Sending a message on Walk to Work Day
Walk to Work Day celebrates our walking city – and the more than 884,000 residents, 265,000 weekday commuters, and 24.6 million visitors who walk in San Francisco each year.
But as Walk to Work Day approached this year, we knew the day had to be more than a celebration. Already in 2019, six pedestrians have been hit and killed by vehicles. We have a crisis on our streets and it must be treated as such.
So we asked city leaders to step up in new ways to show their support for pedestrians as part of Walk to Work Day. And starting at the very top with Mayor London Breed, many city leaders responded.
Mayor Breed was one of many city leaders who “walked the walk” to City Hall from different parts of the city.
Mayor Breed walked from Hayes Valley with Supervisor Vallie Brown. Supervisor Sandra Fewer walked from the Richmond district; SFMTA Director of Transportation Ed Reiskin walked from the Sunset; and Supervisor Matt Haney, SF Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru, and Cristina Rubke from the SFMTA Board of Directors walked from SoMa.
Supervisor Rafael Mandelman walked from Duboce Triangle with SFCTA Director Tilly Chang, SF Police Department Deputy Director Michael Redmond, and SF Environment Director Debbie Raphael. MTC Commissioner Nick Josefowitz walked in from the Fillmore.
We are grateful to these city leaders for standing for pedestrian safety on Walk to Work Day, and for the commitments they made at our rally at City Hall to address the crisis on our streets. Thank you to so many of you for being part of the rally at City Hall, showing leaders that we are ready to see life-saving changes on our streets.
Now, it is our job – along with our members, supporters, and all safe streets advocates – to hold our leaders to their promises. There is simply no time to waste in fixing the deadliest streets, addressing the sheer number of vehicles on our streets, and bringing down speeds.
As Jodie Medeiros, Walk SF’s executive director said: “We are ready to show the nation what’s possible when a city decides to put people first on our streets.”
Putting on this event takes a village. Thank you to the more than 50 volunteers who helped in countless ways to get us ready for Walk to Work Day, plus made the five Walk Hubs such a success! We are also grateful to the generous sponsors listed below for making Walk to Work Day possible.
Finally, a huge thank you to the thousands and thousands of people who walked part or all of their commute as part of Walk to Work Day (including all those who got up extra early to walk with city leaders). Looking forward to Walk to Work Day 2020!
More on Walk to Work Day:
- Photos
- Walk to Work Day and a renewed commitment to safety
- Street safety shortcomings cast shadow over Walk to Work Day
- Walk to Work Day: 24 seconds in the life of the mayor and her entourage
The 2019 Walk to Work Day is presented by: Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger and Walk SF.
Thank you to our corporate sponsors for supporting Walk SF events:
