Is Councilmember Marti Emerald Ignoring Her Commitment to Safer Streets?

Take Action! Tell Councilmember Marti Emerald to recommit to road safety!

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Late last month, Dorian Hargrove reported that Councilmember Marti Emerald had written to Mayor Kevin Faulconer opposing a proposal to widen sidewalks and install bike lanes on College Avenue.

Emerald was quoted stating,

Specifically, I am requesting that the proposal to install bike lanes on College Avenue between Montezuma Road and I-8, and widen sidewalks adjacent to the project be denied.

Please confirm in writing that the South Campus Plaza Project will not reduce the current number of lanes on College Avenue between Montezuma Road and I-8; and further, that the option to expand College Avenue to three lanes in each direction at a future date will not be compromised.

Emerald is the elected representative for City Council District 9 which includes City Heights, College Area, El Cerrito, Kensington, Mountain View, Mt. Hope, Rolando, Southcrest and Talmadge.
San Diego State University began construction of the South Campus Plaza late last year and the project is expected to house more than 600 students. The project is being constructed along College Avenue between Hardy Avenue and Montezuma Road.

According to the project’s environmental analysis documents, the project anticipates reducing vehicle traffic to and from campus (1,200 fewer Average Daily Traffic). The project also proposed closing some streets permanently to create pedestrian plazas. Some of these closures include Montezuma Place between Lindo Paseo and Hardy Avenue would be closed to vehicles to provide a pedestrian promenade. Additionally, a parking lot, currently referred to as Montezuma Place north of Hardy Avenue would be replaced with a park.

The current College Area Community Plan is 26 years old. The Community Plan supersedes other plans such as the city’s Bicycle Master Plan. This means that while the Community Plan calls for widening College Avenue to six lanes for solely vehicle throughput, and the Bicycle Master Plan calls for bike lanes (unprotected) on College Avenue – it is the Community Plan takes precedence over the Bicycle Master Plan. The College Area Community Council that was previously very supportive of making the neighborhood streets safe for pedestrians and bicycle riders has suddenly decided that they don’t want accommodations for pedestrian or bicyclist safety because doing so would override the 26 year old Community Plan. The CACC’s resentment of SDSU’s attempts to provide accommodations that the community plan doesn’t include is affecting how people can and will get around the College Area neighborhood. Meanwhile, the city of San Diego has spent $15 million on community plans and finished one plan. People’s lives are at stake and the issue has boiled down to an archaic document that doesn’t reflect current needs or implementation goals to make our city streets safe.

College Avenue is the top location for the most number of speeding tickets handed out according to a U-T San Diego analysis.

When Emerald was running for her re-election campaign, she stated the following:

I will make sure bike lanes are improved as we repair roads and sidewalks. […] Let’s explore our options and create a network of streets that allow cyclists to ride safely and enjoyably from one end of the city to the other.

Emerald has also voted to support a council resolution to prioritize bicycle safety and made numerous comments publicly expressing her support for walking and riding safety. She also chairs the committee for Public Safety.

Emerald prides herself on being an elected representative that listens to her constituents. In this case she seems to be listening to the community group that has forgotten their own commitment to safe mobility. SDSU in the meantime has come a long way since their campus bike ban. Shouldn’t they be encouraged and supported in wanting to promote and increase the number of people who want to ride their bicycle to campus?

Since reviewing the proposal and Emerald’s comments to the mayor, we issued a petition to ask Emerald to back down from her opposition to safe streets. Her Chief of Staff, Ricardo Flores, called me to schedule a meeting to discuss the issue. I’ll report back on how that discussion goes.

Last summer, Emerald took Mayor Faulconer to task for not issuing his Climate Action Plan sooner. This Climate Action Plan calls for 18% of San Diegans to bike to work by 2035. If we can’t accommodate our youngest and fittest San Diegans to make the trip from their student housing to their own campus, how and when exactly are we going to enable that choice?