A Digital Journal - San Francisco Public Works
In the Works
November 2023
Nestled between freeway ramps in the South of Market neighborhood, San Francisco’s new street tree nursery took root this month, creating a transformative hub to promote the benefits of urban forestry, climate protection, environmental justice and green jobs.
FEATURE STORIES
New Street Tree Nursery Creates an Urban Oasis
The idea for a public tree nursery in the heart of San Francisco emerged eight years ago as a recommendation in a government planning document. Turning that concept into reality, however, wasn’t easy.
APEC Summit – A High-Stakes Event with Lasting Benefits
This month, San Francisco hosted the APEC summit – a week-long event that brought to town President Biden and nearly two dozen other world leaders and large contingents of notables from across the globe.
Mayor Breed Taps Carla Short
to Serve as Public Works Director
Mayor London Breed announced the appointment of Carla Short as the new permanent director of San Francisco Public Works.
New Tack to Boost Safety Along Mission Street Corridor
The Public Works street inspections team began enforcement of a temporary moratorium on street vending along Mission Street, between 14th and Cesar Chavez streets, this month.
Rainy Day Lesson: Get Involved,
Make a Difference
For the second November in a row, Lick-Wilmerding High School partnered with San Francisco Public Works to practice stewardship of public spaces and host several greening and cleaning projects.
Neighborhood Beautification Day 2023: That’s a Wrap
We held our final Love Our City: Neighborhood Beautification Day of the 2023 season to green and clean Cow Hollow and other District 2 neighborhoods in the northern stretch of San Francisco.
Urban Forestry Inspector Sara Stacy, center, enjoys the tree nursery’s opening celebration with her Public Works team and community members.
New Street Tree Nursery Creates
an Urban Oasis
Construction on San Francisco’s new street tree nursery began this past June with a muscular shovel scoop of soil to break ground on a barren South of Market lot and culminated this month with a joyous celebration marking the opening of the transformative project.
State officials hold a press conference at the future tree nursery site in February 2022 to announce new Clean California grant-funded projects.
Construction of the transformative project moved quickly. But the idea for a public tree nursery in the heart of San Francisco emerged eight years ago as a recommendation in a government planning document. Turning that concept into reality, however, wasn’t easy.
When the Bureau of Urban Forestry's Jon Swae first started bringing early funders of the project to the proposed site, his vision of turning the patch of dirt and weeds next to roaring freeways ramps into a vibrant home for young trees and saplings was met with puzzled looks and skepticism.
Jon Swae, the Bureau of Urban Forestry grants manager, helped shepherd the project.
“You could see they were uncomfortable; in their faces, they had these uncertain looks,” said Swae, the Bureau of Urban Forestry grants manager who shepherded the project. “To which I replied, ‘Can you see it?’ They’d be like, ‘Maybe?’”
Despite the early reticence, the $6.5 million street tree nursery – the first of its kind in San Francisco – took root.
Freeway ramps and the San Francisco skyline frame the street tree nursery.
Located on Fifth Street, between Harrison and Bryant streets, and flanked by highway ramps near the western foot of the Bay Bridge, the budding street tree nursery provides space to grow up to 1,000 young trees at any given time. Once they grow big enough, they’ll be planted throughout the City’s neighborhoods – especially those lacking shade and plagued by polluted air.
The nursery is envisioned to deliver a locally based system of tree propagation and care, volunteer and educational programming and workforce development opportunities in the fields of urban forestry, environmental justice and climate protection. It will complement the Public Works StreetTreeSF program, which is responsible for the care of the City’s 125,000 street trees.
Public Works crews install native plants at the nursery.
“No one could’ve loved this land like Public Works,” said Swae who co-wrote the City’s Urban Forest Plan, which first proposed the nursery concept in 2015.
“It was such a challenging project and site. No other city or state department has quite the range of skills, talent and dedication required to transform this long-forgotten piece of San Francisco into a shining example of how community can come together to show that it’s possible to fight for the rebirth of San Francisco.”
The transformative effects of the 14,000-square-foot nursery are already noticeable. Where pigeons and rats used to rule the roost, pollinators – including hummingbirds, butterflies and California carpenter bees – are beginning to show up to stake their claim.
A key benefit of the nursery is that tree species can be cultivated there that will fare better in San Francisco’s diverse microclimates. They include the California Buckeye, the Western Sycamore, the Coast Live Oak, the Ginko Tree, the Catalina Ironwood and the Strawberry Tree.
Clockwise from top right: California Buckeye, Ginko and Coast Live Oak are among the tree species that will be grown at the nursery.
The nursery’s slogan, “Justice, Jobs, Climate, Trees,” was carefully honed after considering not only San Francisco’s small tree canopy – 13.7% versus the national average of 27% – but also the need in underserved communities for meaningful work in local ecological restoration. Community members will be welcomed to the space to learn about urban forestry, environmental justice and climate protection.
Three former shipping containers – redesigned by UrbanBloc, a San Leandro-based firm that creates modular buildings from repurposed shipping containers – offer classroom space, an office and a breakroom for tree nursery volunteers and workforce development crews. Their job: Tend to saplings and young trees at the nursery until they are big enough to be planted in San Francisco’s low-canopy neighborhoods.
Native plants add life and beauty to the nursery grounds.
The street tree nursery will benefit people and ecosystems in San Francisco neighborhoods with the lowest tree canopy, communities that often bear the brunt of pollution from nearby industry or traffic-choked freeways and have less open space and greenery than others.
“Scientific studies continue to show a strong correlation between greenery and race and greenery and socioeconomic status,” Jonathan Cordero, founder and executive director of the Association of Ramaytush Ohlone, told the crowd of elected officials, Public Works staff, community members and supporters during the nursery’s Nov. 9 ribbon cutting.
“We know that being with nature has a positive impact on one’s physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health,” he said. “The street tree nursery makes a significant contribution to addressing these kinds of ecological injustices present in the City of San Francisco.”
The nursery project carries forward the ecological and social justice work of the Ramaytush Ohlone, the original peoples of the San Francisco Peninsula, said Cordero, as he stood in front of a small forest of more than 100 young trees growing in 15-gallon pots.
“As native peoples, our primary responsibilities are to care for the natural world, and to care for the people who reside in our ancestral homeland, especially marginalized communities,” he said. “Any project at the intersection of ecology and equity counts as a high priority for us, and so it was easy to offer our unwavering support for this project.”
Working with its nonprofit grant partner, Friends of the Urban Forest, the Public Works street tree nursery will house the “New Roots” workforce development program, which will draw participants from the Bayview-Hunters Point, South of Market and Tenderloin neighborhoods for training in arboriculture jobs.
The nursery “marries art, equity and ecology” into a project that is of service to all of San Francisco, said Swae. He’s particularly proud of the aesthetic elements, including murals and two porch swings, the communal gathering areas and the sweeping pergola over the shipping containers. Additionally, the site is completely powered by solar, so there will be no use of greenhouse gases to fuel operations.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor London Breed lead the ribbon-cutting ritual.
During the ribbon-cutting ceremony, guests admired lush plants – methodically placed by Bureau of Urban Forestry landscape and cement crews – and the new solar-paneled office and classroom structures. Nearby, once drab gray freeway pillars had been emblazoned with bright green and yellow original artwork.
“This property has been pretty much not used,” Mayor London Breed said of the transformed Caltrans lot, as she took in the view of smiling faces gathered at the opening ceremony. “And now it’s going to be made into something exciting, something sustainable and something open and available for the community.”
The project received $3.8 million from the state Department of Transportation (Caltrans) by way of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Clean California initiative. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection contributed $1.2 million and the City supported the effort with $1 million.
Public Works Director Carla Short, an arborist by training, said the street tree nursery will serve as an important hub “for elevating environmental and economic justice” through stewardship of San Francisco’s urban forest.
Getting the project ready in time was no easy feat.
Timelapse video captures construction of the street tree nursery.
It was a scramble to deliver the project by November, after breaking ground in June, said Ruby Yu, the Public Works construction manager for the project. Caltrans was an indispensable partner throughout, she added.
The nursery will be overseen by Public Works’ Bureau of Urban Forestry, with an on-site nursery specialist and volunteer and outreach coordinator. In the coming weeks, urban forestry landscape crews will be installing irrigation for platforms on which the young trees will grow. The Public Works carpentry and paint shop teams are building tables and seating for the nursery classroom, crafting the furniture from a felled 24th Street ficus tree.
Public Works carpenters create furniture for the nursery from a felled street tree.
Ramaytush Ohlone culture director Gregg Castro capped the ribbon-cutting ceremony with a blessing song.
"I went around and did a circle around the trees to let them know I’m here, and that we’re back, and we are going to take care of them,” Castro told the small group gathered for the blessing, while beating a rattle in the palm of his hand. “We are going to do that with the help of all of you. There’s only a few of us. We got pushed out a long time ago, but our sacred responsibility to take care of the land is still with us. And we are going to do that through you.”
Street Tree Nursery Facts
Nursery Concept:
2015, San Francisco Urban Forest Plan, San Francisco Planning Department (see pages 20-21)
Number of Trees on Site: up to 1,000
Construction Groundbreaking: June 2023
Parcel Size: 14,000 square feet (0.3 acres)
Nursery Funding: $6.5 million (Caltrans, City of San Francisco, Cal Fire)
Construction Completion: Fall 2023
Environmental Enhancements
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Reduce transportation and pollution burden associated with distant tree delivery
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Eliminate transplant shock to imported trees grown in other climates
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Increase species availability and provide local, green jobs and learning opportunities
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Grow tree species native to San Francisco, including California Buckeye and Coast Live Oak, with acorns and seeds harvested locally from Yerba Buena Island and San Bruno Mountain
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Provide space for hundreds of saplings and young trees – including native species and other tree groups known to thrive in San Francisco’s microclimates and heat islands
Community Benefits
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The San Francisco Street Tree Nursery will bring much-needed green space and beautification to the South of Market neighborhood, which lacks trees and open space and is burdened by the freeway’s air pollution and other environmental justice impacts
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The nursery’s “New Roots” workforce development program, operated by Public Works’ nonprofit grant partner Friends of the Urban Forest, will provide job training and support career pathways in urban forestry for those facing barriers to employment
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Enhance tree stewardship throughout San Francisco’s culturally and economically diverse neighborhoods, with a special focus on engaging residents in underserved, low-canopy neighborhoods, to establish a connection between community health and growing the urban forest
For more information, visit sfpublicworks.org/trees
A splash of delight adorns this Chinatown crosswalk at Stockton and Washington streets.
APEC Summit – A High-Stakes Event with Lasting Benefits
This month, San Francisco hosted the APEC summit – a week-long event that brought to town President Biden, nearly two dozen other world leaders and large contingents of corporate executives, journalists and government officials from across the globe.
APEC, officially known as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, kicked off on Nov. 11 and wrapped up a week later.
This was a big deal for San Francisco, putting the City on the international stage. As a City, we strove to put our best foot forward with the goal of rebalancing the narrative that San Francisco is caught in a doom loop; we also wanted to highlight the bloom loop and show off our incredible city – the beauty, the diversity and the vibrancy.
Mayor London Breed revs up the crowd before the group takes an inaugural walk across the freshly painted Webster Street Pedestrian Bridge.
“My hope is that people will have the opportunity to experience San Francisco for themselves and tell the whole story,” Mayor London Breed said during a press conference leading up to the summit.
The conference was expected to generate tens of millions of dollars in economic activity and highlight that San Francisco’s hospitality industry – one of the City’s most important economic sectors that creates jobs, supports local businesses and yields much-needed tax revenue – is welcoming and open for business.
Our graffiti abatement crews wipe out tags in the high-impact APEC areas.
Given the presence of the U.S. president and other heads of state, APEC was a high-security event – with federal law enforcement agencies taking the lead on that front. It necessitated temporary road closures and checkpoints that impacted travel and limited access in some areas of town.
The City had been preparing for this event for nearly a year, with work ramping up since early summer. The all-hands-on-deck effort involved Public Works, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, the Recreation and Park Department, the Port of San Francisco, San Francisco International Airport, the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, the Department of Emergency Management, the Department of Public Health, the Fire Department, the City Administrator’s Office and many others.
As we do for any large event, whether it’s a sports team’s victory parade or a Pride celebration, Public Works conducted focused cleaning operations in the high-activity areas. For APEC, that meant the South of Market, the downtown hotels, Chinatown, Nob Hill and the Outer Richmond. It’s important to note that crews continued to respond to service requests in the City’s other neighborhoods.
Public Works arborists plant trees in the South of Market.
We also refreshed the landscaping near Moscone Center, pruned and planted trees and spruced up tree wells along Market Street and in the South of Market. Our skilled trades workers were dispatched to the Legion of Honor, the site of a gala dinner, to work on the bathrooms, the exterior fountain, the light poles and the electrical system. While driven by APEC, the benefits extend into the future.
The same is true for a trio of community-driven neighborhood beautification projects that we managed.
Left photo: The new decorative sidewalk in Chinatown as seen from above. Photo courtesy of Travis Jungroth.
Right photo: Contractors install green, red and white stripes representing the colors of the Italian flag at the intersection of Stockton and Union streets in North Beach.
We brought in contractor crews to install two new decorative crosswalks – one, at Stockton and Washington streets in Chinatown, displaying a series of whimsical clouds; the other, at Stockton and Union streets in North Beach, boasting the colors of the Italian flag. They’re great additions to our city streetscape that will be enjoyed for years to come.
The pedestrian crossing over Geary Boulevard now pops with color.
The third beautification project is the new paint job on the Webster Street Pedestrian Bridge, which we feted with a joyous community celebration.
The utilitarian bridge, which spans Geary Boulevard, is much more than a pedestrian crossing. At its core, it’s a connector between two communities – Japantown and the Fillmore/Western Addition, which were physically torn apart during the redevelopment era more than 50 years ago.
Eyed for demolition just a few years back, neighborhood leaders, residents and merchants fought back. Not only did they prevail in preserving the bridge, but they advocated for improvements. And this month, they got their wish.
Community representatives and City officials pause on the bridge during their ceremonial walk.
The bridge, which was once bare gray concrete, now stands out in a radiant vermillion, chosen to resemble the color found on traditional torii gates in Japan that symbolize gratitude and harmony.
The refresh also included repairs to cracks in the concrete and the hanging lanterns that light the pathway.
This was a team effort through and through, with the Japantown Community Benefit District and the Japantown Merchants’ Association playing a big role in championing these improvements, Public Works delivering the job and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency funding the improvement project.
We celebrated the completion of this beautification project on Nov. 2 with a ceremonial inaugural walk across the bridge. Mayor Breed, Consul General of Japan Osumi Yo and community leaders from Japantown and the Fillmore joined us for the event. It was an amazing, meaningful moment, with folks walking arm-in-arm across the bridge, cementing their deep connections and shared history.
With APEC now over, Public Works is eager to keep the momentum going to keep our neighborhoods clean and beautiful. We are asking frontline staff what worked well and why and how our routine cleaning and maintenance operations could benefit. We also want to continue the effective coordination we experienced with other City agencies to make sure we leverage each other’s work to deliver high-quality services more effectively to San Francisco’s residents and visitors.
It’s official: Carla Short signs the paperwork making her permanent director of Public Works.
Mayor Breed Taps
Carla Short to Serve as
Public Works Director
Mayor London Breed announced on Nov. 8 the appointment of Carla Short as the new permanent director of San Francisco Public Works, calling her pick “the right person for what is one of the toughest jobs in the City.”
Short, a veteran of the department, had been serving as interim director since 2021.
“Carla Short has clearly demonstrated that she is hardworking, collaborative and committed to improving San Francisco,” Breed said in her announcement. “From the first day she stepped into this job, she never wavered from taking on challenges and embracing opportunities to move our City forward.”
Short – a native of St. Louis – first joined Public Works in 2004 as the City’s Urban Forester and soon rose through the ranks, moving into the Bureau of Urban Forestry’s top position in 2015. She filled in as the Department’s Deputy Director for Operations for eight months starting in the fall of 2019 and served as Deputy Chief of the Bureau of Street-use and Mapping.
A certified arborist, Short graduated from Yale University with a Master of Environmental Management and will be the first woman to lead Public Works in the department’s 123-year history.
Though she initially had planned to eventually return to her roots at the Bureau of Urban Forestry, Short said her two years at the helm of the department made her appreciate “what an amazing opportunity it has been working with the whole department” – witnessing the talent, professionalism, dedication, camaraderie and determination that Public Works staff bring to work every day.
“I am incredibly honored that Mayor Breed has confidence in me but that really reflects the confidence in the Public Works team,” she said.
Short emphasized her commitment to build on and expand the partnerships that Public Works has cultivated with residents, merchants and community groups, as well as other City agencies, to collectively improve our shared urban environment.
“I really believe San Francisco is moving in the right direction – let’s move beyond the doom loop narrative and focus on the bloom loop that’s developing,” Short said. “Public Works plays a big part in San Francisco’s march forward.”
You can learn more about Carla Short’s career and approach to leadership by listening to her episode of Public Works’ “Women Leaders in Public Service” podcast series.
A flower purveyor sets up shop at La Placita, a site on 24th Street between Capp and Lilac streets, where permitted vendors can sell their goods.
New Tack to Boost Safety
Along Mission Street Corridor
The Public Works street inspections team began enforcement of a temporary moratorium on street vending along Mission Street, between 14th and Cesar Chavez streets, this month – an operation to curb rising safety concerns and create a welcoming environment for residents, visitors and workers throughout the busy commercial corridor.
The improvements were noticeable within hours of the moratorium going into effect on Nov. 27. People could move down the corridor and enter and exit businesses with ease, no longer having to navigate what felt like a chaotic obstacle course. The sidewalk – previously packed with an array of items being sold from blankets, boxes, duffle bags and card tables – was once again open and accessible when the enforcement team is present.
At the same time, the City, in partnership with community nonprofits, opened two spaces – one in what had been a vacant storefront and the other in a tented public parking lot – where vendors operating with a permit can sell their wares.
A team of two Public Works street inspectors, accompanied by two police officers, work the Mission Street corridor.
“We need to disrupt the dangerous conditions around unpermitted vending and create a safer neighborhood for residents, small businesses, and our permitted street vendors,” said Mayor London Breed. “We want to support people who are trying to make a living and following our permits and guidelines, and these new spaces and support will do just that. This is about helping the entire Mission community and making sure that merchants, residents, and City workers feel safe and that the neighborhood can thrive.”
The unsanctioned vending activities that led to the moratorium involved fencing, the sale of stolen items, inaccessible sidewalks and other hazards that have created a harmful environment in the area. The San Francisco Police Department reported an increase in calls for public safety services along Mission Street, between October 2022 through October 2023, largely related to assault and battery, petty theft and vandalism.
The moratorium comes 14 months after the City launched a new street vending permit program to create a legal path for legitimate sidewalk vendors to sell their goods – from handicrafts and flowers to clothing and bath products. Public Works issued about 170 permits during the first year, with the vast majority for sales in the Mission. The goal then was to improve street conditions. The sidewalk vending had made it difficult to navigate the public right of way safely and access businesses, bus stops and the BART stations.
The moratorium enforcement team keeps the 24th Street BART plaza safe and accessible for residents and visitors in the area.
While there was some success, the problems connected to the illegal sales persisted. City officials are hoping that the temporary moratorium along the Mission Street corridor will offer a much-needed reset.
“There has already been a murder and several stabbings associated with fencing operations and we must act to address serious safety concerns as soon as possible; we can simply no longer wait,” said Supervisor Hillary Ronen, who represents the Mission and helped develop the moratorium plan. “It is my duty to balance the needs of brick-and-mortar businesses, residents, City workers and legitimate vendors. I’m trying to balance the conflicting needs of all parties in the fairest and best way I know how.”
To support permitted vendors, the City collaborated with the community organizations Clecha, Calle 24 Latino Cultural District and the Latino Task Force Hub to open two temporary spaces for them to set up shop:
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Tiangue Marketplace – The formerly empty storefront will accommodate up to 50 vendors. The marketplace located at 2137 Mission St. is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
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La Placita – The tented, outdoor parking lot operated by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) has been repurposed to accommodate up to nine permitted street vendors. Located on 24th Street, between Capp and Lilac streets, the space is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Permitted vendors also still can sell their products in other locations throughout the City.
The City also is working with the community groups to offer training and support to the vendor community. Among the initiatives:
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Resource Fair – Organized to provide resources to impacted street vendors that include wraparound services, such as workforce training and placement opportunities, entrepreneurship training and connection to workshops and immigration, health and housing support, plus assistance with applications. The fair will be held on Dec. 15, starting at 9 a.m., at the Tiangue Marketplace.
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Latino Task Force Hub Intake – The organization will work in partnership with the City to connect vendors with economic opportunities through trainings and services, including for those who qualify for the Family Relief Fund.
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Holiday Shopping Campaign – A marketing campaign to promote the two temporary locations and special holiday and community events.
The La Placita marketplace, created to support permitted vendors, is open for business Tuesday-Saturday, from 10 a.m - 6 p.m.
Nataly Ortiz, who works with Calle 24 and is managing the 24th Street location, said she hopes people will stop by to support the vendors in their new space. As she spoke on a recent morning, a handful of stalls were open for business, selling colorful woven bracelets, fresh flowers and Christmas tree ornaments.
Their biggest concern, Ortiz said, is whether they can make as much money selling their wares at the marketplace as they did before. “You can pause sidewalk vending but paying the rent doesn’t pause.”
Still, she said, they’ll do what they can. “It’s worth a try.”
A short walk away, the sidewalks and plazas around the 24th Street BART station remained free of vending, making it easy for people to navigate through on foot and by wheelchair. Public Works street inspectors, in their fluorescent green vests, and uniformed police officers kept close watch to keep people from setting up to sell their wares.
Performers put on a ceremonial dance at the opening of a vendor marketplace
at 2137 Mission St.
A similar scene unfolded eight blocks away at 16th and Mission streets, usually another hotbed of vending activity. Vendors had cleared out and sidewalks remained open while Public Works inspectors and police officers stood watch.
If people try to sell on the sidewalk or in the BART plazas while the moratorium is in effect, they will be issued a warning and told to pack up and leave. If they refuse, inspectors can issue fines of up to $1,000 and impound their goods.
Three Public Works enforcement teams, each with two inspectors, will be on the ground every day, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. Each team is accompanied by a pair of San Francisco police officers who are on hand to keep our employees safe; inspectors had been subjected to a handful of physical assaults and regular verbal attacks while targeting illegal sales.
The rules, regulations and guidelines of this moratorium and information on permitted street vending activities can be found here.
Lick-Wilmerding students tackle the ivy along Bosworth Street in Glen Park.
Rainy Day Lesson:
Get Involved,
Make a Difference
For the second November in a row, Lick-Wilmerding High School partnered with San Francisco Public Works to practice stewardship of public spaces and host several greening and cleaning projects in the Excelsior, Portola, Ingleside and Glen Park neighborhoods. This time, they did it in style – sporting yellow rain ponchos.
Undeterred by the rainy weather, a total of 190 Lick-Wilmerding students and teachers enthusiastically tackled six projects on Nov. 16 and 17, contributing 380 hours of community service. They mulched, removed ivy, pruned, weeded and picked up litter.
“This is part of our public purpose program, which is the school’s mission – going into the neighborhoods and practicing stewardship and service in the community,” said Ravi Lau, who heads Lick-Wilmerding’s Public Purpose Program. “We are honoring Indigenous Peoples’ Month and we’ve invited indigenous leaders from our community to come and speak on ‘rematriation.’ We are trying to integrate these ideas. Rematriation is re-mothering or reconnecting with the land.”
The mulch brigade gets the job done at the Athens Avalon Greenspace.
Lau worked closely with George Li from the Public Works Community Engagement Team to shape the work scope. They focused on making a lasting impact on public green spaces.
On the first workday, the Lick-Wilmerding students, all in 10th grade, joked around and listened to holiday classics, millennial pop and current rap hits as they filled countless buckets with mulch, passing them from person to person, conveyor-belt style, up an Excelsior district hillside.
Pam Axelson, an Excelsior resident and the lead steward at Athens Avalon Greenspace, shepherded the student volunteers. They were tasked with taking the 10 cubic yards of organic mulch delivered by Public Works up the hillside in buckets and spreading it around the stairway gardens with the goal of covering all the irrigation lines. The students also helped with clearing the old or dead Pride of Madeira plants and blossoms.
Working like a human conveyor belt, students move one bucket at a time up the hill.
“The students from Lick-Wilmerding were enthusiastic, energetic and interested in the work they were doing,” Axelson said. “They would do anything they were asked to do and seemed to have fun with their fellow students as they worked together. They were very easy to work with. It would be very difficult to get 30 neighborhood volunteers to come do what the Lick-Wilmerding students did for us.”
Mary Beth D’Alonzo, a Ridge Lane Street Park steward, also was grateful for the work the 9th graders assigned to her green space accomplished the following day – the weeding of three blocks along the linear park in the Ocean View neighborhood.
“The students were enthusiastic about our project and worked hard to complete it despite the rain that started about halfway through. Many students volunteered for particular assignments and looked for additional work when they were done with their first tasks. Collecting trash and trimming fennel were particular favorites,” D’Alonzo said. “As we finished, I was impressed when a couple of students thanked me for the opportunity to help.”
Students from Lick-Wilmerding pose for a group photo before beginning the day's work.
Ramses Alvarez, who manages the Public Works Community Engagement Team, said school partnerships are valuable. Not only do they help keep San Francisco’s public spaces clean and green, he noted, but “partnering with these schools allows us to engage with the future generations of San Franciscans.”
Public Works organizes volunteer opportunities throughout the year. Since the start of the fiscal year on July 1, we have been involved in 503 events, accounting for a total of 18,864 hours of volunteer time.
If you’re interested in getting involved, please email volunteer@sfdpw.org or visit www.sfpublicworks.org/volunteer.
Public Works staff and volunteers remove invasive ivy from a Russian Hill slope.
Neighborhood Beautification Day 2023:
That’s a Wrap
We held our final Love Our City: Neighborhood Beautification Day of the 2023 season on Nov. 4 to green and clean Cow Hollow and other District 2 neighborhoods in the northern stretch of San Francisco.
Dozens of volunteers joined Public Works crews to plant trees, paint out graffiti and pick up litter. They also weeded, mulched and pruned medians and hillsides. A small but enthusiastic group installed privacy fencing at Sherman Elementary School, which hosted the event kickoff. A special thanks to Supervisor Catherine Stefani and her City Hall team for joining us.
Volunteers install privacy slats in the chain-link fence at Sherman Elementary School.
Love Our City: Neighborhood Beautification Day events are held one Saturday a month (except for December) in a different supervisorial district each time. This operation is the largest in our portfolio of volunteer opportunities.
By working side by side with members of the community, our street cleaning, graffiti abatement, urban forestry and community engagement teams build partnerships to collectively care for our neighborhoods and foster a “we-are-all-in-this-together” burst of civic pride.
Planting street trees is a favorite activity at Neighborhood Beautification Day events.
We’re already gearing up for the 2024 season and will be sharing details once they’re available. Meanwhile, we have plenty of volunteer opportunities on tap year-round. Please email us at volunteer@sfdpw.org or visit our website to learn more.