JFK Promenade
San Franciscans of all ages and abilities love JFK Promenade.
As of November 2022, it’s now protected as a 24/7 car-free promenade
Watch our video
We protected the JFK Promenade twice
In the spring of 2022, the Board of Supervisors voted 7-4 to make JFK a permanently car-free promenade in Golden Gate Park.
Then, opponents qualified a ballot measure, Proposition I, to overturn their decision. We ran the campaign to defeat Prop I and pass the competing measure, Prop J.
In November 2022, Voters rejected Prop I by a margin of 65% to 35%, and passed Prop J with 63% of the vote, delivering a decisive win for safe and joyous open space.
Kids and all San Franciscans love JFK Promenade:
JFK Promenade has been one of the few silver linings of 2020; a safe and serene public space for people of all ages and abilities.
It used to be a nightmare for people walking and biking:
A dangerous road full of speeding cars, honking horns, and exhaust — not a place for children to play or people to walk/roll.
“JFK Promenade is the best! I don't have to worry. Fishing, boogie boarding and stunts are fun and safe”
- Fabricio, age 8, lives in the Western Addition
Fabricio and his buds have regularly been biking from their home in the Western Addition safely on JFK Promenade to Ocean Beach.
Awful Truth: Back when cars drove on JFK, the city classified it as one of the most-dangerous streets in San Francisco.
If the they get their way, JFK will go back to being a ‘high-injury corridor.’
This means JFK will again be in the top 13% of the most-dangerous streets in San Francisco — a deathtrap for children, seniors, people with disabilities, runners, walkers, and people on scooters and bikes.
How did we get this Kid Safe space?
Backstory
The fight for a safe JFK was started in the 1970s by a diverse group of roller skaters. Museum directors and donors fought them for decades, eventually allowing one day per week of safe space. These original leaders are still involved today.
The current JFK Promenade was put in place as part of the COVID pandemic emergency health order.
The emergency health order requires the City to turn the promenade back into a dangerous, car-clogged street within 120 days of the order’s expiration unless the Board of Supervisors make the change permanent.
Who wanted to take it away, and why?
Who would be against more KidSafe space, joy, less noise, and clean air?
Unfortunately — and behind the scenes — museum directors and donors have been lobbying their political network to turn the new pedestrian promenades into free parking for their museums. This isn’t new, museum directors have been fighting proven safety and health efforts on JFK for a long time. A local journalist took his 86-year-old father for a bike ride on JFK and wrote an article about how he hopes the museum directors will change their tune. Read more about the history here.
A more accessible and inclusive Golden Gate Park
The creation of the JFK Promenade has changed the way that people access Golden Gate Park and move within it. Some have presented real concerns with equal access to this popular amenity for people with disabilities and low-income San Franciscans from far away neighborhoods.
The good news is that there are practical, readily available solutions to the concerns raised about access and equity, many of which are already being implemented.
We take accessibility seriously, and our coalition has been advocating practical solutions, including more ADA spots close to park attractions like the JFK promenade, Conservatory of Flowers, and the museums, as well as better garage management, improved park shuttle service, as well as more frequent and reliable public transit options.
KidSafe SF has written a policy brief containing recommendations for practical solutions to improving access, equity, and the park experience for all visitors, while also preserving and enhancing Golden Gate Park’s most popular new amenity and destination.
For the first time in San Francisco history, there is a safe and serene promenade from the east end of Golden Gate Park to Ocean Beach (green path below):
JFK Promenade is more popular than ever
The Promenade has seen 7 million visits since April 2020, a 36% increase in visitors.
The number of people on bikes — including countless children — has gone up by 300%.
The number of children — playing, scooting, rollerblading, and biking — has exploded.
The new, JFK Promenade is a destination for people of all ages and abilities.
Why are museum directors trying to take this from us?
Directors from the de Young Museum and California Academy of Sciences say that this is about providing their visitors with parking. But there is ample parking — free parking — near the museums, throughout the Park, and along the outside of the Park. There are over 3,500 free parking spots in Golden Gate Park.
In addition, there is a parking garage with 800+ parking spots located underneath the museums.
The museums are backed by some of the wealthiest people in the Bay Area. Meanwhile, the museum directors and trustees don’t provide their employees with free — or even subsidized — parking, and haven’t helped to make it safer for their employees to get home at night. They also don’t use their wealthy donors’ money to subsidize ADA parking in the garage for people with disabilities and limited mobility.
San Franciscans of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities shouldn’t sacrifice safe, joyous public space — the museum directors and donors can use their garage.
Read more about the history of JFK here.
Safe parks are Equitable Parks
“Although people of all ages, races, ethnicities, and income levels suffer the consequences of dangerous street design, some neighborhoods and groups of people bear a larger share of the burden than others, which may contribute to the indifference of many policymakers to this astonishing increase. From 2010-2019, Black people were struck and killed by drivers at a 82 percent higher rate than White, non-Hispanic Americans. For American Indian and Alaska Native people, that disparity climbs to 221 percent […] People age 50 and up, and especially people age 75 and older, are overrepresented in these deaths.”
Excerpt from ‘Dangerous By Design’
Who are we?
We are families, walkers, stroller users, runners, scooter-ers, skaters, seniors, and bicyclists who believe that Parks are for people and that everyone should be able to safely enjoy Golden Gate Park.
What’s at stake?
A permanent end to the largest safe-space for families in all of San Francisco.
JFK Promenade will go back to being one of the most dangerous streets in San Francisco.
More cars, honking horns, exhaust, noise, and stress in Golden Gate Park.
We need your help.
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