{"id":27398,"date":"2023-07-16T12:37:50","date_gmt":"2023-07-16T19:37:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=27398"},"modified":"2023-07-16T12:40:47","modified_gmt":"2023-07-16T19:40:47","slug":"san-franciscos-civic-center-plaza-may-undergo-a-massive-remodel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/07\/16\/san-franciscos-civic-center-plaza-may-undergo-a-massive-remodel\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco’s Civic Center plaza may undergo a massive remodel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/a>Madilynne Medina<\/a>, <\/em>SFGATE<\/p>\n\n\n\n

July 14, 2023Updated: July 15, 2023 9:09 a.m. (SFGate.com)<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Project
Project plans for a potential remodel of the United Nations Plaza. Photo Courtesy of San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A San Francisco public square may undergo a massive remodel in the coming months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

United Nations Plaza, located near the Civic Center and bordered by 7th, Market, Hyde and McAllister Streets, may become a new hub for skateboarding if plans proposed by the SF Recreation and Parks department are approved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamara Aparton, a spokesperson for the parks department, told SFGATE that the remodeled plaza would include large skating spaces and other amenities including chess tables, ping pong tables, exercise equipment and tables for Teqball, a sport similar to table tennis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aparton added that the department has been exploring a \u201cstreet skating pilot\u201d since March and has been in discussions with the city\u2019s skating community<\/a> for months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are drawing inspiration from similar activations in Paris and Madrid and Philadelphia as well as our own successful street skating spaces like the Waller street skatepark,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several city leaders have drawn attention to the plaza recently, because the public square is known for its open air drug market. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor London Breed asked the parks department to take over supervision of the plaza, which was previously owned by the San Francisco Department of Public Works, earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The department has since implemented several enforcement measures. \u201cWe can coordinate with lots of other city departments to ensure illegal vending laws are enforced and power washing is frequent, and there’s a law enforcement presence,\u201d Aparton said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

City officials implemented reduced park hours and increased law enforcement in the area last winter to help mitigate \u201charmful behaviors,\u201d the San Francisco Examiner previously reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UN Plaza spans 150,000 square feet with 90,000 square feet of red brick paving. The parks department plans to repurpose about 13,000 square feet of the red brick paving area into skating spaces, according to the project application obtained by SFGATE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the project application and environmental review is approved by the San Francisco Planning Agency, construction could begin as early as September, Aparton said. Construction will take up to two months, the planning application indicates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked about the current state of the plaza, Aparton said it\u2019s \u201cnot perfect\u201d but there\u2019s still work to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn our experience, an effective way to make a public space safer and healthier is to make it fun,\u201d she said. \u201cWe haven’t done it before with other spaces, and this is what this pilot project is attempting to do.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written By Madilynne Medina<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Madilynne Medina is a news reporter for SFGATE. She is an alumna of San Jose State where she served as executive editor for the “Spartan Daily.” She is also a Bay Area native. Email her at madilynne.medina@sfgate.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Madilynne Medina, SFGATE July 14, 2023Updated: July 15, 2023 9:09 a.m. (SFGate.com) A San Francisco public square may undergo a massive remodel in the coming months. United Nations Plaza, located near the Civic Center and bordered by 7th, Market, Hyde and McAllister Streets, may become a new hub for skateboarding if plans proposed… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[802],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27398"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27398"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27401,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27398\/revisions\/27401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}