Recent Streetsblog SF posts about Pavement to Parks

Planning Chiefs: Urban Planning Still Hindered by Politics, Past Mistakes

By Michael Rhodes | Nov 6, 2009 | 19 Comments

Over 200 people showed up to hear planning directors speak. Photo: Michael Rhodes City planners have been on the hook for some of the last century’s greatest metropolitan mishaps: urban freeways and "slum clearance," arbitrary minimum parking requirements, and land use laws that have left little room for the mingling of uses. Understandably, today’s planners […]

A Vision For Transforming San Francisco’s “Unaccepted Streets”

By Matthew Roth | Sep 24, 2009 | 7 Comments

A proposed design for an unaccepted street, from Local Code, courtesy Nicholas de Monchaux Throughout San Francisco’s history, from the early street grid to the more recent expansion of freeways, slivers of land that don’t fit into the master plans of architects and designers have been cast aside, lumped into a category the Department of […]

The Sun Shines Down on a Glorious PARK(ing) Day

By Michael Rhodes | Sep 18, 2009 | 5 Comments

A temporary park in front of Ritual Coffee Roasters on Valencia. Flickr photo: Tristan C When the first Park(ing) Day was launched by Rebar in 2005, right here in San Francisco, it was on the vanguard of street space reclamation. Four years later, it’s undoubtedly part of a larger trend that includes such fine company […]

Layoffs Hit Street Cleaning, Gardening Crews at DPW

By Bryan Goebel | Sep 11, 2009 | 4 Comments

DPW landscaping crews who’ve been working on the Pavement to Parks plazas are among those being cut. Flickr photo: Jamison San Franciscans are likely to see slower response times to street cleaning requests and a reduction in landscaping and tree maintenance in their neighborhoods following a number of layoffs announced this week at the Department […]

SF Great Streets Project to Host ‘Art-Streets-Life’ Event Tomorrow

By Michael Rhodes | Sep 9, 2009 | No Comments

Preview of the mural courtesy of David Baker. The San Francisco Great Streets Project is hosting an evening of music, drinks, food, and livable streets discussion tomorrow evening at the Mission District home of architect David Baker. The Art – Streets – Life event will include the grand opening of an Andrew Schoultz mural, and […]

San Francisco’s Two Newest Trial Plazas Nearly Complete

By Michael Rhodes | Sep 8, 2009 | 11 Comments

San Jose/Guerrero plaza. Photo: Michael Rhodes San Francisco’s two newest Pavement to Parks trial plazas are both on track to open by Thursday, with only the finishing touches remaining. Jane Martin, who helped about 40 neighbors plant trees and shrubs in the planter beds at the San Jose/Guerrero plaza this Sunday, said the space has […]

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