Katy Birnbaum katy@livablecity.org

1. YOUR STREET. YOUR DAY.
Centering Community In Open Street Events
Sunday Streets SF Overview
History
Organization & Partnerships
Pillars of Community Engagement
Outreach
Communication
Programming
Case Study - Bayview/Dogpatch
Outreach where you least expect it
Recognize your blind spots
Take a risk on programming

2. PROGRAM OVERVIEW

4. HISTORY

6. 2008 Season
August 31, 2008
September 14, 2008

7. 2009 Season
Embarcadero April 26, 2009
Bayview May 10, 2009
Mission June 7, 2009
Mission July 19, 2009
Great Highway August 9, 2009
Great Highway September 6, 2009

8. 2010 Season
Embarcadero March 14, 2010
Great Highway April 11, 2010
Bayview April 18, 2010
Mission June 20, 2010
Mission July 11, 2010
Great Highway August 22, 2010
Tenderloin October 24, 2010

9. 2011 Season
Great Highway April 10, 2011
Mission May 8, 2011
Bayview, Dogpatch, Potrero June 12, 2011
Great Highway July 10, 2011
Civic Center August 14, 2011
Western Addition September 11, 2011
Chinatown, North Beach September 18, 2011
Mission October 23, 2011

10. 2012 Season
Embarcadero March 11, 2012
Great Highway April 15, 2012
Mission May 6, 2012
Mission June 3, 2012
Mission July 1, 2012
Bayview/Dogpatch July 22, 2012
Mission August 5, 2012
Chinatown August 26, 2012
Western Addition September 9, 2012
Excelsior October 21, 2012

11. 2013 Season
Embarcadero March 10, 2013
Mission April 14, 2013
Bayview/Dogpatch June 9, 2013
Great Highway July 7, 2013
Mission July 28, 2013
Tenderloin August 18, 2013
Western Addition September 8, 2013
Excelsior September 29, 2013
Richmond October27, 2013

12. 2014 Season
Embarcadero March 9, 2014
Tenderloin April, 13, 2014
Bayview/Dogpatch May 4, 2014
Great Highway June 8, 2014
Richmond July 13, 2014
Mission August 24, 2014
Western Addition September 14, 2014
Excelsior September 28, 2014
Mission October 19, 2014

13. 2015 Season
Embarcadero March 8, 2015
Bayview April 12, 2015
Mission May 10, 2015
Great Highway June 14, 2015
Tenderloin July 12, 2015
Excelsior August 16, 2015
Western Addition September 3, 2015
Mission October 18, 2015

14. 2016 Season
Mission, April 10,2016
Bayview, May 1, 2016
Great Highway, June 12, 2016
Tenderloin, July 10, 2016
Mission, August 21, 2016
Western Addition, September 11, 2016
Excelsior, October 16, 2016
Embarcadero, November 13, 2016

15. WHERE WE ARE NOW
• 8 events once per month
• 7 different routes (one route repeated)
• 1-4.5 miles in length
• 5 hours
• 10,000-25,000 attendance per event

16. PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
• Create temporary open space and recreational opportunities in
neighborhoods most lacking
• Encourage physical activity
• Foster community
• Transform the way people think about city streets as public spaces
GOALS
SHORT TERM: A weekly Sunday Streets in Golden Gate Park and on
the Great Highway
LONG TERM: A citywide network of car-free streets every Sunday!

17. CITY PARTNERSHIPS

18. AGENCY PARTNERS

19. SPONSORSHIPS

20. SMALL BUSINESSES

21. COMMUNITY GROUPS

22. COMMUNITY GROUPS

23. VOLUNTEERS

24. VOLUNTEERS

25. PILLARS OF
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

26. OUTREACH
• Doorhangers
• Merchant Walks
• Letters to churches and businesses
• Community Planning meetings
• Partnering with local organizations to cross-promote
events

27. COMMUNICATION
• Social media
• Print
• Word of mouth
• Telecommunication
• Phone/text
• Emails
• Language

28. PROGRAMMING
• Placement
• Diversity
• Quality
• Quantity
• Community wellness vs. public health

29. CASE STUDY:
BAYVIEW/DOGPATCH

30. ROUTE OVERVIEW
• ~ 2.5 Miles
• Spans both Bayview and
Dogpatch neighborhoods
• Has a large industrial
stretch separating the
neighborhoods
• Significant
socio-economic disparities
and racial segregation
between the communities

31. THE NEIGHBORHOODS
• Dogpatch
• Recently very affluent
• Trendy makers district
• Bayview-Hunters Point
• Historically Black neighborhood
• Experienced decades of pollution, substandard housing, declining
infrastructure, limited employment, racial discrimination, and gang
violence
• Currently experiencing rapid gentrification, with the city’s Black
population plummeting to 3% from its height of ~13% in the 1970

32. OUTREACH
WHERE YOU LEAST EXPECT IT
• Sam Jordan’s Bar & Grill
• Knew it was a community touchstone
• Still nervous about hosting there
• BayView - ‘paper of record’ for the neighborhood
• Thought we were an outsiders’ event
• Didn’t think we were involving the community
• Invited her to the meeting at Sam Jordan’s
• By the next email, she was writing about getting her bike tuned up
for the event

33. COMMUNICATION
SEEING MY BLIND SPOTS
• My concept of ‘professionalism’
• Emailing to schedule a call
• Never text
• No paper!!!
• Sunday Streets is my job, but it’s community members’ day to have
fun!
• Emails > Flyers > Text Chains
• Everyone asked for a flyer
• Very few people included email addresses on physical sign-up
forms at outreach events in the neighborhood
• Transformed my perception of texting from an informal/less reliable
medium to a culturally aware and effective strategy for outreach

34. PROGRAMMING
TAKE A RISK
• Historically difficult to activate the Bayview
• Community input on placement and themes of Activity
Hubs
• Community driven programming
• Community wellness vs. public health
• Please just put the sodas inside!
• The Big Reveal: Recreational Opportunities
• Debrief meeting
• Everyone’s favorite part was the planning process
• Excitement, commitments and ownership of route expansion!

43. THANK YOU
SundayStreetsSF.com
Katy@Livablecity.org