This email was produced today in SFMTA’s response to our latest records request.
On February 26, 2026, David Long, Senior Transportation Planner at the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA), emailed Jeremy Shaw — the lead/principal planner for the Hayes Public Life study* — with the following:
“I’m reaching out from the SFCTA with an fyi that may or may not be relevant to your Hayes Public Life study…
Lloyd Silverstein, president of the Hayes Valley Merchant Association, shared during a working group meeting for my agency’s recently completed Eco-Friendly Downtown Deliveries Study… that he saw [an Off-Hours Delivery program] as a key to unlocking operational changes for Hayes.”
Jeremy Shaw replied positively the same day:
“Thanks for looking out! I’ve always been a fan of managed delivery efforts. I’ll take a look and share anything relevant with the consultant team.”
Note: Lloyd Silverstein is the immediate past president of the HVMC, not the current president.
The Hayes Public Life Study is an ongoing City-supported effort examining long-term changes to the Hayes Street corridor, including potential future street configurations and public realm concepts connected to the existing closure.
The email references the Eco-Friendly Downtown Deliveries Study (final report released October 2025 by SFCTA), which explicitly recommends piloting an Off-Hours Delivery program and notes that such programs can enable “other street changes, such as partial or temporary street closures.” The exchange also confirms that operational concepts related to the closure were being circulated directly into the Hayes Public Life Study consultant process.
What This Means
While the 400 block of Hayes has operated under a Shared Spaces permit that has now been non-compliant for 75+ weeks — with our formal administrative complaint still unresolved — city staff and aligned stakeholders continue to explore technical workarounds to make the closure more functional.
This further reinforces concerns that the focus has shifted toward accommodating and entrenching the closure rather than neutrally evaluating whether it should continue.
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