NOPA got an even better car-free deal out of the block closures for
Halloween.
The neighborhood association, NOPNA, paid the application fee ($150!) to
close
two east-west blocks and then SFPD requested that the two north-south
blocks
in the middle be closed as well to make it all safer. 300 people were
walking
about on all four blocks plus two more back and forth to get to kids
parties in a local
restaurant.
What's really needed is for MTA to reduce the application fee for 1-2
block neighborhood parties. (NY charges $15 for the basic
permit),
streamline the process, and, you know, actually....encourage car-free
events.
Michael Helquist
From: Jym Dyer <j...@econet.org>
To: sfb...@lists.riseup.net
Date: Sat,
31 Oct 2009 22:48:17 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [sfbike] Carfree
Trick-or-Treats in NOPA
=v= Like a plague of wheeled locusts, cars swarmed
into the
upper Haight and Cole Valley this evening, rushing around
all
inattentively, looking for parking, and never mind all the
little kids
trick-or-treating. It was completely nuts!
=v= It occurred to me
that Hallowe'en night is probably a very
good time to get a block party
permit and close off the streets,
just to keep these kids alive. Then I
hopped on my bike and
coincidentally discovered that folks in NOPA had
already come
up with the idea and implemented it! Check it
out:
http://ibikenopa.blogspot.com/2009/10/ghoulish-car-free-grove-set-to-spook.html
=v=
Let's do this in EVERY neighborhood next year.
<_Jym_>
P.S.: Be sure to hit the after-Hallowe'en sales
to get some
LED-based visibility items, for the fraction of the cost
of
some blinkies!All about bicycling and livability in San Francisco's North Panhandle
neighborhood.