Argh Valencia

Valencia Plants Planned

— 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.

Previously on Uptown Almanac: 

Little Chihuahua Lifts TCB Courier's Logo in Search of Mission Cred, Still Hawks Boring Mexican Food

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

With the Lower Haight and Noe Valley-based Mexican restaurant already two weeks into their arrival on the “hot” Valencia Street corridor, we're only now realizing that their 'edgy' rebrand for the Mission looks eerily familiar to Mission-born TCB Courier's.  We can only assume the Chipotle-esque chain paid a marketing firm good money to create a brand that “captures” the spirit of the neighborhood, but they accomplished that goal in the lamest way possible.

It's worth noting that TCB's logo itself is an update of the New York Hardcore insignia (and, by extention, every other logo made ever), albeit a much more creative—and appropriate—refresh (especially considering TCB, at the very least, meets the very minimum requirement for “hardcore” and Little Chihuahua makes 8 different varieties of tostada salads with lime-cilantro salad dressing. But, I digress…).

Anyway, I'm sure we can look forward to some backpedalling from “TLC” in the near future.

[TLC signage photo by bubbletea1/Eater SF]