UPDATE (April 28, 2020): Mayor London Breed announced yesterday that portions of JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park and Shelley Drive in McLaren Park would become car-free starting today after receiving approval from the SF Department of Public Health. We are grateful for the responsiveness to our ask in the letter below. Read the Mayor’s press release here.
San Francisco has led the way nationally in taking measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and it remains vitally important that all San Franciscans follow public health orders in order to stay healthy and protect our most vulnerable populations.
However, it’s not always easy to maintain adequate distance while making essential trips on San Francisco’s streets. That’s where the recently announced “Slow Streets” program comes into play. The Slow Streets program closes neighborhood streets to automobile through-traffic but keeps them open to people walking and biking, local residents with cars, and emergency vehicles.
Your San Francisco Bicycle Coalition believes the Slow Streets program is an important, new tool that will keep our residents safe and directly supports our public health orders. In order for this program to be effective and meet the stated goals to help people follow the public health orders, Slow Streets must be expanded to our densest neighborhoods and parks, where sidewalks are dangerously crowded. We wrote Mayor London Breed and our City leadership with a list of asks in order to make that a reality. Will you show your support for expanding Slow Streets to more of SF by signing our letter today?
By complying with the public health order and giving each other lots of space on San Francisco’s streets, we can help flatten the curve and respond to the deadly threat of COVID-19.