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0SPUR SPUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS
r d Adhi Nagraj Anne Halsted Carl Anthony Brad Paul
Veronica Bell Rich Peterson "Ul1 Chris Block Chris Poland ( Larry Burnett Teresa Rea
David Friedman Michaela Cassidy Byron Rhett Madeline Chun Rebecca Rhine Charmaine Curtis Wade Rose
Alexa Arena Oz Erickson Paul Sedway Andy Barnes Manny Flores Victor Seeto Emilio Cruz Geoff Gibbs Elizabeth Seif el Bill Rosetti Gillian Gillett Carl Shannon Lydia Tan Chris Gruwell Chi-Hsln Shao V. Fel Tsen Ed Harrington Doug Shoemaker
Dave Hartley Ontario Smith Aldan Hughes Bill Stotler
Mary Mccue Chris Iglesias Stuart Sunshine Laurie Johnson Michael Teitz V.J. Kumar Mike Theriault
Bob Gamble Susan Leal Will Travis Dick Lonergan Molly Turner
I m nl " John Madden Jett Tumlin Co Janine McCaflery Steve Vettel Linda Jo Fitz Jacinta Mccann Francesca Vietor
Hyrdra Mendoza Fran Weld Ezra Mersey Allison Williams
Co-Chairs Terry Micheau Cynthia Wilusz Lovell Michael Alexander Mary Murphy Cindy Wu Paul Sedway Jeanne Myerson
CHAIRS & COMMITTEES
Pr09ram CommlttHs
Bob Gamble
L I r Pl Laurie Johnson Chris Poland
Hou Ing Ezra Mersey Lydia Tan
ProJ ct Review Charmaine Curtis Mary Beth Sanders Reuben Schwartz
Tra portallon Anthony Bruzzone
Water Polley Bry Sa rte
I
Larry Burnett Libby Selfe!
Optr1tlng Committees
Audit John Madden
an Larry Burnett
flu Hem nip Tom Hart Terry Micheau
l• utlve David Friedman Anne Halsted
Bob Gamble
Mary Mccue
IVI
Ht b hip Bill Stotler
Inv 111ent Ann Lazarus
Major Donor Linda Jo Fitz Anne Halsted
dGlvln,i Michaela Cassidy
Sliver SPUR Dave Hartley Teresa Rea
SAN JOSE ADVISORY BOARD
Teresa Alvarado Andy Barnes Chris Block J. Richard Braugh Larry Burnett Brian Darrow Gordon Feller
2 JUNE 2013
Garrett Herbert Dr. Mohammad Karla Rodriguez Qayoumi
Lomax Robert Steinberg, James MacGregor FAIA Connie Martinez Lydia Tan Janine Mccaffery Kim Walesh Anu Natarajan Jessica Zenk •
LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR
Vision First
Taking down a freeway is not a new idea in San Francisco. Two major
freeways - the double-decker freeway that rounded the Embarcadero
and the Central Freeway which cut through Hayes Valley - were
demolished and replaced with surface boulevards. Both of these were
severely damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, leading some
to quip that the gods had their own planning agenda in mind for San Francisco - one that didn't include elevated roadways.
Of course it wasn't the earthquake that actually got the freeways taken down; it was the hard work of individuals who wanted to see
something better in their city. In 1990, then mayor Art Agnos called for the Embarcadero Freeway to be taken down and lost his re-election bid
Sarah Karlinsky
is SPUR'S Deputy
Director
the next year. In the late 1990s, multiple competing ballot measures were placed before
voters representing very different visions for Hayes. Valley - some seeking to rebuild the
Central Freeway and others to create a new surface boulevard and park in the form of Octavia Boulevard. Ultimately, both freeways came down and few would argue that the city isn't the better for it.
Such changes in cities don't just happen. People have to develop a vision for change and
convince ·others that such change is good. People with technical expertise need to weigh
in to make sure the details work; politicians have to find the political will to make it happen.
The people who had the vision in the first place need to hold on to that vision and push
forward even when all hope seems lost.
This is the path forward with all great transformations, not just with the boulevards, but also with the creation of regional treasures like the Golden Gate National Recreation Area
and Crissy Field and the development of BART. We hope to add to these successes with the creation of a Transbay Transit Center, a reimagined Ocean Beach, a thriving downtown San
Jose and a high speed rail system that will connect all of California.
This issue of The Urbanist is about a new big idea. Actually, three big ideas. The first is
to have Caltrain and high-speed rail travel underground through Mission Bay. The second
is to take down Highway 280 and replace it with a surface boulevard. The third is to move
the railyards at Fourth and King in order to redevelop the site with jobs, housing and retail.
Taken together, these changes would have an enormous positive impact on the eastern part of San Francisco, helping to make better connections between SOMA, Mission Bay and
Potrero Hill while strengthening our regional transit network. The plans and diagrams in the following pages are meant to be part of a conversation
that is starting to percolate among increasing numbers of people interested in replacing
portions of Highway 280 with something better. Our work is meant to lead to more
questions and ideas. more thinking , more asking "What if?". It is the first step forward on
what will be most certainly a very long path toward change. We look forward to continuing
the conversation - and to creatively facing the challenges ahead. •
Cover illustration by Shawn Hazen. The Urbanist is edited by Allison Ariefl and designed by Shawn Hazen, hazencreative.com. THE URBANIST
JUNE 2013
News at SPUR
Draft Central Corridor Plan: Looks Good, Needs More Height Last month the planning department released a draft of the
Central Corridor Plan, the result of several years of planning
efforts. The plan represents an enormous opportunity to
build on the substantial transit investment in the area, most
notably the $1 .6 billion Central Subway project, as well as
existing transit in the form of the Fourth and King Caltrain
station and the N Judah, as well as many local bus lines.
There's much to like in the Central Corridor Plan, including
greater flexibility in zoning with an eye toward encouraging
job uses as well as streetscape and biking improvements.
However, the plan doesn't go far enough in promoting
housing and especially job uses in this transit-rich location,
one of the few remaining areas in San Francisco where
going big makes sense. SPUR will continue to analyze the
plan, supporting all the great aspects while advocating for
improvements.
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Ensuring Better Standards for BRT At its May meeting, the Santa
Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) approved an
EIR addendum for the Santa
Clara/ Alum Rock Bus Rapid Transit project. The 7.2 mile
project will serve downtown San
Jose, the HP Pavilion, San Jose State University, Eastridge Transit
Center. Mexican Heritage Plaza
and hundreds of businesses along
this corridor. SPUR worked with
VTA. the City of San Jose and other stakeholders to ensure that
a station would be located at San Jose City Hall and helped redesign
the downtown station to better
suit a dense urban setting. SPUR
will continue to advocate for a high standard of bus rapid transit
(BRT). one that will be a model for future BRT projects in the region.
Imagining a brighter future for the
Sixth Street corridor.
led by the Health Trust and the
city, as numerous neighborhoods
in San Jose are considered
food deserts - areas where residents have limited access to
fresh food. By removing existing
permit and zoning barriers to
small-scale fresh food retail
operations. the ordinance will
allow vendors to pilot new
business models that also help
increase residents ' access to
healthy foods.
Sixth and Market Intervention Brings Out the Community On May 18, SPUR partnered with
Twitter, Neighborland, SFMTA,
Rebar and URBAN SPACEship,
among other groups, to close
a parking lane on Sixth Street,
between Market and Stevenson Streets, and ask neighbors and
visitors alike to envision the future
San Jose Makes Selling of that corridor. Hundreds of Fresh Food Easier people participated. responding The City of San Jose recently to the question: "How do we
amended its vending ordinance to create a safer Sixth?" The ideas
make it easier for mobile vendors generated will help to guide the to sell fresh fruits and vegetables throughout the city, including on private land in residential neighborhoods. SPUR supported
this change, an effort
future of Sixth Street. •
JUNE 2013 3
THE FUTURE OF 280
Taking Down a Freeway to Reconnect a Neighborhood Three big urban planning moves that could transform
San Francisco.
Summary: Highway 280, the
Caltrain railyards, and plans for
high speed rail create barriers
between SoMA, Potrero Hill and
Mission Bay. But San Francisco has the opportunity to advance
bold new ideas that enhance
both our transportation system and the public realm.
By the Boulevard Task Force
All renderings courtesy of AECOM
unless otherwise noted
4 JUNE 2013
After the Embarcadero and Central Freeways were
severely damaged in the Loma Prieta earthquake,
San Francisco took a tragic situation and turned
it into a great urban planning success story: the
creation of the Embarcadero and Octavia boulevards. Taking down these freeways and replacing them with
surface boulevards created enormous positive land use changes in the surrounding neighborhoods. This
enabled San Francisco to reconnect with its waterfront
and supported the creation of the Market and Octavia
Neighborhood Plan.
San Francisco now has another opportunity to take down a freeway while creating major transportation infrastructure improvements in an important area
of the city. Currently, the stub end of Interstate 280
creates a barrier between the developing Mission Bay neighborhood and Potrero Hill. At the same time, the
Caltrain railyard - 19 acres stretching from Fourth Street to Seventh Street between King and Townsend
- forms a barrier between Mission Bay and SOMA.
The obstruction will only get worse if current plans
for high-speed rail proceed, forcing 16th Street
and Mission Bay Boulevard into depressed trenches
beneath the tracks and the elevated freeway.
SPUR believes that these challenges can be
addressed with a few dramatic urban planning and
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18TH nn
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FIGURE 1
What would a surface
boulevard look like?
Replacing 1-280 with a surface boulevard
would create many opportunities for
improvement, including the creation of
new green spaces that would help to link
many neighborhoods.together.
JUNE 2013 5
THE FUTURE OF 280
1 CEMOF is a new 20-acre faci lity located to the
north of Diridon Station in San Jose, replacing an
old 22-acre yard formerly located on the same site
and consolidating most of Caltrain's maintenance
and operations in one location. CEMOF is Caltrain's
centra l control facility, with water treatment and
6 JUNE 2013
FIGURE 2
The 280 elevated freeway and piles
The 1-280 freeway and supporting piles
form a barrier that is difficult - and in
some cases impossible - for pedestrians
to cross. The Caltrain tracks run between
these piles.
FIGURE 3
The freeway ramps
The freeway ramps form a tangle at
the edge of the railyards, creating yet
another barrier.
FIGURE 4
Sixteenth Street crossing under the freeway
Sixteenth Street currently runs at grade,
heading under the elevated freeway from
Potrero Hill to Mission Bay.
storage tracks, an on-site fueling facility, service
pits and a machine to wash trains. About 150
people work at CEMOF performing maintenance,
and roughly 120 Caltrain train crew members are
based there.
transportation infrastructure moves that could transform this divided part of the city while also generating funding for several key regionally
important transit projects - namely, the
electrification of Caltrain , the extension of Caltrain
into the Transbay Terminal and putting high-speed rail underground, as opposed to having it travel at
street level through Potrero Hill and Mission Bay,
which would require crossing streets to go below
grade. While the path to making these changes
will be a challenging one, SPUR believes that it
is worth developing this vision further to see if it
can be made into reality.
1. Existing Conditions
Right now, several massive infrastructure barriers
separate Mission Bay, Potrero Hill and SOMA from one another. 1-280 runs along Seventh Street, cutting
off Mission Bay from Potrero Hill. Sixteenth Street, which is slated to become a future transit connector
with a bus rapid transit (BRT) line, travels under 1-280 and across the Caltrain tracks.
To the north. the Ca/train railyard creates a large
barrier between Mission Bay, Showplace Square
and SoMa. taking up three long city blocks. Pedestrians. bicycles and vehicles cannot cross the site between Fourth Street and Mission Bay Boulevard, and a tangle of freeway ramps clutters
the southwest edge of the site.
Currently, the Caltrain railyard is used for train
storage and layover and for light servicing such
as emptying garbage and cleaning restrooms.
All of the important maintenance work is done at Caltrain's Central Equipment and Maintenance
Facility (CEMOF) in San Jose.1
Meanwhile, Mission Bay is currently being
developed into a regional employment center. The Mission Channel and the park are difficult to
access from the surrounding neighborhoods due to
their proximity to the freeway ramps, limiting their
potential use by workers and residents in Showplace
Square. Potrero Hill and SOMA. To add to these barriers, future plans for high
speed rai l ca ll for lowering 16th Street below surface level in order to allow trains to run at street level
in the Ca/train right-of-way. If this happens, the entire
intersection of 16th and Seventh streets would
be subgrade, as would Mission Bay Boulevard. These
changes would undermine plans to upgrade 16th
Street into a viable transit, pedestrian. bicycle and
traffic route.
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FIGURES
High-Speed Rail Authority proposal for 16th and Seventh streets
In the California High Speed Rail
Authority 's current proposal, 16th Street
would run in a depressed tr.ench under the
high-speed rail train.
FIGURE 6
An elevated view of the High-Speed Rail
Authority proposal
Portions of Seventh Street would dip
below grade as they approach 16th Street.
FIGURE 7
High-Speed Rail Authority proposal for Mission Bay Boulevard
Mission Bay Boulevard would run beneath
high-speed rail in an underground loop
structure.
2 . Future rail transit infrastructure
Significant regional transit improvements are slated
for downtown San Francisco and the surrounding area. Caltrain has planned a system upgrade to
electrify its tracks and purchase new electric trains
that allow for faster acceleration and deceleration, more service and greater flexibility regarding the
number of cars per train. Additionally, the second
phase of the Transbay Transit Center project -known as the Downtown Extension - will provide an
underground Caltrain station at Fourth and Townsend
and extend Caltrain into the new Transit Center. While both the Downtown Extension and the
electrification of Caltrain are moving forward, they are not yet fully funded. The Downtown Extension
will cost $2.6 billion, and Caltrain electrification $1.5 billion, but both projects face significant funding
challenges. At the same time, the California high-speed rail
project is in the process of being developed. The
idea is that a high-speed train will ultimately connect
San Francisco to Los Angeles, with up to four trains per hour arriving at the Transbay Transit Center.
The current high-speed rail business plan calls for a so-called "blended system" for the 50 miles between
San Jose's Diridon Station and the Transbay Transit
Center, meaning that Caltrain and high-speed
rail would share two tracks for most of that distance.
This plan will require grade separation at many
intersections where trains cross above or below
automobile traffic, and without conflict between the
two (see Figures 5-7).
Now is an important time to engage in the discussion of how Caltrain operates in San Francisco,
as Caltrain and the City of San Francisco are undertaking a feasibility study to explore reducing
or eliminating Caltrain's footprint at Fourth and King.
This study will provide an opportunity this year
to modify Caltrain's electrification project as long as the study results do not significantly delay Caltrain's
electrification process or result in substantial additional capital or operations costs. The landscape
of future federal funding for major transportation projects is changing to reward transit-oriented
development. giving us the opportunity to take a fresh look at potential development opportunities.
This is good timing, as it will take at least a decade
for high-speed rail to move north and for the region's other federally funded major transportation projects (Central Subway and BART to Silicon Valley) to be
completed.
JUNE 2013 7
THE FUTURE OF 280
3. The big moves
There are several big urban planning and infrastruc
ture moves that could leverage the large transporta
tion investments described above while addressing urban design challenges. Taken together, these
moves improve the entire area, knitting together
SOMA, Mission Bay and Potrero Hill. They also have
the potential to generate financial value by develop
ing newly available land and making existing land
more valuable. This value can in turn be recaptured
by the public sector to fund transit and urban design improvements. Taking such steps could be transfor
mative for the area and for the city as a whole.
The big moves are:
1. Putting Caltrain and high-speed rail underground
2. Tearing down 1-280 and replacing it with a surface
boulevard
3. Redeveloping the Fourth and King railyards and
the surplus freeway parcels
8 JUNE 2013
While any of these moves could be undertaken
independently of the others, done in tandem they
have the potential to greatly benefit all of the surrounding neighborhoods while providing funding
for the large transit improvements described above.
Big move#l: Put high-speed rail and Caltrain underground
Today, Caltrain runs from the 22nd Street Station
through a tunnel under Potrero Hill , proceeding
at street level from Mariposa Street into the Fourth
and King railyard, where it currently terminates. As described above, Caltrain is expected to run
underground, together with high-speed rail, from
Fourth and King to the Transbay Terminal as part of
the Downtown Extension.
However, there are several issues with the current
Downtown Extension plan. The new rail tunnel
portal planned for Seventh and Townsend Streets
would inhibit the development potential of the
FIGURE 8
Disconnected Neighborhoods
Current infrastructure cuts through existing
neighborhoods, creating barriers such as
the freeway overpass and supporting piles,
seen below (Figures 2-4).
THE URBANIST
railyard. Also, this portal will include a tight track The 22nd Street station could move to 16th Street,
curve on a grade (slope), which will substantially limit or perhaps Cesar Chavez, allowing for a connection
train speeds. Furthermore, grade separation will be to Mission Bay and linking 16th Street bus rapid required for high-speed rail at both 16th and Seventh transit (BRT) and Mission District buses. This
streets. which will create additional neighborhood underground option also allows the rai/yard to be
barriers as described above. developed and for the public to recapture some
There are several possible options for the Ca/train/ of the value of that development. Tradeoffs include
high-speed rail extension that would reduce its revisiting the alignment options, and possibly
impact on Mission Bay and Potrero Hill, deliver a additional costs.
better urban design and create a superior technical alignment into Mission Bay and the new Transbay
Transit Center. All of the options have advantages and Big move #2:
disadvantages and require further study. However,
all would begin track undergrounding north of Cesar Chavez Street, be run completely under Mission Bay,
feature a Mission Bay Station and then proceed to the
new Transbay Transit Center. There are many benefits to these options, all
of which would let 16th Street and Mission Bay Boulevard remain at the surface. The rail alignments
could eliminate the tight curve at Seventh
and Townsend, allowing the trains to run faster.
THE URBANIST
Tear down 1-280 and replace it with a
surface boulevard
Currently, 1-280 runs above street level along and
above the existing Ca/train tracks, touching down just south of the Caltrain railyards at Fourth and King. What would happen if 1-280 instead touched down between 17th and Mariposa Streets and the remainder of the freeway was replaced with a surface
boulevard?
FIGURE 9
Transit concept with high-speed rail and Caltrain underground
If high-speed rail and Caltrain move
underground, many other urban design and
transportation benefits could follow. The
image above shows one possible version of
a future underground high-speed rail and
Caltraln alignment.
JUNE 2013 9
THE FUTURE OF 280
15' 1idewalk
10 JUNE 2013
10'1ow away lane 11' 10' 8' median 10' 11'
10' tow 20' multi-modal pathway away lane with 4' vegetated buffers 25' sklewalk
minimum 200' nght of way
FIGURES 11AND12
Potential access to Mission Creek Park if
the freeway is removed
FIGURE 10
New Mission Bay
Boulevard (section)
In addition to accommodating cars, the
boulevard could include a separated bike
lane and graciously sized sidewalks.
70' deep development sd8
Access to Mission Creek Park is currently
obstructed by the freeway (left). If the
freeway were removed, Mission Creek
Park would become an asset to the entire
area. The drawing below shows a future
view of Seventh Street to Mission Creek
and beyond .
THE URBANIST
That would allow for radically improved
connectivity between Mission Bay, Showplace Square
and Potrero Hill, with crossings at 16th Street, Irwin
Street, Hooper Street and Berry Street. Mission Creek
Channel would become accessible to neighborhoods
to the north and west. And parcels of land that
previously were used for highway infrastructure
could be redeveloped, and their value recaptured.
The boulevard itself would allow for vastly
improved bicycle access, including a separated
bicycle path. The boulevard would also support
THE URBANIST
an improved pedestrian experience. allowing for
people to comfortably use the liberated street
grid. Wide sidewalks could be added to either side of
the boulevard to encourage pedestrian activity.
Many other possibilities for urban design
improvements would be created as well. A new, greener Hubbell Street would link Mission Creek to
Jackson Playground. A series of smaller pedestrian
plazas and areas of widened sidewalks could sustain
an active streetscape south of Mission Creek. San
Francisco could have its own version of New York
FIGURE 13 AND 14
Potential future view from Daggett Street to Mission Bay
The freeway forms a barrier throughout
Showplace Square/Potrero Hill. The view
shown at left looks east from Daggett Street
to Mission Bay. Removing the freeway
would greatly improve the connections
between Showplace Square/Potrero Hill
and Mission Bay (below).
JUNE 2013 11
THE FUTURE OF 280
::.. ~ ~,
M-1 _...t J .::.. 1 ! J'
City 's High Line if a segment of the freeway were
repurposed as a raised park. And perhaps most
important, the Showplace Square/Potrero street
grid could be reconnected with Mission Bay.
The removal of the freeway and the
undergrounding of high-speed rail and Caltrain offer another way of thinking about land use in the
area. With these changes, 16th Street could become an important transit spine, especially when BRT is
implemented along the corridor. The area at Seventh
and Townsend could become a mixed-use gateway
to the rest of the community, and the Fourth and
King intersection could become a more successful
commercial , transit-oriented development (TOD).
12 JUNE 2013
T I
..t... 't • ..
~ ~.,, ,..
" ' ' )t
" +-I T
f
16TH ST BUS RAPID TRANSIT
•• •• • •• I • • I'~ • I • .... • CALTRAIN •
1 \_\ • t BELOW-GRADE • • 1" I HIGH-SPEED RAIL • • "' rl t
\ T
,\\ > \ I
\,.~ W-.-\~~~ \ \ \ ~\. ,.. l 1
• \
• • • • :,,
FIGURE 15
One possible growth concept supported by freeway removal
Replacing 1-280 with a boulevard would
create opportunities for new develop
ment, including a potential mixed-use,
transit-oriented development node at 16th
Street if the Caltrain stop were moved to
that location.
THE URBANIST
FIGURE 16
Opportunity sites and
connectivity
The removal of the freeway would create op
portunities for new development and value
recapture, both on land previously within
the existing 1-280 footprint and another land
within the vicinity of the new boulevard.
- =softsite
<-·• = new connections
~----_: =existing 1·280 footprint
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J __ .._6THST
JD O__. 1 T. l)X.1.-..-...
J .. D--...a .~
J D DD nnnnn
JUN E 2013 13
THE FUTURE OF 280
Value generated from development in all these
areas could be recaptured to fund further public improvements.
Big move#3:
Redeveloping the Caltrain railyards
In our 2007 report A New Transit First Neighborhood,
SPUR explored the opportunity to develop new buildings over the Fourth and King Caltrain station
using air rights (the rights to develop over a piece
of land or infrastructure) as a means to pay for both
electrifying Caltrain and bringing high-speed rail
into the Transbay Transit Center. This study assumed
that the railyard would stay in its current location
and that any new development would need to be
built above the railyards.
14 JUNE 2013
Fortunately, a recent San Francisco Planning
Department study took this idea to the next level.
In its "4th and King Street Railyards: Final Summary
Memo," the department explored two development
scenarios for the site: one where the air rights above the railyard are developed while the railyard
remains in use (which would require building above the railyard), and another where the railyard is
relocated, allowing the entire site to be developed
as a blank slate. The second scenario has two variations: one where only the railyard is moved,
and another where the railyard is moved and 1-280
is replaced with a surface boulevard.
This last scenario would provide the greatest
benefits . It would allow for much better urban design, greater development capacity and greater
opportunities for value recapture because the
land would become more valuable when it is no
FIGURE 17
The redevelopment of
the Caltrain railyard if the
railyard were relocated and 1-280 were replaced
with a surface boulevard
This diagram of the development of the
Caltram railyard from a recent planning
department study shows development at
grade, allow mg for the creation of a new
linear park while also making the most of
the replacement of 1-280 with a surface
boulevard .
THE URBANIST
longer adjacent to freeway ramps. The planning department's study shows that the net potential value that could be created for the public sector ranges from $148 million all the way to $228 million if the railyard were moved and the Caltrain site
redeveloped. In order to redevelop the railyards, the complex
ownership of the site will need to be addressed. As the planning department memo points out, the underlying railyards are owned by Prologis/ Catellus, the entity that owns Mission Bay. However, Caltrain
owns an easement to the railyards. This easement is only to construct and operate a railroad , not to undertake other types of development.
Any future development on the railyards will need to substantially benefit rail infrastructure and Caltrain operations in order to incentivize Caltrain to alter its footprint to allow development on the site.
THE URBANIST
Conclusion The three big moves discussed here have the potential for tremendous positive impact on many
important San Francisco neighborhoods. While each can be completed independently of the other, the benefits are strongest when they are undertaken together.
In order to move this vision to reality, many steps will need to be taken, including completing further
study, determining Caltrain's post-electrification storage needs, engaging in community outreach and education, and determining what resources will be needed to make these changes.
We hope that the City of San Francisco, with participation from regional partners and the
Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), will take the first step and study the big moves
outlined above. Studies should include a cost-benefit analysis of each step, as well as an analysis of what the impacts would be to projects that are already in advanced planning stages (such as Caltrain
electrification and California high-speed rail). City staff estimate that the cost of completing these studies is roughly $2 million.
We believe that this approach could be a regional
and national model for how to use thoughtful development to retrofit past planning mistakes and pay for new infrastructure. We estimate that land
value recapture from new development could cover a significant portion of the costs of the big
infrastructure moves. Land value recapture won't work everywhere, but it is a strategy that could be used more broadly in American cities. San Francisco has the potential to bring all the pieces together -neighborhood place-making, environmental sustainability and economic development - by rethinking its transportation infrastructure in the 1-280 corridor. •
Boulevard Task Force
Hogan Edelberg, AECOM
Lisa Fisher, AECOM
SPUR Staff
Ratna Amin
Sarah Karlinsky
Tomiquia Moss Gillian Gillett, San Francisco Mayor's Office
James Haig-Streeter. AECOM
Jacinta Mccann, AECOM
Greg Riessen
Tetsuya Yaguchi, AECOM
A special thanks to AECOM and the San
Francisco Planning Department for their
help and support in this effort.
JUNE 2013 15
Over the last year, San Francisco has been
showcased as the home of the World Series
Champion Giants and the NFC Champion 49ers as
well as dozens of Olympians who competed in the
London Games. Momentum is building toward the 34th America's Cup, which San Francisco is hosting
this summer. But the city is a great training ground for professional and recreational athletes alike. While
many cities have great public playing fields, pools
and recreation facilities, few have the hills, winds,
views and natural features that make this city a great
(and grueling) place to train and compete.
16 JUNE 2013
Mild weather allows for year-round outdoor training. Strong winds favor sailing, kitesurfing and
windsurfing. Water and waves support kayaking, surfing and swimming for the brave and wetsuited.
The hills - and the stairs built to navigate them -provide challenging opportunities for interval training
by bike or on foot. Using the city as an outdoor gym,
recreational and competitive athletes experience San
Francisco in a unique way. On Saturday mornings,
I'm debating with myself whether to walk, bike, run or
maybe check out that stand-up paddle board class
I just heard about. Here are some heart-pumping
locations for your next urban workout.
fl In Glen Canyon Park, rock
outcroppings challenge climbers
and narrow trails bring out the
inner mountain goat in runners.
Keep an eye out for one of the park's resident coyotes.
Jean Eis berg is a planning consultant at
Urban Planning Partners, Inc. and a former
NCAA All-American athlete. Kurt Gross is a
product designer in San Francisco.
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llJ Neon Nikes? Check.
Lululemons? Check. At the Lyon Street Steps, the people are as
attractive as the flowers, and they
will help motivate you to run one
more set.
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B Expansive views greet cyclists
on Twin Peaks. You can turn this
into interval training, climbing
up from Portola Drive and riding
down toward Clarendon Avenue.
Then repeat.
B High winds, currents, vessel
traffic and fog make San
Francisco Bay off of Crissy Field a challenging place for both
beginner and professional sailors.
D It's competition day. After the
swim and bike come the run on
Baker Beach and Sisyphean climb
up the Sand Ladder, two of the
reasons the Escape from Alcatraz
triathlon is known as one of the toughest courses in the sport.
JUNE 2013 17
CITY NEWS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE
Urban Drift
Off the Grid 1' Channa Horwitz (1933-2013) had
been working with orange grid
paper since the 1960s, using
it as the underlying structure
for incredibly lush and varied
drawings driven by a highly
systematic process. But as
traditional as her medium was, her work, writes Sharon Mizota of the Los Angeles Times, "was also
prescient, evoking the malleable
spaces of digital animation, in which anything becomes possible within a highly regimented grid of
pixels ." "Channa Horwitz's Work Goes off the Grid," by
Sharon Mizota. Los Angeles Times, 5/9/13
Nature's Triumphant Recipe for
Water The common ingredient that
makes both New York's pizzas and
its bagels irresistible? The city 's
tap water. Eddie & Sam's Pizza in
Tampa, Florida is so convinced
that the restaurant transports
1,000 gallons of it from the Catskill
springs that feeds NYC's reservoir.
18 JUNE 2013
Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. , on the
other hand, is looking to replicate
from cheap gas prices to the rapid
expansion of the workforce during the Baby Boom generation - no
longer exists. Further, as others have reported the millennials
see a future far less dependent
on driving. So what to do in
response to this paradigmatic
shift? PIRG recommends that
a new vision for transportation policy should revisit plans for new
or expanded highways, refocus
federal resources on key priorities
(like infrastructure and expanded
transit) and evaluate projects based on societal benefit. In sum,
use transportation revenue where
it makes the most sense. "A New Direction: Our Changing Relationship with
the Water's chemistry through a Driving and the Implications for America's Future,''
patented 14-step filtration process www.uspirg.org/reports/usp/new-direction
so it can deliver the perfection
that is a New York bagel all over
the country. The secret to New York 's water? A light touch: Had it
not been for the exceptional past efforts of city officials to invest
in their naturally filtered water
supply, this prized ingredient
wou ld have long been lost.
http://grist.org/citles/new-york-citys-water
brought-to-you-by-mother-nature/
Driving Is Over
U.S. Pl RG (the federation of
Public Interest Research Groups)
has released a new report called
"The Driving Boom," announcing that a six-decade-long period of
steady increases in per-capita
driving in the United States is
over. Americans today drive fewer
total miles than they did eight
years ago, says the report, and the
unique combination of conditions
that fueled the driving boom-
These Streets Were Made for
Walking
"Nobody Walks in LA" may be
the unofficial theme song of Los Angeles. but Margot Ocanas, just hired as the city's first-ever
"pedestrian coordinator," plans
to change that. Following the
example of New York 's Janette
Sadik-Kahn, she's embraced the temporary: In early 2012 she was
a driving force (pun intended)
behind LA's conversion of 11,000
square feet of street and parking
spots into Polka Dot Plaza. In her
newly created role, she plans to launch a "Streets for the People"
project to make the city more
pedestrian friendly ... no easy feat in
a city where pedestrians count for
about a third of all traffic fatalities.
But the success of programs like
CicLAvia (LA's version of SF's
Sunday Streets) not to mPntion the
· mere fact of hiring a pedestrian
coordinator, is cause for optimism. "LA Pedestrian Coordinator. Plans to Get LA
Walking," by Kath leen Miles. The Huffington Post.
10/31/12
Stories for Every Journey ,J,
Perfect for the global urbanist,
Australian air carrier Qantas has
released a series of 10 tailor-made
works of fiction for its flights, each edited to fit neatly into the
duration of a particular route. A
lengthy trans-Pacific trip nets
an odyssey-length work while something more bite-sized will
accompany the odd hour-long
domestic flight.
https://www.prote.in/en/feed/2013/05/s tories
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Turning Granite Into Gold Today, Ws a distinctly urban community gathering
spot, ideal for people watching while enjoying a
French--pressed Cup of Rwanda Mwasa frqm Blue
Bottle.
But back in 1958, the Old Mint site was envisioned
as something else entirely.
The Mint became "old" when, in 1936, a "new"
Mint was built at a new site at Hermann Street near
Duboce Triangle. Meanwhile, the Old Mint site sat idle
though it saw its share of development proposals
including this one by modernist Mario Ciampi ,
designer of the Brutalist Berkeley Art Museum. His
1958 design envisioned a park encircled by new office
buildings that would be known as "Gold Plaza."
Though Ciampi 's design retained the columns of
the Old Mint (also known as "The Granite Lady"), his
proposal inspired one of San Francisco's first ever
20 JUNE 2013
preservation campaigns and was never realized.
The Old Mint was designated a National Historic
Landmark in 1961.
In 2003, the U.S. General Services Administration
turned over the key to the Old Mint to the City of
San Francisco. In 2007, the Board of Supervisors
and the Mayor approved legislation to transform a
290'-long portion of Jessie Street stretching between
Fifth and Mint Streets into what we know today as
Mint Plaza.
You can see more unbuilt San Francisco this fall:
SPUR, AIA San Francisco, Center for Architecture
+Design, Environmental Design Archives at UC
Berkeley, The California Historical Society and the
San Francisco Public Library are pleased to present
Unbuilt San Francisco, a collaborative exhibition on
view from August - November 2013.
SAVE THE DATE!
Unbuilt San Francisco Exhibition Opening September 6, 5:00 - 9:00 pm
Annie Alley, between 678
and 654 Mission Street,
San Francisco
THE URBANIST
INTRODUCING ...
New Faces at SPUR
THE URBANIST
Christopher Axel Barrios SPUR 's Front Desk Ambassador Christopher
Barrios graduated from the University of California ,
Berkeley with a bachelor of art 's degree in society
and environment and a minor in sustainable design.
Christopher is interested in smart growth, with an
emphasis on greater access to public transit systems
and mixed-use development. In the near future,
he hopes to return to graduate school to pursue a
master's degree in either city planning or landscape
architecture.
Laura Hobbs Front Desk Ambassador, Laura Hobbs is a San
Francisco native and an undergraduate at the
University of Michigan, studying biology and Spanish.
She hopes to bring her experience in a wide range
of urban environments, coupled with a scientific
understanding of biolog ical principles, to a future
in sustainable urban development and research.
Outside the classroom, Laura is involved with the
Environmental Issues Commission, a sector of central
student government, and the University of Michigan
Bike Ambassadors program, which is currently
working with the city of Ann Arbor to get more bike
lanes on its streets.
Elisabeth Mart San Jose Public Programming Intern Elisabeth Mart
completed her undergraduate work at the University
of California , Berkeley in 2011 with degrees in political
science and history. She received her master's in
public history from Royal Holloway, University of London this past September. A bit of a political
junkie, El isabeth hopes to soon make her name in
the nonprofit world and has interned previously for
Senator Dianne Feinstein, Mayor Gavin Newsom and
the Commonwealth Club of California.
WELCOME TO SPUR'S NEW MEMBERS!
New Busines Members
HMC Architects
Keyser Marston Associates, Inc. Red and White Fleet
Veritable Vegetable
Ne enber Kirsten Muetzel
Avi Asherov Allison Myers
Richard Austin Alissa Nelson
Greg Baker Kristof Neukermans
Jesse Biroscak Lourdes Nicomedes
Corey Block Michael Nulty
Jenna Browning Anne Ording
Natalie Burdick Alex Padilla
Justin Chen Doris Padilla
Joanne Chiu Michelle Parker
Elizabeth Cortez Leslie Payne
Jon Dagostino Alene Pearson
Gregory Davies Craig Peters
Lynette Dias Julie Quon
Neil Dorrel Kris Rideout
Emily Eisenhart Jeremy Robinson
Aaron Fisher Anmarie Rodgers
Rachel Flynn Nicolas J. Rodrigues
Kyle Gebhart Eve Rossmere
Jonathan Ghio Rahmin Sarabi
Melissa Godfrey Madeleine Savit
Avra Goldman Emma Sharer
Anthony Gonzalez Powen Shiah
Kara Gross Marcia Sitcoske
Jenna Hahn Kara Vuicich
Deborah Harvey Renee Woodruff
Robert Hrdinsky Jennifer Young
Minnie Ingersoll Rachel Yu Stephanie Jansen Franco Zaragoza
Maeve Johnston
Larry R. Kasten
Dorka Keehn
Amelie-Phaine Keller
Lydia Kiesling
Alexandru Lefter
Joe Lewis
Wan-Jou Lin
Jody Littlehales
Nikki Lowy
Cindy Ma
Janet MacKinnon
Clay Malcolmson Noriko Marshall
Michael McCabe
Michael McDermott
John Monson
Ned Moran
JUNE 2013 21
MEMBER PROFILE
Wild About the City Tanya Peterson Lions, tigers and bears? They're all part of the urban
experience for this animal-loving San Franciscan .
Tanya Peterson, a lawyer at Hewlett-Packard, served on San Francisco
Zoo's board of directors until she was asked to take on the role of
director in 2008. " It was my children's passion for the institution that
initially attracted me to the zoo," says Peterson, "and that's what
continues to drive me to ensure its longevity."
She describes the zoo as "firstly a preserve and a park ... and a unique way, in an urban environment, to connect with wildlife." She is currently overseeing a new master plan that envisions a zoological park that
represents global conservation zones or "hot spots," which both educate
and immerse visitors in diverse ecological zones. At the end of 2013, the
zoo plans to open a zoological-themed, one-of-a-kind play zone that
encourages children to play in and experience polar, Asian and other
geographic "hot spots." And next year, says Peterson, "the zoo hopes to open a remodeled tropical forest in its South American region, which will house South American reptiles, birds and even a sloth!"
With all of these exciting things
happening at the zoo, we
asked Peterson to describe the
institution's role in the city and
the community.
Zoos are often the first place
people connect with wildlife. A
zoo can ignite a lifelong passion for global conservation and renew
a basic empathy toward animals.
Zoos also are accessible and
affordable to people of diverse
social and economic backgrounds and are attended by multiple
generations. It is one of the few places where three generations of
a family can enjoy a day together!
22 JUNE 2013
How did you first become
interested in cities - and in
SPUR?
While at UC Hastings law school,
I developed a deep fondness for San Francisco, which only
increased over time. Later in
my legal career, I had the honor of sitting on the city's Board
of Appeals, which made me
appreciate the delicate balance between urban growth and
informed planning. It was then
I first heard about SPUR as a unique and objective organization
that recognized the very balance
we were trying to achieve at the
Board of Appeals.
How has the zoo been involved
with one of SPUR's major
initiatives, the Ocean Beach
Master Plan?
The San Francisco Zoo may be the only zoo in the country that
borders an ocean, and our visitors
are simultaneously amazed and
disappointed by Ocean Beach
and its current condition. I very much want to be part of an effort
to revive this special coastal zone,
and thus was eager to participate
in SPUR's task force that is
attempting to address long-term
issues of erosion. conservation
and public access while trying to
maneuver through a tangled web
of multiple jurisdictions and, at
times, competing interests.
So we can guess which city
attraction you love most, but tell
us, what is your favorite ... city?
San Francisco, undoubtedly.
Urban view?
It is still a treat for me to head
to the top of the Empire State Building.
Favorite work of art about cities?
Richard Diebenkorn's Cityscape I
at the San Francisco Museum of
Modern Art.
And, naturally, we can't resist
asking: What is your favorite
animal?
Zoo directors can't have favorites,
although I do have a special
fondness for hedgehogs.
THE URBANIST
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