A private group is running a public street like it’s theirs

For nearly 2 years, the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association (HVNA) has operated a parallel approval system governing access to a public street. This isn’t about events or programming. It’s about who controls access to a public street. A de facto gatekeeping and sublicensing system in which third parties are directed to apply for access to Hayes Street through HVNA’s own private form, under HVNA-defined conditions and HVNA-defined “approval,” rather than through the City’s permitting process. At the same time, the …

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An Open Letter: When City Hall is Complacent and Keeps Deferring to the Country Club

To our neighbors, public officials, and anyone paying attention— For over five years, we’ve shown up in good faith and we’re still showing up. We’ve submitted public comments, organized businesses, met with agencies, and tried to elevate the voices of residents who’ve been left out of the loop. We believed perhaps naively that if we did the work, we’d be heard. But in Hayes Valley, the pattern is clear: government doesn’t listen to the neighborhood. It listens to whoever claims …

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Hayes Street Closure Sound Permit: What the Entertaiment Commission Approved and What Was Ignored

On December 16, the San Francisco Entertainment Commission approved a year-long amplified sound permit for the 400 block of Hayes Street. The approval authorizes recurring amplified sound on Fridays and Saturdays for up to six hours per day, tied to the ongoing Hayes Street closure. While the approval has now been granted, the hearing and application record raise serious concerns about process, transparency, and the mismatch between what was approved and the lived reality on a dense residential and retail …

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When Asking Questions Became “Hostility”


A 2020 Governance Record of Retaliatory Exclusion in Hayes Valley Part of the Hayes Street Series — documenting the governance patterns that predate and shaped later decisions around Hayes Street.

 Purpose of This Summary This summary is not submitted to re-litigate internal disputes from 2020. It is submitted to document early warning signs of governance abuse that later escalated into broader exclusionary and retaliatory conduct affecting public process, neighborhood representation, and civic decision-making. The conduct described below is relevant because …

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A Coup in Hayes Valley

Most people remember COVID as a time of fear, isolation, and uncertainty. What’s easier to forget is how the breakdown of everyday civic life accelerated power shifts that were already underway. In Hayes Valley, the pandemic didn’t create civic dysfunction. It exposed and intensified it. The cracks were already there Well before 2020, many neighbors were already raising concerns about the direction of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association. Contentious tree removals. Residents removed from meetings. Decisions were increasingly made before …

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Why We Document — And Why It Matters Now

For anyone new to our work, it may look unusual that neighbors have spent more than a year documenting the weekly conditions of a weekend street closure. But the truth is: we should never have had to. For nearly five years, the Hayes Street closure has operated under a patchwork of “temporary” permits that drifted further and further away from the program the City claimed to be running. Each phase told the same story: Different years. Different blocks.The same failures. …

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Parcel K “Community Board”: Why This Matters Now

A quick update on an issue we’ve raised for more than two years, one that has become newly relevant. On Parcel K, a bulletin board labeled a “community board” sits behind locked glass on City-owned land. In reality, only one neighborhood faction holds the key. They use the board to promote their initiatives, including messaging tied to the Hayes Street closure, while others are denied access and relegated to posting around the area, where their flyers are routinely removed by …

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