Sunday Streets to Return to NOPA, Western Addition in September

In 2010 NOPA found all sorts of new things to do on car-free streets

Impromptu parklet with the Wigg Party on Central Avenue in 2010

Sunday Streets -- the celebration of open streets for walking, dancing, strolling with the kids, and biking -- will return to the North Panhandle on September 11th this year. Mayor Gavin Newsom’s office announced last Friday that the “safe, fun, car-free” event will begin in April and continue on the second Sunday of every month through October. In a press release Newsom hailed the success of the program begun in 2008. “Sunday Streets has opened up miles of City streets, connected our neighborhoods and brought thousands of families and visitors out to play.”

The Sunday Streets route will once again connect NOPA with neighborhoods to the east, including Alamo Square, Japantown, and the Fillmore. Although the specific route has not been determined, changes to this year's route can be expected. In 2011 the route will more directly engage the Alamo Square neighborhood with an east-west street like Fulton rather than last year’s choice of Golden Gate Avenue. Western Addition residents can also expect the specific route to be announced much earlier this year with more outreach to merchants, churches, and neighbors.

Last year Sunday Streets organizers were surprised (and dismayed) when the normally warm and sunny September weekend turned to a cool and damp drizzle through the day of the street fest. Even still, thousands of people took to the wide-open streets.

The 2011 Sunday Streets schedule (subject to change):

• March 20: kick- off event along the Embarcadero from Fisherman’s Wharf to Mission Bay
• April 10: Great Highway and Golden Gate Park
• May 8: Mission route, including 24^th and Valencia
• June 12: Bayview, Mission Bay, and Dogpatch
• July 10: Great Highway route #2
• Civic Center and Tenderloin route
• September 11: Western Addition with NOPA, Alamo Square, Japantown and Fillmore
• October TBD: Mission route #2

Sunday Streets is managed by the non-profit Livable City. For more information, check the Sunday Streets website here. Volunteers are essential to the success of each Sunday Street, and it’s a great way to help people celebrate San Francisco’s neighborhoods.