Yesterday Mayor Gavin Newsom‘s office annouced they will be promoting Sunday Streets again this year, the wildly successful citywide effort to get people to go outside that debuted last summer. The campaign closed a 4.5 mile stretch of roads between Bayview and Chinatown on several Sunday mornings to make more space for joggers, cyclists, walkers and even yoga practicioners. Former arterial roadway, transformed recreational asphalt.
Based on a program that started in Bogota, Columbia, the event attracted an average 20,000 participants and bolstered traffic to the many retailers along the selected route. Closing routes to auto traffic is a great way to show people new parts of their city and to soften the introduction into alternative urban transportation. Similar campaigns have been launched in Chicago, New York and Portland.
The event includes many family-focused activities like dance lessons and children’s games and has earned a positive reputation as a community-building enterprise of the mayor’s office. This year’s planned dates are:
- April 26, along the Embarcadero waterfront from AT&T Park to Aquatic Park.
- May 10, along the southeast waterfront from AT&T Park to the Bayview Opera House and highlighting the San Francisco Bay Trail.
- June 7 and July 19, an as-yet-unannounced route through the Mission District.
- Aug. 9 and Sept. 6, along the Great Highway at Ocean Beach, between Golden Gate Park and the San Francisco Zoo.
Here, a Streetfilm of the seminal event in Bogota.
More events like this, with the endorsement of Mayor Newsom, bode well for the San Francisco’s future as a great place to live.
Photo Credit: JohnMarkos at Flickr under a creative commons license.
