The Sundays in San Francisco’s “Sunday Streets” are coming back this year, if not all of the streets.

This summer marks 15 years since the program began, and the nonprofit Livable City — alongside the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, public health department and the city itself — will close parts of the following neighborhoods to cars while hosting exhibitors, vendors and performers on select Sundays over the next few months.

Open Street Destinations:

• Sunday Streets Excelsior: July 21st, 2024 – Wander through over a mile long of bustling activities throughout Mission Street stretching from Teresa/Avalon to Geneva.
• Sunday Streets Mission: August 25th, 2024 – Dive deep into the vibrant culture and diversity of the Mission district across Valencia Street from 14th to 25th Streets.

Community Block Parties:

• Sunday Streets Tenderloin: June 23rd, 2024 – Dance and play on Golden Gate Avenue between Hyde and Jones.
• Sunday Streets Bayview: August 4th, 2024 – Join the festivities and experience the warmth of the Bayview community.
• Sunday Streets Western Addition: September 22nd, 2024 – Come and enjoy family-friendly activities on Golden Gate Ave between Webster and Laguna with the inclusion of the beautiful Buchanan Street Mall Park.
• Sunday Streets SoMa: October 13th, 2024 – Get ready to welcome back the Sunday Streets SoMa! After a hiatus, we’re thrilled to reconnect for a day filled with excitement and celebration as we come together to return to the neighborhood.
• Sunday Streets Phoenix Day: October 20th, 2024 – Join us for the 4th Annual Sunday Streets Phoenix Day on October 20, 2024, and partake in over a dozen community-led block parties and activities happening across the city

Sunday Streets is San Francisco’s open streets program that transforms miles of city streets into car-free community spaces for kids to play, seniors to stroll, businesses and organizations to connect, and neighbors to meet. Sunday Streets was inspired by the Ciclovía in Bogotá, Colombia and championed in San Francisco by Mayor Gavin Newsom and the ShapeUp Coalition of San Francisco. Since starting the program in 2008 with two events along the waterfront, the nonprofit Livable City has grown Sunday Streets into one of North America’s premiere open street programs serving 100,000 residents in diverse neighborhoods across San Francisco.

The magic is made possible by the entire Sunday Streets community, including 400+ volunteers, hundreds of local

Mission Bay Neighbors!

Two main topics this week: Safer Travels and Spring Has Sprung. Top Stories are a school construction update and local business news. A Calendar event features lunch for our cleanup crew! If there’s no MB News next week, it’s because the volunteer staff is on Spring Break.

CALENDAR
Friday, March 29: PUBLIC COMMENT FORM CLOSES. The Port of San Francisco’s Flood Study Draft Plan to defend infrastructure and housing near the waterfront from sea level rise will soon close to public comment. Here’s the link. Scroll down to find the fillable form that asks for your observations on where engineers should focus their attention for coastal flood resilience. You can submit more than one comment. You can also email the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers directly with your concerns: SFWFRS@usace.army.mil.

Chase Center’s Thrive City Programming
Thrive City has announced its 2024 spring programming schedule, which will feature approximately 80 events for the entire family spanning March through May, including an Easter Egg Hunt, Spring Golf Day, a Mother’s Day event, fitness classes, live performances, and more. Thrive City, in collaboration with Kaiser Permanente, has hosted over 170 events since July 2023, all free to the public and centered around health and wellness, arts and culture, sports and entertainment, and civic engagement. Below are details for the Easter Egg Hunt. To receive Thrive City programming announcements, contact info@email.chasecenter.com.

Sana G Easter Egg Hunt Presented by Kaiser Permanente
Date: Saturday, March 30
Time: 9 AM to Noon
Location: Thrive City Plaza, at the Chase Center
Details: Kaiser Permanente, Thrive City, 106.1KMEL and Sana G will host an Easter celebration with egg hunts, live entertainment from Old Skool Cafe, arts and crafts, Easter Bunny photo opportunities, bunny petting zoo, and more. The family-friendly event is free, however guests are encouraged to RSVP for upcoming events at ThriveCity.com. Neighbors can use the promo code “NEIGHBORS” on the event page. This code reserves exclusive slots for neighbors at the Sana G Easter Egg Hunt and the Mother’s Day Blankets and Blockbusters (May 11) events.

Mission Bay Cleanup!

Date: Saturday, April 13

Time: 9:00-11:00

Meetup Location: Basketball Court, 401 Berry St, under the I-280 overpass on the northside of Mission Creek Park. Volunteers meet here to receive and return litter pick-up equipment. Team up and spread out to clean. Work up an appetite, and lunch will be provided!

Mission Bay Neighbors!

A reader describes a Mission Bay Moment while responding to the prompt: What Makes Mission Bay Unique? Remnants of human activity by an ancient people have been discovered deep below the modern-day surface of what once was the edge of a tidal marsh. Future transit changes will speed up rail commutes and (fingers crossed) slow down auto travel on King Street. Recaps of Thursday’s Mission Bay Citizens’ Advisory Committee meeting follow the calendar.

LAST CHANCE TO FILL OUT THE SCHOOL ACCESS PLAN SURVEY!

Due Sunday, March 17!

There is only ONE day left before the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) closes the School Access Plan Survey on Sunday, March 17! They’ve reached about 90% of their goal and would appreciate your help in getting to 100%! If you’ve already taken the survey, thanks and please forward to a friend who hasn’t yet. Here are the survey links in four languages:

Take our survey in English.

Tome la encuesta en español.

请用中文参加我们的调查

Mangyaring kunin ang aming survey sa filipino

Meeting Calendar

SFMTA Board of Directors: Speed Camera Pilot Program Hearing

Date: Tuesday, March 19

Time: 1 PM

Location: City Hall, Room 400

Details: Join pedestrian safety advocacy group WalkSF to support speed cameras that will save lives. One of 33 speed cameras that will be piloted on San Francisco streets will be installed on King Street near Fourth Street. Most of the City’s high-injury corridors are in District 6, thus the lion’s share of the speed cameras — 7 of the 33 citywide — will be in District 6. This hearing is about the City’s process for choosing the camera locations (information only). Public comment will be taken. The SFMTA Board codifies the camera locations in a hearing on April 16th.

Jodie Medeiros, executive director of WalkSF, wrote to me in an email: The understanding is that the King Street camera is northbound traffic only between Fourth and Fifth Streets. (Vehicles coming into San Francisco.) According to SFMTA data surveys, over 1,000 cars were captured going over the speed limit, plus the number of crashes at this location made it the right location for a camera. The SFMTA will display on Tuesday an interactive map and their data to support their location choices. The agenda item number is #14, therefore it will be discussed around 3 PM – 3:30 PM (best guess). WalkSF will send talking points to

The San Francisco Chinese New Year Festival & Parade is thrilled to announce, Awkwafina as this year’s Parade Grand Marshal. Join us on Saturday, February 24 as we usher in the Year of the Dragon.

“It’s such an honor to serve as Grand Marshal of the San Francisco Lunar New Year Parade! I’m so excited to celebrate with our community,” says Awkwafina, who will be starring in the upcoming Kung Fu Panda 4 as Zhen, a fox who teams up with the franchise’s legendary Dragon Warrior, Po. “Having been born in the year of the dragon, I look forward to fostering growth and progress that the upcoming year will bring for us.”

2024 Chinese New Year Parade
Saturday, February 24, 2024 | 5:15 – 8 pm
Chinatown, San Francisco
FREE standing room (bleacher seats start at $41)

• Rain or Shine
• Parade is approximately 1.3 miles in length and lasts about 2 1/2 hours.

Nowhere in the country will you see a lunar new year parade with more gorgeous floats, elaborate costumes, ferocious lions, exploding firecrackers, and of course the newly crowned Miss Chinatown U.S.A. and her court.

A crowd favorite will be the new and spectacular 288-foot Golden Dragon (“Gum Lung”). It takes a team of over 180 men and women from the martial arts group White Crane to carry this dragon throughout the streets of San Francisco.

Parade Route

The Southwest Airlines Chinese New Year Parade, celebrating the Year of the Dragon will be on Saturday, February 24, 2024 at 5:15 pm, stepping off at Second and Market Streets. It is a free event for all to attend, but tickets must be purchased to sit in the bleacher sections.

The parade starts off at 2nd and Market Streets, goes around Union Square and ends at Kearny Street & Columbus Ave. The distance of the parade route is approximately 1.3 miles. The parade is a free event for all to attend and you may stand anywhere on the parade route, behind the barricades, to watch the parade.

The map also shows the location of crossing points through the parade route. These areas can be used to safely cross the parade route but must be kept clear for emergency personnel. Please do not stand in these areas to watch the parade.

It is strongly suggested to take public transportation

New for 2024, there’s now 6 free admission days to the National Parks

On certain “fee-free” days throughout the year, enjoy free entry to all national parks and monuments including Muir Woods and Yosemite National Park, and free admission aboard all of the historic vessels at the Hyde Street Pier of SF’s Maritime National Historical Park.

Please always check with each National Park before heading out to confirm that the park and its facilities are open and admission is free. 

Free National Parks Days 2024

Parks listed on this page typically waive their entrance fees on nationally designated fee free dates. Please check with each park below for operating hours and event schedules. See the latest updates.

Participating California National Parks – See the full list
*Last Updated 1/4/24

• Cabrillo National Monument – San Diego – (lighthouse and tidepools) – $20 vehicle, $15 motorcycle, $10 foot/bike fees waived – fee details
• Death Valley National Park– Mostly in Inyo County (near the border of CA & NV) – $30 vehicle, $25 motorcycle, $15 per person fee waived – fee details
• Joshua Tree National Park – Riverside/San Bernardo Counties – $30 vehicle, $25 motorcycle, $15 foot/bike fees waived – fee details
• Lassen Volcanic National Park – Near Redding – $30 vehicle ($10 in winter), $25 motorcycle ($10 in winter), $15 per person fee ($10 in winter) waived – fee details
• Lava Beds National Monument – Northeast California near Oregon border – $25 vehicle, $20 motorcycle, $15 foot/bike fees waived – fee details
• Muir Woods National Monument – Marin County – While the $15 entrance fee is waived,parking ($9.50) or shuttle ($3.75); reservations are required, even on “free” days. Get shuttle info – fee details
• Pinnacles National Park – 80 miles southeast of San Jose – $30 vehicle, $25 motorcycle, $15 foot/bike fees waived – fee details
• San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park – Fisherman’s Wharf/Hyde St. Pier – $15 per person fee waived, includes access to historic ships – fee details
• Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks– East of Fresno/Visalia – $35 vehicle, $30 motorcycle, $20 individual pass waived – fee details
• Whiskeytown National Recreation Area – Shasta County – $25 vehicle, $20 motorcycle, $15 foot/bike fees waived – fee details
• Yosemite National Park – $35 car, $30 motorcycle, $20 foot/bike/horse fee waived – fee details

2024 Yosemite Reservation