City, neighbors hope new streetlights make SF’s Tenderloin safer, more welcoming

A crowd watches at the corner of Eddy and Leavenworth Streets as San Francisco Mayor London Breed unveils new street lighting in the Tenderloin. A crowd watches at the corner of Eddy and Leavenworth Streets as San Francisco Mayor London Breed unveils new street lighting in the Tenderloin. Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close City, neighbors hope new streetlights make SF’s Tenderloin safer, more welcoming 1 / 7 Back to Gallery

As the sun slipped into a pink-and-orange sky Wednesday evening, the corner of Leavenworth and Eddy streets in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District became a festival of lights.

After eight years of frustrating fits and starts, city officials squeezed onto the narrow sidewalk in front of the Tenderloin Museum to celebrate the installation of 97 new streetlights meant to make the famously gritty neighborhood brighter, safer and more inviting for inviting for pedestrians.

“We really needed these lights, especially in this neighborhood,” said Marilyn Chan, a Tenderloin resident. “It makes things feel a lot safer.”

Despite that feeling, on Wednesday morning, a 61-year-old woman, Veronica Soliz, became the first victim of homicide in San Francisco in 2019. She was killed at Ellis and Leavenworth streets, police said, just a block from where city officials would gather later in the day.

The dual teardrop lighting fixtures atop dark blue poles dot the sidewalks between McAllister and O’Farrell streets on Larkin, Hyde, Leavenworth and Jones streets and on Eddy Street between Larkin and Mason. The $4.25 million used to install the lights came from Sutter Health as part of the development agreement the hospital system struck with the city to build Cathedral Hill Hospital on Van Ness Avenue and Geary Boulevard.

Beyond brightening the Tenderloin’s sidewalks, many people also hope the new lights can help challenge calcified perceptions of the neighborhood as a dank, dim and unwelcoming place.

“You want people to come to restaurants and bars at night. When it’s dark, it feeds into the perception that people don’t feel safe,” said Randy Shaw, director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, who led the community effort to get the streetlights installed.

“People feel like lights mean safety, and perception becomes reality.”

At the ceremony Wednesday, San Francisco Mayor London Breed framed the streetlights as an example of the city’s commitment to increase investments in infrastructure and city services in the Tenderloin.

“I know people are thinking, ‘So what’s the big deal about lighting?’ It’s a big deal! Every community in this city, they want pedestrian lighting, they want teardrop lighting fixtures that look this beautiful. And (in) the Tenderloin, we have made it a priority,” Breed said.

“I want to see clean streets in the Tenderloin, I want to see safe streets in the Tenderloin, and I want the people who live here, who spend time here, to take care of the Tenderloin, too.”

Shaw began lobbying then-Mayor Ed Lee for more streetlights in 2011. But despite securing funding from the private sector and a rare absence of political discord, the project was delayed for years.

Barbara Hale, assistant general manager for power at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, said getting the lights installed was held up in part by the number of basements in the Tenderloin located beneath sidewalks. The SFPUC operates the streetlights and oversaw their installation.

In order to ensure the streetlights’ foundations were strong enough to support the weight of the pole, city workers had to frequently access private property. That meant arranging schedules and work dates with numerous property owners.

The project hit another snag because of what Hale described as “workmanship problems.” When the manufacturer that built the lights sent the city the component parts, they didn’t fit together as they should, so the city returned them and arranged for another shipment. The next batch had the same issue.

“To have that happen twice, that was crazy,” Hale said.

The lights also became yet another point of friction between the city and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. San Francisco officials and the utility have repeatedly clashed when the city looks to power new municipal projects.

In 2017, the project was pushed back after the city accused PG&E of quadrupling its connectivity fees — to $107,000 — with no explanation. The increases, PG&E said, were determined after the revisiting outdated agreements that didn’t account for the utility’s current expenses. Work was put on hold until the city and PG&E reached an agreement.

“It was just one thing after another,” Shaw said. “The fact that it took this long, it’s hard to believe it’s actually happening.”

Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa