Hayes Street Closure Permit Analysis

What Changed in the New Hayes Street Permit — and Why It Matters (New permit takes effect this Friday) Over the past few days we’ve taken a close look at SFMTA’s newly issued 2025–26 permit for the Hayes Street weekend closure. The rules differ dramatically from last year. Contrary to the perception that “nothing has changed,” the new permit introduces … Read post

When Retweets Become ‘Incidents’: What the Permit Holder Reported to City Hall

A particular email has stood out during a recent record retrieval — not for what it proved, but for what it revealed. 1. The Hayes Street closure permit holder has been forwarding social-media posts about our account to the Supervisor as ‘incidents.’ On October 3, the permit holder sent an email chain titled “HVSafe barricade removal.” The message suggested there … Read post

SFMTA Hearing Materials Debrief: What the Public Is Not Being Told

posted at 11 am Our team has reviewed SFMTA’s staff report and slide deck released ahead of next week’s SFMTA Board hearing. What is being shown publicly and what is being left out raises serious concerns about transparency, data integrity, and decision-making during one of the worst financial crises in the agency’s history. SFMTA now faces a $322 million budget … Read post

How SFMTA Manipulated Sales Tax Data on Hayes Street

posted at 9am SFMTA’s presentation hides the downturn on the closed 400 block by combining its sales tax data with two other blocks. Our team’s review shows that this approach was not a neutral analytic choice — it materially masked the harm and produced a misleading economic picture for the Board. This analysis explains how the data were combined and … Read post

February 2025 HVNA Briefing: Early Plans for Permanent Hayes Street Closure

This internal presentation, dated February 10, 2025, shows early coordination between the Supervisor’s office and HVNA on making the Hayes Street closure permanent. Weeks into office, the Supervisor met with HVNA to discuss making the temporary Hayes Street closure permanent—without any public dialogue or community input.