A more coordinated effort is needed between San Francisco departments, city supervisors said at a hearing Monday afternoon.
District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who represents the Mid-Market and Tenderloin, called for the hearing at the board’s Land Use and Transportation Committee to not only hear from departments on what the city is currently doing to revive the Market Street corridor, but also to hear about plans for the future.
“Market Street is the backbone of the city’s transportation network, carrying commuters both below and above ground in just about every mode imaginable,” Mahmood said. “It’s also a retail and cultural corridor that is an essential part to the city’s identity and will be critical to how San Francisco’s recovery is felt and perceived.”
Mahmood said there is some optimism for the corridor. Last year, the Civic Joy Fund held a “Market Street Reimagined” contest, asking the public to bring out their best ideas on how to improve the city’s main commercial and transportation artery.
Jeremy Shaw, a planner for urban design at the Planning Department, said they anticipate that the Civic Joy Fund is exploring a project to test some of the ideas from the contest and is currently working with staff.
The supervisor is also working on creating a Theater Arts District in the Mid-Market area.
Currently, investments are being made in the Powell Street corridor and Embarcadero Plaza, with funding for the projects coming from different sources, Shaw said.
Supervisors heard from staff at the Planning Department, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), and the Office of Economic Workforce and Development, detailing recent changes in zoning and tax incentives to encourage the conversion of empty office spaces to housing, streetscape changes in recent years, and street activations, such as entertainment zones, where drinking alcohol is allowed on the street in the permitted area.
Still, supervisors questioned whether there was a central plan for the corridor and which department was leading those efforts.
Mahmood questioned Shaw following his presentation on how the city prioritizes its plans for Market Street, given the number of different projects and plans for the corridor.
District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar asked what the overall plan was for Market Street.
“What is the vision that we have for Market Street? All of these, you know, subordinate plans that the departments have, a capital planning process has fed into it.” Melgar said. “But I still haven’t heard is what are we trying to achieve with anything that touches Market Street?”
For its part, Chava Kronenberg, a senior planning manager at the SFMTA, provided updates on what has so far been accomplished with the Better Market Street plan that was supposed to transform the corridor with public realm improvements to the sidewalk, transit improvements as well as pedestrian and bike improvements.
The SFMTA implemented the car-free Market Street plan in early 2020. Some streetscape work was completed in the Mid-Market area, including repaving, upgrading traffic signals, sidewalk extensions, and installing ADA curb ramps.
Last year, the city invited a limited number of Waymo vehicles and commercial-plated vehicles from Uber and Lyft to operate on car-free Market Street for pickup and drop-off at seven locations between Fifth and Seventh streets. The SFMTA informed the companies that a full evaluation phase began on Dec. 15 last year, but only Uber Black has been offering day and evening pickup and drop-offs at the seven locations.
Lyft Black is only doing a limited number of pickups and drop-offs, and Waymo, while driving on Market Street, decided to delay providing full pickup and drop-off service, according to the SFMTA.
Some during public comment continued to advocate removing ride-hail services from Market Street, urging the SFMTA to close a “loophole” that allows them to operate on the corridor.
Others said the city needs to do more about those doing drugs on the streets, which makes the corridor unattractive to visitors and to potential business tenants.
Jamie Budgett, the general manager of ATG Entertainment, which operates the Orpheum Theatre, said it was obvious the Mid-Market area still faces challenges.
“We just wanted to make sure that everyone heard our support for the supervisor’s plea for more investment in the area, and especially his plans for an arts and entertainment district,” Budgett said.
