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SF Appeal pointed us to this: local architects-for-the-people Public Architecture designed a pedestrian-friendly public plaza for the cable car turnaround at the intersection of Market, Castro and 17th Streets, which is set to open soon. (We sort of doubt that it will be complete and open next month as stated, but hey, we can all dream!)
We know this intersection well, and can attest that we've watched a number of near-misses with drunk kids heading to or from the Café--and been nearly killed ourselves once or twice by cars rolling down from upper Market onto 17th--so we're grateful that the downtown lane of that block of 17th will now be closed to traffic.
This project is a sort of test case, one of 30 selected by the city in an ongoing effort to reclaim public spaces from car traffic and begin the "pedestrianization" of San Francisco.
Now if we can just keep the kamikaze bicyclists from running lights and mowing us down as they shoot through this "plaza," we'll be all set.
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Cable Car turnaround? Huh?
They mean streetcar terminus. Quick lesson: cable cars are purely mechanical and move by grabbin' ahold of continuously moving cables under the street, whereas streetcars hook on to electrified lines which power a motor. Often a mistake of tourists and newbies, but I can't blame SFist for some wishful thinking. Woohoo! Cable Cars everywhere! Let's found Cablecar Island somewhere, it can be right next to Angelina Jolie's Baby Island.
It should also be noted that this is not merely a test-case, but an actually only a test. This plaza will not be permanent and will be created with movable planters, benches, tables, etc. I trust that it will be impeccably decorated and furnished since it is in Castro and I have an unwavering belief in stereotypes.
I like the idea. That intersection has way too much pavement, and drivers just get confused because the lines showing them where they're supposed to go and where pedestrians are supposed to go are pretty faded or worn completely away in some places. I've barely ever seen cars go eat on 17th street there, so I don't think it should affect traffic much.
I'm sad that San Franciscans were too stereotypically American to appreciate the roundabouts they put in as a test on Page street. Palo Alto has some great neighborhoods with mini roundabouts that force cars to slow down to around 15 mph to navigate them, but don't force a full stop.
Sorry, but roundabouts don't work at all. I have seen far, far too many times to count people driving the wrong way around them which entirely defeats the purpose of putting them in. Even worse once in college I saw someone in an SUV drive up and over the roundabout as it was on a dark, residential street and they were likely drunk, an asshole, or both.
I see the idea behind them, but they're annoying, inconvenient, do not fail safely, and are likely never going to fly in a country where people are not used to navigating them. Multi-lane roundabouts are really just about one of the worst things I've ever been stuck in.
People understand how to work with four-way stops of other designs. Instead of trying to force a new paradigm on them let's work on how we can make the existing ones work better.
I predict that this plaza will become a homeless encampment.
is this the site of that shell station?
This intersection could certainly stand a face-list, the second in recent memory. It would be nice if the Chevron station was removed; it has the most expensive gasoline in the solar system. The only ones who made it a show of stopping there were cha-chas whose company had just gone public, back in the dot-boom era, and they wanted to announce that not too subtly into their cellphones in stage whispers.
The big challenge will be to stop it from becoming yet another homeless camp.
The denizens of God's Waiting Room on the corner will like the new view.
he last thing the Castro needs is some outdoor park like space in which gay men can gather. Crumpled tissues everywhere...
Besides, that defunct gas station is a valuable resource that can be redeveloped as a cooperative arts space for disenfranchised third world lesbian performance artist/dildo boutique communists. I can see it now - Gas Station Dances! Sculptures made of old oil cans! Dildos constructed from reclaimed fueling hose! The possibilities are only limited by the size of our trust funds!
Man, I'm so glad I live in this cutting edge city of art and innovation!
are you sure you couldn't fit another stereotype in there?
Good idea though that is, I think it would compete with the third-world lesbian dildo gallery you suggested for Bayshore the other day. How about instead we have a non-profit talent agency to represent struggling designers of recyclable prophylactics?
Yeah dude, I know it's Thursday, but you can't go reusing your material. Let's get all David Bowie and create some new non-profits out of the random words I've supplying below:
SF Stereotype:
Gobber
Knitter
Urine Drinker
Victorian Feminist Literature Reader
Activity:
Body Manipulation
Backup Scat Singing
Raw Food Architecture
Gong Manufacture
Object:
Sharpened Candles
Halide Collider
Trifle
Gussets
Random:
Guest
Trickle
Flange
Truffle Oil
Sounds fine, but only if we include a raw foods restaurant that serves nothing but wild greens foraged from beneath rusting hulks in Visitacion Valley junk yards and the more restricted parts of Treasure Island, and employees nothing but transgendered illegal immigrant high school students recently kicked out of ROTC...