Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Frustration brews on Newcomb "model block"


Nearly five years ago, a group of residents living on the 1700 block of Newcomb Avenue just west of 3rd Street organized to win a million dollar “Bayview Model Block” award from the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency. The group has weathered delays that would have made residents less committed to creating positive change where they live give up entirely.

Working with Architecture for Humanity, now "One World Design," a nonprofit network of architects, the Newcomb group helped design a streetscape they hope will bring critically-needed improvements to the quality of life on their block.

The project is “designed around stormwater treatment…and will employ a cocktail of street treatments, including stormwater planters and bulbouts, planted traffic calming chicanes, permeable pavement at on-street parking spaces, landscaped sidewalks that absorb runoff, raised crosswalks, and new street trees,” said Andre Power, Project Manager, in a recent statement.

The cost to remake the 1700 block of Newcomb is $1,251,421, half of which comes from the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, nearly $500,000 from the U.S. EPA, and the remainder from MTC community challenge grants.

No comments: