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July 19, 2010Presidio Habitats Embodies "Art about Place" BY ELIZABETH HOLDEN Fritz Haeg's Animal Estates Snag Tower [Photo Credit: Monique Deschaines/FOR-SITE Foundation]How does public art play with the space of an urban area? In San Francisco, public art is important to people, but open space is scarce. Open spaces dedicated to slices of visual quality, such as the POPOS or Pavement to Parks projects, engage the public in a conversation about art without the confinements of a museum. The recently opened Presidio Habitats redefines this conversation of art and...
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July 16, 2010Parks and Parklets Tour: A Three-Part Ddyssey BY FABIANA MEACHAM Last week's Parks and Parklets tour led a group of enthusiastic urbanists to three of the city's parklets — miniature parks built on roadway and parking spaces reclaimed for the pedestrian realm.Divisadero: We kicked off our tour at the Divisadero Street parklet in front of Mojo Bicycle Café. Café patrons sipped coffee and admired their gleaming two-wheelers as Great Streets Project's Liza Pratt filled us in on the parklet's history: installed in March of this...
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July 16, 2010Weekly Snapshot BY ANIKA JESI [Photo Credit: Colleen McHugh]SFMOMA architects meet the public: The project of designing the $250 million SFMOMA extension to house the incoming Fisher Collection has been narrowed down to four eclectic finalists. In a short film, each architect discusses their individual hopes for the future of MOMA and their theories on what a museum should be.Science city stores warm air from summer to heat buildings in winter: A Swiss University has found a way to heat its campus with virtually no carbon...
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July 15, 2010New Bay Area Air Quality Guidelines Among Most Stringent in the Nation BY TIMOTHEA TWAY [Photo Credit: flickr user Sam Williams]Earlier this month, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) unanimously adopted new air quality guidelines related to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and particulate matter (PM 2.5) from land use projects. The comprehensive new guidelines, among the most stringent in the nation, address the impacts of air pollutants, as well as recent changes in state and federal air quality. The guidelines also include air quality significance thresholds...
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July 14, 2010What is DIY Urbanism? BY JON ROGERS Determined to see changes occur in their neighborhoods despite tight city budgets, many DIY Urbanists are taking matters into their own hands. They are rolling up their sleeves to make improvements to their built environment by planning, designing, and implementing projects. Because DIY Urbanism projects are conceived by individuals and implemented on tight budgets, innovation and creativity are key ingredients in any DIY project. As a result, DIY Urbanism projects are as diverse as the people...
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July 14, 2010Muni Reform Certified by San Francisco Department of Elections for November Ballot BY BEN LOWE [Photo Credit: Colleen McHugh]The San Francisco Department of Elections announced on Monday that the Fix Muni Now campaign had submitted enough voter signatures to qualify their Muni reform measure for the ballot.The Department of Elections conducted a random sample of 2,248 signatures of the total 74,933 submitted and, based on this statistical sampling, determined there were more than the 44,382 signatures required.The measure, if approved by voters in November, would require the Muni...
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July 13, 2010Layering the Map BY JORDAN SALINGER Golden Gate Bridge, circa 1933 [Photo via Historypin user megscannell]Beyond simply serving as tools to express our knowledge of our physical surroundings, maps have frequently served as an artistic medium, allowing for the expression of biases and acting as a platform for storytelling. Since the start of the 21st century, online mapping services, led by Mapquest and more recently Google, have focused less on creativity and more on accuracy in attempting to map the planet. Google's Street...
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July 12, 2010PPIC Releases CA2025 Report on Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Public Policy in California BY FABIANA MEACHAM What are the most pressing issues facing California in the next 15 years and how should we deal with them? If only there were one comprehensive PDF document floating around the internet with all the answers.Policy wonks across the state will now be thrilled to discover the Public Policy Institute of California's recently released CA2025 report, a "briefing kit" covering California's most important long-term policy issues. Outlining policies on topics ranging from water to...
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July 12, 2010W Hotel Greens Existing Building BY TIMOTHEA TWAY [Photo Credit: Timothea Tway]At SPUR we work hard to promote the use of green building and energy efficiency practices. (Did you know the SPUR Urban Center recently achieved a LEED Silver rating? Look for it in our lobby soon!) The City of San Francisco has a comprehensive green building ordinance to address new buildings and large retrofitting projects, however we always love to see more retrofitting of existing buildings in order to further conserve resources. That's why we're so...
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July 9, 2010Weekly Snapshot BY ANIKA JESI Signing petitions for the Fix Muni Now campaign. [Photo Credit: Colleen McHugh]Elbsernd Muni reform measure has money and signatures to spare: SF Supervisor Elsbernd proudly presents the nearly 75,000 signatures collected for Fix Muni Now, the SPUR/Elsbernd Muni reform campaign which has proved successful despite union and mayoral opposition.The case for pay-as-you-drive car insurance: This idea for usage-based car insurance, charging a fee per miles traveled, could deter unnecessary driving...
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