Closing JFK to cars and the anti-car movement

The NY Times on the push to close JFK Drive to cars:

When the pandemic forced Americans indoors last spring, many people stopped driving....Now, as the country begins to approach a return to normalcy, cities are considering whether to reopen so-called slow streets to cars, and transportation activists are fighting to keep the rapid gains they made in what has been a decades-long battle against the automobile.

The Times muddles its terms but gets it half-right: These "transportation activists" have long been fighting "against the automobile." That is, this movement---cyclists, Streetsblog, Walk SF, et al---is anti-car. 

The city seized on the pandemic as an excuse to continue making it hard to drive and park those wicked motor vehicles in the city with its bogus Slow Streets policy, as if that medical emergency had anything to do with city traffic.

The Times:

In San Francisco, that debate centers on a stretch of road in Golden Gate Park, where a 1.5-mile swath of John F. Kennedy Drive was closed to cars during the pandemic. Advocacy groups point to a huge spike in foot traffic and cycling in the park over the last year and a significant reduction in car crashes as reasons the road should remain closed to cars.

Has there been "a significant reduction in car crashes" on JFK Drive? Not surprising that neither the city nor the anti-car "activists" show little interest in actually dealing with the facts. How many car accidents have actually happened on this street and who was responsible? For historical perspective, see How safe are city streets?

City Hall never provides that information when it and anti-car activists claim to be interested in safe city streets.

More from the Times story:

But the museums that occupy the park worry that a continued closure could make it more difficult for people to find parking spaces and visit their galleries....The de Young Museum and the Academy of Sciences, both nestled near J.F.K. Drive, say the situation is not so simple. The street closures eliminated nearly one thousand parking spaces, including a handful of disabled spaces....Closing J.F.K. Drive “is cutting off the ability to access that area of the park, including the de Young museum, to whole swaths of the community, especially those who are not able to walk or bike,” said Miriam Newcomer, the de Young Museum’s director of communications.

Ms. Newcomer said she was particularly concerned about seniors and those with disabilities getting to the museum without ample parking nearby. There is a nearby underground parking garage, but she said the $33 charge — not decided by the museums — is prohibitive for many.

$33 to park in the Concourse garage? If true that's outrageous and surely limits the ability of working people to access the museums and that part of the park:

Last week, the supervisors accepted a report on the park from the Transportation Authority and agreed to spend several months surveying residents and studying the issue before making a call. Some supervisors have praised the road closures, while others have worried the shutdowns are hampering people of color from visiting Golden Gate Park.....

No, access to the park seems to be class-based as per the above---and also biased against the elderly and the handicapped. 

What is the "Transportation Authority" referred to here? It's the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA), not to be confused with the SFMTA and the Muni system. 

I've posted a lot over the years about this agency. It's primary mission has been advocating Congestion Pricing, the ultimate anti-car policy that will not only penalize drivers of those wicked motor vehicles but will provide City Hall with a lot of money to pay for its growing bureaucracy: The anti-car dream: Congestion Pricing).

From a recent SF Chronicle story:

Thomas Campbell, director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, said JFK Drive should be reopened to cars “as soon as possible” while the city studies the issue, saying its closure has limited visitors’ and staff’s access to the de Young Museum and hampered its logistical operations.

“Advocates for closure of JFK have taken advantage of COVID and the temporary Safe Streets closure of JFK to push their agenda for permanent closure in part by creating a false sense of crisis that is based on distorted statistics and unsubstantiated emotional rhetoric,” Campbell said.

Supervisor Mar refers to the cumulative impact on neighborhoods of closing city streets:

Others in opposition to car-free JFK Drive said the street’s closure and other pandemic-related street alterations such as closing traffic to part of JFK Drive and the Upper Great Highway, and Slow Streets, have created more road congestion on neighboring streets.

“The frustration many are feeling about these changes isn’t about a single street, it’s about the cumulative disruptions on travel patterns,” said Supervisor Gordon Mar, who represents the Sunset District south of the park.

Mar and the Board of Supervisors should put this issue on the ballot so city voters could finally have a vote on how City Hall and the anti-car movement are in effect making the city less livable based on "distorted statistics and unsubstantiated emotional rhetoric."

See also Push to make street closures permanent meets with resistance and The Concourse then and now.