Having been to many European cities like Barcelona, Florence, and Vienna, I have had the opportunity to enjoy a very European experience.  The idea of a street without cars, or very limited cars.  I know that we are a much more car oriented society, but I would like to think that we could create some really great small areas (one or two blocks long each) of the city where we could promote outdoor cafes, small walking parks, kiosks for various things, small markets, etc.  I know the city retailers would freak out, but so did all those European store owners Read This Post »

Cars emit most of their pollution when they first accelerate from a stop sign or traffic light.  Once your car is going, very little pollution is being emitted.  If we could time the traffic lights on more of our larger streets, we could significantly reduce our green house gas emissions without having to think about it.  Also, the frustration factor would go way down for people trying to just get across town.  This would reduce speeding to avoid the next light, since you'd have to drive at the required speed to avoid overrunning the next light. And it would reduce Read This Post »

As a parent of two elementary age children who is trying to expose them to art it drives me crazy that you have to join each art museum separately (except for the DeYoung and the Palace of Legion of Honor).  Given that realistically I may only make it to each art museum once or twice a year and that with kids you cannot stay for hours on end, it would make great sense if you could buy a family membership which would allow you access to all of the art museums -- it could be limited to a certain number Read This Post »

In order to encourage tree planting, Mayor Newson should find out if it is feasible when babies are born in SF hospitals for the hospital to give the new parents a letter from him encouraging them to have a tree planted in their babies honor to make their child's future a brighter and healthier one.  The letter should link to FUF and stress that even if they cannot afford a whole tree they can be tree partners with others. Similarly if local mortuaries could hand out a similar letter encouraging people to honor their loved one with a tree, a legacy Read This Post »

North Ocean Beach is regularly swamped with litter, broken glass, and charred remains of countless fires. The city should encourage and help fund GGNRA efforts to purchase and use a modern beach cleaning machine on the beach.  The beach is enjoyed by thousands but the conditions are deplorable. Name Withheld Read This Post »

Dear Mayor, There is absolute anarchy on our streets.  Automobile drivers ignore traffic lights, block crosswalks and sidewalks, and are killing pedestrians with no consequences.  Bicyclists mow down senior citizens on our sidewalks.  I've not seen a single bicyclist ever ticketed for riding on the sidewalk and I have seen police officers riding on the sidewalk setting an example of lawlessness.  Pedestrians don't even slow down when the little red guy starts flashing at them, blocking automobile drivers trying to complete their turns. This anarchy leads to a total diprespect for law and order.  It leads to unnecessary death and injury.  Youths Read This Post »

Why not have the ugly freeways that cut through neighborhoods covered? On top of the freeways we could gain room for additional housing, linear parks and reconnect the cut off hoods with each other. Name Withheld Read This Post »

As it stands, pedestrians have the right of away when crossing the street at four-way stops/intersections.  This is frustrating for drivers that patiently heed the way of pedestrians that walk into the crosswalk without acknowledging the cars that have been waiting, causing a longer wait for cars to cross the intersection.  I recommend we implement an initiative that pedestrians give the same courtesy to drivers as drivers give to other drivers at four-way stops.  I have frequently witnessed people running into intersections without glimpsing at the driver just expecting them to stop.  We should go back to old standard: look Read This Post »

I think all traffic lights in the downtown area should be set up like some in the financial district. These lights are green for traffic going north and south, then for traffic going east and west, and then for pedestrians only. This would help traffic move through town better and make the intersections safer for pedestrians. As it is now, when a light turns green, pedestrian enter crosswalks and cars that want to make right turns have to wait. This does not allow cars in the right lanes to move forward, and drivers often swerve quickly into the left lanes Read This Post »

Parking permits are much too cheap.  Each household or small business should get one at a low price, say $100/yr.  Each permit for the same address should be much more expensive, say $500/yr. This would reduce the glut of cars in our neighborhoods by making people pay a more realistic price for the public land they use. Rob Bregoff Read This Post »

Because installing a garage in an existing building that doesn't already have one removes and privatizes a valuable public parking space from the street, (let alone trees, utility poles) Garage addition permits should be priced much higher.  Take the price of renting parking (conservatively $150/month) times, say, 50 years, is $90,000.  These funds should be directed at the MTA/Muni for mitigation of traffic problems and pedestrian safety programs.  It would also dissuade homeowners from destroying the facades of historic homes. Robert Bregoff Read This Post »

Extensive advertising in several languages to emphasize that pedestrians have the right-away. At least four times a week I see a car/truck go through stop signs and not stop for someone crossing the street (even when I am pushing a baby carriage) Name Withheld Read This Post »

Make it mandatory for each business and each household  to have garbbge service.  AND work with Sunset Scavenger for people to get rid of access garbage.  That would stop some of the illegal dumping and people who are too cheap to have service at all to use neighborhood cans.  New York has pickup for all, and their city is very clean. Margaret McNamara Read This Post »

In the Forest Hill area there is a small street called Plaza that empties out onto Laguna Honda Blvd.  The first solution is to define the actual intersection with paint and a sign so drivers know not to block the intersection to people trying to turn left onto Plaza from Laguna Honda.  Secondly, I would place a red light there as turning left from Plaza onto LH Blvd is hazardous!  I have seen many near misses there. Thank you Dan Cox Read This Post »

Very few poor people can afford to go to court over racial profiling. So they end up just paying the fines. Even if they could afford to bring their case to the courts, the police/traffic officers are never reprimanded enough to make them change their long-term attitudes nor behaviors. The best way to prevent this problem from occurring in the first place is to create awareness of the problem. I propose an automated database software that records and reports on racial percentages of all officers' arrests/traffic tickets. Periodically, these reports should be emailed to each officer so that they are Read This Post »

I am S.F. born and raised and have had many ideas but don't know if they are feasible with all the political machines involved but here it goes. First  --  Could someone, working between different depts. in the city, start a job program as a paid trainee exempt. position at say min. wage- for unemployed to do the work of interest, learn the job for experience, and be paid?  Example a employed City Gardener trains the person on site- the weeds get pulled , grass trimmed, hedges, etc. which does not seem to be the case all the parks and playgrounds Read This Post »

If we don't want to end up like New Orleans, we need good, well-publicized plans in place. We need to know: 1. Where to evacuate, organized by neighborhood 2. Where the people who may need extra help are i.e. the frail, children, animals (pets) 3. Where emergency supplies will be distributed 4. Where emergency medical facilities will be located 5. Will martial law be instituted? What does this mean for people trying to move around the city to find their loved ones or to get back to their homes? 6. Are there extra firefighters and EMT's available? 7. How will they get to the city if bridges, Read This Post »

In places here in the city that have a high intravenous drug use rate, is there a way that we could place SECURE Hazardous Material Receptacles (i.e. syringes, blades) in certain locations? Is this even feasible? If they would be used (by the parties using the aforementioned items), it would certainly help keep dirty needles, etc. off the street. Faith Meyer Read This Post »

There are people across the street from me who have 5 cars and 1 motorcycle. This is not just one house but several on this block with more than 3 cars.  I would recommend a tax on 3 vehicles  or more and have the tax solely go to making SF more GREEN. How about a 50.00 tax  and the person would need to provide 3 references to verify the address with DMV. Name Withheld Read This Post »

All of the designs for the Muni Bus Shelters were great.  Please make sure that whomever wins incorporates comfortable seating into the design, remembering that people come in all sizes and heights. Ora Thornton Read This Post »

Right now DPT wastes a ton of time chalking tires for 2hr parking enforcement.  Why can't we mandate the use of parking discs as in Europe?  When you park you mark the time you arrived and it displays when you expire on the disc.  That was the parking enforcement officers only have to make a single pass, which should allow more time to enforce more neighborhoods. Paul Linder Read This Post »