Peace in our times! Bikers and car drivers, with the help of none other than the Honorable Gavin Newsom, have worked out a permanent solution to the Golden Gate Park Healthy Saturdays impasse. We know, we're totally amazed too -- next, the mayor's office will say they've worked it all out between the Shias and the Sunnis; Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff; and Pat Murphy and Chris Daly. We're nominating Gavin for a Nobel peace prize!
Okay, enough funning. So here's the details: JFK Drive will be closed to cars on Saturdays, but only from about 9th Avenue to 19th, and only from April to September. So people can continue to drive to the museums from Fell Street all year-round, cars have full access to JFK Drive during the rainy season, and delivery trucks will have full access to JFK Drive between 9th and 19th to get to the museums.
All sides also agreed this decision will stay in effect for at least five years (so no more trial periods, wranglings, protests, ballot propositions, counter ballot propositions, etc.). The city has also agreed to improve one of the other roads in the park that is already closed to cars on Saturday (Middle Road) so that bikers can use it safely as well. The Board of Supes and the Mayor's Office of Disability still have to sign off on the plan, but it's looking good.
They always say the sign of a good compromise is if every side thinks they gave away too much -- so the neighborhood groups are irritated they're closing off JFK at all, the bikers are bummed they only get 6 months car-free, and the museum people.... well, the museum people pretty much got everything they wanted -- go Dede!
It seems like agreeing to leave the museum area out of the negotiations might have been the first step on all sides that got the deal done -- and plus, we'll concede that we much prefer to get to the museums by car than by foot, so that's cool everyone wants to encourage easy access to the city's cultural institutions.
We're really pleased for all sides that they managed to work something out. And here's something we don't say too often around here: thanks, Gavin Newsom!
We borrowed this picture from the SFPartyParty -- hope that's okay, guys! If not, let us know and we'll replace it with a picture of the Missouri Compromise of 1820.