SFBC: Open Letter to Mayor Lee: Take Action on SoMa Streets

Dear Mayor Lee:

Last week, a 24-year-old woman named Amelie Le Moullac was killed while bicycling on Folsom Street near 6th Street when she was hit by a truck driver. Amelie was the third resident to be killed on a bike in San Francisco this year, all in or near SoMa. Each victim was killed by the driver of a large truck, none of whom have been cited or charged yet.

SoMa regularly ranks as one of San Francisco's most dangerous neighborhoods for people bicycling and walking. [...]

We ask you to commit to implement the City's long-overdue, long-delayed redesign of Folsom Street. Folsom is one of the city's few designated bike routes to downtown -- yet it is still an intimidating street, with no separation between bike riders and fast-moving auto traffic. Other cities have taken action to tame their deadlier streets by adding bikeways that are physically-separated from motor vehicle traffic. In fact, separated bikeways on 9th Avenue in New York City have reduced injuries to all street users by 58% and could do the same here.

The City studied and recommended a redesign of Folsom Street, which includes separated bikeways, years ago through multiple planning processes and is now in the process of environmental analysis through the Central Corridor EIR. The City is scheduled to repave Folsom Street from the Embarcadero to 10th Street in November 2014. Please expedite approval and funding for this long-overdue Folsom St. plan so that the new, safe design, vetted through extensive community outreach, can be implemented with this scheduled repaving next year.

I spend a lot of time nearly-dying on Folsom Street. It's about time they actually implement these already-approved changes. Send an email!