Recent Streetsblog SF posts about Pavement to Parks

17th Street Plaza Trial Extended Four Months

By Matthew Roth | Jul 10, 2009 | 29 Comments

Photo: geekstinkbreath At yesterday’s Interdepartmental Staff Committee on Traffic and Transportation (ISCOTT) meeting, where decisions about temporary street closures are decided by all the agencies that have anything to do with streets and events on streets, the trial pedestrian plaza at 17th Street and Market Street received easy approval for a four month extension. Heads […]

Livable Streets Expert Enrique Peñalosa Comes to San Francisco

By Michael Rhodes | Jul 6, 2009 | 1 Comment

San Francisco’s livable streets advocates have a chance to participate in a public forum tomorrow with Enrique Peñalosa, who, as mayor of traffic-clogged Bogotá, Colombia, implemented a s⁞weeping set of improvements to transit and the pedestrian realm. A public plaza in Bogotá, Columbia. These initiatives include the Ciclovia, a model for San Francisco’s own Sunday […]

Streetfilms: SF Carves a Park from the Midst of Its Pavement

By Matthew Roth | Jun 29, 2009 | 9 Comments

The entire family of San Francisco city agencies responsible for maintaining its streets made an unconventional decision to close a portion of a street to cars and convert the new space into a simple, yet elegant, public plaza. The project combines all the important elements of plaza creation that have been successful in New York […]

Finding Unused Pavement for Parks and Plazas in Lower Potrero

By Matthew Roth | May 22, 2009 | 12 Comments

Axis Cafe and Wolfe’s Lunch across 8th Street, which could be closed for a pilot pedestrian plaza. Photo: Matthew Roth When Mayor Gavin Newsom dedicated the trial pedestrian plaza at 17th Street and Castro last week, he took a significant stride toward improving his record on livable streets issues. He demonstrated engagement with local community […]