Agency Votes to Support Geary Business Owners

By Paul Kozakiewicz

The SF Small Business Commission passed a resolution at its Jan. 29 meeting calling for an economic impact study to be conducted as part of the Geary Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) planning process. The commission voted unanimously to call for the study after hearing testimony from dozens of Richmond District merchants who showed up to testify about the dangers of the transportation plan being proffered by the SF Transportation Authority (TA).

The TA, which is composed of members of the SF Board of Supervisors, is conducting a feasibility study to determine the best ways for implementing BRT, which was approved by city voters as part of Proposition K, a 1/2 cent sales tax increase that was put on the ballot in 2003.

The plan calls for making transit improvements, such as dedicating one lane of Geary Boulevard in each direction for buses only and having buses control traffic lights at intersections, to speed up the travel time of Geary buses in order to increase ridership on the busy line, which facilitates about 50,000 passenger trips on a weekday, 40,000 on Saturdays and 30,000 on Sundays.

According to Zabe Bent, the TA planner who was recently assigned to the Geary project, implementing Muni transit improvements will range from $45 million to $200 million, depending on the option chosen. She said construction would be taken in small chunks, like a "street repaving project," which would take six to eight weeks to complete.

The most contentious of the two BRT options, out of five being studied, call for putting the dedicated bus lanes in the center of Geary Boulevard, which was originally designed by planners to be the major boulevard between the Richmond and points downtown. The center lane options would cost the most (up to $200 million) and have the greatest negative impacts on the neighborhood, according to David Heller, president of the Greater Geary Boulevard Merchants and Property Owners Association.

Heller told the commissioners that he has tried to get the TA planners to facilitate an economic impact study, but his efforts have fallen on deaf ears.

Bent told commissioners that an economic impact study is usually not undertaken in a transportation study of this type and that the TA has no plans to include one for the Geary BRT project.

When one commissioner asked Bent why another east-west route in the Richmond was not considered for BRT, she replied, "Moving the problem is not the right way to go."

The merchants, and leaders of some neighborhood organizations, favor improving the existing #38 Geary bus line with traffic light controls, satellite global positioning technology to help prevent bus "bunching," and a dedicated traffic lane that would only be enforced for several hours during the morning or afternoon rush-hour commutes. That is one of the options being studied by the TA.

There were numerous concerns expressed at the Small Business Commission meeting.

Keith Wilson, a businessman who has an office on Geary, said it was ridiculous for the TA to consider spending upwards of $200 million to tear up Geary when less costly measures would significantly speed up bus service.

"The TA should be asking 'what is the best bang for the buck,' not 'how can we spend the most money,'" Wilson said.

Hiroshi Fukuda, a member of the Richmond Community Association, said public safety should be a prime consideration for the TA because Geary was originally designed by the city's planning department to funnel traffic downtown, thus lessening traffic in the surrounding neighborhoods and making it safer for pedestrians.

"We're doing the opposite," he said.

Richard Warner, president of the Jordan Park Improvement Association, warned that traffic patterns in the Richmond could be changed forever if Geary traffic lanes for vehicles are removed and dedicated for bus-only use. He said other streets in the neighborhood will suffer, including California Street, where traffic often slows due to heavy congestion near the California Pacific Medical Center.

According to the TA's estimates, traffic would increase on all Richmond District streets, including California Street,which will see an increase of 126 vehicles per hour during peak times.

Jim Maxwell, president of the SF Coalition of Neighborhoods, told the commissioners that the Geary BRT project is of citywide interest to various neighborhood organizations throughout the City and that they were keeping an eye on what was going on in the Richmond. He urged the commissioners to support an economic impact study for the merchants on Geary.

One commissioner, Raye Richardson, asked Bent if the merchants could be compensated for loss of revenue during construction. Bent replied that the TA views the BRT project as an economic benefit for the merchants and that the TA does not, as a matter of course, compensate merchants for transportation improvements.

Some merchants, including Jack Reill, proprietor of Big O Tires on Geary near Masonic Avenue, were concerned about plans for the Geary and Masonic and Geary and Fillmore intersections. He said he almost went out of business in the early '70s when the City redesigned the Geary and Masonic intersection.

Much of the expense in the BRT plan would come from redesigning the two intersections, which could leave the tunnels on Geary for buses only. In that scenario, vehicle traffic would have to travel around the tunnels, and intersect with traffic on Masonic Avenue and Fillmore Street, rather than using the tunnels below, as it currently does.

According to Bent, the TA is hoping to submit its planning study to the Geary Citizens Advisory Committee in late March and to start an Environmental Impact Review within a couple of months after that.

At the conclusion of the two-hour meeting, the seven-member Small Business Commission voted unanimously to pass Commissioner David Chiu's resolution "strongly urging" the Transportation Authority to conduct an economic impact study so potential negative affects to local business can be recognized and, if possible, mitigated. They also voted to stay involved in the process on behalf of Richmond District merchants and to send a letter to the members of the Board of Supervisors notifying them of the commission's concerns.