It is the bigger picture, insists Erin Rice, that really matters. If we evaluated all the different work accomplished by San Francisco advocates and community members, we would find we are all working toward the same end result – a more livable city. The rewards Rice has experienced during the course of her seven months as an intern with the Great Streets Project – one of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition’s latest and greatest efforts to return city streets to the center of civic life – have proven to satisfy much more than just personal fulfillment; she sees firsthand how her time is adding to the bigger picture.

Take the great success of September’s PARK(ing) Day, for example. Once a year, this international movement encourages people around the globe to temporarily transform parking spots into parks. In the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, Rice worked with neighborhood group RENEW SF and two cafes on Columbus Avenue – Caffè Greco and Caffè Roma – to participate by demonstrating the concept of “flexible parking,” an idea that allows merchants to utilize the parking in front of their businesses however they see most fit – whether it be for outdoor seating, bicycle parking, greenery, etc. Rice worked with a team of volunteers to build wooden platforms or portable sidewalk extensions. These were placed in the metered parking spaces in front of the cafes to create instant outdoor space, complete with tables, plants and umbrellas. The success was obvious; the tables were filled with people and ten other cafes in the neighborhood converted their parking spaces as well, sending a powerful message to businesses, government and patrons alike. “The demonstration has been a tremendous success in getting merchants, a group that often thinks that less space for cars means less revenue, and city leaders to seriously consider ‘flexible parking’ as a possibility,” said Rice.

Rice has been able to participate in a wealth of different projects as part of her internship, but the best perk, she says, is meeting other people actively creating positive change. “San Francisco has so many strong and creative individuals fighting for livable communities and I feel extremely privileged to have worked with so many of them,” she said.

As a full-time student in San Francisco State University’s Urban Studies and Planning Department, Rice has developed a strong understanding of land usage in relation to fighting climate change and improving the daily life of Americans in general. “Providing a landscape that encourages multi-modal transportation and shows people how pleasant life can be when we plan for the human scale, rather than for the car, seems the best way for me to make a positive change,” said Rice. San Francisco is a uniquely small and dense city, and thus a perfect place to experiment with street space and set examples for change with events like Sunday Streets when miles of road are opened for people to come out and enjoy. “As soon as I heard that there was a new campaign advocating for this exact movement, the reclamation of our streets for civic life, I knew I had to be involved,” said Rice, who carefully balances her full-time school schedule with an average of 10-20 hours a week at her internship.

“There are many people who are focused on issues like environmentalism, local economy, bicycle rights and public space, but I think it’s important to always keep in mind that we’re all working together to create a better place.”

To learn more about the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition’s Great Streets Project, see sfgreatstreets.org. To see a list of available internships, see sfbike.org/jobs.