San Francisco faced big challenges with equity and affordability in 2015. Still, the city made major progress by building and preserving affordable housing, planning better neighborhoods, reclaiming streets for people, making room for nature, lessening automobile dependence, and fostering a shift towards sustainable transportation. Let’s take a look at the year in livability: San Francisco’s Voice for…
Two big private developments won important approvals in the last month – one from the voters, and the other from the Board of Supervisors. Voters approved Proposition D, approving a height limit increase for the Mission Rock Development on San Francisco’s waterfront, as well as a host of policies related to the development. The Board of Supervisors approved…
Livable City’s recommendations for San Francisco’s November 3, 2015 election Yes on Prop A, Affordable Housing Bond No on Prop D, Mission Rock Development Yes on Prop F, Short-term rental regulation No on G/Yes on H, Clean energy Yes on Prop J, Legacy Business fund Yes on Prop K, Surplus land for Affordable Housing Yes on A…
San Francisco’s Downtown Plan turned 30 this year. The plan came about in the midst of the 1980s “Planning Wars,” when battles over density, building height, and office uses were fought in City Hall and the ballot box. The Downtown Plan attempted two reconcile two contending visions of the city – that of postwar Modernism, which had transformed…
San Francisco’s growing acceptance of accessory units – new units in existing buildings – reached another milestone this week as two ordinances permitting new units within existing buildings were unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors on first reading. Supervisor Wiener’s ordinance permitted new units in his Supervisorial District (District 8), which includes the Castro, Mission Dolores,…
Livable City’s Greenway Network campaign is creating a linked-up open space system for San Francisco of landscaped boulevards, green streets, and linear parks which link the city’s neighborhoods to one another, and to our major parks, wildlife corridors, waterfront, and public transit hubs. The Network will serve as sustainable transportation infrastructure (walking, bicycling, and public transit), and provide stormwater infiltration and…
We are working hard to reclaim our public spaces and ensure privately-owned places are still welcoming to everyone. Public rights-of-way – streets and alleyways – make up about a quarter of San Francisco’s land area. Projects that reclaim alleyways as neighborhood-serving public places with greening, traffic-calming, and pedestrianization are moving forward in 2015. Living Alleys, also known as woonerfs,…
For many decades, transportation planning in San Francisco was focused almost entirely on the automobile, and walking, cycling, and public transit were marginalized. We need to put sustainable modes at the center of our transportation plans, and replace “predict and provide” models of traffic and parking planning with ones that take into account the potential…
Livable City’s Livable Downtown Initiative seeks to make Downtown San Francisco a more vital, sustainable, and livable place. It has been over twenty years since the city’s landmark Downtown Plan was adopted. The Downtown plan set out to create a vital downtown office and shopping district oriented to walking and public transit. The vision of…
Although sprawling, the overwhelming majority of Bay Area residents have convenient access to sustainable modes of transit. A major hurdle for many potential users is the short distance between home and transit, and again between work and transit. These first and last mile challenges keep many people who either live or work in transit poor…
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