Examiner Editorial: Sunday Streets spread makes surprising converts
Examiner Editorial
March 8, 2009
One reliable characteristic of San Francisco politics is that opponents on each side of an issue will predictably fight on to the last ditch — and beyond. So it was a refreshing surprise that the leading adversary of Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Sunday Streets debut last summer now enthusiastically welcomes the car-free street closure festivals.
Pier 39 CEO Bob Macintosh was the voice of Fishermen’s Wharf merchants angered by Newsom’s decision to shut down The Embarcadero to automobile traffic on two Sunday mornings so bikers, pedestrians and group exercisers could have free reign. Only seven months later, Macintosh and many of his allies are delighted that Sunday Streets is returning to The Embarcadero from AT&T Park to Aquatic Park on April 26 — the first of six Sunday Streets festivals scheduled for four different neighborhoods this year.
Fishermen’s Wharf businesses tried to stop the inaugural Sunday Streets because they feared temporary automobile bans would keep away much-needed customers during the height of the tourism season. Macintosh said his response has become positive because the plan was improved during very productive meetings with the Mayor’s Office.
The new springtime Sunday Streets date and earlier hours from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. are considered ideal for merchants at Pier 39 and Fishermen’s Wharf. “We’re looking forward to the event and to the people it will bring here,” Macintosh said.
The mayor was accused last year of sparking unnecessary resistance from the Board of Supervisors as well as among business interests by presenting Sunday Streets as a finished package and with little advance notice. Newsom and his staff seem to have learned their lesson well, moving early this time with an outreach process to defuse objections from prior opponents.
As a result, numerous business owners in all four areas where Sunday Streets is coming this year — Embarcadero waterfront, Mission, Ocean Beach and Bayview — say they are on board with this summer’s Sunday Streets event and are looking forward to the new visitors coming out to run, bike, rollerblade, dance, walk and work out in the roadways without any worry about being hit by cars.
Modeled after a Bogota, Colombia, program that has been successful for 30 years, Sunday Streets turns major thoroughfares car-free on Sunday mornings to open up a festive space for healthy physical activities. The southern Embarcadero gets its celebration May 10 with a closure from AT&T Park to the Bayview Opera House along San Francisco Bay.
Mission district Sunday Streets are scheduled for June 7 and July 19, with a specific route yet to be finalized. Then the 2009 schedule wraps up with car-free closures Aug. 9 and Sept. 6 on the Great Highway along Ocean Beach from Golden Gate Park to the San Francisco Zoo.
