The Urbanist #502 - April 2011 - Ocean Beach by saikofish

Issue 502

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News at SPUR p3 Ocean Beach p4 New Board Members pI4 Urban Field Notes pIG Urban Drift pI8

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1,-0_4_,1_1_ _ 1 LETTER FROM THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR

Planning for disasters fast and slow

Sarah Karlinsky is SPUR's deputy director

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The past several weeks have been a turbulent time for planet Earth. Just a few months after Christchurch, New Zealand, suffered a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, a 6.3 quake rocked the city in late February, causing close to 200 deaths and several billion dollars in damage. And then on March 11, a 9.0 magnitude quake 80 miles off the coast of Japan lead to an enormous tsunami, killing thousands of people, destabilizing a nuclear power plant and damaging billions of dollars of property. The Japanese quake was the fourth largest in the world since 1900. Japan and New Zealand are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, an active system of tectonic plates that formed many of the world's volcanoes and still causes the majority of its most serious earthquakes. The Ring of Fire forms a horseshoe around the Pacific Ocean - which means it also includes the western coast of North America. That California sits within an earthquake-prone region is hardly news. The United States Geological Survey estimates that we have a 63 percent chance of a major event occurring in the Bay Area in the next 30 years. While we have done a great deal to plan for the days and weeks following a major earthquake, we have not done nearly enough to strengthen our buildings and lifelines so that we can rebuild quickly. Our soft-story buildings remain vulnerable. Our shelters need to be retrofitted. We need stronger utility systems, safe bridges and train tunnels. The same ocean that touches the sand of Ocean Beach is the one that inundated Japan during the tsunami. We sit across from one another on the same seismically active plate. While there are many geological differences that separate us from Japan, we would do well to learn from its successes. And from its mistakes. After the Kobe earthquake of 1995, Japan adopted very stringent building codes, leading to some of the most seismically safe buildings in the world. The strength of the country's buildings undoubtedly saved lives and will lead to an easier recovery. But even Japan did not go far enough. The damage to its nuclear reactors shows what happens when not enough attention is paid to the possible impacts of a major disaster on vulnerable systems. Of course, there isn't just the "fast" disaster of an earthquake to think about. There's also the slow disaster of global warming and sea-level rise. Ocean Beach is San irancisco's case study in the local

The same ocean that touches the sand of Ocean Beach is the one that inundated Japan during the tsunami. We sit across from one another on the same seismically active plate. We would do well to learn from Japan's successes. And from its mistakes. impacts of climate change. Though most of us know Ocean Beach as a place to have fun or enjoy nature, critical lifelines are embedded there as well, including a sewer trunk line and pumping station that provide wastewater service to the western half of the city. How should we plan for Ocean Beach when we expect sea levels to rise 16 inches by 2050, and 55 inches by 2100? What should we do when, as the result of powerful storms, bluff tops along Ocean Beach recede 40 feet, undermining the pavement of parking lots and the shoulder of the Great Highway? In this month's Urbanist, we share our latest thinking about how to conduct a master planning process amidst enormous uncertainty. Not uncertainty about whether the slow disaster of climate change will affect us - that question has been answered by the world's brightest scientists. The questions facing us today are: When will we see the major impacts of climate change, and how bad will they be? Should we be planning for the climate change impacts that affect only us - or should we be thinking, too, about those that our children and grandchildren will face? Ocean Beach is a small part of a very big world. But that world is, quite literally, connected. It is connected by geology. It is connected by climate. And we would do well to begin to plan now for the big moves ahead in both. â&#x20AC;˘

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April 2011 What we're doing

REDEVELOPMENT: FACING THE AX In January, Gov. Brown proposed eliminating redevelopment agencies in California as a solution to the state's budget crisis, putting into question such projects as Treasure Island, the Transbay Terminal and the Hunters Point Shipyard - not to mention a major portion of the state's funding for affordable housing. The proposal has thrown the California planning community into disarray; though the politics are changing by the day, as of this writing it looks like the state will abolish redevelopment agencies. SPU R's efforts have focused on trying to save what's good about redevelopment - the financing tools to undertake infill development, as well as the creation of affordable housing - while acknowledging that redevelopment has been abused. We are already turning our attention to what replaces redevelopment to enable critical projects to move forward. Read Gabriel Metcalf's op-ed at bitly/gm-oped and then watch a debate on the future of redevelopment, co-hosted by SPU R and the Bay Citizen, at bit.ly/spurdebate. SHORT-TERM FUNDS SUSTAINING CALTRAIN Good news on one of our campaigns: it appears that MTC has brokered an agreement to provide operating funding for two years of continued Caltrain service. The solution, to shift some capital funds into operating subsidies and have the three

counties that support Caltrain provide temporary funding, is exactly what SPUR and others had been asking for a short-term fix that gives us time to get a longer-term solution in place, Now we must shift our focus to the more permanent solution, Caltrain needs a dedicated funding source like BART has,

and it needs a governance structure that will allow it to thrive. Even the short-term funding for Caltrain needs critical support. Interested in saving Caltrain? Contact transportation@spur,org.

SPUR APPOINTED TO BOND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE SPUR Good Government Policy Director Corey Marshall was appointed to the Citizens' General Obligation Bond Oversight Committee (GOBOC) this month. The committee is charged with oversight of the City's spending of general obligation bond proceeds, including such major capital projects as the rebuilding of Laguna Honda and General Hospital, branch library improvements, and seismic retrofits of the city's police and fire stations. The committee also serves as a Citizens Audit Review Board, established under Proposition C in 2003.

SUPERVISORS CONSIDER PAYROLL TAX EXCLUSION FOR CENTRAL MARKET The Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee considered the proposed payroll tax exclusion for jobs created in mid-Market on March 16. The proposed exclusion would exempt new jobs created in the district from the City's payroll tax for six years, in hopes of stimulating development in an area exceeding 30 percent vacancy, the highest in the city. For-profit businesses with payroll exceeding $250,000 currently

pay a payroll tax of 1. 5 percent. While the news has focused on the opportunity to keep Twitter in San Francisco, SPUR has argued that we should not be making decisions based on individual firms. What we like about this proposal is that it targets the tax break to an area that appears unlikely to attract jobs without the extra help.

GROWTH PROJECTIONS ARE FIRST STEP TOWARD SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY In March, ABAG and MTC released an initial "vision scenario" for the Bay Area, a first step toward developing a Sustainable Communities Strategy, the core provision of the state's smart growth law (SB 375). The scenario assumes 97 percent of new household growth will be on existing urbanized land as the Bay Area population grows by 2 million (to 94 million) and employment increases by 1.2 million (to 4.5 million) by 2035, The scenario also achieves a region-wide 12 percent per capita reduction in greenhouse gases. This is short of the statutory 15 percent per capita goal set by the state's Air Resources Board, and most of the reduction comes from an assumption of slow economic growth, not an urbanist land-use vision. While it's a good start, SPUR hopes subsequent scenarios test a much more transit-oriented growth pattern for the region. Follow the development of the Sustainable Communities Strategy at onebayarea.orglplan_bay_area .â&#x20AC;˘ Urbanist> April 2011 3

OVERVIEW

I by Benjamin Grant

How will San Francisco manage Ocean Beach's tricky balance of natural resources, recreational uses and infrastructure needs under the new realities of a changing climate? SPUR leads a master-planning process to develop a long-term vision for this important resource.

Climate Change Sea-level rise Recreation Habitat

The Future of Ocean Beach Thanks to sea-level rise, a beloved public place already busy with uses becomes even more complex

Benjamin Grant is SPUR's project manager for the Ocean Beach Master Plan.

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Ocean Beach, the three-and-a-half-mile stretch of sand and dunes along San Francisco's rugged Pacific coast, faces serious challenges. Part wild landscape, part urban beachfront, it draws a remarkably diverse three million visitors per year to stroll, bike, surf, walk dogs and enjoy the stunning natural setting. Its bluffs and sands - part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area - host two threatened bird species and an extensive dune system. Meanwhile, it's the site of an important sewage-treatment system that protects the ocean from wastewater pollution.

Ocean Beach also represents one of the first locations in San Francisco where the effects of climate change will come to a head. The existing shoreline, already located on fill and subject to erosion, will recede further as sea levels rise, exposing both natural and built resources to coastal hazards. We face difficult choices about how to manage these hazards while maintaining valued resources. Deepening these challenges is the complex array of federal, state and local agencies that oversee Ocean Beach, each with different responsibilities and priorities.

San Francisco's past two mayors convened community-led task forces, the Ocean Beach Task Force and Ocean Beach Vision Council, to address the challenges at Ocean Beach. But neither process included a pathway to implementation, leaving some participants frustrated and problems unresolved. The Vision Council submitted a grant proposal to the California State Coastal Conservancy, with partial matches from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) and National Park Service (NPS), for a comprehensive long-range planning process to be led by SPUR. But before the funding was even approved, the situation at Ocean Beach worsened considerably.

EROSION EMERGENCY: RESPONSE AND CRITICISM In the EI Nino winter of 2009-2010, powerful storms battered the bluffs of Ocean Beach south of Sloat Boulevard, resulting in dramatic erosion. In some locations, bluff tops receded 40 feet, undermining the asphalt of parking lots and the shoulder of the Great Highway, which was closed southbound for much of the year. The episode was the most serious in a series going back several decades. The City's response - the construction of 425 feet of rock revetments (embankments of stone riprap) has drawn criticism from environmentalists, who are concerned that such armoring often carries a heavy cost in beach and habitat loss. They ask whether an event as predictable as erosion at Ocean Beach can be meaningfully described as an emergency. Indeed, a similar episode in 1997 resulted in the construction of

rock revetments that are still in place. With no policy for how to address the inevitable, the City repeatedly finds itself in a reactive posture, shoring up the bluffs under an emergency declaration with the lukewarm sanction of the Coastal Commission and National Park Service. The 2010 storm may have been an emergency, but it was hardly a surprise and, above all, reflects the lack of a policy framework to guide action in a crisis. The environmentalist response may be a fair criticism, but erosion meanwhile poses a very real threat to a critical sewage-treatment complex that we depend on to protect coastal water quality. In the absence of another approach, this infrastructure, some of which lies underneath the Great Highway, must be armored against coastal hazards.

A MASTER PLAN FOR OCEAN BEACH With funding now in place, SPUR has spent the past seven months spearheading the development of a comprehensive interagency master plan for Ocean Beach. We have been working with a consultant team and a wide range of stakeholders to gather information, conduct research and articulate the complex and interconnected challenges facing the city's open coast. This issue of the Urbanist provides an update on the project thus far as we begin to consider solutions. The Ocean Beach Master Plan is charged with looking at all major aspects of the beach for the next 50 years and beyond. By taking a decidedly long view, developing a consensus vision and working backward to arrive at near- and medium-term actions, the master Ocean Beach - 3.5 miles of sand and dunes on the city's edge faces serious challenges from erosion and sealevel rise, which threaten local infrastructure and ecosystems.

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plan is intended to provide the framework that is missing from short-term decisions today. The study area encompasses the beach and adjacent lands from the high-water mark to the property line at the eastern edge of the Lower Great Highway and excludes any private property. It takes in 3.5 miles of contiguous coastline from the beach's northern extent to the Fort Funston bluffs. Of course, numerous processes and practices, from transit access to offshore dredging, must be considered as well. The plan will consider Ocean Beach as a whole place: as an urban promenade, a changing coastline, a key segment of the GGNRA, a habitat corridor and a major infrastructure complex. But as much as these aspects are interdependent, the conversation about Ocean Beach invariably returns to the most pressing crisis: the erosion at the south end of the beach and the infrastructure that lies in its path. To plan meaningfully for Ocean Beach as an open space, we must define an approach to coastal management that balances infrastructure needs, natural-resource values and the realities of a changing climate.

PLANNING FOR UNCERTAINTY ON A DYNAMIC COASTLINE We know that sea levels are rising due to melting polar ice and thermal expansion of the oceans. The State of California projects sea-level rise of 16 inches by 2050 and 55 inches by 2100. The frequency and severity of storms are also likely to increase, and local policymakers have no choice but to adapt. Climate-change adaptation consists of policy and

design responses to the negative effects of climate change that have already been "locked in," regardless of how we address carbon emissions going forward. Adaptation will be required in many arenas, from water supply to biodiversity to extreme heat events, but few are as vivid and pressing as sea-level rise. At Ocean Beach, this means that the sort of erosion episodes that took place in 1997 and 2010 will happen more frequently. As the shoreline recedes, critical wastewater infrastructure along Ocean Beach will face increasing pressure and will need to be protected, reconfigured or abandoned. Natural habitat and recreational amenities are threatened as well. Although we have a pretty clear picture of what will happen as sea levels rise, there is a great deal of uncertainty about its timing and extent. Ocean Beach is the city's first real test in responding to the effects of climate change. The proximity of critical public infrastructure to the coast throws the challenges into high relief. Where should we hold the coastline? What is the economic value of a beach? A dune system? A threatened bird species? When and how will private property be exposed to coastal hazards? There are also significant limitations in the available data about the effects of sea-level rise. Existing studies paint a general picture of likely impacts but do not account for local factors like coastal armoring and topography, which will shape coastal processes.

OCEAN BEACH SITE OVERVIEW

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PLANNING FOR A DYNAMIC LANDSCAPE Planning for climate-change adaptation sets the complex tradeoffs typical of planning processes against even more complicated new variables: the uncertainties inherent in climate projections. In this context, planners and designers face new challenges in both space and time. The space itself is changed both by climate impacts and management choices. Even the location of the coastline remains a variable until we have determined where to hold the line and where to retreat. The timing of climate impacts is also uncertain, complicating, for example, the cost comparison of protecting infrastructure versus relocating it. When and how much protection will be required, and how costly will it be? How much of the infrastructure's serviceable life will remain? Discounting and amortizing - tools that economists use to compare costs and benefits over time - become very challenging in a time-uncertain setting. There are several strategies to address these challenges. First, future adaptation actions can be tied to triggers, rather than dates. These may be physical or spatial (a defined amount of sea-level rise or coastal recession) or fiscal (a defined investment in coastal defenses). Second, planning options are developed not as fixed endpoints but as sequences of actions, each affecting the next and each tied to triggers. Contrast this with a typical design exercise, which may be phased but culminates in a "finished" vision. At this stage, the Ocean Beach Master Plan has defined seven major focus areas, which we'll examine

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SPUR's nongovernmental status brings both benefits and challenges to the planning process. The Ocean Beach Master Plan will not have the force of regulation. No such plan could, since it addresses federal, state and local agencies. It will live initially as a series of project and policy recommendations from SPUR to the relevant agencies, elected officials and other decision makers. Each agency will have to pursue implementation through its own planning processes, spurred by the momentum and consensus of an effective planning process and the urgency of the situation. On the positive side, SPUR has the freedom to take a long and broad view. We are less constrained by the highly structured requirements of process and scope faced by public agencies, including the need for immediate environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act or the National Environmental Policy Act. In this case, environmental review will be conducted by individual agencies as they take up implementation actions.

PROCESS AND PRODUCT

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more closely in the following pages, to organize and distill the project's complex parameters. Although all are important, three have emerged as "drivers" (or form-givers, in design terms) that will establish the context for the others: coastal dynamics, infrastructure and ecology. Over the coming months, the project team will develop scenarios illustrating contrasting approaches to these key areas and the implications of each scenario for Ocean Beach as a whole.

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ECOLOGY ASPIRATION: Restore and establish conditions that support thriving biological communities Although Ocean Beach is very much a managed landscape - the alignment of the coast, the shape of the beach and bluffs, and the form and composition of the dunes are all man-madeimportant biological communities make their homes there. The beach and dune system provide a corridor of scarce habitat for numerous species and connect adjacent parklands. In particular, there are two threatened bird species at Ocean Beach. The Western Snowy Plover, a federally listed threatened species, inhabits dry back beach, especially in the central part of Ocean Beach. Concerns about the plover have been a factor in a recent proposal by the GGNRA to limit dog access to parts of Ocean Beach. The bank swallow, a state-listed threatened species, inhabits hollows in the exposed bluffs at the south end of Ocean Beach, an especially vulnerable position given the threat of erosion and the installation of coastal armoring. Both species are protected to some degree by current management practices, including the prohibition of dogs on much of the beach during The current dune system at Ocean Beach was constructed in the 1980s and '90s as part of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission's Clean Water Program. It is a non-native system, but it provides habitat, sand stabilization and coastal protection.

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Ocean Beach Master Plan Goal: To knit the unique assets and experiences of Ocean Beach into a seamless and welcoming public landscape, planning for environmental conservation, sustainable infrastructure and long-term stewardship

plover season (J uly to May) and the cessation of work by San Francisco Department of Public Works (SFDPW) crews during bank swallow season (April to August). The dune system that predominates from Fulton to Noriega streets (and recurs elsewhere) was primarily constructed as part of the Clean Water Program in the 1980s and helps to protect both wastewater infrastructure and adjacent neighborhoods from coastal hazards. Its morphology and plant communities are both non-native, with iceplant and European dunegrass predominating. The prospect of restoring a native dune system is compelling to many people, although a comprehensive effort would likely be very costly. The master-plan team is examining the implications of such an approach for ecological values, cost, maintenance and coastal hazards.

Ocean Beach is the visible portion of a much larger coastal sediment system. Tides and currents circulate within aU-shaped sandbar called a littoral cell, eroding and depositing sand. The south end of Ocean Beach is outside this cell, and therefore subject to erosion.

COASTAL DYNAMICS ASPIRATION: Identify a proactive approach to coastal management, in the service of desired outcomes Ocean Beach is the visible portion of a much larger coastal sediment system, the Golden Gate Littoral Cell. The cell is bounded by a large, semicircular sandbar within which sand circulates with the currents and tides. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers annually dredges a ship channel in the sandbar to allow access to the Golden Gate. The northern end of Ocean Beach has been getting wider since the 1970s due to both sediment management practices (dumping dredged sand within the system rather than in the deep ocean) and natural changes to the sandbars. Meanwhile, the southern end is narrowing as erosive forces scour away sand and bluffs, leaving less buffer between waves and critical infrastructure. The western shoreline of San Francisco is artificially maintained about 200 feet seaward of its natural equilibrium. Sand was pushed west to create level ground for the construction of the neighborhoods and the Great Highway. The erosion at Ocean Beach is in part a symptom of the coastal processes seeking that equilibrium. Sea-level rise and accompanying storm surges will significantly worsen erosive pressures at Ocean Beach in the coming years. There are three options for the management of this erosion: Coastal armoring seeks to resist erosive forces and the receding shore with hard structures such as seawalls or revetments. Depending on its height, a structure might be overtopped by wave runup

during storm surges, inundating inland areas. If the coastline recedes until it reaches a hard structure, the beach may be lost. There are nearly 10,000 linear feet of hard structures at Ocean Beach, in the form of the three existing seawalls and recent revetments. This does not including the Westside Transport Box, which could end up functioning as a sort of seawall if exposed by beach and dune recession. Additional armoring is likely south of Sloat Boulevard. Beach nourishment, or the deliberate placement of sand to counteract erosion, is a promising option at Ocean Beach, since 300,000 cubic yards of dredged sand are available annually. The cost beyond current practices would be shared between local and federal agencies. An effort is underway to retrofit the Essayons, the Army Corps' dredge, to enable it to pump sand directly onto the beach. This could reestablish a wide beach north of Sloat and buy considerable time. Managed retreat is the gradual reconfiguration or removal of manmade structures in the path of the advancing coastline, according to pre-established triggers. This approach seeks to avoid expending excessive resources defending structures. It is relatively simple to employ where structures like roads or parking lots are concerned, but this strategy would be much more difficult to pursue where expensive, publicly funded sewage-treatment facilities stand in harm's way. In all likelihood, all of these strategies will be necessary at Ocean Beach. A key objective for the Ocean Beach Master Plan is to analyze the relative needs, costs and locations of various approaches, and build consensus around a compromise. Urbanist> April 2011 9

A wet-weather overflow structure, one of two at Ocean Beach. Combined-sewer overflows have been reduced from between 60 and 70 per year to fewer than eight a year by the west side's complex of wastewater infrastructure, which is increasingly threatened by erosion.

INFRASTRUCTURE ASPIRATION: Evaluate infrastructure plans and needs in light of uncertain coastal conditions, and pursue a smart, sustainable approach Beginning in the 1970s, under pressure from the federal Clean Water Act, the SFPUC began to significantly upgrade the city's combined sewerstormwater system, especially on the west side, where the ocean was being subjected to 60 to 70 combinedsewer overflows each year. The SFPUC's Clean Water Program completed the current system in 1993 and has reduced overflows to fewer than eight per year. The system accomplishes this impressive feat through a series of interconnected components. In dry weather, the west side's wastewater (sewage) runs though the network of local pipes to the Westside Transport Box - a large rectangular tube under the Great Highway - then south to the pump station at Sloat Boulevard. It is pumped to the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant, from which secondarytreated effluent is released through the Southwest Ocean Outfall, 4.5 miles out to sea. In wet weather, stormwater runoff surges into the system. When the plant's capacity of 65 million gallons per day is overwhelmed, the transport box and Lake Merced Tunnel - two massive structures designed to store runoff and prevent overflows - fill up and retain the combined flow. Overflow there is decanted to remove

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solids and pumped to the deep ocean outfall. Only when that system's capacity is exceeded do combined overflows occur, through two large overflow structures on Ocean Beach. Parts of the Lake Merced Tunnel under the Great Highway south of Sloat Boulevard are immediately vulnerable to erosion. The Westside Transport runs under the Great Highway from Lincoln Boulevard to Sloat Boulevard, and it may become a significant factor in shaping the beach and dunes as the coastline recedes. Newer thinking at the SFPUC and elsewhere emphasizes low-impact development and green infrastructure - both terms for modifying urban watersheds to increase stormwater retention and infiltration into the ground. Permeable surfaces, green roofs, swales and the restoration of natural waterways can add up to a significant reduction in stormwater entering the combined system. Wastewater infrastructure is designed for the long haul: Parts of the current system are more than 100 years old. The west-side system is new, expensive and very effective. Unfortunately, it is also exposed to varying degrees of coastal hazard, which we are only recently coming to understand. The Ocean Beach Master Plan is working with the SFPUC to consider how to manage coastal hazards to the infrastructure, including the form and location of coastal armoring, and which components might be reconfigured or moved over time.

IMAGE AND CHARACTER ASPIRATION: Preserve and celebrate the beach's raw and open beauty while welcoming a broader public. Although Ocean Beach is in the city, its urban setting is dwarfed by the vastness of the natural context. Like many of San Francisco's best open spaces, it offers a portal to the regional landscape. But both its wild and urban aspects are decidedly less genteel than those of other natural places in the city. The environment - built and natural shows the elemental scour of wind and waves, and is known for its dense and persistent fog. The local culture has developed an edge that mirrors the environment: Most days, even a stroll on the sand demands a bit of ruggedness, and the surf's frigid rip currents have regularly threatened and even taken lives. A century ago, Ocean Beach was a very different kind of place, more Coney Island than wilderness. Before the Richmond and Sunset districts took shape, Adolph Sutro's steam railway drew daytrippers through the dunes to his gardens and baths, and to nearby Chutes-at-the-Beach (later Playland). A settlement built of decommissioned

horsecars offered a destination for bohemians and bicycle clubs. As the automobile came to prominence, the soft sand was pushed seaward to create a "Great Highway" for Sunday drivers, all the way south to Fleishhacker Pool, near the current site of the San Francisco Zoo. A massive saltwater recreation center built in 1924, the decrepit poolhouse today offers a tempting opportunity for adaptive reuse. Today, when those few sweet warm days arrive, Ocean Beach again becomes a retreat for the whole city. A festival atmosphere prevails as a crush of cars, bikes and Muni riders descends, and the shortage of services becomes acute as trash piles up, bikes are heaped up and locked together, and dunes become restrooms of last resort. It would be wrong to ignore the basic needs of the more than 3 million annual visitors to Ocean Beach. But as many in the community have expressed, "prettying up" is not what the beach needs, either. The master-plan team is taking that observation to heart. Good landscape design has the power to strike that balance - to solve problems and serve needs while speaking to the soul of a place.

Our own Coney Island: Ocean Beach offered diverse amusements for wy-trippers to the "Outside Lands," including the Sutro Baths and Chutes-atthe-Beach (later Playland, shown here in the 1930s).

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PROGRAM AND USES ASPIRATION: Accommodate diverse activities and users, managed for positive coexistence To be successful, improvements at Ocean Beach will need to accommodate and balance a wide range of users, from surfers to families, birdwatchers to cyclists. For the most part, activities sort themselves into linear zones that can inform the approach to design and programming: joggers and cyclists on the multi-use path, walkers on the dune trails and promenades, anglers on the wet sand and surfers in the water. Basic amenities such as restrooms, waste collection and food - are in limited supply, and jurisdictional challenges complicate their siting, funding and operation. As in most open spaces, there are conflicting ideas about which uses belong where, and which are worthy of accommodation. Pedestrians and cyclists get tangled on the multiuse path, birders raise an eyebrow at dog-walkers, and night-time bonfires are a grand tradition to some and a messy nuisance to others.

What Is the Ocean Beach Master Plan? The Ocean Beach Master Plan is an interagency effort convened by SPUR to develop a sustainable long-term vision for Ocean Beach, addressing public access, environmental protection and infrastructure needs in the context of erosion and c1imaterelated sea-level rise. Project phases and schedule

1. Startup (Jun-Aug 2010) 2. Problem Definition (Sep-Dec 2010) 3. Alternatives/Scenarios Development (Jan-May 2011) 4. Draft Master Plan (Jun-Sep 2011) 5. Final Master Plan (Oct-Dec 2011)

Project Funders: California State Coastal Conservancy San Francisco Public Utilities Commission National Park Service

Project Team AECOM - Landscape Architecture, Environmental Planning ESA/PWA - Coastal Engineering Sherwood Design Engineers - Civil Engineering and Infrastructu re Nelson/Nygaard - Transportation Planning

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In January 2011, the National Park Service issued its Draft Dog Management Plan for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, In its preferred alternative, the northern end of Ocean Beach would remain an off-leash area but much of the beach would be entirely off-limits to dogs. Much of that area is already off-limits for nine to 10 months of the year (during plover season), and the GGNRA would remain the only national park to allow dogs at all. Still, the proposal has rankled many dog owners and remains controversial. The National Parks Service is accepting public comment on the draft plan until May 29. One key challenge is the distinctive pattern of use over time. Most of the time, the beach and promenades are used by relatively few people, many of whom are locals and regular users: walkers and joggers, surfers and cyclists, This "baseline" condition (with its own seasonal and diurnal variations) holds sway until one of those rare hot, sunny weekends, when the beach experiences an enormous spike of visitors from around the region.

ACCESS AND CONNECTIVITY ASPIRATION: Provide seamless and fluid connections to adjacent open spaces, the city and the region Ocean Beach is not only a destination in itself; it is the connective tissue that links an abundance of open spaces on the city's west side. From Land's End and Sutro Heights at its north end to Golden Gate Park, the Zoo and Fort Funston to the south, Ocean Beach is a key corridor, While movement along Ocean Beach is fairly easy, it offers much weaker connection to adjoining open spaces, neighborhoods and other amenities. In particular, arriving at the beach from Golden Gate Park, which ought to be one of the great landscape experiences in San Francisco, is an anticlimax for pedestrians and cyclists, who are dropped into a sea of asphalt roadway and parking, with little sense of how to proceed. Another significant gap is from Ocean Beach to Fort Funston, the GGNRA's next major park to the south, where pedestrians must walk the highway shoulder and hop the guardrail to access the trails and beach. Ocean Beach is well-served by the Muni transit system, but while the 38-Geary, N-Judah and L-Taraval lines each terminate within easy walking distance of the beach, the pedestrian connections are weaker than they might be if welcoming transit users were made a priority. The Great Highway was built in the 1920s as a grand vehicular promenade, the widest stretch of pavement for its length in the world,

AGENCY JURISDICTIONS AT OCEAN BEACH Ocean Beach

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San Francisco City and County ownership

Area ownership Coastal zone (subject to local coastal program) Area appealable to California Coastal Commission

Its reconfiguration in the 1990s narrowed it by nearly half, but it remains a traffic artery first and foremost, with a capacity that exceeds its actual usage. South of Sloat Boulevard, the Great Highway is squeezed between the eroding bluffs and inland structures, with traffic capacity to spare. The City of San Francisco's Sunday Streets program has closed the road to cars a few times, showing us a tantalizing multi modal vision more "great" than "highway." Meanwhile, a campaign by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition to build a bikeway from San Francisco Bay to the ocean is highlighting Ocean Beach as a major cycling destination with significant shortfalls in connectivity. As our ideas about multi modal streets and recreational waterfront access evolve, it may be time to reevaluate the vehicular emphasis on the city's only oceanfront street.

MANAGEMENT AND STEWARDSHIP ASPIRATION: Provide an approach to long-term stewardship across agencies, properties and jurisdictions Although visitors experience Ocean Beach as a whole place, it is administered by an alphabet soup of federal, state and local agencies. The beach, dunes and promenades are mostly federal GGNRA parkland, while the Great Highway, multiuse trail and most parking lots are owned by the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department. The SFDPW provides maintenance and emergency repairs on both city and federal property, while

the SFPUC owns and manages underground wastewater infrastructure and the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant. Dredging and sediment management by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shape the beach. The California Coastal Commission is the permitting authority at the beach. Further inland within the coastal zone, the San Francisco Planning Department oversees development decisions through the City's Coastal Commission-approved Local Coastal Program (the Western Shoreline Plan). With so many agencies involved, it's not hard to understand why problems as simple as managing litter can be challenging - never mind protecting infrastructure while managing a habitat for threatened birds. Not only are these agencies administratively distinct, they often have conflicting priorities as well. For example, National Park Service policies favoring natural resources and processes may conflict with the needs of the SFPUC's infrastructure, although both serve environmental imperatives. Could Ocean Beach be managed as a single unit? What form would that take? Simply having a consensus vision in place would provide a basis for improved interagency cooperation. A joint operating agreement clearly defining responsibilities, or even the creation of a new management entity or park boundary, could provide the kind of integrated management to see Ocean Beach through the challenges we know are coming.â&#x20AC;˘

A basic challenge: Many different agencies oversee aspects of management, planning and permitting at Ocean Beach. Each has its own priorities and internal processes, and no one agency oversees the whole.

Urbanist> April 2011 13

04 .11

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Welcome to SPUR's new board members for 2011-2012 Alexa Arena is vice president of development for Forest City, where she leads the Northern California team. She is working on the redevelopment of approximately four acres in downtown San Francisco known as the 5M Project. Developed in partnership with the Hearst Corporation, it will foster communities that serve the innovation economy. Alexa is a prior board member of the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition and an active participant in SPUR. She holds a bachelor's in urban studies, political science and sociology from Columbia University, as well as a master's in public administration and an MBA from Harvard University. Chris Block is the chief executive officer of American Leadership Forum - Silicon Valley, where he is also a senior fellow and has served on the board of directors since 2007. Prior to joining ALF, Chris was involved in affordable housing in Silicon Valley for more than 20 years. He was the executive director of Charities Housing from its inception in 1989 until joining ALF in 2009. Chris is also a fellow in the Kellogg National Leadership Program. He holds a master's in counseling psychology and a bachelor's in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. Cindy Wu manages and oversees the dayto-day operation of the Community Planning Program at Chinatown Community Development Center. The program connects grass-roots leaders in Chinatown to the decisions that change their neighborhood with regard to transportation, affordable housing, public space and land use. Currently, Cindy is managing a multiyear community planning process to ensure that the design and implementation of the new Central Subway Project is coordinated with neighborhood needs. Previously, she worked in supportive housing at Glide Foundation in the Tenderloin. She received a B.A. from UC Berkeley and a master's in city planning from MIT. Emilio Cruz is owner of On Point Management and Consulting Services and is currently under contract to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority as program manager for the $4.2 billion multimodal transit facility in downtown San Francisco. Prior to founding On Point, Emilio spent a decade in the private sector working for EPC Consultants and URS Corporation. He worked in operations

14 Urbanist> April 2011

management and business and strategic development and was program manager of capital programs, including the Central Subway Project and the Transbay Transit Center Program. Emilio has also served in the public sector as general manager of the Department of Public Transportation, director of economic development for the City of San Francisco, director of operations for the Port of San Francisco and chief of staff to Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr. Gordon Mar is a longtime community organizer on issues of concern to low-income and workingclass communities in the Bay Area. He currently serves as coordinator of Jobs with Justice San Francisco, a coalition of 25 labor unions and community organizations advocating workers' rights and social justice locally and nationally. Gordon has previously served as director of the Chinese Progressive Association, director of the Northern California Citizenship Project, campaign director of the Bay Area Environmental Health Collaborative and co-chair of the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice. He has a bachelor's in conservation and resource studies from UC Berkeley. James Tracy is an organizer with the Community Housing Partnership in San Francisco. He has more than 20 years of experience working for housing rights and economic justice. In the 1990s, he partnered with public housing residents demanding a voice in the HOPE VI process through the Eviction Defense Network. He is the author of the upcoming book Hillbilly Nationalists: Urban Race Rebels and Black Power, to be published in September by Melville House. Jeanne Myerson is the president and CEO of the Swig Company, a 75-year-old commercial real estate investment and management company based in San Francisco with more than 9 million square feet of office properties in coastal California, New York and Washington, D.C. Jeanne was formerly on the board and executive committee of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and helped with the formation of the San Francisco Center for Economic Development. She is a member of the board of directors of BRE Properties, Inc. and an advisory board member of Presidio Bank, and served for many years on the board of the Homeless Prenatal Program.

Madeline Chun is a partner of the law firm of Hanson Bridgett LLP and has served as legal counselor to local, regional and state public agencies for almost three decades. She has a strong commitment to sustainable public transit services and has been closely involved in many major public transportation infrastructure projects. She served as a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division from 1979-1983, and has been active in the Asian American Bar Association, Equal Rights Advocates and the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center of San Francisco.

Manuel Flores is a proud member of Carpenters Local Union 22, where he is approaching 30 years of membership. He is currently the marketing representative for Local 22 and has served on the local executive committee '~ and various apprentice committees. Born and educated in San Francisco, he \~ is dedicated to keeping his native city a special place to live and work.

Michael Cohen is a principal in Strada Investment Group, a San Franciscobased real estate firm focused on high-barrier-to-entry urban markets. Prior to joining Strada, Michael ran San Francisco's Office of Economic and Workforce Development. In that capacity, he managed major projects including the redevelopment of the Hunters Point Shipyard, Candlestick Point and Treasure Island. Michael serves as the Mayor's representative on the Transbay Joint Powers Authority and is the co-chair of ChinaSF, an initiative to make San Francisco a primary gateway for commerce with China.

Ontario Smith is a senior government relations representative for Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Previously he worked as a principal strategic planner at PG&E, where he was responsible for reviews of the rate effects of policy proposals, greenhouse gas emissions analyses and marginal cost studies.

In his time at PG&E, Ontario has served as a resource to regulatory client groups in their interactions with the California Public Utilities Commission and other government and advocacy groups. Ontario has a degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and completed the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce's Leadership San Francisco program.

Richard Lonergan's career in computers and management spanned 35 years, ending in retirement from Visa International as executive vice president. He has been a resident of San Francisco for more than three decades and is currently involved in issues regarding his South Beach neighborhood. Dick serves on the boards of the New Century Chamber Orchestra and Palo Alto University and was formerly on the board of Katherine Delmar Burke School and the North Lake Tahoe Arts Council. Terry Micheau has served on SPUR's board and advisory council over a period of 18 years. In his 35-year career, he has managed the construction and development of significant real estate projects, mostly in the Bay Area, for both private and ~ public owners. He is a licensed civil engineer and California real estate broker and has served the community on various boards and commissions, including his current role as treasurer of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center and the Golden Gate Chapter of Lambda Alpha.

Wade Rose is vice president of external and government relations for Catholic Healthcare West, the eighth largest hospital system in the nation and the largest hospital provider in California. Focusing on CHW's strategic goals and objectives, he works with governmental entities at the federal, state and local levels, and with significant private organizations and individuals within communities. Preceding his involvement in health care, he served on the staff of Govs. George Deukmejian and Jerry Brown. Urbanist> April 2011 15

URBAN

16 fonts on 16th Street: the city through a phone

FIELD NOTES An additive archive of cultural landscapes and observations compiled by SPUR members and friends. Send your ideas to Urban Field Notes editor Ruth Keffer at editor@spur.org.

When a friend bought a home computer 20 years ago, I wondered why. Back then, computers couldn't talk to each other: you couldn't download tunes, buy a book or a lamp or schedule a flight. There wasn't any Google or Wikipedia or much of anything. Now, I don't leave home without my pocket com puter/phone/ca mera/cl ock/newspa perl music. With a smartphone in my hand I can walk down the street and see on a map where I am, when the next bus is coming, what people say about that restaurant on the corner and whether it's going to rain. I can friend and tweet, text or skype. Unfortunately, the phone won't alert me to what a dog left in my path, or the car or bicycle heading my way. And when I'm staring into my palm I won't see the flesh-and-blood friend across the street, or smell the coffee. I've got the world at my fingertips, and I could be anywhere. Or nowhere. But the ways in which my smartphone can change my experience on the street continue to evolve. I recently took a walk along 16th Street from Market to Mission with my phone in hand, using an app called What the Font, which tries to identify fonts. I just take a picture, apply the app to the shot, and presto, it suggests the name of the font. Sometimes these suggestions are correct - based on resemblance to an actual documented font - but most of the time they have nothing to do with the typeface I just captured. But it's free, and sometimes the names are a kick.

Caseworker: David Prowler

CASE STUDY #37

Aftk6kl& iI I

THAI CUISINE -------

Lady Starlight

",*!

......

Mordings 16 Urbanist> April 2011

RENE M. MEDINA AUDITORIUM

Minimala Medium Italic

David Prowler is aprincipal at Prowler Curtis, a development and consulting partnership. He served on the SF Planning Commission, was the Mayor's project manager for Mission Bay and the Ballpark, and developed the Glen Park Marketplace, which SPUR called "the perfect project"

Mostra Nuova

~ ((])~ ~1uacIt

..... CC Sticky Fingers Italic

Sailors Tattoo Pro Xmas

Rhodaelian Ligatures

Lithia Off Kilter Urbanist> April 2011

URBAN DRIFT PUBLIC SPACE KEY IN EGYPTIAN REVOLT When the Egyptian people toppled Hosni Mubarak's regime, journalists credited the Internet, particularly Facebook and Twitter, for the uprising. While the web had a central role in spurring the protests, what made them successful was the number of people that gathered to occupy Cairo's city center. Under Mubarak's policies, access to Tahrir Square and other key locales had been restricted for decades. By taking away public spaces and focusing development on golf courses and shopping malls, Mubarak made the city's population easier to control. When the revolution started, people did the opposite: they converged on the square, occupied it and refused to leave. The occupation became an experiment in communal living; the residents set up their own security, defense, recycling and trash collection and food distribution. And after they defended the square from violent government attacks, it took on an even more important role as a symbol of resistance. Despite a complete shutdown of the Internet, gatherings in the square continued to grow, making Egypt's opposition to the ruling regime visible not only to the government but to the world. "Tahrir Square: Social Media. Public Space" - Mohamed EIShahed, Places Journal - 2/272011

PERTH MAKES APRICEY INVESTMENT After 30 years of debate, Perth, Australia, is on the verge of spending $440 million (AU D) 18 Urbanist> April 2011

on a massive plan to rebuild the city's waterfront. The project will start construction soon and be completed by 2014. The plan creates 1,700 apartments, more than 1 million square feet of commercial floor space and about 420,000 square feet of retail space. Extensive landscaping features will lead to easier waterfront access, and dining and retail facilities will encourage people to congregate. Developers hope the completed project will increase property values and sales in the area. "Perth's $440m Waterfront plan revealed" - Russell Quinn, PerthNow - 2/15/2011

UK CENSUS FLAWS COULD COST MILLIONS The United Kingdom will undertake its census this year, a process that ultimately will be responsible for allocating over ÂŁ100 billion per year in government funding. Many local governments around the country fear that people will be missed in the count, especially part-time residents, people sharing a home and short-term migrants. These concerns led to the creation of a national address register in 2003, but it was never used. Instead, three lists were compiled from the National Land and Property Gazetteer, Ordnance Survey and Royal Mail, and census forms were sent out without crosschecking with councils. How big of a problem is undercounting? Westminster council, in London, claims that 25 percent of its population was missed in the 2001 count. 'Councils fear census flaws will cost them millions in lost funds' - lami. Onward, The Observer (UK) 3/6/2011.

city news from around the globe

QUAKE DAMAGE EXTENSIVE IN CHRISTCHURCH

BIKE LANE BICKERING IN BROOKLYN

The shallow 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck Christchurch, New Zealand, February 22 is thought to have caused approximately 200 deaths and severe damage to many prominent buildings in the center of the city, City officials are just beginning to address the longer-term problem of buildings that have been rendered uninhabitable. Ten thousand houses will have to be demolished, including 3,300 that were damaged in the 7.3 magnitude earthquake that struck last year. Other areas of the city will have to be abandoned; liquefaction has pushed unstable silt to the surface, and the land will not support new structures. Seventy thousand people, one fifth of the city's population, have already left.

New York City has gained attention around the world for its aggressive implementation of new bicycling and pedestrian improvements. In the summer of 2010, the city's Department of Transportation installed a twoway bike lane in the Prospect Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. A new lawsuit challenges this lane and the entire approach of the department, which has implemented bike lanes on a fast timetable over the past few years. Filed by a group of wealthy residents with ties to the former transportation commissioner, the suit argues that the current commissioner and her staff have cherry-picked statistics and collaborated with bicycle advocates at the cost of space for automobiles and visibility for pedestrians.

"PM: Parts of quake-hit NZ city to be abandoned" - The San Francisco Chronicle at slgate,com - 3/5/2011

"lawsuit Seeks to Erase Bike lane in New York City" -Michael M. Grynbaum, The New York Times - 3/7/2011

SPUR Board of Directors Co-Chairs

Board Members

John Madden

Linda Jo Fitz

Carl Anthony

Gordon Mar

Lee Blitch

Alexa Arena

Jacinta McCann

Fred Blackwell

Chris Meany

Co-Vice Chairs

Chris Block

Ezra Mersey

Emilio Cruz

Larry Burnett

Terry Micheau

(

PROGRAM COMMITTEES Ballot Analysis

Amanda

Linda Jo Fitz

Mary Murphy

Disaster Planning

Jeanne Myerson

Jacinta McCann

Bill Rosetti

Michael Cohen

Brad Paul

Dick Morten

Charmaine Curtis

Chris Poland

Gia Daniller-Katz

Teresa Rea

Housing

Secretary

Oscar De La Torre

Byron Rhett

Ezra Mersey

Tomiquia Moss

Kelly Dearman

Wade Rose

Lydia Tan

Treasurer

Oz Erickson

Bob Gamble

Manny Flores

Seifel

Project Review Charmaine Curtis Mary Beth Sanders

Norman Fong

Chi-Hsin Shao

Immediate

Gillian Gillett

Ontario Smith

Past Co-Chair

Chris Gruwell

Bill Stotler

Andy Barnes

Anne Halsted

Stuart Sunshine

Development

Dave Hartley

Michael Teitz

Paul Okamoto

Advisory

Mary Huss

James Tracy

Bry Sarte

Council

Chris Iglesias

Will Travis

Co-Chairs

Laurie Johnson

Steve Vettel

Michael Alexander

Ken Kirkey

Debra Walker

Paul Sedway

Florence Kong

Cynthia Wilusz-

Dick Lonergan Ellen Lou Janis Mackenzie

Lovell CindyWu

Executive

Peter Mezey

Michaela Cassidy

Elizabeth (Libby)

Bill Stotler

Andy Barnes

Madeline Chun

Victor Seeto

Emilio Cruz

Facility Rental

Doyle Drive

Mary McCue

Shelley Doran

Downtown Transit Center

Bob Gamble

David Friedman

V. Fei Tsen

Welcome to our new members!

Chairs and committees

Reuben Schwartz Sustainable

Transportation Emilio Cruz Anthony BrulZone

TASK FORCES Climate Adaptation Will Travis

Hoenigman Eph Hirsh Peter Winkelstein

Finance Bob Gamble Human Resources

Regional Planning

Lydia Tan

Larry Burnett Libby Seifel

Individual Membership

OPERATING COMMITTEES Audit Peter Mezey

Bill Stotler Investment Ann Lazarus Major Donors

Board

Linda Jo Fitz

Development

Anne Halsted

Lee Blitch Building Management Larry Burnett Business Membership Tom Hart Terry Micheau Capital Campaign Chris Meany

Planned Giving Michaela Cassidy Silver SPUR Dave Hartley Patricia Klitgaard Young Urbanists Gwyneth Borden Gia Daniller

INOIVIDUALS

Joshua Arce Terry Bergeson Enkhtuya Bliss Kenneth Caldwell Paul Dombowsky Sarah Dominsky Julia Ehrman Cristina Garcia Tracy Geraldez June Grant Dana Gregg Jeff Gubitosi Justin Hanzel-Durbin Mark Hogan Cheryl Holzmeyer Marcus A. Hopper Darton Ito Stephanie Jaeger Noah Kennedy Chris Kluthe Tiffany LaRue Kelly Lawley Sean Madden Christine Maher Paul Malone Gordon Mar Duane Martinez Corey McCants Jen McGraw Amelia Mendez Lucien Muir Jumana Nabti Mark Nelson Caroline Nowacki Kris Opbroek Deems Padgett Cheryl Parker Rusty Pierce

Colin Piper Christopher Pizzi Jonathan Rewers Susan Roegiers Tim Rooney Aaron Rothschild Paula Rubira Phoebe Schenker Mark Sole Mark Sopp Matthew Ticknor Derek Lindner and Rena Tom Ann-Ariel Vecchio QingWang Linda Wheaton Wade Wietgrefe adam wright Ronald Yearwood Sue May Yen Eli Zigas BUSINESSES

ARCADIS Malcolm Pirnie, Inc. Cumming Corporation

Urbanist> April 2011

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