Mission Bay Neighbors!

A reader describes a Mission Bay Moment while responding to the prompt: What Makes Mission Bay Unique? Remnants of human activity by an ancient people have been discovered deep below the modern-day surface of what once was the edge of a tidal marsh. Future transit changes will speed up rail commutes and (fingers crossed) slow down auto travel on King Street. Recaps of Thursday’s Mission Bay Citizens’ Advisory Committee meeting follow the calendar.

LAST CHANCE TO FILL OUT THE SCHOOL ACCESS PLAN SURVEY!

Due Sunday, March 17!

There is only ONE day left before the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) closes the School Access Plan Survey on Sunday, March 17! They’ve reached about 90% of their goal and would appreciate your help in getting to 100%! If you’ve already taken the survey, thanks and please forward to a friend who hasn’t yet. Here are the survey links in four languages:

Take our survey in English.

Tome la encuesta en español.

请用中文参加我们的调查

Mangyaring kunin ang aming survey sa filipino

Meeting Calendar

SFMTA Board of Directors: Speed Camera Pilot Program Hearing

Date: Tuesday, March 19

Time: 1 PM

Location: City Hall, Room 400

Details: Join pedestrian safety advocacy group WalkSF to support speed cameras that will save lives. One of 33 speed cameras that will be piloted on San Francisco streets will be installed on King Street near Fourth Street. Most of the City’s high-injury corridors are in District 6, thus the lion’s share of the speed cameras — 7 of the 33 citywide — will be in District 6. This hearing is about the City’s process for choosing the camera locations (information only). Public comment will be taken. The SFMTA Board codifies the camera locations in a hearing on April 16th.

Jodie Medeiros, executive director of WalkSF, wrote to me in an email: The understanding is that the King Street camera is northbound traffic only between Fourth and Fifth Streets. (Vehicles coming into San Francisco.) According to SFMTA data surveys, over 1,000 cars were captured going over the speed limit, plus the number of crashes at this location made it the right location for a camera. The SFMTA will display on Tuesday an interactive map and their data to support their location choices. The agenda item number is #14, therefore it will be discussed around 3 PM – 3:30 PM (best guess). WalkSF will send talking points to those who sign up. For more on where speed cameras will be piloted, click here. For details on the hearing and offering public comment, click here.

SFPD Southern Station Community Meeting
Date: Wednesday, March 20
Time: 6 PM
Location: Public Safety Building, 1251 Third St, Room 1025
Details: SFPD Southern Station Captain Luke Martin will discuss Citizen Complaints against Officers and Non-Sworn Members, and provide general information regarding the investigation of Officer Involved Shootings. This meeting rotates locations each month, and is being held in Mission Bay for the second time this year. This is an opportunity to bring up public safety questions and concerns directly with the Southern Station Captain.

Public Meeting for Proposed Telecommunications Site at 150 Hooper St.
Date: Wednesday, March 27
Time: 6 PM
Location: Hybrid. In-person at San Francisco Main Library, 100 Larkin St. Virtual by Zoom.
Details: The twin buildings 100 / 150 Hooper Street sit along Seventh Street at the entrance into Mission Bay Drive. The buildings are zoned for Production, Distribution and Repair (PDR). The meeting notice describes antennae and other wireless communications equipment being installed on the roof of 150 Hooper in screened enclosures and painted to match the existing building. The attached notice provides more details.
Call to Register: (415)646-0972. Zoom link and call-in phone number provided at Registration. When registering, provide Name, Phone #, and Email. Reference March 27, 2024, meeting.

Mission Bay CAC Meeting Recap
Marc Slutzkin announced he has moved up after eight years as Project Manager for Mission Bay North and South. He’s now the Deputy Director – Projects & Programs for OCII. Taking his place as Mission Bay Project Manager is Gretchen Heckman, who has assisted Marc at CAC meetings in her former position as the Senior Development Specialist for the Mission Bay Project Area for probably the same eight years. Gretchen will be the OCII lead at CAC meetings going forward.

Gladstone Institutes’ proposal to expand their existing building at 1650 Owens Street by approximately 100,000 square feet for life sciences uses took a step closer to final approvals. CAC members recommended multiple change requests by Gladstones Institutes move forward to the OCII Commission for approval, specifically: amendments to the Mission Bay South Redevelopment Plan; the Mission Bay South Design for Development; the Mission Bay South Owner Participation Agreement; the Major Phase Application for Blocks 41 through 43; and Approval of the Amendment to the Basic Concept Design / Schematic Design.

Six CAC members were present and voted unanimously for this to advance. One CAC member was absent. Seems the Giants are dropping the ball on attendance at these meetings.

Third Street Quick Build
The discussion of SFMTA’s Quick Build Project on Third Street was purely informational since this was approved by the SFMTA’s Board of Directors at their March 5 meeting.

The project, which mainly entails improving bike network connectivity and assessing the feasibility of protected bikeways on Third Street between the Lefty O’Doul (Third Street) Bridge and Townsend Street, is targeted to finish by March 26th, when the SF Giants play their pre-season home opener. The project also encompasses curb management changes and pedestrian safety improvements. Expect to see one less southbound vehicle lane over the bridge – what’s referred to as a road diet — and one less left turn lane from Berry Street onto Third.

A few notes from the discussion — SFMTA and its regional counterpart SFCTA are not working together on this project and the Mission Bay School Access Plan that the County Transportation Authority is developing.

The eastside pedestrian walkway of the Third Street Bridge will be repaired by early April, reported Madison Tam, a District 6 legislative aide. The walkway was damaged by the barges that crashed into the bridge a year ago. Pedestrians have been walking in a de facto bicycle lane on that side of the bridge which is almost as nutty as walking in a vehicle lane. One neighbor requested signage that clearly indicates where bikes go and where pedestrians go.

The second left turn lane off Berry Street onto Third Street is being eliminated! The SFTMA staffer who gave the presentation acknowledged it took the fatality of a four-year-old child in the crosswalk at Fourth and King last August for street safety projects like this one to get serious about eliminating these dangerous street designs.

A more dangerous pedestrian crossing in the area defined by the Quick Build Project are the THREE LEFT TURN LANES from King Street onto northbound Third Street. To find out if SFMTA plans to road diet this treacherous crossing down from three lanes of raging motorists turning left, I wrote to the email address for the project: 3rdStreetQB@SFMTA.com. Awaiting a reply.

The SFMTA rep noted throughout her presentation that they’d gone to the Giants first in their Third Street Quick Build Project and worked with the Giants in planning the street redesign.

SF Giants MIA at CAC
Once upon a time, when Mission Rock was a blueprint on an urban designer’s drafting table, the San Francisco Giants had a regular presence at CAC meetings. Often more than one person representing the Giants attended. The CAC roster does, in fact, include a member of the Giants organization, yet we rarely see them at CAC meetings anymore. By contrast, we see several of the Chase Center staff at CAC meetings. The meetings are, after all, literally held in their home court. Nonetheless, thank you to Yoyo Murphy, Vanessa Gonzalez and Connor Santel from the Golden State Warriors for showing up.

Has Anyone Seen a Park Ranger Lately?
In the updates at the end, Luke Stewart from MBDG reported that long-awaited Bayfront Park should be completed by late May, early June. The anticipated park opening is projected for “from late fall to end of the year.” It’s behind schedule from previously planned opening dates. Skeptical neighbors pointed out that the long list of City departments required to inspect and approve new parks prior to opening has caused other finished parks to sit behind locked gates indefinitely. We were assured both by Luke and Marc that, “The process has been streamlined.”

A neighbor asked during the Rec and Parks update, “What are the hours the Park Rangers are supposed to be patrolling Mission Bay Parks? Have their hours changed? Are they supposed to walk through the parks, or can they remain seated inside their vehicles?”

OCII staff was caught off-guard by those questions. This prompted a follow up question, “Isn’t this supposed to be spelled out in the funding agreement OCII signed?”

It was confirmed that the funding agreement does specify Park Rangers are to actively patrol the parks, not just sit in vehicles, and the Rangers’ hours aren’t supposed to have changed.

Beginning in July 2023, after the initial phase of the management transfer went through, there was a prominent Park Ranger presence in Mission Bay Parks. One particular Park Ranger was seen daily in the parks and often chatted with parkgoers. He attended CAC meetings. Then he wasn’t there anymore.

Random Park Ranger sightings took place sporadically after that. And then like the red-winged blackbirds that used to be seen here, even sporadic Park Rangers vanished. Security was a major point of concern for the Parks transfer and we’d like to see the Rangers doing the job the Mission Bay Parks security staff under POSM did; the job they’re contracted to do.

Brandon Young, Park Section Supervisor, Mission Bay Complex, San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department, attends CAC meetings to provide Parks updates and hear concerns such as this. Brandon suggested this order of process for concerns related to Park Rangers:

1. Park Ranger Dispatch – 415-242-6390
2. RPD Info – 415-831-2700 or rpdinfo@sfgov.org, Concerns will be forwarded to specific department leads
3. 311

Mission Rock Construction Update
The Bay Trail that goes through Mission Rock is temporarily closed to foot and bicycle traffic while the construction team works on the permanent Bay Trail. The closure started on Tuesday and will continue until early April (though this is subject to delay). Signage will be in place to assist with pedestrian, cyclist, and vehicle traffic. 

The detour that travels between areas of the construction site, along the Bridgeview Paseo and through China Basin Park, will be closed between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. each night, for safety and security reasons. A direct pedestrian connection and northbound bike travel through the area, via the Toni Stone Crossing and Third Street sidewalks, will be available 24/7.

The permanent Bay Trail is projected to open in early April, although schedule changes may be considered in case of major weather conditions or other circumstances that prevent this work from proceeding. To receive Mission Rock construction notices, contact info@missionrock.com. 

I reiterate, it’d be great to have a Giants rep provide updates like this at our in-person meetings.

Mission Creek to Crane Cove
Speaking of the Bay Trail, last week’s walking tour led by Port of San Francisco staff took us from the Mission Bay Library over the Fourth Street Bridge, through the raingarden park, across Third Street and onto the Bay Trail into Dogpatch, where the tour culminated at Crane Cove Park.

Along with Mission Bay neighbors, folks came from Laurel Heights, Glen Park, and Marin County to hear the plans engineers are considering to protect the 7.5-mile stretch of waterfront that’s under Port jurisdiction.

That segment of the Bay Trail aligns with the Blue Greenway, a 13-mile network of parks, trails and beaches tracing the waterfront from Mission Creek to the County line on the south. The Blue Greenway was mentioned in last week’s MB News in connection to Corinne Woods. We passed the kiosk at the Pier 52 Corinne Woods Boat Launch, adjacent to the Bay View Boat Club on Terry Francois Boulevard. This public boat launch is named after the late Mission Bay CAC chair who played a major role in planning the Blue Greenway… and also was instrumental in getting this boat launch situated here and upgraded for $3.5 million in 2008.

Correction
I stated parenthetically in last week’s MB News that “mere months after Corinne Woods passed away (in April 2019), OCII began the fast-track transfer of Mission Bay Parks management over to City agencies, and use of the Pavilion as a café sort of fell by the wayside.” In fact, I was running a couple of years of the shelter-in-place together.  Eleven months after Corinne passed away, in-person CAC meetings along with everything else were halted due to the pandemic’s shelter-in-place, but it was January 2022 when an item appeared unexpectedly on a CAC agenda during the shelter-in-place Cysco Webex meetings with a schedule for the transfer already penciled out, and no mention of the Pavilion as a café.

10th Anniversary of the Mission Bay Construction Fire
On March 11, 2014, shortly before 5 PM, a five-alarm fire engulfed the skeleton of a six-story, 172-unit apartment building that was under construction on Fourth Street between Long Bridge and China Basin Street after workers had finished for the day. 150 firefighters were dispatched to contain the blaze. One firefighter sustained second-degree burns to the face and hands, and a fire chief sprained an ankle, but no other casualties were reported. There was $40 million in property damage, along with $100,000 worth of contents destroyed in the building. The fire sparked on the sixth-floor roof area in the southeast section of the building between the top floor and the roof, where welding had been conducted over bare plywood under a steel railing on the roof that day. A sprinkler system had yet to be installed at the site. After this setback, the project was rebuilt and today MB360 stands on the site at 1200 Fourth Street.

Faster Trains, Slower Cars on King Street
A couple of Caltrain’s new electric locomotives can be seen in the railyard near the I-280 ramps at that end of King Street. They’re the contemporary version of the diesel trains they’ll replace this fall when the Caltrain Electrification Project is complete. Along with being better for the environment, the electrified rail service will bring us faster travel times, more frequent service including during weekends, and increased amenities like onboard Wi-Fi and electrical outlets at every seat. Slower speeds imposed on cars on King Street is noted in the calendar item above.

Between the Rail Lines

The message here is one to SFCTA staff with regard to the I-280 Northbound HOV Lane extension along King Street: Actively promoting regional transit just got a lot easier. Faster trains and more frequent rail service vs. getting a speeding ticket and adding to congestion should be a no-brainer, even for car-centric Californians. SFCTA staff on this project have responded as if promoting regional transit is a nonstarter because they assume people won’t give up their sacred cars, but when the message is repeated often enough, people will be convinced to exchange their traffic jams and points on their license for speedy locomotives. The best way to reduce vehicle congestion from the Peninsula: Actively promote regional transit!

Ancient World

Proof of ancient human activity dating back nearly 8,000 years was discovered buried deep below the surface at a California College of the Arts (CCA) construction site on the western border of Mission Bay. A contact at CCA confirmed that the construction site is the one that stretches along Seventh Street in Showplace Square.

An SF Gate article on Monday described the discovery as “the oldest evidence ever found of some of the newly formed San Francisco Bay’s first inhabitants.” … “Originating more than 40 feet below the surface, the sediment was extracted by one of about a dozen bores sent down along San Francisco’s Mission Bay waterfront in 2018. It was a fairly routine investigation, commissioned by the California College of the Arts.” 

CCA’s 82,000-square-foot expansion is set to open this fall after years of planning and construction. In addition to providing new classrooms, housing, and green space, the campus will also pay permanent homage to the ancient site buried 40 feet below ground.

The buried ancient site on Mission Bay’s western border where San Francisco Bay’s earliest inhabitants once hunted sits opposite the building on Hooper Street that might soon have wireless communications antennae installed on its roof, and across Seventh Street from where newly electrified rail service will commence between San Francisco and San Jose this fall.

Mission Bay Moment – What Makes It Unique Keeps It New
Nish Kothari is an architect. He serves on TEL HI Neighborhood Center’s board of directors, and is a member of the Mission Bay School Steering Committee. His son attends the TEL HI childcare center on Pierpoint Lane in Mission Bay, between Third Street and Bridgeview Way, near the Chase Center.

His Mission Bay Moment contemplates What Makes Mission Bay Unique? Nish writes:

“I live on Zoe Street by South Park but we as a family spend a lot of time in Mission Bay, running, walking, walking with a stroller and driving.

“Pattern of spaces for patterns of activities, not just human activities, but overlapping patterns of diverse mobility and ecology with human activity is what I find unique in Mission Bay. My 3-year-old and his friends like observing lady bugs, worms and snails in the garden in the paseo outside TEL HI, a place where they also ride their bikes, scooter and stroller. I run and walk by Mission Creek, Mission Rock, and UCSF.

“I would agree that Mission Bay has arrived, but the narrative of sustainability, mobility and ecology as key drivers shaping a neighborhood is new and very much needed for cities, and in that it is a unique place, a resilient place, and to me a true Mission Bay moment happens at the intersection of these attributes.”

The Confluence
Point taken. Mission Bay is avant garde, a physical expression of modern concepts in urban design. A novel approach. An innovation. Once an estuary teeming with wildlife, fish and birds where an ancient people hunted… later a railyard… its single remaining rail line now electrified for commuter use… it has an eye toward battening down the hatches against changes to come… but for now, a flourishing place to live, work and recreate.

Naturally the label of “new” is going to stick no matter the passage of time. It takes a while for the mind to catch up with the reality.

Please Circulate / Sign Up!

MB News weekly updates are intended to keep neighbors posted on what’s happening around Mission Bay. If your building’s got an email group where these updates aren’t already being circulated, please be a Building Captain and forward this to your network. If you want to be added to the MB News distribution list and receive these updates directly, please contact me: bettina.cohen@sonic.net.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day (Tomorrow),

Happy First Day of Spring (Tuesday),

Cheers!