This year we extended our Bike Champion of the Year awards to recognize others in our community who embody what it means to be a champion for biking in our city. Our District Supervisor Bike Champion of the Year is Supervisor Myrna Melgar.
Myrna Melgar has a long history of public service in San Francisco. She has served as Executive Director of Jamestown Community Center, Deputy Director of MEDA, and also as the President of the San Francisco Planning Commission and Vice President of the Building Inspection Commission before becoming the District 7 Supervisor in 2020 – she was also easily re-elected to her seat by the constituents of her district in a tough campaign in 2024.
Supervisor Melgar lives the furthest away from City Hall compared to the rest of her colleagues and is the only Supervisor that rides her bike to work everyday. So, not only has she consistently advocated for safer streets in her tenure representing the residents of District 7, she also lives by the sustainable transportation values she advocates for as supervisor.
What is your bike story?
I learned to ride a bike when I was 7 years old. My friend Elizabeth taught me with great patience on the street in front of her house in San Salvador where we grew up. She had a purple and pink Schwinn with a banana seat, and I was hooked! I now have a green WVTA electric bike with fat 20 inch tires that fold up when needed. It came in a box to my house during the pandemic and I put it together myself. Jeff Taliaferro from Ocean Cyclery saw me riding it down Ocean Ave that first day and said, “cool toy Myrna, let me check it out!” When he did, he found I had put the front wheel on backwards! He fixed it on the spot and probably saved my life. I have since installed hydraulic brakes, lights, bells and so much more on this bike. I love her! Her name is Carlita and she has a little over 7,000 miles on her now. She can handle the big hill behind City College with no problem, which is my route to work. I can take her on BART and have gone as far as San Mateo, east to Oakland and across the Golden Gate bridge. My job can be stressful, but after work, I get on my bike to go home and feel the wind on my face and everything seems good in the world for a few minutes.
What work around safer streets are you most proud of?
The improvements to Ocean Ave — the new extended platforms for the K stops; the protected bike lane on Lake Merced boulevard which now goes from the Daly City border, in front of Lowell High School and on the other side to Skyline. I’m also so proud of the bike lane on Frida Kahlo in front of City College. And citywide, I’m very proud that we now have a biking and rolling plan. It is not perfect, but the fact that we have one is cause for celebration.
What are you currently working on that you want members of the public to know more about?
We are working with the County Transportation Authority (CTA) and the SFMTA on improvements to the Ninth Ave and Irving corridor. It is such a vibrant and awesome area of my district but it is messy and dangerous for people walking, biking, and rolling. We have a lot of folks who double park and block the N, and pedestrians trying to cross the street — backing up car traffic the entire block sometimes. The street narrows on Seventh Ave in front of Independence High School — with car traffic and bikes competing for space, and the intersection on Ninth and Lincoln sees a lot of pedestrians crossing from Inner Sunset to Golden Gate Park and should be a lot safer and more inviting.
Thank you, Supervisor Melgar, for your leadership and enthusiasm! To stay up to date on all the things we’re working on in District 7, sign up for campaign updates below.
