Sunday Streets confirmed that it has raised enough funds from supporters online to hold a half-season in 2026 with events in the Tenderloin, Bayview and Excelsior, after Mission Local earlier reported the street festivals were in threat of shuttering citywide.
Sunday Streets received a $50,000 donation from a private donor that, combined with matching funds, helped them raise $100,000.
And it appears they may eventually replace the entire $215,758 lost in city funds after a second donor offered another $50,000 in matching funds, according to Sally Chen, deputy director for Livable City, the nonprofit that puts on the events.
Patricia Barraza, director of community partnerships for Livable City, said she’s proud of the effort, but still disappointed by the city’s decision to cut their funds.
“It’s kind of belittling because, during the pandemic, we were the organization that was asked to do a lot of the very first street activations,” she said.
Chen agreed. “The focus on downtown seems very limiting,” she said of Mayor Daniel Lurie’s approach to revitalizing the city’s downtown while cutting funding for neighborhood events.
“To have this stark difference between the amount of money that’s getting poured into just one neighborhood or just one set of neighborhoods versus the rest of the city is, frankly, inequitable,” she said.
Chen said Sunday Streets can only guarantee having three organized events this year because of the uncertainty around collaborating with the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency, which is the primary city sponsor for the events.
SFMTA has not yet renewed its memo with Livable City, said Chen, which is a formal but nonbinding agreement between the two groups. The holdup has caused delays with Sunday Streets’ insurance, and is likely to affect its marketing launch on Muni buses and stations, which is planned for early April.
The Mission, Western Addition and South of Market, three other neighborhoods that have had Sunday Streets events in the past, do not yet have guaranteed funds from Livable City for this year.
“We are being cautious about committing to more events at this time, given the complete loss of the city’s multi-year support and our ongoing event sponsorship outreach,” said Chen in an email.
Dontaye Ball, owner of Gumbo Social on Third Street in Bayview, said he is excited the event is coming back to the neighborhood, but upset that Sunday Streets events aren’t guaranteed in the other three neighborhoods.
“It’s hard to be happy and disappointed at the same time,” he said.
Last year was the Bayview’s first Sunday Streets, and Ball said the event is already “important to the neighborhood.”
“When else would I have the opportunity, even for one day, to highlight the community, to promote the Third Street corridor, the 94124?” he said.
“I would challenge those other neighborhoods to work with Livable City to try and bring some variation of Sunday Streets back to their community.”
Chen said more details, like dates and launch party announcement, will come out this week on their website and Instagram page.