Sup. Chan’s Plan for a ‘Car-Free’ JFK Has a Hole You Could Literally Drive Cars Through
By: Max Harrison-Caldwell
Tags: San Francisco, Traffic, Planning, Parks, Urbanism

Last week, the fight over cars in Golden Gate Park seemed to come to a compromise. Sup. Connie Chan, who represents the Richmond district along the north side of the city’s iconic park, floated an idea for a “car-free” John F. Kennedy Drive, and her press release included enthusiastic quotes of support from transit and pedestrian advocates and the park’s top museum executives.

Upon closer look, though, Chan’s proposal raises plenty of questions, starting with the name. Dubbed the “Beach to Bay” car-free connection, the plan only addresses roads in Golden Gate Park. More important is that it’s not exactly car-free. The resolution calls for a crucial intersection within the park to reopen to cars, creating a complicated break in the car-free flow.

What’s more, a map accompanying Chan’s proposal also shows parking spots on JFK between 8th and 10th avenues, a section that’s supposed to be car-free. Kelly Groth, a Chan aide, said the map reflected an “earlier draft version” to keep disability-accessible parking spaces and will be updated; as of today, the map remains part of the official proposal.

The plan itself, scheduled for a Transportation and Land Use committee hearing on Sept. 22, is a resolution, not an ordinance — meaning that its passage would only be a statement of support and not legally binding.

Meanwhile, transit planning officials continue work on a separate recommendation that they aim to present to the Board of Supervisors by the end of the year.

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Chan’s office would not say whether there was a plan to have “Beach to Bay” become law in the future. The resolution comes a month after the Great Highway reopened to cars, and the supervisor’s role in the reopening spurred a local environmental group to withdraw support for her, as The Frisc first reported.

The Frisc reached out to the walk and bike advocates who lent support to Chan’s JFK plan, to ask about the map showing the parking spaces and having cars cut across JFK. Janice Li of the SF Bicycle Coalition did not respond, and Jodie Medeiros of Walk SF would not comment on the record.

Matt Brezina, an organizer with KidSafe SF who was not quoted in Chan’s press release, is happy that the District 1 supervisor is addressing the issue. “If the values are that we maintain this beautiful car-free space, and that’s truly what [Chan’s] goal is, then we love the idea of her joining our side in this movement,” he said. “I would applaud her support and her rallying the other supervisors’ support.”

But he does have reservations, such as the plan to reintroduce through-traffic to the segment of 8th Avenue between Fulton Street and the Music Concourse, which would cut across car-free JFK. (See map.) Right now only the Muni 44 bus can drive on this stretch. Brezina worries that reintroducing private vehicles would slow the bus down.

Sup. Connie Chan’s ‘car-free’ JFK plan would reintroduce cars to the road connecting Fulton Street, the museums, and the Music Concourse, which would interrupt the busiest car-free segment of JFK Drive. (Courtesy Google Maps)

Safety could be an issue. It’s unclear how the odd intersection, which requires a dog-leg maneuver to cross, would regulate cars and keep pedestrians and bicyclists out of harm’s way as they move from one car-free section of JFK to the other. The proposal does not specify if a traffic light or other infrastructure would be required.

The extra access also seems redundant, because cars don’t need surface streets to get from the Richmond district to the Music Concourse and museums. The parking garage under the concourse is accessible from Fulton and 10th Avenue and can be used for pickups and drop-offs free of charge. “For a disabled patron, the closest access to the museums is in the garage,” Brezina added.

Garage reportage

The 800-space underground garage, which was carved out of the Golden Gate Park soil and opened in 2005, has become the central component in the discussion about a permanently car-free JFK Drive. As The Frisc reported, lowering the expensive rates — $6.25 per hour on weekends and weekday evenings — could make trips to the park easier for low-income San Franciscans, residents of far-flung neighborhoods, and people with mobility limitations who can’t take Muni.

Activists say lower rates would address the access issues raised by Sup. Shamann Walton, replacing the free parking that was lost with the closure of JFK Drive. Plus, there’s plenty of space, at least during the week: A 2019 Recreation and Parks Department study found that the garage did not exceed 60 percent capacity on weekdays. (The study also found that the garage was almost full on weekends.) Even the institutions agree: Back in April, a spokesperson for the de Young told The Frisc that the museums “have also been advocating for lowered rates in the garage, but to little effect.”

In fact, they’ve had some control for years without the rates coming down. That’s because the sole entity with the power to change the garage prices is a nonprofit called the Music Concourse Community Partnership (MCCP), and five of its seven directors are connected to the museums, including Academy of Sciences CFO Mike McGee.

The other two are Jan Berckefeldt, MCCP’s president, and Eric Foster, the CEO of Swinerton, the construction company that built the garage. MCCP entered a debt agreement with Swinerton in 2009 and still owed the company more than $870,000 as of last year, according to audited financial statements. The same statements show that MCCP owes the California Academy of Sciences and the Fine Arts Museums Foundation over $2.5 million on a loan to finance garage construction.

Berckefeldt is executive director of the Maybeck Foundation, a nonprofit that seeks to preserve the work of early 20th-century architect Bernard Maybeck, including SF’s own Palace of Fine Arts. (The Maybeck Foundation reported raising more than $20 million for the Palace’s restoration in 2010.)

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According to public tax records, Berckefeldt devotes about 3.5 hours per week to the MCCP, and is the only member of the MCCP board that has collected a check since 2012. (Former MCCP controller John Ryan also collected about $20,000 before then). As president, she has earned between $25,000 and $32,000 per year each year since 2016. Her salary was more variable before 2016; in 2015, she earned only $14,000, while in 2011 she earned $41,000. This money comes entirely from parking garage revenue, which is the nonprofit’s single source of funding.

What Berckefeldt does to earn this salary is unclear. According to MCCP’s tax forms, the organization’s mission is to “complete and operate” the garage. Garage construction was completed in 2005, and MCCP employs an outside operator called Impark to manage day-to-day garage operations.