Head West SFMTA Permit

January 21, 2026 SFMTA and ISCOTT: We are writing to formally oppose the current application for four Head West Marketplace events in Hayes Valley in 2026. As we’ve stated for years, permitting this event four times annually especially on Sundays during an ongoing weekend street closure inflicts significant, documented harm on local retail and small businesses. Our request is straightforward: limit Head West to no more than one date in 2026. This is not a new position. We’ve submitted hundreds …

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July 10, 2025 Good evening SFMTA and ISCOTT: Now that the 4th Head West date has been approved, we want to be clear: this pattern cannot become the norm in 2026. We had hoped and worked diligently to address the 4x frequency this year…but we remain trapped in a loophole that Head West continues to exploit. For three years, we’ve submitted hundreds of letters and offered testimony hearing after hearing, yet the concerns of businesses along Hayes and Octavia are …

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July 9, 2025 Following up ahead of tomorrow’s hearing, we wanted to reiterate and expand on the concerns we’ve raised in this ongoing thread:We’ve sent hundreds of letters since 2023. We’ve shown up at hearing after hearing… and still, it’s the same dog and pony show. We’re dragged back into the ISCOTT process – a process created to streamline permits for parades, festivals, and neighborhood celebrations – not to enable recurring for-profit street markets that destabilize business corridors — to …

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May 7, 2025 Good morning SFMTA & ISCOTT: We thank Nick and Bryant for their ongoing help navigating through the issues concerning the Head West event in Hayes Valley. Top reasons why Head West should be denied a permit for 2 additional dates this year: We hope you do the right thing and deny this permit tomorrow. Thank you.HVSafe This correspondence has been edited for clarity and conciseness. Routine greetings and contact details have been omitted; the substance of the …

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January 22, 2025 Good morning ISCOTT and SFMTA: We feel we’ve made significant strides over the last couple of years to drive home the critical issues with the Head West event in Hayes Valley and prefer to be hopeful that this year the tide may turn. We view the sanctioned promotion of outside retail vendors as a direct threat on our small business operators. This event is run by a for profit business at our neighborhood expense. Each time this …

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February 21, 2024 Dear ISCOTT and SFMTA: We oppose the 4x event frequency being proposed for the Head West event.  We view the sanctioned promotion of outside retail vendors as a direct threat on our small business operators. This event is run by a out of county for profit business at our neighborhood expense. Each time this event occurs it results in direct financial loss to businesses in Hayes Valley. Our business community received reassurance in recent years that this …

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May 10, 2023 Dear SFMTA ISCOTT. HVSafe opposes the addition of 2 new dates for the Head West venue in Hayes Valley. We have repeatedly heard from small businesses on our merchant corridor that this event negatively impacts their sales.  It’s also worth noting that Head West’s communications are lacking and they have demonstrated an inability to acknowledge our concerns nor did they include all neighborhood groups in their planning efforts. We need to listen to our community members and …

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