What's up San Francisco?

I had thought of titling this “City in Decline” but then “Tale of Two Cities” jumped out at me also. In either case, the good and the bad have been much on my mind recently especially after visiting other cities in this country and around the world. One thing I keep bugging at least one friend with is the fact that San Francisco has absolutely the worst streets of any city that I have visited in Europe and Southeast Asia. The bone jarring washboards that we have would not be tolerated in a civilized society, or shouldn’t be, so what is the problem here?

Then the homeless problem remains and tourists and locals alike are deluged with the panhandling of the vagrants who have taken over our streets. They dump all sorts of garbage on them and use them for their toilets. This situation would not be tolerated in a civilized society, or shouldn’t be, so what is the problem here?

Other cities have interesting modern architecture but the moment anyone here proposes something new and original, people scream their bloody heads off about it. Even the proposed redress of a small dowdy building on Grant Street by Prada got shot down because the design didn’t fit in with the rest of the buildings in the area. Most modern cities build interesting and exciting new buildings so what is the problem here?

Then there is the problem with our dowdy, dumpy, and uncomfortable War Memorial Opera House. After having visiting the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center in New York City and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., I must say that we, if we are to be a world class city, need something better. Personally, I propose tearing down the Opera House and the Veteran’s Building and erecting a Kennedy type center with multiple venues within its walls to house opera, ballet, and various other theatrical events. (It need not include a symphony hall as Davies will do for that for now.)

This city has done some things correctly since I moved here thirty years ago. The Yerba Buena Gardens is one such project that succeeded. The new Asian Art Museum and the new deYoung Museum are both successful. The new main library is less so in part because it is too small.

One big failure is the Ferry Building Plaza which got separated by three lanes of vehicular traffic on each side, thus stranding the plaza and making is unusable except as a passageway to get from Justin Herman Plaza to the Ferry Building. It also provides room for the Muni’s F-line stop. Otherwise, this vast space remains empty and unusable because it is not connected to the Ferry Building nor to Justin Herman Plaza. The Ferry Building refurbishing is great but it is a shame that there is no Ferry Building Plaza to go with it.

Public transportation could stand to be a little more reliable but traffic in the city almost makes that impossible in the downtown area. Consider that many streets, while one-way, have three lanes and during business hours it is not uncommon to find at least two lanes blocked by double-parked trucks. Thus cars and buses must squeeze through these constricted areas and this slows everything and everyone down. These days, too, it seems like there are just too many vehicles of all types on the streets downtown resulting in grid lock as many cannot get across an intersection before the light changes. We also need more traffic cops on Market Street especially at Stockton/Market/Fourth Streets. There are traffic cops in the financial district during rush hours but they are wimps compared to NYC and other cities. They need to be more forceful in their actions.

Ah, what the heck, sometimes I think we need another 1906 type earthquake and then perhaps we could start all over and get it right the next time.

For instance, the Muni’s planned cross-town subway is a starter but it should go all the way to Fisherman’s Wharf. There should also be a subway under Van Ness Avenue from Aquatic Park to Market Street and beyond. Maybe we need one under Mission Street as well to relieve the pressure on the Market Street subway. The biggest mistake of all in recent years occurred before I moved here and that was the failure to build a Geary corridor subway. In fact, the Muni has been criticized in recent months for pushing the plans for a subway under Stockton Street instead of opting for a much more needed one under Geary.

Ah, problems, problems, problems. Why am I raising these issues? Good question but then in my travels I see how other cities are doing things and I wonder what is wrong here. Sometimes I wonder if this city will ever be able to manage its traffic and its finances, neither of which are in very good shape and errect some bold and imaginative buildings without the luddites and others screaming their fool heads off.