In March, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors declared a Climate Emergency, calling for “immediate and accelerated action to address the climate crisis.”
We’re urging City government to walk its talk, and join a growing number of cities making bold moves to address the climate crisis – and become more healthy, livable, equitable, and green at the same time.
As the City’s climate technical report points out, a sustainable transportation mode shift – shifting trips from automobiles to walking, cycling, and public transportation – is the most effective local climate leverage point. Emissions from private cars and light trucks are the largest source of carbon emissions in San Francisco and California. Despite progress in many areas, transportation-related emissions continue to rise, threatening to undo California’s progress towards its climate protection goals.
The City’s goal is to increase the percentage of person-trips using sustainable transportation modes – walking, cycling, and public transit – from the current 54% to 80% by 2030.
Achieving a transportation mode shift of that size in just over a decade is ambitious – and necessary. Cars are the most space-inefficient mode of transportation, so mode-shifting means less congested streets and liberates public space for community uses and greener neighborhoods. Less auto traffic makes our streets safer, and can help reduce the rising number of auto-related deaths and injuries on City streets. Reducing automobile dependence makes us healthier – reducing air and water pollution in our neighborhoods, and increasing active transportation, aka walking and cycling.
Next week San Franciscans have two opportunities to support big moves to address the climate crisis and effect a sustainable mode shift.
Better Market Street
On Tuesday October 15, the SFMTA Board of Directors will consider whether to adopt the Better Market Street plan. Better Market Street calls for improving walking, cycling, and public transit on San Francisco’s busiest walking, cycling, and transit street. The plan will remove private cars from Market between Van Ness and The Embarcadero, which will reduce travel times and increase reliabilty for hundreds of thousands of daily Muni riders. It will also extend protected bicycle lanes along most of Market to create safer cycling.
Adopting the Better Market Street Plan and certifying the environmental report will allow SFMTA to make Market Street car-free by the end of this year, and begin construction of the first phase improvements in 2020.
The SFMTA Board meeting is at 1 pm on Tuesday, October 15 in City Hall Room 400. You can contact the MTA board by phone (415.701.4505) or email (MTABoard@SFMTA.com).
Parking Reform
On Thursday October 17, the Planning Commission will consider Supervisor Mandelman’s parking reform ordinance.
Evidence compiled for the Planning Department shows that reduced off-street parking in buildings is one of the most effective strategies for shifting towards sustainable modes of transportation, reducing auto traffic and pollution, reducing the cost of housing, making our streets greener and safer for walking and biking, and meeting our climate protection goals.
Last year, the Board took a bold step of eliminating minimum parking requirements citywide. Supervisor Mandelman’s ordinance will take an important next step by updating and simplify the Planning Code’s off-street parking maximums, parking standards, and freight-loading requirements, and cleaning up, clarifying and better organizing the parking-related provisions of our Planning Code. The ordinance:
lowers the maximum amount of parking permitted in new buildings in the City’s densest and most transit-served neighborhoods, including the Market, Mission, Valencia, and Van Ness corridors, along the City’s light rail and rapid bus corridors, and Downtown and SoMa.
requires new above-ground parking for four or more cars to be built for easy conversion to other uses in the future.
restricts new new driveways on Valencia Street, and new parking lots along Market Street.
Requires accesible sidewalks and curbs on adjacent streets when new public or private parking lots are approved.
The Planning Commission hearing is at 1 pm on Thursday, October 17 in City Hall Room 400. You can find contact info for the Planning Commission on our advocacy page.
Excelsior Action
Group and Sunday Streets Bring the Vision to Persia Triangle on October 20
The Persia Triangle Pop-Up at Sunday Streets Excelsior. Photo by Young Chau
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mary Strope
O (415) 344-0489
mary@livablecity.org
***PRESS RELEASE***
San Francisco – Excelsior residents have dreamed of creating a permanent town square and public mini park at the Persia Triangle, a site formed by the intersection of Mission Street, Ocean and Persia Avenues in the heart of the neighborhood, for years. As local efforts ramp up to make the community space a reality, the Excelsior Action Group (EAG) and Sunday Streets are transforming the space – currently an auto repair shop – into a pop-up park at Sunday Streets Excelsior, taking place on October 20 from 11am-4pm.
“It is important for our
neighborhood to have a dedicated public space and Persia Triangle has been on
our hearts and minds for a long time,” said Supervisor Ahsha Safai. “I am fully
committed to working with the community and various City agencies to make the
acquisition of Persia Triangle a reality.”
Trees from Friends of the
Urban Forest, games from SF Parks Alliance, picnic benches, live music, and
free activities will bring fun and greenery to the usually car-centric location.
EAG recently assisted community members with the formation of Friends of Persia
Triangle.
Along with Livable City —
the nonprofit that produces Sunday Streets — the new group will be present at
the pop-up to talk to neighbors about and advocate for the permanent open
space.
Despite a high percentage
of multi-generational families, the Excelsior has no public plazas and few open
spaces. Though the neighborhood is bordered by Balboa and McLaren Parks, it
lacks a central, accessible gathering space for residents. Currently, Persia
Triangle only sees this transformation twice yearly at Sunday Streets
Excelsior. However, Livable City and the Department of Children, Youth and
Their Families (DCYF) held a pop-up in July, and SF Parks Alliance is exploring
the possibility of a monthly activation to help build the culture and support
around making the longtime dream a physical reality.
Open streets program
Sunday Streets brings a mile of car-free open space twice yearly to the
district, spanning Mission Street from Geneva to Silver Avenues and produces a
season of ten annual car-free events citywide. EAG develops and sustains
underserved commercial corridors in District 11 through small-business capacity
building, public and private space activation, community real estate and city
liaison services, and policy advocacy activities.
The Sunday Streets 2019 season is made possible by the
following season sponsors: Bay Area Air Quality Management District
(BAAQMD), San Francisco Department of Children, Youth & Their Families
(DCYF), Mission Housing Development Corporation, San Francisco Department of
Public Works (SFPUC), Genentech, Office of Economic and Workforce Development
(OEWD), Sutter/CPMC, Baywheels, Clif Kid, iHeartMedia, Skip, Sutter/CPMC,
iHeart Media, Jump Bikes and Xfinity/Comcast and event sponsors The Excelsior Collaborative, District 11 Office
of Supervisor Ahsha Safai and Boosted
About Sunday Streets
Sunday Streets is a program of the nonprofit
Livable City, presented in partnership with the San Francisco Municipal
Transportation Agency and the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the
Shape Up SF Coalition. Additional City support comes from the Department of
Public Works, Recreation & Parks Department, SF Police Department, SF
County Transportation Authority, San Francisco Mayor London Breed and her
offices and the SF Board of Supervisors.
For more information about Sunday
Streets, including the Sunday Streets event activity guide, visit:
www.SundayStreetsSF.com. For information on Muni routes and vehicle access,
call 511 or go to www.sfmta.com
San Francisco – Sunday Streets 2019 season concludes in the Excelsior on October 20 from 11am-4pm, when Mission Street from Silver to Geneva Avenue becomes a temporary park and brings a season of open space to a close. The celebration includes free pedicab rides for seniors and people with disabilities, and the Rose Ann Harris Pet Parade will honor the beloved neighborhood activist and animal lover.
Funded through a community action grant from the Excelsior Collaborative, the pedicabs will offer free rides for seniors and people with disabilities to tour the car-free route. Known for its high percentage of multi-generational families, the median age in the Excelsior is nine percent higher than the San Francisco average.
Along the car-free route, the SF Public Library’s Excelsior Branch will hold their Tricycle Music Fest featuring The Alphabet Rockers and Flying Angels Chinese dance troupe. At the southern end, dance in the streets to live music onstage from the Excelsior Outer Mission Merchants Association’s (EOMM). Visit Activity Hubs at Cotter, France and the Persia Triangle, where residents of all ages can experience a pop-up community park.
At France Street, enjoy a Market Square and Picnic Grounds, and pick up a Common Cents Passport at a Sunday Streets Info Booth to get stamped (and win prizes from!) local businesses. Keep the fun going with the Explore Local Guide, featuring neighborhood organizations, art spaces and small businesses treasures, available at Info Booths. All programs are funded through the Office of Economic and Workforce Development’s (OEWD) Invest in Neighborhoods (IIN) programs.
Project experts from SFMTA and Vision Zero will be on hand throughout the season, providing neighborhood residents and visitors direct access to transit planners and ambassadors dedicated to sustainable streets in the Excelsior.
The Sunday Streets 2019 season is made possible by the following season sponsors: Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), San Francisco Department of Children, Youth & Their Families (DCYF), Mission Housing Development Corporation, San Francisco Department of Public Works (SFPUC), Genentech, Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD), Sutter/CPMC, Baywheels, Clif Kid, iHeartMedia, Skip, Sutter/CPMC, iHeart Media, Jump Bikes and Xfinity/Comcast and event sponsors The Excelsior Collaborative and Boosted
About Sunday Streets
Sunday Streets is a program of the nonprofit Livable City, presented in partnership with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the Shape Up SF Coalition. Additional City support comes from the Department of Public Works, Recreation & Parks Department, SF Police Department, SF County Transportation Authority, San Francisco Mayor London Breed and her offices and the SF Board of Supervisors.
For more information about Sunday Streets, including the Sunday Streets event activity guide, visit: www.SundayStreetsSF.com. For information on Muni routes and vehicle access, call 511 or go to www.sfmta.com
Vote for a more livable city in the Tuesday, November 5 San Francisco municipal election! Though the ballot may be short this year, there are still key issue to vote on, from housing to transportation.
Proposition A is a $600 million general-obligation bond that funds permanently affordable housing in San Francisco. It provides:
$150 million for public housing.
$220 million for low-income housing,
$60 million for middle-income housing and housing preservation,
$150 million for senior housing, and
$20 million for educator housing.
Yeson Proposition D
Proposition D establishes a business tax on Uber and Lyft trips in San Francisco, and dedicates the funds to improving Muni, walking and cycling.
Yes on Proposition E
Proposition E amends the City’s Planning Code to streamline planning approval of 100% affordable housing and educator housing, and permit affordable housing and educator housing on sites zoned for Public uses, including public school sites.
San Francisco – On September 22, over a mile of streets on Fillmore, Fulton and Baker open up for the community to play, shop local and explore from 11 am to 4 pm at Sunday Streets Western Addition. Besides open space, the event will feature a market square showcasing Western Addition cottage industries and the Dr. George W Davis Senior Center’s famous BBQ – usually only available once a year at the Black Cuisine Festival at their center in the Bayview.
Besides a mile
of car-free streets showcasing all the corridor has to offer, Sunday Streets
will fill lower Fillmore Street with three live music stages, family-friendly free
activities, and health screenings. Head to the Family Discovery Zone for a Play
Streets pop-up, Mobile Rec and Park’s climbing wall and a giant Lego build with
the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families (DCYF). At the Livability
Pavilion on Fillmore, a wide variety of City agencies will create a
one-stop-shop for residents to get connected to health and government resources.
At the Turk and
Fillmore Mini Park, El Bethel AME Church will conduct outdoor service for
Sunday worship. Free bike and scooter rentals provide an opportunity to roll
down the mile-long route, which extends to Alamo Square. Project Experts from
the SFMTA – a primary sponsor of Sunday Streets – will be on hand on to
answer questions about safety improvements in the area.
Neighborhood
residents and visitors can enjoy direct access to transit planners and
ambassadors dedicated to sustainable streets.
“This upcoming Sunday Streets provides a great
opportunity for families, neighbors and visitors to explore the
Fillmore, support the diversity of local merchants, and enjoy the festivities,”
said Joaquín Torres, Director of the Office of Economic and Workforce
Development. “OEWD is proud to partner with Livable City to bring people
together in celebration of the rich history and vibrant culture of the
Western Addition. We encourage everyone to come out and enjoy
Sunday Streets offers a variety of ways to engage with, support
and discover local businesses and services. Go on a scavenger hunt with the
Common Cents Passport and get stamped at nearby businesses and Sunday Streets
Information Booths to qualify to win prizes. Pick up a copy of the Explore Local
Guide, a reusable map of the neighborhood’s open spaces, resources and shops.
Sunday Streets volunteers will enjoy lunch provided by local businesses like
Folklores Coffee Traders.
Don’t miss one
of your last chances this season to see city streets transformed into car-free
space for all at Sunday Streets Western Addition.
Sunday Streets 2019 Season Schedule
March 10 – Mission 1
March 31 – Excelsior 1
April 14 – Tenderloin 1
May 5 – Bayview/Dogpatch
June 9 – Sunset/GGP
July 14 – Mission 2
August 18 – SoMa
September 8 – Tenderloin 2
September 22 – Western
Addition
October 20 – Excelsior 2
The Sunday Streets 2019 season is made possible by the
following season sponsors: Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), San Francisco
Department of Children, Youth & Their Families (DCYF), Mission Housing
Development Corporation, San Francisco Department of Public Works (SFPUC),
Genentech, Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD), Sutter/CPMC,
Baywheels, iHeartMedia, Skip, Sutter/CPMC, iHeart Media, Jump Bikes, SPIN, and
Xfinity/Comcast and Supporting Sponsors
Kaiser Permanente
About Sunday Streets
Sunday Streets
is a program of the nonprofit Livable City, presented in partnership with the
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and the San Francisco Department
of Public Health and the Shape Up SF Coalition. Additional City support comes
from the Department of Public Works, Recreation & Parks Department, SF
Police Department, SF County Transportation Authority, San Francisco Mayor
London Breed and her offices and the SF Board of Supervisors.
About Livable City
Livable City is dedicated to increasing
affordable housing, improving transportation, land use, open space, and
environmental policies, and supporting grassroots initiatives to make San
Francisco a safer, healthier, and more accessible city.
For more
information about Sunday Streets, including the Sunday Streets event activity
guide, visit: www.SundayStreetsSF.com. For information on Muni routes and
vehicle access, call 511 or go to www.sfmta.com
Seniors and People with Disabilities Take Over Civic Center for the First Annual “Getting There Together” Celebration on September 8
San Francisco – On September 8, join Senator Scott Wiener, Supervisor Gordon Mar and hundreds of seniors and people with disabilities for “Getting There Together: A Celebration of All Ages and Abilities” at Civic Center from 11 am to 4 pm.
Featuring performances by Marc Brew and Yuko Monden Juma of AXIS Dance Company, a 300+ person choir of older adults, all-abilities fitness classes, and a resource fair, the event will transform Civic Center into a celebration of seniors and people with disabilities. A stage on the Fulton Street steps of the San Francisco Public Library Main Branch will provide the backdrop for this unique event in the heart of the city.
What: Getting There Together: A Celebration of All Ages and Abilities
When: Sunday, September 8, 11am-4pm
Where: Civic Center, San Francisco (Larkin & Fulton Streets)
Who:
Speaking Program (11:30 am): Senator Scott Wiener; Supervisor Gordon Mar; Supervisor Norman Yee; Shireen McSpadden, Executive Director of SF Dept of Aging and Adult Services; Nancy McPherson, AARP State Director
Main Stage (11:00 am – 3:30 pm): AXIS Dance Company, Community Music Center Older Adult Choir (300+ singers); Dr. Mwanza and Chocolate Medicine; Kotobuki Taiko; and more
Visuals:
Electeds and City officials on Main Stage during 11:30 speaking program
Dancers, singers, and musicians of all ages and abilities, performing on the Main Stage
300+ person choir (1:00 pm)
Older adults and people with disabilities taking fitness classes, playing games, making art
11:55 am: AXIS Dance Company (Marc Brew and Yuko Monden Juma)
12:10 pm: Curry Senior Center’s Samahang Pinoy
12:30 pm: Sunny Line Dance Group
1:00 pm: Community Music Center’s Older Adult Choirs — 300+ singers!
1:45 pm: Los Rumberos de MNC
1:55 pm: Dr. George W. Davis Steel Drum Band
2:15 pm: Zach K
2:25 pm: Richmond Senior Center Dancers
2:40 pm: Wake-up Call by Sounds from the Ground Drumming Group
3:00 pm: Dr. Mwanza and Chocolate Medicine
All Abilities Gymnasium:
11:00 am: Line dancing with Allen Isidro
11:30 am: Brain/Body Fitness with Dianna Rowley (BORP)
12:00 pm: Always Active Senior Fitness with Genny Pinzon
12:30 pm: Bollywood Dance Fitness with Shruthi Reddy
1:00 pm: Chair Yoga with Armando Luna
1:30 pm: Hip Hop Fitness with Carah Herring
2:00 pm: Body of Sound with Alyssa DeCaro
2:30 pm: Always Active Senior Fitness with Genny Pinzon
3:00 pm: Dance Fitness/Dance Party with Dianna Rowley (BORP)
~ ~ ~
Getting There Together is presented by CASE (the Coalition of Agencies Serving the Elderly), in partnership with Livable City/Sunday Streets, the San Francisco Department of Aging and Adult Services, the Dignity Fund Coalition, and Age & Disability Friendly SF.
The event is taking place in conjunction with Sunday Streets Tenderloin.
The Coalition of Agencies Serving the Elderly (CASE) is a nonprofit organization of agencies and individuals who are committed to protecting and enhancing services to older adults and adults with disabilities in San Francisco. CASE leads advocacy efforts to protect and increase funding for community-based senior services in the San Francisco city budget, and inform and educate decision-makers and the community about the importance of supporting services to seniors. For more information about CASE, visit www.sfcase.org.
Sunday Streets is San Francisco’s open streets program run by the nonprofit Livable City in partnership with the SFMTA, SFDH and the City and County of San Francisco. Currently in its 11th season, Sunday Streets San Francisco serves 100,000 San Franciscans of all ages and abilities with free recreation and open space during 10 annual events held citywide. Visit www.livablecity.org and www.SundayStreetsSF.com for more information.
San Francisco – San Francisco’s open streets program, Sunday Streets, returns to the Tenderloin and Civic Center on September 8 from 11am-4pm, transforming a neighborhood suffering from the city’s highest percentage of pedestrian fatalities into a safe, open space for all. Twenty-three people have already been killed in traffic this year – as many as in all of 2018. Many of these deaths have occurred in the Tenderloin, including a 79-year-old woman recently killed at Fifth and Market Streets.
“Twice a year, Sunday
Streets brings safe open space to the Tenderloin so that kids can ride bikes,
neighbors can meet, and people of all abilities can take over the streets,”
said Supervisor Matt Haney. “The neighborhood is identified by Vision
Zero as the most dangerous in the city for
pedestrians, so it’s important to reimagine our streets as spaces for community
– and get a chance to see them in a whole new way.”
Seniors make up 15
percent of San Francisco’s population, but comprise 50 percent of pedestrian
fatalities. Though the Tenderloin
has some of the lowest rates of car ownership in the city, it’s full of
high-injury corridors, where seniors and people with disabilities are
especially at risk of being severely injured by cars.
That’s why the inaugural Getting There Together: A Celebration of All Ages and
Abilities
is so important. In conjunction with Sunday Streets Tenderloin, Livable City is
teaming up with the Coalition of Agencies Serving the Elderly to transform
Civic Center into a car-free party and resource fair for seniors and people
with disabilities. The event with feature an Interactive
Resource Fair, an All Abilities Open Air Gymnasium with fitness classes, and a
Main Stage with performances.
The Main Stage will
be a literal platform for local seniors and people with disabilities to share
their musical talents. Kotobuki
Taiko will kick off the day with their energetic, high-powered
drumming. Marc Brew, the Artistic Director and Choreographer of the
amazing AXIS
Dance Company, will give
a solo performance at 12 noon. At 1:00 pm, over 300 members from Community
Music Center’s Older Adult Choirs from all over San
Francisco will come together to perform a range of music, singing in Spanish,
Tagalog, and English, highlighting the rich traditions of their respective
neighborhoods.
In addition to the
fantastic family-friendly activities at Getting There Together, the mile-long Sunday
Streets route will feature even more live musical performances, a Play Streets
pop-up, and a climbing wall for kids. As a primary sponsor of all Sunday
Streets events, the SFMTA will be on hand on to answer questions about
safety improvements in the area, giving residents and visitors direct access to
transit planners and ambassadors dedicated to sustainable streets. And don’t forget to pick up the Explore Local Guide for a fun map of the Tenderloin to use all year
long.
Inspired by
the Ciclovía in Bogotá, Colombia, Sunday Streets is a series of free, fun open
street events empowering local communities to transform one to four miles of
car-congested streets into car-free community spaces for kids to play, seniors
to stroll, organizations to connect, and neighbors to meet. Over a
mile of cultural performances, health resources, live music, and open space
provides free opportunities for all at ten yearly events.
Nonprofit
Livable City runs both Sunday Streets and Play Streets, a program empowering
neighbors to transform their block into an accessible, car-free open space on a
regular basis. Both programs are sponsored by the SFMTA and other
City agencies, and Sunday Streets would not be possible without crucial services
like Muni bus re-routing or traffic control officers for public safety.
Project
experts from SFMTA and Vision Zero will be on hand throughout the season,
providing neighborhood residents and visitors direct access to transit planners
and ambassadors dedicated to sustainable streets.
Small
businesses, residents, nonprofits, and local groups bring activities,
volunteers, and performances to the car-free routes, with each contributing a
distinctive character and energy to the day. Livable City’s local hire program
employs San Francisco residents for outreach and event-day support.
Transforming
miles of car-dominated city streets into open space is possible through the
collaboration and hard work of hundreds of volunteers, neighbors, nonprofits,
and small businesses. Donate, exhibit, volunteer, or sponsor Sunday Streets in
2019 to be part of a sustainable, greener, and more accessible future. For more
information, visit www.SundayStreetsSF.com.
Sunday
Streets 2019 Season Schedule
March 10
– Mission 1
March 31
– Excelsior 1
April 14 –
Tenderloin 1
May 5 –
Bayview/Dogpatch
June 9 – Sunset/GGP
July 14 – Mission 2
August
18 – SoMa
September
8 – Tenderloin 2
September
22 – Western Addition
October
20 – Excelsior 2
The Sunday Streets 2019 season is made
possible by the following season sponsors: Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), San
Francisco Department of Children, Youth & Their Families (DCYF), Mission
Housing Development Corporation, San Francisco Department of Public Works
(SFPUC), Genentech, Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD),
Sutter/CPMC, Baywheels, iHeartMedia, Skip, Sutter/CPMC, iHeart Media, Jump
Bikes, SPIN, and Xfinity/Comcast and Supporting
Sponsors Wu Yee Children’s Services, Dolby, Asian Art Museum, and SF Public
Library.
About Sunday Streets
Sunday
Streets is a program of the nonprofit Livable City, presented in partnership
with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and the San Francisco
Department of Public Health and the Shape Up SF Coalition. Additional City
support comes from the Department of Public Works, Recreation & Parks
Department, SF Police Department, SF County Transportation Authority, San
Francisco Mayor London Breed and her offices and the SF Board of Supervisors.
About Livable City
Livable
City is dedicated to increasing affordable housing, improving transportation,
land use, open space, and environmental policies, and supporting grassroots
initiatives to make San Francisco a safer, healthier, and more accessible city.
For more information on Livable City, visit:www.livablecity.org. For
more information about Sunday Streets, including the Sunday Streets event
activity guide, visit: www.SundayStreetsSF.com. For
information on Muni routes and vehicle access, call 511 or go to www.sfmta.com.
We are in the midst of a growing global ecological crisis. Heat waves, droughts, floods, highly destructive storms, and rising seas caused or worsened by global heating increasingly dominate the news. Global emissions of greenhouse gases are still increasing each year. More experts are saying we have very little time to start reducing emissions before the damage we’re doing is irreversible and threatens human survival.
And climate isn’t the only existential crisis. There is an unprecedented and accelerating loss of biodiversity and its ecosystem services – “the many and varied benefits that humans freely gain from the natural environment and from properly-functioning ecosystems”. Earlier this year, the UN warned that this loss is threatening one million species with extinction, and endangering human prospects as well.
Pollinators are in decline worldwide, threatening the food supply. An estimated seven million people per year die prematurely from air pollution. After improving for many years, air quality in the US is once again worsening. More cities and regions are running out of drinkable water. These global crises are linked, and mutually reinforcing.
Recently, San Francisco has taken steps to address some of the pressing global environmental challenges. The Board of Supervisors declared a Climate Emergency, directing City agencies to take action. Last year, the Board adopted a biodiversity policy. CleanPowerSF offers 100% renewable electricity to thousands of San Francisco households and businesses.
San Francisco has stronger policies, and some demonstrable successes – from recycling to habitat restoration. However, the city’s progress towards sustainability remains slow, uneven, and poorly understood. This article and the ones that follow will lay out a path to a sustainable San Francisco. Our sustainable path must also increase the City’s resilience – our ability to withstand the upcoming environmental shocks – be equitable, transparent, and democratic, and further San Franciscans’ health and happiness.
Defining sustainability
The most succinct definition of sustainability is by Donella Meadows. It first appeared in the 1987 report of the International Commission on Environment and Development: “to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Meadows cited Herman Daly to describe what that means in physical terms:
Renewable resources [soils, forests, fisheries, fresh water, etc.] shall not be used faster than they can regenerate.
Pollution and wastes shall not be put into the environment faster than the environment can recycle them or render them harmless.
Nonrenewable resources shall not be used faster than renewable substitutes (used sustainably) can be developed.
Meadows also stressed that ecological sustainability was only half of sustainable development; the other essential element is meeting human needs. Sustainable development must “keep the welfare of both humans and the environment in focus at the same time, and . . . insist on both.” For Meadows, the social and ethical dimensions were integral, and the conditions of sustainability “have to be met through processes that are democratic and equitable enough that people will stand for them.”
The Path to Sustainability
In describing sustainable development, Meadows observed that “there’s not a nation, a company, a city, a farm, or a household on earth that is sustainable.”
The trajectory of environmental responsibility, leading from business as usual or conventional practice through green approaches to sustainability, and beyond sustainability to restorative and regenerative life-ways.
So if there is no alternative to sustainability that doesn’t lead to planetary disaster, then how do we get there? As Bill Reed, Daniel Christian Wahl and others explain, progress towards sustainability typically goes through three stages.
After moving from business as usual, the next step is through “green approaches”, which minimize environmental damage in one or more areas, to sustainability, and even beyond.
Green approaches can be considered “steps in the right direction” and may include everything from compostable single-use products to the process of recycling itself. These approaches are less bad, by a little or a lot, than business as usual.
Sustainable is, in the words of William McDonough, “100% less bad”. Various tools and methods for moving towards sustainability and measuring progress have been developed in recent years; we’ll explore them further in a future post.
Planetary Boundaries, as defined by the Stockholm Resilience Centre. The dotted circle represents the safe operating space for humanity. Human activities have crossed four planetary boundaries – climate change, the phosphorus and nitrogen cycles, human changes to the land system, and biodiversity loss and extinction.
For the last two decades, the Stockholm Resilience Centre have been working to define planetary boundaries. Planetary boundaries are the limits to which humans can alter the critical life systems on the planet without endangering the integrity of those systems, and our survival. Staying within these limits defines the ‘safe operating space for humanity’.
Economist Kate Raworth combines the insights of ecologists like Meadows and Daly and the planetary boundaries into Donut Economics. The twelve dimensions of Raworth’s social foundation are based on the UN’s 2015 Sustainable Development Goals.
Kate Raworth’s Donut Economics. The dark green inner ring represents the social foundation for human health and happiness; shortfalls in the social foundation mean that basic human needs aren’t getting met. The outer green ring represents the ecological ceiling, beyond which we threaten ourselves with ecological catastrophe. A healthy and sustainable human culture lies between the two – in the donut.
Like Meadows, donut economics focuses on the welfare of both Like Meadows, donut economics focuses on the welfare of both people and the environment. Providing the social foundation for the one billion humans whose most essential needs are currently unmet is, according to Raworth, not a big challenge to sustainability.
13% of people currently don’t have enough food to eat, but their needs could be met with around 3% of today’s global food supply – about one-tenth of the food that is wasted or thrown away each year. Basic electricity could be provided to the 19% of people without electricity access with just a 1% increase in global CO2 emissions. It would take less than 0.2% of global income to lift the 19% of people who earn less than $1.25 a day out of extreme poverty.
The greater challenge is sustaining the resource-intensive lifestyles of the most affluent – the 11% of people, including most Americans, who produce about half the world’s carbon emissions.
Like the planetary boundaries, sustaining the social foundation – access to energy, water, food, education, health and health care, income and work, social networks, peace and justice, a political voice, social equity, and gender equality – requires governments to devise better measures and specific strategies. We’ll return to the importance of those measures and strategies in a later post.
The promise and pitfalls of Green
While true sustainability is still relatively rare, we are surrounded by products, activities, and processes labeled “green”. Many – like LEED ratings for green buildings – are an improvement, big or small, over business as usual. We can also make environmental progress by changing business as usual; California’s building energy efficiency standards, known as Title 24, were adopted in 1978 and are updated every few years.
Racheting up the minimum standards for new construction and renovations have helped reduce business and household use of energy and water. The state estimates that homes built to the 2019 standards will use 7% less energy than those built to the 2015 standard, and 53% less when required rooftop solar electrical generation is factored in.
Green approaches also have pitfalls. One of them is greenwashing – deceptively promoting products, activities, or policies as environmentally-friendly when they actually increase harm. A recent example is the growing crisis around plastics recycling. Fossil fuels – oil, natural gas, and coal – account for 99% of what goes into making plastic. As the use of plastics, particularly single-use plastics, has increased, governments and the plastics industry encouraged plastics recycling.
Recycling plastics seems far less damaging than incinerating plastics or burying them in a landfill, and cities like San Francisco prided themselves on the tonnage of plastics diverted from landfills, and even counted landfill diversion towards their greenhouse gas reduction goals. The problem with plastics recycling is that most plastic can’t actually be recycled; much of what is called plastics recycling is actually downcycling.
Downcycled materials, like second-generation plastics, are typically of lower quality and functionality than the original material, so a plastic water bottle might end up in a speed bump or a park bench but is unlikely to end up as a new water bottle. Only 9% of plastics worldwide are collected for recycling, and the majority of plastics collected for recycling won’t be recycled, or even downcycled. China’s refusal to accept the US’ plastic trash has caused plastics to pile up in recycling centers; most if it will likely be burned, end up in landfills, be illegally dumped, or get shipped to poor countries where much of it will still be burned or dumped.
Tiny bits of plastic, known as microplastics, are an increasing danger to human health, since they can find their way into our bodies, and even our bloodstream. Recycling plastics – for example, turning milk bottles into plastic fabric – can actually increase exposure microplastics pollution. Plastics recycling has turned out to be more of a dead end than a path to sustainability.
One thing plastics recycling did do is make people feel better about consuming ever-increasing amounts of plastic. Plastic production continues to increase exponentially; over half the plastics produced in human history have been produced since 2000.
What if we had been unwilling to accept the dubious ‘less bad’ arguments made for plastics recycling, and insisted on a more sustainable path? A better solution would phase out the use of fossil-fuel based, non-compostable or non-recyclable plastics, and reduce use of throwaway plastics. Countries around the world have done this for single-use plastic bags, as has San Francisco by banning plastic water bottle sales on city property.
There are other examples of how ‘less bad’ approaches can actually move us further from sustainability; we’ll explore those pitfalls, and how get back on a sustainable path, in future posts.
UNDISCOVERED at Sunday Streets SoMa 2018 by Young Chau
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Mary Strope, Communications Manager O (415) 344-0489 mary@livablecity.org
**PRESS RELEASE** Undiscovered Night Market Brings Island Vibes to Sunday Streets SoMa on August 18 and Honors Local Hero and Olympian Victoria Manalo Draves
San Francisco – For the second year, nonprofit Livable City is partnering with UNDISCOVERED SF Creative Night Market to bring third-wave Filipino food, live music, vendors and art to Sunday Streets SoMa on August 18 from 11am- 4pm. UNDISCOVERED will take over Folsom from 6th to 7th Street, transforming a street usually filled with car traffic into an open space with activities, performance and a celebration of the neighborhood’s Filipino community.
Though open streets program Sunday Streets does not typically host vendors, the partnership between the two community-focused organizations was a natural fit, as Livable City supports UNDISCOVERED SF’s strategy to build a thriving new commercial corridor in the SOMA Pilipinas cultural district by 2020.
“After the huge success of last year’s Sunday Street’s SoMa debut and partnership, Livable City is so excited to welcome back UNDISCOVERED SF to take over the streets to further the visibility of the SOMA Pilipinas Cultural Heritage District,” said Livable City Associate Director Katy Birnbaum.
UNDISCOVERED SF is a nonprofit venture designed to jump-start economic activity and public awareness of SOMA Pilipinas, a historic and living cultural heritage district with ongoing new generations of migrant workers and immigrant families forming the lifeblood of the South of Market.
The struggle to make home, celebrate culture, build community and fight for economic and social justice is the story and inspiration of SOMA Pilipinas, who represents a diverse selection of service groups, small businesses and parks that have served the neighborhood’s thriving Filipino community for decades.
After the Filipino community’s recent City Hall win to keep Victoria Manalo Draves (VMD) park a sunny public space unshadowed by development, SOMA Pilipinas is celebrating by taking over the park and the streets to celebrate local hero VMD. Draves became the first American woman to win two gold medals in diving, and the first Asian American to win Olympic gold medals. A live painting in honor of VMD, who was from the South of Market neighborhood, will take place during the event.
Headliners on the UNDSCVRD stage at Sunday Streets include veteran Bay Area reggae band ‘Native Elements’, and ‘Dakila’ the first Filipino-American band to sign a major record deal in 1972; the band was born out of the Mission District. Rounding out the music lineup is Oakland-based collective Astig, mixing a tribute to Original Pilipino Music (OPM), while turntablist DJ DonDon will scratch his way to the top with his hip-hop vibes.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to showcase the past, present, and future of Filipino-American talent at Undiscovered SF.” said UNDSCVRD Music Curator Marky Enriquez. “To be able to feature Dakila, who toured with the likes of Malo, Cal Tjader, Jose Feliciano and Cheech and Chong in the 70’s, and a Bay Area staple from the present, like Native Elements, on the same stage is what Undiscovered is all about, and that’s bridging generations.”
Spanning Folsom from Essex to 10th Street, Sunday Streets car-free route connects western SoMa with the Financial District for attendees to reimagine their city streets as accessible, public and car-free spaces for all.
Inspired by the Ciclovía in Bogotá, Colombia, Sunday Streets is a series of free, fun events empowering local communities to transform one to four miles of car-congested streets into car-free community spaces for kids to play, seniors to stroll, organizations to connect and neighbors to meet.
Nonprofit Livable City runs both Sunday Streets and Play Streets, a program empowering neighbors to transform their block into an accessible, car-free open space on a regular basis for children, seniors, and neighbors to enjoy. Both programs are sponsored by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, as well as other City agencies, and Sunday Streets would not be possible without crucial services like Muni bus re-routing or traffic control officers for public safety.
Project experts from SFMTA and Vision Zero will be on hand throughout the season, providing neighborhood residents and visitors direct access to transit planners and ambassadors dedicated to sustainable streets.
Small businesses, residents, nonprofits and local groups bring activities, volunteers and performances to the car-free routes, with each contributing a distinctive character and energy to the day. A local hire program employs San Francisco residents for outreach and event-day support.
Transforming miles of car-dominated City streets into open space is possible through the collaboration and hard work of hundreds of volunteers, neighbors, nonprofits and small businesses. Donate, exhibit, volunteer or sponsor Sunday Streets in 2019 to be part of a sustainable, greener and more accessible future. For more information, visit www.SundayStreetsSF.com.
Sunday Streets 2019 Season Schedule – Upcoming Events August 18 – SoMa September 8 – Tenderloin 2 September 22 – Western Addition October 20 – Excelsior 2
The Sunday Streets 2019 season is made possible by the following season sponsors: Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), San Francisco Department of Children, Youth & Their Families (DCYF), Mission Housing Development Corporation, SF Recreation and Parks Department, San Francisco Department of Public Works (SFPUC), Genentech, Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD), Sutter/CPMC, SF Parks Alliance, iHeartMedia, Skip, Sutter/CPMC, Bay Wheels, and Xfinity/Comcast and event sponsor Clif Kid
About Sunday Streets Sunday Streets is a program of the nonprofit Livable City, presented in partnership with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the Shape Up SF Coalition. Additional City support comes from the Department of Public Works, Recreation & Parks Department, SF Police Department, SF County Transportation Authority, San Francisco Mayor London Breed and her offices and the SF Board of Supervisors.
About Livable City Livable City is dedicated to increasing affordable housing, improving transportation, land use, open space, and environmental policies, and supporting grassroots initiatives to make San Francisco a safer, healthier, and more accessible city. For more information on Livable City, visit: https://livablecity.org. For more information about Sunday Streets, including the Sunday Streets event activity guide, visit: www.SundayStreetsSF.com. For information on Muni routes and vehicle access, call 511 or go to www.sfgov.org/311.
San Francisco –Nonprofit Livable City is thrilled to bring over a mile of open space to Folsom Street with Sunday Streets SoMa on Sunday, August 18 from 11am- 4pm. Spanning Folsom from Essex to 10th Street, the car-free route connects western SoMa with the Financial District for attendees to reimagine their city streets as accessible, public and car-free spaces for all.
“Seeing open streets filled with children
playing and space for everyone – right next to downtown skyscrapers – shows us
a new safe, walkable vision of what our City could be,” said Livable City Associate
Director Katy Birnbaum.
Following on the success of last year’s debut,
Sunday Streets SoMa continues partnerships with the Leather and LGBTQ Cultural
District, honoring the area’s past and present as a haven for the queer and
kink communities, and the SOMA Pilipinas, which represents a diverse selection
of service groups, small businesses and parks that have served the neighborhood’s
thriving Filipino community for decades.
Livable City is also excited to work with the corridor’s
Community Benefit Districts – including the East Cut and Yerba Buena – to
create an event encouraging neighbors to come celebrate in the streets and
learn about the area’s cultural institutions, community resources, small
businesses, and civic engagement opportunities.
Visit Folsom between Sixth
and Seventh Streets for a Filipino food market hosted by SOMA Pilipinas Filipino Cultural Heritage District and Undiscovered
SF with live music, food vendors and a marketplace celebrating the area’s
Filipino community.
At Second and Essex Street,
The East Cut Community Benefit District’s hub will feature a dog fashion show
and music from the SF Rock Project, while Yerba Buena CBD’s Arts and Culture hub
between Fourth and Fifth will celebrate with the Gay and Lesbian Freedom
Marching Band and 1111 Minna Gallery. Between 9th and 10th
Streets, the Leather Hub hosted by the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District will
bring music, resources and information about the area’s history.
Inspired by the Ciclovía
in Bogotá, Colombia, Sunday Streets is a series of free, fun events empowering
local communities to transform one to four miles of car-congested streets into
car-free community spaces for kids to play, seniors to stroll, organizations to
connect and neighbors to meet.
Nonprofit Livable City
runs both Sunday Streets and Play Streets, a program empowering neighbors to transform
their block into an accessible, car-free open space on a regular basis for
children, seniors, and neighbors to enjoy. Both programs are sponsored by
the San
Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, as well as other City
agencies, and Sunday Streets would not be possible without crucial services
like Muni bus re-routing or traffic control officers for public safety.
Project experts from SFMTA
and Vision Zero will be on hand throughout the season, providing neighborhood
residents and visitors direct access to transit planners and ambassadors
dedicated to sustainable streets.
Small businesses, residents, nonprofits and local
groups bring activities, volunteers and performances to the car-free routes,
with each contributing a distinctive character and energy to the day. A local
hire program employs San Francisco residents for outreach and event-day
support.
Transforming miles of car-dominated City streets
into open space is possible through the collaboration and hard work of hundreds
of volunteers, neighbors, nonprofits and small businesses. Donate, exhibit,
volunteer or sponsor Sunday Streets in 2019 to be part of a sustainable, greener
and more accessible future. For more information, visit
www.SundayStreetsSF.com.
Sunday Streets
2019 Season Schedule
March 10 – Mission 1
March 31 – Excelsior 1
April 14 – Tenderloin 1
May 5 –
Bayview/Dogpatch
June 9 – Sunset/GGP
July 14 – Mission 2
August 18 – SoMa
September 8 – Tenderloin 2
September 22 – Western
Addition
October 20 – Excelsior 2
– MORE –
The Sunday Streets 2019 season is made possible by the
following season sponsors: Bay Area Air Quality Management District
(BAAQMD), San Francisco Department of Children, Youth & Their Families
(DCYF), Mission Housing Development Corporation, SF Recreation and Parks
Department, San Francisco Department of Public Works (SFPUC), Genentech, Office
of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD), Sutter/CPMC, Golden State
Warriors, iHeartMedia, Skip, Sutter/CPMC, Bay Wheels, and Xfinity/Comcast
About Sunday Streets
Sunday Streets is a program of the
nonprofit Livable City, presented in partnership with the San Francisco
Municipal Transportation Agency and the San Francisco Department of Public
Health and the Shape Up SF Coalition. Additional City support comes from the
Department of Public Works, Recreation & Parks Department, SF Police
Department, SF County Transportation Authority, San Francisco Mayor London
Breed and her offices and the SF Board of Supervisors.
About Livable City
Livable City is dedicated to increasing
affordable housing, improving transportation, land use, open space, and
environmental policies, and supporting grassroots initiatives to make San
Francisco a safer, healthier, and more accessible city. For more information on
Livable City, visit:https://livablecity.org. For more
information about Sunday Streets, including the Sunday Streets event activity
guide, visit: www.SundayStreetsSF.com. For information on Muni routes and
vehicle access, call 511 or go towww.sfgov.org/311.
