Automobile-Free Saturdays Start on San Francisco’s Valencia Road

The Valencia Hall Retailers Affiliation is kicking off Saturday a sequence of car-free days that includes native artists and musicians to attract folks to the road.

The portion of Valencia Road from 18th to twenty first streets closed at 1 p.m. and can reopen at 10 p.m. within the newest installment of San Francisco’s Shared Areas program which permits neighborhood teams to make use of streets for all types of actions.

Residents can count on the closure each Saturday till Nov. 18, in response to Tyler MacNiven, vice chairman of the retailers affiliation and co-owner of the West of Pecos restaurant.

This yr, they need to refine the weekly occasion by gathering and implementing neighborhood suggestions.

“We discovered that the suggestions we’ve gotten from neighbors and companies alike is that the road closures solely are finest when we now have road activation,” MacNiven mentioned.

MacNiven mentioned road closure days on Valencia Road had less-than-ideal climate final yr and touring across the neighborhood was troublesome.

“It wasn’t that thrilling—there have been some folks strolling round on the street however it was onerous to get to my restaurant,” MacNiven mentioned. “And if I had bother getting there, I knew different folks did too.”

That reminiscence is one he contrasted with a second the place folks entered the road to bop whereas a DJ was taking part in music on nineteenth and Valencia streets final yr.

“It was such good music and with out that DJ we’d have walked proper by,” he mentioned. “I felt like that is what it’s all about. We discovered it was solely actually worthwhile closing the road if we are able to have performances or have one thing that drew folks off the sidewalk into the road to spend extra time there.”

This yr, the retailers affiliation needs to draw extra folks and use neighborhood enter to verify the closures serve everybody.

“The primary factor we’re doing in another way this time is we’re democratizing the activations on the road closure,” MacNiven mentioned. “We are attempting to get as many individuals as potential concerned with bringing power, life and vibrancy to Valencia Road.”

To date, about 20 artists have reached out to deliver dwell performances or show artwork on the road.

Luke Bornheimer—a protected house advocate who has researched site visitors alongside the Valencia hall—mentioned he was excited for this system to return and nopes it highlights different points needing work alongside the hall.

“Whereas these open road activations are nice and assist spotlight the advantages of opening streets to folks whereas making it safer, the unprotected heart cycle observe continues to be a legal responsibility for folks and needs to be changed with curbside protected bike lanes instantly whereas the town appears into pedestrianizing Valencia completely,” Bornheimer mentioned.

The bus lane curbs within the space current an accessibility challenge for folks with restricted mobility through the car-free occasions, Bornheimer mentioned.