Park Stewards Widen Panhandle Path, Increase Space to Share

Reclaimed entry space at Central Avenue

Doug Diboll shoveling back attractive bed that covered too much of the path

Jignesh Desai: heavy lifting

Dale Danley (l), Larkin Street Services youth, and Panhandle gardener (front, right)

The path must be shared even with these?

The newly-formed Panhandle Park Stewards cleared mud and weeds from the Panhandle Path on Saturday as part of the group's monthly workday. Their efforts widened the popular park route by two feet in several sections. The all-volunteer crew worked mostly in the two-block stretch between Masonic Avenue and Lyon Street; that area alone required the efforts of four neighbors over a two-hour period. The group also cleared the Central Avenue and Lyon Street entries to the Park on the north side. Several neighbors have recently requested that the Recreation and Parks Department improve its maintenance of the Central Avenue entry, especially since department vehicles frequently leave deep muddy ruts there.

The Panhandle Park Stewards joined with volunteers from Larkin Street Services and Asian American Recovery Services. NOPA neighbors Doug Diboll and Jignesh Desai joined me and stewards' leader, Dale Danley for the sunny morning in the park. We had the chance for quick breaks with NOPNA President Jarie Bolander in his gorilla feet running gear and neighbor Marc Caswell strolling along without his bike.

To learn more about today's workday and the future plans for the Panhandle, check out Panhandle Park Stewards blog.

For 100-Year-Old Trees and Months-Old Mud: Panhandle Park Stewards Want You

Photo: Dale Danley

Encroaching mud on Panhandle's mixed-use path

The Panhandle Park Stewards invite NOPA neighbors and park lovers to help reclaim parts of the multi-use path sludged over with mud and sprouting with weeds this Saturday, March 13th. "With a little maintenance work, we can get back parts of the path that have disappeared," said Dale Danley, a NOPA resident who leads the neighborhood efforts to care for the park. "With all the use the path is getting - and with even more expected this summer - we can use every inch of it for more cyclists, runners, and walkers."

Photo: Dale Danley

Winter rains and saturated soil topple one big eucalyptus in the Panhandle

In addition to the busy Panhandle Path, the Park Stewards will also work with the gardener assigned to the eastern half of Panhandle Park to care for the historic trees in the area. Danley notes that California celebrates Arbor Day this week, and the Panhandle is a prime location for caring for and learning about a large variety of trees. "The big, old trees in the Panhandle, several more than a hundred years old, need some care to stay healthy," he said. "A lot of people come out to the monthly work parties to do just that - work - but this month, for Arbor Day, we'll take some time and learn something about the trees."

Danley urges volunteers to bring a tree book or a phone with Internet to help the group identify some of the trees. "We'll focus on the area between Lyon Street and Central Avenue and compare what we find with a tree survey* of the Panhandle completed 40 years ago." And, he advises, wear sturdy shoes and clothes and expect to get a bit muddy. "The rains of the past month have saturated the soil, and a few trees have fallen as a result." But don't let the muddy paths stop you, Danley is sure everyone will have an experience in the park they won't forget.

The Panhandle Park Stewards gather the second Saturday of every month. For more information on the volunteer effort, check the blog that Danley started in January to document the neighborhood's involvement with park issues.

* Trees of the Panhandle, Elizabeth McClintock and Virginia Moore. Published by the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco; Miscellaneous Paper No. 1, 1965.

Check today's post at Panhandle Park Stewards for history of neighborhood involvement with a safe and clean park, provided by Mary Helen Briscoe, a long-time community activist and Panhandle advocate. (Thank you, Mary Helen, for your years of dedication and service).

Saturday, March 13th

Meet at 9 am @ the playground/bulletin board (where Ashbury intersects)

Work till noon, snack provided.

More information: dale987@gmail.com

Smoother Rides for Cyclists...Motorists Too...Coming to Select Streets; NOPA Blocks to Get Needed Repaving

Bike lane surface no one will miss on Baker Street from Fell

SFBC Good Roads Crew during Bayview "pothole ride"

The Department of Public Works intends to resurface* more than two dozen city blocks that will directly improve the rideability for bicyclists and benefit motorists and nearby residents as well. During Fiscal Year 2010/2011, beginning July 1, the city will improve segments of several bike routes, including the Wiggle, 14th Street, Noe between Market and Duboce, and Keith and Phelps Streets in the Bayview (see list below).

This group of streets represents the repaving that DPW undertakes with its own road crews, and the blocks are usually more residential than arterial. The city contracts out for more extensive resurfacing projects. A few of the candidate blocks for 2010/2011 were recommended by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition through its Good Roads Project. Volunteers worked with SFBC Community Planner Neal Patel to identify single blocks with poor surface conditions for this special category of DPW repaving.

NOPA cyclists and motorists who now appreciate the smoother ride on Divisadero can look forward to the much-needed resurfacing of Central Avenue between Hayes and McAllister Streets. Those three blocks are plagued by recurring sinkholes and multiple repairs. The #5 Muni line uses one of the blocks and cyclists spin down Central to enter Panhandle Park. Hopefully, DPW will complete the work on Central early in the fiscal year so the street is in top shape to handle the thousands of Sunday Streets enthusiasts visiting NOPA in mid-September. In addition, Baker Street from Fell to Hayes and from Grove to Turk Streets will be repaved. No cyclist will miss the rough, rugged bike lane between Fell and Hayes.

A partial listing of the blocks to be repaved:

• 3rd Street, between Berry & Terry Francois
• 14th Street, between Valencia and Dolores
• Baker, Fell to Hayes, Grove to Turk
• Central, Hayes to McAllister
• Keith, Palou to Wallace
• Noe, Market to Duboce
• Phelps, Kirkwood to Palou
• Scott, Haight to Page
• Steiner, Waller to Haight
• Townsend, Embarcadero to 2nd/Stanford

* As with all paving projects, work on these candidate streets is subject to funding and clearances (i.e. no conflicts and schedule coordination) with utilities. DPW sent a "Notice of Intent and Request for Information" listing of candidate streets to public and private utilities on Dec. 31, 2009.

It's Official: Sunday Streets Coming to NOPA

great graphic from Livablecity.org

photo by Michael Helquist

photo by slowpoke_sf on Flickr

photo by steverhodes on Flickr

The buoyant, smile-inducing, bike spinning, pedestrian-safe celebration known as Sunday Streets will course through NOPA in 2010. Fine-tuning of the new Western Addition route is underway, but the blocks expected to involve NOPA include Central Avenue, Grove Street, Baker Street, and Golden Gate Avenue. Mayor Gavin Newsom announced today the dates and neighborhood locations for nine Sundays from March through October next year. NOPA's chance to host part of the route will come on September 19th, when the city is most assured of sunny, warm weather.

Next year's Western Addition/Alamo Square/NOPA route will be the first foray into mostly residential neighborhoods for Sunday Streets. Cheryl Brinkman, president of the board of Livable City, noted how successful Sunday Streets was this year in the Mission's commercial area. She added, "We hope with NOPA and the Western Addition to have the same success with a primarily residential route. It's a great opportunity to give residents a respite from car traffic on their streets and see what they make of it."

Kevin Rafter, President of the North Panhandle Neighborhood Association, thinks the event is right on target. "NOPNA is always eager to support events that build community and get more neighbors out on the streets. We know that so many of our neighbors bike to school, work, and in-between so this event makes a lot of sense to us. We're eager to make this event a success in NoPa."

At the same time, NOPA's merchants can expect a big boost in business from Sunday Streets.* The Central Avenue and Fulton Street cafes, restaurants and stores, the "Baker Street Beat" sites for foodies, corner grocery stores, and Divisadero outlets of every sort will have the chance to meet, greet, and serve San Franciscans from all over the city. One segment of the route being considered would stop at the Divisadero Farmers' Market, and manager Dmitrius Spartos couldn't be more psyched about it: "This event is all about having fun while honoring San Francisco's path towards a sustainable urban ecology, and farmers' markets are a definite part of that equation. It makes sense to join forces."

NOPA's own BIKE THE BLOCK party this past September was inspired by Sunday Streets, and our one-block focus attracted hundreds of neighbors and friends. Bicyclists will certainly be prominent among Sunday Streeters, but the event reaches out to everyone. Marc Caswell, NOPA neighbor and Program Manager for the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, is eager to have Sunday Streets come to this part of town. He also takes a larger view of the occasion: "Events like this allow people to re-envision public space and help show that streets have more uses than transporting vehicles."

The route through NOPA will permit two-way travel on the selected streets and will be open to festivities from 10 am to 3 pm. Organizers will provide extensive advance notice to residents, businesses, and churches located on the affected blocks to help them prepare for the occasion.

The full list of dates and locations include:

March 14: Embarcadero

April 11: Along the Great Highway

April 18: Bayview

May 23: Bayview

June 20: Mission

July 11: Mission

August 22: Great Highway/Golden Gate Park

September 19: NEW: Western Addition

October 24: NEW Civic Center/Tenderloin

In addition to this ambitious expanded version of Sunday Streets, the mayor and SFMTA will launch a pilot project next year to bring car-free days in one or more neighborhoods, somewhat similar to the Sunday closure of JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park. Presumably, these "block party"-type events will not entail the rather steep application fees to close the block to car traffic.

BIKE NOPA will feature further news on Sunday Streets in the months ahead. Also check for information from these sites: Livable City, the SF Bicycle Coalition, Alamo Square Neighborhood Association, MTA, and NOPNA at www.nopna.org . BIKE NOPA first suggested including NOPA in the 2010 roster in this Oct. 6th post.

* For those new to Sunday Streets, the event is not envisioned as a giant street fair with vendors taking the place of parked vehicles. People enjoying the streets usually frequent nearby stores, restaurants, and cafes or find the curb a good spot to watch the passing scene.

Seen While Biking: Crosswalks for Vehicles

Every school day this is how it goes: parents and/or guardians drop off and pick up kids at San Francisco Day School (SFDS) on Golden Gate between Masonic and Central. The vehicular line-up often fills Golden Gate, extends up Central, and onto Turk Street. Many motorists are aware that they should not idle astride crosswalks, especially when the SFDS monitor stands at the corner. Others are apparently oblivious to the idea that they are waiting to pick up their own kids while blocking someone else's kids from safely crossing the street.

SFDS has improved the situation immensely during the last few years. The school instituted more vigilant monitoring of the line-up with crossing guards at the intersections, staggered times for kids leaving school, and reminding parents to be more considerate and more safety-minded. But the waiting motorists continue to block the bike lane and too often straddle the crosswalks. Pedestrians must walk into the street which is overly congested with the queue of waiting motorists. And bicyclists: forget the bike lane on that side of the block; its full of vehicles.

The situation is better than it was before, but if you're a parent, a kid, or even simply a neighbor who wants to cross the street using the crosswalk, "better" falls short of safe enough.

Corner Make-Over Set to Improve NOPA Livability

When does a fully re-developed lot improve NOPA livability? Certainly when the property sits at a prominent corner, when it's been vacant and untended for many months, and when three families can take advantage of NOPA's central location and easy transit in the new residences proposed.

The demolition and construction at 2000 McAllister, at the NW corner of Central, has yet to begin, but with even minimally attractive exteriors and landscaping, this corner will likely enjoy a new vitality with the planned three-family, four-story complex to be built.

What the neighborhood loses -- already lost due to the defunct business -- is the corner laundromat that operated here for at least the last dozen years. Neighbors who once relied on this location now have to use other laundromats a few blocks away. NOPNA does its best to support small businesses in the area, and no one wants to see any of them depart. But, this one already has.

Illegal trash dumping and grafitti have plagued this corner for years. As NOPA's resident grafitti guard, Doug Diboll, notes, taggers love big, wide spaces, and the laundry's windows and long expanse of fence along Central offer a huge canvass. Hopefully not for much longer. Neighbors should also expect to see new street trees (required for new construction) to fill in the cracked sidewalk cuts

Construction notes and hearing process. This lot is zoned for RH-3/40x development and fits the neighborhood residential uses and building heights. Neighbors with concerns about the demolition and construction should contact the Planning Department before September 24, 2009. Contact: David Lindsay, 415 558 6393.