NEWSOM GOES FOR "STREET" CREDS

I think of SF's urbanist bicycling movement as endemic to the eastern and northern parts of the City. These areas are bay-side and bay-level.

A bicycle commute for a person who lives and works in those areas is hill-free.

The rest of the City is hills, hills, hills.

So I was surprised to see that Mayor Newsom's faux-Green, anti-auto, resume building program called Sunday Streets was coming to my western neighborhood.

The Sunday Streets program once a month closes a street to vehicles for a few hours so that humans (bicyclists and brave pedestrians) can use it.

I thought the Examiner story, Sunset Psyched for Sunday Streets, was a bit overenthusiastic.

And I just have to take exception to its moronic statement:

For the first time this year, participants in The City's popular Sunday Streets events will have the chance to stroll along the Pacific Ocean.

Actually, all human beings who are able to transport themselves here can "stroll along the Pacific Ocean" whenever they like, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

The City has made it easy for people to stroll along the Pacific Ocean.

The above detail of the Sunday Streets event area contains a number of vertical lines:

- At the very left is the Pacific Ocean;

- Then we see a line of beach, which can be walked all the way from the Cliff House south to the county line and beyond.

- Then there's a band of scrub flora, mostly ice plant, in which we see a continuous north-south sand-path, always available for walking.

- Then we see the Upper Great Highway, south and north. This is the actual "street" that was closed.

- To the right of the northbound Great Highway we see a paved multi-use path (bikes and pedestrians) that also extends the length of the  highway. (DiFi put that in, along with traffic lights that greatly increase beach access.)

So, my message is, to those who want to stroll, or even bike along the Pacific Ocean, don't wait for Sunday Streets to return, y'all come on out whenever you want.

Except for those few hot days per year when the masses head for the beach, there's even plenty of free parking.

[The above photo is from the urbanist San Francisco Citizen blog's coverage of the event. Oh, the irony!]

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