October 21, 2025
Dear ISCOTT Members,
We strongly oppose renewal of the weekend closure on the 400 block of Hayes Street. After nearly five years of operation, the claimed community benefits no longer outweigh the strain this closure places on city resources, enforcement, and public trust – all matters central to ISCOTT’s responsibility for managing fair and efficient use of the public right-of-way.
1. Lack of Oversight or Defined Metrics
There is no data on safety, operations, or compliance –no baseline against which success can be measured. And frankly, there shouldn’t need to be: this stretch sits in the heart of a business corridor, not an event zone. It was never designed or intended to operate as a recurring special-event space. ISCOTT is being asked to reauthorize a permit with no evidence of public benefit or operational justification. In the absence of enforcement, the closure has become a self-managed, privately branded occupation of public right-of-way, not a regulated or accountable program.
2. Politicization of Process
What began as an emergency Shared Space has devolved into a politically directed project sustained by the Supervisor’s office and a narrow set of stakeholders. ISCOTT’s purview is operational efficiency and safety –not political maintenance of a contested street closure. Renewing this permit despite clear administrative fatigue and division undermines the integrity of ISCOTT’s process.
3. Misallocation of City Resources
Every weekend closure requires diversion of agency attention from other citywide needs –from legitimate street fairs to traffic safety operations. Continuing to pour limited staff hours into an unregulated, one-block closure while city resources are stretched thin is fiscally and operationally irresponsible. ISCOTT has the opportunity to correct that imbalance now.
Our position:
We appreciate the time ISCOTT staff provided earlier this year to discuss the ongoing issues with the street closure under this permit. Those conversations made it clear that this body cannot adjudicate the financial harm small businesses have experienced under this closure and we respect that. We won’t raise that issue here again; we’ll save it for the SFMTA Board. But it’s equally clear that the permit holder continues to frame this closure as a venue for events and leisure rather than transportation or access. For that reason, we ask that you deny this permit for ongoing weekend closure and revert the process to individual special-event permits. That would at least restore some dignity, transparency, and respect to a community that has endured years of division and disregard under this failed experiment.
Thank you.