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San Francisco public transit officials left Richmond District residents perplexed last week after announcing their decision to potentially allow vehicle traffic on a street formerly designated to remain car-free.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency announced that due to a lack of consensus among community members, vehicle traffic may soon be allowed on Lake Street for the first time since the street was designated for pedestrian and cyclist access only in April 2020 as part of the city’s Slow Streets program. The announcement came nearly a year after the SFMTA’s Board of Directors voted to make Lake Street a permanent Slow Street in August.
“It’s just very puzzling,” said Ruth Malone, a member of community organization Friends of Slow Lake Street. Malone suspects influence from Mayor London Breed’s office is to blame for SFMTA backtracking on their August decision.
“We don’t know if she’s gotten pressure from a political donor,” Malone said. “There clearly has been opposition from a lot of wealthy people in Seacliff that have always used Lake Street as their secret cut-through to get to Park Presidio.”
Parisa Safarzadeh, spokesperson for Mayor Breed’s office, said in a statement emailed to SFGATE that the mayor met with groups on both sides of the debate and “encouraged them to work together to come up with a consensus for the future of Lake Street.”
“Unfortunately, no consensus has been reached as of this time, and we continue to hope that the neighborhood groups can come together,” Safarzadeh said.
According to SFMTA, public outreach conducted on the topic resulted in roughly split results, with 54% of respondents in favor of less or no traffic diversion on the corridor and 44% who felt that “the proposed diverters were insufficient” to create a successful Slow Street. The results of a survey of Lake Street residents conducted by SFMTA in March were overall in favor of keeping the street car-free, with 83.5% of respondents voting in favor of Slow Lake Street.
While the fate of the street is being decided, SFMTA is in the process of approving modifications to the street including stop signs, raised crosswalks and speed cushions. According to Nancy Mullane, a member of Friends of Slow Lake Street, it was announced during a June 29 meeting between the group and a spokesperson from Mayor Breed’s office that the barriers on the street that prevent cars from entering will be removed when those modifications are added.
“It was a very strange, bizarre discussion,” said Malone of the meeting. “They were clearly so uncomfortable. But basically, they said that Slow Lake was not going to be Slow Lake anymore.”
SFMTA said the earliest their board can take action on the matter is in September.
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