Car-Free Streets

When tens of thousands of people come out to the first of two Sunday Streets in the Mission on June 7th, they will find a route that winds through some of the densest pedestrian streets in San Francisco, a route that at just over two miles is half as long as previous events and should lend to casual strolling perhaps more than cycling.

We’ve been waiting for years now to see some physical changes to accommodate the huge increase in daily bicycling. We did get an odd set of painted bike lanes and green bike route signs, and a significant number of bike racks for parking, before it all came to a halt due to the injunction three years ago. After perusing the much-anticipated Draft Bicycle Plan and its dense bureaucratese, full of overlapping redundant promises, I’m afraid we’ll be waiting a good while longer to see the kinds of changes that we ought to be getting.

Despite concern from some neighborhood residents that the trial pedestrian plaza on 17th Street and Castro Street would be overrun with drunk revelers, vagrants, and other unsavory characters, those concerns didn't manifest the first weekend it was open, according to Andrea Aiello, Executive Director of the Castro/Upper Market CBD. As Aiello explained to Streetsblog, the "problems" they're encountering have everything to do with the success of the space.

The second of six Sunday Streets was a great success as thousands of people got out on a glorious sunny day to pedal, blade, run, skate, and stroll along the waterfront from AT&T park down to India Basin and the Bayview Opera House.  By coincidence, my father was in town and I got to take him on his first bicycle ride in a city.  Not a bad way to show him the type of streets we might hope to enjoy every Sunday all year long.

Tens of thousands of people came out to enjoy Sunday Streets yesterday, filling the Embarcadero with walking, cycling, skating and general merriment.  The mainstream media couldn't help but cough up superlatives to describe the car-free event, underscoring its importance to the local economy, to encouraging fitness and physical activity, and to entertaining families in a manner not seen on our streets for ages.

Today's crisp, sunny weather and car-free waterfront drew thousands of people to San Francisco's first Sunday Streets of 2009 along the Embarcadero from Aquatic Park to the Giants ballpark. Business seemed like it was booming in Fisherman's Wharf, dispelling concerns among some business owners the opposite would happen.

Yesterday marked an important day for livable streets in San Francisco. In coordination with the Castro Street CBD, Supervisor Bevan Dufty, and the Mayor's Office of Greening, the nascent Great Streets Project (GSP) co-hosted a roundtable discussion about how to start and manage successful public spaces, with particular emphasis on the proposed street closure and public plaza at 17th Street and Market Street. 

It's been reported that the Fisherman's Wharf merchants who vocally opposed Sunday Streets along the Embarcadero last year now proclaim their support for the day and are programming numerous events to coincide with the street closures this Sunday. But merchants in Bayview never voiced concerns last year and this year they are preparing to capitalize on the car-free hours when the second of six Sunday Streets happens on May 10th.