SAN FRANCISCO | Projects: Under Construction, Approved, and Proposed

[BushMan]

Originally Posted by IMBY

Come on now! Let's not go overboard and Bloomberg-ize San Francisco. Try to imagine what San Francisco would be like today with 3 mayoral terms of the likes of Bloomberg!!! Angel Island would have become the Riker's Island to stash all the homeless? NYC has become nothing more than an antiseptic San Diego of the East Coast! Good grief! They even sterilized Harlem!

I was just up in SF last week, staying in a more colorful, interesting part of SF, Larkin/Geary at the Motel 6. No need for a TV in my room, I was entertained enough watching the foot traffic from the 3rd floor balcony overlooking Larkin!

Leaving SF, I decided to stop at the 16th/Mission Bart stop, just to take a peek at that slice of SF! OMG! It was like walking into Tijuana! Loved it, loved it, loved it! Could hardly drag myself away from that 2-story Thrift Town thrift store, particularly the used book section!

I say, let's leave the seedier areas of SF intact, keep SF a widely diverse city and not take the NYC route!

I pray the new mayor of NYC brings some much-needed seediness back to that city!

Wow, I couldn't disagree more. I've often fantasized about Rudy Giuliani swooping down and cleaning the filth out of San Francisco. Of course it will never happen in a city so dominated by so-called "Progressive" politics but one can always dream.

Bring on the gentrification!

[POLA]

Originally Posted by IMBY

I was just up in SF last week, staying in a more colorful, interesting part of SF, Larkin/Geary at the Motel 6. No need for a TV in my room, I was entertained enough watching the foot traffic from the 3rd floor balcony overlooking Larkin!

I'm not sure if human misery qualifies for entertainment, but I agree with you about how homogenous New York City has become. The ideal should be a place with both diversity and high standards of living. Of course, that's some pie in the sky talk..

[soleri]

Originally Posted by POLA

I'm not sure if human misery qualifies for entertainment, but I agree with you about how homogenous New York City has become. The ideal should be a place with both diversity and high standards of living. Of course, that's some pie in the sky talk..

One word: Portlandia. Maybe the city has to be a certain size and with a finely balanced demographic but Portland shows that it can be done.

[hruski]

Originally Posted by soleri

One word: Portlandia. Maybe the city has to be a certain size and with a finely balanced demographic but Portland shows that it can be done.

Portland is over 75% White. Some people preferring granola while others prefer muesli does not a diverse city make.

[fimiak]

The answer to high rents is more housing. Considering the city is already receiving a population boom, housing construction should be off the charts.

[Gordo]

I think folks often equate "New York" with simply "Manhattan". There's plenty of human suffering remaining in the Bronx and Queens, if you're dying to see that kind of thing.

[IMBY]

Originally Posted by soleri

One word: Portlandia. Maybe the city has to be a certain size and with a finely balanced demographic but Portland shows that it can be done.

Where did I miss it!!! On my 2 trips to Portland in 2005/2008. I rode every mile of their light rail system, and I saw no diversity whatsoever there. And Seattle was no different!

San Francisco has all the ingredients I'm looking for in a diverse urban city and, I say, keep up the good work of keeping in that way! When tourists finally get tired of visiting sterilized "super safe" cities, they will eventually come to appreciate the diversity of this great city.

It would help if these Hop-on-hop-off bus trips would include a stop at 16th/Mission and the guides would be more objective. The guide on my bus trip last Wed., on a skip thru Tenderloin, warned the passengers you don't want to be walking around this dangerous area of town at night. And? With that, they probably won't venture over there during the daytime either! What a shame!

For someone who loves spending weekends in "poor-man's San Francisco"/Tijuana, to scare me would be quite a challenge to any tour guide!

[WonderlandPark]

IMBY, you must be blind re: the seattle LRT, it goes through a thoroughly African American neighborhood as you come in from Sea-Tac, then through a Southeast Asian hood (did you not see all the Vietnamese?) then International district (Chinese). I think its as diverse as riding BART from SF through Oakland down the peninsula substitute Indian for Vietnamese (remembering the scale of Seattle is so much smaller than the Bay Area, at least the area that the LRT traverses is)

Agree about Portland, as much as I like that town, its very White Bread.

[tech12]

Originally Posted by WonderlandPark

IMBY, you must be blind re: the seattle LRT, it goes through a thoroughly African American neighborhood as you come in from Sea-Tac, then through a Southeast Asian hood (did you not see all the Vietnamese?) then International district (Chinese). I think its as diverse as riding BART from SF through Oakland down the peninsula substitute Indian for Vietnamese (remembering the scale of Seattle is so much smaller than the Bay Area, at least the area that the LRT traverses is)

Agree about Portland, as much as I like that town, its very White Bread.

No need to take BART for a good diversity comparison. Hop on the muni light rail in Visitation Valley, and take it through the city. You'll start in a majority asian area (mostly chinese) that also has lots of latino, black and white residents, then you'll go through the bayview which is something like 40% black, 30% asian, 25% latino, and 5% white, then you'll go through dog patch and mission bay, which are mostly white and Asian, then downtown/the tenderloin/civic center which is very diverse, with lots of white, latino, Asian, and black residents (Chinese, Vietnamese, Mexican, etc)...and then depending on what line you're on, you hit mostly white areas, mostly asian areas, mixed asian/latino/black/white areas, etc.

But yeah, Portland is definitely whiter than Seattle or SF.

[IMBY]

Originally Posted by WonderlandPark

IMBY, you must be blind re: the seattle LRT, it goes through a thoroughly African American neighborhood as you come in from Sea-Tac, then through a Southeast Asian hood (did you not see all the Vietnamese?) then International district (Chinese). I think its as diverse as riding BART from SF through Oakland down the peninsula substitute Indian for Vietnamese (remembering the scale of Seattle is so much smaller than the Bay Area, at least the area that the LRT traverses is)

Agree about Portland, as much as I like that town, its very White Bread.

When I was in Seattle last, the first LRT line to Sea-tac was just about to open, so I missed riding it. I will try Seattle again next summer, take a closer look!

[fimiak]

Mid-Market Collection from this afternoon. Linea is my favorite.

[SF born and RAISED]

I received my SF Municipal Ballot in the mail today. For those who don't know, there are 2 propositions on the ballot concerning 8 Washington. Prop. B is the initiative to allow 8 Washington to go up and Prop. C is the referendum to increase the height limit for that area. You can take a guess on how my ballot went.

[fflint]

Was riding my bike and noticed 899 Valencia Street (at 20th) is in the excavation phase after being in limbo for two and a half years. 18 units, presumably condos:


http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2011/05/27..._commission_approves_899_valencia_70.php

[theskythelimit]

Originally Posted by SF born and RAISED

I received my SF Municipal Ballot in the mail today. For those who don't know, there are 2 propositions on the ballot concerning 8 Washington. Prop. B is the initiative to allow 8 Washington to go up and Prop. C is the referendum to increase the height limit for that area. You can take a guess on how my ballot went.

I thought there was another proposition against 8 Washington. Are both Props B&C sponsored by the same people?

[SF born and RAISED]

Originally Posted by theskythelimit

I thought there was another proposition against 8 Washington. Are both Props B&C sponsored by the same people?

Prop B is sponsored by Open Up the Waterfront. Prop C. is supported by the same group and many of the same people. Don't know exactly who or what group sponsors that one though.

[easy as pie]

Originally Posted by fflint

Was riding my bike and noticed 899 Valencia Street (at 20th) is in the excavation phase after being in limbo for two and a half years. 18 units, presumably condos:


http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2011/05/27..._commission_approves_899_valencia_70.php

great news, but please let them have updated the design to current standards of quality. sidenote: the street vendors there have done good trade for some time, i bought a somewhat worn (but easily restored) 1950s coach briefcase a few weeks ago there. it'll be interesting to see where they relocate to, likely just a couple blocks down to 18th and valencia.

[minesweeper]

Originally Posted by theskythelimit

I thought there was another proposition against 8 Washington. Are both Props B&C sponsored by the same people?

Prop C is the one put on the ballot by opponents of the project. However, instead of asking "Should the approvals be overturned?", it's worded to ask "Should the approval take effect?". So, somewhat confusingly, opponents of the project want people to vote no on their own proposition.

Prop B is the one placed on the ballot by the project sponsors that creates a special use district that allows the developer to build what's already been approved.

[hruski]

Originally Posted by easy as pie

great news, but please let them have updated the design to current standards of quality. sidenote: the street vendors there have done good trade for some time, i bought a somewhat worn (but easily restored) 1950s coach briefcase a few weeks ago there. it'll be interesting to see where they relocate to, likely just a couple blocks down to 18th and valencia.

true that. i've gotten lots of good art there.
maybe some of them will come down to 23rd/valencia, where there's another vacant, gated corner lot.

[simms3_redux]

The latest from Curbed on the Hampton Inn (15 floors) rising on Mission between 5th and 6th near the old Mint.

http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2013/10/11...ansbay_tower_permitted_and_more.php#more

Current: The hotel has risen above street level and support walls are concurrently being poured for both the first and second floor. The lower portion of the building before setbacks will be 5-6 stories, so once that is completed expect to see this future hotel rise to its full height very rapidly.

Interesting pictures at the link.

[jg6544]

Originally Posted by BushMan

Wow, I couldn't disagree more. I've often fantasized about Rudy Giuliani swooping down and cleaning the filth out of San Francisco. Of course it will never happen in a city so dominated by so-called "Progressive" politics but one can always dream.

Bring on the gentrification!

Perhaps you'd be happier in Dallas, Atlanta, or somewhere like that.