— By Eric Gregory (@mrericsir) |
Burrito Justice and Bernalwood bring word of a proposed new look for the south tip of Valencia: less pavement, more plants. The Mission & Valencia Green Gateway project is spearheaded by the city's water department with the goal of reducing the amount of rainwater going into the city's overworked combined sewer system. Aside from plants the plan calls for replacing parking and walking surfaces with “permeable pavement,” or as people who aren't city planners would say, cobblestone.
Also on the bill are wider sidewalks and a road diet at the confusing intersection of Mission and Valencia. The image above seems to indicate green bike lanes may go in as well (though that isn't mentioned in the official literature.)
There's an open house Tuesday evening where SFPUC will be presenting more details:
What: Mission and Valencia Green Gateway Community Open House #2
When: Tuesday, July 9, 2013, 4:00pm to 8:00pm
Where: Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts
2868 Mission Street (between 24th and 25th), San Francisco, CA 94110
For more on the greenification of Valencia, visit the official project page.
What do you think, dear readers: Is this a positive change for the area? Or might this be another example of the city remaking itself too cool for its own good? Or should the city go a step further, and turn Valencia Street into a giant park?
UPDATE: Streetsblog has a recap of Tuesday's open house and more details on the project.
Comments (14)
Property values!
I’ll second Burrito Justice’s park idea. That stretch of Valencia is way bigger than it needs to be.
Bring back the Taco Bell.
They forgot the handful of loony anti-choice protesters harassing people outside the Planned Parenthood clinic in the background.
Looks like a strip mall, is this the best they can come up with ?
Better not mess with Ben Davis. The rest - who cares.
Fyi, it’s Arik’s. Ben Davis is just one of the many brands they sell.
It is the part of Mission south of here which is the real problem. I assume this Hell will be re-paved soon but how to get to the Valencia paths from the south? Also, of course, the Valencia Green Wave is too slow going north and should be speeded up a click or two in the morning commuter. Finally, those benches need to be facing the stores, not the street.
Where the shopping carts at?
I like how they aren’t even willing to stick their neck out and call this rendering a concept. It is a *potential* concept.
The city knows that the neighbors will bring out pitchforks and scream about how changes to their neighborhood are being “shoved down their throats” if they aren’t careful with the language.
Usually you present a bunch of concepts, let people scream, crap their pants, and argue then you end up with some combination of the various concepts. Labeling something as a potential concept is silly. If you have put it down on paper then it is a concept; there is no “potential”.
Isn’t the difference between a pie in the sky concept, and one that has the potential of being realized.
my pants is my bathroom