Latest PR campaign by the MTA: "Groundplay"
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| Groundplay |
The MTA is now campaigning for more people to sign up to build parklets in front of their businesses. This is done under the latest incarnation of the old Pavement to Parks department, which has morphed into something called "Groundplay":
San Francisco’s Office of Economic & Workforce Development (OEWD) and the Planning Department’s Groundplay Program have issued a request for proposals (RFP) for up to two Neighborhood Parklet Opportunity Grants...OEWD and Planning are seeking proposals from non-profit organizations and small businesses to enhance and support public spaces via the installation of a parklet. Parklets support commercial districts, contribute to the vibrancy of neighborhoods, and provide needed gathering space. Each grant is for up to $20,000, to be matched with a 35 percent contribution by the selected applicant(s).
First: a "vibrant" alert!
First: a "vibrant" alert!
If you stumble on the Groundplay website without this kind of intro, you can't tell from all the happy-talk that it's a city project unless you scroll to the bottom of the screen.
Parklets "support commercial districts" by taking away customer parking that local businesses need.
From the website:
Groundplay works with ordinary San Franciscans to build temporary installations that turn underused public spaces into joyful community places. Do you have an idea for transforming an area of your neighborhood? Come play with us. Together, we can break new ground.
"Temporary installations"? If the Divisadero business district is any indication, parklets are permanent, since both the original parklet in front of the bike coffee house that recently went belly-up and another by the defunct Cafe Abir at Fulton and Diviz are still there.
Will the parking spaces removed to make the parklets be restored? Are the property owners now responsible for maintaining those vibrant "installations"?
Will the parking spaces removed to make the parklets be restored? Are the property owners now responsible for maintaining those vibrant "installations"?
Speaking of defunct, by my count there are now 13 empty storefronts on Diviz between McAllister and Haight. The coming recession---the country is overdue for one---will hollow out a lot of other properties.
Hard to understand how property owners can afford to leave storefronts empty.
See also Cow Hollow shops struggle to survive.
Hard to understand how property owners can afford to leave storefronts empty.
See also Cow Hollow shops struggle to survive.
Labels: Anti-Car, City Government, District 5, Divisadero, Language, Muni, Neighborhoods, Parking, Parklets
posted by Rob Anderson @ 12:05 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I would love to read and hear what "progressives" would yell if a Republican-dominated city government established a commission with the power to give private, for-profit storefront hospitality businesses $20K of taxpayer money to turn the metered parking spaces in front of their establishments into cozy outdoor noshing zones. When Republicans use public resources to help out businesses it's rightly called corporate welfare. Here it's called "groundplay". What an apt label from the cute generation.
Since the two parklets I discuss were in front of coffee houses, the "gathering space" was inside those two "small businesses." The assumption underlying the parklet fad: that city streets are better used for something other than traffic and parking by those devilish motor vehicles. Seems like they aren't getting enough parklet requests to sustain this anti-car program. Hence, city taxpayers are drafted to subsidize it.
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