Events:

• 4/2 - Polk Streetscape Ribbon Cutting - Join Public Works project team members, City officials, merchants and neighbors for a celebration commemorating the completion of the Polk Streetscape Project. - 11 a.m. - Fern Alley at Polk Street
• 4/6 - Pop-Up Summer Resource Fairs - The Department of Children, Youth & Their Families, Rec and Park and the SF Public Library present their Pop-Up Summer Resource Fair. No registration is necessary. Just show up, have some fun, and learn about the amazing resources San Francisco has to offer children, youth and families! - 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.  - ShipShape Community Center - 850 Avenue I on Treasure Island 
• 4/13 - Eggstravaganza - Rec and Park presents its annual spring celebration with egg hunts, carnival rides, games, entertainment and more. - 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. - Robin Williams Meadow, Golden Gate Park
• 4/13 - 4/21 - 52nd Annual Northern California - Cherry Blossom Festival  - Since 1968, the festival has cultivated the continued alliance between Japan and the United States using culture as its bridge. Each year, more than 220,000 people attend this dazzling display showcasing the vibrant colors and grace of the Japanese culture and the diversity of the Japanese-American Community.
• 4/14 - Sunday Streets Tenderloin No. 1 - With car-free streets, free activities and plenty of chances to meet your neighbors, Sunday Streets' most urban route celebrates the centrally located and densely populated Tenderloin, one of the City’s oldest neighborhoods. - 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. - Route map.
• 4/27 - Community Clean Team in District 5 - Community Clean Team is San Francisco Public Works’ longest-running and largest volunteer program that keeps San Francisco beautiful through landscaping and gardening projects, graffiti removal and litter cleanup in our neighborhoods. - 8:30 a.m. - registration; 9 a.m. to noon - community work projects; Ella Hill Hutch Center, 1050 McAllister St.

• Our ground-breaking StreetTreeSF tree maintenance program won the top award for sustainability practices in a competition run by the American Public Works Association, Northern California Chapter. StreetTreeSF, approved by City voters in 2016, sets aside $19 million a year for Public Works to care for San Francisco's 125,000-plus street trees and to repair tree-related sidewalk damage.
• Two Public Works projects, the Polk Streetscape Project and the Central Shops Replacement Facilities Project, have been named winners of the International Partnering Institute’s 2019 Partnered Project of the Year awards. Both projects were multi-agency collaborations led by Public Works that implemented facilitated collaborative partnering to resolve issues and meet project goals.  The specific award levels (sapphire, ruby, diamond) will be revealed at an awards ceremony on May 17 at the Hilton San Francisco Airport Bayfront.

Thank yous:

• For the past couple of days, Caselli Avenue has been undergoing repaving work as the result of the sewer repairs done earlier last year.  At this time, I would like to express my gratitude for the fine work done by Daniel Brugmann of your infrastructure construction management team and for his follow-through on a request I made to him during the course of an earlier conversation. Too often, folks are very quick to criticize City employees and slow to offer up praise. I am hopeful that my brief correspondence will let you know that I, for one, realize what a great asset Public Works employees are to the City and how they add to the quality of life for all of us who live in San Francisco.  A small gesture, like the one evidenced by Mr. Brugmann, makes a huge difference! -- Michael B.
• I would like to be sure you are aware of the excellent responses I have received from Steven Duong, the corridors program manager. I asked Steve if the area at the top of the Lombard Hill, often littered with visitors’ snack wrappers, drink cups, as well as shattered auto window glass, could be addressed. He has agreed to do so. I am always pleased when Public Works employees not only respond but respond positively to residents’ concerns within the scope of their responsibilities. In this way, employees and residents together can partner to make the City one in which people enjoy living and/or working. Please commend Steve for his work and extend my thanks to him. -- Phoebe D.
• I’d like to thank you for sending two very nice guys from the Bureau of Building Repair. They were prompt, they were pleasant and they were fast. But that’s how Public Works rolls. In all sincerity, thank you so much. -- Malika A.
• The paving project at Northern station looks amazing. -- Vivian G.

• EPISODE 0049 - A Tree for Ferlinghetti - We planted the City’s annual signature tree in honor of Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Our urban foresters give you a quick glimpse into his life and legacy.

Articles

• How Poetic: A Street Tree Honors Lawrence Ferlinghetti - We planted the City’s annual signature tree this month in honor of celebrated poet, publisher and activist Lawrence Ferlinghetti, as part of the San Francisco Arbor Day 2019 celebrations. Ferlinghetti, who turned 100 years old March 24, played a prominent role in the literary renaissance of the 1950s. He was named San Francisco’s first Poet Laureate in 1998, a role he served in for two years. He co-founded City Lights in 1953 and the North Beach bookstore quickly became a cultural hub for poets, painters and social activists. Two years later, he launched City Lights Publishers, providing a new platform for poets to share their work. We planted the tree on March 18 under sunny blue skies. Joining us were District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin; Lorenzo Ortona, Italy’s consul general in San Francisco; former Board of Supervisors President Angela Alioto; Alice Waters, the chef, restaurant owner and food activist; Ferlinghetti’s son, Lorenzo, who is an arborist; and Mauro Aprile Zanetti, Ferlinghetti’s longtime assistant. Zanetti said Ferlinghetti, an environmentalist, is happy that the City is planting a signature in his honor. “He likes the idea that it’s a breathing monument.” The Lawrence Ferlinghetti signature tree is an olive tree, a symbol of peace and friendship. Planted in front of 576 Union St., across from Via Ferlinghetti, the signature tree is one of the 125,000-plus street trees in San Francisco under the stewardship of Public Works.
  This marks the 14th year of Public Works’ signature tree program, which, during the annual Arbor Day season, honors civic, cultural, social and political leaders with a living tribute. “The tradition of planting trees to honor people who bring positive and transformative change to our communities is a wonderful way to celebrate their contributions,” said San Francisco Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru. “We are proud to honor Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s decades-long influence at the intersection of art and activism.” Past signature tree honorees include Dr. Espanola Jackson; Irene Crescio; the iconic Brown twin sisters, Marian and Vivian; Nelson Mandela; Sandra Cuadra; Wangari Maathai; Charlie Starbuck; Rosa Parks; Cesar Chavez; Ruth Asawa; Dr. Ellen Wolf; Dana Woldow, Rose Pak and Mayor Edwin Mah Lee. 
• Hello New Street Trees! - San Francisco’s urban forest grew by nearly 200 trees in just one morning, thanks to a huge contingent of volunteers that came out for our annual Community Clean Team Arbor Day workday event. The volunteer force, more than 400 strong, worked alongside our crews to plant 184 trees in the Excelsior, Ingleside and other District 11 neighborhoods on March 16. Supervisor Ahsha Safai aspires to plant at least 500 trees a year in his district and is on track to meet that goal. San Francisco has 125,000-plus street trees, which Public Works cares for under StreetTreeSF, the voter-approved program that sets aside $19 million a year for tree maintenance and tree-related sidewalk repair. Every year around Arbor Day, Public Works organizes a one-day massive tree planting, in partnership with the nonprofit Friends of the Urban Forest. We held the kickoff at Denman Middle School. It was there, on the schoolyard blacktop, that we also hosted our annual family-friendly Arbor Day Eco Fair. We offered free bucket truck rides, planter box building and face painting. Folks also could power a blender by pedaling a bike and pet a friendly menagerie of piglets, goats and ducks. In addition, a variety of nonprofit organizations and sister City agencies were on hand to talk to neighbors about their programs and services.We had a great time celebrating Arbor Day and we can’t wait for next year.
• Coming Full Circle - Dewey Circle neighbors sure know how to throw a party! A wonderful community celebration took place on March 2 to mark the progress made restoring Dewey Circle, a large landscaped traffic circle West of Twin Peaks where five streets converge: Dewey Boulevard, Montalvo Avenue, Taraval Street, Claremont Boulevard and Kensington Way. The festivities included an energetic lion dance troupe from West Portal Elementary School, a sumptuous offering of food donated by West Portal restaurants, a live jazz band and crowd-pleasing speeches. The grassroots beautification project involved a strong collaboration involving Public Works and West Portal and Forest Hill neighbors. Together, we decided on the project scope, design and the landscape palette, which includes a wonderful mix of drought-tolerant California and Mediterranean plants. The design ensures that drivers and pedestrians traveling through the intersection don’t have obstructed views, and the plant selection is easy on the eyes and environmentally sustainable. Our plumbing, cement and landscape teams worked on the Dewey Circle improvements. Neighbors have agreed to help maintain the site and also raised money to replace the decorative planters and to help pay the water bill. The Dewey Circle project showcases what’s possible when City agencies work in partnership with community groups to improve our neighborhoods and bolster civic pride.
• A Revolt Gives Birth to a New Greenway - More than a half-century ago, activists successfully stopped a planned highway from cutting through Glen Park, resulting in a ribbon of undeveloped parcels of land that had been set aside for the hated highway. Running parallel to Bosworth Street between Brompton and Burnside streets, the parcels have a patchwork of owners, with Public Works owning about 75 percent and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and the Archdiocese of San Francisco owning the remainder. Today, that land has been transformed into the Glen Park Greenway, which when complete will connect downtown Glen Park to Glen Canyon Park via a landscaped pathway. The Glen Park Association spearheaded the project, and on March 23, the organization hosted a small but festive gathering to dedicate a new Glen Park Greenway marker sign and map and to celebrate the work completed so far.  Volunteers have logged 1,800 hours over the past 16 months clearing brush, pulling weeds and planting more than 50 trees and 100 shrubs. “In the grand scheme of trails, we have to be honest with each other,” Bob Siegel of the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council told the crowd. “The Glen Park Greenway is in the micro-category. But we should not underestimate this little guy. With its creation, residents of Glen Park can bathe in nature on their way to the Glen Park [Recreation] Center, or to schools, shops or transit, and others can hop off of BART and, a minute later, be on a wonderful greenway that connects to Glen Canyon, the Ridge Trail, Twin peaks, Mt. Sutro, Golden Gate Park and beyond. Urban hikes can’t get much better.” Public Works involvement: our Bureau of Urban Forestry team cleared dead and dying trees, our plumbing and cement shops installed new equipment for irrigation and our mapping section prepared a boundary survey. Our crews also will continue to assist volunteers on workdays. In addition to neighborhood residents, other collaborators include the San Francisco Parks Alliance, Friends of the Urban Forest and the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council. Funding has come from a variety of sources, including City funds, foundation grants and private donations. It is projects like the Glen Park Greenway that are particularly meaningful to Public Works because at the end of the day, building and nurturing community partnerships is a key to the continued improvement of our city.
• Pothole-Repair Blitz - The relentless rains have been keeping our street crews exceptionally busy over the winter and into the spring, filling more than 7,500 potholes since December. Public Works patches about 350 potholes during a typical dry month; the number balloons when it rains. In the first three weeks of March, for example, crews from our Bureau of Street and Sewer Repair filled 2,722. At one point, we were running up to four crews a day, seven days a week, during a pothole-repair blitz to catch up in meeting our 72-hour response rate goal. San Francisco is not alone in dealing with a proliferation of potholes. City streets and highways across the rain-soaked west have been pummeled by potholes. The culprit? Water, and lots of it. If water gets through a crack in the asphalt, it can start to soften up the road’s base. When a lot of traffic, and especially heavy trucks and buses, pass over, the cracks get bigger and eventually form potholes. While we have proactive pothole repairs, we also rely on the public to report them through the City’s 311 customer service center so we can get out and smooth the road.
• Geary Rapid Project Gets Moving - The City broke ground this month on the Geary Rapid Project that aims to bring pedestrian safety and transit improvements to the busy corridor between Stanyan and Market streets. The stretch has been designated a high-injury corridor, making it a top priority for safety improvements under the City’s Vision Zero goal to eliminate all traffic-related deaths and serious injuries by 2024. The Geary Rapid Project will add more pedestrian countdown signals and bulb-outs to shorten the crossing distance for people walking across Geary. Plans also call for decreasing the number of traffic lanes between Gough and Scott streets as a means to calm traffic. In addition, the pedestrian bridge at Geary Boulevard and Steiner Street, which currently is not ADA-compliant, will be removed and replaced with surface-level crosswalks and medians. The project also includes improvements to make travel on Muni’s Geary bus lines more efficient, with bus-only lanes, traffic signal prioritization for transit and improved bus stops. The Geary project will provide safer crossings, more visibility between motorists and pedestrians and a design to slow traffic along one of the busiest corridors in our city. As the population continues to climb in San Francisco and the City gets more congested, we have to double down on our efforts to make our streets safer and to improve our transportation infrastructure.  The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is the lead in the multi-agency initiative, with Public Works involved in most aspects, including the traffic signal upgrades, the pedestrian bulb-outs, landscaping, removal of the bridge and final paving to make the road smoother for all users. Underground water and sewer lines will be upgraded along the corridor. We’ll also be repaving a significant stretch of the roadway to provide users with a smoother, safer experience. This is the first phase of the planned Geary Rapid Project construction, which is expected to be completed in spring 2021. The second phase of improvements would bring similar transit and safety improvements west of Stanyan to 34th Avenue. More information on the project can be found at the SFMTA project page.
• Making Good at the Crossroads - Newly completed streetscape improvements at the intersection of Geary Boulevard and Park Presidio Boulevard – one of the busiest crossroads in the City – offer a safer and more inviting environment for Muni riders, pedestrians, cyclists and drivers. The transformation has turned a mundane urban corner into a welcoming setting with beautiful plantings, seating walls and lighting, as well as new sidewalk and curb ramps. The $300,000 makeover was one of the last improvement projects funded by voters through the 2011 Road Repaving and Street Safety Bond. Public Works designed, managed and built the project, with landscaping work done by the Recreation and Park Department. Geary is a highly traveled corridor, used by people moving between Ocean Beach and downtown. Park Presidio Boulevard connects 19th Avenue in the Sunset District to the Golden Gate Bridge.  The new features reflect the needs of the community and reinforce neighborhood identity. Public Works received input for the design from neighbors, advocacy groups and District 1 Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer. “I want to thank the residents for their input for a better design and to Public Works for coming out to D1 and giving us some love!” said Fewer.