterodox) you are strangely rooting against your own country and cheering for a terrorist dictator.
And to do so, you are ignoring the NATO doctrine of air superiority (US has vast air resources) which makes us less focused on artillery
Join me in yelling (RT!) to CA Governor
@GavinNewsom
SHUT US DOWN. Close all non-mandatory operations (bars, cafes, restaurants, theatres, gyms, etc) NOW! Take heed from our friends around the world. You can save thousands of lives ๐
Iโve been waiting to share our familyโs experience with covid until we were all better. 6 weeks later our two young kids, my wife and my mom are fully recovered. Iโm still dealing with milder but continuing symptoms. You donโt want to go through this. Hereโs my experience: ๐งต
My latest: Matt
@brezina
, a safe streets advocate, wants people to know just how bad
#Covid_19
can be even when you're young and healthy. After six weeks, โI still have chest pain, headaches, brain fog, fatigue, a sore throat. It's scary."
Be careful.
Two+ yrs ago I set a goal of protected bike lanes on Valencia street, the street my wife bikes every day. Last week construction began on the first 4 blocks ๐ i've learned so much and am so thankful for everyone who works to transform our streets for safe & green future ๐๐ฏ
People Protected ๐ฉ๐ฟโ๐คโ๐จ๐พ ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ฟโ๐คโ๐จ๐ผ
[new post] Anatomy of a Protected Bike Lane. The story of how we won Protected Bike Lanes on Valencia street. Thank you EVERY person who stood on the line! ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ We are just getting started!
All it took was a pandemic and we finally got
#CarFree
Valencia street. People are calling it โvery European.โ I call it โvery Human.โ
#NeverGoBack
@DeanPreston
@GavinNewsom
@California_HCD
There is no housing construction at Stevenson right now. It remains a valet parking lot. I followed it closely. Yall killed 500 homes, 25% subsidized units.
The only propaganda was TODCOโs obstruction talking points distributed by Jane Kim.
Please stop blocking homes ๐
@ryan_hassett
You make something that popular and better than the alternative, and the politics will support you
Still pretty amazing we used to stand around like idiots hoping a taxi would drive by, accept our destination and take a credit card. Aye
Car-free Twin peaks is the best new public space in San Francisco. I canโt express in words or video how safe access on twin peaks blvd, a car-free loop at the summit, and the sound & smell of birds and plants vs Porsche exhaust is transformative to this space. A HUGE new park!
The
@GreatWalkway
is absolutely full of families enjoying the best AQI air in the entire Bay Area today. This is climate infrastructure. 24/7/365
Mayor
@LondonBreed
, this is your legacy project queued up and ready to go. All you need to do is lead it to the finish line ๐ณ ๐
Hi
@LondonBreed
@Scott_Wiener
@RafaelMandelman
I hate having to send warnings like this to founders excited to visit San Francisco for the first time. But I want to limit their exposure to our out-of-control lawlessness on their first visit to the city I love.
Crime pays in
The pro-crime, anti-housing, anti-algebra Clown Coalition ๐คก๐คก has been fully rejected by San Franciscoโs electorate!
This is a political awakening.
Imagine San Franciscoโs potential with reasonable, competent folks in city hall ๐คฉ๐คฉ
๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ
23/24 of the
@SFDemsForChange
on the first drop ๐๐ฝ๐๐ฝ๐๐ฝ๐๐ฝ๐๐ฝ๐๐ฝ
I have faith too that
@skbarz
will bump Connie Chan ๐ช๐ฝ
This used to be a highway. Now it is a park with more foot traffic than Crissy Field! Introducing the
@GreatWalkway
, San Franciscoโs epic new 15 acre park ๐
I just rode a nascent Townsend Protected lane! Met another guy riding the lane who thanked me โare u Mattโ? and said โthis is the first time I have ever felt safeโ. Great job everyone!
@DeanPreston
@GavinNewsom
@California_HCD
I think HCD answered this. Look how bad our housing approval timelines are!
The incredibly bad housing obstruction at Stevenson is the textbook failure (yโall delayed/killed 500 homes we badly need now)
Read this if you want to understand how pervasive Car-Brain Disease is in America. ๐ ๐ง ๐ฆ
In the United Stateโs 2nd most densely populated city, the local government is facing aggressive push-back, requiring extensive and expensive community outreach efforts, for simply
As the SFMTA holds its first pop-up in front of Starbucks, flyers have since gone up in the commercial corridor against the city's proposal to make changes to West Portal Avenue and Ulloa Street. Some storefronts have posted the flyers as well.
At Food Lion, DO NOT forget anything from the produce section before youโve made it 1/4 mile to the ice cream section.
My corner store in SF is about 600 ft from my front door. I think the distance from food lion produce to the frozen goods is a longer trip! What a strange way
.
@jeffreytumlin
wanna know whatโs cool? If you change the speed limit on a street, every
@cruise
car will obey the law immediately! I canโt say the same for taxi/uber drivers or distracted Range Rover moms.
Autonomous cars are a
#VisionZero
dream for city DOTs who love putting
Remote Work is to millennials what Suburban Sprawl was to boomers. Geographic arbitrage enabled by new technology. The Internet & the car respectively.
You've probably noticed I've been fired up that SF was about to approve a 25-year lease of city land to a fossil fuel company. I'm proud to report the item was kicked back to committee, which effectively kills it as the sponsoring supe is terming out. I want to thank leaders: ๐งต
The level of luxury features available now since I last drove 20 years ago is astounding. You donโt need to use a physical key to open or start your car.
Cooling fans in the seats
Automatic sliding doors and truck door
iPhone connections are amazing
Truly a mobile living
3) do not. I repeat, DO NOT forget anything at the grocery store.
Milk, butter, wine, paper towels, diapers, ANYTHING you might need is a 30min+ round trip. The separation of land use is real (and logistically painful)
The few grocery stores are all concentrated retail zones.
@Scobleizer
@Tesla
@elonmusk
Dude - what is the speed limit here? No way it is the 80mph you are going? Why in the world does a *smart* car allow you to drive on a road faster than the legal limit that is set for all roads usersโ safety?
@sfbike
Read the room
@sfbike
. You tweet about ONE thing today and it isnโt about the human car driver who mowed down and killed a 4 year old child?
Pres of SF Board of Supervisors
@AaronPeskin
has tweeted 13 times in 6 days complaining about autonomous vehicles, but can't be bothered about this apparently.
@JerryTurin
@CarsRuinedCity
You are strangely angry. Touch grass my friend.
We live in the inner city by definition. Castro district, San Francisco.
Have a nice day
Every person that moves to SF should be given a civic welcome package: library card, $5 clipper card, and 30 day gobike membership. New user experience matters
JFK Drive is a silver lining of the pandemic. Joyous & safe space for all.
But now, itโs under threat.
120 days after the public health order ends, cars will return. The joy of safe space will be taken away.
Unless we act now.
Join us:
The anti-pedestrian, anti-bike, pro-car hegemony is so ridiculously ingrained there are ๐ท๐ณ emojis but nothing for the vehicle that kills 40,000 Americans per year??? ๐ซ ๐ ๐คฏ
Iโm appalled that this SF small business owner was silenced by
@LondonBreed
โs people for criticizing her administration. They donโt want you to see this video๐ ๐ ๐
We need to vote out extreme supervisors but we ALSO need a Mayor who exhibits operational excellence. Chinoโs
@FitzTheReporter
All because of fear of increased competition for free on-street car parking. Cars are zero-sum and make people psychotic and anti-social.
@stephan_zharkov
@snackfight
@jeffreytumlin
I have LOTs of feelings about how quickly this was done and how slowly we respond to car danger. But for now, I think it is really important to talk about how slippery these will be for people on bikes, scooters and skateboard when wet. Was that a design factor?
Hey millennials peers - want to build community, be less lonely, and have stronger, connected communities?
Change your streets to make them safe enough for an 8 year old to bike and walk. Sooo much follows from our streets
New study finds 'cycling rather than driving is positively associated with political participation, social participation in organizations, neighbourhood solidarity, and neighbourly helpfulness (i.e. the common good).'
๐:
Friends, youโve seen me tweet for 3 years about a little 3 mile road in golden gate park called JFK.
Thanks to thousands of volunteers, hundreds of donors, dozens of events, and over $1.4M raised across
@KidSafeSF
campaigns, yesterday voters made Car Free JFK permanent!๐ ๐งต
Volunteers Sara Barz and Phil Ginsburd celebrate after hearing early results at an election night gathering in S.F.
Golden Gate Parkโs JFK Drive will stay car-free following votersโ rejection of Proposition I.
See more live results:
๐ท:
@SalguWissmath
@Ahsha_Safai
This is not true. People can access
#CarFreeJFK
without needing to park cars ON
#CarFreeJFK
. There are an estimate 2,000+ free car parking spots on other streets in GGP. Hundreds of free spots on bordering Fulton and Lincoln. And 800 spots in an underutilized museum garage
@NYLONDONBIZ
Does the street have a protected bike lane? If not, I donโt blame them.
Please advocate for protected bike lanes so that there is more space for people on bikes and people walking
@jefposk
@HighTimes1235
@jen_keesmaat
This. Asymptomatic carriers. Given enough masks, everyone should be wearing one. We should have plenty of surgical/homemade masks for everyone to wear them - or at least should soon. The N95s are what need to be saved for frontline healthcare workers.
Having a new love affair w/ San Francisco. Raising a toddler on a sea-surrounded peninsula brings easy adventure. The level of new, cultural change is so exciting. Outdoor dining, art & music bring new street vibrancy. Slow & car free streets string it all together โจ๐ฅฐ
This is insanely cool. Historical SF Muni Wait Times. No wonder people donโt ride transit like the used to - most wait times have at least doubled! Only route Iโve found with consistent wait times over 80 years is the 38 (a great SF bus).
Thread: Iโm here at SF city hall for the board of supes land use committee hearing. Scooter sharing is on todayโs agenda. Iโll be speaking on the need to support zero emissions transportation services and the need for protected active transit lanes and more bike/scooter parking
Visited the new upper market protected bike lane today. This is now the most physically protected of the high traffic bike lanes in San Francisco. This is the new gold standard. And
@PeopleProtected
@sfbike
@SFMTrA
&
@sfmta_muni
should be VERY proud
The care-free JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park is the happiest place in San Francisco.
2 years ago this was an exhausty, stressful, dangerous street.
Celebrate the good
Was very excited for my first muni metro to central subway transfer. But then I encounter a 22(!!) minute wait.
This is why people who value their time take Uber, ride bikes, drive cars.
We gotta do better
@SFMTA_Muni
@ycombinator
sorry Iโm late!
@mettler
Meeting happens at 8am instead of 8pm
Ergo chairs required because everyoneโs back hurts
Health insurance is considered a day 1 priority
No one raises their hand to set up company tiktok account. Twitter account however is already set up and has 1k followers
SF govt is finally beginning to address drug crisis by arresting drug dealers. Praise Jesus
Thank you
@LondonBreed
@JoelEngardio
@mattdorsey
@Stefani4CA
This will take a sustained effort. Note the elected leaders missing. Those are the people we must remove from govt office
@Appyg99
I notice WFH creates some negative effects with my wife. She thinks Iโm ignoring her too much when Iโm around but not engaging with her. Iโm on my phone/computer too much.
And Iโm like โIโm thinking! Iโm doing my job. This isnโt โhomeโ timeโ
One thing I REALLY miss about using our amazing San Francisco bus network is one-way walks. It is so nice to zip on a magic carpet (bus) to another side of town and then walk a new-to-you route home.
Iโm not out of this. My chest still hurts as I type this. Please keep yourself and your family safe; you donโt want this. And it goes without saying, I deeply and personally blame our failed federal government. Vote
#BidenHarris2020
and call swing state friends. I am.
Overheard today:
โSan Francisco politicians spent two decades learning how to extract/extort value. Covid changed the power dynamic. Now we are stuck with elected leaders who have no experience CREATING valueโ
Reallocate pavement to people and plants.
Convert a long corridor in every neighborhood into a linear park and promenade. Plant hundreds of trees. Allow play, nature and socialization to spill into the public realm
@paulg
Thatโs not true. Only bad stuff makes the news. There is also SOO much good happening in SF. If the good isnโt being reported along with the bad then the decline is clearly exaggerated
The most unbiased analysis of human vs autonomous car driver safety will come from the insurance industry.
@SwissRe
is the 2nd largest reinsurer on the planet.
Humans currently have a 4x worse collision rate vs autonomous cars. And humans arenโt improving, but AVs are.
Waymo self-driving cars already appear to be much safer than human drivers: 1/4 the accident rate of the average person insured by SwissRe.
And as
@SebastianThrun
reminded me last weekend when we shared a Waymo ride in San Francisco, unlike humans, self-driving cars get better
SF non-profits, hiding behind nice-sounding โcultural districtsโ or โaffordable housing,โ are the power base for SFโs extreme-left anarchy politicians like Preston, Ronen, Chan.
They shake down aspiring small business owners like the mafia. Vote them out and depower enablers
I held many meetings & received calls from non-profits, dictating how I should run my business, had the audacity to push me into signing an UNOFFICIAL private MOU.
@sfplanning
tried to deny "recommending my project for approval" to the planning commission, until I signed it. /2
@FBI
@KevinEngelkamp
This man ordered the use of tear gas on peaceful protestors in a public park so he could have a photo opp. This is illegal!! Please protect us!
A reminder that if you are out walking/biking in SF today, WHO recommends you wear an N95 mask. This is also a reminder that even today it is cheaper to drive across the bay bridge than take
@SFBART
@sfmta_muni
&
@rideact
. Enjoy
#ClimateChangeBlindness
from our govt!
@GHMansfield
Volunteering with the special olympics for 4 years gave me simple training that someoneโs wheelchair should be considered an extension of their body. Do not touch without permission. I wish more people got this training
Why is one of the largest public green spaces in San Francisco (150 acres!) dedicated only to people paying $50-$150 for golf? The park is amazing and open to everyone right now. Go, walk & bike your public land and share photos of the future
#PresidioPeoplesPark
This exit of golden gate park is the bane of my bike rides with my daughter to our nature refuge. To think we expose families and children exiting one park and entering another to this dangerous, unprotected, unsignalized(!!), exhausty bike lane is the purest form of city failure
Did you know the speed limit on Upper Market St in San Francisco is 20mph?
Iโve never been in a car that drove so slowly until tonight. Not a single human driver obeys the speed limit. But my robot car does! ๐ค ๐
This computer is THE SAFEST driver on our roads.
Recently
Welp, it finally happened. I lost my bike to lawless SF ๐ Let me know if you see it! I really liked this bike
Last seen at pier 39 where my lock was cut around 5pm tonight. White 2019 RadWagon with grey caboose, long black basket and SlowIsForever stickers
@stolenbikessfo
This Tuesday, SF city supervisors will vote to lease PUBLIC LAND to a fossil fuel company for 25+ years! This is 18 months after this same board declared a CLIMATE EMERGENCY. As my children hide indoors from climate fire smoke. We should be IRATE ๐งต
On BART. Just talked to east bay kids in SF to shred the new civic center skate park.
โItโs really good. I can see what the city was trying to do. And itโs really greatโ
๐๐
@philginsburgsf
@LondonBreed
@mattdorsey
The Great Walkway is San Franciscoโs newest public health infrastructure. Weโd be insane to waste this space on cars ever again. ๐
@LondonBreed
@D4GordonMar
Add your email to join the movement for our shared, all ages, all abilities, healthy future.
New York is using paint, planters and BOULDERS to rapidly transform dangerous car-dominant spaces into streets that are safe for kids.
Why isnโt your city using boulders to slow car drivers?
Cc
@SFMTA_Muni
@jeffreytumlin
I stumbled upon these new
@NYC_DOT
interventions on Underhill in Brooklyn yesterday and I hope this becomes the toolkit for neighborhood streets across the city. Apart from the noticeably calmed traffic, gotta love how many parking spaces went to the wood chipper for this ๐
Protected bike lanes are the quickest, cheapest & easiest way to carve square footage away from the automobile in cities. Even if you donโt bike, but you like to safely walk, run, take transit or breathe in your city, you should join the fight for Protected Lanes
#TaylorStreet
The SF gang biz model is stealing from us and selling deadly drugs.
San Francisco government supports these gang businesses more than legal businesses . No permits or taxes on theft and drugs sales! No enforcement! Easier than opening an ice cream or falafel shop!
This is armed gang warfare over territory where we live.
They have grown emboldened over the lack of enforcement and now they are fighting over the very lucrative business franchise of stealing from us.
Joy
Itโs the middle of the afternoon on a sunny Sunday in
@GoldenGatePark
, and the giant taxpayer-funded 800 stall parking garage is mostly empty. Why? Because we dedicate dozens of acres of our precious urban oasis to free car storage. What could we do instead? ๐งต Video Thread๐
This is probably the most important street safety law that has been passed in California in 10+ years.
Automated speed enforcement has been show to reduce traffic fatalities by 40%+
SF, LA, San Jose drivers: slow down or youโll start getting tickets in the mail!
๐ช ๐ ๐
โ๐ปSIGNED INTO LAW
AB 645, our bill by
@LauraFriedmanCA
with
@walksf
, and
@StreetsR4Every1
creates a speed safety cameras pilot to slow down drivers on high-injury streets and areas in front of schools.
Thank you
@GavinNewsom
for saving lives!
Learning to walk on the
@GreatWalkway
๐ฅฐ
We love playing and picnicking on the leeward side of the dunes. Even on the windiest weekday afternoons, itโs quiet, warm and we can hear the breakers.
This old highway makes for such a good park
@D4GordonMar
@LondonBreed
@SupJaniceHahn
Could you imagine your 10 year old child having to cross this street daily to get to school?
The chair of the LA board of supervisors is celebrating this monstrosity. We need leaders willing to build a new healthy & independent future for our children
Do you find it odd this
@nytimes
article frames the fight for a safe park for kids as a battle of Cyclists vs Museums? Strategic positioning by the museum PR teams, which are funded by $20M in taxpayer dollars!
Meanwhile our Parent-led effort gets $0 from taxpayers.
@KidSafeSF
Since closing JFK Drive in GGP:
โThe city counted 664,437 bikes on the road between October 2020 and April 2021, more than five times the bike traffic measured during those same months two years earlier.โ