Just a little thing
But that is how it all starts
Take the SF Rec & Park survey at this link — SF Rec & Park Sunset Dunes survey
Yesterday I reported on how Patricia Arack and I had poked SF Rec & Park in the eye just a little bit — No, I asked you to respond — at their so-called “Open House” on the Upper Great Highway (UGH).
Patricia sent me to the “Open House” with a letter to share with Rec & Park staff. That letter is embedded at the bottom of this page. Her letter states, in brief, that Rec & Park has done a woefully inadequate job of providing a safe Sunset Dunes Park experience for people who walk, the elderly, the disabled and individuals with limited mobility. And the reason is simple; bicyclists ignore the separation of fast lanes from slow lanes.
As Patricia puts it, “… [I am] writing regarding the very dangerous conditions that bicyclists pose to all pedestrians on Sunset Dunes as long as bikes and smaller devices (scooters, skateboards) are allowed to use all four lanes, which is the current situation, and has been since April of 2020. It is even more dangerous now because of the greater danger posed by e-bikes and other electrified mobility devices that travel at an extremely dangerous high rates of speed. Bikes should be restricted to the 2 lanes east of the median.”
I presented Patricia’s letter to the Rec & Park staff member who was the main organizer of the event. I did my best to raise up her arguments. But we are going to return to that issue another day, because I also argued that Sunset Dunes is woefully inadequate in another respect — the so-called park is simply not accessible. On a two mile stretch of the UGH there are two access ramps that someone in a wheelchair might… might be able to wheel themselves up to the “park,” or more likely be pushed up. One ramp is at the western end of Judah Street and the other is at the western end of Taraval Street. That is ten full blocks between the only two accessible points along the entire edge of a park that is two miles long and about 40 feet wide.
I have heard from readers and others before, chastising me about reporting on little victories that are just not enough to single-handedly change the direction of everything that is wrong in the world. It is very similar in nature to when people tell me that my writing has to capture everyone’s attention in the first paragraph and that I need to stop telling stories and make short, punchy arguments and use a lot of bullet points, I guess.
Frankly, these are ridiculous notions and admonitions, so I pay them very little heed. Storytelling and narrative-building are not just the best communications mechanisms available to a writer; they are often the only tool that we have at our disposal to make a difference in the world. Thirty years of experience has taught me that.
Moreover, regarding small victories, thirty years has also taught me that in order to make a real difference in my community and in our world, you have to seize upon opportunities as they arise. And most of the time we have to create opportunities where we cannot see any.
As part of SF Rec and Park’s efforts to replace The Great Highway with a poorly named “Sunset Dunes Park” they are seeking to engage with community members to provide input on future planning for the park. Online surveys gathering input is one way in which Rec & Park is seeking to fulfill their community engagement obligations
On July 19th at the “Open House” on the UGH I reviewed the Rec & Park survey. There were no questions about access to the park for persons with disabilities or limited mobility. And then 5 days after my little action on July 19th, with Patricia’s help, when Rec & Park sent me the survey directly, low-and-behold a question on accessibility emerged in the survey.
I know what you are going to say. It is not a big enough victory to celebrate. Hell it may not be enough of a victory to even call it a “small victory.” But I know what I know. This is a little crack in response to pressure brought to bear on the target agency. And if I can manage to turn up the heat and turn up the volume and try to force more actions by more people into that crack, we can widen it and work for a bigger victory, and then another, and another…
Here is what I ask each of you to consider. Take the SF Rec & Park survey. Help me put numbers into their data calling for them to improve “access for visitors with mobility limitations.” This little campaign to crack open Rec & Park will have more actions and create more opportunities, but for today, let’s just start here. They want public input? Let’s give it to them.
Tomorrow — why does SF Rec & Park allow bikes and e-bikes and every other form of faster transport use all four lanes of The Great Highway?
I absolutely was not suggesting, John, in any way that we are not of like minds or are not on the same side of these very important issues. I think what you are doing and writing about is so well done, so important to do, very well researched and presented. It’s that my own experience with Rec and Park is they are manipulative, unresponsive, and out to privatize and profit rather than serve our communities with beautiful shared spaces. Money is mismanaged and public spaces are left in disrepair. They have been in charge of keeping the pedestrian path cleared of sand and debris, and maintaining the landscaping between the west curb of the Lower Great Highway and the east curb of the Upper Great Highway for decades. They have never put enough money into it or provided adequate staff to do the job successfully. Upper management wants to make money by selling permits to vendors and food trucks on there. I do not trust them or their polls or surveys. I do, however, trust you and wish you all the luck you will need to get anywhere with them. I would so love it if you are successful without them bragging about how this added supporters of the new park to their already inflated numbers.
The reason I respectfully will not participate in this survey, despite my many written objections with photographic proof about the lack of access and dangers to people with walking challenges, is I believe RPD and other supporters of Sunset Dunes Park will spin this to mean that every single person taking the survey is in support of the park but for this one item they checked off that needs changing, and, therefore, if ADA access is fixed, they are in full support of the permanently closed Upper Great Highway to instead exist as this “park.” I oppose the 24/7 denial of vehicles to use the lanes of the Upper Great Highway at least during weekdays.