Dear Mr. Negron,
I am a resident of San Francisco, an artist, a
university and community college instructor and a safer streets citizen-activist.
I am also a non-car owning San Franciscan who gets around on a bicycle a
majority of the time. Like many members of the San Francisco artist community I
have supported the Recology Artist in Residence program over the years by
attending exhibitions and applying periodically for a spot in the program. I am
also active in promoting the program among my students and to friends and
colleagues. I hold a lot of good will for the AIR program and several of my
colleagues and friends have been selected for it. I am also, as all residents
of SF are, a Recology customer, I pay two bills a month to your company, one at
my home, and one at my studio.
It is as a bicycle commuter however that I have seen the
dark side of Recology. I have, on two occasions in 2013 been aggressively
intimidated and put in danger by Recology fleet drivers. In spring of this
year, while cycling to a doctor's appointment on Octavia Boulevard at Market in
San Francisco I was forced into the lane of traffic by a construction crane in
the frontage street bike lane. I signaled with my arm and exercised my legal
right to the lane by safely entering traffic. Just then, a large Recology
garbage truck exited I-101 from behind me. Not only did the driver accelerate
to within only a few feet of my bicycle while I was riding up hill, he then
proceeded to blast his air horn. The situation was jarring and, fearing for my
safety, I quickly worked my way around the construction site and returned to
the bicycle boulevard/frontage road next to Octavia, a maneuver I would have
done anyway if the driver had given me a chance. But he did not notice my obstruction;
instead he was intent on intimidating a more vulnerable street user, presumably
for his amusement. At the next stoplight I tried to explain the situation to
the driver but he laughed and ridiculed me. Less then a week later 21-year-old
Dylan Mitchell was killed by another Recology truck, I was chilled to think it
might have been the same callous, heedless driver who threatened me the
previous week.
On a second occasion in San Francisco several weeks
later as I was commuting from my studio to my home in the Mission District, I
approached Mariposa Street from Indiana St. heading north, intending to take a
left turn, as I approached the intersection to stop a Recology pick-up truck
sped around the corner to my left onto Indiana, executed an illegal U turn
behind me and then, as I came to a stop at the stop side drove up to my left at
the stop sign, intentionally crowding me and cutting off my turn. When I
mentioned this to the driver he ridiculed me and told me to stay off the road
before speeding off in front of me.
As a cyclist
in San Francisco I am constantly on guard against the dangers of reckless,
distracted drivers who are legion. More rare are the cases where I am outright
intimated and threatened by drivers, but in two of these rare occurrences this
year drivers for Recology have been responsible. They have done so in a year
where Recology drivers are responsible for killing three vulnerable street
users.. To review: three citizens have been killed, and one small child maimed by
your drivers in 2013. These events and my personal experience denote a company
culture of wanton and heedless disregard for public safety. I will work to see
that you are made accountable to the citizens of San Francisco and also to see
that members of San Francisco’s Art community who have given so much of them
selves to Recology’s AIR program join me in calling for change.
I call upon
San Francisco City leaders to make Recology’s contract conditional upon its
ability to stop killing and maiming members of the public. Any new events of
this sort should result in immediate revoking of your contract. Until concrete
changes are made, I will boycott any Recology events and encourage my friends
in the art community to join me in doing so and to explain to you why.
Sincerely,
Anthony
Ryan
Lecturer,
Fine Arts Department, San Francisco State University
Instructor,
Art Department, Diablo Valley Community College
Anthony Ryan
cc:
Mayor Edwin Lee
San Francisco Board of Supervisors:
District 1 Eric Mar
District 2 Mark Farrell
District 3 David Chiu
District 4 Katy Tang
District 5 London Breed
District 6 Jane Kim
District 7 Norman Yee
District 8 Scott Wiener
District 9 David Campos
District
10 Malia Cohen
District
11 John Avalos
Tom Nolan, Director,
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority
Recology Artist in Residency Program:
Deborah Munk
Micah Gibson
Sharon Spain
21 year old Dylan Mitchell, killed by a Recology truck this year on his bike.
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