Some thoughts on making our city more attractive

John King writes in today's SFGate about how our city is becoming threadbare and some possible solutions,

The problem with San Francisco's common ground -- streets and sidewalks and parks and squares -- is that too many other things clamor for our attention.

That glimpse of the bay pulls our eye past anemic street trees. We head to Point Reyes rather than some bedraggled neighborhood park. We're too busy with cell-phone chatter to notice the sorry state of such crossroads as Hallidie Plaza.

"As other cities improve, and as urban people come to realize the importance of public streets and the public realm, what does San Francisco get left with? Views and topography," Allan Jacobs told a hearteningly large crowd that shares his concerns. "They are distant, they are wonderful. But they're not where people live."

Jacobs spoke last Tuesday at City Hall in what is touted as the first in a series of quarterly sessions to discuss the city's look and feel. He knows the terrain as former San Francisco planning director and author of such books as "Looking at Cities" and "Great Streets." And he played the part of captivating scold as he hammered home a blunt fact of life: Everybody's Favorite City looks tawdry up close.

...Jacobs also pointed out glimmers of promise, small gestures of civility that have occurred: the row of Brisbane box trees added to the median of Portola Drive heading west from Diamond Heights during winter, or the two blocks of Broadway near the Embarcadero with new benches and lighting. Or the leafy grace of the Duboce Triangle near the Castro district -- the result of tree planting in the early 1970s. "Why haven't we done more of that?"

Why indeed. Here's a guess: Something else is always more pressing. San Francisco is a city where every faction pursues its agenda in all-or-nothing terms. Why invest in parks when there are homeless people on the streets? Why fix a plaza when the education system is in tatters? Why spend money on "aesthetics" that could go toward social programs? Or health services?

The evening also included a cameo appearance by Newsom, who stopped by to welcome the standing-room-only crowd.

"We can do so much more. We can do better," Newsom conceded. "The bar here is so much higher than nine out of 10 cities in the world. ... There is no excuse not to be great. Great, not good."

An admirable sentiment. Let's hold him to it.

Tree Plantings [Friends of the Urban Forest]
Tree Planting Calendar [Friends of the Urban Forest]