Thread by @MattHaneySF

I stopped by our Tenderloin outdoor dining on Larkin to thank everyone for their hard work over last few months--there was a lot of resistance, doubt, skepticism initially. But people came together & made it happen.

TY @TLCBD @UrbanAlchemyUA TL Merchants & all the businesses

It may have been just a couple of blocks, but we also were able to demonstrate that the TL wants & deserves transformational street changes, that better utilize city streets for positive safe community and economic activity. I'm hopeful about what we can accomplish in the future

I'm disappointed that people were put in the position of relying on outdoor activities for months, encouraging them to make investments, to tell customers, friends, family that it was perfectly safe, only to turn around & prohibit it. Like everyone, I hope that this is over soon

I'm worried that prohibiting distanced outdoor activities, the same activities we've actually encouraged for months now, that we may drive people towards more dangerous indoor activities like house parties and indoor gatherings. I very much hope that does not happen.

In the meantime, we have to hunker down, push even harder for support for our most vulnerable and impacted--without the outlets provided by outdoor activities and spaces--the mental, physical, emotional, economic impacts are even more acute. We all have to be there for each other

If science & research shows that these activities are, in fact, causing community spread & dangerous, then it makes sense to stop them. But we shouldn't deny the fact we had opposite message over the last 6 months. We told people being outside was safe, if distanced and masked.