How San Francisco’s Living Alley Rules Undercut the Hayes Street Closure and Reveal a Double Standard on Linden Purpose of this briefThis brief examines how San Francisco’s Living Alley guidelines define temporary street and alley closures as small-scale, low-impact, and resident-protective, and how the long-running closure of the 400 block of Hayes Street departs from those principles in practice. It … Read post
November 17, 2025 Dear Members of the SFMTA Board: The Hayes Street Shared Spaces permit renewal advancing from the October 23 ISCOTT hearing raises multiple policy, governance, and procedural questions that merit Board-level review before final approval. Outlined below are the core issues limited strictly to regulatory intent, administrative capacity, and policy alignment. I. POLICY & PLANNING CONFLICTS 1. Use … Read post
November 11, 2025 Attention SFMTA:See conditions for this past weekend:Friday November 7, 2025Saturday November 8, 2025 At week 48, conditions remain unchanged. The permit continues to operate well beyond its intent, with limited oversight. Events remain sparse during the weekend’s 18-hour closure, reinforcing our position to Open Hayes Street and return neighborhood events to the normal SFMTA permitting process. Parcel … Read post
The 400 block of Hayes Street is closed off on Fridays and Saturdays to project an Instagram version of urban joy. Little music setups sprout up, chalk boxes appear, tango lessons unfold, and bubbles drift through the air between Octavia and Gough; meanwhile, playgrounds, parks, living alleys, and public parcels within blocks in each direction sit underused. But that’s apparently … Read post
📋 Closure Permit Status UpdateNovember 20, 2025We’ve issued a statement summarizing what occurred at the SFMTA Board hearing this week and our takeaways.—> Read our full statement on the outcome more updates to come The closure of Hayes Street has affected small businesses, residents, and the whole neighborhood. But most people only know one side of the story. This page … Read post
What began as a temporary pandemic closure in 2020 has stretched into its fifth year. Somewhere along the way, the City stopped asking if the street should reopen and started inventing new reasons to keep it closed. The most powerful of those reasons arrived in 2023 under a single word: “activation.” The Turning PointWhen the permit came up for renewal … Read post
For years, the Hayes Street closure has been described as an “experiment.” But experiments are meant to teach us something — not divide a neighborhood or drain the lifeblood of its small businesses. After five years of trial and error, the lesson is clear: this hasn’t worked. It’s time to move past the talking points and start telling the truth … Read post
Last updated: November 15, 2025 At‑a‑Glance What’s New Since Our Last Update ? Since our prior review, several new issues have surfaced during the SFMTA renewal process: • Manipulated sales-tax data in SFMTA’s slide deck.The agency presented aggregated revenue figures combining the 300, 400, and 500 blocks, masking the 400 block’s underperformance and creating a misleading impression of economic health. … Read post
