If you have been to a DTNA Land Use meeting recently, then you have heard talk of a “Slow Triangle,” a concept dreamt up by some of our members who have been inspired by the changes our neighborhood has experienced over the past year. Seeing the way our streets, businesses, and the patterns of our daily lives have adapted to these uncertain times has gotten people thinking about what could be achieved with proactive thinking, rather than just reactive trials.

So what do people mean when they say “Slow Triangle”? It could mean different things for different people. For me, it involves taking the concepts of Slow Streets and Shared Streets and applying them at a neighborhood scale rather than a single street. For Duboce Triangle, the perimeter streets of Market, Castro, and Duboce/Church would continue to act as the primary automobile thoroughfares. The blocks inside the triangle would become a network of Slow Streets - meaning they would have a very low-speed limit and would be shared by all travelers, not just those in a car. Businesses and restaurants could utilize sidewalks and parking spaces to activate the street, as we have seen done so successfully on Noe Street, Church Street, and Market Street. By liberating the public right-of-way from being exclusively for cars, we can create a neighborhood that is accessible to everyone. 

This vision may seem fantastical. City-planning, our way of life, and even the American Dream have focused on the automobile since the mid-1900s! It seems impossible to imagine streets that are not for cars. “Go play in traffic” is a common insult, suggesting that the idea of people occupying streets is uncommon and dangerous. But that has not always been the case. The streets of Duboce Triangle were laid out in the late 1800s - many years before the mass production of cars and their incorporation into our daily lives. Our neighborhood was readapted to become car-centric. Historically, people were not restricted to narrow sidewalks and only allowed to cross a road at specified areas, at specified times. If our neighborhood (slowly, and over time) became car-centric, it can become something different again. We can advocate for a new style of urbanism, one that is reminiscent of its historical legacy. Could we get back to a time where children can play safely in the street?

I imagine some of you reading this are not immediately excited by this idea. I’ve heard from neighbors who are frustrated with Noe Slow Street. People are concerned that roads will be closed to them, that there is a stigma against those who drive a car, and access (to your home, to your business, to your community) will be restricted. That cannot be the case. If our neighborhood is to change, it should do so in a way that is inclusive of all uses; we cannot restrict ourselves to a binary conflict between cars and pedestrians. Instead, we have to find a way forward together, which requires letting some of our guards down and listening to each other, rather than being on constant defense for or against change.

A “Slow Triangle” is a vision. It is not a policy, ballot measure, or SFMTA plan. It's an idea. Something new, something different. If we are going to emerge from the past year having learned something, it should be that anything is possible. The whole world can stop and our lives can be turned upside down. In terms of our cities - we can experiment, try new things, and see what happens. A Slow Triangle is a vision that DTNA is interested in exploring. I hope you will join us in making our neighborhood more enjoyable, egalitarian, and safe.

 

Let us know what you think. Email landuse@dtna.org. As always, please attend our monthly Land Use meetings - held at 7pm on the first Monday of every month. Email for a Zoom link!