USF Campus Bike Plan To Be Unveiled December 1st

Photo: usfca.edu

San Francisco’s bikes-for-transportation momentum gets another boost on December 1st when the University of San Francisco unveils its Campus Bicycle Transportation Plan. This past semester more than 600 students, faculty and staff registered their concerns and ideas for building a strong bicycle culture on campus in a study conducted by Stephen Zavetoski, PhD and his students.

Primary concerns on campus include a lack of bike parking in convenient locations, lack of covered, secure bike parking, and too few facilities such as showers and changing rooms. Respondents also registered support for safer, protected bike lanes along the primary streets used to reach USF, including Fell and Oak between the Wiggle bike route and the campus which lies just west of Masonic Avenue. The San Francisco Transportation Agency is currently studying proposals for safer bike travel on Fell and Oak between Scott and Baker, an essential link for cyclists traveling east-west. A proposal for traffic-calming and safety enhancements on Masonic Avenue has already cleared a public hearing and is now under environmental review.

According to Zavetoski, the presentation on December 1st will include a full set of recommendations for increased bicycling at USF based on the study data. “These will include improvement of on-campus amenities as well as recommendations for information and education campaigns that can lower some of the perceived barriers around traffic safety and hills.” Zavetoski is the Sustainability Director in the USF College of Arts & Sciences. For more information, see USFpedals.

USF Campus Bicycle Transportation Plan Presentation
Dec 1 2-3:30 pm
Maraschi Room, Fromm Hall

University of San Francisco Campus map

NOPA's "Negative Spaces" Showcased in Light Installation: Artist to Reveal Hidden Features of Local Victorians

Photos by Tanu Sankalia of light installation test run last May

Golden Gate Avenue by a different light

Slots that define our neighborhood as much as the famous facades

"You Will Never See NOPA In The Same Way," according to a University of San Francisco press release announcing a unique art installation scheduled for later this week. Elaine Buckholtz, a Bay Area artist, will bring her vision and facility for revealing what is hidden in plain sight to Golden Gate Avenue in NOPA on Thursday and Friday evenings, February 25 and 26. Once the sky darkens the street, Buckholtz will shift viewers' gaze from the familiar facades to the seldom noticed spaces, "the slots," between the elegant structures. The buildings are located on the north side of the street between Lyon and Baker at 1906 to 1914 Golden Gate.

From 5:30 to 8 pm on both evenings, the "light-sculpted interstitial space" between the Victorians will be revealed. The staging will "foreground" the "geometry of negative space, revealing forms that are unnoticed by day." Buckholtz describes these largely unappreciated areas hedged between Victorians as "the smallest discernable spatial units of the city" that are repeated along rows of the Victorians on North Panhandle streets. She asserts that "the repetition of these spaces ... produces a pattern that is equally as intrinsic and unique to this neighborhood's urban form as the Victorians themselves."

As a light designer and installation artist, Buckholtz has distinguished herself with work throughout Europe and the Bay Area. She currently teaches at Stanford University. The University of San Francisco is sponsoring the light installation in coordination with the institution's Thacher Gallery. The on-the-street exhibit complements the on-campus show, "The Urban Unseen: Examining San Francisco's Interstitial Spaces," free and open to the public from February 21 to April 25 in the Gleeson Library/Geschke Center, 2130 Fulton Street at Parker Street. Tanu Sankalia conceptualized and curated the exhibition. An artist panel and reception are scheduled for Thursday, February 25 at the university. "All Over Coffee" artist Paul Madonna will also present his architecturally detailed work. Information here and at (415) 422-5178, www.usfca.edu/library/thacher. A special thanks to NOPA neighbor Purvi Sahu for alerting BIKE NOPA to this special neighborhood event.