December 9, 2022

Mayor London Breed
City Hall
1 Dr Carlton B. Goodlett Place Room 200
San Francisco, CA 94102

Chair Gwyneth Borden
SFMTA Board of Directors
1 South Van Ness Avenue, 7th Fl. San Francisco, CA 94103

Director Jeffrey Tumlin
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency 1 South Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94103

David Chiu
Office of the City Attorney City Hall, Room 234
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Pl. San Francisco, CA 94102

Dear Mayor Breed, Chair Borden, Director Tumlin, and City Attorney Chiu,

In just the past month, our city has taken bold, historic steps in support of safe streets and sustainable transportation. The JFK Promenade is now permanent, thanks to overwhelming support from voters. Car-free space on the Great Highway will continue for at least three years. And the Slow Streets Program was codified in ways that will meet a high bar for safety and speed and be spread equitably citywide, with 16 Slow Streets made permanent.

This should be a time of celebration for San Francisco. Mayor Breed, the Board of Supervisors, City staff and SFMTA Directors have all contributed mightily to this moment. But instead, just two days after a monumental day at City Hall, the rug has been pulled out from under Slow Lake Street, despite its unanimous approval on Tuesday by the SFMTA Board. How and why this is happening is unclear and greatly concerning. Above all, it also creates a dangerous situation for the people – especially children, seniors, and people with disabilities – who use Slow Lake Street on foot, bike, scooter, and mobility device.

Lake Street is a well-used Slow Street and critical safe transportation corridor and is the centerpiece of the City’s longest continuous Slow Street corridor. Sadly, Slow Lake has been mired in confusion, delay, and political interference for over a year. Despite its popularity and extensive public process, studies, and surveys, its safe and timely implementation is being interfered with yet another time – and all despite the SFMTA Board of Directors’s vote to make it permanent.

Specifically, on Monday, the SFMTA removed the barricades that for two-and-a-half years had ensured the safety of people walking, biking, and using mobility devices on Slow Lake Street. But instead of replacing the barricades with the official Slow Streets soft-hit posts and signage, as demanded by the SFMTA Board, we have been informed that SFMTA has delayed installation of the distinctive signs and posts on Lake Street. These features control vehicle traffic and inform all Slow Lake users, including motorists, of Lake’s Slow Street status.

This creates a hazardous situation, with vehicle traffic flooding onto Lake Street without any protection for the hundreds of vulnerable people using Slow Lake Street. (See pictures from yesterday and bar chart below.) Slow Lake was effectively abolished at the very moment it was declared permanent.

A traffic-measuring device installed by Slow Lake advocates shows that, since the removal of the barricades on Monday, the number of vehicles on Lake Street has more than doubled. Yesterday the number of vehicles on Lake exceeded 1,000, a critical threshold set by the SFMTA Board on Tuesday. Specifically, 1,306 cars or trucks passed by the device on Lake. The average volume of vehicles for the 10 days before the barricades were removed was 385 cars or trucks. Meanwhile, most drivers likely are unaware that Lake is a Slow Street.

The SFMTA Board showed leadership in affirming the Slow Streets Program to enable all San Franciscans to get around our city safely without using a car. And it was their prerogative to do so: the Board governs the Agency, which in turn has “exclusive authority” to “limit the use of certain streets” and control vehicle traffic and to promote cycling and pedestrian activity. (S.F. Charter Sec. 8A.102(b)(7).)

Furthermore, the environmental clearance of the entire Slow Streets Program is contingent on the California Environmental Quality Act statutory exemption provided by SB 288 and made permanent by SB 922 (Wiener), which defines a Slow Street as a “bicycle and pedestrian facility.” In the view of the Planning Department (Case Number 2022- 008095ENV), a Slow Street is eligible for consideration as a “bicycle and pedestrian facility” because of the active minimization – really, the elimination – of cut-through traffic on the street. Current conditions on Lake Street do not meet the Slow Streets Program’s obligations with respect to CEQA.

Finally, the city appears to be violating California Vehicle Code section 21101(f)(4) [AB 773], which provides that a city can implement and maintain a “slow streets program” only if (among other things) the city “[c]learly designates the street closure or traffic restriction with signage.” Slow Lake now has no slow street signage whatsoever.

Given the current conditions on Lake Street, the purple Slow Streets signs must be installed immediately. This delay is unjustified, and it sets a troubling precedent that, after a robust process of approval by the SFMTA Board, the City will drag its heels critical safety changes, which causes the SFMTA to be out of compliance with its own Slow Street program directive.

Galvanized by the desire of Mayor Breed to work toward a connected network of Slow Streets that are equitable and that create safe, low-traffic, low-speed streets in every district of the city, the People’s Slow Street Coalition came together. With the support of over 40 organizations citywide, we developed a proposal with clear parameters, goals, and metrics.

This proposal was essentially adopted by the SFMTA Board of Directors on Tuesday, codifying designing Slow Streets to keep traffic at 15 mph and at 1,000 vehicles or less per day—in order to ensure safety and create a robust, successful, and truly safe network. And the 16

Slow Streets made permanent on Tuesday—including Lake Street—are the backbone of that network. But Lake Street is the only Slow Street corridor where official infrastructure was removed prior to the SFMTA Board’s vote and with no public explanation as to why it was or when it will be replaced.

So we ask you: SFMTA, install the official Slow Streets soft-hit posts and signage on Lake Street immediately. Let’s continue meaningful progress on safe streets and climate-friendly transportation, and not delay and undermine the critical work.

Sincerely,