A battle over ballot measures is heating up in San Francisco.
The issue at hand is whether to restore access to cars on the Great Highway and JFK to pre-pandemic conditions, or to keep in place closures that have become recreation havens to some.
On the one hand, Prop J supporters want to keep the road closures in place. But Prop I supporters were handing out pamphlets Friday, showing drivers why they think they should vote “yes” on I and turn back the clock to the way it was before the pandemic.
Drivers have been running into road closure signs on the Great Highway at Lincoln Way when it closes from Fridays at noon through Monday morning and one and a half miles of JFK Drive through Golden Gate Park is also closed.
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Both pandemic-related closures remain in place, but supporters of Prop I say it’s time to reopen both.
“It’s been really difficult for visitors to be able to access and reach these places inside the park,” said Paria Dea, “Yes on I” organizer.
She works at the De Young Museum and said the JFK closure has led to fewer visitors at museums and other venues, which also means fewer donations to the non-profit organizations.
“De Young has seen a 45% decrease in attendance, so we’ve seen this closure have a real serious impact on people being able to access the museum,” said Dea.
Sunset District neighbors said their streets have become raceways as drivers try to get around the Great Highway closures, sometimes 20,000 cars and trucks per day.
“People are angry,” said Sunset residet Alyse Ceirante. “All they want to do is get home, so they tend to be a little bit impatient on the road and they probably go a little too fast.”
But other Sunset neighborhood residents said they’ll vote for J to keep the road closed.
“My experience with neighborhood traffic is that it’s manageable,” said Sunset resident Elliot Bailey.
Bailey said finding safe places to ride bikes in the city is not manageable though, a painful lesson he learned just days ago when he collided with a car.
“Turned right into the bike path, and I had no time to stop,” said Bailey. “I crashed into the car, and I flew over the hood, landed on my arm and broke my wrist.”
J supporters said they just haven’t found anything comparable to the Great Highway and they want to keep this safe haven in place.
“I would like bike, rollerblade, skateboard, walk along with my family,” said Sunset resident Elizabeth Elman.
Each side of the issue has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for their campaigns.
