san diego has spoken (at least its leaders have) — we will have MOAR CAR PARKS inside our “jewel” of a park!

..supporters hid behind the guise of a more pedestrian friendly park, while speaking mostly about traffic, moving cars into the park and providing more parking. Supporters took great pains to emphasize that (mature) landscaping would hide the by-pass bridge, inadvertently driving home the fact that the flawed design needs to be camouflaged.  Unfortunately, for current users of the park, the landscape will take 10-15 years to mature…

sdgreatstreets, 10.07.12.

yeah yea.. I should move away and disassociate myself from san diego as much as i can. 

here’s my view, again, on how to improve balboa park:

• pedestrianize the whole entryway from Cabrillo Bridge and into Plaza de Panama. 
  — the bypass bridge starts at the END of Cabrillo Bridge, so if you’re walking to the park, it’s unchanged: you still have to walk alongside very, loud cars, compounding the sound of loud cars on the freeway running underneath the bridge. except well, now there’d be even more cars to access the car park.
  — Cabrillo Bridge has been closed off to cars for December Nights. and that’s huge! so many people walk into the park and it’s wonderful. why not have that every day instead of two nights a year??! 
• protected cycle lanes and extended trolley line on Sixth Ave.
  — bring more people into the park, WITHOUT their space-hogging, polluting, noisy cars. it’s a park, for f–k’s sake!

ughh but neither’s gonna happen / san diego far from “america’s finest city”

I think people voted for Jacobs’ plan because it was the most quick-fix solution, and because the guy has money for it.

(sounds like the start of a bad joke..)

..honked at me twice when I was going up Sixth Ave. along Balboa Park this afternoon.

This was very unexpected for me, since there are now sharrows (albeit spaced too far apart) on the right lane and a sign saying that “Bicycles May Use Full Lane”.

So when they passed me I just waved and they waved back. and I continued merrily on my way to the supermarket.

I think I’m getting the hang of just waving to drivers who honk at me (though I will still direct obscenities to drivers who don’t use turn signals, don’t look before turning, or don’t seem to understand when I yell DOOR!)

When I first saw that little graphic (deep in my tumblr archive somewhere..) about What to do when a driver honks at you, I actually thought it’d be difficult to just smile and wave. But yeah, getting used to being honked at. Waving back is easy. Smiling still not so much.

Dunno if those guys were behind me or if they were in the left lane the whole time. Maybe the latter? Which might give them the excuse of not seeing the sharrows. Lots of other drivers seem to have no problem changing to the left lane to pass me (except occasionally the more elderly drivers who will only give me one foot of passing room).

Or if they were honking at me because I’m an asian girl? wearing shorts..

I dunno. Whatever*. But driver education is sorely needed**. One (or two) “Bicycles allowed full use of lane” sign(s) on that long stretch of Sixth from Downtown to Hillcrest is not enough. Or well, they’re both placed near the end (top) of Sixth. If placed earlier, maybe more effective.

*I think I succeeded in confusing them by waving? If the intention of their honking was to tell me to move out of the way.. (I was cycling in the center of the lane, since the right lane is narrow, and the sharrows are there placed out of the door zone .)

**esp. for minorities. Recall my interaction with some black dude yelling at me to “Stick to the sideline” and why bikes should “get out of the way”.

Got this email last night. Totally didn’t remember which one of my requests was this number.

Found the email saying my city street services request was received:

A service notification has been created for:
6TH AVE&PALM ST-REPAINT CROSSWALK
TRAFFIC
Paint Legend

from 21 Feb 2012.

so it took more than two months for the city to paint a crosswalk.

I also went out for a quick ride in and along Balboa Park yesterday late afternoon. Didn’t notice a crosswalk on 6th & Palm. Maybe they only painted a crosswalk parallel to Sixth Ave? and not across Sixth Ave. (to get across to the park)?

hmm I’ll check again tomorrow.

and why not just paint crosswalks all across Sixth Ave. while you’re at it? do a massive crosswalk-painting project instead of one at a time

yet again I saw people having a difficult time trying to cross Sixth Ave., looking like they’re jay-walking

See broken or no sidewalk? Missing crosswalks? Potholes? Streetlights out? Send a street services request to the City of San Diego’s Street Division here.

wtfeezy, San Diego City Services

You finally put in the sharrows on Sixth—just 4 weeks ago—then take two of ‘em out?

why so much inconsistency/inefficiency, what is going on

(sry no photo—didn’t have cell phone or camera with me at the moment. should I make it a project to take photos of San Diego streets?)

(can you guess that this is my route to the supermarket yet)