San Francisco Blog

By Peter Jamison

An interesting scene awaited anybody who happened to be passing by 8th and Howard in SOMA last night after dark: Bright lights, lots of bicycles, and a speaker system blaring Max-A-Million's reggae remix of "Sexual Healing." I know what you're thinking, and yes, the mood was unusually festive for a corner typically populated by folks lollygagging on their way to or from leather stores and methadone clinics.

Turns out this was one of roughly a half-dozen similar events put on simultaneously across the city last night by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. Bike coalition members were giving away free lights, the better to navigate those San Francisco hills in the early winter darkness. "I commute to work on my bike," said 24-year-old Megan Nelson, who heard about the giveaway through her boyfriend, a coalition member. "It's starting to get darker earlier. I appreciate the light."

There's reason to believe that the bike coalition also appreciated the attention -- now more than ever. Action on the cyclist-friendly San Francisco Bicycle Plan is finally inching ahead, after years of delay, with the recent publication of a Draft Environmental Impact Report. (A judge had issued an injunction on the grounds that the bike plan's environmental effects on the city hadn't been adequately sized up.) The plan, which the coalition supports, could go before the Municipal Transportation Agency board as soon as this summer.

Amandeep Jawa, a coalition board member posted in SOMA last night, said the events weren't about expanding the base of support for the plan -- just about improving biker safety. "I think everybody realizes that biking is a big part of San Francisco and is getting bigger all the time," Jawa said. "Our membership now is over 10,000. That's one in every 100 San Franciscans." He acknowledged that a few more wouldn't hurt. "Obviously, we're all coalition members," Jawa said. "So we'd love for people to be members."