Parks/Public Spaces Archives
Save the Roofs!
Welcome to the roof crusade, as spearheaded by the Recreation and Park Department's "chief roofer." According to said master craftsman, the city's roofs are fast going to potty, and no one's doing a thing about it— he's recruiting for the cause, but the department has rolled its eyes in response, saying he should not have used department resources to lobby city officials. No word yet if he's been forced to turn in his badge and shingles. [Examiner]
Alice Ousts Civic Center Lawn
Drop that Western Bacon Cheeseburger, San Franciscans. Slow Food Nation may be rolling ever so slowly into town, but the dirt was flying fast at Civic Center Plaza this morning, where Alice & Company tore down on City Hall's lawn in preparation for the Slow Food Victory Garden. In the spirit of recycling, the "grass carpet" is being transplanted to other, grass-needy parts of the city. The veggies, saturated with sun, water, and good old-fashioned love, will eventually be harvested and donated to people with "limited access to healthy, organic produce." That is, if those with "limited access" who tend to frequent City Hall's lawn don't help themselves to a little Victory salad.
· Slow Food Nation Victory Garden: Planting July 12 [website]
· Slow Food Nation's Victory Garden [Civic Center]
Dead trees are even deader than ever
Killer trees are still multiplying unchecked, and our cash-strapped city is helpless to stop them. Officials say there are over 100 trees that need to get the chainsaw, and probably thousands more that need pruning — but little money for the deed. Said a friend of the woman killed three months ago: "A tree that was dead in 2003 is still dead in 2008, and a tree that was nearly dead in 2003 is probably even more dead today." Profound. [SF Gate]
Beaucoup Grant Bucks up for Grabs
Like that wealthy relative that only visits twice a year, the Community Challenge Grant Program is back with its smeary lipstick kisses, criticism of your choice of footwear ("you'll never catch a man unless you wear heels!"), and big fat wads of cash.
But instead of having to grimace and covertly wipe your cheek, or slap on some of 9 West's finest to get the loot, all deserving community residents and neighborhood groups have to do to receive as much as $100K to "create green spaces, gathering places, public art, and other neighborhood amenities" is fill out a form or two.
Of course, the payout is dependent on the project, and fund matching by the community, as well as demonstrable results, are a must. The grant application window's open from today to July 9, and you can get help on form completion during workshops at this weekend's NEN Clean and Green Summit.
· Grass-roots neighborhood fixes grow out of city grant program [SF Examiner]
Visualization Therapy Prescribed for Masonic Avenue Ills
Activist group FixMasonic (mission: "to make Masonic a place that people - be they residents, pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders, shoppers or drivers - want to be") pulled together some of the Haight/Panhandle's best and brightest last Wednesday to get community input on Nelson/Nygard Consulting's proposed changes to the thoroughfare.
Nelson/Nygard clearly knew their audience, and deep-sixed the flashy and slick PowerPoint preso for those giant post-it thingies and a couple of sharpies. Then again, maybe you don't need to pull out the projector when your idea of radical improvement is to replace a lane of traffic with a disturbingly Hankyesque tree.
· Visualize a Better Masonic Avenue meeting gathers community input for busy corridor [Haight Ashbury Beat]
Planning Dept. Gets $745K for Plan to Plan Mission Streetscape Plan
Our fair city's Planning Department is rolling on a pile of singles -- 745,000, to be exact -- as they wait for "community input" to create the Mission Streetscape Plan, "a comprehensive design plan for streets in the Mission District, based on community needs and priorities."
Yes, folks, you they got that right, they received $745K in grant money to make a plan to make a plan. Which is cool, because that way they can say they're going to plan for:
Tell them what they've won, post-jump! >>Avian Haven Set for Golden Gate Park
Hitchcock enthusiasts and ornithologists rejoice. Or beware. Or whatever. In an effort to prevent avian-related violent crimes as birds descend on San Francisco, local nonprofit San Francisco Rescued Orphan Mammal Program (SF ROMP? Sounds like a Castro Festival) have proposed a $2 million, 100-foot-long aviary, which they hope to have open by 2010. With oil spills and sewage dumping all the rage in the Bay these days, supporters of the facility think such a building is a necessity for the care of local wildlife during such emergencies. No design has been proposed yet, but Lake Merced and Western Golden Gate Park is at the top of the list of potential locations.
· Wildlife rescue center proposed for San Francisco [SF Examiner]
Outrage! Newsom's Fund Shuffle Stings Dolores Park
Hello, prop A? Did we not just vote you in? The city has gone back on an earlier promise of funding for a new playground in Dolores Park, and citizen group Friends of Dolores Park Playground are not having it. Last August, the city allocated $250,000 toward the planning and design of the new kiddie corner; the funding was set to cover the cost that would be incurred by the Recreation & Parks Department during the undertaking. Nabe residents have been left to hustle the additional monies— an estimated $2 million-plus— from private funding. The beef? The city has announced that it will rescind $200,00 of the initial funding, thus leaving locals left with a lame sell— the Friends fear that private donors will follow suit. They're asking that concerned parties to get their San Francisco on, first visualizing a group of dejected kids and small dogs before following up with a suitably indignant letter to The Gavin.
· Friends of Dolores Park Playground [website]
[Gavin "NIMBY" Newsom courtesy San Francisco Party Party]
Public Space From Public Architecture
San Francisco's Public Architecture is one step closer to the construction of a permanent "Sidewalk Plaza" in front of Brainwash cafe and laundromat on Folsom Street. Champions of public space, the nonprofit architecture/urban design firm was recently awarded a grant from the Studio for Urban Projects, a research firm specializing in public art and the urban landscape. The Brainwash Sidewalk Plaza is a small part of Public Architecture's Open Space Plan — a vision for a more pedestrian-friendly Folsom Street. Their plan, a relatively Utopian scheme compared to the current state of Folsom, is undeniably ambitious in scope, yet has found support from the San Francisco Planning Department, Redevelopment Agency, and Transportation Authority. We'd love to see the whole thing realized, but with that many city agencies interested, it's amazing that even a small part of this plan will soon begin construction. Working in conjunction with CMB Landscape Architecture, Public Architecture is hoping to finish the plaza by the end of the year. Standing by . . .
· Sidewalk Plaza [Public Architecture website]
[Images via Public Architecture]
The Vote: Up With Parks, Down With Peace
At last report, Proposition A was well on its way to being passed; the $185 million bond initiative aimed at providing the city's parks with the estimated $1.7 billion in total repairs according to a 2007 assessment. (Ok, we could barely finish typing that sentence— $1.7 billion? Really? Well then ...) $117.4 million will be divvied between parks and rec centers for facility upgrades and maintenance; $33.5M will provide for new parks along the Bay (rah rah Rincon Hill!), while every single freestanding restroom in the city will be replaced and a new ones added for a cool $11.4M. Trees will be planed, trails restored— utopia, people. Utopia.
Oh, and the Alcatraz Peace Center is out. A fair warning should be issued here, however: 28 percent of San Franciscans did, in fact, vote for this initiative. Twenty. Eight. Percent. You're killing us here, people. Killing us.
· S.F. park bond ahead; cop pension measure wins [SF Chron]
· Peace Will Have a Chance at Alcatraz [Curbed SF]
· Embarcadero's Pier 36 to Be Greened By Prop. A [Curbed SF]
· Primary Elections: Bond to Fund Park Upgrades, Detract From Issues [Curbed SF]
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