San Francisco has approximately 780,000 residents with over two million visitors and workers coming in and out of the city each day. In a city of only 49 square miles and a financial district of only two miles by two miles it does not take a major construction job from creating immediate inconveniences to a large amount of people. Like most cities, its residents do not have a lot of patience for these types of projects and protests begin almost immediately upon the start of any construction.
In San Francisco we have seen four projects that are worth noting that may have caused short-term distraction but long term will lead to a better quality of life for our city. The first,is the removal of the freeway ramps on Fell and Hayes Street. By removing these on and off ramps the neighborhoods underneath these former freeways are now alive again. New shops and housing projects have replaced once dark and rat infested “dead areas”. Once marginal areas have upgraded into a successful thriving neighborhood.
The second is the removal of the central freeway. As a broker for a number of commercial buildings around the Central freeway, I was concerned that the noise and distraction of the removal of the freeway would chase away potential tenants from my listings. The central freeway came down fast with very little disturbance creating a beautiful more open environment off of Division Street. Already, it has created renewed interest in tenants. The recent renovation of 1661 Mission Street by designer Warren Sheets into a “decorator showcase quality” office for his firm is indicative of what can happen when people begin to believe that an area is on an upswing.
The third is the removal of the Embarcadero Freeway. When San Francisco voters were asked to vote on tearing down the freeway I voted against it. I felt that although the structure was an eyesore and I was more worried about the traffic congestion that would be created by its removal. The initiative to remove the freeway lost, but the freeway ended up coming down anyway due to the 1989 earthquake. Today, the entire area once underneath the freeway has been reborn into one of the most beautiful areas I believe in the country. With its beautiful palm trees, open vistas to the bay, the old railway cars and the newly opened Ferry building, none of this would have been possible if it wasn’t for the removal of the Embarcadero freeway.
The fourth project, which has the potential to have the most impact of them all, is the addition of our new light rail system down 3rd street. This project could have the greatest impact on the largest percentage of San Francisco since the opening of the light rail system through the West Portal tunnel which opened the entire west side of San Francisco to development.
The 3rd street rail system will impact the Bay view District, Visitation Valley, Mission Bay and the “Dog Patch districts of our city. Local San Franciscans such as myself always knew that the Bay view had the best weather in San Francisco. Now, with mass transportation, others will quickly realize the value of this area for development. With its close proximity to the financial district, the best weather in town and land and buildings for development and redevelopment the 3rd street line will prove to be a long-term winner for our city.
As citizens we are probably at our lowest point of believing that government can perform anything right, these four projects are a statement that government can still work for our greater good.
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Peter
Rosenthal and Steven Newhauser are agents 
