Committee to Save Geary Boulevard transit corridor launches web site

By Brigid Gaffikin, Bay City News Service

April 3, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - Community opposition to a proposed bus corridor on Geary Boulevard, which runs almost the length of San Francisco, from the Richmond District to Market Street downtown, has heated up with the launch of a Web site by the community group The Committee to Save Geary Boulevard.

The group wants "to help rally opposition" to the city's planned changes to the area, which include dedicated bus lanes, bus priority at traffic signals and greater integration of San Francisco Municipal Railway's No. 38 bus line, which runs along Geary Boulevard, into the area's transit network.

Construction on the project would begin in 2010 at the earliest, according to the San Francisco County Transportation Authority's Geary Boulevard project Web site.

"There is really no need for (a) light rail," said David Heller, president of the Greater Geary Boulevard Merchants Association and a member of the Save Geary Boulevard Committee, and who has been part of the neighborhood for 20 years.

Rather, the project is supported by people who don't actually live or work in the neighborhood, he said.

Local merchants fear the corridor and the construction activity associated with it will damage local businesses, he explained.

The corridor plan also makes no provision for adequate parking, he said.

A survey of some 30 local merchants indicated that all are concerned about the loss of parking in the neighborhood if the transit corridor goes ahead, according to Heller.

The project "will be defeated in the ballot," if it needs to be taken that far, he added.

A spokeswoman for the San Francisco County Transportation Authority could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Committee to Save Geary Boulevard's new Web site is: http://www.savegearyblvd.com.

Information about the proposed corridor is available at the Web site http://www.GearyBRT.org.

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