Summertime Weather Swells Turnout for NOPA's Sunday Streets

This time the weather was perfect -- sunny, warm and only a slight breeze -- for Sunday Streets in the Western Addition, NOPA, Alamo Square and the Fillmore. Today thousands of neighbors and friends from all over San Francisco gathered on several blocks open to walking, biking, games, painting, live music, dancing and claiming a sofa seat in the middle of the street.

Thanks to the organizers -- the amazing Livable City with Sunday Streets director Susan King, program coordinator Beth Byrne, the hundreds of volunteers with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, and collaboration with the SF Municipal Transportation Agency -- for an amazing event where everyone could enjoy public spaces and envision a safer, more equitable way to share our streets.

For views of Summer Streets in NOPA 2010, check here.

Sunday Streets Set for Western Addition/NOPA September 11th

Adding more pink, Sunday Streets NOPA 2010 Photo: Michael Helquist

Which bands will play outside Matching Half Cafe this year?

Photo: Michael Helquist

Western Addition/NOPA Route for Sunday Streets Sept. 11, 2011

No sooner did the "clear the streets" call come at the close of the Civic Center/ Tenderloin Sunday Streets yesterday than organizers shifted into gear for the September 11 street celebration in the Western Addition, NOPA, Alamo Square, and the Fillmore. (Perhaps it was low-gear with a day or two off).

A few route changes accompany this year's event after the successful, if drizzly, debut in the area in 2010:

• the west-end still begins in the Panhandle and travels north on Central and then east on Grove to Divisadero with a spur up the Baker hill to stop at McAllister. This year the crossover street, the east-west transition, is Fulton. Still a hill to ride and walk but not the steep slalom Golden Gate presented last year
• Alamo Square will be more directly involved -- hello neighbors! -- with Fulton sidling Alamo Square park
• Fillmore defines the east-end from Fulton to Geary but the route doesn't extend further north or further east

The new route is more compact, manageable and focused. Programs and scheduling are largely left to the wishes and initiatives of residents, local businesses and organizations. But Sunday Streets will provide the usual kids activities, dance, exercise sessions, skate time, bike programs and lots of music.

More information to come but Save the Date and plan your events.

Details:

Sunday Streets Western Addition

Includes North Panhandle, Alamo Square and Fillmore neighborhoods

September 11, 2011

11 am to 4 pm

www.SundayStreetsSF.com

Parking Restrictions

Sunday Streets works so well because it opens the streets to walking, biking, people-watching, bands and kids play. But that means no parking from 11pm Saturday September 10th until 4pm Sunday September 11th. Remind yourself, remind your family and friends. Vehicles will be towed and who needs that?

Sunday Streets Route: East End Will Be Jazzed & Hopping

San Francisco's new SFMTA commissioner, Cheryl Brinkman, at Sunday Streets

Photo by Rich and Cheryl on Flickr

For three years Susan King has coordinated the increasingly popular Sunday Streets for other neighborhoods. She organized the routes through the Bayview and the Mission, along the Embarcadero and the Great Highway. But this Sunday she brings the street celebration closer to her District 5 home. "This time we'll be in the virtual heart, the center of the city," she said during a recent community meeting. "Our other routes have been mostly along the periphery." King added that she was excited to see such diverse programming for the upcoming event.

Monday's BIKE NOPA post highlighted street-rocking activities planned for the North Panhandle, the western end of Sunday Street's route (see map). Today east of Divisadero with the Fillmore, Japantown, and points nearby get the buzz.

Golden Gate Avenue, Divisadero to Laguna

• Live Music with SF Creative Arts Charter School parklett (near Pierce) with music by the Monkeybutts
• Hula Hoops, kids' games at Hayward Playground with Buchanan YMCA
• Teens and Tweens get their own stuff, hosted by La Casa de Las Madres

Fillmore Street, Golden Gate to Post

• Rock the Bike pedal-powered stage and live music at Fillmore Mini Park near Turk)
• Church of St. John Coltrane celebrates 41st Anniversary near Eddy
• So many promotions, music and arts by Fillmore merchants
• Artists of all ages: paint away on the Free Wall sponsored by DPW and SF Arts Commission (all graffiti is good here on a 10 x 40 foot wall)

Kimbell Athletic Field Grand Opening Celebration at O'Farrell and Steiner

sponsored by City Fields and SF Recreation & Parks

• Tiny tot agility course
• Free batting cages
• Trash Mash-up Parade
• Community BBQ and picnic
• San Jose Earthquakes
• live music with Bobby Webb

Japantown Peace Palace, Post at Buchanan

• Bike Rentals from Blazing Saddles (free 1st hour, requires drivers license & credit card)
• West Coast Lion Dance Troupe
• Hawaiian Dance performances
• Yoga and Meditation with Brahma Kumaris Meditation Center

East end, West end: This is a Sunday Streets not to be missed. Look for a complete program in Wednesday's San Francisco Examiner, on signs posted along the route, and from handouts from Sunday Streets volunteers.

Sunday Streets in 2010 to Include NOPA?

Western Addition neighborhoods will be included in the hugely popular “Sunday Streets” next year, according to Susan King, Sunday Streets Coordinator for Livable City. Final details on the routes and dates for the livable streets celebration are set to be announced sometime before the Thanksgiving Day holiday, if not sooner.

Just two years ago route selection for Sunday Streets came down to the streets of least resistance with merchants fearing loss of revenue if their commercial corridors were closed to traffic or, as livability advocates prefer to say, streets open to people. But now Fisherman Wharf and Mission district proprietors compete to get their blocks placed on the special routes.

Mayor Gavin Newsom proclaimed Sunday Streets a permanent facet of San Francisco summers early in September. He announced that 2010 will see “more routes, longer hours, more San Francisco neighborhoods, and more programs.” The Municipal Transportation Authority (MTA) will serve as the lead agency of the program while Livable City, the non-profit transportation sustainability group, will provide a perhaps larger role with managing the multiple-street event.

A route through the Western Addition was considered for the 2009 Sunday Streets celebrations, but other districts – the Mission, the Bayview, and Golden Gate Park/Great Highway -- received the nod instead. Next year expect the Western Addition as well as the Tenderloin to be in the mix.

Will NOPA streets be on the Western Addition route? Too early to say. The routes are decided by MTA staff with input from a Steering Committee of several organizations. Susan King of Livable City added, "Route selection is determined by a number of factors, including community input." Choosing a continuous car-free route for walking, biking, and playing is a complicated undertaking in this city of street fairs, music festivals, and marathons to say nothing of building and street construction. But King notes, “It makes sense to go where the community wants it, if factors such as other events, MUNI lines, and street conditions can be worked around."

Following NOPA's well-received BIKE THE BLOCK party last month, several neighbors suggested a repeat next year and a few hoped Sunday Streets would find its way to NOPA as well. NOPA residents who would like San Francisco's newest fun and sustainable tradition to travel through this part of town should express their support and ideas to the NOPNA Board of Directors at board@nopna.org and write "Sunday Streets" as the subject line. The Board will forward comments and perhaps its own recommendation to Livable City.