On Tuesday afternoon this week, Gregory Blackman, a 65-year-old resident of San Francisco, was hit and killed while riding his bike in the Tenderloin at Turk and Taylor. As we pause to mourn another person lost on our streets to traffic violence, our thoughts inevitably shift towards what could have prevented Gregory’s death.

The Safer Taylor Street Project, which has come out of an extensive community-led planning process, will make Taylor Street more safe for all vulnerable road users, including people walking and biking. A major road diet will cut down travel lanes from the existing three to just one. The travel lanes will be repurposed to make for a far more welcoming pedestrian experience by doubling sidewalk space and creating dedicated loading for the local residents and community services. While the project prioritizes pedestrian safety and passenger loading for people with disabilities, people biking will also be significantly safer with this new design.

The design for this project has gone through multiple iterations, each informed, vetted and decided upon by the everyday users of Taylor. Thirty unique events and meetings gave more than 1,000 Tenderloin residents, workers and community leaders the opportunity to decide what they wanted for their street. These events prioritized giving the most vulnerable Tenderloin residents a voice and self-determination for their street.

We will continue to work with the community to ensure that the Safer Taylor Street Project best serves the Tenderloin to reduce vehicle speeds and prioritize residents. As the Safer Taylor Project approaches final approvals, we hope that you will join us in pushing the City to approve and implement the project with haste.

Sign our petition and add your comments to our petition for Safer Taylor to add your voice to our call for safe streets and be kept in the loop about the next steps for Taylor Street.