Feb
26
San Francisco Supervisors: Ban Cars!
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In the city of endless controls, the San Francisco City Supervisors are considering banning cars either outright or at certain times on Market Street, one of the main traffic arteries in the city.
San Francisco officials are considering limits on when and where private cars can drive on Market Street in an effort to make the thoroughfare faster for buses and safer for pedestrians and bicyclists.
City supervisors, acting in their role as commissioners of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, agreed Tuesday to a comprehensive study of whether to restrict cars on the downtown stretch of Market Street from the Embarcadero to Van Ness Avenue.
“There’s a growing momentum to restrict cars, but it will probably be done in baby steps,” said Supervisor Chris Daly, the chief proponent at City Hall of a car-free Market Street.
The heavily used 2-mile stretch is shared by bikes, buses, streetcars, cars, trucks and pedestrians. It cuts through the Financial District, the downtown shopping district and the seedy strip to the west of Powell Street.
So it appears that the SF liberals will try to implement their social goals of complete government control of transportation, negative effects to local businesses and traffic be damned. But what else could be dragged up as an excuse to let the city make such an intrusive move?
Add to that a growing awareness of how cars aggravate global warming and the effect that rising gasoline prices can have on getting people to rethink driving, and some of the opposition to a car-free Market Street has started to thaw.
“There has been a change in attitude over the last five years,” said Carolyn Diamond, executive director of the Market Street Association, a nonprofit organization that promotes the beautification and economic development of the central corridor.
“This may be a way for the city to become better,” she said.
Global warming! Clearly restricting the use of automobiles on one street in one American city will keep the ice caps from melting!
Rather than a ban, Diamond said restricting private autos during certain times of the day could be more palatable.
That’s right, just “certain times of the day.” Cars will be allowed to drive on Market Street totally unfettered from 3:47 a.m. to 4:19 a.m.
A few local residents that will actually be affected by such moves had their say in the comment section. From “ezekial11″:
Let’s remember that several cities in the East and Midwest tried this already. Businesses died– Street reopened several years later–Cost to taxpayers in the millions. I moved here from Chicago in 1997 and am still amazed at how many old, stale, failed ideas SF trots out each year. Progressive? Really?
Apparently the fears of millions in taxpayer costs were not unfounded. “McCoveyCove” advised that the move would require some “investments.”
That would mean investing in new street furniture, better lighting, new bus stops<< and many additional police foot patrols.
One way for big-government types to try to pass of wasteful spending and intervention is by calling it an “investment.” What a load of bull. Btw, what is “street furniture”? Are they going to be putting out La-Z-Boys or something? “dawg3294″ summed up my ideas on the plan:
Sounds like they’re going to hurt businesses and spend more money that we don’t have right in the middle of the worst economic crisis in decades. And they’re doing it just because these supervisors want the street to look pretty. Get your priorities straight!
Its important to keep an eye on stories like this, especially when it is in Speaker Pelosi’s home district.
