Todd David of Residents for Noe Valley Town Square needs people to show in support:
I received a phone call from Rec and Parks yesterday informing me that the Commission is holding a meeting on Wed, July 6 at 2PM.
The Noe Valley Town Square is going to be mentioned as one of the projects Rec and Park is pursuing/investigating. It would be fantastic if 5 or 6 people could join me for Public Comment.
What: Recreation and Park Commission - Capital Committee Meeting
Where: 1 Carlton B. Goodlett Place (City Hall), Room 416
When: Wednesday, July 6, 2011, 2pm
[NVSF: Noe Valley Town Square: Concepts]
13 comments:
Let's see if all you neighbors can get it together to be there. A large turnout could go a long way towards making this a reality. Otherwise, we will have another large condo complex with four or more commercial stores at street level......which is maybe what you all want.
Without sounding snarky or bitchy, condos over retail space is not necessarily a bad thing. Open space public parks are wonderful. This one could be, but it is going to take a huge amount of money to really make it to completion. Where is that money coming from?
If money cannot be found, then the free market system will take over and the property will be sold to a developer who rightly so may choose to building housing and retail.
It would be great if community members could attend the meeting and talk about why they support the project.
Feel free to email me with any questions at noevalleytownsquare@gmail.com
Thank you in advance for your help!
Todd David, president
Residents for Noe Valley Town Square
Some advice to reduce the budget of this town square: get rid of the water feature, get rid of the stage and shelters, get rid of the restrooms. Keep it simple, keep it green.
I like the idea of a town square as a gathering place and a permanent home for the farmer's market. However, I completely fail to see the need for a water feature or a permanent stage.
A water feature is peanuts. The land acquisition price is everything.
NO murph: you're wrong. It's not so much about the cost of the water feature as it is about continued maintenance, and the appropriateness of a "water feature". Not needed here; it makes the space less flexible for the farmers market and other events.
besides, I think it's a dumb, suburban style idea. You see these surface style water features where the little rug rats can run in some water with out danger. not necessary.
get rid of it. keep the plaza ultra simple and ultra cost effective.
To those complaining about the design: This is just one of four possible designs (and it was the least popular at one meeting if I remember right). The editor just chose it here for illustration. It's not the actual design.
The sky is blue.
Of course we know it's not the final design. I suspect it will go thru many iterations for many months (or years) before construction began.
But now is the time to make constructive comments about what should or should not be in the plaza space. This is called design process and design dialogue. Most of the above comments have been very useful in filtering out ideas that may not be necessary or cost efficient. Keep up the good comments.
Monorail!
So did anyone go?
The Noe Valley Town Square took an important step forward yesterday (July 6, 2011).
SF's Rec and Park Commission's Capital Committee held a public hearing yesterday. The Dept's Open Space Acquisition Policy was one of the topics on the agenda. The Noe Valley Town Square site was one of three sites specifically mentioned as potential acquisitions by Rec and Park staff. (The other sites were 17th and Folsom and China Basin).
We had nice community support at the meeting. A total of 5 community members (including myself) gave public comment supporting the project. I want to thank the four people for taking time out of their day to join me in supporting this effort
Those four people are:
1. Elizabeth Crane (Farmer's Market Manager)
2. Rick Hildreth (Farmer's Market Board Member)
3. Richard Anderson (Noe Valley resident)
4. Peggy Cling (Friends of Noe Valley Board Member)
After the presentation and public comment, the Commissioners acknowledged that the Town Square was an interesting and exciting project. One Commissioner asked the practical question regarding the time line for the seller of the parking lot.
I was also pleased to connect with the woman advocating for the purchase of China Basin. We agreed that the two projects should work together as much as possible and that there is no reason to see the projects as "competing". I will be meeting with her to explore leveraging both groups' efforts.
As a final note. . .I want to be clear that the meeting yesterday was a "discussion" about the Town Square. No votes were scheduled nor taken. There is still a tremendous amount of work to do. But, yesterday was an important (and good) step forward for the project.
Todd
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