Sunday Streets

The next two Sunday Streets are moving from the heart of the busy Mission to two of San Francisco's more picturesque natural locales as it winds through Golden Gate Park to the Great Highway along Ocean Beach.

Wade Crowfoot, Mayor Gavin Newsom's Director of Climate Change Initiatives, quietly transitioned out of his role in city government last Friday to become the West Coast Legislative and Political Director at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a new post created just for him. His portfolio will be primarily climate, water safety, and oceans. Transportation and transit won't be as central to his work as it was for Mayor Newsom, except as it relates to climate change.

Though it occurred for just four hours on two miles of streets in the Mission, this week’s Sunday Streets event has transformed the livable streets movement in some of the same ways that Critical Mass transformed San Francisco’s bicycle rights movement in the early 1990s.

We're getting very excited for the weekend, especially the second of two Sunday Streets events in the Mission, this Sunday from 10 am to 2 pm. After you've experience the streets freed from vehicular traffic noise and opened up for walking and bicycling, roll/walk on over to Valencia Cyclery to celebrate a certain blog we like.

Streetsblog San Francisco is nearly seven months old, and with our nose to the transportation grindstone, we haven't even thrown a party yet to say thank you to you, our readers, and the communities you represent.

We were excited to welcome two dynamic Oakland, CA, groups to the Livable Streets Community this week: Walk Oakland Bike Oakland (WOBO) and TransForm. Inspired by the success of San Francisco's Sunday Streets, WOBO wants to launch its own East Bay version and is asking for input on what to call the event. Shannon T. writes:

The massive Sunday Streets in the Mission two days ago was touted by organizers and Mayor Gavin Newsom's office as an event that would bring shoppers to the neighborhood and improve sales in a very difficult economy. After walking the route and speaking with the owners and managers of nine businesses, I think it's safe to say that, by and large, merchants cheered the car-free event for not only adding to business but improving the neighborhood.

Massive crowds came out to the Mission yesterday to enjoy the first of two Sunday Streets events, packing Valencia Street and 24th Street with families, dog walkers, and cyclists of all ages and abilities. Organizers were thrilled with the turnout and seemed only to worry how they would get everyone off the streets at 2 pm, the scheduled closing time.

The first of two Mission Sunday Streets is this weekend, opening up wide swaths of car-free space away from the city’s edges and in busy neighborhood streets where businesses are excited about the prospects.