Walk San Francisco and fellow advocates will host a celebration of the popular, well-used, and with any luck very sunny car-free JFK Drive through Golden Gate Park on Friday afternoon, April 26, from 4:30 to 6:30 at Pompei Circle, near the Conservatory of Flowers.
Of course anyone can enjoy the entire one-and-a-half-mile-long car-free space at any hour, thanks to the tireless and at times Herculean work by all the people who fought back against attempts to turn the promenade back into a car-dominated and uncomfortable place.
JFK Promenade became a car-free space on April 28, 2020, when Mayor London Breed officially closed this section of road in the park to cars. "It quickly became a popular destination, with hundreds of thousands of people using it each month," writes Walk SF.
It was made permanent twice – first, on April 26, 2022 when the Board of Supervisors passed legislation from Mayor London Breed, and then on the November ballot, when voters passed Measure J and reaffirmed the legislation by more than 63 percent.
What's now called 'JFK Promenade' is one of the few significant car-free spaces nationwide to still be in place post-pandemic... JFK Promenade now provides a meaningful, permanent space for all ages and abilities in our biggest park without the threat of dangerous traffic, with hundreds of thousands of people using it each month.
Prior to the closure to traffic, JFK Drive was on the city’s list of most dangerous streets due to the number and frequency of traffic crashes. In 2018, Heather Miller was hit and killed while riding her bike on JFK Drive. In addition, before the closure, 75 percent of traffic on JFK Drive was cut-through traffic rather than drivers going to a park destination.
No more! Come out and perhaps hear some elected officials - they've been invited - talk about why this place is so special.
Or just enjoy the weather and the people watching, which is pretty much guaranteed to be awesome.
If you're there, and you get some pictures and or videos, send them along to damien@streetsblog.org over the weekend, and they might be posted here.
