San Francisco briefs

City signs agreement, but bags to go before we rest

The Sierra Club's San Francisco Group has urged the city to adopt an ordinance requiring merchants to charge a fee for bags they hand out to shoppers.

On Nov. 7, however, the city bypassed the question of an ordinance and instead signed a memorandum of understanding with major grocers, who agreed "voluntarily" to reduce the number of bags they hand out (today somewhere between 50 and 150 million) by 10 million a year. The city in turn agreed not to revisit the issue of a bag fee for a year.

The Group does not consider our goal met. Even if merchants reach their full target, it will not be an adequate reduction in bag use. Further, our efforts are part of the Sierra Club's nationwide campaign to reduce use of both plastic and paper bags. For the upcoming year, we remain committed to educating ourselves, our relatives, and our neighbors about the huge waste shopping bags represent, and we will redouble our efforts towards a meaningful ordinance at the end of the year delay. San Francisco has the opportunity to be a true conservation leader and reduce significantly the use of shopping bags.

For now, consider giving a cloth shopping bag as a gift - a perfect way to celebrate sustainable life styles and our San Francisco Group goals of 2006!

For more information see the Club's "Save Oil, Save Trees: Reuse Your Grocery Bags!" web site.

Building needed housing

How should San Francisco deal with its shortage of medium- and low-priced housing?

The Sierra Club San Francisco Group supports construction of additional infill housing. It should be located within a quarter mile of streets with transit headways of less than 10 minutes at peak service times, and therefore will need little or no parking. (Housing farther from transit encourages more driving.)

In the commercial districts of these transit-served neighborhoods, the ground level should be reserved for retail services. By nurturing a critical mass of retail and foot traffic, the city can encourage local residents to shop close to home. Too often, neighborhood retail sites are taken by offices, even though in most neighborhood commercial districts the Planning Code provides some preference for retail.

Garage in the park

The new parking garage under the Concourse in Golden Gate Park was completed just in time for the opening of the new de Young Museum.

Even so, we observed that valet parkers for the museum's opening events were parking patrons' cars along park roadways, not in the garage. This was a violation of two different sections of the city code, which prohibits any business from parking cars that it does not own in the park (Section 6.03) and prohibits parking in any park (with limited exceptions) after 10 pm (Section 6.01). By not using the garage, the museum also enabled car-owners to circumvent the city's parking tax, one of the main funding sources for Muni. The San Francisco Group urges the city to enforce these requirements in the future.

Dogs and open space

Many different agencies manage portions of San Francisco's city-owned open space. This space is enjoyed by many people and is home to many species, including several endemics found nowhere else on earth.

When dogs are allowed to roam off-leash in these areas, they can have negative impacts on wildlife, people, and pets.

The various city agencies managing open spaces have inconsistent pet-management regulations, and often fail to enforce whatever regulations they do have. The Recreation and Park Department has reasonable rules for its lands to protect wildlife, people, pets, and the parks themselves, and it should enforce these rules uniformly. Other agencies should have explicit, well-signed leash laws similar to those of Recreation and Parks. In addition, all designated off-leash dog-play areas need to include appropriate safeguards such as enclosures to ensure the safety of our dogs.

Howard Strassner and Pinky Kushner