Aaron Bialick
Aaron was the editor of Streetsblog San Francisco from January 2012 until October 2015. He joined Streetsblog in 2010 after studying rhetoric and political communication at SF State University and spending a semester in Denmark.
Recent Posts
SF Mayor: “I Won’t Bend to Interests Who Disregard Safety”
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Contrasting with Supervisor London Breed’s sensible position on the demonstration planned in response to the SFPD’s impending bike crackdown, we bring you a dispatch from the hidebound side of City Hall — Room 200. Mayor Ed Lee weighed in today on the plan from bike commuters on the Wiggle to fully comply with the stop […]
SF Supe Backs Idaho’s Common-Sense Law: Let Bikes Yield at Stop Signs
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Supervisor London Breed has come out as the first known elected official in San Francisco to publicly support a sensible change to California traffic law: allowing people on bikes to treat stop signs as yield signs. Breed voiced her position today in today’s deftly-crafted article by SF Examiner reporter Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez on changing the […]
SFPD Tickets Bicyclists Trying to Get By Cars Queued Up for Freeway
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Here’s today’s edition of egregious waste of SFPD resources used to harass people on bikes. SFPD officers were posted at the bottom of the hill on Page Street at Octavia Boulevard this morning ticketing bike commuters who squeezed to the left of stopped cars. Freeway-bound drivers routinely queue up to turn right, occupying several blocks […]
In SF, the Solution to Poor Bike Lanes: Just Get Rid of Them
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The SFMTA wants to remove bike lanes and sharrows on King Street in SoMa’s South Beach area to discourage bicycling on the truck-heavy street, Hoodline reports. The agency wants to divert bike commuters to the parallel stretch of Townsend Street, but has no plans to install bike lanes there. The unprotected bike lanes on Townsend […]
New SFPD Park Station Captain’s Bike Crackdown Won’t Make Streets Safer
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@SFPDPark obviously no crackdown needed here! Looks perfectly safe, @Bob_Gunderson approved. pic.twitter.com/VrOCM1NPwj — kevin (@ku1313) June 14, 2015 In the name of “protecting life,” SFPD Park Station Captain John Sanford has promised a crackdown on people on bikes rolling through stop signs. The SF Bicycle Coalition and some neighborhood leaders are calling on Sanford not […]
Noe Valley Gets Sidewalk Extensions and Decorative Crosswalks on 24th
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City officials celebrated new brick-trimmed crosswalks and sidewalk bulb-outs on 24th Street in Noe Valley at a ribbon-cutting ceremony today. The changes will make for a more pedestrian- and transit-friendly environment on Noe Valley’s commercial corridor. At Castro and Noe Streets, the transit bulb-outs — curb extensions at bus stops — will help speed up […]
Protected Bike Lanes Finally Coming to Folsom Street Near Transbay Center
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The city will hold a public meeting on Thursday evening to present updates on a plan to install protected bike lanes on Folsom Street near the Transbay Transit Center, east of Second Street. Construction on the project was previously expected to start this year, according to a city staff presentation from last June [PDF]. At […]
Drivers Lose a 27-Cent Parking Subsidy – KPIX and KTVU Lose Their Sh*t
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The sky is falling! San Francisco drivers paying parking meters with credit cards will no longer get their 27-cent credit card transaction fees bankrolled by the federal government. For KPIX and KTVU, this was the scandal du jour. “It’s already pricey to park,” said KPIX anchor Elizabeth Cook. “How bad is it really going to […]
In SF, Safer San Jose Avenue Advocates Fend Off Attacks From Angry Motorists
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The redesign of San Jose Avenue took a step forward a month ago when Caltrans removed a traffic lane on a Highway 280 off-ramp leading on to San Jose, a.k.a. the Bernal Cut. The plan is the result of decades of neighborhood advocacy for safer streets, but it is running into opposition from motorists who […]
Someone Finally Figured Out How to Fix Parking Forever: Blame Canada!
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Car owners in Hayes Valley will not stand by as “their” parking spaces are usurped by safe streets measures and “foreign” car-share “corporations” from places like “Delaware” and “Canada.” That’s according a couple of bizarre anonymous flyers spotted recently around the neighborhood that appear to take aim at the arrival of on-street car-share parking spaces […]
SF Meeting on Sidewalk Bulbs Gets Tense; SFMTA to Paint Demos
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A public meeting in North Beach became tense yesterday as residents and firefighters opposed to basic street safety measures continued to assert that sidewalk bulb-outs are dangerous. To appease skeptics, the SFMTA announced that the bulb-outs planned at four intersections on Columbus Avenue will be tested first by installing painted “safety zones” in August. Construction […]
Lyft and Uber Won’t Release Data to Shed Light on How They Affect Traffic
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As ride-hail services like Lyft and Uber have boomed in San Francisco and other cities, proponents claim they help reduce demand for parking and road space by making it easier for people to own fewer cars. But very little data has been released by the ride-hail companies that would allow experts to assess their impact […]