February 25, 2010

New Street-side Plaza For Noe Valley


"Plaza premiering later this year" at 24th and Noe Streets. The article doesn't give any other details and the SF Pavement to Parks website is down. Stay tuned...

[SFGate: S.F. plazas, 'parklets' spout, squeeze out cars]

7 comments:

Nelson said...

Oh, that'd be great! 24th is such a great walking environment. But the sidewalks are so crowded between storefronts, trees, strollers, dogs, and people walking abreast. I'd gladly give up one side's parking for wider sidewalks.

Or maybe a nice plaza. 24th and Noe, near the Starbucks, is where the new wide planter boxes just got installed, right? And Pasta Pomodoro's outdoor seating and the low wall by Chase already make for a loitering-friendly space.

murphstahoe said...

Block off Noe from 24th 20 or so yards towards Jersey - filtering traffic to Castro which is controlled by a traffic light. This removes a lot of the conflict at the intersection which is very pedestrian heavy.

OK, that won't happen. Too many cars use that intersection to access or cross 24th. The more likely proposal would be to do something similar to what they are planning for North Beach.

The question is if they do this - where. In front of Starbucks/Toast? Handicapped spot. In front of Rabat? Bus stop. In front of Pasta Pomodoro? To-go Pasta Pickup spot - also known as a fire hydrant. In front of Chase? Also a bus stop.

Maybe they WILL close Noe St!

Anonymous said...

Noe/24 is a PITA.
PITA for pedestrians to cross while respecting the wheeled traffic (cars, buses, bikes etc)
PITA for cars to cross while respecting the walking traffic (humans, strollers, dogs etc)

it's not working right now, so I'd welcome ANY idea. to try.

(I suggest making a mandatory left turn or right turn from 24th into noe west bound - straight ahead only for the busses. Clears the WholeFood traffic.
remove all parking on noe to castro block - north side. replace by diagonal parking south side.)

murphstahoe said...

Diagonal parking on Noe would not work - the roadway is too narrow and too many trucks park to unload. Backing out blind is the result, boom. Especially for cyclists who use 24th frequently due to the low speed traffic on the street.

Seriously, blocking Noe at 24th would be kick butt for 24th and would not cause difficult traffic impacts - traffic at that intersection is (as Anon points out) very bad and quite dangerous due to the mixing with heavy pedestrian usage. Granted this would make Castro what is known as a "traffic sewer" to the detriment of Castro from Jersey to 24th...

Meredith Ferney said...

Perhaps they're planning on getting rid of that horrible parking lot on 24th between Noe and Castro (by the Radio Shack)! It'd be nice to restore that into a space that people can actually use and enjoy.

murphstahoe said...

Well Meredith, now that Harry Aleo is dead, maybe they can (if I understand he purchased the lot explicitly to put a parking lot there).

Anonymous said...

Murph: where do you get your myopic "understanding" from? Actually the lot was purchased by 19 merchants and then gifted to the city back in circa 1959. It currently is the ONLY public city owned lot we have and is used by many of us when we shop 24th Street.