november 2022 VOTER GUIDE
NO ON PROP I,
YES ON PROPS J & N
JFK Drive or Promenade?
Propositions I, J, and N all relate to Golden Gate Park and the Great Highway, and our ability to enjoy them as public spaces. Unfortunately, this massive citywide fight over a 1.5-mile stretch of road is taking time and resources away from other more important issues. We support Prop J, which maintains the status quo, because the current closure conditions are balanced: there’s car access to the museums, improved shuttle access, increased ADA parking, and bike and pedestrian safety has improved. Separately, Prop N will allow the City to make the parking garage beneath the de Young cheaper to use for everyone. However, the de Young Museum is capitalizing on anti-closure sentiments and is trying to reopen both JFK Drive and the Great Highway. Voting yes on J and N and no on I most fairly balances the needs of all parties—let’s cast our votes and move on to more important topics.
The Context
The fight over whether cars should be allowed in Golden Gate Park has been happening since 1979, but the current debate began with the COVID-19 pandemic. As an emergency measure during the early days of the pandemic, the City closed off the Great Highway and portions of JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park to traffic so that residents could spend more time outside while maintaining social distance. The pandemic closure of JFK Drive and Great Highway reshaped the way we think about and interact with public spaces, and both the Board of Supervisors and Muni recognized that. After months of heated public debate, surveys, and op-eds, the Board of Supervisors voted to make JFK permanently car-free.
The museum primarily affected by this decision, the de Young, did not like that, arguing that closing JFK is an accessibility issue, when it’s obvious they’re actually trying to protect museum attendance—important, but so is access to public outdoor space and coming up with solutions that work for everyone. The museum is now trying to undo all the work that went into balancing everyone’s needs (Prop I). The Board of Supervisors is trying to maintain the status quo to counter that (Prop J), hence the dueling measures.
The result of all the back-and-forth and the supervisors’ subsequent vote is a solution that is thoughtful and balanced. MLK Drive is parallel to JFK Drive through Golden Gate Park and remains fully accessible to cars. By the end of 2022, 60 additional accessible parking spaces will have been provided since closing JFK to cars and loading and unloading at the museums remains fully accessible to private vehicles. The Golden Gate Park shuttle service has increased service and Muni bus lines continue providing access to the museums and directly outside Golden Gate Park via the 5-Fulton, 7-Haight/Noriega, and N-Judah lines. There are allowances in place for emergency vehicles, maintenance vehicles, and special events.
On the other hand, we strongly oppose Prop I because we do not believe that restoring full car access to JFK and the Great Highway through the ballot is thoughtful or holistic transportation planning. We acknowledge the traffic congestion and frustration West Side residents have been feeling with the closures of JFK, the Great Highway, Slow Streets and the construction on 19th Avenue. We direct this frustration at the SFMTA and City leaders who have missed this opportunity to create a holistic transportation plan for the West Side. The fact that this debate has gone on for two years and has turned residents against each other is a failure of leadership.
Additional Details
The third measure, N, is about parking. Why does parking matter so much? Pre-pandemic, de Young employees had access to free, unrestricted parking along JFK Drive, which is now gone because JFK is closed. The museum does have an 800-space parking garage, but thanks to 1998’s Proposition J, it’s prohibited to give employees spots in the parking lot for free even though they can’t afford to park there. Plus, they’re not the only ones affected by the loss of parking along JFK. Prop N would allow the City to subsidize the parking lot’s rates for everyone.
Paid for by TogetherSF Action. Not authorized by any candidate or a committee controlled by a candidate. Financial disclosures are available at sfethics.org.
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