At the end of August, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition office will be moving to 1720 Market Street. After more than five years at 833 Market Street (The James Bong Building), we’re excited to be heading about a mile southwest to Market at Valencia.
Our phone number, email addresses and website remain the same, but thanks in advance for your patience during any system downtime or longer response times.
This is my third office move with the organization, and the one I’m most excited about. We’re going to be on the ground floor at the nexus of two huge bike thoroughfares, Market and Valencia. While I swear we never lose sight of our mission of promoting the bicycle for everyday transportation, it certainly won’t hurt to see thousands of you pass by daily.
We’re also right at what some of us call the “Jughandle,” the so-shaped waiting area for the bicycle left turn signal onto Valencia. Sure — even I still cut over the two lanes and MUNI tracks to make the vehicular left if it’s clear, but it’s nice to have options. Now, while you’re waiting for the dedicated bicycle light, you can give us a wave or ring of your bell!
It shouldn’t need to be said, but I’m so proud and relieved that the SF Bicycle Coalition can remain in San Francisco. Nonprofit displacement is real, and even your “politically powerful” 10,000+-member organization is not immune from market forces. In my nine years on staff, your support as a member or donor means more to us than ever.
When we learned that we faced our rent more than doubling in this absolutely brutal real estate market, we widened our search area from the white hot downtown/SoMA area. While we’re now a 5-minute walk from Civic Center or 16th Street Mission BART stations, we have the good fortune to soon be even closer to City Hall and our partners at the SFMTA where we’re constantly representing your interests.
It’s true that San Francisco is a rapidly changing city, and our work continues unabated to keep pace. As I look out our future front door, I can see the infamous Market and Octavia intersection and the spot where nearly a hundred of us rallied to Save This Bike Lane in 2009. Thanks to your continued support, we’ve since fought at the state level to have automated photo enforcement and haven’t needed to rally to save a bike lane since.
Four of us SF Bicycle Coalition members and staff spraying what a green bike lane could look like on January 16, 2009 before it became a reality. (Photo by former Membership and Volunteer Director Kate McCarthy)
To all the volunteers who have helped us with event strike over the last decade: thank you. At least we won’t have to wait for the freight elevator anymore when loading back into HQ. While we moved a much smaller staff of five one block by bike in 2005 as a bit of a stunt, I’m now ten years older and mercifully grateful to have the help of Delancey Street Movers this time around. We won’t be able to resist bringing some of our stuff by bike trailer, though.
In more quaint times, fellow 10+ year member Matt Geis and I volunteered to roll office furniture from 1095 Market to 995 Market on March 12, 2005. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
So pardon our dust and spartan decor as we settle in. We’ll look forward to receiving you in our office more formally once we’ve had a chance to unpack. My team’s highest priority is to first make sure the 19 staff can continue our work — serving you as members, getting Back to School in the Youth and Family Biking Program, welcoming our fall class of interns, putting our weight behind the organization’s endorsements in this November’s electoral races, and figuring out our costumes for Tour de Fat next month. We look forward to welcoming you to an Urban Bicycling Workshop or other event at our office soon. Stay tuned.
