sze. >> we've been following the outcry over this controversial bike lane since it opened in the mission district as a pilot program last spring. now it runs down the heart of valencia street. critics call it dangerous for bike and a catastrophe that's killing business and nightlife. >> now, the mta's director is finally answering our questions. abc seven news reporter melanie withrow joining us live from the newsroom with his response. melanie, julie, anne and kristen. >> that's right. i was able to speak with him directly today as people who are opposed to this bike lane are now calling for him to leave the sfmta to listen to us. at least one cyclist had to maneuver through the crowd standing in the valencia street center bike lane today as people called for the sfmta to make a change. members of the latin x democratic club community leaders and valencia small business owners want to see this pilot project removed. >> the sfmta just continually, continually overlooks the concerns of the stakeholders in

the area as they're talking to for months, residents and small business owners have said they're suffering. >> they say the center bike lane has been linked to small business closures, increased traffic fatality and a drop in foot traffic. >> we've been in business for 33 years and this this is the worst six months that we've ever seen. >> the project was supposed to have its first formal evaluation at the start of the new year. that's now been pushed to february. they don't have any data right now to support it. >> they promised to have the data now and a report out, but they don't. >> sfmta director of transportation, jeffrey tumlin, says they need more time due to adjustments that were made to the design of the bike lane and regulations around parking. people are saying that while you're making those adjustments, businesses are closing, they're dying, they're suffering. how do you respond to that? >> well, that is very concerning to us. one of our number one evaluation criteria or for the street is small business success. >> still, tumlin says more retail performance data is needed to determine whether the bike lane itself is causing distress for small businesses.

how many businesses would have to close potentially between now and august of 2024 for it to be removed and at what cost? >> so again, one of the things that we're trying to understand is to what degree are the concerns that valencia merchants are facing, to what degree is that directly related to the bikeway or is it related to other citywide factors? again, here in downtown san francisco, mayor merchants are also really struggling. >> these merchants seem to think that this is about the bike lane. that's what they're telling us are you not hearing that message? we have not getting to you? >> oh, we are. we are working with all of the merchants. we are walking the corridor and talking to all the merchants. >> there's always going to be cars in this town and it's difficult when the needs of a small percentage appear to be outweighing the needs of a lot more people in terms of merchants and residents following the press conference, attendees moved to the sfmta board meeting where they shared their concerns during the public comment period as for calls,

tumlin be fired. >> i serve at the pleasure of the sfmta board and i am going to continue to happily serve them until i'm told that it's time to get somebody else. >> tumlin tells me that he's planning to walk the corridor tomorrow and talk with more small business as this pilot project goes until the end of august of 2024. but at any point , the sfmta could decide sooner to dismantle this bike lane in the newsroom. melanie woodrow, abc7 news. all right, melanie, thank you so much. the future of san francisco's downtown was just one of four topics we discussed last night at an event abc7 hosted with san francisco's mayor. police chief and district attorney called take action san francisco. >> and you're going to be running up against that when you run for reelection. that's going to be the wrap on london breed. too little too late. yeah, i agree with her. but too little, too late. what are you why are you creating a slogan for those people? >> let me tell you something, phil, you'll hear what london

breed has to say coming up at 430, and you'll hear what those in the community think of the plans and policies the folks in charge are making to solve the drug crisis and reduce crime. >> the san francisco board of supervisors, they are meeting right now. they're expected to consider a resolution in support of a sustained cease fire in gaza. >> yasser shalom, shalom. >> before today's meeting, there was a demonstration outside of city hall where supporters of both israel and pro-palestinian supporters rallied. supervisor dean preston has said he would introduce a resolution calling for that cease fire and condemning anti-semitic and islamophobic rhetoric and attacks. that's expected to happen later today. oakland has approved a similar measure and some other bay area cities and counties are considering doing the same for a second straight day. >> a thick layer of fog blanketed the bay area, disrupting travel on the roads and at airports. in fact, sfo reported nearly 50 be delayed flights and four cancellations.

abc seven news reporter ryan curry shows us how bad it was. >> gloomy and gray. a thick blanket of fog cover most of the bay area tuesday morning before the sun came up. it was all dark with shadows casted down from the streetlights. >> once the sun rose, visibility was still low. you couldn't see downtown san francisco from a distance or the pillars of the bay bridge. the airports felt the worst of it. if you landed in san francisco, you needed a sign to tell you the fog was was pretty thick. >> and when we entered the fog, it was pretty dark, as if it was a rain cloud. so made you wonder. you know, is it raining because you really couldn't tell. >> the mid-morning at sfo saw passengers frequently checking signs to see if their flights were still on time. just like oakland on monday, planes could not safely land or take off. >> the pilot mentioned the fog here before he landed. what did you say? he just said i mean, i never heard of a pilot talk about the fog and he said it was very heavy. >> a travel disruption for early

morning passengers. some say they have rarely seen it this bad. >> flying into london was the only other time i've seen it like that. where you were in the fog until you actually hit the hit the runway. >> ryan curry, abc seven news >> those skies cleared out nicely this afternoon. as you can see from this live picture right here from our camera atop mount tamalpais in marin county. but we are about to deal with something else other than the fog that we've been dealing with for the past two days here. abc seven news meteorologist sandyha patel is here with the first look at our weather. hey, sandhya. hi there. >> yeah. and julian, we are talking about not just another round of fog, but we're talking about rain coming our way. so let's look at a live picture from our south beach camera right now. skies are a bit hazy as we do have high clouds coming through. take a look at live doppler seven. all is quiet right now. that's going to change come tomorrow. now, visibility has improved drastically from earlier today. still four miles, though, in half moon bay, six miles in fairfield. your temperatures is

nearing 70 degrees in places like morgan hill, cloverdale right now. so it's certainly milder in parts of the bay area. and as we go hour by hour, the fog will advance. 7:00 tonight. you will notice that it is pushing in by tomorrow morning. we are looking at 40s and 50s, pretty widespread fog and it will be dense in pockets along with drizzle. here comes the rain as we time it out for you. 10:00 in the north bay by noontime. it is spreading across the region. it's a light level one storm on live doppler seven. the energy, the atmospheric river has been in the pacific northwest, but that's going to change that storm system is already generating some big waves and there is an increased risk of sneaker waves until 7 p.m. tonight. that beach hazard statement up for santa cruz county until 4 a.m. thursday. it will get replaced by a high surf advisory, 7:00 tonight until 4 a.m. thursday as those breakers will be pretty large and it is going to be dangerous conditions ahead. i'll be back to talk about the rain timeline, how much to expect. plus, the sierra

snows. first, significant snow coming our way. kristen, don't want to miss that. sandia thank you so much. union faculty members are on strike at san francisco state university. all organizers say more than 1500 faculty members staged a boisterous rally today during the second of four one day strikes planned at cal state university campuses this week. the faculty members, including professors, librarians and counselors, are demanding an immediate 12% wage hike. csu is offering 5% each of the next three years for the reason we do this job is because of the love of it, not just there is any money in it, but we have to have a, you know, a, you know, living wage. yesterday a union faculty members at cal poly pomona walked off the job. and tomorrow, cal state, los angeles faculty members will walk out, followed by sacramento state. some san jose state university professors worry that the ongoing labor strife in the csu system could drastically impact the quality of education for

students. >> abc7 news south bay reporter dustin dorsey looks into the changes students may see next semester and why professors are so concerned about it. as the negotiating battle continues between the california state university system and its faculty. >> some professors at san jose state university say the school is trying to pressure them to make up for a $14.7 million budget deficit and come to a csu contract agreement. >> i have been through these before 20 years of them. these cycles, but i've never been told so directly that that you're going to have to change. like the number of students in your class so dramatically in november. >> meteorology and climate science professor eugene cordero says the university told professors that major changes are coming in the spring 2024. he says some undergrads class sizes will increase anywhere from 80 to 100. >> our course sizes are relatively small. that means we can give feedback to students that means we can give them written assignments that i'm going to grade and give feedback on. it's different than the uc where they have these large

lecture halls. we don't have large lecture halls here at san jose state, but they're asking us to change that model and to accommodate more students, cordero says he was told to give less written assignments and more easier to grade multiple choice tests. >> sociology professor preston rudy says that hurts the quality of education and directly goes against the school being a transformative university for students. just like nurses in a hospital, the faculty are the people that work with the patients or the students, and we're the ones that do this most of us, as you heard my colleague say, we're concerned with the learning that the students are doing. a university spokesperson told us some classes and departments may be impacted more than others, saying it's closed some sections due to enrollment and resource availability. csu says the average class size for spring 24 is only up to 21.6. students from 20.4 in spring 23. at the same point in time, although they expect that to go up marginally as more students enroll between now and then. but rudy and cordero says the plan presented is not the way to ensure that students have the

best opportunity to thrive and succeed as the school promises. >> this is really going to affect the our educational mission. and i don't think the university's really talking about that. i hear a lot about budget, but i'm concerned about our students at san jose state university. >> dustin dorsey, abc seven news. just ahead, the impact, a massive fire under an la freeway is having on business owners right here in the bay area. >> also, the big mess in the pacific northwest, a dangerous and deadly conditions from a powerful late fall storm. and later, efforts by local researchers to unlock a sea turtle mystery. how can they travel more than thousands of miles from japan to the west coast

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through los angeles last month is prompting caltrans to look at lots near other major freeways. and more than a dozen spaces have been flagged for re-inspection in the bay area. abc7's leslie brinkly has more on the results of the new inspections and the challenges with keeping our freeways safe. >> valuable caltrans land under our maze of urban freeways are leased out and letting caltrans over $34 million a year. we have about 600 and about 600 sites across the state where we lease out areas underneath the freeway. >> what we call airspace leases.

>> half of those sites are in the bay area. but after the massive i-10 fire in los angeles in mid november, caltrans decided to re inspect some of those airspace leases. what happened in the in i-10 in la is we had inspected the site and we were actually in litigation with the tenant for being out of compliance. 13 sites were identified as warranting a closer look at safety and compliance in the bay area, five of them in san francisco and five in oakland in the last week. additional inspection runs were completed. some of the sites in oakland are piled high with everything from wood pallets to rvs and vehicles. there are parking lots and dumpsters. there are fences with prominent signs saying no dumping, no trespassing. caltrans and i have had a great relationship. >> i mean, we started i started renting from them back in. i want to say 2006. >> bernardini enterprises just passed the recent inspection, but they say there's more to

safety than just compliance. there's a homeless problem. we've called the sheriff's department. >> we've called the chp. >> we've called oakland pd. >> and i've asked them, told them that obviously they're trespassing, they're squatting, and they won't come out. >> they refuse to come out. >> a fire at an encampment shut down i-80 at grand avenue a few months ago. as for the leased land, caltrans says they're aware of the potential problems and are awaiting a final report from the state fire marshal. as they keep a closer eye on the sites. >> but nothing is of great conc