And At The Other End of the Block: Lyon St Eyesore Still Set To Come Down

For years this structure has loomed over the sidewalk and claimed two parking spaces

It has nothing to do with scaffolding for painting; it's a "temporary" fire escape

Now that the corner of Lyon and Turk boasts new green, landscaped sidewalks, what about the opposite end of Lyon, down the hill at Golden Gate Avenue? Will neighbors on the 800 block of Lyon and passersby ever be relieved of that eyesore of a scaffolding posing as a fire escape? Apparently, yes, according to Pat Boscovich, a developer working for the property owner. As previously reported, Boscovich has been pushing to get this job completed for the owner, the neighbors, and to be done with the project altogether. He confirmed on Tuesday that the work is on track again.

I have received a copy of the contract between the property owner and the construction firm hired to install the new fire escapes. This should have been done two months ago, but evidently the first contractor hired went out of business.

Boscovich explained that the manufacture of the two new structures -- one for the Lyon street side of the corner apartment building and one for the Golden Gate side -- are being completed now, and he expects the first one, along Golden Gate, to be installed within two to three weeks.

At the top of the Lyon hill

North Panhandle Eyesore on Track for Removal; Work Set for New Fire Escapes

Scaffolding serving as fire escape on Lyon street at Golden Gate

After years of wanting the ugly structure to come down, North Panhandle residents are likely wary about any news that the four-story scaffolding sidling the apartment building on Lyon at Golden Gate may actually be seeing its final weeks. But that appears to be the case. Pat Buscovich, a developer working with the owner of the apartment building, told BIKE NOPA that the process to replace the structure with a real fire escape is underway.

"Once we get the go-ahead, it will take six weeks or more to fabricate suitable fire escapes. We have a manufacturer lined up and ready to start. During that time we will prepare the building so it will be ready for the fire escape to be bolted to it. We will get the larger unit for the Golden Gate side of the building installed first. Then we'll be able to dismantle the scaffolding along Lyon one floor at a time as we put up the exits on that side."

Few manufacturers remain in the fire escape business, according to Buscovich. "The code for the equipment changed in 1995 and many steel fabricators stopped making them since then." The fire exits for the Lyon building are expected to cost $30,000 or more. Over the several years that the scaffolding has been occupying the 40 feet of curb space, the owner might easily have purchased the equipment for the cost of the rental fees.

Buscovich said contractors were at the site yesterday and had begun the preparation. His reading of the situation is that everyone wants to bring this long story of tenant/landlord conflicts and complications among city agencies to an end. "The owner wants it done, the residents want it to happen, and I'm sure the neighbors are ready to see this over with."

Although BIKE NOPA previously suggested the permit granted for ongoing work might be simply one more delay after several years of inaction, it now appears that the owner is ready to proceed and the city has signed off on the project. A building permit to do so is essential. We hope the next chapter in this story includes photos of the new fire-escapes and a scaffolding-free street.

North Panhandle Eyesore Remains, City Renews Permits for Fire Escape That’s Never Completed

Scaffolding has become an unwelcome fixture on NOPA street

On Lyon street towering over Golden Gate Avenue for years

Wire strung through structure to utility pole

Scaffolding leans against exterior but not secured

The extent of secured footing for scaffolding on Lyon street

Although the structure on Lyon Street at Golden Gate Avenue re-purposes parking spaces and attracts attention to the sidewalk, no one would point to it as one of the new parklets sprouting all over the city with the spring rain. Instead the barely-secured scaffolding meant for temporary use remains as a persistent blight in the North Panhandle neighborhood that the city continues to allow year after year. City staff suggest there’s nothing to be done.

According to a Department of Public Works inspector who most recently verified the permit for the scaffolding at 800 Lyon Street, “There’s not anyone who can do anything about it.” She added, “They have a legal right to be there as long as they’re doing work there.” She mentioned in January of this year that on her last visit she “saw someone scraping paint.” But after years of no apparent, substantial work or improvements, the series of six-month renewals appear to reflect inertia and permit gridlock rather than effective inspection, oversight or resolution.

The scaffolding is in place as the result of a long struggle between building tenants, the property owner, and city agencies. The three story structure was installed to serve as a fire escape for a tenant who resides in an illegal unit at the top of the building. In October 2010 the city approved plans to allow the addition of new fire escapes on the Golden Gate and Lyon street sides of the corner apartment building. Presumably these would be standard installations that would not obstruct the parking lane or the sidewalk.

When BIKE NOPA first reported on the Lyon structure in January 2010, the building owner’s attorney, Andrew Zacks of Zacks & Utrecht, said his client was sympathetic to neighbors’ concerns. “The owner understands this is a blight on the neighborhood,” he told us. In January of this year Zacks said he would provide an update on the situation but no information was forthcoming, and he stopped responded to inquiries.

A close look at the scaffolding reveals a structure barely secured to the building exterior, loose footings, and electrical wires strung through the apparatus to a nearby utility pole. The 800 block of Lyon features a steep grade with head-in parking on the same side of the street as the scaffolding. Residents in the building told BIKE NOPA that they worried about a vehicle hitting the scaffolding and bringing it all down on the sidewalk and street, disconnecting electrical wires in the process. Beyond the safety issues and blight, the structure also occupies two to three parking spaces around the clock in a neighborhood where many residents complain about the lack of available parking.

After several years of the status quo, might the city finally resolve the issue at 800 Lyon and make the block safer and more attractive? Several neighbors have indicated they are ready to petition the city for resolution of the eyesore they've lived with much too long.

Lyon Street Scaffolding Stats
800 Lyon Street at Golden Gate, 40 feet of curb space
DPW permit for scaffolding: # 1227100
Permit type: major encroachment
DPW permit office: 415 554 5810
Online Permit and Complaint Tracking for this address

Halloween is Better Car-Free: NOPA Knows How

Hundreds gather along Grove and Lyon Streets for NOPA Halloween

Grove street in the North Panhandle hosts more car-free events than most any other neighborhood street in San Francisco, and Halloween night was one more walk-everywhere occasion. Hundreds of residents and visitors of all ages trick-or-treated along Grove between Baker and Central Sunday night while others approached on cordoned-off blocks of Lyon street. Kids competed for best costume prizes awarded from a trio of judges including a Frankenstein with a an uncanny resemblance to NOPA's district supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, Jarie Bolander, and Guitar Hero Purvi Sahu. Kids and parents peeked into dark garages, ducked into a special Halloween photo booth, and grabbed some time watching the Giants claim Game 4. The Halloween block party was the largest to date in the six years of the event.

Murals of NOPA: Bold Touch at the Laundry

You can't miss the mural at the corner of Lyon and McAllister. On the Lyon Street exterior of the neighborhood laundry "Get the Funk Out," this eerie visual evokes, for me, an Almodovar homage amid free-form graffiti script and an octoman I don't want to encounter on a dark street.

Other posts in the Murals of NOPA series.

NOPNA Knows Block Parties: Rock Lyon Street This Saturday

The North of the Panhandle Neighborhood Association (NOPNA) takes seriously its rep around town for making good things happen. The organization has long understood that advocacy for neighborhood improvement always comes down to making solid connections among the people it serves. Tomorrow NOPNA helps make it all fun with its springtime Block Party for neighbors and friends. Check out upcoming neighborhood events at the NOPNA table. If you're not a member, now's the time to sign up and support the good things.

From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. kick back, dance in the street, enjoy the five live bands, watch the kids play in the street, feast on BBQ and specialty tacos, learn all about community groups, and find out what's new with neighbors. Lyon Street from Hayes to Grove, open for fun.

Kids activities 11am to noon; bands and DJs start at noon and continue till 6. BBQ at noon; Kung Fu Tacos 1-3 pm.

Be sure to stop by the All Things Bicycle table for the latest news on BIKE NOPA, the NOPA VELO neighborhood rides, new programs at the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC). Get free bike stickers, purchase framed NOPA VELO posters, pick up a BIKE NOPA window sign.

Special Offer for NOPNA Block Party: $10 discount on SFBC membership. With the discount, join SFBC for $25 and support all the bike and livability activities of the city's premiere bicycling group. As an SFBC member, you get discounts at bike shops, cafes, restaurants, and grocery stores all over San Francisco. NOPA VELO riders: you'll need a SFBC membership to join the special June 27th ride when NOPA VELO spins up Market Street with the SFBC contingent in the annual Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Pride Parade.

Sunday all San Francisco runs through NOPA for Bay to Breakers. Saturday is just for us and our friends. See you at the block party.

NOPA In Pink

A huge thank you to all the neighbors who planted pink during the several tree planting efforts by NOPNA and Friends of the Urban Forest in years past. What's your favorite pink block at this time of year? Lyon between Fulton and Grove? Grove between Lyon and Baker? Or perhaps one special tree?

Street Eyesore Takes Up Residency in NOPA

Public street space claimed by private fire escape on Lyon at Golden Gate

"a blight on the neighborhood"

There are few simple stories in San Francisco, and the saga of the over-sized fire escape on Lyon Street near Golden Gate is one that isn't. But it does offer up the usual suspects of conflict: landlord/tenant relations, land use arguments, the city permit process, and 50 years or more of creative, non-code building practices.

The three-story metal structure has sidled along the turn-of-the 19th century apartment building since last summer. It provides an emergency exit for a few residents, but passers-by might wonder, "Why not just install a regular flat-against-the-exterior fire escape?" Indeed, why not? Instead this metallic behemoth disrupts sidewalk use, displaces 4-5 parking spaces, and offends neighbors who can't help but notice it.

The emergency structure was installed as a compromise, the result of a quirky arrangement decades ago for the adjacent properties on the northeast corner of Golden Gate and Lyon. A previous owner built a wooden fire escape from a unit in the Lyon building onto the roof of the Golden Gate building and then into that property's back yard. A wooden fire escape: there's a problem. Onto the roof of the adjacent house: seems like another. This unorthodox and dangerous set of circumstances remained until four years ago when a city housing inspector wrote up the building for code infractions and an illegal housing unit. The city's Board of Permit Appeals apparently saw things differently and ruled the unit in question was legal, but both bodies agreed the old wooden fire escape had to go. No one agreed, however, about where a standard, up-to-code substitute should be installed. The compromise reached among the city groups and the owner and contractor is the ungainly scaffolding hogging street space on Lyon today. No one is pleased with the outcome, including the owner of the Lyon Street building, according to his attorney, Andrew Zacks. "The owner understands this is a blight on the neighborhood," Zacks told BIKE NOPA.

Now this post began with a simple inquiry to the responsible construction firm about when this "blight" would be removed. (The current notice, posted on the scaffolding, lists February 27, 2010 as the end of the permit period). I never intended to conduct an investigation of one more example of the seemingly arcane routes of building code administration in the city. I simply hoped to find that the safety of the tenants would be assured with access to standard fire escapes and that the neighborhood would be spared the ugly, overbuilt scaffolding.

Patrick Buscovich, owner of Patrick Buscovich & Associates Structural Engineers, told BIKE NOPA that a safe and more attractive solution may be near at hand. "One standard fire escape will be installed on the Golden Gate side of the building with another, separate escape on the Lyon Street side for one "land-locked" apartment," he explained. Everyone seems to agree with this outcome: the owner, the Fire Department, the Planning Department, and, perhaps, the tenants. Buscovich thought he would receive a permit for one of the structures in two weeks, with the other to follow. Realistically though, NOPA neighbors might expect a few more months to pass before this formidable building from 1899 stands free of its unsightly accompaniment.

Seen While Biking: One Big Cistern in NOPA

Today sewer excavation and replacement work began on Lyon between Golden Gate and McAllister, but only part of it. Seems the ever-appearing sinkholes in the NOPA area are being dealt with one block at a time. The current cutting, digging, piping, and re-paving will involve only the north end of the block.

Who knew a cistern this large lay below Golden Gate at Baker? Nearly the width of the block and extending into the intersection. The water cache perimeter is maked for SF Fire Dept. Will this make NOPA safer when the Big One strikes and fires follow?

Curb appeal, anyone? Finally, this poor stump of a tree finally gave it up. Perhaps all it took was the stiff afternoon breeze -- or resting a bike against it. From the look of the tree base and roots, the rot was well set in. The extreme "pruning" of awhile back certainly did its part. Now the building at this location, the NE corner of Lyon and McAllister, is up for sale. Might the realtor improve sale prospects with a new street tree? Don't hesitate to call them with the suggestion.