At the start of the pandemic the three block Hayes Closed Street initiative was hastily enacted and rolled out without broad community review/input or general consensus amongst our locally funded small business operators. While the primary purpose of the program was to aid and stimulate economic relief, within two months advocacy efforts were launched by Hayes Valley Safe (HVSafe) to reopen the 500 block and in 2022 in tandem with the Hayes Valley Small Business Association (HVSBA) they advocated to reopen the 300 block. The street closure programming had been Friday 4-10 pm and Saturdays/Sundays 10am-10pm.
Upon another permit review period last summer SFMTA announced the closure would end. Both Supervisor Dean Preston and Mayor London Breed did not hesitate swooping in to “save the permit ”for another month for political points.
“For now, Hayes Street will continue to operate closed to traffic on weekends as it has since the pandemic while we determine our long-term plans. To discuss the future of weekend closure on Hayes, we’re convening stakeholders, including the merchants SFMTA, & Fire Department.”
– Mayor London Breed, 7.25.23
This kind of political grandstanding is nothing new – both are up for election this year and our “gentrified” Hayes Valley continues to provide political fodder for their ongoing duel for District 5 voters.
Because it was rolled out as a temporary program, the permit renewal process was not clearly defined. Efforts put forth by HVSafe and HVSBA to understand the process was challenging at best; when feedback was provided regarding program deficiencies, SFMTA and the Supervisor quickly pointed blame on the other. While a fair and equitable process was never part of the landscape, there was a glimmer of hope for an even playing field when the Mayor’s Office brought all Hayes Valley neighborhood groups/stakeholders to the table last summer (HVSBA, HVSafe, Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association (HVNA) and the Hayes Valley Merchants Association/Council (HVMA/C)) in an effort to make something work for the neighborhood with an aim on a general consensus.
One month later, those efforts were upended when SFMTA released their recommendations which included consolidating the closure from three days a week to one weekend day only. A frenzy of misrepresentations of the narrative began to circulate by HVNA, the press and Supervisor Dean Preston suggesting that the program was ending rather than accept that due to the program’s shortcomings (which included lack of activation, permit violations, budget and staffing issues and lack of emergency access) the program was in need of being scaled back to one day in order establish a level of success to justify a multi day program.
Counter to its own agency’s recommendation last year at the November 7th SFMTA meeting the board approved a 2 day weekend closure along with a stipulation to “conduct a study within 6 months to implement a permanent closure“. (A detailed summary can be read here).
This Spring the permit holder HVNA (Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association) requested a 6 month delay for the study to implement a permanent closure while it continues to struggle with street activation in order to justify this closure. We have since been witnessing a myriad of efforts to substantiate the continuance of this closure based on the notion that this street closure provides much needed “open space”. This 400 block of Hayes is adjacent to Proxy (which sits vacant most of the time the HVNA hosts an event on the closed block) and Patricia’s Green.