{"id":42449,"date":"2025-07-09T12:04:36","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T19:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=42449"},"modified":"2025-07-09T12:04:38","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T19:04:38","slug":"jane-jacobs-approach-at-16th-and-mission-will-require-more-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/07\/09\/jane-jacobs-approach-at-16th-and-mission-will-require-more-security\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Jane Jacobs\u2019 approach at 16th and Mission will require more security"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\" by\u00a0LYDIA CH\u00c1VEZ<\/a><\/strong> July 8, 2025 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
A pedestrian passage, Paseo de Artista, was included in the original plan of La F\u00e9nix.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is the second part of a two-part series on architecture at 16th and Mission streets. Read the first part here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

When David Baker Architects and Cervantes Design Associates designed La F\u00e9nix at 1950 Mission St. in 2016, they envisioned an open walkway \u2014 a paseo de artistas<\/a> \u2014 cutting through the southern edge of the development from Mission and Wiese streets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mission<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Want the latest on the Mission and San Francisco? Sign up for our free daily newsletter<\/strong> below.Sign up<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Large gates on Mission Street would be open during the day, inviting pedestrians to traverse the interior of the complex and exit onto Wiese Street. They would walk along the pathway, past artists\u2019 studios, murals, and maybe food stands or occasional celebrations with music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe propose to create a lively village <\/em>that reinterprets the diverse texture of the neighborhood, by combining supportive housing and resident amenities with community and public space,\u201d the planning documents state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was before the pandemic, before encampments and before the chaotic, unpermitted vending and unchecked drug use on Mission Street that Mayor Daniel Lurie is now trying to tame. But, even then, the idea of an open art paseo was both daring and aspirational, because Wiese Street was already a hangout for homeless residents and drug users. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea never met reality. The large gates at both ends have never been open to pedestrian traffic. A plan to make the commercial space lining the paseo into low-cost artist studios was shelved and the space was rented out to three nonprofits instead of the active retail that Anne Cervantes, the founder of Cervantes Design Associates, had proposed after community outreach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only remnants of that vision are three colorful murals on the wall along the paseo and a setback on the Mission Street side, now often occupied by unpermitted vending and an open-air drug market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nowadays, people defecate against the gates at either end. On at least two occasions, someone jumped the Wiese Street gate and used a crowbar to break into the Youth Art Exchange on the ground floor. The gate\u2019s height has been increased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n