Golden Gate Park’s JFK Drive will stay permanently car-free after S.F. supes vote following marathon meeting (2024)

The decision resolves one of the most anticipated issues in front of the board in recent months and finalizes the transformation of a thoroughfare that leads to some of the most prominent attractions in the crown jewel of the city’s park system.

The road’s fate has been the subject of intense organizing in recent months, with rallies, letter writing and direct lobbying of supervisors trying to sway the outcome. About 70% of 10,000 respondents to a city survey said they wanted the road to stay closed to cars.

Supporters said keeping the road closed to cars was a safety and environmental issue while opponents said the closure hurt the elderly, those who lived far from the park, the park’s museums and those with disabilities.

Supervisors Connie Chan and Shamann Walton, who sponsored an alternate proposal, voted against Breed’s ordinance, as did Supervisors Ahsha Safaí and Aaron Peskin.

Supervisor Matt Haney, who will leave the board to join the state Assembly next week, said the pandemic forced San Francisco to try something on JFK Drive that “many residents knew had such powerful potential for so long.”

“This is many decades in the making, and ... it should give us a lot of hope for our city and what’s possible,” Haney said.

The board approved amendments from Supervisors Catherine Stefani and Gordon Mar that will require city officials to provide two years of quarterly reports, starting in July, about their progress improving Golden Gate Park parking options and access for disabled people, among other initiatives.

Chan spearheaded an alternative that would have allowed one-way vehicle traffic on JFK Drive between Eighth Avenue and Transverse Drive and would have also let cars on both sides of Conservatory Drive behind the Conservatory of Flowers.

Chan’s proposal could not have been passed Tuesday because its provisions would require city staff to make a determination about what level of environmental review, if any, is required by state law.

Supervisors unanimously agreed to send her proposal back to committee, allowing it to receive the environmental determination. In theory, the move may allow some supervisors to attempt to reconsider Chan’s proposal later if they are not satisfied with the city’s continued attempts to make the park more accessible.

In considering the two pieces of legislation, supervisors weighed different visions for the future of the park — and its role in civic life.

Breed’s ordinance preserves JFK Drive’s pandemic-era status as a frequently used car-free promenade and haven for those seeking to enjoy the park on foot or bike.

Chan’s proposal, meanwhile, would have brought cars back to part of the road in an attempt to ensure that disabled people, seniors and residents of neighborhoods with limited transit options can still easily access the park and its attractions.

Some critics remain concerned about access, including the de Young Museum, which maintains that the current road closure dampens attendance. Museum representatives said de Young attendance since June has been 48% lower than the same period before the pandemic. At the Legion of Honor, the decline has been 18%, the museums’ leaders say, attributing the difference at least partly to the closure of JFK Drive.

Breed’s proposal was co-sponsored by Haney and Mar, along with Supervisors Rafael Mandelman and Dean Preston. They were joined in voting to pass the legislation by Stefani and Supervisors Myrna Melgar and Hillary Ronen.

At the meeting, Chan questioned whether the city’s attempts to gather public input on the JFK Drive closure had reached enough people of color and disabled people.

“Who are we prioritizing? Who are we willing to leave behind?” Chan said.

Walton, the board president, has been critical of the JFK Drive closure, which he has called “recreational redlining” and “segregationist” over concerns about limiting park access for disabled people and those who live in the southeast side of the city, which he represents.

He reiterated his position at the board meeting.

“To close down portions of the park says to a certain geography, says to a certain class of people, says to a certain race of people here in San Francisco that you weren’t welcome before and you’re still not welcome,” Walton said. “Some people want to strictly make it about cars versus no cars, but the conversation has always been much bigger than that.”

Walton asked city officials to conduct an equity study of how residents who live far from the park are or are not getting there, and how travel patterns changed in the pandemic. Supervisors heard the results of that study at their meeting Tuesday — technically a joint meeting in their roles on both the Board of Supervisors and the Transportation Authority.

The study received 310 responses by email and phone from people who live in supervisorial Districts 3, 10 and 11 — located in the northeast, southeast and southern edges of the city. Most respondents said they visited the east end of the park a few times per year or less but would like to go there more often. The most common barriers cited were difficulty finding parking, the high cost of parking in the Music Concourse Garage and trips to the park taking too long from where respondents live.

In Districts 10 and 11, the share of people who said they rarely or never went to the park’s east end increased during the pandemic, the study found. About 18% of respondents in all three districts said JFK Drive’s closure to cars made them go to the area less frequently.

Among people in the districts who said they went to the eastern park at least a few times per month, the study found little demographic difference before and after the pandemic began. Most frequent visitors were white or Asian.

City officials say they are working to address accessibility concerns by instituting flexible pricing at the concourse garage so it is cheaper during low-demand hours and expanding free parking options for people with disabilities and people receiving government food assistance. The city will also extend the garage’s free loading time from 15 minutes to 30 minutes, and officials are working on improvements to park shuttle service, among other efforts.

Jodie Medeiros, executive director of the pedestrian advocacy group Walk San Francisco, kicked off a rally on the steps of City Hall before the board meeting.

“For two years, we have seen how much people not only love but really need this car-free space,” Medeiros said, referencing how vehicle traffic on the road could be dangerous for pedestrians. “Car-free JFK is all about our safety.”

Some observers remained concerned about what preserving the car ban would mean for disabled people and seniors. Betty Traynor, the board president of Senior and Disability Action, said the park is not currently accessible enough “to justify closing JFK Drive to cars at this time.”

“We ask for some type of a compromise,” Traynor said.

David Miles, a local resident known as the Godfather of Skate and an ardent supporter of car-free JFK Drive, told supervisors that his conversations with people on the promenade had indicated strong support for making it permanent.

“Let me tell you what the people that come out there think: They think that the closure of JFK Drive is the most fantastic experience in San Francisco,” Miles said. “And that’s the truth.”

J.D. Morris is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thejdmorris