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Tag Archive for: Open Streets

San Francisco Voters Lead Surge in Car-Free California Streets

November 14, 2022/by Laura McCamy

Photo courtesy of Kid Safe SF.

The Slow Streets movement, spawned during the lockdown phase of the pandemic, has largely faded as communities remove barriers and erase safe spaces. But the experience of streets centered on community and placemaking seems to have given a boost to the movement for car-free spaces. Bike activists, including CalBike and many local bicycle coalitions, have worked for years to create more space for people biking and walking in California, and combined with a growing awareness of the need for change, those efforts have borne fruit. 

Cities across California have removed vehicular traffic to create safe spaces for people to walk and bike. One particularly notable example is JFK Drive in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, because of the deep-pocketed opposition to the project and the people-power that overcame that opposition at the ballot box, but there are many exciting new car-free spaces around the state.

Car-free spaces open across California

Business districts that would have once fought to keep car traffic now celebrate car-free space that attracts shoppers and diners. Over the past year, we’ve seen some exciting new open streets in California cities, including:

  • Gaslamp Promenade, San Diego. A section of Fifth Avenue in San Diego’s historic Gaslamp district has been converted to pedestrianized plazas for much of the day, while allowing vehicular traffic for deliveries for a window of time in the morning.
  • State Street Promenade, Santa Barbara. Ten blocks in the heart of Santa Barbara’s retail and dining district are now safe space for people biking and walking, with plenty of room for outdoor dining and markets.
  • San Francisco Shared Spaces. San Francisco has created a program for regular, permitted, open streets in neighborhoods across the city. The spaces are sponsored by local businesses, merchant associations, or community organizations and include weekend outdoor dining and shopping experiences, space for farmer’s markets, plazas for outdoor socializing, and more.
  • Griffith Park, Los Angeles. The park that’s home to LA’s Hollywood sign is also a popular spot for recreational rides in a city that isn’t always bike-friendly. After years of conflicts between people on bikes and people in cars, and a deadly collision earlier this year, the city closed a section of roadway to cars, with a promise to study more road closures in the future.

This isn’t a comprehensive list; we probably missed some fabulous car-free spaces around California. Please let us know if we left your local reclaimed street off the list.

San Francisco voters choose car-free JFK Promenade

JFK Drive is a main thoroughfare through San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Though the park is designed as a place for recreation and respite from city life, motorists often used the park’s roads as a cut-through to get to the ocean or travel between neighborhoods, creating dangerous conditions for people on bikes. 

JFK promenade KId Safe SF
Photo courtesy of Kid Safe SF

Over the years, San Francisco has slowly expanded car-free space on JFK Drive, first to every Saturday, then to Sundays as well. Each expansion of the beloved space for people to bike, walk, skate, and dance was met with loud protests, and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition fought hard to make it happen.

Then came 2020, and San Francisco temporarily made a large section of the street car-free 24/7, giving residents safe outdoor space for exercise and recreation. As the pandemic waned (will it ever really end?), advocates came together to campaign for a permanent closure and, in April 2022, the San Francisco City Council voted to make the JFK Promenade permanent.

That seemed like the end of the story, until a wealthy board member of the de Young Museum, which sits off of, and can be accessed by, JFK Drive, put Measure I on the ballot to restore car traffic on weekdays. Proposition I also included allowing cars on the Great Highway (a coastal road that had become the Great Walkway during the pandemic, with plans to study weekend open streets) as a bonus, though almost all the backing for the measure came from people and organizations with interests in Golden Gate Park.

Car-free advocates countered with Measure J, to keep the roadway open to people. “Throughout the campaign, hundreds of volunteers spent thousands of hours talking to voters across San Francisco about the value of safe, protected open space, and more than a dozen local advocacy organizations came together to support the car-free JFK Promenade,” Robin Pam from Kid Safe SF told CalBike. “The force of passionate volunteers and partner organizations powered the campaign from start to finish, and ultimately made the difference on election day.”

On November 8, that hard work paid off with a resounding victory for open space. Prop I lost by 25 points, with almost 63% of San Franciscans voting no, and Prop J passed by 22 points, with 61% in favor.

“By passing Prop J and rejecting Prop I, San Francisco voters showed their strong preference for public spaces that prioritize safe access and recreation for kids, seniors, people with disabilities, and all San Franciscans,” Pam said. “We’re proud of this community and the growing movement for safe open space, safe streets, and active transportation in San Francisco and beyond.”

The future of open streets?

There’s no doubt that the pandemic accelerated the movement to reclaim civic space for people, increasing safety, giving people places to connect, and improving the quality of life for residents. And the imperative to find new ways to get around that don’t contribute to climate change adds urgency to the changes we need to see in our communities.

Valencia Open Streets 11.22

But the seeds of this change were planted years ago with events like Bogotá’s Ciclovia and San Francisco’s Critical Mass. 

It’s easy to fall into the mindset that businesses and residents need easy car access to have vibrant neighborhoods, but it’s also easy to change that mindset. For example, when San Francisco held its first Sunday Streets open streets event along the Embarcadero, the ride stopped short of Fisherman’s Wharf, a popular tourist destination. The merchants in the neighborhood were adamant that they didn’t want the street closure by their shops. 

However, after they saw how many people came out for Sunday Streets, Fisherman’s Wharf merchants jumped at the chance to be included in the event the following year. The streets were so packed with people during that first Sunday Streets at the wharf that there was barely room to move.

By the same token, San Francisco’s Valencia Street was hopping on a recent Saturday night, with outdoor dining, live music, artist booths, and storefronts bustling with restaurants, bars, taquerias, and shops. A child rode her scooter down the middle of the street in the dark, and one local resident said she felt like she’d stepped onto a street in Europe.

The more people and merchants get to experience open streets, the more we appreciate the power of car-free space to build community and drive economic vitality. CalBike hopes to see more of these spaces created around our state in the months and years ahead.

https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Yes-on-J-Kid-Safe-SF.jpeg 1435 1440 Laura McCamy https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.png Laura McCamy2022-11-14 20:00:022022-11-15 12:48:13San Francisco Voters Lead Surge in Car-Free California Streets

Oakland Brings COVID Open Streets to California Streets

April 11, 2020/by Laura McCamy

Oakland became the first California city to join the growing list of world cities that are designating COVID open streets. Open streets are a smart way to create more public space for walking and biking during the coronavirus pandemic. Oakland designated 74 miles of its existing and proposed neighborhood bikeway network as “closed to through traffic so that people can more comfortably use these low-traffic streets for physically distant walking, wheelchair rolling, jogging, and biking all across the City.” About 10% of Oakland’s roadways will become COVID open streets.

Tactical urban expert Mike Lydon is tracking emergency open streets projects around the world. Oakland is now at the top of the list by a wide margin. 

UPDATE: Oakland shoots to the top with 74 miles(!) of #Covid19Streets #OpenStreets to promote #PhysicalDistancing; Denver adds mileage; Portland exits.

1) Oakland: 74 miles
2) Minneapolis: 18.3 miles
3) Denver: 16.1 miles
4) Louisville: 11 miles
5) Vancouver, BC: 10.53 miles

— Mike Lydon (@MikeLydon) April 10, 2020

COVID Open Streets

Many Californians are rediscovering the bicycle right now. It is a great way to maintain physical distance while traveling for essential work or getting exercise. The same thing is happening with walking. CalBike and many other organizations are promoting and supporting the trend. CalBike helped to get the state to clarify that bike repair shops are essential California businesses. But the sidewalks and bikeways remain crowded because we have given almost all of our shared space to cars, not people. 

Like Open Streets events, COVID open streets demonstrate an alternative way of organizing our communities. “We hope that people will deeply appreciate the safety, the serenity, the civility, of open streets during this special period and demand that those conditions are made permanent after this crisis passes,” said Dave Snyder, Executive Director of the California Bicycle Coalition. 

Oakland Sets the Bar High with 74 Miles of “Slow Streets”

In Oakland, local advocates had been in conversation with the city about opening Oakland streets for walking and biking and closing those streets to most car traffic. The organizations pushing for COVID open streets include Bike East Bay, Walk Oakland Bike Oakland (WOBO), Transport Oakland, and Transform. Even so, they were surprised by the speed with which the City of Oakland moved ahead with the plan, according to Bike East Bay Advocacy Director Dave Campbell.

Campbell and representatives of other advocacy groups are still talking with the city about the implementation of the plan. The city’s web page for the program, called Oakland Slow Streets, lists four areas that will be closed to most traffic starting on Saturday, April 11. Local traffic and emergency vehicles are still allowed to enter while the streets are closed to through traffic. Officials plan to use tactical urbanism to implement the changes. This may include strategically parked cars, traffic cones, and lots of signs.

“We applaud the City of Oakland’s actions that will keep residents healthy and safe during the shelter in place order,” Campbell said. “We look forward to partnering with more Oakland communities and neighborhoods to understand how to best create open space for safe physical distancing.”

Campbell spoke with CalBike from one of the open streets on the first morning of implementation. He reported a street filled with roller skaters, dog-walkers, joggers, and lots of kids, all safely physically distanced. “It’s working well on the first day,” he said.

The test will be in the days to come. Campbell hopes there won’t be any police activity on the COVID open streets. He emphasized that it’s important that families still feel free to use the streets in front of their homes. Local residents shouldn’t feel pushed out by people coming from other neighborhoods.

Oakland Bike Route Map is outline for COVID open streets

Oakland is using this map of current and planned bike routes as the basis for which streets will become Slow Streets.

Will Other California Cities Join Oakland?

Biking and walking advocates have been pressuring other California cities for open streets during this time. Los Angeles advocates have proposed a huge network of open streets. In San Francisco the SF Bicycle Coalition and others have proposed closing John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park to cars to increase space for walking and biking. Officials in both of those cities opposed the measures, citing concerns that they would attract too many people. The Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition on Friday sent letters to officials in cities throughout their region asking for emergency bikeways and sidewalk widenings. 

Emeryville may be the next California city to create open streets during the stay at home order. City Councilmember John Bauters gave CalBike this statement: “As the Emeryville City Council’s Transportation Committee members, Councilmember [Ally] Medina and I have outlined a long term vision that converts public streets into bicycle and pedestrian-only rights of way. We are in discussions with city staff about how to pilot or otherwise implement some of our ideas during COVID-19, including the closure or limitation of some streets to vehicular traffic.” And, with Oakland setting the bar high, some other East Bay cities that had previously refused to create open streets for COVID physical distancing.

We hope that more communities in California will opt for open streets to allow healthy, distanced exercise. And, after the pandemic recedes, we hope that towns and cities will move aggressively to create space for safe biking and walking every day. That’s a step we need to take to mitigate the even bigger looming crisis of climate change.

Bring COVID Open Streets to Your Neighborhood

The pandemic opens up some possibilities at the same time it forecloses others. California’s state and local governments have shown their willingness to make difficult choices to benefit public health. We have all seen how quickly we can adapt to huge changes in our daily lives.

To join the effort to get open streets in your community, support your local advocacy organization or get advice and sign the petition at Salud America!

https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/FullSizeRender-e1609031822961.jpeg 855 1073 Laura McCamy https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.png Laura McCamy2020-04-11 15:22:032020-04-15 16:19:04Oakland Brings COVID Open Streets to California Streets

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