Sunday Streets San Francisco celebrated their 5th anniversary with a gala celebration with official presenters Mayor Ed Lee, board of supervisors Jane Kim, SFMTA Director Ed Reiskin, and the very colorful Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. There was great entertainment from hip-hop break dancing troupe B-Boys (the little boys in the group were so cute and talented!) The bands Hot Pocket , Rin Tin Tiger played on the rooftop and Indian hip-shaking from Non-Stop Bhangara. Great custom cocktails Verbena Spirits, food from The Spot Catering and a raffle featuring 49ers tickets and a custom ‘Sunday Streets’ Public bike giveaway. Sunday Streets is a non-profit organization that encourages community activities and fun in the streets without cars and motorized vehicles getting in the way. Sunday Streets closes stretches of city streets to automobile traffic, and opens them to people for several hours on a various Sundays throughout the year, so participants can enjoy a public space where they can bike, walk, run, dance, do yoga, or do any other community building event. I’m proud to be a volunteer for Sunday Streets as well as The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. I was honored to be the official photographer of Deep and Kimberly’s Sunday Streets wedding in the Mission last year.You can often find at many Sunday Streets events as a volunteer. It touches me that so many people come up and thank me for for doing this little job, just holding up a stop sign to let people cross the street safely. I would love to see areas of every city and town just dedicated to cyclists and pedestrians as the do in Europe (and in my city of Boston, the Downtown Crossing commercial district is shut down to all traffic except emergency vehicles.) Getting out of one’s car is how communities connect, one of the many things I love about San Francisco and bike-friendly cities.
