How SF Can Turn Loss of Parking into Something Beautiful
D5 will be the first district to paint every curb that’s getting daylighted according to California law. But is paint enough? What else can be done to make street intersections safer for pedestrians?
Far away, in what we can only imagine to be a vast breezy chamber in the mythical land of Sacramento, politicians decided to pass AB 413. This set in motion a series of changes that could transform our streets for the better… if we commit.
Armed with striped smocks and brushes dipped in cherry red paint, the children focus contentedly on the curb before them. District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar sits criss-cross applesauce on a thin sheet of cardboard at the end of the line, equally focused. She holds a plastic cup of paint and wears black gloves; an inflated Zebra behind her (a nod to the Australian zebra crossing cross guards) holds a “I ❤️ Safe Intersections” sign. The New Traditions Elementary School families gather behind. The instagram caption is surgically simple, written so that even a child can understand.
“This is called daylighting and it prevents 1 in 3 collisions. It saves lives. State law mandates that no car may park within 20 feet of a crosswalk. Starting today, the SFMTA will begin painting curbs red across the city so folks know not to park there and to make people safer,” it says.
The simplicity is important. According to data obtained from the City, one of the most visited 311 pages is how to fight SMFTA’s parking enforcement. Despite outreach and diagrams, people still can’t understand how daylighting changes where they can park. And all spring it’s been unclear whether the budget-gutted SFMTA can even afford to paint all the curbs.
Navigate to another politician’s Instagram. In a video, District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood proudly proclaims that D5 will be the first to have fully daylighted intersections. According to his newsletter, “during this week’s San Francisco County Transportation Authority meeting, we voted to make District 5 the first fully daylighted district in San Francisco by March 2026!” What he means is the curbs will all be painted red to help drivers understand they can’t park within 20 feet of a crosswalk. Is that enough?
Supervisor Mahmood explains, “Funding will help bring us into compliance by completing the demarcation to 20 ft at every intersection, and move us closer to our Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries.” Pedestrians face risk. Paint is a temporary solution. Some advocates say an even better, albeit more ambitious, approach would be to install physical barriers that actively block cars from the pedestrian zone. Not bollards or clever signs, but something leafier: Sidewalk gardens.
We’ve persistently covered climate change and the combined sewer system challenges of San Francisco, so readers know that replacing concrete with permeable surfaces is going to help keep raw sewage off the street during major storms. But a big roadblock to ripping up concrete is the built environment. So much of the areas that could be great gardens are never going to be. The sidewalk has to be wide enough for ADA compliance. There are utilities all over. Hell, half of Downtown has secret basements unbeknownst to the City until the moment concrete is removed for an urban greening project.
But because of daylighting, there’s a new opportunity in front of us as a City. Now no longer viable parking spots, the corners of intersections could very well become small gardens.
The idea reimagines usage, helps with carbon sequestration and PM2.5 particles, is aesthetically appealing, and may offer new habitat for pollinators. In other words, it uses what’s unused, cleans the air, looks pretty, and saves the bees. What’s not to love?
The biggest hurdles are going to be finding cooperation from city agencies like the Department of Public Works — and finding funding.
Currently things like the SFPUC’s Greening Infrastructure Grant program don’t prioritize street medians (or didn’t as of a webinar earlier this year). A spokesperson explained that most medians are built at a grade above the street so that water can flow off the side and into gutters. Since medians are out, daylighted intersections might be the next best way to transform the streets without disrupting their current usage.
Daylighting is going to remove approximately 14,000 parking spots from the city. It’ll be a challenge, but it’s a state law and unless San Francisco gets an exemption carved out it’s the future. So why not make the best of it?
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