Twice a year, we reach out to ask readers to support Streetsblog San Francisco. We raise about 40% of Streetsblog San Francisco’s operating budget off reader donations, with the bulk of that coming in December.
If you’re already on board with making a donation, you can visit our web portal for donations here. We also accept donations through Fidelity, Schwab, the AOL Foundation and other giving foundations.
You’ve already heard us discuss the controversy around the center-running bike lane on Valencia Street and our response to those who want to pretend the lane is both popular and working. But Valencia Street is just a part of our coverage this year, and we’d like to highlight some of our other important work.
It’s rare that we can directly link posts to positive results, but this year we actually had a few examples. After we covered a union dispute that was going to damage the BayPass integrated fare pilot, an agreement was reached to resolve the issue. Sources close to the goings-on said Streetsblog’s post made all the difference. Same goes for our coverage of AC Transit’s insistence that a two-way protected bike lane on Grand would slow its buses. And in San Francisco our coverage helped move SFMTA to stop obstructing a school street in the Tenderloin.
Organizationally we’ve had a strong year as well. Readership grew by roughly 10% over last year. And despite the upheaval at Twitter/X, our social media presence remains strong. Perhaps most importantly, we were able to stabilize our budget after the twin upheavals of the 2020 shutdowns and the 2021 IRS confusion (which again, was entirely their fault).^
But we’re looking to grow more in 2024. We’ve been discussing ways to both bolster our coverage and provide more support to independent journalists we collaborate with. After securing our editor’s salary for next year, we’re hoping to raise money for a program similar to Fresnoland’s “The Documenters.” This program trains new reporters to cover city councils, transit agencies, and other boards to bring the "who/what/when/where/why" of meetings quickly and work with the editor on larger stories.
Again, thank you for all of your help getting Streetsblog San Francisco to where it is today. If you’d like to schedule a time to talk about our current offerings, The Documenters, or something else, contact me, Damien Newton, Executive Director of the California Streets Initiative at damien@streetsblog.org.
In the meantime, if you’re ready to make another donation, you can do so here.
