Streetsblog San Francisco

Widening sidewalks in San Francisco is a time-consuming task — it’s the only city in California where even minor changes to a sidewalk’s width require legislative approval. But a new proposal headed to the SF Board of Supervisors would cut some of the red tape standing in the way of implementing such street improvements.

The proposal, sponsored by Supervisor Scott Weiner and Mayor Ed Lee, was moved forward by the SF Board of Supervisors Land Use and Economic Development Committee today. It would streamline the bureaucratic process for building sidewalk extensions (a.k.a. “bulb-outs”) — a street design tool often used by planners to calm motor traffic, improve pedestrian visibility and comfort, and ease transit boardings at stops — by eliminating an outdated requirement for changes to sidewalk widths less than one block long to be approved by the Board of Supervisors.

“This will be a significant improvement in our process in terms of making our city more pedestrian-friendly and safer for pedestrians, improving the vibrancy of our commercial districts, and creating more public space that is not for cars, but rather for people,” said Wiener.

“Upon adoption of the Better Streets Plan, we’ve seen more and more projects come through for minor sidewalk changes such as corner bulb-outs for individual projects that don’t exceed one linear block,” said Nick Elsner of the SF Department of Public Works (DPW), the primary agency responsible for implementing sidewalk extensions. ”This would greatly expedite and make the process much more efficient.”

According to legislative documents [PDF], the proposal would amend an ordinance passed in 1910 requiring project approval from supervisors, which “result[s] in a very lengthy process and often lead[s] to project delays.” It would also establish a speedier approval process for the SF Planning Department, but projects would still need to be approved by other affected agencies like the SFMTA. The change would save the DPW an estimated $2,500 in processing costs for a block of construction, said spokesperson Gloria Chan, and the SF Planning Department would save about $1,375 in reviews.

Bulb-outs, the documents note, are an important tool in pursuing the city’s goals of improving the pedestrian environment. Stephen Shotland of the Planning Department said the proposal is intended “to be able to move projects forward that really are consistent with the General Plan and consistent with the adopted Better Streets Plan,” which, along with several neighborhood plans cited in the documents, call for improvements like widening congested sidewalks, minimizing crossing distances, and discouraging high-speed car traffic on local streets. “Staff would be able to review projects to make sure that, in fact, is the case,” said Shotland.

The proposal passed the committee today without objection and is expected to go before the full board in the coming weeks.

Ninety years after city traffic managers widened Divisadero Street between Haight and Sacramento Streets, skimming off five feet of sidewalk and adding a travel lane on both sides, the Department of Public Works (DPW) is spending $3.3 million to upgrade the landscaping on the median, without adjusting the skinny nine-foot-nine-inch sidewalks. The DPW recently started construction on the project on Divisadero between Waller Street and Geary Boulevard, where it will add new bus bulb-outs, widen the median and plant trees on it, upgrade lighting fixtures, plant new sidewalk trees and install other furnishings. 

Many residents from the neighborhoods Divisadero connects are relieved to see any pedestrian improvements, given the long neglected state of the street.

"I think that street has been so beleaguered and so worn down for so many years, people are going to be happy just to get any improvement," said BIKE NOPA's Michael Helquist. Leela Gill, former president of the North of Panhandle Neighborhood Association, called the project "a welcome improvement."

Wider sidewalks were high on the list of requests at community feedback meetings, but DPW ruled them out during the planning process, said Walk SF's Manish Champsee. "It comes down to a cost issue," said Champsee.

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How hard is it to fix the most important street in San Francisco, one that is vital to transit, that is the spine of the bicycle network, and that could be the crowning jewel of the city, a Champs d'Elysee or a newly pedestrianized Broadway?  Without Mayor Gavin Newsom spearheading the process, it doesn't bode well.

In an interview, Wade Crowfoot, the Mayor's Director of Climate Initiatives, insisted "coordination and leadership will come from our office, but we need to take it out of the politics of city hall and engage the key stakeholders.  The time is ripe for a broader conversation."

It is clear from interviews, however, that the needed leadership is not coming from the Mayor, and the vacuum from the Mayor's office means that many agencies are moving forward without him and without much coordination.  From a positive standpoint, if the Mayor were to sit down at the table, he'd find it's already been set.

"There was no plan that I know of a year ago," said Ed Reiskin, Director of the Department of Public Works (DPW).  He explained he first had a conversation about a big vision for Market Street improvements with SFBC Executive Director Leah Shahum when they discussed the regularly scheduled repaving of Market Street.  "If we're going to invest all this money and create all this disruption, we have a great opportunity.  We can rip up the street and pave it exactly as it is, or we can come up with something much better."

Reiskin said the DPW had budgeted a small amount of planning and design money this year, and put out a call to all the agencies that have infrastructure along the street.  He has also been working with the Planning Department to develop a procedural document that will focus on how the agencies should coordinate their efforts.

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One of the many casualties of the bicycle injunction has been the community led plan for reconstruction of Cesar Chavez Street between Guerrero and the 101.  Over the past five years, community groups led by CC Puede, the Precita Valley Neighbors (PVN), Mission Antidisplacement Coalition (MAC), Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA), and PODER have participated in workshops and charettes that produced a plan to transform a traffic sewer into a livable street with greenery, a bike lane, wide sidewalks, and safe pedestrian crossing times. 

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