Plus: An RV ban in San Jose hopes to curb vehicle dwelling and SF SPCA’s Holiday Windows will debut tomorrow.
San Francisco has already recorded more than twenty pedestrian deaths this year, besting a years-old record … in the worst way possible. This year, too, has also highlighted the disproportionate danger seniors face navigating San Francisco on foot; the majority of this year’s pedestrian fatalities involved individuals 65 years and older.
On Sunday, Walk San Francisco, the nonprofit dedicated to bolstering pedestrian safety measures in San Francisco, placed 317 pairs of shoes on the steps of City Hall to commemorate the 317 pedestrian lives lost since San Francisco enacted its Vision Zero SF initiative over a decade ago to curb these fatalities—the end goal being to reach zero pedestrian deaths in a calendar year.
City leaders, including California Senator Scott Weiner and District 8 Supervisor Rafale Mendelamn, were present at the Sunday evening memorial, sharing a desire to create a safer San Francisco for pedestrians.
Situational irony, too, was rife at the event; just outside SF’s City Hall where the large crowd gathered was an iteration of the City’s newest “protected” bike lanes, which utilized parked cars as physical barriers to separate riders from oncoming traffic; all we — “we” being the commuting cyclists who lattice this city on a daily basis — want the peace of mind afforded by riding down a path with concrete barriers.
What else transpired over the weekend? Let’s take a look.
- Waymo ridership is increasing at a dizzying rate. Data reports from the California Public Utilities Commission show ridership in San Francisco increased from 77,000 monthly driverless rides all the way up to 312,000 monthly rides from January to August; the news comes as Waymo is set to sunset its pilot program that gives riders $3 credits when their end-destination is one of a few local public transit stations. More info.
- Don’t forget that Macy’s SFPCA holiday windows collab is happening this upcoming weekend. Expect a number of adoptable cats and dogs jumping up and down inside the street-facing windows at Union Square’s Macy’s location starting Friday, November 22nd; the holiday program has proven incredibly successful in years past, often resulting in all on-display quadrupeds finding their forever homes. More info.
- San Jose debuts an initiative to help RV dwellers find permanent housing. The pilot program will monitor and enforce parking rules for oversized and lived-in vehicles — which is estimated to be around some 900 oversized and lived-in vehicles parked on city streets — and help those find permanent housing; programs like this have faced public backlash, like her in San Francisco, as they have failed to fulfill promises to permanently house vehicle dwellers and, instead, mirror the actions and immoralities of street sweeps. More info.
