In 2024, KidSafe SF achieved our third major victory: A permanent protected open space for people on the Great Highway
Our success in achieving our founding mission of permanently protecting JFK Promenade, San Francisco’s Slow Streets, and the car-free Great Highway could not have happened without the support of so many volunteers and supporters, including YOU!
We’re also grateful to so many incredible community partners, including Friends of Ocean Beach Park, WalkSF, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, all of the Slow Streets Stewards, the San Francisco Parks Alliance, SPUR, and more who have played an important role in shaping a new era of public spaces in San Francisco.
The Great Highway will become San Francisco’s next great park
We secured a permanent park on the Great Highway through the passage of Prop K with 55% of the vote, a major milestone in our mission. The new Ocean Beach Park is the largest pedestrianization project in California history, and will officially open this spring.
Photo credit: Friends of Ocean Beach Park
We fought for and won expansions in San Francisco’s bicycle network
We successfully advocated for separated and protected bike lanes across the city, including Frida Kahlo Way, 17th St, Polk St in front of City Hall, and more, while helping to shape the Biking and Rolling Plan, which was adopted by the SFMTA Board of Directors at their March 4 meeting.
While we will continue to advocate for a stronger Biking and Rolling Plan, we are proud to reach this milestone, which is the first step to securing funding to implement infrastructure for our complete streets policy.
Frida Kahlo Way
3rd Street
Polk Street
17th Street
We elected sustainable transportation champions to local office
We endorsed candidates in both the March and November elections, and helped elect transit and safe streets champions, shaping future leadership at the local Democratic Party (DCCC) and Board of Supervisors. Supervisor Myrna Melgar, a key ally, was re-elected and is now chair of the SFCTA. We are encouraged so far by Mayor Lurie’s appointments of Alicia John-Baptiste to be policy chief for climate, mobility, and infrastructure, and Julie Kirschbaum to be permanent director of transportation at SFTMA.
Some Slow Streets slowly improved, while others await next generation infrastructure
Slow Streets Stewards advocated for infrastructure upgrades based on data from the network of Telraam sensors that we installed in 2023. New hardened infrastructure improvements were installed on Minnesota, while other streets like Noe faced political pushback to new infrastructure. SF Parks Alliance led the charge on installing murals on five Slow Streets, and SFMTA rolled out a new permit program to make closing a street for Halloween easier than ever, which many Slow Streets used to make for safer, car-free trick-or-treating.
State legislation continues to push San Francisco to deliver safety
AB 413, the Daylighting bill passed in 2023, went into effect last year. Now, we’re working with SFMTA to advocate for a community-led daylighting program, to allow residents to install basic vertical elements in daylighting zones to increase intersection visibility and beautify neighborhoods. Check out the op-ed written by our volunteer Lillian Archer, and the work Richmond neighbors on the 8th Ave Greenway for inspiration.
In 2024, our support for Scott Wiener’s SB 960 helped pass the Complete Streets Bill, laying groundwork to add safety features to streets like 19th Ave, Lombard, and other state highways in San Francisco. While the other bill we supported, SB 961 (passive speed warnings on vehicles) was vetoed by Gov. Newsom, we built a strong coalition with other mobility groups across the state by working on this bill.
Saturdays in the City showed the potential for the future of Shared Spaces
During the pandemic, shared spaces on Hayes, Valencia, and other commercial corridors drew people out into their neighborhoods to shop and dine at local businesses without car traffic. The Shared Spaces program showed the potential of car-free spaces in the city.
In 2024, we partnered with Into the Streets to develop Saturdays in the City, a program to activate commercial corridors on Hayes, Valencia, and Faxon Ave (near Ocean) with music and kids’ activities, like the successful Valencia Beach Blocks program we ran in 2023.
The program drew hundreds of people each Saturday, and is designed to build long-term community support for streetscape transformation and connections with business communities.
Changing the narrative about safe streets
Our op-eds, media appearances, and community advocacy elevated safe streets as a top issue in local discourse. We fought back against Mark Farrell’s campaign promise to put cars back on Market Street, showed that safe streets are good for families, and our volunteers were featured in stories in SF Gate, the San Francisco Chronicle, the SF Standard, Sing Tao, and more.
A solution for daylighting
Lillian Archer writes about a simple solution to expedite daylighting across San Francisco’s neighborhoods: Allowing neighbors to beautify neighborhoods by placing planters and other vertical elements in daylighting zones.
The benefits of bikes and buses for kids
Trish Gump shares one family’s experience of improving kids’ health through active transportation, and the importance of investing in safe infrastructure for community well-being.
Cargo bike parents go mainstream
SF Gate interviewed cargo bike parents across the city for their story about the growing revolution in urban transportation.
What’s Next from KidSafe SF
With the third of our three major founding goals accomplished, we’re now busy planning our next steps. SFMTA is facing a major funding crisis. Downtown recovery is a top priority for everyone–and that can’t happen without Muni and BART. Last year was also the deadliest on San Francisco’s streets since we adopted Vision Zero in 2014. And a new Mayor and Board of Supervisors are looking to make their mark on the city’s future.
There’s so much more work to do to make our streets safe and fund a safe and reliable public transportation system for everyone. We’re ready to go, and we hope you’ll join us!