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Hayes Closure

What Recent Discovery Reveals About the Hayes Street “Public Life Study”

A transparency update from Hayes Valley Safe Over the past year, residents and small businesses in Hayes Valley have repeatedly asked basic, good-faith questions about the future of Hayes Street — including whether the current temporary closure was being evaluated neutrally, and whether public funds were being used to advance a predetermined outcome. Those questions went largely unanswered. In January 2026, in response to formal disclosure requests submitted in December 2025, Hayes Valley Safe received records that had not previously …

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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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HVNA Sound Permit 400 Block of Hayes St

December 16, 2025 Dear Members of the Entertainment Commission, We oppose approval of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association’s application for a year-long, weekly amplified-sound permit for the 400 block of Hayes Street. As proposed, the application seeks authorization for every Friday and every Saturday, for up to six hours per day, over the course of an entire year. This represents a significant expansion of amplified entertainment activity on a dense, residential-serving block and raises serious concerns regarding cumulative impacts, timing, …

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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 stricter safety requirements, higher operational demands, and new costs — all of which substantially reshape how the block must operate. …

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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 was some sort of tampering with cones or barricades. What was the evidence?Two public tweets.Tweets our account simply reposted.Tweets written …

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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 deficit, has already cut $120 million in service and operations, and warns that its finances will worsen without major changes. …

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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 why it raises serious concerns about the integrity of SFMTA’s evaluation process for the closure renewal. What SFMTA Presented SFMTA …

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