About 70-80 people were there. Planner Andres Power brought us up to date on the median plan. Dedicated left-turn pockets will be added in both directions at Folsom and east-bound at South Van Ness, and the current ones at Bryant, Mission, Valencia, and Guerrero will be retained. These will all have dedicated arrows and also allow U-turns. Left turns will be prohibited at all other intersections to eliminate the snarl that currently happens when a car waits in the left lane for a gap in oncoming traffic. These decisions have been informed by traffic counts and modeling done by the Planning Department, and surveyors are out on the street now gathering further details.
The landscaping in the median will be drought tolerant, though the suggestion that it could be riparian at areas with underground water (specifically at 101 and near St Lukes) was thrown out from the floor.
The bike lanes will be five feet wide, as wider lanes look too much like car lanes. The suggestion was made to add cross-hatch striping to give a little buffer between the bike and car lanes. The weird part-time bike lane that runs eastbound for the block between York and Hampshire would become a permanent, full-time lane with permanent, full-time parking on that block. This made neighbors living on that block who had opposed bike lanes back in 1997 happy.
Discussion was generally positive and focused on practical questions and clarifications. The issue of potential congestion came up, but the questioner was supportive of the plan in later discussion. The strongest criticism seemed to be that the sidewalks wouldn’t be widened throughout -- only at corners -- and Andres said the expense of widening them would be prohibitive (about $2 million a block!). The Planning Department is looking for funding now to extend the project to the eastern side of the freeway all the way to the Bay.
Finally! Construction should begin in summer 2010 (this is after the PUC has completed the sewer work scheduled to start later this year), and it should take about a year.
Name: China Wok
We noticed Bureau of Urban Forestry trucks taking branches off one of the two large trees slated to come down on 24th Street today and asked one of the workers if the trees are definitely going to be removed. He answered that they were doing emergency branch removal after the last storm. He added that the City has to post a 30 day notice before removal (which they did last fall), and that there is an appeals process (initiated in November). He had no idea that these trees are doomed, but he did quip that they'll probably stay where they are for now: "If there's no money in the budget...the trees stay."
We'd like to invite you to the third community design workshop for Cesar Chavez Street. At the first meeting last summer we discussed shared priorities and goals. At our next workshop this past fall we looked at and chose a preferred design option based on those shared priorities and goals. At this third workshop, we will look at and discuss illustrations showing the preferred design, block by block, from Hampshire Street to Guerrero Street. This will be the final workshop in the series.
Please come and share your opinions. There is background material, including summaries of past workshops, available for download at http://cesarchavez.sfplanning.org.
On February 19, 2009, the Planning Commission approved the conditional use application for Whole Foods in Noe Valley. There was a short public hearing, after which the Commissioners indicated how impressed they were with the project and the outreach to the community. The project includes standard conditions of approval. The Commission vote was unanimous.Andrew Calabrese will continue to serve as community liaison for Whole Foods, but he's asked that all questions/concerns are sent to Noevalleyinfo@wholefoods.com. This address will forward to him. (We wouldn't be surprised if he'd like to tidy up his inbox.)
This month's edition of the Noe Valley Democratic Club meeting was much more crowded than usual. The reason? Likely the community interest in the arrival of Whole Foods on 24th St. Over 150 people attended a meeting that usually has 12-20 participants. The panelists included representatives from the SFPD, the NVA, Whole Foods and a surprise representative of the shuttered Real Foods -- all MC'd by Bevan Dufty.
This time it just might happen -- Contigo is set to open March 3, 2009. Staff training has begun, with an emphasis on building a strong neighborhood restaurant. What does that mean? If you haven't been following Brett's blog all this time, here's a bit of what to expect:We chose the name for our restaurant because it synthesizes our philosophy about the dining experience into one word. Contigo means “with you” in Spanish. It implies connection, community, collaboration, and conviviality.Contigo
We believe that the single most important facet of dining is connection: friends, neighbors and lovers sharing a meal together...more
