The SFPUC has apparently listened to the 150 residents who braved the wind and cold last month, and the 527 people who signed a petition against the proposed closure of Bacon St., between University St and Bowdoin St, over the University Mound Reservoir. Ed Harrington, General Manager of the SFPUC, has sent a notice to neighbors that they have decided to re-open Bacon St., and only raise the bollards in emergency situations. A few people in the community really stepped it up: Ron Parsall, who spearheaded the petition drive and worked doggedly on obtaining as much information as he possibly could about everything relating to this proposal; and Pat Connon, who first contacted the SFPUC when he noticed the bollards at the end of the road and started asking questions and alerted neighbors. I suppose I too did my part, finding traffic studies and data to bolster our case, getting our supervisors involved, and figuring out that the Planning Department had already been unofficially approached by the SFPUC regarding permanent closure so as to determine whether another EIR application needed to be filed in order to get permission to permanently close the street.
Without any public word from the SFPUC on what their proposal actually entailed, it took people who believed that they were looking at a shady deal in the works to mobilize the community and stop things before they couldn't be undone.
Our city supervisors, Malia Cohen (D10) and David Campos (D9) and their staff have been great in helping to make sure that our concerns were listened to, and they too deserve a big shout out!
It is my hope that this is a lesson learned by the agency and others not to try to slip stuff by people. Work with the community and keep as much as possible in the daylight, explain the thinking behind what you'd like to do, and come to conclusions that will be mutually beneficial. The minute you try to do something like this without fully informing people, you're going to come away looking like a bad guy.
I hope that those who were fine with the idea of a permanent closure are equally fine with the impending re-opening.
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| Ed Harrington's Letter to Bacon St neighbors |
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