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A Vision For Transforming San Francisco’s “Unaccepted Streets”
Throughout San Francisco's history, from the early street grid to the more recent expansion of freeways, slivers of land that don't fit into the master plans of architects and designers have been cast aside, lumped into a category the Department of Public Works (DPW) refers to as "unaccepted streets." These "paper streets" are mapped but not maintained by any agency. As Chris Carlsson so beautifully chronicled in his Ghost Streets tour, many of these alleys and street stubs are cared for by neighbors and transformed into small gardens or pocket parks. Many more, however, are forgotten urban scars and latent public space.
September 24, 2009
Layoffs Hit Street Cleaning, Gardening Crews at DPW
San Franciscans are likely to see slower response times to street cleaning requests and a reduction in landscaping and tree maintenance in their neighborhoods following a number of layoffs announced this week at the Department of Public Works. Twenty four street cleaning positions are being cut along with 15 gardening and arborist positions.
September 11, 2009
San Francisco Moves to Meet Its Complete Streets Obligations
While San Francisco Department of Public Works (DPW) Director Ed Reiskin has quietly pushed behind-the-scenes to accelerate Pavement to Parks plazas, the recently announced Market Street trial changes, and other visible projects that reclaim street space for green space and people, some advocates are concerned with how well his agency is coordinating around an arcane, but important process: DPW's five-year repaving plan.
September 11, 2009
Market Street Pilot is an Encouraging Move by Mayor Newsom
Though much of the media reaction to Mayor Gavin Newsom's Better Market Street Project is narrowly focusing on the traffic impacts of mandatory right-turns at two intersections on Market, the trial project will attempt to do much more to improve the public realm and public perception of San Francisco's most iconic street.
September 10, 2009
Eyes on the Street: Re-Striping Mission Street
Work crews from the Department of Parking and Traffic (DPT) at the MTA have been re-striping portions of Mission Street recently, the old lane markings having all but disappeared as the street crumbles with age.
August 19, 2009
Valencia Businesses Hope Customers Keep Shopping During Construction
The Valencia Streetscape Improvement Project will bring major enhancements to Valencia Street that will benefit all of its users. To get there though, bicyclists and businesses will have to weather a nine-month storm of construction, which began three weeks ago. At a press conference today at ArtZone 461 Gallery, Supervisor Chris Daly and the DPW's Alex Murillo vowed to do everything possible to help make the process less painful, and business owners sought to remind residents that they will remain open throughout, even if work crews are right outside their door.
August 18, 2009
Demand for Trial Plazas Increases as Lower Potrero Design is Revealed
When the 17th Street and Castro Street trial Pavement to Parks plaza was implemented in San Francisco, Mayor Gavin Newsom said at the press conference that he would expedite two more plazas immediately, and if the public used them and clamored for more, he would instruct his agencies to build them. Apparently, he wasn't grandstanding.
August 4, 2009
Poof! San Francisco’s Mason Street Has Become a Temporary Park
A coalition of community volunteers, pro-bono landscape architects and personnel from several city agencies this weekend swooped in to North Beach to transform the roadway of Mason Street between Columbus Avenue and Lombard Street into a temporary park in conjunction with the two-month street closure for a traffic study. The resulting open space combines elements from various city agency supply yards to bring trees, plants, and picnic tables into an area that just last week was exclusively used by cars.
August 3, 2009
Eyes on the Street: When Will the Bike Box Reappear on Scott Street?
If you've pedaled through The Wiggle in the last few weeks -- as thousands of bicyclists do on a daily basis -- you've probably noticed the disappearance of what was a rare San Francisco bike box on Scott Street at Oak. The only other bike box is on 14th Street and Folsom. On Scott, the street recently underwent a repaving but crews haven't re-striped the bike box, which gives bicyclists a head start in front of a line of cars, and is designed to reduce bicycle-car conflicts, especially in areas heavily traveled by bicyclists.
July 23, 2009
Valencia Project Will Bring Improvements Worth the Short-Term Headaches
Construction begins this week on a nine-month project that could periodically disrupt Valencia Street's bike lanes. The result, residents hope, will be a greatly improved streetscape for pedestrians and bicyclists.
July 20, 2009