Chris Carlsson
Recent Posts
San Francisco is Sinking!
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UN Plaza, Market and 7th, the waters from the subterranean "Mighty Hayes River"!! Famously, we live on a crack in the earth. The San Andreas Fault gets most of our attention, followed not too far behind these days by the equally ominous Hayward Fault. A major earthquake on either of these could alter local landscapes […]
Gentrification, Livable Streets and Community Stability
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Planters and a tree on Mission between 9th and 10th… Planktown Neighbors effort to beautify this central city area. Cities don’t stand still. Going back at least to WWII, U.S. cities have been radically altered again and again. Economic restructuring has been part of it, as urban areas have shed manufacturing in favor of the […]
A Public Space Renaissance in San Francisco
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Crowds gather on eastern slope of Dolores Park near 18th. One of the ongoing dilemmas for landscape architects, city planners, and yes, even transit geeks, is the chicken-and-egg question regarding public space. If you build it, will they come? Is there a “public” demanding wider sidewalks, public squares and plazas, pocket parks, and depaving, and […]
The Ghost Streets of San Francisco
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Ghosts cavort where Castro Street should be! Intrepid explorers of San Francisco regularly stumble upon the many ghost streets that still hide all over town, rewarding the patient pedestrian for their diligence. Mostly they are on hillsides where steep grades impeded road building at earlier moments in history, but they’re still presented as if they […]
Train Strike!
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View of Market Street during 1907 streetcar strike (from San Francisco History Center, SF Public Library) On Sunday BART workers might strike, throwing Bay Area transportation into chaos. It’s a tiny echo of the kind of warfare that used to erupt regularly a century ago on the streetcar lines of San Francisco. 1,500 streetcar men […]
Wreckless Riding
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Photo by Bryan Goebel. In 1978 I was a field manager for an environmental group’s canvassing operation and was driving "my crew" in an old beat-up Volkswagon from one suburb to the next. From about 3 p.m. we’d visit every house in a given area, knocking on doors seeking donations and support, ending around 8:30 […]
Farming, Park Parking and Empty Promises
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The Potemkin Victory Garden during Slow Food Nation, August 2008. Gavin Newsom is running for President, er um, I mean Governor (you gotta take these things one step at a time). Maybe he’ll make it, maybe something will wreck his chances. It’s an interesting drama from the point of view of recent American history, as […]
Water Wars, Past and Future!
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Neighbors have created this triangular oasis at Clayton and Corbett in Upper Eureka Valley. One essential way to enjoy the streets of San Francisco is to get out and walk around. We have so many amazing walks at our doorsteps. In the hills are hidden staircases, promontories and open hilltops with amazing views, and secret […]
Things Are Heating Up!
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New Bike Plan! Let’s Get Naked and Celebrate! Critical Mass San Francisco, June 2009. I was glad to see “We Are the World” on the ridiculously inadequate Climate Change bill that finally emerged from the corrupt U.S. Congress. Sadly, the bill could only emerge with the support of a number of mainstream environmental lobbyists in […]
Revisiting the San Francisco Freeway Revolt
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Editor’s note: This piece was written for Shaping San Francisco and is now incorporated into the new wiki version, your best place to research San Francisco history, FoundSF.org. Protesters march along Embarcadero in early 1960s, stump of Embarcadero Freeway ends behind them at Broadway. Photo courtesy San Francisco History Center, SF Public Library In the […]
Food Bad, Lawns Good? Berkeley Bureaucrats Target Transition Activist
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Asa Dodsworth’s Home on Acton at Allston Way in Berkeley. I got an email forwarded to me over the weekend titled "BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA HATES URBAN GARDENS" which naturally sparked my interest. Turns out to be a lot more interesting than the title even suggested. Asa Dodsworth has lived in his place on Acton and Allston […]
At the Edge of Commercialization: The Maker Faire
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San Francisco cyclists leave on Valencia May 30 for the Maker Faire 20 miles south in San Mateo. Following the siren song of the Fossil Fool, or expecting to anyway (he was very late!), I joined a surprisingly large contingent of San Francisco cyclists to ride the 20-odd miles to the Maker Faire at the […]