17th Street Closure Will Be First NYC-style Plaza in San Francisco

The future site of a pedestrian plaza at 17th and Market Streets

Don’t look now, but NYC DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan’s magic

may have rubbed off on DPW Director Ed Reiskin, to San Francisco’s

benefit. Reiskin has been leading a multi-agency effort to close a

small portion of 17th Street where it meets Market Street to vehicle

traffic and convert the space into a trial pedestrian plaza, which

he hopes to see operational by May.

The historic trolley

that loads at the proposed location will still operate in the area, but

the DPW will put out planters and other moderately heavy stone elements

that will serve as seating and tables, much like Gansevoort Plaza in

New York City.

"As we’ve seen what folks in New York City have done in

terms of taking excess asphalt and returning it to people, to more

diverse uses, we’re inspired," said Reiskin. "The approach we’re

taking here is to try it. If it’s great, it will be great. If

not, we’ll take it out."

Reiskin has been coordinating the effort with the MTA, the Planning Department, Supervisor Bevan Dufty,

the Castro Street Community Betterment District (CBD), and the

Mayor’s Director of Greening, Astrid Haryati. Public Architecture, a

private firm, is working pro bono to create the design

for the new public space.

MTA Executive Director Nat Ford was very upbeat. "We’re really excited about this. We’ve been trying to identify locations

around the city to make these quick improvements that help us to green

the city and make it more pleasurable for pedestrians or workers who

want to have their lunch outside in public space."

The boarding island for historic trolleys on 17th

Ford

acknowledged the trial

nature of the project, without burdensome planning and sometimes

lengthy delays, was unusual for the collaborating agencies, but said it would provide San Francisco with a testable scenario that

planning and modeling alone could not.

"I think the

citizens of the city want to see these improvements and going through

the lengthy process of planning doesn’t always get the

project in the ground," said Ford. "What we’re seeing from other

municipalities like NYC is very successful and we want to do similar

trials here."

David Alumbaugh, acting Director of Citywide Planning at the Planning Department, was hopeful it would enliven the public realm. "While cities all over the country and the world are

re-imagining their neglected public realms, for some reason doing so has been hard for San

Francisco. This exciting temporary installation in the heart of the Castro will inexpensively and quickly

demonstrate one small way San Francisco might begin to rethink its public realm."

Reiskin stressed several times the project is temporary, that they are using

using salvaged, recycled, or re-purposed materials from city salvage

yards, and that it will be easily reversible if it doesn’t succeed at

activating the space and providing a valued community amenity.

Acknowledging the impact of meeting Sadik-Khan last November at

a luncheon held for various agency directors, Reiskin called her a

personal hero. "She’s a rockstar to me in this realm of effectively

and quickly accomplishing things."

John

Peterson, founder of Public Architecture, said there

were significant obstacles to success in the trial plaza and that they would need

to adjust their effort in a fluid and ongoing way when those problems arise.

"Part of the reason this is an interesting project is that we expect to

remain active as we see how people will use it. The challenge is to

knit something together that is cohesive, a proper outdoor space and

not a collection of bits and pieces. New York City is doing a great

work, but we’re trying to one-up the expectations on what is

possible for this type of urban space."

Peterson

said they are searching for a partner to help draft a "deep evaluation"

of the success of the trial. "We expect this kind of thing to be

useful not just for this project but for many other urban projects."

Castro

Street CBD Executive Director Andrea Aiello said they had been

discussing ways to improve the public space there for nearly

a decade and that it was part of both the Castro Street CBD strategic

planning and the Upper Market Area Plan done by the Planning Department

at Superviser Dufty’s behest. She added the CBD was working on

ways to create dynamic programming for the space, including music and

other types of performances.

"The

CBD is very conscious of the need to keep this active so that it

doesn’t fail. We’re very excited to work with the agencies to create

this very cool

gathering space for the neighborhood. It has been a great

collaborative relationship with DPW, the Planning Departent and

Supervisor

Dufty. It really feels like all the different agencies have come

together to make this experience work."

Two businesses on the street have been particularly involved with the planning, the 24-hour restaurant Orphan Andy’s and the Chevron gas station. Orphan Andy’s anticipates setting out tables and movable seating, which it would maintain, possibly in conjunction with the CBD. Chevron agreed to have one of its curb cuts removed and Peterson believes they will be important partners in the late-night hours, when the plaza might not be otherwise active.

For

his part, Supervisor Dufty was hopeful that a trial would be a great

success. "Temporarily closing 17th and Market will allow us to test a

number of streetscape improvements while monitoring the changes to

traffic flow," he said. "This is a major step towards creating a new

Castro public realm."

"I appreciate the ingenuity and leadership

of DPW Director Ed Reiskin, the Castro Community Benefit District and

Planning Department. I’m excited to begin this process," he added.

Peterson said the leadership from Reiskin and other agencies is refreshing. The only reluctance he’s heard has been from community stakeholders who are worried about the homeless and vagrants making the plaza less desirable.

Some people are very skeptical and people don’t want to see change. We’re talking to people who are dedicated to urban life and there is real reluctance to even try it. They are talking about homelessness. There’s the idea that we don’t want nicer things in our public realm because people may misuse it. That shouldn’t stop us from having a healthy street life and public realm. If that’s the case in San Francisco, then we’re done.”

Though the 17th Street trial will be temporary pending its success, the DPW and MTA are already looking for other areas that might be ripe for pilots (in case they’re reading, we’d like to offer up this short film about a street in North Beach).

"The Mayor is interested in doing more than this one, but this one was

teed up," Reiskin said. "We’ve seen it work elsewhere and it’s consistent

with many themes the Mayor has put forward as goals."

Said Ford: "We’re making very quick improvements and making them reversible…. and if [the process] works, we’ll try it in other areas. We have a short list of other areas that we’d like to try, so stay tuned, there are more out there."