A few weeks ago, I noticed that construction had started on the new (and mildly controversial) parklet on Cortland Avenue at Anderson, right in front of VinoRosso Enoteca and the Inclusions Gallery.
Last weekend I noticed that construction was complete, and the parklet was already in use. Though last weekend’s warm weather certainly helped, the sidewalk scene in the new parklet night was booming. Very chic. Ridiculously glamorous. Rather cosmopolitan.
Opinions may vary, but I’m innnnnterested to see how/if this new parklet will influence Cortlandia’s robust social ecology.
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Bernalwood 
it was up for like 5 minutes and it was already tagged. Hate that, are there no cameras there to help catch people who do that. I really hate taggers…ah well just my monday morning rant!
yep that is lame. I’m all for more video records of public spaces, especially during ‘after dark’ hours. And oops, someone sat down in that parklet with what looks like a glass of white wine! But yknow, it could just be a very pale Kombucha in a wine glass. Benefit of the doubt etc!
As I drove by early evening this weekend it looked packed with diners and did look line wineglasses and wine bottles at every table. Again, like Matt said, I suppose it could have been something non-alcoholic. I wonder, though, if it’s possible to get a special permit to allow alcohol at parklets.
@GreenGirl, to answer your question: I did some searching around and alcohol is not allowed to be consumed or sold in parklets. Smoking is not allowed either. If a restaurant or other business that sells alcohol in their private space wants to serve in a parklet, they need to apply for a separate permit to sell alcohol in this parklet space. I’m going to assume that even if a business did get such a permit to sell in the space, you’re still not allowed to bring a bottle with some friends to consume at a parklet on your own accord — although you may blend in a bit better 😉 That goes for parks and other public spaces — something us SF scofflaws tend to ignore on a fairly regular basis anyways 😉
So, I’m not 100% sure the legal ramifications, but I’ll assume that if you’re being served by a business that is not permitted you can be cited for public consumption (and the business cited for serving in an un-permitted space).
Reference material for the above:
Haven’t seen the Parklet yet,but will go up to Cortland to see it as soon as I can. Thanks for the great photos. I hope the taggers didn’t make it too ugly.
Great work by the contractor, Oliver Mackin. Who is also a super helpful neighbor here on the 600 block of Gates Street. Thanks for making it beautiful Oliver!
Went by yesterday and was all “yay, parklet!” then all “wtf, graffiti.” I loved the natural wood but this will have to be painted now, right? Is there some sort of graffiti rejecting paint? Graffiti eating paint??? Also, when is Sutrito going to become a parklet?
There is a clear coating that can be applied that makes graffiti removal much easier. This coating is often applied to murals since taggers began to vandalize legal urban art.
I believe this is a great asset to Cortland Street. While waiting for Vinorosso to open I sit on the bench and get a chance to speak with some of the people I say hello to but do not really know. The parklet is beautifully done and I was disappointed to see that graffiti has already been done. Police your have a group that can usually track these people. Make them get out there and clean it up.
Love the parklet. Makes a great local restaurant even better. Ate there twice over the weekend. Disappointed that it was tagged but expected it unfortunately. With surveillance cameras getting cheaper the community should consider lining Cortland with them but on the other hand…it’s a bit “Big Brother” perhaps. Not sure. Anyways, we could probably fund it with community donations via GoFundMe.com or Kickstarter.
Just my $0.02
Any progress on the parklet in front of 331 Cortland Marketplace? That is the perfect place for one. Would love to see it happen and would happily contribute to a kickstarter for that.
+1
Me too.
Can we now get rid of the eyesore parklet to the east?
And, no thanks on more surveillance cameras.
The parklet to the east is definitely looking very tired. A little TLC and color would bring it back to life.
Yes please get rid of that eyesore to the east !! Was ugly from day one but now it looks really bad and never see anyone use it ! Who is to take care of it ? All the plants are dead and it looks a mess !
The “parklet to the east” is the 903 parklet I believe. This parklet seems to be an example of a hole in the privately funded public parklets system. The city is relying on private “hosts” to apply, build, and maintain the space. However, there’s no succession/fallback plan that I can see for maintenance of the parklet if the host closes up shop or if the host is a community organization that can no longer fund the maintenance.
According to the SF Great Streets FAQ, here’s the requirements for the parklet host:
“The permit holder will sign a maintenance agreement to keep all plants in good health, clean the surface of the parklet daily, and rinse beneath the parklet at least once a week.”
In general, the same FAQ has the following contact for issues:
“To report problems or non‐compliance with parklet guidelines, contact DPW, Bureau of Street Use and Mapping at ( 4 1 5 ) 5 5 4 ‐ 5 8 1 0 or parklets *at* sfdpw *dot* org ”
All that said, the SF Parklets map shows that parklet is still hosted by Sandbox Bakery, who’ve always been great Bernal neighbors (in my opinion). Perhaps if you’re a neighbor whose concerned about the state of the 903 parklet, you could pop in to contact the Sandbox folks first and see if they can keep it spruced up even though they aren’t operating out of 903 anymore? Maybe if they can’t do that anymore, they can reach out to other Bernal community organizations to see if they can raise funding from neighbors for the continued maintenance. Or perhaps Sandbox should decommission if there’s no interest from the community in maintaining this public space.
+1
Surveillance cams don’t work. Either you can’t ID the perp, or the crime is too petty for the Justice system to expend resources on. And they don’t deter crime because perps know about the first two reasons.
I HATE graffiti. I HATE thinking it is an unsolvable problem. England has the most CC cameras per capita in the world. Is it a graffiti-free paradise? Nope. You know what country doesn’t have a lot of graffiti? Indonesia. Because you literally get your ass beaten if you get caught doing it. Remember the wailing and gnashing of teeth some years back when a precious American child was gonna get caned? Also, you can’t chew gum there. I LOVE gum.
The lesson I draw from all that is… international legal trivia is FUN !
Haven’t yet seen the parklet under discussion. Looks great in pictures. First thing I want to look at: whether its drainage was more intelligently designed than that of the sad, sad parklet in front of Mama’s coffeehouse on outer Mission nr. Ocean. The tiniest bit of leaf drop or litter blocks the natural curbside flow of water and leaves a little lake on each side of the parklet. Foul stench, clouds of mosquitoes and wet hipster flip flops are the result. UN-APP-E-TIZ-ING.
Futile appeal to reason and empathy regarding the Great Obstacle to Paradise in SF: Cars aren’t the devil. They barely pollute anymore. Some folks can’t live a life of leisure; they actually have to be places in a timely manner; in order to, you know, accomplish things and be productive. Some people have injuries. Some people have to transport large items. Or lots of small items. Making a bike takes resources too. Our streets were built for cars (well, ok, some were built for horses); that’s why they aren’t dirt bike paths. Vehicle fees. Registration fees. Smog license insurance road-improvement bonds fuel taxes…
What if I just don’t wanna ride a #@$# bike? Here’s a thought: that decision is just exactly as valid as anyone else’s. WHY must auto haters assume every car driver is just out motoring solely to run you over, use up gasoline, impede bicycle stop-sign blow-throughs, elect Republicans and buy non-organic veal with gluten sauce? It isn’t about morality. That’s the concern of religions. Oh wait… so maybe it is…
What was this thread about? Oh, the parklet! It really does look nice… 🙂
If the footage of the tagger is posted e.g. right here the tagger will know (or think) the public’s onto them and everything that goes wrong in their lives they will wonder if there’s someone quietly enforcing on them.
For some other points about tagging, Suhr said recently they aren’t poor disturbed youth they are social justice warriors and daredevils (for the hard to reach places like the grain silos). This tagging was likely an anti-gentrification statement. Or it may have been one of the parking fanatics.
The 903 parklet was crowdfunded and wow was that awful to a) stop serving lunch and b) let the gift go to seed, and so quickly. The Sandbox people have great ideas but seem to be distracted with other things all the time and their plans get done when they get done as it were. They could do a decent bakery full time the rest is fits and starts.
Anyway I would put up cameras, and post the miscreants publicly. People will recognize them. Justice will be done. Deterrent active.
Bernal Heights has never been a Disneyland neighborhood. It has a LONG reputation as a rough place, and no amount of hipsters and illegal wine-sippers will change that. I’m all in favor of installing security cameras since that is one of the things I do for a living, but personally, I wouldn’t live with them myself.
One of the problems is the well-intentioned “liberal” idea of encouraging “graffiti art” and giving grants to kids to create it. When kids (and adults) are caught making graffiti they should be fined or jailed for a day or two. They have to learn not to tag.
Just jail? Why not rough ’em up a little bit, too? A little street justice, ya know?
That’s aggressively silly. Legal graffiti doesn’t encourage illegal graffiti any more than liquor stores encourage rum-running.
What?!? Are you joking? That comparison is so terrible, you HAVE to be joking. Right?
Graffiti is generally about trying to exert a little power over the public space, in a world where the person feels essentially powerless to have any meaningful effect.
ugggghhh
“I’m all in favor of installing security cameras since that is one of the things I do for a living, but personally, I wouldn’t live with them myself. ”
The more I ponder that statement, the more my brain hurts.
Problem: catching them.
how about the sexy new bernalwood?
Well thank god SOMEONE noticed. 😉
I REALLY REALLY like the background on the new Bernalwood header photo thingy. But the actual letters on the old one looked more like the real-life Hollywood sign. The new ones aren’t “roughed up” enough.
If that was the intention, then I retract my critique and give it an A.
Actually, the whole site is new — new WordPress theme, simplified layout, and new header graphic. I agree with you on the new sign graphic — it doesn’t look quite right yet.
i was meaning to say the same thing! looks great! although it has not looked quite as great on my phone
Also, am I just extra slow? Or is it kind of unpredictable where one’s comment will appear in relation to the comment it is meant to comment on? And the “Reply” button after comments randomly goes missing. I don’t think I’m a COMPLETE idiot. I’ve successfully used the (open-source?) “Forum” sections of special-interest websites in the past… Is it just a WordPress thing?
Who’s going to take care of the graffiti?
I think Vinorosso should clean up the graffiti ASAP. They just need to go down the street to Lowe’s and pick up a graffiti remover its not that hard ! I also think Sandbox should take care of 903 if they dont want to care for it than give us back the parking spaces. That part of the street is always hard to find parking .
+1 see my comment below.
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Remember the trash dumping here at the top of North Bernal? We had cameras catch the person in the act and the footage didn’t get us anywhere in terms of prosecution. Perhaps the suspect knew we had the footage so they stopped. What does seem to work is the solar light. Maybe having nice, ambiance-inspiring lights at night on the parklets will deter vandals. It also appears that when businesses have spiffy signs (neon!) and storefronts that are lit at night vandals stay away… or am I being too optimistic?
Questions as I try to form an intelligent opinion about mini-parklets in general:
1) When the businesses they are “attached” to are closed, are these parklets considered public space? Are they public spaces when the businesses are open?
2) Is there any provision in the enabling legislation for keeping track of actual usage? For keeping track of conditions, cleanliness? For removing a parklet if it is unused or ill-maintained? Or expanding it if it is wildly popular and kept in good condition?
It just seems logical to evaluate our experiments after a couple years. Enjoy the successes. Learn from the failures. Tweak the stuff in between…
1) They are always public spaces, in fact, supposedly the restaurants can’t serve out to them you have to go into the restaurant and cart your vittles out yourself, “to-go.”
2) It’s public property and I’m sure the public can dispose of it as they please according to standard procedures.