San Francisco, CA
SF residents divided over Measure K to permanently close portion of Great Highway to cars
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — It looks like a two-mile stretch of part of San Francisco’s Great Highway will be closing.
The latest numbers show Measure K passing, getting 54% of the vote.
Closing off the road to cars will create a new oceanfront park, but not everybody is happy.
As the sun sets at Ocean Beach, people enjoy another quiet weekend on the great highway without vehicle traffic.
Should SF’s Great Highway permanently close to cars? Here’s what both sides say on Prop K
The Prop K debate over the future of San Francisco’s Great Highway is heating up with just days to go until Election Day.
Measure K, if it officially passes, will make that a reality 7 days a week–not just on weekends.
And that’s exactly what Chase Davenport is hoping for.
“I just think open spaces are very important for the city,” said Davenport.
Davenport is a coastal scientist who’s thinking about the future of Ocean Beach and what’s happening there.
“I think we’re going to have to experience this city in other ways than being in cars a lot more as the world changes,” said Davenport.
Tensions rising over proposition that would close part of San Francisco’s Great Highway
The Great Highway was shut down to vehicles temporarily during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The city then closed it on weekends and holidays.
But not everyone agrees with Measure K and a complete shutdown.
“It’s very disappointing right now for us…that did not want the Great Highway permanently closed to cars,” said Richie Greenberg who lives in the Richmond District.
He says closing the Great Highway permanently will create some big headaches, diverting traffic through normally quiet neighborhood streets.
“These streets were not made for the kind of 20,000 cars per volume that is here, that use the Great Highway,” said Greenberg.
Debate over changes to San Francisco’s Great Highway intensify with Prop K
Greenberg believes that will also impact businesses in the Richmond District.
“People will not want to come here because of the congestion, because of the inconvenience, because of potential accidents. Because of potential overflow,” said Greenberg.
“This movement has been led by people who live in the sunset for years,” said Lucas Lux, Board President of Friends of Great Highway Park says the pros of closing part of the road permanently to cars–outweigh the cons.
Lux says it’s all about giving the community a safe space and a reason to come out.
“After Measure K wins, we are going to work together to make our streets safe for everyone in the family and have a world-class park in our backyard. I think there is a way for us to have a win-win in the neighborhood,” said Lux.
But opponents say the local residents directly impacted by the closure and increased traffic—didn’t ask for this measure.
“We all heavily voted ‘no’ on closures. It was the in the Mission and Noe and toward the east side of San Francisco that voted ‘yes’,” said Greenberg. “This shouldn’t have been a ballot measure in the first place.”
Selena Chu, a resident of San Francisco’s Sunset neighborhood shared on Facebook, “By framing this closure as a citywide issue, (Supervisor Joel) Engardio effectively silenced the voices of West Side communities who rely on the highway for our daily commutes. There was an already existing compromise allowing the Great Highway to be shared on weekdays and closed on weekends and holidays, which doesn’t expire until the end of 2025.”
ABC7 News reached out to Supervisor Engardio Saturday night for comment. He has not responded.
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A California sea lion pup found last week on a San Francisco street corner is malnourished but “active and quite feisty,” The Marine Mammal Center said Monday.
The sea lion, believed to be about 10 months old, had apparently wandered into city’s Outer Sunset neighborhood and was discovered early Thursday morning, authorities said.
The pup was spotted near 48th and Irving Streets, one block from Ocean Beach and Sunset Dunes park. A trained responder from the Marine Mammal Center was joined by San Francisco park rangers and police officers to safely corral the pup, now named ‘Irving’, into a carrier crate.
Dubbed ‘Irving’ by his rescuers, Irving weighed in at 40 pounds and is considered malnourished, the Marine Mammal Center said.
“The sea lion is active and quite feisty which is a positive initial sign in terms of general behavior,” the center said in a news release on Monday.
During an exam by veterinarians, a series of blood samples were also taken to determine whether there’s any underlying ailment.
Irving is being tube fed a fish smoothie blend two times per day to boost hydration and weight; offers of whole herring will also begin shortly.
The quick actions by police, recreation and parks staff and Ocean Avenue Animal Hospital gave the young sea lion a second chance at life, said Lauren Campbell, animal husbandry manager at The Marine Mammal Center.
“As a roughly 10-month-old pup in his first year of learning how to forage on his own, this animal has a long road to recovery due to his severe malnutrition,” Campbell said. “We are hopeful that in the coming weeks with continued specialized care that this pup starts to make positive strides toward recovery and release.”
Irving will be held in the Center’s Intensive Quarantine Unit until clearing medical protocols, before likely being transferred this week to a traditional rehabilitation pool pen. A long-term prognosis and potential release timeline are not currently known.
After Sunday’s 3-0 loss to the Washington Nationals, the San Francisco Giants headed back to the West Coast. They’re going back to the Bay Area, too.
The Giants have a date with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a three-game series at Oracle Park starting Tuesday night.
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So, San Francisco probably wanted to get out of Washington, D.C., with a win. That didn’t happen at Nationals Park on Sunday afternoon.
Nationals reliever Andrew Alvarez, the third pitcher used by the team on Sunday, picked up the victory with 4 1/3 innings of work. Giants starter Robbie Ray absorbed the loss, falling to 2-3 this season.
Ray worked six innings, giving up seven hits, three runs (all earned), walking one, and striking out seven Nationals. If the Giants’ offense had found a way to tack on some runs, then Ray’s outing wouldn’t have looked so bad.
The Giants’ bats, though, had eight hits. The big number for Giants manager Tony Vitello to look at in the box score after this one was, well, pretty big. San Francisco left 10 runners on base on Sunday, going 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. This indicates that San Francisco had plenty of opportunities to score some runs.
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They just didn’t get the job done.
Let’s go to the bottom of the fifth with the Giants and Nationals in a scoreless tie. With nobody out, the Nationals’ Keibert Ruiz connected for his third double this season. Nasim Nuñez scored to put Washington up 1-0.
With one out, Curtis Mead sent a Ray pitch over the left-field wall, a two-run blast that gave the Nationals a 3-0 lead.
San Francisco had a scoring threat in the top of the eighth inning. With runners at first and second base and nobody out, Casey Schmitt grounded into a double play. Matt Chapman, who was on second base, went to third. But the Giants were unable to bring him home.
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Rafael Devers and Drew Gilbert went 2-for-4 at the plate for the Giants, producing half of the Giants’ hits.
The Giants fall to 9-13 this season, sitting in fourth place in the National League West Division. The Nationals’ record goes to 10-12, good enough for third place in the National League East Division.
All eyes now turn toward Oracle on Tuesday night. It’ll be a chance for two longtime rivals to renew their rivalry.
Baseball fans know that the Giants-Dodgers matchups usually are must-see TV.
That’s probably going to be the case once again as Giants fans watch their team battle the Dodgers. Those lucky to have tickets to the three-game series at Oracle Park will show up in Giants colors, hoping to see Los Angeles head back to Southern California with either a series loss or a Giants’ sweep.
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Buckle up, Giants fans. It’s about to get rowdy at Oracle Park.
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The 4,140-sq-km bay is the largest estuary on the west coast of the US. Before 2018, this species of whales wasn’t known to stop seasonally or consistently in the bay, bypassing it on their migration route down to Baja California and back up the Arctic, said Josephine Slaathaug, who led a recent study on gray whale mortality in the bay.
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