Why One Permit Holder’s European Fantasy Is Hurting a Real San Francisco Neighborhood
🔁 1. “Barcelona is the wrong comparison.”
Say:
“Barcelona has entire districts designed around walkability—with multi-modal transit, wide boulevards, and dense, mixed-use zoning. Hayes Street is one small commercial corridor. Shutting it down without a network of supportive infrastructure doesn’t replicate Barcelona—it isolates it.”
Key Points:
- Barcelona’s pedestrian zones are part of larger city planning frameworks like the “Superblocks,” not stand-alone closures.
- The city’s transit system can absorb rerouted traffic and support foot traffic.
- Hayes Street has none of this context—no mass transit along the block, no surrounding street grid designed to absorb congestion, and it’s a commercial street, not a residential plaza.
🚧 2. “This isn’t placemaking—it’s displacement.”
Say:
“Barcelona’s plazas support local life. What we have on Hayes Street is pop-up retail that competes with existing small businesses and event programming that displaces regular commercial activity. That’s not community building—it’s economic disruption.”
Key Points:
- Barcelona supports locally rooted, long-term commerce. Hayes Street is now hosting outside vendors selling similar goods in direct competition.
- In Barcelona, pedestrian space is integrated without sacrificing business access or deliveries. Hayes Street closures block service access and deliveries every weekend.
- Residents and businesses in Barcelona are part of the design process. Here, it’s been imposed from the top down by a single neighborhood group.
🛑 3. “The Hayes closure lacks consent, compliance, and context.”
Say:
“Barcelona-style public space requires three things: 1) planning, 2) investment, and 3) public consent. Hayes Street has none of these. The permit is noncompliant, many residents and merchants have been excluded, and there’s been no city-led plan to evaluate long-term impacts.”
Key Points:
- There’s been no transparent community process, unlike Barcelona’s publicly debated Superblock plans.
- The closure doesn’t follow even its own permit rules—let alone a formal planning framework.
- It’s not equitable. In Barcelona, closures are often neighborhood-wide; here it’s just one block, disproportionately benefitting a few and harming many.
🎯 4. “We should be aiming for what fits our neighborhood—not copy-pasting a European model.”
Say:
“Every city has to adapt ideas to fit its own geography, economy, and culture. Hayes Valley already has beautiful parks, outdoor seating, and alleys like Linden that are perfect for social use. We don’t need to shut down our commercial street to import a vibe.”
Key Points:
- Hayes Valley is already walkable—people come here because of its charm and balance.
- The closure disrupts that balance by turning a business street into a recreational zone at the expense of the businesses that keep it alive.
- We can pursue great public space without undermining our existing community fabric.