Plaintiffs In Lawsuit Over Great Highway Pandemic Closure Push To Reopen Car-Free Roads
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN/CBS SF) -- After a judge last week ruled the city lawfully closed San Francisco's Great Highway and other streets nearly two years, plaintiffs in the case said on Monday they're continuing to advocate for the roads to reopen.
The road closures for Great Highway, John F. Kennedy Drive, and Martin Luther King Drive began at the start of the pandemic in April 2020 and aimed to encourage walking and bicycling throughout the city amidst a stay-at-home order.
Both JFK Drive and MLK Drive have remained entirely closed to vehicles within Golden Gate Park. Since August 2021, Great Highway between Lincoln Way and Sloat Boulevard has remained closed to vehicles on weekends.
Residents along with the group Open the Great Highway Alliance filed a lawsuit in December 2021 against the Recreation and Park Department, the Recreation and Park Commission, Recreation and Park General Manager Philip Ginsburg alleging the closures violate state and local laws. The suit sought a preliminary injunction to force the city to reopen the roads.
Last Wednesday, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard B. Ulmer Jr. ruled in favor of the city, affirming the city was authorized by law to temporarily close down the streets during a public emergency.
In his ruling, Ulmer found the plaintiffs didn't meet the requirements for the preliminary injunction and cited city data that nearly seven million walking and bike trips were made along JFK Drive between April 2020 and September 2021, and that the closed portion of Great Highway draws in some 126,000 people monthly on average.
On Monday, the plaintiffs said in a statement they were disappointed with Ulmer's ruling and said they're continuing to pursue legal options.
"The judge accepted the city's flawed evidence without even considering the plaintiffs' objections to admissibility, and without considering the irreparable harm the road closures cause to the innumerous individuals who cannot access these roads and the attractions surrounding them," said OTGHA member Charles Perkins.
"A lot of the disabled and senior community cannot use, as a practical reality, Golden Gate Park right now because of the closures," attorney for OTGHA Guatam Duttam said. "If you need a wheelchair, it's not workable. They're effectively frozen out."
"A growing number of San Franciscans are tired of city officials using the bogeyman of COVID-19 to advance pet projects that appeal to special interests but that are, in reality, inequitable and unjust to the broader public," OTGHA member Peter Pirolli said. "San Franciscans are also tired of city departments who repeatedly demonstrate a lack of transparency and a lack of integrity in producing valid, independently verifiable information about the effects of the Great Highway closure."
City Attorney David Chiu said last week he was pleased with the ruling.
According to city officials, the city's Board of Supervisors is anticipated to consider the permanent status of the car-free streets in the near future.
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