Despite the winds, clouds, and mist, the 1.4 miles of car-free Valencia Street was crowded with people on Sunday. "It's important they're just having a good time, having fun and playing," explained the Bicycle Coalition's Muuqi Maxwell, who teaches small children to ride bikes. He was out removing pedals on bikes and teaching young kids to ride. He explained that kids learn faster on pedal-free bikes, which allows them to learn balance and confidence. Later, he reattaches the pedals. "After they learn gliding and balancing, we introduce pedaling," he said.
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition was just one of many advocacy groups out on Valencia, taking advantage of Sunday Streets, San Francisco's premier open streets event.
The San Francisco Transit Riders (SFTR) also had a tent set up. They were having a bake sale to save Muni. Although the cakes and cookies were meant for laughs, they served a larger purpose. "The goal is to get people to get the city to take the cutbacks and funding issues seriously," said SFTR's Dylan Fabris. He steered people who stopped by the SFTR tents to the SFTR website, which breaks down all the current and potential cuts as the agency approaches another fiscal cliff. The group was also steering people towards the "Muni Forever" August 20 summit event to lobby to preserve Muni service.
SFMTA itself was nearby, there to keep people informed about upcoming projects. Ironically, nobody had information about plans to build protected bike lanes on Valencia from 23rd to Cesar Chavez, the one small section that still has paint-only bike lanes. SFMTA's Alejo Alvarado, however, talked about concrete planters and other improvements on nearby 'slow' Sanchez.
Artist Michelle Ip, who creates transit-themed art under the name Evil Mizu, was also out, selling her nerd wares: t-shirts and posters celebrating a car-free lifestyle. "I like to make art about what makes this city so special," she told Streetsblog, and transit and open streets events are part of that.
Everyone seemed to be having a good time, and the event was well-attended, speaking again to the popularity and need for car-free spaces in San Francisco. For a list of upcoming Sunday Streets, be sure to check out Liveable City's website. More pictures below.
