Hi All As you know the long long awaited Saturday Car Free Space in GGP is finally going to committee next Friday. Right now 6 sup's have co-signed the legislation. We either need 8 votes for veto proof legislation or we need to convice Gavin not to veto it. Over the next week, we have an ambitious goal to get 1,000 letters of support and it would be most helpful if we could leverage your networks. Please also forward this to other lists. Two ways you can help: 1) Send an email like this to your people with a personal request to: 1) drop a short note of support to the Mayor, 2) contact one of the uncommitted Sups, and 3) come speak at the Hearing: Land Use Committee Hearing Fri., Apr. 14 1pm, City Hall, Rm 263 2) We will be phone banking from the Bike Coalition next Tuesday PM 6:30-8:30. If you have a couple of hours, we could set you up to hand pick folks you know from the data base and ask them to help get the word out. An approach like this will have better results as we will have a higher quality contact with folks. MESSAGE TO FOLLOW ================================================== ACTIVIST ALERT: PLEASE SEND YOUR SUPPORT FOR CAR FREE SATURDAYS IN GOLDEN GATE PARK BEFORE NEXT FRIDAY Supervisor McGoldrick, along with 5 co-sponsors has introduced legislation to extend the Sunday Car Free Space in Golden Gate Park to Saturdays. This legislation calls for a six month trial period of the car free space on JFK. The bill will pass with the six supervisors who have already indicated their support, but we need eight to make this veto proof. There has been a lot of talk on this one for a long time but we are really close to seeing this happen this time. Please take a second to send your support to City Hall. We have an ambitious goal to get 1,000 letters of support before next Friday. Heres how you can help: 1) Please, please, please send an email, fax or letter to Mayor Newsom asking him to support this. Some talking points are included below. It can be short and sweet but this is one time that a 5 minute email or call can make a big difference. Mayor Gavin Newsom City Hall - Room 200 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place San Francisco, CA 94102-4689 (415) 554-6141 - voice (415) 554-6160 - fax 2) Send an email to the uncommitted Sups .... especially if you live in their disctrict. You can also use the instant fax service at the Bike Coalition's webiste http://www.sfbike.org/ggp These Supervisors have not yet supported Healthy Saturdays: Dist 2) Marina/Pacific Heights Michela.Alioto-Pier@sfgov.org - (415) 554-7752 - voice Dist 4) Sunset Fiona.Ma@sfgov.org (415) 554-7460 - voice Dist 10) Bay View/Potrero Sophie.Maxwell@sfgov.org (415) 554-7670 - voice Dist 8) Castro/Noe/Upper Market Bevan.Dufty@sfgov.org (415) 554-6968 - voice Dist 7) West of Twin Peaks Sean.Elsbernd@sfgov.org (415) 554-6516 - voice 3) Send this email to all of your friends who support car free space in the park. Our goal is ambitious: we need 1,000 letters of support before the hearing. 4) Come to the public hearing next Friday, April 14 and speak out for this proposal. A lot of work has gone into this over the years and now is the time to make it real: Land Use Committee Hearing Fri., Apr. 14 1pm, City Hall, Rm 263 Quick talking points: - This is a family issue. Many folks cant afford a vacation place in Tahoe. Many kids only have a mile and a half, once a week to ride their bikes. This is a populist issue. Hundreds of thousands of people enjoy the Sunday space.... even before the Garage was built Sunday Car Free space was a success drawing folks from all over the city. This is a San Francisco issue... the Car Free space in Golden Gate Park is one of the bigger attractions in the City. - Sunday car free space has been successful for 39 years. It has been the biggest attraction, attendancewise in the park on a consistent basis - even before there was a parking garage - The museums have been the major opposition but even they promised to support this after the parking garage was built in the park. See their 2000 ballot arguements in favor of the Car Free JFK on Saturday once the garage is built http://www.sfbike.org/ggp - If you have a kid mention it. If you own a home mention it. If you live near the park mention it. Include your name/address/phone - SF youth are underserved and not everyone can afford a vacation home in Tahoe.... the Park car free space is only 1 1/2 miles but it provides an urban oasis for literally hundreds of thousands of people every year. - the proposal is for a six month trial to prove that is is a success. Its not reasonable for these people not to support a trial now that there is a garage in the park. - This Saturday Car Free Space has been a long time coming. Everyone, even the Museums, promised to support this after the Garage was built. And here we, finally, are. Given that the institutions now have a garage and given that the Sunday Car Free space is now entering its 40th successful year and, especially, given that the proposed closure is a simple six month trial I hope you will co-sponsor and support this important legislation. ---------------------------------------------------- Herb Caen on Car-Free Sundays "And then to the rarest treasure, Golden Gate Park on a car-free Sunday morning, the air wet and clean, the meadows green with the promise of spring. Not a single automobile: The silence is deafening, you can actually hear the branches dripping moisture, squirrels scrambling through the underbrush -- and the birds! Hundreds of redbreasted robins bobbing across the lawns, now that there are no cars to frighten them. On Stanyan, the families are renting bikes and heading into the winding trails. "Slowly it dawns on them that they can use the main drive and the roads. For once the world does not belong to the automobile. The bicycle is king again and the rider may go where fancy dictates without looking nervously over his shoulder. You are even allowed, for a few unrealistic minutes, to reflect on how pleasant life would be if the car were banned from San Francisco." Herb Caen, San Francisco Chronicle, 1/28/73 ------------------------------------------------------