Missing Traits in the Trade

Analysis of Third Street Economic Development and Corridor Strategy

CYP 200 Planning Histories and Practice: Frameworks, Opportunities, and Dilemmas Fall 2022

Dini Fauziah Amattullah

Executive Summary

Project Background and Historical Context

The Third Street corridor is often described in the news media and by city agencies as an “underdeveloped” neighborhood. In the 1960s, the downtown section of Third Street was known as San Francisco's "skid row" and became the city’s last predominantly Black neighborhood in the present day. The plan to improve the Third Street corridor is part of the “Jobs Parks and Housing Initiative” from Proposition G, which was voted back in June 2008. The economic development and corridor strategy plan address three main goals to improve the district's social, economic, and physical conditions. Despite its benevolent objective, the plan fails to address the long history of disinvestment and displacement embedded in the neighborhood. Through abandonment of political-economic decisions and social crises of the past, the program lacks historical connecting traits tied to its strategies. This paper examines how the plan deals with the legacy of the past and creates inclusive opportunities beyond looking at the high commercial vacancy rate

Key findings

Our findings show that in Hunters Bayview Point, as in most black communities, black women have shouldered the burden of public responsibility and brought progressive change In terms of corridor strategy, the residents are likelier to have a public realm improvement over the festive brand to lift the economic gains. Furthermore, the plan also missed addressing the unemployment issues and engaging with the thriving existing local cultural assets embedded in the economic plan.

As the plan leaves out community participation, plan intersectionality, physical upgrade, and cultural value for an economic boost, this paper analyzes causes and possible cures from prior research The focus of this analysis would emphasize four crucial elements as connecting traits of the profound history of Third Street in Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood with their prospect. The four aspects are a social-bias improvement, incomplete economic strategy, unfriendly physical design, and unrevealed local assets and cultural determinants.

Recommendations

Working with a community with a long history of being marginalized and continuing to be displaced by the system behind seemingly part of the city’s progress, the development plan should reflect deeply not to repeat the same narration. These are recommendations for the authority to incorporate:

• Engage

• Explore

• Encourage

• Elaborate

• Evaluate

In conclusion, creating a vibrant, profitable, and flourishing economic development and corridor strategy must start beyond analyzing the high vacancy rate problem and asking more inclusive questions. More importantly, not to repeat the same traumatizing urban revitalization glooming over the neighborhood.

Introduction

The plan to upgrade Third Street along the Bayview Hunters Point Neighborhood of San Francisco has progressed since Proposition G, “Jobs Parks and Housing Initiative,” was voted in June 2008 The declaration would serve as the legal basis for developing the Third Street corridor that will encapsulate an area of a 1.5-mile-long retail corridor. The plan is a subset of the Bayview Hunters Point Area Plan with the objection of improving the use of land by creating compact commercial areas, establishing nodes for complementary uses, and restricting unhealthy uses.1 Despite its benevolent objective, the plan fails to address the long history of disinvestment and displacement embedded in the neighborhood. Through abandonment of political-economic decisions and social crises of the past, the program lacks historical connecting traits tied to its strategies. Moreover, given multiple previous initiatives that have been done previously, it is critical to examine how the plan deals with the legacy of the past and creates inclusive opportunities beyond looking at the high rate of commercial vacancy. This paper tries to unfold the missing traits in the trade of economic development and strategic plan embedded in the Third Street corridor.

The economic development plan of Third Street Corridor is visioned to address three main goals to improve social, economic, and physical conditions in the district. While this plan calls for revitalization, it stipulates that no residents have their homes taken from them and no resident is displaced. Hence, displacement is the breadth of progress,2 not a one-time event. To be adamant about it, the plan should serve as a broader strategy, advocating for housing and allinclusive community needs, which is not stretched in the program. On the other hand, as part of the impact of lengthy disinvestment, the district nonetheless lacks the vitality and vibrancy that exist in most other San Francisco districts, self-explain its long-suffering. Therefore, this analysis will:

1. Connect the historical context underlining the Economic Development and Corridor Strategy.

2. Confront the Plan’s objective to improve the district's social, economic, and physical conditions through community engagement, cross-cutting elements of a comprehensive neighborhood strategy, and design lens.

3. Examine the local asset and cultural determinants missing in the plan.

4. Provide recommendations as advocacy for a comprehensive and inclusive strategy.

Research Methods

This paper mainly examines Third Street Economic Development and Corridor Strategy report, identifying crossing elements from the city’s development plans, such as San Francisco’s General Plan, Housing, Sustainable Neighborhood Program, Better Streets, Transportation Element, Small Business Initiative, and Cultural Heritage Preservation.

The focus of the analysis would be on connecting traits between the historical context and prospects of the neighborhood depicted in the plan. Despite being exercised in multiple programs since 1993, the most updated plan in 2015 still lacks the true spirit of the Third Street corridor, which might indicate part of the planning failure. Our findings show that in Hunters Bayview Point, as in most black communities, black women have shouldered the burden of public responsibility and brought progressive change.3 In terms of corridor strategy, the residents are likelier to have a public realm improvement over the festive brand to lift the economic gains. Lastly, the plan also missed addressing the unemployment issues and engage with the thriving existing local cultural assets embedded in the economic plan.

The following sections provide the historical context and background of the Thirds Street of Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood. The analysis continues to delve into the missing elements that the plan failed to redress. Lastly, the recommendations offer possible alternatives for each cause and stretched strategy for a more comprehensive plan

Historical Context and Project Background

The Third Street Corridor runs through multiple neighborhoods, mainly in Bayview Hunters Point, one of San Francisco’s oldest and most diverse communities (Figure 1). Historically it has been the location of the City’s heaviest industries, some of its poorest residents, and its most significant concentration of public housing. Its history includes contact between early Spanish explorers and native Ohlone dwellers along the shore of Islais Creek.4 The African American communities grew significantly during WWII as they worked in the naval shipyard starting in 1940.

Figure 1. Third Street Corridor in The Bayview Hunters Point (AECOM 2015)

The Third Street corridor is often described in the news media and by city agencies as an “underdeveloped” neighborhood.5 In the 1960s, the downtown section of Third Street was known as San Francisco's "skid row" and became the city’s last predominantly Black neighborhood in the present day.6 In many ways, the closure of Hunters Point Shipyard in 1974 made a prolonged impact on the district’s economy, which has never fully recovered. The dramatic decline in population due to the clearance of the old war housing on Hunters Point Hill led to crisis and isolation, shifting the market structure of Third Street as once a vital shopping area.

One of the persistent issues says that as the planning statement boasts a couple of public and private investments, such as the Third Street Light Rail (T-Train), the neighborhood still struggles to be back on its feet. It does not mention the use of transportation planning as the means of segregation, gentrification, and community displacement hiding the more critical issues such as housing, health, and economic discrimination The plan needs a call for action not only to make a vibrant corridor development but also to retain Bayview’s historical authenticity by not oversimplifying the ‘hardly erase citizens’ long histories of distrusting planning and public authorities.7

At least five studies have been done prior to the most recent study by Economic Development of Third Street (EDoT) in 2015 (Figure 2). Besides the main identification of the economic aspect, the corridor still lacks a comprehensive strategy that ties the collective issues surrounding the economic and corridor development The analysis section examines the missing traits within the four elements of community participation, plan intersection, physical improvement, and cultural determinant that would enhance the economic development to be more inclusive and comprehensive.

1993 Sedway, Third Street Corridor Study

1998

Pittman Hames and Keyser Marston Associates (With MUNI)

1996

Keyser Marston Associates,Inc (KMA), Bayview Hunters Point Concept Plan

2003

Conley Consulting Group ‘Third Street Retail Assessment’

2008

Social Compact’s the ‘San Francisco Neighborhood Market DrillDown’

2015

EDoT/Bay Area LISC Third Street Economic Development and Corridor Strategy

5 “Bring Back the Block Fridays Activate Bayview’s Third Street Corridor - SF Weekly.”

6 “Homelessness Looks the Same as It Did 20 Years Ago.”

7 Forester, Dealing with Differences, 134.

Figure 2. Previous Documents Contain the Third Street Corridor Development Plan (Author 2022)

Plan Analysis

Economic Development is a strategic planning document and planning process that helps guide the economic growth and development of communities and regions The Third Street Economic Development and Corridor Strategy boasts the claim to improve its vitality while paying little attention to the historical connection to construct each strategy The plan leaves out community participation, plan intersectionality, physical upgrade, and cultural value, which is relevant and has the potential for an economic boost. By analyzing causes and possible cures from prior research, the focus of this analysis would emphasize crucial elements as connecting traits of the profound history of Third Street in Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood with their prospect as explored in the following:

a. Social (Bias) Improvement

While the high vacancy rate is evident, it is essential to see the deeper reasons behind the unsuccessful initiatives prior to the updated one in 2015. As the plan claims, many operations along the commercial corridor are family operated and are part of the community’s identity 8 Thus, community participation is fundamental. The document, however, misses addressing the role of the Bay Area Local Initiatives Support Coalition (LISC)/Economic Development on Third (EDoT) as the decision-maker to engage and manage the layers of power in regard to optimal participation and inclusive strategies (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Power Benefit Map of Third Street Economic Development and Corridor Strategy (Author 2022)

In particular, the plan does not deliver clearly on who and how the community is involved as it only states the community survey as part of the methods. Whether the citizen is only part of the survey (nonparticipation), tokenized, or could gain citizen power. As the plan tries to segment the corridor based on the identified existing features, it raises the concern of who identifies the feature in the first place and for whom is the new retail accommodation.

Being equally exclusive, the program also leaves out vulnerable groups such as single-parent women and people with disability in biased social improvement. In Hunters Bayview Point, as in most black communities, the burden of public responsibility has been shouldered largely by black women, portrayed in history by Mrs. Eloise Westbrook, Osceola Washington, Bertha Freeman, Ruth Williams, and Rosalie Williams (Figure 4). They command grassroots organizations that got decision-making power over the urban renewal program of the neighborhood since the 1950s.9 Hence, women are key actors with whom the plan missed to identify and engage. Moreover, to support the collective identity, the planning strategy to foster safety and limit crime through increasing police presence and surveillance raises the concern of who is watching who, undermining specific groups through a less inclusive approach.

b. (Incomplete) Economic strategy

A neighborhood is a collection of amenities, housing, retail, public goods, and many other bounds in a place. From an economic perspective, a neighborhood also means the group of assets, labor, land, and business that is part of the region's more extensive system. As it is greater than the sum of its parts, thus, planning for economic improvements would be less effective when it oversights the interaction with non-economic aspects. The Third Street revitalization scheme needs to be an awakening call for housing growth to stimulate job and 9 Point of Pride

Figure 4. Role of Black Women in Bayview Hunters Point Historic Movement (Bayview Hunters Point Documenter 2014)

10

business growth. It is beyond the high rate of vacancy issues, given the fact that approximately 92% of the employees who work in the Bayview district live outside the neighborhood.10

As the Third Street Corridor is designated to be a mixed-use area, it is not clear how the plan would not only invite more people to live in the neighborhood but also preserve the existing community. How does inviting new socio-economic groups moving into the new development not part of the recurring gentrification? How can retail enhancement cover the lack of housing and public amenities? More importantly, the plan did not mention the key issue of unemployment to increase the community's opportunity and capacity in the labor market to generate economic gains. The economic strategy needs to break the neighborhood disinvestment chain that recurs over time

As complex as it should be, the plan overlooks the sustainability issue despite being located on a concentrated industrial site, which is undoubtedly part of the economic release. The potential intersection between the economic development and corridor strategy of Third Street with other city planning documents is explored in the following table.

City Planning Document

SF General Plan

Third Street Economic Development and Corridor Strategy

2015

Accommodate urban growth; guide and harmonize the social, economic, physical, and environmental factors.

SF Housing Support density bonus, and new affordable housing projects for low and moderate-income family.

SF Sustainable Neighborhood Program

SF Better Streets

Transportation Element

SF Small Business Initiative

SF Cultural Heritage Preservation

Help address health and prosperity disparities faced by communities of color and other vulnerable citizens.

Promote streets as centers of public life, and stimulate walking, bicycling, and use of public transit.

A reliable strategy to increase travel to Third Street inequitable outcomes for low-income communities and communities of color.

Modernize zoning along neighborhood commercial corridors.

Safeguarding the historical, social, and economic value of its communities in a way that strengthens residents' and visitors' understanding and appreciation of these significant places and practices.

Table 1. Economic Plan Intersection Parallel with City Planning Document (Author 2022)

AECOM, “Third Street Economic Development and Corridor Strategy”

c. (Unfriendly) Design

The intercept survey of stakeholders shows that improvement in the public realm is the most desired by the people, along with the greater variety of businesses on the Third Street corridor 11 While the plan addresses the parking problem as the significant improvement needed, it focuses less on the active use of public transportation and bike plan. Despite having the MUNI T-Line running through the middle of Third Street as an advantage, the visual disconnection from one side to the other accumulates unsafe perception (Figure 5). Nor does the plan lack initiative and program to ensure a safe, family-friendly shopping environment as a core condition for the corridor’s continued success. Furthermore, the plan also does not adequately describe how the improvement could accommodate people with disabilities, assuming all individuals have the same physical capacity as both retailers and visitors in the first place.

Figure 5. Street View of Third Street Corridor (Author 2022)

There are numerous Slow Streets and tactical urbanism across San Francisco (Figure 6), but none were placed in the Third Street Corridor. Taking the example from the Outer Mission District design guideline, the improvement clearly shows the need for physical investment concerning a vibrant commercial corridor. The place would only gain economic means if it could compete with the experience of other corridors in the city. As the corridor needs to thrive, not only survive. 11 AECOM, “Third Street Economic Development and Corridor Strategy” 33.

d. (Unrevealed) Local Assets and Cultural Determinants

As culture is tightly knotted with the people, the only way to preserve it is by maintaining the value of communities, which the whole plan neglects. The Third Street Retail corridor is conducted as the neighborhood's front face for visitors with the advantage of MUNI connection. Nevertheless, the strategies were made merely to attract retailers by adopting programs and brands from other places that could be built anywhere in any context (Figure 7). It lacks the determination to preserve cultural elements by centrally focusing on monetary value and not emphasizing any local identities representing the heart of the community.

Figure 6. Streetscape Improvement along The Mission Street (Excelsior Outer Mission Streetscape Design Guidelines 2019)

Figure 7. Tapestry Analysis Shows Which Socioeconomic Group the Plan Aims (AECOM 2015)

Furthermore, despite being surrounded by abundant cultural determinants, the plan fails to identify and connect with the existing community nodes and Hunters Bayview Point initiatives. Engaging with local organizations such as artBAYVIEW is essential to maximize the existing asset of art and culture within the corridor and greater region. The following maps show the cultural assets that could be enhanced and involved in particular ways as opposed to the indistinct variety of festive brands.

Figure 8. Map of Existing Cultural Assets (artBAYVIEW)

Recommendations

Creating a vibrant, profitable, and flourishing economic development and corridor strategy must start beyond analyzing the high vacancy rate problem and asking more inclusive questions Working with a community with a long history of being marginalized and continuing to be displaced by the system behind seemingly part of the city’s progress, the development plan should reflect deeply not to repeat the same narration. These are recommendations for the authority to incorporate:

1. Engage. Build and manage social complexity through local community engagement and pay more attention to women’s roles and youth aspirations. The history of Hunters Bayview Point shows that powerful movements and progress come from women and the voice of children. By inviting the marginalized community to gain control beyond passive participation and weigh more on the unengaged group that the process has not touched, the more inclusive the development outcomes will be. Encompassing local arts and finding community leaders or key persons are also excellent catalysts for community engagement.

2. Explore. Include the cross-cutting elements for a more comprehensive plan and inclusive economic growth. This element should address policies/strategies related to housing, infrastructure, transportation, health, sustainability, and other relevant topics. Each factor significantly correlates and opens the window of opportunities for innovation, such as foodscape, micromobility, and many others.

3. Encourage. The physical design of the corridor should extend beyond the façade/aesthetic perspective. Encouraging active transportation, enhancing public safety, and implementing universal design should be the means of design as physical improvements. To thrive and not only survive, the corridor needs to have the basic elements to ensure the experience of a commercial corridor.

4. Elaborate. The strategy needs to incorporate community assets and the cultural heritage of the indigenous population and local communities. Combining local heritages, such as food recipes 12 , local artists, music13 , and historic landscapes, is one of the ways to engage the community, preserve their local values, and become a standout point to differentiate from other destinations.

5. Evaluate. Clear phasing and development outcomes for the public to evaluate. As a fragment of the Bayview megaproject, the authority needs to have a transparent informing platform to hinder lacked accountability metrics and a means for the public to track progress on the project. It also could be part of an assessment framework that rejects traumatizing urban revitalization that has been glooming over the neighborhood. 12

The following table summarizes the missing traits from the plan to our recommendation for further analysis and development.

Table 2. Issues and Recommendation Matrix for the Third Street Economic Development and Corridor Strategy

Recommendations

Short-term Issue

Objective

Engage Improve unbiased local and marginalized community aspiration

Explore Comprehensive economic strategy (retail improvement, job opportunity)

Encourage Friendly design (universal access, public safety)

Elaborate Reveal local assets (local artist exposure, provide unique experience)

Evaluate Public monitoring and clear project management

Long-term Issue

Optimum citizen control and participation

Housing affordability, self-sustain neighborhood

Vibrant commercial corridor

Cultural preservation

Gaining citizen trust and building effective collaboration

Bibliography

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“Bayview Hunters Point | San Francisco General Plan.” Accessed September 15, 2022.

https://generalplan.sfplanning.org/Bayview_Hunters_Point.htm.

BIG+ONE+Sherwood. “ISLAIS HYPER-CREEK A SOCIAL ECOSYSTEM.” Resilient Bay Area. Accessed September 15, 2022. https://www.resilientbayarea.org/islais-hyper-creek.

“Bring Back the Block Fridays Activate Bayview’s Third Street Corridor - SF Weekly.” Accessed November 12, 2022.

https://www.sfweekly.com/news/bring-back-the-block-fridaysactivate-bayviews-third-street-corridor/.

Chapple, Karen. “Income Inequality and Urban Displacement: The New Gentrification.” New Labor Forum 26, no. 1 (January 2017): 84–93.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1095796016682018.

Forester, John. Dealing with Differences: Dramas of Mediating Public Disputes. Oxford University Press, 2009.

San Francisco Chronicle. “Homelessness Looks the Same as It Did 20 Years Ago.” Accessed November 12, 2022. //projects.sfchronicle.com/sf-homeless/overview/.

Point of Pride: The People’s View of Bayview/Hunter’s Point, 2014.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozflNOVzd6w.

KALW. “Sights and Sounds of Bayview.” Accessed December 5, 2022.

https://www.kalw.org/sights-and-sounds-of-bayview.

Image Resources

AECOM. “Third Street Corridor.” Digital Image. 2015.

Amattullah, Dini. “Previous Documents Contain the Third Street Corridor Development Plan.” Digital Image. 2022.

Amattullah, Dini. “Power Benefit Map of Third Street Economic Development and Corridor Strategy.” Digital Image. 2022.

Bayview Hunters Point Documenter. “Role of Black Women in Bayview Hunters Point Historic Movement.” Digital Image. 2014.

Excelsior Outer Mission Streetscape Design Guidelines. “Streetscape Improvement along The Mission Street” Digital Image. 2019.

AECOM. “Tapestry Analysis.” Digital Image. 2015

“Google Street View of Third Street Corridor.” Digital Photograph. Accessed December 6, 2022.

https://www.google.com/maps.

“Map of Existing Cultural Assets.” Digital Map. artBAYVIEW. Accessed December 6, 2022.

https://artbayview.carto.com/viz/f8759b54-a515-11e5-bc9d0ea31932ec1d/public_map.