San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Uncertain future for S.F. Slow Streets
Mayor’s position murky on politically divisive issue
San Francisco officials could soon make changes to the divisive pandemic-era closure of neighborhood roads to through traffic, with a vote scheduled next month on a permanent Slow Streets program.
The city’s transportation agency has to decide on the program amid a politically fraught environment that Mayor London Breed is also navigating.
Starting in the early days of the pandemic, the city closed 31 streets to through traffic to make space for people to walk and bike. Last year, four roads — Lake Street, Golden Gate Avenue, Sanchez Street and Shotwell Street — won approval to become “post-pandemic” Slow Streets. That decision was followed by community outreach about future design, with the understanding that hearings and final approvals would be needed before any changes were made permanent.
Those approvals processes are coming up in
September, when the board of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency decides whether to keep these roads slow, and could add or remove others. Slow Streets would otherwise expire 120 days after the city’s COVID emergency ends.
Supporters point to surveys showing Slow Streets were popular and the program helped achieve the city’s goals of reducing traffic deaths and greenhouse gas emissions. Opponents said the program was slapdash, creating inequity and safety concerns on nearby streets where traffic was rerouted.
The fight over Slow Streets mirrors other bitter debates in San Francisco about how the city should use its public thoroughfares and how to balance competing needs, with arguments over JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park and the Great Highway equally intense.
Breed has not been clear publicly on whether she supports making Slow Streets permanent. The mayor appoints MTA board members, who have “sole discretion” to remove or add Slow Streets, an agency spokesperson said.
Breed wrote in a blog post last Friday that as a resident she “loved” seeing the impacts of Slow Streets, but the program “needs to evolve.”
She said the city would make decisions about a permanent network based on accessibility, safety and reducing emissions, “not solely to provide exclusive routes or turning public streets into private streets for local residents.” Some Slow Streets routes make sense and some do not, while others should be considered for new interventions, she said. She said advocacy is often focused on affluent areas and lower-income communities are “left behind.”
But Slow Streets supporters say internal documents and conversations with MTA staff show the mayor is lukewarm on the program and her staff has been pushing to roll it back. After months of lobbying from both sides on Lake Street led to a design that supporters oppose, Breed’s policy director, Andres Power, expressed a “strong preference” in a June email to remove Slow Streets signs before the vote in September, despite being told they need to stay to comply with policy. However, one document indicates Breed’s staff supports the programs — her transportation adviser, Alexandra
Cyclists ride on Lake Street in the Richmond District during a parade in April supporting it as part of the city’s Slow Street program. Lake Street’s future as a Slow Street is under review.
Sweet, asked MTA staff in a May email for safety statistics to “bolster our reasons for keeping this program.”
The mayor’s spokesperson, Jeff Cretan, said the city will sunset the pandemic-era program when the COVID emergency ends and create a connected citywide network, and denied documents, which he said were taken out of context and misinterpreted, show Breed’s staff directed the process.
Opponents say the mayor’s office has provided a balanced view of the program, relaying concerns from both sides to the MTA, which they felt was more in line with supporters.
On Lake Street, Breed said the city must “genuinely consider neighborhood feedback” on top of transportation, safety and climate change.
Transit activist Chris Arvin, a member of MTA citizens’ advisory council, said internal documents obtained show Breed’s team has been involved in rolling back the program. The mayor’s transportation adviser wrote on a shared document with MTA staff in April that “we are planning to sunset” Slow Streets and transition roads “back to their original use or into neighborways, which are calm, residential streets, with less frequent traffic diversion.”
Cretan said “there are a lot of theories and conspiracies,” but the city is sunsetting Slow Streets in its emergency form, one of many pandemic programs
adjusted on its path to becoming permanent.
Arvin said the mayor seemed to reverse her 2020 stance, when she tweeted that Slow Streets had transformed neighborhoods “and will continue to do so even after this pandemic ends.”
Supporters say that if the mayor is serious about climate change, we need more Slow Streets.
They point to city climate policies that target making 80% of trips low-carbon by 2030 and recommend expanding Slow Streets. Supporters also point out the city is failing to make progress on its goal of eliminating traffic deaths by 2024, but data shows collisions and vehicle speeds reduced on Slow Streets.
Luke Bornheimer, a Slow Streets supporter, said documents show the mayor is “trying to undo the Slow Streets program,” which he called “a failure of leadership” on climate change and transit safety.
Others are also convinced the mayor isn’t a huge fan. A former MTA employee, whom The Chronicle is not naming in accordance with its policy on anonymous sources, said MTA staff have known for a long time the mayor is “ambivalent” about Slow Streets and Breed hasn’t been willing to support the program because it’s a “political mess.”
Slow Streets supporters are worried about the program’s future, especially after the city proposed a Lake Street design
that advocates say reversed course on keeping through traffic off the road.
Documents obtained by supporters show that before the design proposal, the mayor’s office and MTA staff met and corresponded with both sides for months.
Members of Open Lake Street, which amassed more than 3,000 members on its email list, said the closure made traffic congestion, speeding and pedestrian safety worse on nearby roads. Data from the MTA shows traffic and safety on neighboring streets hasn’t changed much as of February. February data from the MTA shows traffic and safety on neighboring streets hasn’t changed much.
Tina Han and Alison Fong, who both live on streets off Lake, said they didn’t know about the vote to make the closure permanent last year, and MTA’s outreach for its survey was inadequate for people who don’t speak English or are not tech-savvy.
MTA spokesperson Erica Kato said the agency conducted extensive outreach. A February survey showed more than 53% of Richmond District residents, and 83.5% of Lake Street residents, wanted a Slow Street. Fong and Han said they want a comprehensive strategy to meet the city’s climate change and traffic safety goals that addresses all residents’ concerns, such as families who need to drive kids to school. For Han, the issue was equity, since only some residents benefited from a safer road.
Breed met with both sides of the Lake Street debate in January. Her transportation adviser said in a December email that the group opposing Slow Lake was “important to the mayor.”
Fong said her group received no promises then. In March, a day after meeting with MTA and the mayor’s staff, the group told its mailing list that “the mayor has asked SFMTA to re-evaluate the entire Slow Streets program.” Cretan said the statement “isn’t quite accurate,” saying staff informed the group they were already working on turning the emergency program into its permanent form.
In June, the MTA proposed a design with traffic calming measures they said would make Lake Street “less accessible” to cut-through traffic, but Slow Streets supporters protested it wouldn’t eliminate cut-through traffic, which they say is critical to making the street safe. Ten days before a public hearing on the design, Breed’s transportation adviser wrote MTA staff a list of meeting agenda items that included “Moving forward with Lake Street — open it with traffic calming.”
Critics say this shows her staff directed the outcome of a “sham” hearing. The former MTA employee said the watered-down design and mayor’s office involvement were “deeply irregular.”
Cretan denied any decision was made on Lake Street before the meeting, which was canceled. He said the agenda laid out what could possibly happen so the mayor had a full picture of eventual outcomes, but it wasn’t the only meeting where options were discussed.
Kato said MTA’s approach on Lake Street evolved after public feedback. The agency held a hearing on traffic calming measures for the street on Friday, with a decision expected next week, although the mayor’s adviser already said in a June email that the agency intends to move ahead “as soon as possible.” The design could change if the board gives different direction in September.
Supporters say Slow Streets’ future depends on political will and pressure.
“Safer streets are something that we have to fight for,” Arvin said.