June 6, 2006
It Takes a Village to Shoot Smack
Want to go hang out in Lower Polk but think it's too seedy to want to go? Well, have no fear, a solution is at hand. The Polk Corridor Business Association wants to change the name of the area from Polk Gulch to Polk Village. Because what self-respecting transvestite hooker wants to turn tricks in a "village." Said Lulu, our favorite Polk Gulch tranny hooker, "oh honey, you know I don't take your credit card no more."
The plan is to post banners up everywhere in the Gulch announcing that you're in Polk Village, then making it official in three years after everybody had gotten used to it by putting it on a ballot. Reaction seems to be along the lines of "wha?" but so far, there is no reaction from Gay Shame who complained earlier when folks put nice restaurants and bars in Polk Gulch and almost ruined their Lou Reed fantasies.
Up next, attempts to change Bay View/Hunter's Point to Bay View/Deer Meadows and the Western Addition to the Western Resort & Spa Addition.
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Stupidest idea ever. Who comes up with this schlock? Like SF needs to be more small town.
How will this help businesses in that area? It's such a waste of time and energy. Ahhh, bureaucracy.
This reminds me of way back when East 14th Street in Oakland was renamed International Blvd. because of the high levels of crime on East 14th. After all, there can't be any crime on East 14th if East 14th doesn't exist, right?
To be fair, how we refer to districts does somewhat affect our perception of that area. However, I believe this applies more to newly-emerging 'hoods that are finally coming into their own. In that case, giving it a name and using that name affirms its identity and puts it on the map. In the case of Polk Gulch, however, we already have a long-established neighborhood: there's no question that it's already on the map. Changing the character of an established neighborhood requires more direct involvement than just posting some street banners and hoping that everything else falls into place.
There's still quite a bit of crime on International Blvd., even after the name change, and so we learn that making a street safer involves more than just changing its name (shocking, eh?).
Well, I still use the name East 14th; so too, in my heart of hearts, Polk Gulch it will remain.
I live here. This is something people I've talked to think is silly and will die a natural death. The good things about Polk Gulch remain good, the bad things aren't addressed by frilly nametags.
No disrespect to The City's Vietnamese community, but I always thought it was rather quaint (and ironic) that portions of the Civic Center and Tenderloin were given banners proclaiming it "Little Saigon." And I'm still not used to calling the neighborhood east of Telegraph Hill the Barbary Coast, though I do try.
If we gave every neighborhood a new name ending with -land like Dinseyland, we'd make San Francisco the happiest place on earth! Missionland, Moneyland (formerly the Financial District, or would that be Pacific Heights?), and the Castro, er... I mean Gayland, would be a happy place by definition.
But seriously to Eric's point about names effecting perceptions. I wonder how much of it is the name itself vs. the residents feeling empowered by the having come together to claim an identity. The Barbary Coast was driven by the residents and decided by a vote, wasn't it? If this is being pushed by the merchants on the residents, the does it really help or just create tension or make the residents feel less ownership of their community?