ON PIER 27: New Barricades Prevent Auto and Motorcycle Access to Reduce Community Disruption

With the Port of San Francisco on board, SFPD Central Station will be erecting barricades along the vehicular entrance to Pier 27 on Thursday, July 29th. Barring access to the Pier 27 Cruise Ship Terminal Parking Lot will stop the late-night parties and community disruptions. The barricade should also curb the weekend drag racing, reckless speeding, and “sideshows” along the Embarcadero if the motorists and motorcyclists cannot gather at the empty Pier 27 parking lot. Deploying the barriers was a difficult task requiring inter-agency coordination, but Captain Julien Ng worked his magic! Thank you, Captain Ng, for making this happen!

ON THE PROMENADE: Pedestrian Conflicts with Scooters

BCNA is highly concerned about the significant safety hazard posed by motorized scooters and bikes whizzing around pedestrians on sidewalks, especially along the Embarcadero Promenade. These “narrowly missed collisions” between people walking and motorized scooters/bikes frequently happen in crowded places along the waterfront, such as the Ferry Building and Fisherman’s Wharf.

At this moment, there is no clear resolution for this issue. A comprehensive solution for prevention and enforcement may require legislation with the help of Supervisor Aaron Peskin’s District 3 Office. BCNA and Captain Ng of Central Station will continue to work on this issue and are committed to addressing the danger posed by motorized scooters on our city sidewalks.

ON THE CENTRAL STATION BEAT: New Technology and More Barbary Coast Patrols

San Francisco Police Department recently received a round of funding to invest in more Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) units. Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR) are mounted atop the patrol vehicle, and according to Captain Ng, “it’s like having 50 cops in the car”. This helpful technology is a big win and will undoubtedly give our officers a leg-up on criminal enforcement and keeping the City safe.

The ALPR technology will also greatly assist officers during stunt driving investigations. By capturing the license plates of the vehicles involved in a particular incident, the ALPR allows officers to pursue enforcement after the fact by issuing citations, fines, and vehicle impoundments. The ALPR continuously scans license plates and alerts the officer to vehicles that have warrants associated with them. Recently, this technology alerted officers, who were then able to apprehend a violent offender with a warrant out for arrest related to a sexual assault.

Lastly, Captain Ng has directed the Central Station Solos – traffic officers on the big motorcycles – deploy along the Embarcadero and Fisherman’s Wharf zones. They will be deployed to those zones as they are available, which should help minimize some of the traffic safety concerns in the Barbary Coast neighborhood.

The BCNA Safety Committee has been engaging regularly with SFPD’s Central Station leadership over the past year to address crime and safety in our area. See the first BCNA Article on this engagement, reporting on the BCNA – SFPD Walkabout we hosted on June 5th. In addition, BCNA Board Member Jim Seff represents our neighborhood on the Community Police Advisory Board (CPAB)  for SFPD Central Station. The purpose of the Community Police Advisory Board is to better align police enforcement activities and resources with the goals and needs of the community.

The Board includes representatives from City political and legal offices and representatives from neighborhood organizations in Central Station’s Patrol Territory. The City Attorney and District Attorney’s Offices are on the Board, in addition to the District 3 Board of Supervisors Office. The community-based organizations represented on the Board are Barbary Coast Neighborhood Association, Chinatown Development Corporation, Fisherman’s Wharf Community Benefits District, North Beach Neighbors, Safe Streets SF, and Union Square Business Improvement District.