Polk Street - Community Forum

It was interesting to go back to another community forum for the Polk Street project.  It'll be interesting to see how they work with the issue of potentially decreasing on-street parking so that the bike lane can extend throughout Polk (and not just be sporadic).  Personally, I don't feel safe biking on Polk Street unless the bike lane is there.  Car drivers are just too careless, speedy, and unconcerned for the well-being of pedestrians and bicyclists.  I prefer defined spaces for different users.

I'm also still concerned about public safety, especially in Lower Polk.  While an array of transportation enhancements are great for the community, I still believe that there needs to be broader police involvement in the neighborhood.  I would like to see police walking or biking up and down Polk Street to assist with maintaining a calm, pleasant atmosphere.  Otherwise, some of the drunk, drug-induced, or mentally challenged people create an inhospitable environment.  I do not want my neighborhood reduced to such a place.

Scene: Emeryville Street Art

The other day while I was doing some fieldwork for my job (walking the streets and marking where the City needs to put up the bicycle boulevard signage), I happened upon this great street art piece.  There are lovely little street art pieces around the city.  You just need to have your eyes focused on these little treasures.

Accidents Happen, Gatzby

If you haven't meandered around Emeryville in a while (or ever), I highly recommend a little jaunt around the cute, little off-the-beaten path streets in the heart of the City.  Get off the freeway on those hectic commutes home for a leisurely little walk, or hop on your bike on a lovely sunny Saturday and check it out.  I certainly enjoy my little walks every day, and I often happen upon little street art projects that make me smile.

parking lot art

Personally, I'm moving into a mode of DOING, rather than simply THINKING.  I have had discussions with many different young (or energetic) urbanists, and the common thread we all have is our desire to get busy. We want to DO good work.  We want to be out there playing in our urban environment, interacting with it and each other, and trying to find new ways to make the human experience better.  One way to enhance our urban environment is through art, some of which is informal (like the below image).  Recently, a planner friend of mine and I were discussing this amazing parking lot art that we came across online:

Courtesy of http://roadsworth.com/

We kept talking about how we wanted do art projects like this, and even smaller street art projects that would be easier to plan, coordinate and implement.  Our art project may not be exactly like the one above, but it certainly is our inspiration.  We are still in the planning phase of our little art project, but it amazes me just how much you can actually do by energizing each other through an active discussion.  I am happy to say that my planner friend and I are making headway on our little art project and have received the 'OK' from a property owner to commence our art project!  Yay!  Ask.  You never know how easy it can be.

I'm excited!  Let's DO this.

muni stops: in need of better signage

The other day I was standing at the Muni N-train stop at Carl & Cole.  A girl in her 20s comes over to me and asks "Does this train go to downtown?".  Good question.  You'd never know that this train goes downtown because it doesn't say it anywhere on the sign...

This sign only says "To Caltrain".  If you do not know the system like the back of your hand, you will have difficulty understanding where "Caltrain" is, and whether or not that is through "downtown".


The fact remains -- we need better signage with better information at Muni stops.  I would suggest (especially at Muni train stops) to have a line with dots on it showing where the stops are, which stop you are at, and in which direction this train goes.  This is the same problem that I experience with BART too (lack of good signage with useful information).  This is basic signage which I've seen in other cities all over the world.  Perhaps I can make quickie magnets displaying this information and slap them onto the metal poles or on the Muni shelters....  I think this would be a cheap and easy fix to this lack of easily digestible information.

Update -- SFMTA's "Polk Street Improvement Project"

In addition to my previous post, I wanted to mention the upcoming SFMTA community sessions on the Polk Street Improvement Project:

1) They are doing an additional walking tour!  It's a great opportunity to chat with your neighbors and SFMTA staff about what really matters to you in improving our street.

Walking Tour
Friday, November 16th at Noon
Meet at the Northwest corner of Polk and Golden Gate (in front of the Golden1 Credit Union)



2) The next community workshop is going to be held on December 1!  Mark your calendars and come on out to participate in making our neighborhood even better.

Open House Workshop
Saturday, December 1st, drop-in from 10a-2pm
1300 Polk Street (at Bush)

Polk Street Design Charrette

I went to this SFMTA design charrette regarding Polk Street last weekend.  It was really interesting to see the community involvement process in this project.  As an urban planner and a resident of the Polk Street community, I am very interested in both the process and the end result (i.e. how the street will be improved).  

I never would have known about this project, however, if I had not been so interested in this topic.  I never heard a word about this project from the SFMTA (even though I live in an apartment building on the corner of Geary and Polk), but rather through a Facebook post by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.  It seems to me that if the city has a community meeting, that everyone within 300 feet of the street which is undergoing changes, should have been notified.  That's just my little grumble about the lack of information on such an interesting project.  I'm sure that more people in the neighborhood would have attended the community meeting, had they known about it (it was a very poorly attended community meeting).  We live here, and safety with regard to pedestrian and bicycle transportation is important to us.  Furthermore, given the fact that we already have 2 parklets along Polk Street, and it is already a destination place for evening outings, and a great bicycle route, it is absolutely necessary for us to be involved in planning for a better pedestrian and bicycle environment.

Below are some photos I took at the event:

SFMTA folks in discussion with a community member

examples of playing around with street design:

some things you can't plan... but the community will make it happen...

While on my trip around Europe recently (visiting friends and attending a wedding), I noticed a lot of interesting urban interaction examples that grow and develop from the involvement of the community in a very natural way.  Below is an example of one of these instances....

an example: lover's bridge in paris.  right next to the notre dame.  it is said that lovers come here to put a lock on this bridge to symbolize their love being forever together.  i found it to be very beautiful and hope to participate in this tradition with my future love.

voting

one of the ways that we can affect change in our local communities (not just federal policies and the prez), is to VOTE!    So, this is my little 2-cents for voting....  it's so easy nowadays.  you can register online, now.  no more going to the post office to pick up a voter registration card.  AND you can vote by mail now.  YAY!   i actually first voted by mail when i lived in portland, oregon in 2002.  it was so easy and i loved being able to study up online on who i was voting for, then fill-in the line, vote, and put it in the mail.  done.  so so easy.  no more worries about "will i have enough time to go vote before work?".  it's amazing.  i love voting.  and i love voting by mail.  i keep wondering if (or when) we'll ever be able to vote online. 

up: urban prototyping festival. sf.

That was a lot of fun!  the sf urban prototyping festival was held on October 20.  I went down there to check it out and ended up getting into some very interesting conversations.

I'm especially excited about this "DIY Traffic Counter" that these guys in NY made.  It was so awesome.  I was already thinking of doing a little project in my hood to track car speeds in certain areas where pedestrian casualties have been high over the years (the SFMTA has a great online map that shows you were every pedestrian injury/death has occurred in the city from 2005 to 2010). (and good information is necessary for good planning).  Perhaps, better information on car speeds in these high-casualty areas will be the impetus for further enhancements for pedestrian and bicycle safety.  Now, with this DIY device, I can easily conduct my little study project!  Yay!

the DIY Traffic Counter

Another nifty project that I encountered was SmartStop (below pic).  For SmartStop, while at a bus stop, you can text any question you want to this one phone number and get a response.  Sounds pretty neato, and forgoes the need to have 10 different location-based apps in your smart phone.  However, I'm still trying to figure out just how useful it is because of the need to use text message rather than just an app...

SmartStop: smart bus stop

I am now inspired and fired up to start up some of my own projects.  Likewise, I'm starting to get more serious about starting my own organization (like an LLC).  I need some engineers on my team and perhaps a few web or mobile designers to do the bigger stuff -- but I can already start it out now with the little things.  Time to gather like-minded urbanists that want to DO good work for our communities in a variety of ways!  I'm really interested in the "do-tank" (instead of "think-tank") organizational layout (from my conversation with one of the guys at "Tomorrow Lab").  Think-Design-Do.  Or, Think-Plan-Do.  2dees.  d-squared.  Anyways, this is starting to ramble as I continue to ponder...

so fascinating!

sign street art : "haul it away"

This was one of my favorite recurring street art applications to an existing sign.  As you can see below, I saw these all around Paris and Rome.  It is an existing "do not enter" type of sign (red sign with a solid white bar in the middle).  The "street art" application appears to be a sticker of a shadow person (black image) lifting the white bar and hauling it away.  I thought this was awesome.  I especially loved that I saw these in different cities around Europe.  I wonder how many people actually notice this, and think about it (regardless if they think it is good, bad, or whatever).  For me, it made me smile.

:)

Paris

Paris

Rome

~d

Je t'aime!

I saw this the other day and thought that it was very lovely.  Je t'aime!  "I love you" in French, etched into the sidewalk.  I especially like the exclamation point at the end of the phrase, which (to me) exudes absolute love - to all.  I walk by this section of sidewalk almost every single day, and yet it took almost 3 months for me to even notice this.  To me, this is a form of street art, which I think is actually quite nice -- it enhances my experience of my urban environment.  If it enhances my experience, then it probably also enhances others' experience as well.  I remember the first day that I saw this -- it instantly put a smile on my face.  Then, I thought about the multitude of tourists that come by this area, and hope that at least a fraction of them have also seen this and smiled.

Polk Street - my home

Looks what's happening in our 'hood soon...  

Maybe you have never driven, riden a bus, biked, or walked on Polk Street, but if you have you know that it is a very lively street with tons of restaurants, bars, boutiques, and other such awesomeness.  

a walking tour of Polk Street with SFMTA

(excerpt)

The SFMTA is hosting a series of events in the Fall and Winter of 2012 to get your input. Want to learn more about Polk Street and make sure biking and walking and the streetscape are improved? Join one of these events:

Walking Tours: (need only attend one tour)

• Monday, October 22: 12pm, Meet in front of 1300 Polk Street at Bush.
• Wednesday, October 24: 7pm, Meet in front of 2330 Polk Street OR Northwest corner of Polk and Golden Gate.
• Thursday, October 25: 9am, Meet in front of 2330 Polk Street OR Northwest corner of Polk and Golden Gate.
• Saturday, October 27: 9am, Meet in front of 1300 Polk Street at Bush.

Saturday, October 27, 10am - 2pm, Design Charrette to bring community input in redesigning Polk Street.

If you are a member of the SF Bicycle Coalition, please contact Neal@sfbike.org if you have any questions or want to receive direct notification of events like this.

I'm excited!  Let's make Polk Street a GREEN COMPLETE STREET for all users in our neighborhood.  This is the perfect opportunity to help make Polk Street more livable.

the urbanscape...

Recently, I decided to change this blog from focusing solely on San Francisco to broader urban planning and design issues.  Personally, I am very interested in multi-modal transportation, non-motorized transportation, urban park-space, and the urban form.  Likewise, I enjoy looking at urban planning and design from an anthropological or humanistic lens (maybe this comes from my degree in cultural anthropology).  Furthermore, when I look at a street, a sidewalk, a bike lane, a street sign, etcetera, I always think about the human interaction of this design element.  I have recently begun to call this "UX urban design", or user-experience urban design.  I know I'm not the only person who sees planning and urban design in this way, but I still believe that it is fairly unique in our profession.  Perhaps, it is a change in direction that the younger generation of city planners and urban designers are going...  It makes me excited for the future of our cities, and energizes me to continue on my quest to do good urban planning and design!