Faces of Slow Lake Street: LAUREN KEANE

“I’m a parent and my kids have learned to ride their bikes here. It’s a place I can go when I need a break, and really feel like I have space and air. It feels like a little community. People pass each other. They say hello. I see people getting to know each other. I see people here from our preschool and our schools that I would not otherwise see. I feel safe with my kids. It’s hard to teach a 4-year old on the sidewalk. She’s done a lot better in the middle of the street. It just feels like the way San Francisco should be. The way cities should be. Space for everybody.

I think of San Francisco as a city that has a lot of community oriented places and this should be just another one of them. Is it surprising that it is still here? Maybe because people argue against everything around here. I think it does a lot more good than inconvenience people. I drive too. I have little kids so we have to drive places and I don’t feel inconvenienced by it. I don’t mind not being able to drive down this street. I think it’s worth the tradeoff for me and our family.

I’m a Richmond District native. I grew up in this neighborhood and I love that there are spaces that my kids can be kids and learn to be little functioning people that aren’t so closed in.”

LAUREN KEANE (walking with her daughter Alexandra Shaw)