A Digital Journal - San Francisco Public Works
In the Works
December 2025
2025: Reflecting
on the Past Year,
Readying for the Next
San Francisco Public Works, originally known as the Board of Public Works, came into being on Jan. 8, 1900. While our portfolio has evolved over the past century-plus, our core mission has not wavered: Serving the people of San Francisco.
That calling remained true this past year as we celebrated our milestone 125th anniversary.
As a 24/7 operation that touches every neighborhood, Public Works is on the front lines of addressing some of San Francisco’s biggest challenges and collaborating with sister agencies and community partners to strengthen the City’s post-pandemic comeback.
This end-of-year edition of In the Works offers a snapshot of our work in 2025 – from making seismic upgrades to San Francisco’s largest public hospital and ramping up special cleaning operations on freeway ramps to wrapping up the Better Market Street project and launching the Love Our Neighborhoods permit program.
That’s on top of the more routine – but nonetheless meaningful – work we do: resurfacing roads, building curb ramps, abating graffiti, pruning trees, designing roads and buildings, maintaining public structures, cleaning streets, enforcing laws to keep the right of way safe and accessible and much more.
It’s been a busy and productive year, and now we’re gearing up for 2026. From the entire team at Public Works, we hope the new year brings you good health, good cheer and good vibes as we work together to build on the progress we’ve been making to uplift San Francisco.
PUBLIC WORKS
BY THE NUM83R5
2025 -YEAR TO DATE (through 11/2025)
9,440
POTHOLES
FILLED
11,279
TREES
PRUNED
1,071
CURB RAMPS
CONSTRUCTED
571
NUMBER OF BLOCKS RESURFACED
21,554
TONS OF DEBRIS COLLECTED
January
125 Years of Service
Public Works turned 125 years old. Take a journey through our history with many rare images of our work from early in the 20th century, which trace the development of Public Works and the City of San Francisco itself.
February
SF General Seismic Upgrades
Public Works worked on seismic upgrades and making improvements to laboratories and health care spaces across multiple floors of a 1970s-era building on the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital campus.
Better Market Street Project Hits Milestone
Phase 1 of the Better Market Street improvements project reached substantial completion, bringing shorter crossing distances for pedestrians, new street trees and more visible traffic signals to the downtown corridor.
A Clean Sweep
With the City hosting the Chinese New Year Parade and the NBA All-Star Game, Public Works crews were front and center, keeping the streets and sidewalks looking good for residents and visitors.
March
Arbor Day 2025
Streets in the Tenderloin, South of Market and Western Addition became a bit greener and more inviting after a one-day planting blitz on Arbor Day that grew San Francisco’s urban forest by 110 trees.
Real People. Real Work.
Public Works launched the “Real People. Real Work.” campaign to showcase the breadth and depth of the department’s portfolio through the lens of the men and women who perform the work year-round.
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April
A Towering Achievement
In order to enhance accessibility to a cherished landmark, Public Works repaired Coit Tower’s visitor parking lot and the street leading up to it.
City Opens a New Behavioral Health Center to Help People in Crisis
The City opened a new emergency hub for those in crisis that will provide rapid access to life-saving services, alleviate suffering on the City’s streets and free up local hospital emergency rooms.
A community-driven vision to turn a patch of trash-strewn public land into a safer, more welcoming corridor near a freeway offramp in the Potrero Hill neighborhood came to life with the completion of a transformative streetscape project.
Potrero Gateway Project Uplifts a Neighborhood
Power to the People
The City made it a little easier for drivers to power up their electric vehicles with the installation of the first publicly available curbside chargers in San Francisco.
May
Planting an Idea to Curb
Illegal Dumping
Keeping Chinatown vibrant and welcoming takes a team effort. Beautification work on Ross Alley exemplified the good that can come when the City and the community join forces to make a difference.
New Fire Department Training Campus Gets Real
The new San Francisco Fire Department Division of Training campus – a $145 million, Public Works-led project – will include state-of-the-art training facilities, offices, classrooms and more.
Dozens of New Street Trees Take Root in the Bayview
Under deep blue skies, Public Works led a productive Love Our City: Neighborhood Beautification Day event that successfully capped efforts to get 79 young street trees in the ground across the Bayview and other District 10 neighborhoods.
June
A Picturesque Sidewalk Makeover
Our cement and arborist crews arrived at the iconic Painted Ladies to provide expert care and much-needed repairs to the sidewalk in front of the homes.
Pride Parade 2025
San Francisco’s famed Pride Parade, held annually on the last Sunday of June, brought Market Street to celebratory life with parade revelers and a well-choreographed team of Public Works street cleaners trailing them.
Living the Dream: The Transformation of a Hayes Valley Alley
A Public Works-led project turned a narrow side street off of Octavia Street into a community destination – a leafy gathering spot to slow down, amble through and linger.
Rec Center Rebuild Hits Construction Target
Crews high off the ground and fastened into safety harnesses bolted the last steel beam onto the main structural frame of the new Eugene L. Friend Recreation Center.
July
Love Our Neighborhoods
Amid a citywide push to simplify permitting and cut red tape, Public Works made it easier and cheaper than ever to spread joy, beauty and creativity in neighborhoods across the City in ways big and small – from installing little libraries along sidewalks to creating decorative staircases.
A Glass Act: Chinatown’s
New Public Art Wows
City officials and community leaders gathered at the Chinatown-Rose Pak Muni Station to celebrate the arrival of the area’s newest piece of public art, a colorful, glass-crafted love letter to the neighborhood’s rich history and cultural significance.
A Milestone Year
Public Works not only met but exceeded targets set for roadway and curb ramp upgrades during the 2024-25 fiscal year – showcasing our commitment to improve the condition of our streets and expand accessibility.
August
The Squeaky Bridge Gets the Grease
Climbing high atop the Third Street drawbridge, Public Works stationary engineers wielding grease guns meticulously lubricated a series of gears and other moving parts on the historic span above Mission Creek Channel.
Construction Kicks Off
at New India Basin Park
Government officials and community leaders with gold-colored shovels in hand joined together to ceremoniously break ground on the renovation of India Basin Shoreline Park – an ambitious project that reimagines 7.5 acres of waterfront open space in San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood.
A Walk Through History
with New Sidewalk Plaques
San Francisco revamped Folsom Street with safety and transit upgrades while installing 16 commemorative plaques to honor the leather and LGBTQ community’s history in SoMa.
September
A New Block Is Built in San Francisco
In the heart of the East Cut neighborhood, amid glistening skyscrapers and hulking office towers, San Francisco set out to do something unusual: construct a wholly new road and with it an entire city block.
New Operation to Combat Illegal Dumping
Public Works launched a new undercover sting operation aimed at catching culprits illegally dumping household and business trash in Chinatown – a persistent problem that blights the historic neighborhood.
A Busy Corridor Gets a Pedestrian Safety Overhaul
San Francisco’s Sixth Street, with around-the-clock street activity, is one of the most dangerous and deadly corridors for pedestrians due to a high number of traffic-related collisions. A makeover of the busy street aims to change that.
Ramping Up for a
Cleaner San Francisco
The freeway ramps that touch down in San Francisco should be looking a bit cleaner now thanks to a new agreement between Caltrans and the City.
Stern Grove Playground Renovation
The renovated Stern Grove Playground, tucked amid towering trees just inside the City’s Sigmund Stern Recreation Area, boasts custom-designed play equipment, including climbing nets, timber log features, a nature exploration zone, new lawn areas and structures modeled after tree houses.
October
Locksmiths
From performing routine maintenance to responding to emergencies, Public Works handles locksmithing needs across City facilities – neighborhood libraries, jails, City Hall, fire stations and more.
A Safer and More Beautiful West Portal Streetscape
The City completed a traffic safety and beautification project that focused on the half circle outside West Portal Station known as “the horseshoe.”
Inner Richmond Crosswalks
Earn Their Stripes
A splash of color and delight arrived at the Clement Street and Sixth Avenue intersection in the Inner Richmond with the installation of new decorative crosswalks.
Upgrades to the City’s Emergency
Firefighting Water System Advance
San Francisco moved a step closer toward earthquake resiliency with the completion of seismic upgrades to Pump Station No. 2. The historic structure houses equipment that can deliver up to 10,800 gallons of Bay water per minute into the City’s Emergency Firefighting Water System.
November
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A Tree Revival Comes to SoMa and the Tenderloin
More than 40 neighborhood volunteers joined forces with Public Works gardeners and certified arborists to plant 15 new street trees in the South of Market, while tree inspectors scouted new planting sites in the Tenderloin.
Home for Iconic Mounted Police Unit Gets Much-Needed Makeover
A Public Works-led project addresses drainage issues and poor soil conditions at the San Francisco Police Department’s home for its mounted unit – first established more than 150 years ago.
December
In the Grove
Seventeen years ago, a dedicated group of Dogpatch and Potrero Hill residents constructed the Minnesota Grove, a lush and enchanting block-long park that winds along the east side of Minnesota Street between 24th and 25th streets.
Providing a serene walking path for neighbors and visitors and habitat for a variety of animals, this park has become a beloved part of the community that is ardently stewarded by the Dogpatch & Northwest Potrero Hill Green Benefit District (GBD).
A few years ago, Public Works approached the Dogpatch & NW Potrero Hill GBD with a plan to make this already cherished community space more usable, accessible, resilient and sustainable.
Through an intensive, community-driven design process and key financial support from the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, this plan was transformed into a full-fledged Public Works project, called the Minnesota Streetscape Improvements Project.
Earlier this month, a group of City officials, Public Works employees, community leaders and neighbors joined together to celebrate the culmination of this collaborative vision with a ribbon-cutting event.
Public Works Director Carla Short, District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton, Dogpatch & NW Potrero Hill GBD Executive Director Donovan Lacy and SFCTA Principal Transportation Planner Mike Pickford attended the Dec. 15 festivities.
Walton talked about the journey it took to get to this point. “I want to thank the community for being so resilient,” he told the crowd gathered at the Minnesota Grove’s southern entrance. “And for making sure that there are spaces for families and community to gather and enjoy in their own neighborhood.”
Years before a single shovel hit the ground, Public Works worked closely with representatives of the GBD and other community stewards to find a design that would suit the community while also making necessary safety and accessibility improvements.
Public Works landscape architect Koa Pickering and his former colleague Solange Guillame were part of the team leading the charge on the project. “It’s a unique, special space,” Short said. “And you both exhibited the care and patience necessary to improve its design while keeping the community’s original vision intact.”
The final design kept the grove’s distinctive curved walking path, multiple seating areas and dense, diverse plant life while improving the site’s drainage, reinforcing a portion of its retaining wall, constructing new pathways with both decomposed granite and landscape concrete, designing and installing a new irrigation system and adding new, custom-built benches.
Construction on the Minnesota Streetscape Improvements Project began in early 2024 with a variety of upgrades to the areas surrounding the grove. Minnesota Street was fully repaved from 23rd Street to 25th Street, and a portion of the block between 23rd Street and 24th Street received repairs to the concrete street base as well.
Crews constructed new ADA-compliant curb ramps at intersections throughout the area, while also extending the sidewalks at certain corners to decrease the crossing distance for pedestrians.
For one of the most transformational elements of the project, crews built all new sidewalks on two blocks, the 1200 block of Minnesota Street and the 900 block of 23rd Street, that previously had no sidewalks at all – a huge boost to pedestrian safety in the area.
These upgrades are Public Works’ bread and butter – the department regularly rebuilds streets and sidewalks all over the City. But the next phase – making improvements within the grove itself – proved to be a bit trickier.
Working within the grove, especially constructing the new concrete and decomposed granite walkway, was challenging due to space constraints and the close proximity of so much delicate plant life. “It was a tough but very important balancing act to be able to get work done at an efficient pace without endangering or damaging the grove,” Short noted during the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Crews installed temporary protective fencing around certain areas of the grove to establish reasonably sized work areas while protecting the nearby plants.
Public Works also worked closely with neighbor David Hall and Juan Lainez, a GBD-sponsored landscaper, to troubleshoot in areas where planned walkway construction overlapped with planted areas.
Thanks to solid teamwork, crews ultimately were able to complete the project while largely keeping to the original design and minimally impacting the grove’s existing landscaping.
With the Minnesota Streetscape Improvements Project now complete and the Minnesota Grove re-opened, the Dogpatch-Potrero Hill community can continue to enjoy and tend to this prized neighborhood gem.
Public Works is proud to have been able to help empower an already well-organized, passionate and proactive group of San Franciscans by providing its expertise and resources to enhance this beloved public space.
“It wasn’t always easy, but by working together, we made a truly special place even more lovely,” Lacy, the executive director for the GBD, told the crowd at the December event. “I think it was worth the wait and I think you’ll enjoy it just as much as I am.”
Stormy Weather
A series of winter storms on both sides of the Christmas holiday closed out the year, keeping our arborist crews busy, working around the clock to maintain a safe and accessible public right of way.
High winds and heavy rains toppled and damaged street trees in neighborhoods across San Francisco.
Working closely with the dispatchers in our Radio Room, Public Works Bureau of Urban Forestry crews triaged the scores of service requests that came our way – with public safety the No. 1 priority. Trees and large limbs that put people at immediate risk, blocked roads and sidewalks, fell on overhead wires and landed on parked cars were moved to the front of the line for prompt action.
Responding to storms is not new to Public Works – we’re at it every winter season. Not only do our employees deal with tree emergencies, but we also clear clogged storm drains, distribute free sandbags to San Francisco residents and businesses, repair rain-damaged roads and stand at the ready to deal with landslides.
Tree-cycle
Keep the holiday spirit of goodwill alive by turning your old Christmas tree into planet-friendly compost through San Francisco’s long-running courtesy tree recycling program.
City residents can place unadorned Christmas trees curbside next to their Recology bins on their regular collection day between Jan. 2 and Jan. 16 to make sure they’re disposed of properly.
The annual Christmas tree collection and recycling program helps keep our neighborhoods clean and safe, reduces fire hazards in the public right of way and keeps extra waste out of the landfill. Participating is easy and the benefits are plentiful.
Recology will recycle the holiday trees for free. Here are the guidelines:
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Trees must be completely free of all ornaments, tinsel, lights, nails and stands. Note that flocked trees cannot be recycled.
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Trees must be placed alongside your green composting bin on your regular refuse collection day. If your tree is taller than 6 feet, please cut it in half. Recology will have dedicated trucks running the service route to pick up the holiday trees.
Please contact Recology if your tree is not picked up by the end of the day on your regular service day. If you miss your collection date, contact Recology by calling (415) 330-1300.
The collected Christmas trees will be transported to Recology’s Jepson Prairie Organics composting facility near Vacaville where they are fed into a grinder. The smallest pieces of ground trees will be combined with other compostable material – such as food scraps, sticks and leaves – and composted. Woody pieces will become part of the biofilter system at the composting facility. The program keeps about 300 tons of material out of San Francisco’s landfill each year.