The waterhole

Anti-car in Noe Valley

Noe Valley sun solstice crack

From the Noe Valley Voice by way of Noe Valley SF 

Editor: 

Is something wrong with sidewalks? What is the goal of blocking off streets? Is there a problem they solve or a goal behind them? Perhaps during the pandemic they were useful as open spaces when there was nowhere else to go, but what is their purpose now?....

Frustrated drivers circling around and around the closed street, looking for parking in an already crowded area, are not spewing a sense of communal spirit around the neighborhood as much as radiating waves of anger.... 

Having Sanchez Street closed has radically increased traffic on other streets, so made those streets more dangerous. As cars circle three blocks around instead of going down one block, they jam up not just Noe and Church streets but every cross street as well. 

Muck about a car-free city is a concept that doesn’t bear out in reality. 78% of San Franciscans own at least one car. Car ownership has risen during the pandemic, with car sales shooting up 51% from March to May. That doesn’t even count ride shares. 

There is already a large, clearly delineated, easy to maintain, safe space for walking: sidewalks. The sidewalks on Sanchez Street are 200 feet long and about 18 feet wide. That’s a lot of room for a lot of people to meander. Sidewalks have never been crowded, have many trees and some pretty nifty fairy gardens for walkers to enjoy. 

I am sure the MTA would prefer to focus on slow streets rather than the brain-damaged squirrel farm that is Muni/Metro or whatever dysfunctional street map app sends a team of eight to tear up each city street every 167 days to install a speed bump or a new, wrong-sized track. 

Instead the MTA is doing what all political organizations do: framing the problems they create as a solution to an issue we didn’t have. 

Sidewalks do what a slow street does, only much, much better. 

Mary McFadden