Our Correspondence on Pedestrian Safety

Friends of Lake Merced is increasingly concerned that many of our neighbors cannot safely cross the raceways surrounding the Lake in order to enjoy Lake Merced's many educational, aesthetic and recreational benefits.  Nearly $1 million has been spent during the past several years making amenities at the Lake accessible to the handicapped, for example the North Lake Bridge and the South Shore of North Lake improvement project.  Still we haven't been able to obtain safe crossing for handicapped persons to reach the Lake.

Read our original letter to Supervisor Mabel Teng (04/03/00).  We joined Ron Hamilton and Jay Katz of the Recreation Center for the Handicapped and Laura Louttit of the San Francisco Zoo in requesting a pedestrian actuated stoplight.

  David Chew, Senior Transportation manager, replied in a letter addressed to Laura Louttit (05/03/00).  In it David also reports that "We have studied this intersection and concluded it does not meet the warrants required for installation of a signal."  That is, unless you happen to work for the San Francisco Department of Public Works!

  We continue to campaign for a safe pedestrian crossing and access to Lake Merced for our handicapped neighbors.  CalTrans continues to misrepresent the RCH (Recreation Center for the Handicapped, located near the San Francisco Zoo on the northwest corner of the lake) position as to just what is needed.  Read our most recent correspondence (11/21/00) to our state representatives, Kevin Shelley and Jackie Speier.

  We received a copy of a letter from Assemblyman Kevin Shelley to Henry Yahata at the California Department of Transportation (11/28/00) asking Henry to provide adequate protection for pedestrians accessing Lake Merced from the San Francisco Zoo and the Recreation Center for the Handicapped.  Thank you, Kevin; we really do appreciate the support!  (See more about this in the paragraphs below.)  Let us know if you ever hear from Harry!

  Harry Yahata from the California Department of Transportation has again written to Assemblyman Kevin Shelley (01/12/01) explaining why a pedestrian controlled stoplight at Skyline Drive and Herbst Road is not in the cards.  We've also written to Kevin marveling at the triumph of bureaucratic obstinance over plain common sense (1/21/01).