San Francisco Rips Out Planters, Benches, Posts on Wiggle Crosswalk

Neighbors and safe-streets advocates installed planters, bike racks, plastic posts, and striping to deter scofflaw drivers from parking in the daylighting zones around the raised crosswalk for Hermann Street across Steiner next to Duboce Park in San Francisco. The installations, partially pictured in the lead image, went in on April 13, according to advocates who reached out to Streetsblog.

“Hardened infrastructure is critical to making our streets safer. In practice, San Francisco’s Vision Zero infrastructure has been insubstantial and slow to be put in the ground,” wrote advocate Shanan Delp, in an email to Streetsblog about the installations.

But the city wasn’t slow in ripping things out.

“On April 22, DPW removed the benches from the sidewalk and the planters from the daylighting zones. They left the soft hit posts and bike racks up for another week,” wrote an advocate involved in the installations who contacted Streetsblog. They asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation from the city. “On April 29, they removed the soft hit posts and bike racks. Predictably, drivers are parking in the daylighting zones and making the crosswalk dangerous again.”

“Steiner Street from Duboce to Waller, along Duboce Park, is a very dangerous corridor for pedestrians,” wrote Doug Thorogood, an advocate for the elderly, disabled, low-income, and terminally ill communities. “Literally hundreds of elderly, low-income, and disabled neighbors who live adjacent to Duboce Park in Bridge Housing and Maitri are not able to access it safely.”

And with the installations removed, the illegal parking and the danger it represents have returned, as seen in this 311 report made shortly after the removal:

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As most readers are probably aware, the crosswalk is on the Wiggle bike route, a connected zig-zag of relatively calm and flat streets that cyclists use to avoid the hill between downtown San Francisco and the Panhandle. A year ago, advocates installed traffic calming signs along the Wiggle. As covered in Mission Local, these were also quickly torn out.

This is part of an ongoing cat-and-mouse game between the city and guerrilla safe-streets activists.

“We’re dismayed that the city has not installed simple structures to physically prevent drivers from recklessly parking at this location despite repeated requests over multiple years,” wrote the anonymous advocate. “Yet they found the time and resources to rip out community-installed infrastructure that was a clear safety benefit in two weeks.”

SFMTA is projecting a $320 million budget deficit for fiscal year 2026-27. Much larger deficits are expected for the city budget as a whole. It’s astonishing that the city still has the resources to rip out planters, benches, and bike racks designed to prevent scofflaw motorists from parking in daylighting zones around Duboce Park. Some day, a child could run out from the park and get mowed down because of the city’s actions on Hermann.

Why is the city fighting safe-streets advocates, instead of working with them? Streetsblog reached out to SFMTA and DPW and will update this post. Meanwhile, “Walk SF has been advocating for the City to create a sanctioned program so residents can apply to install and maintain amenities within a daylit spot (such as planters) to create protected daylighting,” wrote Walk San Francisco’s Marta Lindsey, in an email to Streetsblog.

“San Francisco could become a much safer place to walk and roll within weeks if city departments would encourage and partner with community members willing to invest time and resources instead of squashing our efforts,” wrote the anonymous advocate.