Are signs like these coming to Evergreen Street in Point Loma? They appeared in Mira Mesa.
Residents of Evergreen Street are living a controversy right now as their Point Loma street is destined for a so-called advisory bike lane (ABL).
It’s unclear whether the city is putting plans for the street redesign on Evergreen on hold, as they were forced to in Mira Mesa.
In the meantime, we’re learning more about how the city is maneuvering to install more bike lanes around town.
Apparently, the city has adopted a new take on how residential street traffic should flow. And advisory bike lanes are their answer. According to local media:
Intended to make streets more cyclist-friendly, ABLs offer a single lane for bi-directional traffic to share in the center of two bike lanes. If oncoming cars are approaching, vehicles are supposed to veer into the bike lanes and pass.
Officially, advisory bike lanes are supposed to be approved by the city’s Mobility Board, which is supposed to be made up of representatives from every city council district plus four “at-large” representatives. All are supposed to be appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the city council.
And supposedly, according to 7San Diego, the board even held a meeting Wednesday, April 6, “but didn’t answer any questions regarding ABLs.” The TV news station also reported:
The board won’t say how many more ABL projects are in the works, where they will be or what the current pause on ABL plans means for the entire program.
As for Evergreen Street, a city spokesperson told NBC 7 the city is waiting “until we’ve engaged with the community and, prior to restriping, have provided robust outreach and education” to move ahead with that redesign.
Yet, here’s the problem.
The Mobility Board is supposed to be made up of 13 members.
But, currently, as of this writing, there are only two active members: Michelle Krug who is an At-Large member and Stephanie Hernandez who is the District 9 Representative. The city’s website shows that 3 seats are vacant and that 8 are expired, including Nicole Burgess’ seat – who is a strong proponent of advisory bike lanes, including the one planned for Evergreen.
So many questions jump out: how can the Mobility Board operate with only two active members? How can they even have a meeting without a quorum?
How can two people, Krug and Hernandez, make decisions about bike lanes that are then implemented without informing the local neighborhoods and even not informing the local community planning committees?
What is going on here? Are expired members of the Board making decisions? Where is the District 2 representative?
Something’s amiss and the pandemic cannot be blamed.
Here’s the current make-up of the Mobility Board:
According to the website:
Description
It is the purpose and intent of the Council to establish a Mobility Board to serve as an advisory body to the Mayor and Council on policies and issues related to the City’s transportation network. The Board will analyze transportation decision-making in a holistic way to help the City ensure that people driving, walking, bicycling, taking transit, parking, or using other transportation modes will have safe, easy-to-use choices to move around the City. The Board will help ensure the development of the City’s transportation network meets the City’s Climate Action Plan goals.
Purpose
The Mobility Board serves as an advisory body to the Mayor and Council on policies and issues related to the City’s transportation network. The Board will analyze transportation decision-making in a holistic way to help the City ensure that people driving, walking, bicycling, taking transit, parking, or using other transportation modes will have safe, easy-to-use choices to move around the City. The Board will help ensure the development of the City’s transportation network meets the City’s Climate Action Plan goals. The Board will provide an annual report to the Mayor and Council detailing the activities and recommendations of the Mobility Board.
(Hat tip to Jon Perz)
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
For those that oppose the Evergreen situation, they probably should get an attorney like the folks did to stop the chopping of palm trees along Newport.
It seems that lawsuits are the only way to get the city’s attention.
The city didn’t put the mira mesa striping on hold, that block is complete. They did claim the evergreen striping was on hold.
They also didn’t “own” any mistake (their own words), because it’s not going to be removed. It was just an apology and a promise to notify communities of future restriping plans (or plans already decided upon by them)
I believe “expired” members are still active members, just their term has expired and they are still voting members because they haven’t been replaced or reappointed. Maybe covid is an excuse. Burgess lives in D2 last I was aware of, not sure why she was appointed as a D5 rep.
Regardless people should keep this all in mind when they hear the city and bike advocates attacking community planning groups for lacking transparency.
I contacted the rep for District 2, who is still shown on the city’s website, to see if he could tell me anything. Here was his response:
“The Mobility Board was informed by City staff that they would be implementing advisory bike lanes, but didn’t say where or when.”
Does the term top down mean anything to anyone? The Mobility Board is full of bicycle advocates, some of whom may or may not be experts. Why wouldn’t the city involve the mobility board in this decision?
My opinion? Someone has the mayor’s ear and he’s strong-arming this, probably not a great description looking at the little guy. Definitely needs looking into to find out who pushed this stuff.
Geoff Page:
Sort of off topic but I usually just gather news from this site (nod to Frank for publishing) however, I just have to comment here that you are quite an unrealized asset to this community.
You and I may or may not agree on a myriad of things as I am probably a very different political persuasion than you, but you are pretty spot on with your coverage of local issues. I highly appreciate you and your dogged coverage of all these under attended/under appreciated meetings and activities.
“All politics is local” as Tipp O’Neil once said and I think we are alignment on so many issues in our back yard despite the chaos and absurdity at higher levels of the political realm.
Thank you for what you continue to do.
Jeffeck, your very nice comment was in stark contrast to what the cycling crowd has been calling me lately. Thank you for that pleasant change of pace.
I agree, The Rag is a valuable resource for the regular news and the news that seems to be regularly missed by the city’s media. Frank is performing a real service to the community and I’m happy if am part of that effort.
Your voice of reason was also refreshing, it reminded me of better days. We can have different political philosophies and that matters on some things. But, even with different beliefs, we should still be able to find common ground on some things. Maybe they can’t do it on a national level but we can try at our level. Tipp was right.
FYI – 5 o’clock KUSI Dan Plante mentioned the OBRAG several times and addressed the issue concerning bike lanes
so today Todd said that both of these will be undone. Credit to him for hitting the reset button on this. if it’s such a good idea let’s bring it to the community for some sunlight and a real discussion.
CBS Story on Gold Coast Drive change back to regular 2 -lane street.
https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/ontroversial-bike-lanes-will-be-paved-over/509-5cec316a-5afd-4245-a4f8-fd1073bfc7d8
If you think the ABLs are a big deal, check out what they did to our community in PB @ https://thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/649/410/711 where 141 signers’ first-hand testimonials on DANGERS of mixed-use street. Get this: The city picked the most high-risk demographic to launch a PILOT-never been done-program where pedestrians are encouraged to comingle in the street with CARS!!!! They picked a THOROUGHFARE street so once-quiet streets (like mine) are now thoroughares. This happened w/o community input; letters to everyone have gone unanswered. Opponents/homeowners leave 1st-hand testimonials @ petition site. Check out Cole v Town of Los Gatos. Drunk driver hits pedestrian; Los Gatos LIABLE due to complaints of dangers/2 accidents in the 30 years some gravel was on the road. Taxpayers liable when lawsuits ensue. Please share. BIG BIG mtg April 20 PB Town Council Zoom or hybrid St. Brigid Catholic Church @ 6:30pm. Help us STOP THE CITY from this CLEAR PATTERN of abuse of remapping w/9 community. If it can happen to PB, it can happen EVERYWHERE. Imagine waking up to a CIRCUS @ YOUR DOORSTEP or a forced instant THOROUGFARE. Thank you.
NBC did a story on this.
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/city-of-san-diego-weighing-future-of-slow-street-project-in-pacific-beach/2921298/#l20zv5du734kiiftwdd
Anybody find it ironic that we are closing off public sidewalks for private business cafes “to engage pedestrian traffic”. And now the pedestrians need to walk in the street. I saw a lot of this dangerous behavior during the peak of covid and it continues to be a trend.
Maybe we should start sleeping in our kitchens and parking our cars on the beach while we’re at it.