Recent Streetsblog SF posts about Parklets

The Sloppy Reporting Behind KTVU’s Eulogy for Re-Purposed Parking Spaces

By Aaron Bialick | Oct 4, 2013 | 10 Comments

Perhaps we shouldn’t expect much from KTVU these days in the way of fact-checking — Bay Area viewers should be used to the exceptional sloppiness seen in reports like the attempted hit on bike-share, the self-documented harassment of bicycle riders who don’t wear helmets, and, of course, the infamous fake names of pilots involved in […]

Fearmongering Overwhelms Facts at Meeting About Livable Polk Street

By Aaron Bialick | Mar 19, 2013 | 103 Comments

A mob mentality ruled at a neighborhood meeting last night on safety improvements for Polk Street, where attendees booed any suggestion that removing car parking to make room for pedestrian and bicycle amenities might be worthwhile. Fact-based discussion was in short supply at the Middle Polk Neighborhood Association meeting. Instead, hyperbole and misinformation were the […]

Safer Polk Street Supporters Rally for Neighborhood Meeting Monday

By Aaron Bialick | Mar 14, 2013 | 44 Comments

With flyers stuck on storefront windows along Polk Street spreading misinformation about the SF Municipal Transportation Agency’s developing plans to make the street a safer, more inviting place to walk and bike, local supporters of the project are rallying neighbors and merchants to attend a public meeting on Monday. There, city officials including SFMTA Director Ed Reiskin […]

In Park(ing) Day’s Seventh Year, Parklets Now a San Francisco Institution

By Aaron Bialick | Sep 20, 2012 | 5 Comments

When Park(ing) Day started in San Francisco seven years ago, setting up camp on a sliver of street space normally reserved for storing cars was a somewhat radical idea. But these days, evidence of the movement’s continuing success can be seen year-round with more than 35 (and counting) semi-permanent, city-sanctioned parklets around the city. Park(ing) […]

This post is supported by GJEL Accident Attorneys

New “Better Streets” Website Helps Residents Untangle City Bureaucracy

By Aaron Bialick | May 16, 2012 | 1 Comment

The San Francisco Better Streets Program launched a new website this week to provide a central source of information to help residents procure street improvements like traffic-calming measures, parklets, bike corrals, plantings, art installations, sidewalk fixtures, and permits for car-free events in their neighborhood. The website, sfbetterstreets.org, “combines all the city’s guidelines, permit requirements, and […]

Great Streets Project Quantifies the Impacts of Parklets

By Aaron Bialick | Jan 5, 2012 | 3 Comments

Nearly two years after the first parklet arrived in San Francisco, a new study provides an empirical assessment of reclaiming parking spots for public space. The 2011 Parklet Impact Study [PDF], released yesterday by the SF Great Streets Project, measures changes in pedestrian volumes and activity at three new parklets built last year. The study, […]

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