u/bigbobbobbo

When you're a pedestrian, cars generally seem to have some sense and do come to a complete stop so that they don't run you over. Obviously, this depends on the neighborhood you're in.

But when you're a driver, holy moly people are doing rolling stops halfway into an intersection, past the walkway lines. I cannot tell you how many times I have arrived at a stop sign first, gone forward, only to see some person do a rolling stop halfway into the intersection, which makes me swerve or come to a complete halt because I'm not sure if they are stopping or simply missing the stop sign. Then, they just decide to cut me because they got me to stop. And then I'm feeling super self-conscious because I basically accidentally brake-checked the person behind me.

This happens at stop light intersections too. When I'm in the right lane and I have a green light but someone does a rolling stop PAST the walkway of their red light, making me suddenly swerve. I genuinely don't know if you're about to do something stupid or if you are actually stopping. And again, I feel super self-conscious because a swerve makes me look bad to the drivers behind me.

While we're on the topic about not stopping at stop signs, tell me why I'm halfway through an intersection but all-of-a-sudden a runner sprinting at mach 2 (who was previously only halfway through the block literally 2 seconds ago) suddenly feels that they have the right-of-way?

I think I might just not drive for a bit. As an SF native, I should be used to this, but I'm just so tired.

Edit: I'm not a new driver. I've been driving for several years, but I still would rather avoid an accident than be in one and be (potentially) compensated for the damages.

Edit #2: It's entertaining seeing the upvotes on this post go up and down so much. I can tell some of these people who do halfway-through-intersection rolling stops are on reddit and are offended. Stay mad.

Mill Valley will split sidewalk repair costs with property owners under a new pilot program.

The City Council unanimously approved the program at its meeting on Aug. 17. The city will pay up to $1,000 to fix cracks or gaps greater than 1.5 inches. It also will pay up to $3,000 for related tree root removal at residences and $1,500 at commercial properties.

“It’s long been a priority of this council and of this community to maintain safe pedestrian access on our sidewalks, and there are many other neighboring municipalities that have similar programs to incentivize that,” said Mari Swim, public works project manager.

Swim added that under municipal code and state law, “sidewalk maintenance is the responsibility of the adjacent property owner.”

“This is not a blanket tree work grant offering,” she said. “This is strictly to remedy those sidewalk trip hazards where tree roots or some other issues is causing that uplift in the sidewalk.”

The program augments the public works department’s annual “shaving” of rough edges less than 1.5 inches high on sidewalks. That routine maintenance is covered by taxes.

The pilot program divides the city into 16 zones. A consultant will inspect each zone and notify property owners if their sidewalks need replacement.

Recipients will have 30 days to get an estimate and apply for the subsidy, Swim said. Residents must have the work completed within 60 days of the city notification that it needs to be done. The subsidies will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

City Manager Todd Cusimano said sidewalks are a considerable focus of litigation for the 22-member municipal risk pool in which Mill Valley shares liability policies. He said the biggest category of sought damages involves fallen trees and branches, followed by vehicle collisions, potholes and then broken sidewalks.

In the last year, the risk pool saw 169 claims filed seeking a total of $6 million in damages, he said.

During questioning and discussion, council members asked if anyone could apply for the subsidy, not just those receiving repair notices.

Yes, Swim said. But the city decided to create 16 zones so it could see how quickly people responded and how far the $100,000 allocated for the subsidies goes.

Other comments included the suggestion that a web page be created describing how the repair and subsidy programs work, and what property owners need to do.

Swim said the cost of replacing the concrete for a typical sidewalk could range from $35 to $50 a foot. Tree work was “trickier,” she said, because of the work needed.

“I think people are going to be surprised to find out that they are responsible for their sidewalk,” Councilmember Urban Carmel said. “Because I’ve had this discussion with people and people look at me like, ‘You’re kidding me! I’m responsible for this?'”

“So I think when you go out and start communicating about this, that’s where you start,” he said. “Did you know, by the way, by California law you’re responsible for your sidewalk?”

“I’m a little concerned about $1,000 not actually being half,” Mayor Max Perrey said. “I do want to be sure we have enough funds going forward.”

“My deliberation is: Great, let’s do this,” said Councilmember Stephen Burke.

“Let’s try this out,” said Councilmember Katherine Jones. “Let’s expand the pilot if it works well.”

I'm just curious to anyone living in San Francisco without a car or bike, how is it for you generally? Are there grocery stores, restaurants, gyms, parks, etc all within walking distances? And which districts would you consider to be more walkable while also being safe to walk including at night? I've always been someone who loves walking everywhere even if it takes a bit longer. I definitely don't mind taking public transport (but still prefer to walk). Also curious if anyone had a car in the city when they moved in at first but later went car-free, how would you compare the experiences? Thanks!

It seems like a motorist slams their car into a building and injures (or worse) pedestrians just about every week. Does anyone else feel like things are degrading on our streets lately? To me it seems like every week there are more and more stories like this one.

It’s always ranked high on different lists, but as a local, do you agree that it’s more walkable and transit friendly than cities like Chicago, DC, and Boston, etc, which are often ranked around or even below SF?

I am planning on moving to SF in November, recently crashed my car, got a settlement, & now am considering just not having a car. I love to bike and would rather just take public transport everywhere, but work in San Jose near the SJC airport/Berryessa station. If I am living in the NOPA neighborhood what would be my best option to take for public transport?

Caltrain? Which will add additional 20 minute bike ride in San Jose.

Or

BART? Which is more direct but seems to have lots of stops and holds ups compared to Caltrain.

Lmk what you all think:)

If you live along the peninsula, a lot of day-to-day life is along El Camino Real. What if we had a metro line running underneath it? A metro line much like what NYC and Paris have would make it relatively easy to go from street level to the metro. Stations could be at every major intersection.

One end might be downtown San Jose, then the line goes up El Camino Real. Since Caltrain already follows El Camino more or less from Menlo Park northward, most of the value of this metro would be between Palo Alto University Ave (with a shared station with Caltrain) and SJ. Given that, maybe this line just needs to be built between PA and SJ. If it's PA to SJ then it would be just VTA and one county, and not have the complications of multiple transit authorities.

And I imagine if this were built, then it would change the landscape of El Camino, with high density (mid or high rise buildings). Less need for car travel would mean less need to build parking.

What do you all think? Does anyone know if this was considered?

EDIT:

A few things I want to call out after seeing some comments:

1. Regarding the "but that's Caltrain" argument -- Why should we limit ourselves to one transit line (Caltrain) running up and down the peninsula? Manhattan has 4 subway lines running uptown <-> downtown. At some point if we want density (to solve the housing problem) we will need supporting transit. Also, Caltrain makes fewer stops and is better suited for covering longer distances (e.g. Sunnyvale to SF). I see this metro as a complement and supplement to Caltrain; at certain stops (e.g. University Ave in PA) you could switch to Caltrain and cover more distance faster.

2. Buses -- We have buses running on ECR now. What is their level of use? Are they a viable alternative to driving? I am looking at a job in downtown SJ and it would take me an about an hour to get there from Sunnyvale on bus 22 or 522. It's 18 minutes by car if I self-drive. It's just not compelling right now for people to not use their cars for trips along ECR. Perhaps BRT would work well, but why hasn't this been implemented yet?

3. Cost -- Yes, it will be expensive. It would have been better to build this 20 years ago, 10 years ago, etc. Not building it will come at the expense of quality of life.

I just witnessed this on Clay Street and it was so traumatic for everyone involved and all because of carelessness. (not sure why this was given a 'Crime' flair but it was assigned by the sub)

The mother was thrown from the bike onto the ground- she broke her shoulder and her leg- at least that's what she thought, but who knows. We don't know if anything happened to the baby but the woman appeared to be 6 months pregnant or even further along. The two year old(approximate) was strapped into her seat and appeared to be unharmed just really traumatized and was screaming for 15 minutes straight- the mom kept asking to see her daughter but we couldn't even unite them because the paramedics needed to be there to move them.

I ride my ebike to commute across the city every day and witness this phenomenon daily. It doesn't matter where you park or if you think there's no chance a bike could be there or not- EBIKES GO FAST AND SHOW UP VERY QUICKLY LIKE IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE SO JUST LOOK IN YOUR REARVIEW, SIDE MIRROR AND OVER YOUR SHOULDER EVERY SINGLE TIME NO MATTER WHAT!!!

Also if anyone in the family happens to see this and would be able to update me on the Mom's condition I would be very grateful 🙏