Residents Blast 'Red Carpet-Bombing' of S.F.'s Mission Street

A business owner lambasted the San Francisco Municipal Transit Authority’s Board of Directors on Tuesday, saying traffic changes along Mission Street have cost her business and will lead other firms to close. Neighborhood residents at the meeting called the changes a form of violence.

The Mission Street changes include transit-only lanes and many left-turn restrictions, plus forced right turns at certain intersections.

Eden Stein, who owns Secession Art & Design on Mission near Fair Avenue, said it is taking her customers 90 minutes to park or to get up and down the reconfigured thoroughfare.

“They’re not going to come back,” Stein told the board. “... Businesses are going to close down. We need some action.”

Other commenters said the changes were acts of violence against the community.

“This is just one more act of violence that the people in the Mission feel, said resident Mary Eliza. “When their primary street, with the district name on it, is violated in this way without really taking into consideration the needs of the community, you’re going to have a problem."

Activist Raeleen Valle-Brenes, speaking on behalf of the Cultural Action Network, said the group supports improving transit and safety but disagreed with the agency’s approach.

“SFMTA’s red carpet-bombing of the Mission was a surprise attack, and wholly unwelcome,” she told the board.

Read the full story at Mission Local:
More Criticism of Mission Street's 'Red Carpet'