Comments on: Depaving Uncovers Layers of History http://sf.streetsblog.org/2009/01/13/depaving-uncovers-layers-of-history/ Covering San Francisco's livable streets movement Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:15:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: latron http://sf.streetsblog.org/2009/01/13/depaving-uncovers-layers-of-history/comment-page-1/#comment-33251 latron Thu, 10 Sep 2009 02:54:02 +0000 http://sf.streetsblog.org/?p=1301#comment-33251 "At the corner of 20th, diagonally across from Café Gratitude, a gray warehouse still has its old loading dock on the sidewalk where boxcars once sat for days at a time, as recently as the 1980s." I moved to San Francisco in 1992 and Harrison was chock full of railroad tracks even then. A friend of mine broke her ankle when she wiped on trying to ride over them. Still, I kind of miss the tracks.... “At the corner of 20th, diagonally across from Café Gratitude, a gray warehouse still has its old loading dock on the sidewalk where boxcars once sat for days at a time, as recently as the 1980s.”

I moved to San Francisco in 1992 and Harrison was chock full of railroad tracks even then. A friend of mine broke her ankle when she wiped on trying to ride over them. Still, I kind of miss the tracks….

]]> By: Pete http://sf.streetsblog.org/2009/01/13/depaving-uncovers-layers-of-history/comment-page-1/#comment-3177 Pete Thu, 15 Jan 2009 06:48:55 +0000 http://sf.streetsblog.org/?p=1301#comment-3177 I am glad that Josh beat me to the punch with explaining the use of artificial grass on the school field. Each school has to make many difficult choice with their limited budgets, and fake grass saves many thousands on the cost of cutting, fertilizing, watering and re-sodding. Our cool climate also means that grass grows slowly and is easily damaged by school sports, so the fake stuff is quite a bit more durable. Thus it can be argued that fake grass is significantly 'greener' than real grass. On another theme, again I fail to understand the blogger's stated goal of "anti-gentrification", specifically how it is to apply to our neighborhood. I've lived in The City 20 years and on Harrison for 10 years, but since I am white and bought my house for a lot of money from an elderly Filipino lady, am I the villain? She had lived there 54 years and her family had fled to the suburbs; she joined them with a lot of cash. Your history of the area points to successive ethnic groups of settlers (actually more Irish and German, than "Irish and Italian" 100 years ago), they were laborers and craftsman. I'm Scottish-German and I am a tradesman. So please tell me, who I have displaced with my money and desire to to have a hip Mission address? I am glad that Josh beat me to the punch with explaining the use of artificial grass on the school field. Each school has to make many difficult choice with their limited budgets, and fake grass saves many thousands on the cost of cutting, fertilizing, watering and re-sodding. Our cool climate also means that grass grows slowly and is easily damaged by school sports, so the fake stuff is quite a bit more durable. Thus it can be argued that fake grass is significantly ‘greener’ than real grass.

On another theme, again I fail to understand the blogger’s stated goal of “anti-gentrification”, specifically how it is to apply to our neighborhood. I’ve lived in The City 20 years and on Harrison for 10 years, but since I am white and bought my house for a lot of money from an elderly Filipino lady, am I the villain? She had lived there 54 years and her family had fled to the suburbs; she joined them with a lot of cash. Your history of the area points to successive ethnic groups of settlers (actually more Irish and German, than “Irish and Italian” 100 years ago), they were laborers and craftsman. I’m Scottish-German and I am a tradesman. So please tell me, who I have displaced with my money and desire to to have a hip Mission address?

]]> By: Josh http://sf.streetsblog.org/2009/01/13/depaving-uncovers-layers-of-history/comment-page-1/#comment-3160 Josh Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:18:37 +0000 http://sf.streetsblog.org/?p=1301#comment-3160 Great post, and as someone who grew up on 21st and Shotwell I can pretty much agree with your general statements. The story of John O'Connell high school has an extra twist, though. The swap of O'Connell with Moscone Elementary (now Las Americas) was part of a scheme to embezzle 14 billion dollars out of the school district by then superintendent Bill Rojas. The soccer field is astroturf because it's low maintenance, but a contributing factor to the decision may have been that the field used to be a covered parking lot for Moscone. There's likely a lot of oil and gas that dripped into the soil there and rather than clean it out, they capped it off with the soccer field. That's almost certainly why it took a decade between finishing the school and installing the field. Great post, and as someone who grew up on 21st and Shotwell I can pretty much agree with your general statements.

The story of John O’Connell high school has an extra twist, though. The swap of O’Connell with Moscone Elementary (now Las Americas) was part of a scheme to embezzle 14 billion dollars out of the school district by then superintendent Bill Rojas. The soccer field is astroturf because it’s low maintenance, but a contributing factor to the decision may have been that the field used to be a covered parking lot for Moscone. There’s likely a lot of oil and gas that dripped into the soil there and rather than clean it out, they capped it off with the soccer field. That’s almost certainly why it took a decade between finishing the school and installing the field.

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