What will it take to protect the car-free space we love on JFK Promenade?
The story of this car-free JFK volunteer and supporter will inspire you
Meet recently visited his hometown of Baroda, India. In the summertime in Baroda, the roads around the city’s parks are closed to vehicle traffic from around 6AM – 10AM every day.
Organizers set up games and activities for kids, youth, and adults on these roads. Vendors set up shop and sell fresh juice and breakfast foods. The streets quickly fill with people. “It’s a hotspot for everyone from grandparents to grandkids,” says Meet.
Meet and I share a love of another car-free space: JFK Promenade. He was one of the many people who gave a lot of time to save car-free JFK last fall and spring. He learned about the campaign from a friend’s Instagram, and decided to volunteer to help gather postcards out on JFK Drive. I was with Meet at that first shift.
Meet told me he’s usually shy when talking to people in a situation like that, but his competitive side kicked in. He ended up with a massive stack of signed postcards that day and at future shifts – and said the whole experience was a great boost to his confidence! (How’s that for a reason to volunteer with our campaign to defeat the November ballot measure that would take away car-free JFK?)
And Meet’s efforts, along with hundreds of other volunteers, is how we built such a strong movement of support for permanence leading up to the victorious vote at the Board of Supervisors in April.
“Throughout history, San Francisco has been at the forefront on so many issues,” continued Meet. “It should be on this, too.”
It turns out that Meet started walking in Golden Gate Park because of the smell of eucalyptus: the smell takes him back home to Baroda. That smell is certainly stronger along JFK Drive now that this park road is no longer full of traffic as a dangerous cut-through street.
Eager and ready to get involved in the ballot measure campaign to save car-free JFK? Fill out our interest form – we’ll be activating folks soon!
Paid for by Walk San Francisco Foundation Committee to Support Props L and J (510(c)(3))
Financial disclosures are available at sfethics.org
