Phase 1 of the Earthquake Safety and Emergency Response (ESER) bond passes to provide $420.4 million to fund improvements to essential public safety facilities and seismically upgrade their aging infrastructure.

Community Clean Team, San Francisco Public Works’ longest-running and largest volunteer program, begins. The program stages cleanup events once a month for each district through landscaping and gardening projects, graffiti removal and litter cleanup. Today, the program is now known as Love Our City: Neighborhood Beautification Day.

City Hall suffered extensive damage during the Loma Prieta Earthquake. A necessary seismic upgrade provided the impetus to restore the building’s architectural beauty as well as bring it into the 21st century with state of the art technology. City Hall suffered extensive damage during the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake.

The Gateway Arch (Dragon Gate) on Grant Avenue at Bush Streets marks the entry to Chinatown, which was dedicated on October 18th, 1970. This iconic symbol conforms to Chinese gateway standards using stone from the base to the top and features a green tiled roof. Public Works maintains the cleanliness and integrity of the gateway.

For the Hetch Hetchy Project, Public Works oversaw the construction of the O’Shaughnessy Dam and a system of aqueducts that connected it to San Francisco. The system is now operated by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

San Francisco Public Works was officially created on January 8, 1900 with the official name of Board of Public Works. Our first task was to organize and regulate street construction and paving projects throughout the city. Our original four bureaus were: Streets, Lighting, Building, and Light & Water Services. Over the next century and nearly two decades our roles have shifted and expanded dramatically.