Recent Streetsblog SF posts about Planning Department

The "Grand Central Station of the West," is built. Now the bottom level needs its trains. Image: CAHSR.

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Op-Ed: For Downtown Rail Extension To Make Sense, 280 Has To Go

By Jon Bate | Dec 9, 2021 | No Comments

Removing the last mile of I-280 is not just a smart move to make this project more affordable, it’s a step towards rectifying the mistakes of the past and building a city that is livable for all of its residents.

'Proxy' in Hayes Valley is a great example of vacant lots going to good interim uses (such as dancing). Photo: David Baker Architects

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SPUR Talk: Enlivening Spaces in the Interim

By Roger Rudick | Sep 7, 2017 | No Comments

“Why wait five or six years before doing anything with the space?” was the question Brad Leibin, an‎ architect at David Baker Architects, was asked to help solve about an affordable housing project planned for West Oakland’s San Pablo Avenue at 34th Street. “So we started to make a difference on that streets-cape immediately … […]

SF’s New “Sustainability Fee” Set to Include a Big Incentive to Build Parking

By Aaron Bialick | Sep 10, 2015 | 31 Comments

The city’s proposed Transportation Sustainability Fee — which would be assessed on new development to speed up construction of walking, biking, and transit infrastructure — moved forward today with approval from the SF Planning Commission. The commission approved a maximum rate slightly higher than the city had initially proposed but far lower than what some livable streets advocates wanted. […]

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TSP Rebooted: Bureaucratic Revamp Could Boost Transit and Livable Streets

By Aaron Bialick | Jun 3, 2015 | 2 Comments

San Francisco agencies have re-introduced the Transportation Sustainability Program, a bureaucratic overhaul that could dramatically expedite improvements for walking, biking, and transit, while discouraging car parking in new developments. In developing the program, SF planners are also nearing completion of the nation’s first major study showing that dedicated car parking encourages driving. The TSP is three-pronged: It would overhaul SF’s development fee […]

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Planning Dept Releases Design Guide for “Living Alleys” Around Hayes Valley

By Aaron Bialick | Feb 27, 2015 | 4 Comments

The SF Planning Department released a design guide this week for “living alleys” [PDF], providing a template to transform SF’s narrow, low-traffic streets into places to gather and play. Inspired by the Dutch “woonerf” concept, the “Living Alleys Toolkit” lays out proven design measures that make smaller streets more inviting to stay and play on, giving street life […]

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Gentrification Fears Threaten to Derail Mission Street Improvements

By Aaron Bialick | Jan 22, 2015 | 64 Comments

Mission District residents who equate streetscape improvements with rising rents dominated a community meeting discussion yesterday about public space upgrades along Mission Street. It was the Planning Department’s latest public meeting about its Mission Street Public Life Plan, an effort to envision Mission Street “as a vital transit corridor with art, commerce and new public spaces for people […]

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