RICHMOND REVIEW ARTICLES: Richmond ReView February issue 2006

Geary merchants want economic study

by Paul Kozakiewicz

Concerned merchants huddled with Supervisor Fiona Ma and Ahsha Safai, the mayor's liaison to the Richmond District, Feb. 16 to discuss the possibility of getting an environmental impact study commissioned so merchants would know if the proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) plan would help or hurt them.

The SF County Transportation Authority (TA), which is comprised of the members of the SF Board of Supervisors, is moving forward with a plan to create dedicated traffic lanes for Muni buses, and possibly light rail, on Geary Boulevard. City voters approved the BRT program when they passed Proposition K, a half-cent increase in the sales tax for transit projects.

About 55 merchants attended the February meeting at the Clement Street Bar and Grill, including representatives from neighborhood groups and merchant associations on Geary, Clement and Sacramento streets.

The merchants want an economic impact study to determine the impacts of the BRT plan, both during the years of construction necessary to complete the project and after completion. With the study, they say, mitigation factors can be taken into account before choices are whittled down and an Economic Impact Report is commissioned.

"I'm really worried about the vehicular traffic on Geary," said Rich Warner, president of the Jordan Park Association and a member of the Geary Citizens Advisory Council. The advisory group was created to give feedback to the TA.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it," Warner said of the Muni #38 bus line.

Some of the merchants were upset at District 1 (Richmond District) Supervisor Jake McGoldrick, who supported the creation of the BRT program and who has moved the project forward as a member of the TA, most recently and currently as the chair.

"We only have a problem with one person pushing this project," said Irwin Philips, president of the Clement Merchants Association. "It just happens to be our supervisor."

McGoldrick said he supports BRT because it could improve mass transit in the City, driving more people onto mass transit and improving the quality of life in the neighborhood.

Addressing members of the Geary Citizens Advisory Council Feb. 23, TA Planner Julie Kirschbaum said the highest ranking of the three proposed plans unveiled at community workshops in December calls for dedicated transit lanes down the center of Geary Boulevard.

That plan would eliminate a lane of traffic where there are currently three lanes in each direction. In areas of the district where there are two lanes in each direction, traffic lanes would not be reduced, but parking would be reconfigured to accommodate the dedicated transit lanes and side-boarding transit platforms.

Kirschbaum reported that traffic studies are being completed and that the next round of public workshops has been delayed from May until June. She also said public outreach is progressing with the aid of a $200,000 grant, which is assisting "community partners" in their effort to educate the public about the BRT issue.

The potential loss of parking, economic concerns for businesses not located near more-profitable transit stops, and potential traffic gridlock have the merchants concerned. Many feel that cars rerouted around congested Geary Boulevard will use other neighborhood streets, like Euclid Avenue and Balboa Street, instead.

The TA wants to implement the BRT/light rail program to save commuters several minutes of travel time downtown. A smoother, more comfortable ride is another attribute of the plan.

After hearing the merchants' concerns, Safai said the mayor was very concerned for the future of the neighborhood and for potential parking problems. "We're also concerned about the pace," Safai said of the TA's efforts to move the process forward.

Ilene Botkin, a member of numerous community groups and a former member of the TA's Citizen Advisory Council, said the BRT plan would be a "double whammy" if McGoldrick's Better Neighborhoods Plus plan is adopted.

The plan, currently being considered in a supervisor's committee, could increase housing density in transit corridors, like the Geary corridor, by eliminating or restricting mandatory Discretionary Review or Conditional Use Permit hearings at the SF Planning Commission.

The Better Neighborhoods Plus Plan is opposed by the Coalition for SF Neighborhoods and some supervisors, including Ma, because it could open the floodgates to development without adequate public oversight.

"That neighborhood process would be taken away," Ma said.

Because it appears the TA has the votes needed to move the Geary BRT program forward, regardless of neighborhood opposition, the merchants say they may have to go to the polls to reverse the provisions of Prop. K, according to David Heller, president of the Greater Geary Boulevard Merchants and Property Owners Association, an up-hill battle they hope they don't have to fight.

Unless there is an agreement to pursue an economic impact report by the end of May, the merchants will consider moving forward with a ballot proposition, Heller said.

Paul Kozakiewicz is the publisher of the Richmond Review and Sunset Beacon newspapers.

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