Community Music Hangout, a weekly gathering of musicians and community members, has become a fixture on John F. Kennedy (JFK) Promenade in Golden Gate Park. On April 27, the group celebrated its 100th weekend hangout in the park.
Two years ago, in its effort to make JFK Drive attractive as a car-free “promenade” in Golden Gate Park, the City put a cement ping pong table in the middle of the street near Eighth Avenue. The table became quite popular, attracting crowds on the weekends.
JFK Promenade and The Great Walkway, less than three miles, are two places where pedestrians, cyclists, runners, people who are blind, people who use wheelchairs, children, and pets can feel safe and breathe in clean air.
City leadership has been missing in action across a range of issues, so not surprisingly a San Francisco Chronicle opinion poll found Mayor London Breed with less than 25% favorability rating, and the Board of Supervisors with 12%.
I am retired and able to visit Golden Gate Park when I wish. However, there are retired girlfriends of mine who worked many years as civil servants in SF who do not enjoy that privilege.
A Sept. 27 article in the Chronicle revealed “a project to lure (emphasis mine) more people to JFK” which includes installing three 7-foot-tall Doggie Diner heads along JFK, plus “food trucks, places to grab coffee, areas for buskers and even a small beer garden.”
The San Francisco Recreation and Park Department started converting JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park into the “JFK Promenade” by stripping away some of the road paint for guiding cars, bicycles and ADA parking spots last month.
Emptying JFK Promenade of cars has made the park feel truly like a park the past couple of years. MLK remains open for those who want to see the park from inside a car, and buses provide a low-cost way for anyone to visit.
SF’s future cannot return to car centric design through the reopening of JFK Drive, the Upper Great Highway, and Slow streets to automobiles.
San Francisco’s streets with traffic restrictions will face key decisions in coming months, including the approaching November ballot.
I attended the Board of Supervisors meeting that decided the fate of JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park. Prior to the vote, there were presentations of studies that had no focus on the Monday-to-Friday closings.
Private motor vehicles are permanently banned from the eastern section of John F. Kennedy Drive (JFK) in Golden Gate Park, after a 7-4 vote by the Board of Supervisors, acting as the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA).
Mayor London Breed’s proposal to permanently ban private motor vehicles from certain drives in Golden Gate Park will go before the Board of Supervisors soon, however, they might make some adjustments if they approve it.
Regarding a proposed compromise, when has any legally protected group ever given up their civil and legal rights in the name of compromise?
As the City returns to normal routines, with SF residents back at work and in school, JFK Drive is now nearly empty on weekdays.
Richmond Review/Sunset Beacon 