Dear Friends of Livable City:
Thank you for your interest in Livable City and a more sustainable, affordable, and inclusive San Francisco, especially in this difficult year. As we look to a better future, we are heartened by the outpouring of recognition for the work we are doing.
Community perspectives like this demonstrate that our work still has impact. We are grateful to have your support behind it.
At the beginning of the pandemic, Livable City resolved to help city residents and businesses by finding new ways to meet urgent needs and promote long-term change. We have advanced policy changes and bolstered efforts to expand street uses, provide relief for small businesses, and improve housing access. Looking forward, we see the potential to make great progress towards green, safe, and healthy neighborhoods; sustainable mobility; and meeting San Franciscans’ housing needs. Read on to see what we achieved this year, and what we are working toward.
The resilience of our collaborative partners — San Francisco residents, small business owners, and City officials — to persist in challenging circumstances like these continues to inspire us. As Livable City continues to make San Francisco a healthier and more accessible city, we need the support of our community. If able, will you join us by making a contribution of just $10 or more? You can donate online at our secure website: livablecity.org/donate.
Thank you for helping us to create a more sustainable San Francisco.
Stay well, healthy, and safe,
Achievements
Vibrant Neighborhoods
- Reformed zoning controls on Ocean Avenue to foster arts, culture, community institutions, and small business, creating a model for other commercial corridors.
- Helped enact policy changes to help small businesses recover by changing regulations to community-serving uses and outdoor activities (parklets).
Increasing housing Access
- Increasing housing Access Advanced our ordinance to increase allowable density for affordable housing units and unauthorized units to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Committee.
- Came together with the American Institute of Architects San Francisco to jointly propose recommendations to SF Planning to create more “missing middle” housing.
Reimagined streets
- In the Bayview, Chinatown, SoMa and Tenderloin, we launched open streets to provide residents and businesses opportunities to safely reconnect. While putting Sunday Streets on pause, our neighborhood pop-ups opened up recreational space for families and vendors to recapture neighborhood vibrancy and jump start economic recovery.
- Co-authored recommended changes to public space governance during the pandemic to foster innovation, coordination between departments, community engagement, mobility, accessibility, and equity. The recommendations, co-authored with the SF Bike Coalition and Walk SF, have guided the City’s public space response to Covid.
Looking Forward
In addition to sustaining our open streets and community recovery work, in the future we plan to:
- Make slow streets permanent, create more people-oriented commercial streets.
- Advocate for robust climate plans and accountability structures to move San Francisco towards zero emissions by 2030.
- Promote 15-minute neighborhoods as a holistic strategy for creating a more livable, sustainable, healthy, and equitable San Francisco.
- Advocate for planning and zoning changes to create more supportive housing, transitional housing for the formerly homeless, residential care facilities, support ageing in place, and improve community access to health services and healthy food.
