Streetsblog San Francisco

Flickr photo: geekstinkbreath

The 2011 slate of Sunday Streets wraps up this weekend in the Mission District, bringing car-free space back to the ever-popular Valencia and 24th Street route. This spring, an estimated 25,000 people came out for the year’s first installment of Sunday Streets in the Mission.

The event marks the end of a highly successful season for Sunday Streets as organizers continue to develop it into a permanent institution and expand it into new areas.

“Sunday Streets represents one of the more significant and tangible ways that San Francisco is rethinking and transforming how we think of and use our public rights-of-way – using them for people to enjoy on bike and on foot, not just to pass through in a car,” said SFMTA Director of Transportation Ed Reiskin. “Since the program began in 2008, Sunday Streets has evolved and improved with each event and grown each season to reach more neighborhoods across the city.”

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Thousands of people enjoyed a car-free Grant Avenue through Chinatown, North Beach and Telegraph Hill yesterday. Photos by Bryan Goebel.

San Francisco’s Grant Avenue, the city’s oldest street, was opened to pedestrians only yesterday in a milestone Sunday Streets event that drew thousands of people to the historic neighborhoods of Chinatown and North Beach on a sunny, 74-degree day. The city’s first walking Sunday Streets on a thoroughfare that seems like one of the most ideal streets to pedestrianize was clearly a hit.

“It’s a fantastic event. The weather is gorgeous and it’s nice to have Chinatown and North Beach connected in this way,” said Tom Radulovich of the non-profit Livable City, which sponsors Sunday Streets.

Unlike fairs in Chinatown and North Beach that typically line the street with outside vendors, the car-free event that spanned more than 20 blocks was organized to give neighborhood residents, locals and merchants a taste of what Grant Avenue can look and feel like without cars on a typical Sunday.

“I like having no cars,” said Lisa Mai, a North Beach resident who took a break from jump roping with other teens from the YMCA, a Chinatown fixture since 1911. “When you’re in a car it’s like you’re really rushing, but when you’re walking, when you walk along Grant, you see all these people coming out to enjoy it.”

From the Chinatown Gateway to Coit Tower, people filled the narrow street on foot, and shopped, sipped tea, snapped photos, hula-hooped, painted, enjoyed live music and other activities without the anxiety of automobiles.

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The scene at Pierce and Fulton, with City Hall in the background. Photos by Bryan Goebel.

An estimated 10,000 people turned out to celebrate Sunday Streets in the Western Addition, NOPA, Fillmore and Alamo Square neighborhoods yesterday. By all indications, the event was a success, and the weather, well, perfect. And we’re in for another treat this week.

For the second time in Sunday Streets history, San Franciscans will get to experience two events back to back, as Sunday Streets brings the car-free fun to Chinatown and North Beach, along Grant Street, this weekend.

What was your favorite moment at Sunday Streets yesterday? See more photos below the break.

Grove Street was packed with people. The SFBC set up its Freedom from Training Wheels tent and workshop, just a few blocks from the Grove Street Farmer's Market.

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Photo: Bryan Goebel

Sunday Streets will grace the streets of Western Addition again this weekend, and bring lots of car-free activities to the Fillmore, NOPA and Alama Square neighborhoods. The event will coincide with International Artists Week, and promises to be great fun!

Download the official press release from the SFMTA here [pdf]. See the official activities sheet here [pdf]. And don’t forget to either Tweet us your photos, or add them to our Flickr pool.

See you in the streets Sunday!

A rare sight in the Tenderloin: children playing ball in the streets. Photos by Bryan Goebel.

Mary San George was sitting outside her neighborhood flower store yesterday, facing the historic residential high-rise building on O’Farrell Street where she has lived for 27 years, and was marveling at something she very rarely gets to experience in her Tenderloin neighborhood: a street full of people instead of cars.

“People use this street like a raceway,” said the 75-year-old San George, who was anxious to point out the everyday dangers of a neighborhood where streets prioritize auto throughput. “We have signs in different areas that say this is a drug-free zone, but I think we should have a no-speed zone, and make it very expensive for drivers.”

For its 25th event, Sunday Streets, now a San Francisco institution, brought car-free zones filled with healthy activities to the Tenderloin, one of the densest neighborhoods on the West Coast, where most residents don’t own automobiles. Last year’s Tenderloin event was rained out, but this year, under beautiful blue skies, between 5,000 and 7,000 people turned out to play in the streets.

While the event didn’t attract the huge crowds that the Mission’s Sunday Streets draws — there was a little music festival competing — it was nevertheless an exciting day, and an important moment for the Tenderloin and the livable streets movement.

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Clear skies are in the forecast this weekend for the return of Sunday Streets to the Civic Center and Tenderloin neighborhoods after it was rained out last year. Families, merchants, and San Franciscans of all ages are geared up to experience the first dry afternoon of car-free space to play in on Golden Gate Avenue, Polk, Ellis, Jones, and O’Farrell streets.

“I think folks are really excited to introduce the Tenderloin neighborhood to people around the city because even though it’s in the center of the city, I think it’s a misunderstood neighborhood,” said District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim. “People don’t recognize that it’s also a tight-knit community – a lot of families, a lot of seniors, a lot of immigrants, and a lot of great, unique, small businesses.”

“The community benefit districts are very enthusiastically embracing it,” said Sunday Streets organizer Susan King. “Even the people whose access is being somewhat impeded are supportive and willing to deal with the temporary inconvenience.”

The route will be packed with music and activities. The Tricycle Music Fest West will bring live family-friendly rock music to the steps of the San Francisco Main Library alongside the Green Bookmobile, Tree Frog Treks, Friends of the Library, and the Roller Disco. The SF Bike Coalition’s Freedom From Training Wheels will get tots rolling along with environmental organizations at the “Green Zone” on Grove Street.

At 215 Leavenworth, the Beautiful Rebels will have a Bike Wash and Cumbia dancing at Young Workers United. Boeddeker Park at Jones and Eddy Streets will feature Tai Chi, live jazz, kids’ activities, free bike rentals and a bike repair station. The Hyde Street Band will be playing some swinging rock to groove to on O’Farrell, and don’t forget to check out Tenderloin National Forest on Ellis between Leavenworth and Hyde.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has also announced that Chinatown and North Beach will get its first Sunday Streets on September 18 in addition to the September 11 event in the Western Addition and NoPa.

Editor’s note: We’ll have coverage of Sunday Streets on Monday. Please share your photos and stories with us! Send to tips@sf.streetsblog.org, add your photos to our Flickr pool or send us a tweet.

The intersection of the Great Highway and Lincoln Way during yesterday's Sunday Streets. Flickr photo: geekstinkbreath

The ever-popular Great Highway and Golden Gate Park route for Sunday Streets drew thousands of San Franciscans of all ages yesterday with more activities than ever before. For next year, organizer Susan King said that the SFMTA is looking to hold a different, more frequent route.

“The route will use some of the quieter streets that are already off limits to cars or are less used,” said King. “That includes Overlook and Middle Drive [in the park] and negotiating a different pathway along Martin Luther King Drive to get out to the Great Highway.”

She explained that the changes would allow the number of Sunday Streets events on the route to increase from the current two per year up to as many as one per month. It would also be “less intense” for city staff who work the event and allow the Recreation and Parks Department to continue reserving revenue-generating picnic spaces, she said.

“This route is so popular and there’s so much opportunity presented with the Great Highway because it is frequently closed for sand anyway, and because there are no major cross streets once you get through that bottleneck at the Lincoln and Great Highway intersection,” said King. “So we’re looking at doing this route on a regular basis in the coming years.”

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SF Bike Coalition Policy Director Andy Thornley on the Great Highway. Photo: Bryan Goebel

Sunday Streets returns to Golden Gate Park and the Great Highway this Sunday, extending the park’s regular weekend street openings all the way to the beach and beyond. Thousands of San Franciscans of all ages are expected to pedal, play and relax along the car-free route running all the way from the Panhandle along John F. Kennedy Drive to the windmill and down the Great Highway along Ocean Beach with lots of fun activites along the way.

There will be free performances from some talented groups throughout the route, including the San Francisco Symphony and Circus Bella in the park as well as two shows from local musical child prodigies. Of course, there will also be lots of family-friendly activities to participate in like skate rentals and dancing, RollerSoccer demonstrations, a Climate Change Education Mobile Climate Science Lab, free bike rentals, and the SF Bike Coalition’s Freedom From Training Wheels program.

Get out and make the most of the beautiful weather forecast and a car-free Golden Gate Park!

Flickr photo: geekstinkbreath

Thousands of people took to the car-free streets of the Bayview, Dogpatch and Potrero Hill yesterday for a sunny Sunday Streets.  Did you go? Please share your stories in the comments section, and see more photos below the break. The next Sunday Streets is July 12th on the Great Highway.

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Flickr photo: sfbike

Many a cycling tot will get another chance to graduate from training wheels this Sunday on safe, car-free streets by the Bay. Sunday Streets returns to Bayview with a tweaked route this year to include the Lower Potero Hill and Dogpatch neighborhoods in the plethora of family-friendly activities.

The list of activities this month is so long, in fact, that when organizer Susan King submitted it the San Francisco Examiner for publication, “the copy editors came back to me and said, ‘cut this down by a third’.”

“This is certainly one of the most robust program lists we’ve had,” said King.

The route will run along Third Street from Mendell Plaza to 22nd Street, where it will zig zag west by Espirit Park to the Jackson Playground at 17th and Wisconsin Streets. It was modified to accommodate vehicle traffic needs for a Giants game at the ballpark, but it will also bring the street opening to new doorsteps.

“It gives us a chance to really explore those two neighborhoods that we haven’t done before,” said King. “In Dogpatch, we’re going through the emerging merchant corridor on 22nd Street and tying it to Espirit park, which is a beautiful little park hidden behind the freeway.”

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