This Week In Noe Valley: The Soda Tax War Kicks Off, Remembering The Winter Of Love, And More Photos Of Snow In The City

News from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:

• Scott Wiener and other supes support the Soda Tax ballot measure [scottwiener.com]
• Opponents of the Tax argue it makes SF more expensive; 6 people hired to canvass neighborhoods, including Noe Valley [SF Gate]
• Why housing costs keep rising in SF (short version: there isn't enough of it) [Michael Rhodes]
• Ellis Act perpetrators are the evil ones, not the Google bus riders says this op-ed [Beyond Chron]
• To be fair, the Ellis Act was a "problem" long before the Google Bus [NYTimes]
• It's the 10th anniversary of the Winter of Love [Bay Area Reporter]
• The Cesar Chavez project is wrapping up - and neighbors already feel safer [SF Gate]
• More reader photos of the great 1976 San Francisco snowstorm - including fun ones of Noe Valley [SF Gate]
• A profile of Noe resident Christine Schmidt, author of Yellow Owl's Little Prints and some photos of her charming apartment [SF Gate]
• The Tech Search Party returns to Noe Valley on Feb 8 [Tech Search Party]

[Photo: #blossom #spring via oiseaul]

This Week In Noe Valley: La Nebbia Debuts, Google Bus Reflections, And Let It SNoe Snark

News from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:

• La Nebbia opened [Ed.- It was great, even if it was obvious they were caught off guard by how many people showed up] [Inside Scoop]
• Not everyone was into the Let it SNoe spirit on Friday [@vegaproject]
• All the construction around SF has created a $110M windfall for neighborhood projects [SFGate]
• Fourth generation Noe Valley resident reflects on Fake Google Bus Guy [Danelle Morton]
• Google bus also makes Vanity Fair [Vanity Fair]
• The most expensive house sold in SF in November is in Noe Valley [SFGate]
• Brilliant [esbale]
• SPUR says Twitter doesn't know how to build community [NYT]
• Scott Wiener's Nov/Dec newsletter [Scott Wiener]

[Photo: NVSF]

This Week In Noe Valley: Zuckerberg's Monster Remodel, Cyclists Spooked, Tuna Hearts And Other Frights

News from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:

• Scott Wiener's October newsletter [Scott Wiener]
• A history of San Francisco architecture [The Bold Italic]
• What's $10-20 million to remodel a pied-à-terre if you're Mark Zuckerberg? [CNBC]
• Omnivore's upcoming events [Omnivore Books]
• This handy Halloween costume guide could spare us all (extra points for not dressing your kids like this) [SFist]
• Noe neighbors spooked by spate of cyclist deaths around the city [SF Appeal]
• Also: SFPD targeting cyclists who roll stop signs (it's about time) [SF Streetsblog]
• Fregola with cured tuna heart from La Ciccia is a must-eat pasta dish [7x7]
• Nice video of what the SF Recreation and Parks Dept does for the City [SF Rec & Park]

[Photo: pablo: "Noe knows Halloween"]

This Week in Noe Valley: Town Square Pizza Party, Lost Railroad Tracks, And More Real Estate Madness

News from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:

• Pizza party planned for after final Town Square vote on June 4 [NVTS]
• The lost railroad tracks of the Mission and Noe Valley [Curbed]
• Noe Valley homes average $1.97M in April; the median price is only slightly saner  [Downing & Co]
• Omnivore Books June newsletter with events and happenings [Omnivore] 
• Clipper Corner dog grooming is shutting down; space available [@NoeValleySF]
• Scott Wiener's May newsletter [Scott Wiener]
• Raw sewage leak at 22nd and Hoffman has plagued neighbors for 6+ months [CBS]

[Photo: Burritos & Mosquitos]

Construction and Community Garden at NV Branch Library

We received an email from Michelle Jeffers, the PR officer for the SF Public Library that DPW is going to be doing some construction work on the rear retaining wall behind Noe Valley Branch Library.

A flyer is being distributed to neighbors [PDF] - this bit caught our eye:

"This project will improve the safety of the Library’s rear retaining wall. Once construction is completed, the community garden project at the Noe Valley Branch Library will resume."

According to Michelle, there was some clean up work behind the library about two or three years ago with local neighbors and a Boy Scout troop. Then because of the retaining wall work, it was put on hold. The idea is that a community garden project can get back on track once the retaining wall is repaired.

Stay tuned for more details on the community garden.

New Legislation To Curb Dog Walkers

Here's the press release. Emphasis ours:

Supervisor Wiener Introduces Legislation Regulating Commercial
Dogwalkers Who Use City Property

Among other things, legislation would limit number of dogs walked at one time to 7

San Francisco (October 18, 2011): At today's Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Scott Wiener will introduce legislation to set standards for commercial dogwalkers who conduct their business in City parks or on property owned by the Port of San Francisco or the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. The legislation will require commercial dogwalkers to obtain a permit, pay an annual permit fee, receive training, certify that their vehicle is fit for transporting dogs, carry required equipment, and ensure that the dogs they are walking have licenses. In addition, the legislation will allow commercial dogwalkers using city property to walk no more than seven dogs at one time.

To formulate this legislation, Supervisor Wiener worked with a broad coalition, including the SPCA, the Neighborhood Parks Council, professional dogwalker groups, dog owner groups, and the affected city departments. The idea of regulating commercial dogwalkers has been around for a number of years, but this is the first time that a Supervisor has converted the idea into legislation.

"Commercial dogwalkers provide a critical service to the many San Franciscans with dogs," said Supervisor Wiener. "This service must be carried out in a professional manner that respects city property and the other users of that property. There are many responsible and professional dogwalkers in San Francisco, and we need to ensure that the few irresponsible dogwalkers don't give the many good ones a bad name."

Dr. Jennifer Scarlett, co-president of the San Francisco SPCA, adds: “This is important legislation that recognizes our City's unique relationship with dogs. Dogwalkers provide an important service for many guardians in San Francisco and these standards help ensure the safety and protection of our City’s animals and the wellbeing of its residents.”

Professional dogwalker organizations also support the legislation. "For the many professional dogwalkers who are well-trained, who know how to care for dogs, and who respect the city property they use, this legislation will legitimate them and will require dogwalkers who lack training or skills to get training," said Angela Gardener of San Francisco Professional Dogwalkers Association. "It will also provide firm standards to ensure that all of us in the industry operate under the same rules."

Scott Wiener
Member, San Francisco Board of Supervisors
District 8
(415) 554-6968

[NVSF: How Well Do You Know Your Dog Walker, Noe Valley?]
[SFGate: Should Dog Walkers Be Licensed? (2009)]
[Photo: ipetblog.net]

Street Trees: 24th St Blight To Get Blightier

The two trees in front of Real Foods are set for removal at the request of the owner, who apparently came out of hiding. The notice states multiple trunk injuries, decay, etc. The notice also states that the trees will be replaced by the Noe Valley Association, which is great but will leave a gap in the canopy for some time.

If you'd like to make the building owner show up at request a hearing to appeal the trees' removal contact the DPW Urban Forestry department at 2323 Cesar Chavez St, SF CA 94124. You can fax your letter to (415) 695-2147.

Click the photo for complete info.

Notes: July 27 Noe Valley Neighborhood Meeting

The Friends of Noe Valley sponsored neighborhood meeting with Scott Wiener this evening at St. Philips was reasonably well attended (40-50 people) and featured free wine and free pizza from Patxi's. The meeting got off to a a slow start with some random notes from the FoNV including ballot measures the group is interested in such as a move stop the privatization of park facilities. FoNV also needs the services of a pro bono lawyer and webmaster if anyone's interested.

Things picked up when guest of honor and District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener arrived (a few minutes late). He jumped right in with a plug for the accomplishments of his office so far including balancing the budget, rescuing some money for tree maintenance, and bringing back the police academy classes to train new cops in SF. He also touched on…

AT&T Boxes – Scott spent some time recapping his position on why he voted yes on the boxes and fielding tangent questions such as: Could we get rid of the Clear Channel news boxes instead (no – it's a 1st amendment issue, they're paid for and you can't ban news boxes); could we turn the boxes into street art or benches (yes, good idea – Emeryville has turned its boxes into art); and why can't we underground them (too big and need cooling). Overall AT&T is aware that Noe doesn’t want boxes and is not likely put them here unless asked.

Town Square – "It's alive" and can happen, says Scott, but it's going to take "an enormous amount of work." It might need to be packaged up with some other projects in the Bayview and Mission and can’t be done with just open space funds. Private funds will have to fill the gap + buildout costs + income for ongoing maintenance.

Real Foods – Scott's goal is to get the owner of the building to finally "sell it and be done with it." He says he's "found new people" involved in the building and is "in a dialog" with them. He'd like to see retail on the ground floor and housing above – which means the buyer would have to be a developer.

Muni – It's going to be a "long road to progress" Scott admitted, but there are some hopeful signs including the new MTA Director Ed Reiskin (he takes Muni daily and doesn't own a car), and the fact that Muni can now hire part-time drivers to cover Muni's sky-high absenteeism (expect to see changes on that front in 12-18 months). Other interesting factoids – the J has the lowest ridership of any Muni train at just 18,000 per day (vs. the N Judah's 30,000 per day), and most J Church riders only use the line north of 30th St.

In between of all of this, Scott also fielded some wacky (boozy?) out-of-left-field questions thrown at him by people who didn't quite get the format. Q: How do you stand on the Muni to Chinatown plan? A: I wouldn't have backed it but the horse has left the barn. Q: How come third-world countries have better cell reception and they don't have big AT&T boxes? A: The boxes are about high-speed cable and Internet, not cell service. And so on.

After Scott left, the meeting wrapped up with a preview of possible planned events from the FoNV this year and next including:

· Music in the Park (BBQ, music and activities near Noe Courts after Labor Day)
· Happy Birthday Noe Valley (history event in November)
· Noe Valley Love Fest (Valentine's Day)
· Book Week (March 4-10 with a Book Fair)
· A Group Run (See Jane Run sponsored; heats for strollers, pets, etc)
· A Pet Event (for families and furry ones; sponsored by local pet stores)

And finally, at the end of the meeting FoNV president Todd David dropped a rumor that the Tuttimelon space on 24th Street may have a new tenant soon… First Republic Bank.

[Photo: @sdweiner on Twitter]

Shuttle Buses: SFCTA Releases Final Draft Of Strategic Analysis Report

In 2009 Bevan Dufty initiated a studdy of corporate/private shuttle buses operating in San Francisco neighborhoods. Concerns at the time were that while the busses took drivers off the road and increased foot traffic to local business the busses were too big, too loud and took up space at MUNI stops -- all true to varying degrees according to the SAR finalized on May 25, 2011. Other claims were unfounded (for instance, Google was not paying to use MUNI stops).

After studying use patterns of employer and regional shuttles in the Marina, Glen Park, and Noe Valley (as well as in Seattle, New York City and Washington, DC), the SFCTA came up with two recommendations:

1) More formal management and recognition of shuttles. The SAR recommends the
development of a “Muni Partners” program at the SFMTA and dedicated SFMTA staff to liaise with the shuttle industry, respond to public inquiries and concerns, and provide for the orderly and beneficial growth of the shuttle sector. Shuttle providers would pay a fee to sustain the program which would provide operating guidelines and facilities for safe and complementary shuttle operations with Muni and other road users.

2) Designated shuttle coordinator. The Muni Partners program would include a shuttles staff person at the SFMTA to address management needs and develop regulations, coordinate with shuttle providers and operators, and act as a point of contact for the public. This coordinator would set certification criteria, provide operating guidance, plan needed facilities, set fee structures, conduct monitoring and evaluation activities, coordinate enforcement, and manage growth of the sector. The coordinator would also receive and appropriately direct public inquiries and complaints.

In other words, the shuttles are valuable, need to be regulated and the City sees a potential revenue stream.

Give it a read (PDF). Lots of good info.

[SFCTA: Shuttle SAR]
[SFCTA: SAR Final Report (PDF)]
[SFCTA: SAR Memo to CAC (PDF)]
[NVSF: Meeting: Upper Noe Neighbors]
[NVSF: Shuttle Buses: Useful or Menace?]

Cesar Chavez: Work Starts In June

CC Puede's Fran Taylor sent the following update about the upcoming construction and redesign of the Cesar Chavez corridor:

The May 11 meeting on the Cesar Chavez Street project drew well over 50 people and was crammed with information, which I tried to note down. Here it is, in somewhat higgledy-piggledy fashion.

The sewer work is scheduled to begin in late June, starting at Hampshire and working west. The construction crews will work on three- or four-block chunks at a time. These blocks will have no parking during the work, which will involve digging a trench 10 to 13 feet wide to accommodate the 72 to 84-inch-diameter pipes being installed.

In addition, on the south side of Cesar Chavez, the existing pipes will be relined. Workers will need to block traffic for this as well.

From Hampshire to Treat, the trench is expected to be closer to the north side of the street; west of Treat, the trench is expected to be closer to the middle of the street. Two travel lanes in each direction will be maintained on Cesar Chavez throughout the project, but the lanes will move according to where the trench is. The existing three lanes of traffic west of the project will be gradually merged into two lanes in the construction area.

For the crossing of Mission Street, workers will avoid digging a trench to minimize disruption to Muni and BART service. Instead, they will dig two pits, one each at Capp and Bartlett, and install the pipe with a trenchless method.

In addition to Cesar Chavez, sewer construction work will take place on the following streets in the area as part of this project:
* Harrison: from Cesar Chavez to 26th
* Valencia: from Cesar Chavez to Mission
* Fair: from Mission to Coleridge
* Coleridge: from Fair to Coso
* Coso at Coleridge

Each block should take five to six weeks, and the first large segment from Hampshire to Folsom should take about nine to 10 months. When each three-block chunk is completed and reopened, the street will be striped according to the new streetscape striping, with parking lanes, bike lanes, two car travel lanes in each direction, and turn pockets or turn restrictions as outlined in the approved plan. As part of the streetscape improvements, the greening, repaving, and median work won’t begin until the sewer work reaches Folsom, about nine months after it begins.

The sewer work on Cesar Chavez would take 15 to 16 months, and the streetscape work another nine months, totaling about two years. Work hours will be Monday through Friday, 8 am to 6 pm, with some possible weekend work. City officials emphasized that residents will have local access, and, on the occasions when driveways must be blocked, the contractors will contact households individually to work with them on solutions.

Notices that will be distributed before the project starts will include a 24-hour number for questions and complaints. The city will conduct meetings similar to the one last Wednesday every three or four months to update and obtain feedback from the community.

Alex Murillo of the DPW Office of Communications and Public Affairs will be the contact person for the project, and he gave out his office phone number (415/437-7009) and cell number (415/627-8106). Brave man! He can be reached at Alex.M.Murillo@sfdpw.org. The project is also up on the DPW website: http://www.sfdpw.org/index.aspx?page=1166.

The project manager for the streetscape aspect is Kris Opbroek, who can be reached at Kris.Opbroek@sfdpw.org or 415/558-4045.

After the presentations, a lively discussion ensued, mostly focused on the approach to combining or separating stormwater runoff from wastewater.

Fair Warning: DPT To Crack Down On Sidewalk Parking

Jersey St.

We learn from the SFPD Ingleside Station that the DPT will step up enforcement of Section 22500(f) of the California Vehicle Code, more commonly known as "parking on sidewalks." The DPT appears to believe that enforcing a policy last updated in February of 2010 will help close SFMTA's budget deficit (which we're not getting into here). In short:

Vehicles parked on sidewalks constitute an inconvenience for pedestrians and a hazard for people who are blind or otherwise visually impaired. Officers are to renew their efforts to cite violations...to discourage this ongoing and increasing problem.

Section VC2200F states: "No person shall stop, park or leave standing any vehicle whether attended or unattended, except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or in compliance with the directions of a peace officer or official traffic control device..." DPT will collect $105 each time you stop "even for just one minute." We're going to go ahead and assume that Whole Foods customers will be exempt.

A full list of all parking fines is available here. Keep a copy in your glove box so you can choose the cheapest late-night option.

The Mission Streetscape Plan: What It Means To Noe Valley

The Mission District Streetscape Plan advanced out of committee to the full SFMTA board for a vote on Friday after years of community meetings and a full Environmental Impact Report. That's the good news. The bad news is that assuming it passes the Board, it will be 10 years before fully implemented at a cost of $96M.

The entire 62MB PDF is available here: Of note to Noe Valley residents:

• Making permanent the much-maligned traffic-calming plaza at 28th and Guerrero (pages 50-51). A priority project: "The City will continue to look for funds to create a permanent plaza at this location per the designs shown in this plan."
• 24th St BART station improvements (pages 42-43). A priority project: "The City has received approximately $2.2 million in grant funds through the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s TLC program to build improvements to the 24th and Mission BART station, including plaza improvements, new bus bulbs on Mission Street, and raised crosswalks at alleys crossing 24th Street."
• Reducing Cesar Chavez to 2 traffic lanes in each direction from Hampshire to Guerrero with dedicated turn lanes, bike lanes, pedestrian bulb-outs, a 12-foot-wide median and a new plaza at Capp/Mission. All that will sacrifice 30 parking places. (pages 54-55, 66-67) Ironically, there is a lot of hate for the project from the bikes-only crowd commenting on StreetsBlogSF - the project doesn't go far enough to protect cyclists.
• Pedestrian safety improvements to Dolores St and the Dolores St park/plaza at San Jose we reported on last year (pages 42-47, 70-71).

When? A projected time line is on page 96. Work on Ceasar Chavez will begin next summer after completion of a sewer replacement project set to start in the next month or so.

[SF Planning: The Mission District Sreetscape Plan]
[SF Planning: Final draft of Better Streets (PDF)]
[NVSF: Proposed: Gateway Park At South End Of Dolores Street]

Parklets: Construction Begins

The long-debated and awaited parklets on 24th St began construction today. The pavers are concrete and rest on steel beams; the planters are also steel. More details from StreetsBlogSF:

The new spaces were designed by Riyad Ghannam, who designed and built the first parklet in the city in front of the Mojo Bicycle Cafe on Divisadero street. The parklets will replace a total of four parking spaces and cost $37,000, the entirety of which came from Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development as part of their commercial revitalization budget. The Noe Valley Association, which represents merchants in the area, is the permit holder and will oversee the maintenance of the facilities.

Expect the parklets to be completed in front of Martha & Bros and Just For Fun in time for the weekend -- just in time for the rain.

Update from Carol Yenne:

The Permit Holder is the Noe Valley Association CBD which is the property owners of the commercial district, not the merchant association.

It would also be nice to mention this is a "trial" to see how folks like them. These are not not permanent parklet being set up.

Thanks,
Carol Yenne
Member of NVA CBD as well as NVMPA board.

[StreetsBlogSF: Noe Valley Parklet Installation Begins]

Video: J-Church Rail Replacement

Ken Murphy lives on 30th at Church and put together this 13 minute timelapse video of the last weekend's J-Church rail replacement from 18,520 images.

Also check out Streetsblog's writeup of the weekend's work. Best line: “Just as I was thinking it, a neighbor nearby noted with happiness, 'Hey, it doesn’t make noise anymore.'”

[Vimeo: Ken Murphy Via Streetsblog]
[Streetsblog: Replacing the Rails on the J-Church Line]

PSA: J-Church Rail Repairs Continue In October

Via Upper Noe Neighbors:

SFMTA to Complete Rail Improvement Project on Church and 30th Streets in October
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which operates Muni, will finish the Rail Improvement Project at the intersection of Church Street at 30th Street during three weekends in October 2010:

Weekend of October 8 (Columbus Day Weekend): 8:00pm Friday continuously until 4:00am the following Tuesday

Weekends of October 15 and 22: 8:00pm Friday continuously until 4:00am the following Monday

• This schedule is subject to change due to weather conditions.
• During the October 8 weekend construction, Muni will provide bus shuttles for the J Church Line between Church and Market streets and Balboa Park BART Station.
• During construction on the weekends of October 15 and 22, regular J Line rail service will be operated.
• Local business will remain open during construction.

Construction Impacts:

• 24-hour construction from Friday night to the morning of first workday of the following week.
• Rail work will require some street closures around the intersection. Police officers will be on site directing traffic.
• Local access will be provided most of the time; however, access may be delayed by construction work or equipment in the construction zones.
• Some street parking will not be available in or near construction sites.
• We will take precautions, in accordance with City codes, to keep noise and dust to a minimum.

Thank you for your continued patience and support as we work to renew your Muni system.

For more information and updates on the Rail Improvement Project, please visit www.sfmta.com/rail or call 311.

Janet L. Martinsen
Local Government Affairs Liaison
SFMTA | Municipal Transportation Agency
1 So. Van Ness, 7th Floor
janet.martinsen@sfmta.com
415-701-4693w; 415-701-4737f
www.sfmta.com

Noe Valley Town Square: Second Meeting And Next Steps

Tuesday is the second community meeting about the potential to turn the 24th St parking lot between Sanchez and Vicksburg into a plaza or other non-car centric space. To recap, the plan is a public/private partnership to buy the lot from Noe Valley Ministry. To that end, Todd David sent out the following: "I heard from SF Rec and Parks late last week. The Farmers' Market Parking Lot on 24th Street was appraised at a range of $3 million to $4 million." Expect an update of what's been happening since the July 15th meeting as well as information for next steps. And this from the FoNV September Newsletter: "CMG landscape architects will present an overview of comparable spaces and help folks think more deeply about what they’d like to see the Noe Valley Ministry parking lot become."

Before the Town Square meeting, Friends of Noe Valley will elect new officers and a new board. Not a member? You can join/pay same-day.

Candidates for Officer positions
President: Todd David
Vice President: Gerda Hurter
Treasurer: Beth Daecher
Secretary: Elizabeth Ungar

Candidates for the Board of Directors
Tom Abbott, Phyllis Ball, John Cuneo, Pierre Hurter, Andrew Keeler (incumbent), Doug Lockyer, Linda Lockyer, Scott Maddux (incumbent), Debbie Meyers, Joel Panzer, Jacqui Sawyer. (You might recognize a couple of those names from one of the last times the community got together to "discuss" public space.) Since the FoNV can have up to 15 Board members consider the vote a formality. Or maybe four more people should consider running...?

What: FoNV Annual Meeting and Town Square Forum
When: Tuesday, September 28th; 7:00pm for elections, town square at 7:30pm.
Where: James Lick Middle School, 1220 Noe St at Clipper

[NVSF: Noe Valley Town Square Community Meeting Notes]
[Noe Valley Town Square]
[Friends Noe Valley]

UNN: July Meeting Agenda

Upper Noe Neighbors' monthly meetings resume next week. The agenda:

Cell phones and antennas: a big deal these days as more and more people become aware of the potential hazards associated with the device we so depend on. What do we know about the health effects? What don't we know? What do studies show? What about all the antennas everywhere? And most importantly, what can we do to limit any possible danger?

San Francisco is ahead of the game by passing right-to-know legislation that will require stores to list radiation levels of the phones they sell. This will empower consumers by giving you a choice based on knowledge.

Doug Loranger has been a local expert and activist on these issues for many years. He will speak on the health issues. The S.F. Dept. of the Environment will talk about what our City is doing with the new legislation.

Doug Loranger is also co-founder of the San Francisco Neighborhood Antenna-Free Union (SNAFU).

What: Upper Noe Neighbors Meeting
When: Thursday, July 22, 7:30pm
Where: Upper Noe Rec Center

Agenda: Noe Valley Town Square Community Visioning Meeting

A reminder that there is an informational meeting this Thursday about the proposal to turn the parking lot hosting the farmer's market into permanent open space. Up to an hour will be dedicated to "community brainstorming." This meeting is sponsored by Friends of Noe Valley and facilitated by Meredith Thomas of the Neighborhood Parks Council. Here's the agenda forwarded to us by organizer Todd David (click the image to view):

What: Noe Valley Town Square Community Visioning Meeting
When: Thursday, July 15th, 6:30PM
Where: St. Philip's Church, 725 Diamond St.

[Agenda: Noe Valley Town Square Community Visioning Meeting - Google docs version]
[NVSF: Farmer's Market Parking Lot Edges Closer To Town Square Status]

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]

Update: J-Church Repairs

Eileen Bermingham of Upper Noe Neighbors sent minutes from last night's meeting with Muni:

Hi—Thought you might be interested in the details of our meeting on the Muni track replacement project. Muni is completing this project because the affected track sections haven’t been addressed in 30 years. These sections can no longer adequately handle the volume/weight of the train cars.

Muni project manager Ha Nguyen presented an overview of what will be happening during the three J Church track replacements. The work will be done from 8PM on Friday to 4AM Monday, as per the following schedule:

Church & 18th St
San Jose & 30th St
March 12

San Jose & 30th St
March 19 and March 26

Church & 20th
Three weekends in September

Along with track replacement, the crew will be replacing the pavement, installing new water pipes, striping, and addressing noise/vibration issues. They’ll also install new overhead poles and curb ramps.

Buses will help shuttle riders in the areas where the crew is doing the work. Traffic will be rerouted around the affected track sections.

Muni has completed similar work in the Sunset, and we’re told all went well in terms of safety and traffic control.

Meeting attendees expressed concern about concrete jackhammering during the night (which will kick off at 9PM on a Friday for a given location), as well as loss of parking for a temporary period. However, it’s the general consensus that Muni needs to do the work at some point in a seven-day week, and weekends/nights provide the least disruption in train service.

Some neighbors raised other concerns about Muni in general, primarily involving loud screeching and noise due to fast driver speeds.

If you’d like to express your own concerns or have any questions, please contact SFMTA Community Relations head Jay Lu at 415.701.4387/jay.lu@sfmta.com