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A 17-block ‘Yellow Brick Road’ is Coming to the Tenderloin

The bright sidewalk mural will illuminate a network of safe routes for children through the neighborhood
By - posted 5/4/2022 No Comment

In 2008, a group of Tenderloin neighborhood mothers, youth and community leaders came together to create the Yellow Brick Road, an eleven-block sidewalk mural illuminating a network of safe routes for children. The Safe Passage Program, operating under the umbrella of the Tenderloin Community Benefit District (TLCBD), remains a robust community-driven coalition working together to help children and seniors move safely through the neighborhood each day. But the Yellow Brick Road, and the optimism and empowerment it signals, faded long ago, quite literally.

Thankfully, a brand new Yellow Brick Road is returning to the Tenderloin. Taking the learnings from the pilot program, the renewed Yellow Brick Road will extend to the full 13 blocks of the current Safe Passage route, and offer opportunities to integrate complementary programs, such as Safe Haven and Four Corner Friday. It also will build upon citywide programs including Vision Zero and the SFMTA Quick Build Projects, and help to focus infrastructure improvements such as increased street lighting.

On December 14, in response to a troubling rise in street violence and other safety risks in the Tenderloin, Mayor Breed announced an emergency plan to bring some stability back to the neighborhood while local groups continue manage long-term stewardship. A renewed Yellow Brick Road is just one piece of the comprehensive strategy needed to provide residents with the healthy and safe neighborhood they deserve.