Hayes Street is more than just a place to eat or stroll, it’s a working commercial corridor that small, locally owned businesses and longtime residents depend on. The City is now quietly considering turning the heart of Hayes Valley into a permanent “entertainment zone”, a space with open alcohol, constant programming, and year round street closure.
At first glance, it might seem like creative urban planning…but here’s what’s really happening:
- 🚧 Small businesses are being pushed out by street conditions that disrupt foot traffic, deliveries, and daily operations.
- 🔊Those who live closest to the closure are experiencing increased traffic congestion, reduced parking availability, a surge in car-share drop-offs, more delivery drivers circling the area, and zero enforcement to manage any of it.
- 📉 Retail is suffering, while oversized parklets and underused event space sit mostly empty.
- 🚫 The closure violates its permit and was never intended to become permanent, yet no one is revoking it.
- 🥂 The push to create an “entertainment zone” would lock in a party-focused agenda in a neighborhood that was never designed for it.
Before the pandemic, Hayes Street was thriving. It had a strong balance of retail, restaurants, walkability, and local character. But the current closure has morphed into something unrecognizable—a loosely managed, festival-style space that no longer reflects the needs or identity of the neighborhood. What started as a temporary emergency measure has become a long-term disruption, and it’s harming the very businesses that helped make Hayes Valley what it is.
Worse still, this is not a community-led vision, it’s being driven by a single interest group with outsized influence: the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association (HVNA). Despite presenting itself as representative, HVNA has played a central role in advancing land-use decisions that serve a narrow agenda while excluding the broader community especially small business owners and nearby residents. They already control or influence multiple temporary outdoor spaces in the neighborhood.
Even more concerning: HVNA is also the permit holder for the Hayes Street closure which is a direct conflict of interest. The organization does not represent the corridor’s long-standing independent businesses. No one on their leadership works on Hayes Street, runs a business there, or is directly impacted by the closure’s day-to-day effects. Yet they continue to dictate the future of the corridor in ways that disadvantage those who actually rely on it.
HVNA has also consistently ostracized and marginalized residents and merchants who raise concerns or express dissent. This is a pattern, not an exception—and it poses a serious threat to fair, balanced neighborhood representation.
This is no longer about enhancing public space -it’s about overreach, political gatekeeping, and a private group shaping public streets to fit its own vision. And City Hall is complicit— responding not to the broader community, but to the aspirations of a single permit holder.
Hayes Valley already has plenty of open space for events…parks, plazas, alleys, and Parcel K, just steps away from the closure. Turning the neighborhood’s main business corridor into a permanent event venue is not necessary and not fair.
We’re asking the City to restore balance, reopen Hayes Street, and start governing in the public interest not according to the preferences of one group.