2016 District 11 Candidate Magdalena de Guzman

Candidate Facts

11MDG FullSizeRender    Name: Magdalena de Guzman
   Campaign Website: votemagdalena.com

Candidate Questionnaire

All official candidates were contacted and given the opportunity to answer our Candidate Questionnaire. Any candidate responses edited for length and clarity have been marked as such.

1. Do you ride a bicycle in the city?

Yes

If “Yes,” how often do you ride and for what purpose(s)?

Not too often because of age, and it’s for exercising.        

2. The City has established a goal to at least double the number of bike trips in the next 3 years. Do you support this goal?

Yes 

If yes, what would you do as Supervisor to help the city realize it?

There should be a culture of riding bikes like in Japan. Right now, we have a culture of driving. So, it will take time to educate everyone to transform our society into a society of bikers. The industries have to change – from public transportation, to building homes near train stations, to have spacious parkings for bikes. I visited Japan, so I know how the Japanese infrastructure includes bike riding in order to transport people across cities

3. Our City has embraced and adopted Vision Zero, the goal to eliminate all fatalities and serious injuries on our streets by 2024. Do you support Vision Zero?

Yes 

If “Yes,” the city has yet to make significant progress since the introduction of Vision Zero in 2014. In fact, fatalities are on the rise. What would you do as Supervisor to help the city achieve Vision Zero?

It seems like there are more aggressive drivers, and there are more people driving on streets. There are more honking, and blocking of the crossings. The city has more people now. As a school teacher, it’s important to educate our residents to take public transportation than to drive their cars. The City has to be very responsible to make sure our public transportation is clean, safe, and on schedule. As a supervisor, I will probably look into this three areas. Today, I took MUNI buses and a street car, and they seemed on schedule. [RESPONSE TRUNCATED]

4. Research and data has shown that building high-quality protected bike infrastructure is the most effective way to increase the number of people who bike. Despite this, there remain very few streets and corridors in San Francisco with protected bike lanes. Do you support the significant expansion of protected bike infrastructure, recognizing that this is often achieved by reallocating space on our streets that may decrease on-street car parking or vehicle travel lanes?

Yes [RESPONSE TRUNCATED]

If “Yes,” what is at least one street or corridor in your District that you think would most benefit from a protected bike facility and why?

In District 11, there are not many bike lanes. I always think that Geneva Avenue is a wide street and it cuts across the City from the northwest to the southeast. Bike lanes can be easily accommodated there with the understanding that the residents and business owners have a buy in and that they have ownership of the expansion of the bike lanes.

5. The SF Bicycle Coalition participated in the Mayor’s Transportation 2030 Task Force, which identified significant funding gaps for a safe, reliable transportation system. To continue building out the bike network, the original need until 2030 was $360 million, which has now increased to $660 million, by City estimates. Do you support increased allocation and funding for bike projects to at least match the percentage of San Franciscans who bike?

Yes [RESPONSE TRUNCATED]

6. The Department of Public Health has used data to develop the “high-injury network” to show the 12% of city streets where over 70% of the collisions occur. This map has also shown that low-income communities are disproportionately affected by traffic collisions. If elected Supervisor, what would you do to prevent collisions in your District at these known locations?

As Supervisor, I will take a look at these streets with high injuries. I will talk to the stakeholders and find out what their experiences are regarding lack of safety on the streets. From here, I can author a resolution to decrease injuries in these areas. I have seen what a supervisor can do to decrease accidents where I teach as a teacher. She put a stop light in the middle of a long street so that the students and parents can cross from an alley street, and one alley street is closed to the public during school hours. [RESPONSE TRUNCATED]

7. Market Street is San Francisco’s most-biked street, with nearly 7,000 trips by bike counted here every day. The City is working on the Better Market Street project, which calls for limiting private automobiles, creating a continuous, protected bike lane for the full length of the project from the Embarcadero to Octavia Boulevard and significantly advancing transit and pedestrian-friendly street design. Do you support this plan?

Yes 

8. Data has shown that the five most dangerous behaviors are all driver-related offenses: speeding, failure to yield to pedestrians, improper right-hand turns, running red lights and failure to stop at stop signs. The San Francisco Police Department has committed to maintaining 50% of their traffic citations to “Focus on the Five,” a goal they have yet to meet citywide. Do you support Focus on the Five and smart, data-driven enforcement?

 Yes 

9. As Supervisor, what will you do to ensure SFPD focuses enforcement on Focus on the Five or other known issues that make our streets unwelcome to bike on, such as double-parking in bike lanes, rather than ad hoc, complaint-driven enforcement?

I think that there should be an ongoing communication between a supervisor and the SFPD in order to enforce the Focus on the Five. I know that SFPD is very strict with enforcing the law when it comes to driver-related offenses – from using the cellphone to double parking on the street with or without the bike lanes. A resident gets a ticket once, and usually one learns from that experience. I trust that SFPD is doing its job in these areas.

10. Bay Area Bike Share is in the middle of a game-changing, tenfold expansion of its system to become one of the densest bike share networks in the United States. Do you support the expansion and placement of bike share stations in your District, even if this may mean repurposing of on-street vehicle parking?

Yes [RESPONSE TRUNCATED]

 

District-Specific Questions

1. The Planning Department led the Ocean Avenue Corridor Design Study, which was completed in 2015 after extensive public outreach. Recommendations in the study included a redesign and plaza treatment for the intersection of Ocean, Phelan and Geneva Avenues as well as the inclusion of a westbound bike lane between I-280 and Phelan Avenue. Do you support the study’s findings?

Yes

If “Yes,” what would you do as Supervisor to advance the design and implementation of the Ocean Avenue Corridor Design Study?

I live near this area. It can be tricky to drive onto Ocean Ave toward the freeway or drive slightly to the right to get to Geneva, and then there’s the exit onto Ocean from the Geneva side. They are like branches spreading out in different directions. We should support and advance the design and implementation.

2. As San Francisco becomes a more expensive city to live in, we know that biking provides an affordable and sustainable way to get around. To increase access to bikes, the SF Bicycle Coalition organizes and leads the Bike it Forward program. We reclaim unclaimed and abandoned bikes from the SFMTA, BART, the SFPD and other agencies, which are then repaired with the help of our volunteers. Neighborhood residents sign up with our partner organizations in advance to participate and receive a bike. As Supervisor, do you support this program and its expansion?

Yes [RESPONSE TRUNCATED]

3. Do you agree that biking is an affordable mode of transportation?

Yes 

If “Yes,” what would you do as Supervisor to increase biking in your District?

I am a 59 year old woman who exercises a lot – from yoga to aquatic exercises to stationary biking. However, at my age, riding a bike on the street is not the same as when I rode my bike on the street when I was in my 20s, and 30s. To increase biking in my District, we can have a bike tour of parks and have picnic afterwards. We can have a Bike Day when streets are closed so people can ride their bikes on those streets. [RESPONSE TRUNCATED]

Return to November 2016 Candidate Summaries
 

 

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