Recent Streetsblog SF posts about Parklets

SFMTA Proposes a Car-Free Powell Street in Union Square

By Aaron Bialick | Aug 26, 2015 | 19 Comments

The SFMTA has proposed making crowded, traffic-clogged Powell Street in Union Square a car-free street on a trial basis. Removing cars from the equation would make the street function better for pedestrians and cable cars on the blocks between Ellis and Geary Streets. As we wrote last year, it makes little sense to have cars on Powell, which […]

Five Years On, SF Parklets Are Going Strong and Looking to Grow

By Aaron Bialick | Apr 2, 2015 | 2 Comments

Five years after the city installed its first parklet, there are more than 50 of these neighborhood gathering spaces throughout San Francisco. Using a couple of parking spaces for public space is no longer the act of rebellion it was ten years ago. The practice is now an institution in SF, and parklets are more widespread here than in any other city. […]

Persia Triangle in the Excelsior Welcomes Two Parklets

By Aaron Bialick | Oct 3, 2014 | 6 Comments

Persia Triangle, in the Excelsior, now has two parklets and other streetscape paint treatments that enliven the prominent but otherwise dreary intersection. The improvements were unveiled, with a ribbon cutting, at Sunday Streets last week. The temporary sidewalk expansions, which feature planters similar to those at Jane Warner Plaza in the Castro, replaced parking spaces on […]

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Auto-Clogged Powell Street Could Be a Car-Free Haven

By Aaron Bialick | Sep 19, 2014 | 49 Comments

It’s a wonder that anyone drives a car on Powell Street in Union Square. Yet along the busiest pedestrian thoroughfare this side of the United States, you’ll typically see the perplexing scene of drivers, sitting in a line heading down the hill, all seemingly going nowhere in particular and certainly not very quickly. These private autos […]

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Looking Back at San Francisco’s Second Park(ing) Day in 2006

By Clarence Eckerson Jr. | Sep 19, 2014 | No Comments

Gasp, was it really eight years ago PARK(ing) Day San Francisco 2006 happened? It only feels like a few years have passed. I’ll never forget being in Oakland visiting a friend and learning that PARKing Day was happening the following day. I got up early, jumped on BART with my camera and went looking for all the spots inspired by Rebar, a […]

Oakland Looks to Restart Its Faltered Parklet Program

By Melanie Curry | Mar 26, 2014 | 64 Comments

The success of PARK(ing) Day got a lot of communities excited about the possibilities of reusing street space for something other than car storage. In cities like San Francisco and Oakland, many merchants were attracted to the idea of giving up a couple of parking spots in order to provide a nice place to gather and […]

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