Category: Complete Streets

San Francisco’s Car-Free Roots

Human beings have been carving roads and paths for eons, but it’s easy to forget that cars are quite new. Before automobiles, roads were shared spaces – open to pedestrians, vendors and modes of transport like horses and buggies.

2017: The Year in Livability

We knew going into it that 2017 would be an eventful year, and a pivotal one for sustainability, equity, and livability. Here are some of the highlights, breakdowns, and breakthroughs which shaped San Francisco’s livability in 2017. Donald Trump vs. the Planet Donald Trump and the Republican congress led an unprecedented assault on federal environmental…

Livable City’s 2016 General Election Recommendations

Livable City has taken a position on 12 of the 42 local, regional, and state ballot measures on this November’s ballot. Livable City recommends the following measures: Yes on Proposition RR – BART Safety, Reliability, and Traffic Relief If you live anywhere near the Bay Area, ride transit, or read the news, you know the BART…

Ridge Lane, SF’s Newest Street Park

On Saturday June 18, neighbors and city officials dedicated the first block of a new street park on Ridge Lane in the City’s Ocean View neighborhood. The project transformed a dirt path on a narrow public right-of-way into a linear park, with an accessible path, new lighting, benches, and landscaping. It was designed by Nahal Sohbati…

Planning Commission Approves Better Environmental Review Standards

On Thursday March 3, San Francisco’s Planning Commission unanimously approved an essential, and long overdue, change to the way it reviews projects under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The Commission replaced automobile level of service (LOS), a measure of automobile delay at intersections, with vehicle miles travelled (VMT) as their chief transportation measure for analyzing projects. This…

2015 in Review: The Year in Livability

San Francisco faced big challenges with equity and affordability in 2015. Still, the city made major progress by building and preserving affordable housing, planning better neighborhoods, reclaiming streets for people, making room for nature, lessening automobile dependence, and fostering a shift towards sustainable transportation. Let’s take a look at the year in livability: San Francisco’s Voice for…

Curbing the Caltrain Cluster

Livable City is proud to announce it is a recipient of the Just Transit SF grant. The grant was administered by the 11th Hour Project, a program of the Schmidt Family Foundation. Livable City, in partnership with Lyft, and in coordination with SFMTA, Caltrain, and other agencies and stakeholders, will immediately begin work to reduce…

Streets as Public Spaces: A Resource Guide

Our December 10 Forum on Streets as Public Spaces features the foremost leaders in reclaiming streets as public spaces. Here’s Livable City’s resource guide to reshaping our urban landscape. San Francisco Resources Sunday Streets, a program of Livable City, is San Francisco’s pre-eminent program reclaiming streets as community public spaces. The Stormwater Design Guidelines, published by the San…

The Perils of Planning by Exception

Two big private developments won important approvals in the last month – one from the voters, and the other from the Board of Supervisors. Voters approved Proposition D, approving a height limit increase for the Mission Rock Development on San Francisco’s waterfront, as well as a host of policies related to the development. The Board of Supervisors approved…

Transformative Transbay

The Transbay Transit Center project, along with Caltrain’s planned modernization, promises to be one of the most transformative infrastructure projects for San Francisco and the region in both the near term and for years to come. Phase One of the Transbay Transit Center project is scheduled to open in 2017. It includes an elevated regional bus terminal, connected…

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