Posted inCommunity, Elections, Government & Politics, Parks & Open Space, Transportation

State Commission Gives Green Light to Close SF’s Great Highway to Cars

San Francisco on Thursday received state approval to proceed with closing a 2-mile section of the Great Highway to car traffic as early as spring 2025, and to begin planning a long-term park on that stretch of road. The car-free highway will have separate lanes for pedestrians and cyclists, along with a new continuous bike lane connecting Daly City to Golden Gate Park.

Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Elections, Parks & Open Space, Transportation

What Binds People to Great Highway, and Divides Them on Proposition K

For the latest episode of our podcast “Civic,” we interview multiple people about their relationships with the Great Highway and how those connections affect their feelings about Proposition K.

The local ballot measure would close a 2-mile stretch of the coastal road to cars, and put it on track to becoming a new park.

Posted inCity Hall, Elections, Land use, Parks & Open Space, San Francisco November 2024 Voter Guide, Transportation

Proposition K — Authorize Great Highway to Become Car-Free, Possibly a Park

NEW: Read our analysis of the likely traffic impacts if Proposition K passed and the Upper Great Highway closed to cars, published Oct. 31. See our November 2024 SF Voter Guide for a nonpartisan analysis of measures on the San Francisco ballot, for the election occurring Nov. 5, 2024. The following measure is on that ballot. Proposition K […]

Posted inCommunity, Elections, Parks & Open Space, Transportation

商戶們反對將海洋公路改建公園的提案

一個代表日落區數十名商戶的團體公開反對一個投票提案。該提案將讓選民決定是否禁止車輛通行三藩市海洋公路(Great Highway)禁車,並將其改造為海濱公園。

該商戶團體表示,關閉公路可能會減慢城市西側的交通,以至於損害該市西側的商業。這可能會減少顧客人流量並延遲待售商品的交付。

(This story also available in English. Click to find it.)

Posted inCommunity, Elections, Parks & Open Space, Transportation

Merchants Oppose Ballot Measure to Turn Great Highway Into Park

A group representing dozens of merchants in the Sunset District is objecting to a ballot measure that would close San Francisco’s Great Highway to cars and transform it into a park. 

The closure could hurt businesses on the west side of the city, the group said, by slowing car traffic to them. That might reduce clientele foot traffic and delay the delivery of merchandise for sale.

Posted inCity Hall, Elections, Land use, Parks & Open Space, Transportation

Proposition N — Golden Gate Park Underground Parking Facility; Golden Gate Park Concourse Authority

Proposition N would give the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department control of the Music Concourse Garage in Golden Gate Park. The 800-space parking garage is managed by a nonprofit created by a ballot measure in 1998 that raised private donations to help finance the facility. Supporters of Proposition N cite a series of financial scandals and mismanagement of the garage and say the parking lot is underutilized because parking rates are set too high. They want to amend the earlier ballot measure to give control of the facility to Rec and Park.

Posted inCity Hall, Elections, Land use, Parks & Open Space, Transportation

Proposition I — Vehicles on JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park and the Great Highway

Proposition I would overturn an ordinance that has closed John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park to most private motor vehicles seven days a week and closed the Great Highway along Ocean Beach to such traffic on weekends and holidays. The city would be forbidden from proceeding with plans to eventually close the Great Highway between Sloat and Skyline boulevards — a stretch that is subject to coastal erosion.

Posted in“Civic” Podcast, California, Environment, History, Land use, Parks & Open Space, Social Justice

John Muir, Racial Politics and the Restoration of Indigenous Lands in Yosemite

John Muir has been honored extensively, with his name on many sites and institutions, including 28 schools, a college, a number of mountains, several trails, a glacier, a forest, a beach, a medical center, a highway and Muir Woods National Monument, one of the most visited destinations in the Bay Area. But in the time since the Sierra Club issued a nuanced statement in 2020 acknowledging some racist language in his early writings, some have come to believe that Muir’s legacy should be diminished, despite his contributions to the preservation of wilderness and later writings praising native tribes. 

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