COMMUNITY MEETING #4

SECOND STREET IMPROVEMENT PROJECT 

The City's most recent and almost final design keeps getting better. Many of the elements we have advocated are now in the proposal:

• sidewalks are widened everywhere to 15 feet.
• more and better street trees.
• buffered cycle tracks

Come to this meeting and support this great pedestrian friendly design and help make sure it happens!

Date:         Thursday, May 23 

Time:         6-8 pm

Location:   SPUR 2nd Floor 654 Mission Street

Third Community Meeting- November 28th

Next Wednesday, November 28th, the San Francisco Department of Public Works, Municipal Transportation Agency, and City Planning will host a third and final community meeting for the Second Street Improvement Project. Over the course of the previous community meetings and a number of online surveys, we, the community, selected one-way cycletracks as the best option for a bicycle facility on Second Street. This meeting will discuss the proposed conceptual design in detail and provide the opportunity for questions and answers.

We urge you to attend this meeting and show your support for bicycle and pedestrian improvements in our neighborhood!

Date:          Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Time:         6:00-8:00 pm

Location:  CBS Interactive, 235 2^nd Street. Enter via Tehama Street, just east of 2^nd Street.

Please RSVP by 11/27 at:  http://www.eventbrite.com/event/4793969893#

A message from SF DPW:

I would like to thank you on behalf of San Francisco’s Department of Public Works, the Municipal Transportation Agency and Department of City Planning for attending the Second Street Improvement Project meeting on Thursday September 20, 2012. The meeting was a huge success and the feedback provided by the community is invaluable in determining the future vision for 2^nd Street.

At the meeting several of you filled out a survey providing us feedback on design elements you would like included in the final design concept and their order of preference. However, since some neighbors and merchants were not able to attend the meeting, we would like to extend the survey to residents and merchants for their review and comments. We are extending the survey period until Friday October 12, 2012.

We have posted the presentation materials and a brief comparison of the design options on the project website. Please feel free to forward the link to any neighbors that might be interested in providing the Project Team with feedback. Thank you.  

www.sfdpw.org/secondstreet 

Lastly, I’m including a link to an article that ran this past weekend regarding the upcoming Second Street Improvement Project. http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/place/article/Repaving-2nd-Street-revamping-traffic-3905515.php

Sincerely,

Alex M. Murillo, Department of Public Works

Office of Communications and Public Affairs
1680 Mission Street, 1st Floor  |  San Francisco, CA 94103
Tel. (415) 437-7009  |  Cell (415) 627-8106
Email: Alex.M.Murillo@sfdpw.org

We're supporting the One Way Cycle Tracks option as the best for pedestrians and street greening, particularly in front of the ClockTower Lofts.  I addition we think not widening the sidewalks on both sides of the street (currently SF DPW proposed widening only the western, shady side because of an undetermined cost to underground the power on the crowded, sunny, eastern side) for the three blocks from Harrison to Townsend is missing a huge once in a generation opportunity to do this right.  You could write that in the feedback form if you agree...

Come to the second Community Meeting Thursday, September 20

The San Francisco Department of Public Works, Municipal Transportation Agency and City Planning invite you to the second community meeting for the 2nd Street Improvement Project. The project extends along 2nd Street from Market to King. The key elements of the project are pedestrian improvements, a bicycle facility, streetscape enhancements and repaving. Come to the meeting to review the community’s design proposals and help select a preferred alternative.

Thursday, September 20, 2012, 6:00-8:00 pm @ CBS Interactive, 235 2nd Street. Enter via Tehama Street, just east of 2nd Street.

Please RSVP by 9/19 at: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/4259514322

{2} PAVEMENT TO BARKS

There are two motorized traffic lanes cutting through the sidewalk at Second and Harrison.  That's right, through the sidewalk, without a stoplight or even a stop sign to protect pedestrians. This seems dangerous, and it is: a pedestrian died here a few years back.  But this public land could serve a higher purpose: dog walking.  This area has had a huge increase in residential population over the last few years, and in San Francisco that means dogs.  We're proposing San Francisco's first BARKlet to meet the neighborhood's pressing need.

Pavement to Barks!

The existing high speed on-ramp through the sidewalk.

It's a good sized plot of public land that could serve a dire need: DOG RUN.

[2.1] MORE CYCLE TRACKS

Protected bicycle lanes are great to ride on, and give pedestrians, cyclists, and cars their own space. They also provide space for larger trees than are possible with narrow sidewalks alone.

They are an economical alternative to sidewalk widening since they require less infrastructure. Whenever curbs are moved, storm-water drains need to be relocated, which is very costly.

Protected Cycle Tracks green and calm Second Street while respecting human powered transport.

Existing bleak condition of Second Street.

At 62 feet wide curb to curb, Second allows generous cycle tracks and planted buffers.

PAVEMENT TO PARKS

In the past few years San Francisco has helped pioneer the concept of Pavement to Parks, where excess vehicle space is transformed into people space. 

In LA they are calling it Streets For People. It works great there too.

Castro Commons at 17th and Castro Streets.

The first of these at Castro and 17th Street transformed that intersection into a vital pedestrian space. Originally built in a month with  a super low budget this has become a permanent park and is being upgraded with more robust materials.

This first success has been followed by other spaces such as Guerrero Park on San Jose Avenue and Showplace triangle where 8th and 16th streets meet.


There are several opportunities on Second Street for this sort of pedestrian space.

{1} South Park Gateway

{2} Harrison Chute Parklet

{3} Market Street Plaza

We'll get into these potential public spaces in future posts.

Guerrero Park calms a nasty stretch of San Jose Avenue

Castro Commons is always populated by people enjoying the City.

The Planning Department has a great web page on this program: http://sfpavementtoparks.sfplanning.org/