Preliminary concepts for Bartlett and 22nd proposed last year. Image: SF Planning
At the most recent Sunday Streets in the Mission, Walk SF demonstrated how a little chalk can give a sense of place to an intersection. Just holding back the cars allows the community to add its own flair through color, transforming an asphalt expanse into a calmer, more people-oriented space.
"It helps to calm traffic. It signals to drivers that there's a community here, to expect kids, to expect families, and to slow down," executive director Nicole Schneider said on a car-free Valencia Street at 22nd Street. "It helps to bring the community together around a sense of place."
Schneider's chalk demo was just a short block away from the intersection of 22nd and Bartlett Street, where SF's first permanently-painted intersection is set to arrive sometime next year, as part of a pedestrian-friendly revamp of Bartlett. Community-designed, painted intersections have been installed in recent years in cities like Portland and Seattle, Schneider noted.
People at the event asked Schneider whether cars can still drive over the murals -- the answer is yes. So the murals shouldn't result in a political furor, unlike many other suggestions to re-purpose any space that's used to move and store cars. Painting the streets to create a safer and more convivial place seemslike a low-cost no-brainer.
"I have gotten so much positive feedback," said Schneider. "It's just fun."
Aaron was the editor of Streetsblog San Francisco from January 2012 until October 2015. He joined Streetsblog in 2010 after studying rhetoric and political communication at SF State University and spending a semester in Denmark.
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