Call to Action: Demand a Safe West Portal

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On March 16, an errant motorist killed Diego Cardoso de Oliveira, Matilde Ramos Pinto, and their two young children at the corner of Ulloa Street and Lenox Way. They were on their way to the zoo on the Muni. Tuesday/tomorrow, July 16, at 1 p.m. in Room 400 of City Hall, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board will vote on whether to implement a heavily watered-down “compromise” safety plan for West Portal. Or they can vote for the major redesign of West Portal that was originally proposed to make it truly safe. San Francisco Transit Riders is sending the post below and urging people to attend the meeting and/or write the Board to vote to put safety first, instead of always putting it behind parking and car interests.

On Thursday, June 27, Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Myrna Melgar announced a watered-down plan for safety improvements at West Portal. The new plan eliminated five of the eight proposed no-turn lanes and about 70 percent of the proposed transit-only lanes in front of the West Portal transit station.

These design adjustments result in more conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians and contribute the least to improvements in transit performance.

San Francisco Transit Riders is urging its members, riders, pedestrians and other traffic safety advocates to email or tweet the SFMTA Board of Directors and recommend that they approve greater safety and traffic improvements at the West Portal.

• Send an email or tweet to the Board using SFTR’s helpful tool: You can read SFTR’s letter to the SFMTA Board and easily customize your message using this link.
• Provide public comment at tomorrow’s SFMTA Board meeting. Tuesday, July 16, 1 p.m., City Hall, Room 400, 4th Floor. One Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, San Francisco, CA

For tips on writing public comments, see SFTR’s previous blog post. If you have any questions, email SFTR at [email protected].

For background information, see Streetsblog’s previous coverage here, here, here and here.