New group forms to fight Valencia Street bike lanes, but who are they?

The seemingly endless fight over bike lanes in the Mission District entered another chapter Tuesday when a new, merchant-led organization urged the board of directors of the city’s transit agency to vote against replacing Valencia Street’s current center-running lanes with lanes along the sides. 

In a letter to SFMTA board, VAMANOS, which stands for the Valencia Association of Merchants, Artists, Neighbors, and Organizations, said the implementation of side-running bike lanes would be even more destructive than the status quo. 

“The side bike lane will force Valencia business patrons using parklets to walk across the side bike lane path, which puts patrons and bicyclists at significant risk of injury and exposes merchants to legal claims,” the letter claimed. “It is a terrible idea.”