Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Pedestrian Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Mayor Lee tells supervisors city must coordinate street furniture to ease sidewalk congestion
Summary
At Board of Supervisors question time, Mayor Edwin Lee told the board that San Francisco's sidewalks are a limited public resource and urged stronger interdepartmental coordination — including legislation to create a street design review committee — to reduce sidewalk clutter from furniture, utility boxes, kiosks and other fixtures.
Mayor Edwin Lee told the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on May 7 that the city must coordinate placement of street furniture and right-of-way fixtures to reduce pedestrian congestion and enhance safety.
Supervisor Scott Wiener (District 8) asked the mayor what the city would do to limit sidewalk bottlenecks caused by surface-mounted utility boxes, bike racks, bus shelters, advertising kiosks and public toilets, and how that work would fit with the city's pedestrian strategy.
"We have many competing demands and only so many square feet to meet those demands," Lee said, noting that the public right-of-way also contains utilities, parklets, trees and emergency access. The mayor said existing planning documents — the bicycle plan, the pedestrian safety strategy, the Better Streets plan and the Transit First policy — provide roadmaps but "cannot be considered in isolation." He said voluntary guidelines will not be sufficient and that he was "very interested" in Supervisor Wiener's legislation to establish a street design review committee to coordinate proposed right-of-way changes.
Wiener pressed the city to consider smaller or consolidated designs for equipment such as utility boxes and to coordinate on both major streetscape projects and smaller installations. Lee said he wanted to explore innovative, less intrusive solutions and expressed support for "more stringent coordination between departments and an eye toward innovative solutions" to "make sure that our streets and sidewalks are safe for all San Franciscans."
The discussion did not include a formal vote. Lee and Wiener said they expected further work with department staff to align the proposed legislative framework — including a multi-department review committee — with ongoing capital programs and the pedestrian safety goals the city has set.
