Livable City is the 2025 recipient of the Community Alliance Award!

CAD_Logos_Sample-02
DONATE

Blog

PRESS RELEASE: SUNDAY STREETS 2025 SEASON KICKOFF

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

April 1, 2025

CONTACT

Sally Chen, [email protected]

(510) 815-9514

***PRESS RELEASE***

SUNDAY STREETS 2025 SEASON KICKOFF 

Centering unity with a full summer season of events bringing safe streets and shared joy across San Francisco

San Francisco, CA — Livable City is excited to announce the 2025 season of Sunday Streets with six events across San Francisco and the fifth annual Phoenix Day citywide block party program. From June to October, the season will launch with one key theme: Safe Streets, Shared Joy. In the midst of political division and economic uncertainty,

Sunday Streets provides the blueprint for everyday people to build community, steward their public spaces, and foster collective safety and well-being for all neighbors.

Sunday Streets take place in diverse neighborhoods across the City, including the Tenderloin, Mission, Excelsior, Bayview, Western Addition, and South of Market. Each event features fun free active play games, cultural performances, health resources, live music and more with the goal of connecting San Franciscans on car-free open streets. Sunday Streets invites local residents, neighborhood groups, faith-based organizations, businesses and more to join the community planning meetings that shape the day.

Launched after the COVID-19 pandemic, Phoenix Day unites residents on a block to build relationships, knowledge, and concrete plans to help each other when things go wrong. With free event technical assistance and block party permit sponsorship, neighbors in every district can take action in creating safer streets and resilient communities.

“Sunday Streets is the perfect way to kick off summer, as city blocks are transformed into lively community spaces that encourage exploration and connection,” said Julie Kirschbaum, SFMTA Director of Transportation. “We’re excited to support this event series, which not only brings our streets to life with energy and joy but also helps showcase small businesses and offers residents the opportunity to discover and enjoy new neighborhoods.” 

“Sunday Streets reminds us that all are welcome here,” said Sunday Streets Program Director Jessica Tovar. “We must counteract the toxic individualism that fuels isolation and fear. Uniting in our shared streets, we create an accessible and welcoming community atmosphere that breaks down division.”

Sunday Streets 2025 Season Schedule

June 15th – Tenderloin Community Block Party, 12pm-4pm

July 20th – Mission Mile Long Event, 11am-4pm

August 24 – Bayview Community Block Party, 12pm-4pm

September 21st – Western Addition Community Block Party, 12pm-4pm

October 5 – South of Market Community Block Party, 12pm-4pm

October 19 – Excelsior Mile Long Event, 11am-4pm

October 19 – Phoenix Day

The Sunday Streets 2025 season is made possible by the following season sponsors and partners: Bay Area Air District (BAAD), Xfinity/Comcast, Anthem Blue Cross, Lyft, iHeartMedia, Into the Streets, and Burge LLC.

###

About Sunday Streets

Sunday Streets is a program of the nonprofit Livable City, presented in partnership with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, the San Francisco Department of Public Health, and the Shape Up SF Coalition. Additional City support comes from San Francisco Public Works, the Department of Recreation & Parks, the Police Department, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and his offices, and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

About Livable City

Livable City works to empower and inspire San Franciscans to co-create an equitable, healthy, and joyful future. Our vision is one where environmentally-friendly forms of transportation like walking and biking are accessible, people have affordable housing and meaningful work in neighborhoods that are economically and culturally vital, and public spaces are healthy, green, and biodiverse. For more information on Livable City, visit LivableCity.org. 

###

Keep Muni Rolling: the Budget & Policy Forecast for 2025-2026

Life in San Francisco wouldn’t be the same without Muni. Our municipal transit agency is essential to City mobility and livability, and key to meeting our equity, economic recovery, housing, and environmental goals.

Yet Muni is facing its second existential crisis in five years. During the pandemic Muni service was pared down to a bare-bones network. It has since rebounded. Thanks to Muni’s hardworking staff and support from the agency’s leadership, Muni has better reliability than before the pandemic and the highest rider satisfaction in over two decades. Some Muni lines like the 22 Fillmore and Van Ness lines have more riders than before the pandemic, thanks in part to transit-priority investments, like dedicated lanes and improved stops, on city streets. Muni is still running less service than before the pandemic. Some of that is peak-period commute service to downtown, where fewer people commute to work daily, and some of that is in neighborhoods across the city.

Muni is forecasting an approximately $15 million deficit in the next fiscal year (July 2025 to June 2026), and a much larger deficit – the ‘fiscal cliff’ – in 2026, forecast at $300 million or more. The fiscal cliff threatens other Bay Area transit agencies, including BART and Caltrain. Those agencies have also recently improved service and rider satisfaction, but are struggling with lower commute ridership and the impending cutoff of federal funding.

Livable City is working with other transit advocates to keep Muni, BART, and Caltrain on track to a better transit future. We are part of the Muni Now, Muni Forever campaign, which is demanding that our elected officials solve Muni’s budget deficit and maintain Muni service without resorting to harmful service cuts. City officials, including the Mayor, Board of Supervisors, and SFMTA board of directors, can and should plug the SFMTA deficit with available reserves and parking-related revenues to avoid more service cuts this summer. Together we are calling on the state legislature and governor to allocate another $2 billion to transit in the current fiscal year. Finally we are working with transit advocates on a regional measure, or a combination of regional and City measures, which will prevent next year’s fiscal cliff.

Muni is essential now, and we will need it even more to create a better future. As we have pointed out in the media, the Mayor’s top priorities, including downtown economic recovery and boosting housing production, won’t succeed without robust Muni service. Our City’s climate commitments depend on shifting trips to sustainable modes – walking, cycling, and public transit. To get to that better future we must keep Muni frequent, reliable, and affordable, and expand Muni service during off-peak hours and in underserved neighborhoods.

You can keep Muni rolling by telling the Mayor and your Supervisor it’s important to avoid Muni service cuts this summer, and even more service cuts and fare increases next year. Tell the governor and your state legislators that you want California to keep public transit strong by allocating another $2 billion this year and increasing support in years to come.

Sponsor Spotlight: Robin Chiang & Company

Robin Chiang, seated at one of his favorite Hainan chicken restaurants

We are so excited to shine a spotlight on one of Livable City’s long-time supporters and collaborators, Robin Chiang & Company! We sat down with Robin for a conversation about how he became interested in environmental design, architecture, and public infastructure.

Graduating from San Francisco’s Lowell High School, Robin was interested in architecture and design from a young age. However, it wasn’t until he transferred to the University of California, Berkeley in his senior year of college that he found a community that shared his values within his field of work. In the context of student activism and Vietnam War protests, Robin came to deeply understand the relationship between the design of public spaces and outcomes for communities.

His entire career has focused on design within the public realm, (libraries, train stations, water towers, and more) focusing on the people that live and work in the space. Explaining one of his projects designing a bus maintenance facility, Robin described how he interviewed mechanics and staff to fully understand how the building would be used, in order to create a successful design. For example, upon hearing that workers spend a majority of time lying on the floor accessing parts beneath vehicles, the decision to scrap icy-cold stone flooring material was obvious.

Many public agencies struggle to facilitate community engagement for public infrastructure, but when Robin Chiang explains his approach, it sounds like a no-brainer. Designers and architects serving the public must listen and strive to understand how it feels to be a resident, worker, or neighbor to any given project. Because at the end of the day, “the community, the people, are the ones that have to live with it!”

Robin Chiang & Company have had great success in putting their words to action with projects designing for BART; the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency; SamTrans; the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District and many others. With a focus on pragmatism, innovation, and sustainability, the firm is dedicated to enhancing the urban realm through the design of transportation facilities rooted in their context.

As we finished our conversation, Robin shared how much of a privilege it is to serve the public and an honor to have their trust with these projects. As he left for his next appointment, he was hopeful that he would run into the BART station janitor emptying the trash cans for a quick conversation. Having had a role in designing them several years ago, he was excited to know how they were holding up.

Robin Chiang founded Robin Chiang & Company in 1997 to design public infrastructure that meets the community’s needs and embodies the unique qualities of each location.

Back row: Maclean Carr; Joe Anglim; Anshul Gupta; Roumel Butiong; Robin Chiang; Eric Petrie. Front row: Victor Payes Blanco; Peggy Chiang; Colin Murdock; David Fung
Very front: Mr. Bobo (seated)

Livable City Receives Community Alliance Award from Center for Architecture & Design

Livable City received the Community Alliance Award, which recognizes significant contributions to the improvement of the Bay Area’s built environment, particularly through raising public’s consciousness of the importance of excellent design in the shaping of our world and culture.

Thank you to the Center for Architecture & Design for this honor! Check out the other awardees and learn more about the center here.

Christina Goette, Deputy Director of Community Wellness from the SF Dept of Public Health presented the award to Livable City’s Deputy Director Sally Chen

The evening featured a discussion moderated by John King, former urban design writer with the San Francisco Chronicle, in conversation with this year’s honorees including Michael Shvo, Founder, Chairman & CEO, SHVO; Rod Roche, Principal, G&M Realty Ventures, LLC; Maurice Woods, Principal Designer, Microsoft & Founder, Executive Director, Inneract Project; Meg Shiffler, Director, Artist Space Trust; Jonathan Cordero, PhD, Executive Director, Association of Ramaytush Ohlone; Sally Chen, Deputy Director, Livable City; and Joanne Lee, Executive Director of Edge on the Square/CMAC. Danny Sauter joined to deliver remarks on the transformative power of community and design.

San Francisco deserves a great Biking and Rolling plan. Tell SFMTA the time is now!

A livable city is a biking city. Biking is a healthy, green, affordable, and enjoyable way to get places. Making cities safe and comfortable places to bike for people of all ages and abilities is key to making them sustainable.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is finishing a Biking and Rolling Plan, which will be the first comprehensive update of the City’s bicycle plan since 2009.

After a two-year process, SFMTA released a draft plan in mid-January. The draft plan represents genuine progress. It declares its purpose is to finally make San Francisco’s streets safe and comfortable for people of all ages and abilities to bicycle for everyday activities like work, school, and shopping, and recreation.

Our existing bike network relies heavily on painted bike lanes unprotected from auto traffic, or sharrows painted in traffic lanes. People on bikes are forced to contend with high-speed and high-volume traffic on many key routes. Unsurprisingly this network feels unsafe for many users, and deters most San Franciscans from biking.

In recent years SFMTA has been building more separated cycle paths, which protect people on bikes from auto traffic and illegal parking. In a few places these protected paths are getting connected into neighborhood networks. MTA also created over a dozen Slow Streets during the pandemic.

Safe, comfortable, all-ages cycling throughout the City requires a comprehensive and connected network, built to strong standards. To deliver on its promises the draft Biking and Rolling Plan must include a consistent commitment to strong standards, a complete and fully connected network, and timely implementation.

Build to best-practice standards. In the best cycling cities, accommodations for cycling are integral to the road design. On roads with higher traffic speeds and volumes, cycle paths separated from traffic are essential. On lower-traffic local streets, traffic calming measures can keep traffic speeds low enough for cyclists to share space with motorists. Traffic-calmed streets are safer for all road users, and are nicer places to live, especially when greening and public space amenities are used to calm traffic. The Biking and Rolling Plan moves San Francisco towards cycling best practice by mostly proposing separated lanes and slow streets where it proposes any cycling improvements. However, the network still contains gaps and some painted bike lanes on heavy-traffic streets. The plan should remedy all those gaps and substandard facilities, even if the right solutions can’t be implemented immediately.

A safe and connected network in five years, not 20. The plan was originally framed as a five to ten year plan. Most recently it has been presented as a 20-year plan. MTA shouldn’t make San Franciscans wait until mid-century for a decent cycle network. Seville, a city in southern Spain with a similar population to San Francisco, built 75 miles of protected lanes on key corridors within five years, and that network has since grown to 117 miles. Cycling in Seville increased by over tenfold, and the city has continued to extend and improve its network. Paris built a network of protected cycle paths, and now bike trips outnumber car trips in the City.

One plan, not seven. The Biking and Rolling Plan carved out six areas of the city – Bayview, Excelsior, Mission, Tenderloin, SoMa, and the Fillmore/Western Addition – to create community action plans, created by neighborhood nonprofit organizations. These plans were released in January and are an important step forward in centering the needs of equity communities. Some, like the Mission plan, recommend improvements to specific streets, as well as thoughtful recommendations about programs, facilities, and enforcement changes to democratize cycling. Other plans don’t identify any improvements to cycling, highlighting a different set of community needs. SFMTA staff have indicated they will present the seven plans as-is, and not integrate them into a citywide plan for a safe and connected network. That’s unacceptable. San Franciscans deserve good sustainable mobility options – walking, cycling, transit, and paratransit – wherever they need to go in the City. The right to cycle safely and comfortably shouldn’t begin and end at arbitrarily-defined boundaries.

Speak up for better biking and rolling. The plan will be presented for adoption on Tuesday February 18 at 1pm, in room 400 of City Hall. Opponents are already showing up at the MTA board, trying to pit safe cycling against other modes of transportation and insisting the MTA scuttle the plan completely. Let the SFMTA know you support a strong biking and rolling plan, with a safe, continuous, and Citywide all-ages and all-abilities network built to the best standards within five years. You can add your voice by emailing the SFMTA board, or speaking up for better biking and rolling at the SFMTA board meeting.



Over 7000 families across San Francisco received a special holiday meal from the 5th Annual Feeding 5000

Over 7000 families across San Francisco received a special holiday meal from the 5th Annual Feeding 5000

Hundreds of volunteers came together on a rainy Saturday morning (with a tornado warning, no less!) and helped distribute turkeys and produce boxes this past December – spirits were high, music was blasting, and everyone went home with a smile that day.

A special thanks to the SF Dept of Public Health, the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, and the SF African American Faith-based Coalition for partnering on this event.

Since launching in 2020 during the pandemic, Feeding 5,000 has become a shining beacon of hope, distributing food to over 22,700 households. This initiative reflects the unwavering commitment of faith-based congregations to combat food insecurity and support our community.

The San Francisco African American Faith-Based Coalition includes over 21 churches passionately advocating for the underserved Black community, representing more than 6,000 residents. For more information or to connect with SFAAFBC, please email [email protected].

The nonprofit Livable City aims to empower and inspire San Franciscans to create an equitable, healthy, and sustainable future. LC leads a wide range of open streets initiatives and policy advocacy, as well as technical assistance on all aspects of community events. For more information, please contact [email protected].

Check out more coverage of the event below:
  • Despite some challenging weather, hundreds of volunteers gathered in San Francisco today to provide healthy holiday meals for thousands (KCBS Radio).
 
 

Bringing back the ‘Harlem of the West’ – an unforgettable Third Annual Fillmore Holiday Night Market!

Bringing back the ‘Harlem of the West’ - an unforgettable Third Annual Fillmore Holiday Night Market!

Over 3000 attendees kept the party rolling – there was something for everyone all across the Fillmore. 

 

The theme of the night was abundance: of food, laughter, and joy. This year’s market featured free cookies and hot chocolate, a toy giveaway and live snow and arts and crafts for the kids. For people looking to pick up last-minute holiday gifts, a variety of Black- and brown-owned retail businesses had booths set up to sell their wares. And, of course, there was plenty of food, with vendors selling everything from oxtails and fried fish to banana pudding.

Thank you to San Francisco’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, Citizen Film, and Burge LLC for your collaboration.
Check out news coverage and snapshots from the event:

 

  • The event is meant to boost the morale of the Fillmore, she says, and to remind everyone that Black San Francisco is still here: “We’re vibrant. We’re not leaving.” (KQED)
  • “The night market is bringing back families, bringing back our community, bringing back the love and unity that we have and need right now” (KPIX / CBS News)

Mission Green Cultural Zone Planning Project

Mission Green Cultural zone Planning Project

The Green Cultural Zone (GCZ) initiative aims to advance environmental justice, climate resiliency, and health equity in San Francisco’s northern Mission District. The GCZ will engage Native, Latino, and other disadvantaged residents to co-create strategies that transform urban spaces through green infrastructure, traffic calming, and public space activation.

The GCZ was developed from the Friendship House Association of American Indians of San Francisco’s Village SF Indigenous Resilience Hub and Climate Justice Initiative, a six-story building that will open in 2026 that includes community space, cultural programs, social services, healthcare, and supportive housing. The GCZ extends the project’s climate and environmental justice goals to the streets and surrounding neighborhood, starting with a pilot on Julian Avenue where the building will be constructed. This pilot will anchor the vision for cultural preservation, social cohesion and environmentally sustainable growth with a crucial anti-displacement plan.

Key street planning project components will include examples such as:

  • Implementing Green Infrastructure: Establish permeable pavement, rain gardens, and street trees to improve environmental and climate resilience by creating a cleaner environment, reducing flood risks, mitigating heat islands, and supporting local ecosystems and pollinators.
  • Promoting Safe Walking and Cycling: Prioritize greener pedestrian movement with traffic-calming measures, improved safety, and car-free days to cut noise and air pollution, enhancing air quality and quality of life.
  • Creating Accessible Public Spaces: Develop safe, clean, accessible gathering areas such as sidewalks, parklets, and plazas, activating streets with arts and cultural events such as a regular “Red Market” that will support outdoor vendor spaces for Native and local artisans and emerging entrepreneurs.

In addition to delivering shovel-ready community-led street design plans, the GCZ aims to build community capacity and city agency infrastructure to implement future street projects. The GCZ will build capacity with disadvantaged communities and improve processes in city government to implement community-led planning in future, through the development of a city agency-vetted community toolkit. Through organizing regular interagency convenings, the GCZ will align San Francisco’s capital project process with environmental justice goals, city policies, and more robust community outreach practices.

Livable City holds a deep commitment to residents of the Mission District and has partnered with communities in the neighborhood for over 15 years on open streets activation and planning advocacy in the neighborhood.

Since 2008, LC has partnered with local nonprofits, community groups, small businesses, and public agencies to host the city’s premier open streets event program, Sunday Streets. This program includes an annual car-free open streets event in the Mission District that is over a mile in length, has over a hundred partners and exhibitors, and attracts over 25,000 participants annually. Because LC focuses on supporting everyday people to practice self-determination in public spaces, the core of each event is an extensive planning process involving dozens of grassroots stakeholders. Over the course of monthly planning meetings, participants have a direct voice in determining everything from the overall scope of the event to the block-by-block details such as local businesses to highlight on the event footprint. From these partnerships and relationships, LC has also worked closely on other placemaking and public space activation projects. Most recently in 2023-2024, LC partnered with the American Indian Cultural District and their sister organization the American Indian Cultural Center to empower community use of streets and empty lots in the Mission District, distributing mini grants and engaging neighborhood groups to bring free arts and cultural events to the public.

LC has also consistently supported environmental justice and urban climate resilience in local city planning for the Mission District. In 2007, LC advocated for the widening of sidewalks at 15th and 19th streets in the Better Valencia project, encouraging prioritization of pedestrian safety and reducing automobile-related air and noise pollution for local residents. In 2010, LC staff supported and organized participation in the Mission Streetscape Plan, a community-based planning process led by SF Planning to identify improvements to streets, sidewalks and public spaces in the city’s Mission District. As part of Sunday Streets Mission in 2019, LC hosted a public policy summit on transit, mobility, and public health to provide education and foster discussion in the community. LC is an active stakeholder in San Francisco’s Biking and Rolling plan, a 2-year planning process to develop a plan for future investments in the transportation network.

Livable City is currently applying for state and federal funding to support this project. If you’re interested to learn more or support, please reach out to us at [email protected] or donate at https://livablecity.org/donate/

 

Tom’s 20th Anniversary Recap

It was a night filled with fun, laughter, and memories, looking back on Tom’s incredible journey and accomplishments. We deeply appreciated your support for all that Tom has done for our community and we are committed to the work ahead. A toast to the next 20 years of making our city more livable for all!

A special thanks to our sponsors: Robin Chiang & Company, Association of Ramaytush Ohlone, Karen Allen & Peter Stamats, and Red Dot Studio.

To make a contribution or dedication to Tom Radulovich, visit: https://livablecity.org/donate/

Tom’s 20th Anniversary PresentationDownload

November 2024 election wrap-up

All the votes are counted for the November 2024 election, one of the most consequential in recent times for the direction of our City and the country.

Donald Trump was elected president, and Republicans took control of the US Senate and narrowly retained control of the House of Representatives. The Republican ‘trifecta’ in federal government, together with a mostly Republican-appointed Supreme Court, will have profound consequences for civil rights, clean air and water, federal support for housing, clean energy, and sustainable transportation, and national and global climate action and biodiversity protection.

Progress towards a livable future for people and the planet remains both necessary and possible. Forward action will depend on communities, individuals, and state and local governments.

Nearly 60% of California voters supported Proposition 4, a $10 billion general obligation bond which will fund safe drinking water and wildfire prevention projects, and protect communities, land, and biodiversity from the effects of climate change. Voters rejected Proposition 5, which would have lowered the supermajority for voter approval of new funding for affordable housing and public infrastructure (including public transit, roads, parks, and utilities) from the current two-thirds to 55%.

San Francisco voters approved Measure K, which will create a new park along Ocean Beach by making Great Highway permanently car-free between Lincoln Way and Sloat Boulevard. The City is moving quickly to implement the voter-approved plan. The SFMTA approved the necessary traffic and access changes at their December 3 Board meeting, and on December 12 the City will present the proposed traffic and access changes to the California Coastal Commission for approval (you can help by sending an email in support by December 6). The southern section of Great Highway south of Sloat, which is eroding into the sea, is also scheduled to be closed to cars in 2025. This section of road will be removed and replaced by a cycle path and trails together with restoration of the natural bluffs.

57% of voters supported Measure L, which would have increased funding for Muni by approximately $25 million annually with an increase on the corporate gross receipts tax on transportation network companies and autonomous taxi companies like Uber, Lyft, and Waymo. Although the grassroots campaign overcame a million-plus dollar opposition campaign to win a majority of votes, it will not go into effect due to a ‘poison pill’ provision in Proposition M, which passed by a larger margin. Measure L would have forestalled Muni service cuts and/or fare increases through 2026. Federal emergency funding for public transit service will expire in 2026, and Muni, BART, Caltrain, and other Bay Area transit agencies will need to replace hundreds of millions in lost funding or face catastrophic service cuts and fare increases. Livable City is part of the Transit Justice Coalition, and we are working to keep Muni and other transit services safe, reliable, convenient, and affordable.

San Franciscans approved Measure B, which will fund street safety projects and improvements to the City’s public spaces, and Measure G, which will subsidize rent for low-income seniors, families, and people with disabilities. City voters also approved Measure E, which will appoint a task force to recommend changing, eliminating, or combining City commissions, and rejected Measure D, which would have eliminated several City commissions and increased mayoral control over the appointment of commissioners and department heads.

San Franciscans elected Daniel Lurie as mayor. Catherine Stefani will replace termed-out Assemblyman Phil Ting, and we reelected our other state legislative and congressional representatives. Incumbent supervisors Connie Chan and Myrna Melgar were reelected. Newcomer Bilal Mahmood will replace Supervisor Dean Preston, and Danny Sauter, Jackie Fielder, and Chyanne Chen were elected to replace termed-out supervisors Aaron Peskin, Hillary Ronen, and Ahsha Safai. Edward Wright will represent BART’s 9th District, and Victor Flores the 7th BART District. Livable City thanks Mayor Breed and the outgoing supervisors for their service to the City. We look forward to working with the new and returning elected officials to make San Francisco green, just, and livable.

"Helping to create a livable San Francisco for everyone!"

Quick Links

Join Us

Subscribe

2024 Livable City. All rights reserved.

Get in Touch

Staff Directory

Darin Ow-Wing, Executive Director
[email protected]

Jessica Tovar, Program Director
[email protected]

Sally Chen, Deputy Director
[email protected]

Tom Radulovich, Senior Policy Fellow
[email protected]

Isaac Santiago, Sunday Streets Program Manager [email protected]

Reina Terry, Program & Development Associate, reina@livablecity.org