Welcome to Year in Curbed, wherein we close out 2014 by asking local design, real estate, and media luminaries to reflect on the highlights and lowlights of a year's worth of development in San Francisco. The answers are in no particular order; all responses have been cut and pasted unabridged, below.
Q: What should SF's New Year's resolution be?
Anne Fougeron, principal at Fougeron Architecture: Look for the good things, complain a little less. Especially when it comes to San Franciscans. New technology brings new challenges but we're up for them. We are living in one of the best economies of the world with some of the most creative people and companies in the world.
Allison Arieff, editorial director at SPUR: Build as much housing as possible.
Denise Cherry, principal at Studio O+A (and Curbed Young Gun): As a city we should be encouraging risk taking and growth in architecture. Even though we're a city that prides itself on innovation and disruption, we rarely expect the same from our buildings.
Joel Goodrich, luxury real estate specialist at Coldwell Banker Previews International: Embrace growth, but handle it wisely.
Marc L'Italien, principal at EHDD: We need to have a come to Jesus talk with whoever's profiting and influencing policy in the city when it comes to the displacement of communities and sky-high rents. Is "the highest rent in the US" a badge we should be proud of? Absolutely not. If we can't convert buildings into affordable housing, then we need a better plan for housing people who make more modest incomes. We also need a stronger commitment to better public transit, such as more Transbay options (including bikes on the entire length of the Bay Bridge) and restricting cars on Market to bring it somewhat back to what it once was.
Cliff Kuang, articles editor at WIRED: Density and height.
John King, urban design critic at the San Francisco Chronicle: Less of the grandstanding on all sides.
Kevin Ho, broker associate at Vanguard Properties: Reform rent control, eviction policy and buyout regulations all at once over an afternoon of lawn games in an Astroturfed Golden Gate Park with an early evening round of refreshments that accompany condo conversion reform regulations too.
David Baker, principal at David Baker Architects: Chill out.
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