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.