Moving Forward

After working for a year on a Scope of Work and Standard Terms and Conditions, the PGP Steering Committee regretfully decided that it needed to find a landscape design company that would sign a contract with the indemnification that the City requires.

Redefining the Scope

After much discussion the committee decided:

  • Reduce the complete park area to the area from Mariposa to 17th bounded by Vermont and San Bruno avenues.
  • Remove the word Loop from the name – Potrero Gateway Park is the full name now
  • Phase 1 is fully funded by ENCAC and is not planned to change.  It will focus on 17th Street  and the corner plazas with hardscape and landscape & widened sidewalk and streetside parkway greening on Vermont Street
  •  Phase 2 will extend into the open space on Vermont Street and San Bruno Avenue as funding and approval allow.
  • Phase 3 will ber Art Under the Bridge on 17th Street.

The committee has prepared an Executive Summary:  Executive Summary

The committee has prepared a Vision and Scope Document:    PGP-Vision and Scope 

The committee used a survey to help determine priorities:    Initial Survey – 10 Steering Committee Responses

Meeting with Jeff Miller, an Annotated Map

Design Workshop 3

On October 22, the third design workshop was held. Marcel and Sarah presented a flushed out version of the vision for Potrero Gateway Park and The Loop.

The next step will be meetings to review these plans with Caltrans, DPW, and San Francisco Parks Alliance and then get both phase and cost estimates for fundraising.

The meeting was held at the Russian Gospel Church and was attended by over 40 neighbors.

Workshop 3

Loop

17th Street

 

San Bruno

 

Design Workshop 2

The second Design Workshop conducted by Marcel Wilson and Sarah Moos of Bionic was held at the Russian Gospel Church on August 22, 2013 at 7pm. Community members, Jerad Weiner from DPW, Steve Schweigerdt from SF Parks Alliance and Rachel Carpenter from SFMTA contributed to the meeting.

Alternatives were presented for three of the eight identified zones.

The most comprehensive option for 17th Street is the program option:Beneath the Freeway

Option 1 for the Vermont Street right-of-way includes stairs to a view

Design Workshop 1

June 26 – Workshop 1

The first workshop conducted by Marcel Wilson and Sarah Moos of Bionic was held at 7:00pm at the Russian Gospel Church on 17th Street.

Forty participants contributed to the meeting which was designed to get community input.

Marcel Wilson presents analysis
Marcel Wilson presents analysis
Neighbors discuss model of project
Neighbors discuss model of project

Upload Meeting Notes Report: Workshop 1 Report

 

First Community Meeting – Feb 27, 2013

To kick off the Potrero’s SF MUNA group’s efforts to revitalize the Vermont/ San Bruno freeway area and turn it into a community park space the steering committee held the first planning meeting on February 27, 2013 at The Russian Gospel Church on 17th Street in San Francisco. Neighbors from the community were informed about the meeting via in-person conversations and a flyer drop.

Who attended: In addition to neighbors from Utah, San Bruno, Vermont, Mariposa and 17th Street there was representation from Lorena Wong, Caltrans landscape engineer, Chris Balingit, Caltrans District 4 Maintenance Manager, Jerad Weiner, DPW Community Liason, Alex Medina, Mission Police and Steve Schweigert, SF Parks Alliance.

Our Journey: The Community Planning Meeting is the culmination of almost two years of work by the steering committee that was formed to respond to concerns by the neighborhood for an improvement to the right-of-way area. Initial outreach resulted in help from UC Berkeley’s landscape program which (under the direction of Walter Hood) used the right-of-way area as the design topic for the University’s Thomas Church Memorial Competition. The result was an inspiring set of ideas for improving the area. Following that, the committee interviewed landscape architects and selected Sarah Moos and Marcel Wilson of Bionic (because of their commitment to the public process as a rich source of input and collaboration for making design better) to help create a master landscape plan for the area through a series of community meetings. They worked with the group to produce a marketing brochure for fundraising to support the design process which will involve neighbors.

Where we are right now: Currently the project has raised 10k of its 15k needed to reach its funding goal, which will enable the landscape architect design. After the design phase is complete, taking into consideration the feedback from the community, the committee will need to fundraise for the construction phase, currently estimated at around 100k.
During the meeting a presentation was made by steering committee members: Dianne Bates, Sheldon Trimble, Umesh Bhandary and Jean Bogiages. The presentation can be found at http://sfmuna.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Potrero-Gateway-Park.pdf. During and after the presentation, the audience was asked to contribute their concerns and ideas for the park, which were:
• Design goals
o Highest level considerations: Safety; low maintenance; frequent use; visually appealing
o Design should be uninhabitable for homeless, no hiding places
• Space Requests:
o Lots of lights
o Dog park
o Sprinklers – irregular sprinklers for irrigation and to deter homeless
o More trees to beautify, reduce pollution and decrease freeway sound
o Trees with a high canopy and lower growing ground cover (deters homeless)
o Open or community garden – or corporate sponsored gardens
o Fence to the freeway, open up the space
o Benches on the hillside with ridges (so you can’t lay down)
o Walking paths
o Park fitness equipment (increases use)
o Solar panels (b/c they deflect noise) and trial for alternative energy
o Round wall similar to El Camino
o Combine green material with hardscape materials: decomposed granite paths
o Sidewalk changes: Wider sidewalk on 17th , complete sidewalk on San Bruno
• Other:
o Traffic calming for Vermont and San Bruno, including speed signs, parking changes, bulls eye mirror, permit parking on Vermont
o Neighbors need to occupy/use the space; be there on a weekly/ bi-weekly basis for clean-ups.
o Community neighborhood watch groups by block

Folks were asked to volunteer for the steering committee and to help with fundraising.

Result of meeting: As a result of the meeting, neighbors are more aware and engaged around the project. In addition, the Russian Gospel Church offered their space for continual use by the steering committee and Caltrans sent a follow up note to the steering committee lead saying “It is evident that the community takes great pride in their neighborhood and are looking for feasible solutions and a design that is inviting, aesthetically pleasing, low maintenance and functional.”

Next Steps: The next planning meeting will be the steering committee and the landscape architects. Following that, we have planned two community meetings with the landscape architects to agree on a master landscape plan.

The committee is grateful to the Russian Gospel Church for its willingness to sponsor this first community meeting and the design meetings which will follow.