September 26th's town square meeting included a summary of progress so far, a presentation of concepts by CMG Landscape Architecture, and another round of table discussions for how best to use the space should the money become available to purchase the farmer's market parking lot from Noe Valley Ministry. Here's a summary of the table discussions:
1. Flexibility and simplicity were consistently recommended.Complete notes from the meeting are on noevalleytownsquare.com. The PDF of the presentation given by CMG is here.
2. Groups generally agreed that a fence and gate were not amenable to the program or atmosphere of the town square. Security should be addressed during the design process with visibility, lighting, and park rules.
3. Groups were mixed on need for restrooms and a stage. There was general consensus on the need for storage with the understanding that it not be oversized.
4. There was consensus on the idea that the town square should be designed for adults and children alike. There were consistent suggestions for informal play and seating features that could be sculptural and appealing to adults as well as children. Groups also identified flexible play such as hop scotch or other activities with movable and storable equipment as a good approach.
5. There was consensus on a need for a buffer and/or sound barrier along the back edge of the site, along with the idea of shifting seating and garden areas to the edges.
6. Many groups suggested water features as a way to add atmosphere and ‘white sound’ to the space.
The project is going to end up - perhaps not at first - requiring a crosswalk. Twice this week I have almost T-boned a jaywalking pedestrian running across 24th Street from Martha's to the parking lot. This was not atypical.
ReplyDeleteJaywalking will be more endemic with a pedestrian square mid-block across from a bagel place and a coffee shop and next door to no food option (apologies to Haystack's - not the demographic for park food at this point).
A crosswalk, preferably with a button activated light cycle, would be very useful. And probably the subject of much debate ;)
maybe if you paid attention to where you're going and get off your damn cell phone, you wouldn't come close to hitting someone.
ReplyDeleteCellphone or no.. there's not much you can do when you are up against this ....
ReplyDeletetrouble is cyclists are just as clueless.
ReplyDelete