the urbanist #502 - april 2011 - ocean beach

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Issue 502 News at SPUR p3 Ocean Beach p4 New Board Members pI4 Urban Field Notes pIG Urban Drift pI8 o 04.11 SPUR anlS

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Page 1: The Urbanist #502 - April 2011 - Ocean Beach

Issue 502 News at SPUR p3 Ocean Beach p4 New Board Members pI4 Urban Field Notes pIG Urban Drift pI8

o 04.11

SPUR•anlS

Page 2: The Urbanist #502 - April 2011 - Ocean Beach

1,-0_4_,1_1__ 1 LETTER FROM THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR

Planning for disasters fast andslow

Sarah Karlinsky is

SPUR's deputy

director

2 Urbanist> April 2011

The past several weeks have been a turbulent time

for planet Earth. Just a few months after Christchurch,

New Zealand, suffered a 7.1 magnitude earthquake,a 6.3 quake rocked the city in late February, causing

close to 200 deaths and several billion dollars in dam­age. And then on March 11, a 9.0 magnitude quake

80 miles off the coast of Japan lead to an enormous

tsunami, killing thousands of people, destabilizing anuclear power plant and damaging billions of dollarsof property. The Japanese quake was the fourth larg­

est in the world since 1900.

Japan and New Zealand are part of the Pacific Ring

of Fire, an active system of tectonic plates that formedmany of the world's volcanoes and still causes the

majority of its most serious earthquakes. The Ring

of Fire forms a horseshoe around the Pacific Ocean- which means it also includes the western coast of

North America.

That California sits within an earthquake-proneregion is hardly news. The United States Geological

Survey estimates that we have a 63 percent chance

of a major event occurring in the Bay Area in the next30 years. While we have done a great deal to plan

for the days and weeks following a major earthquake,

we have not done nearly enough to strengthen our

buildings and lifelines so that we can rebuild quickly.Our soft-story buildings remain vulnerable. Our

shelters need to be retrofitted. We need stronger utility

systems, safe bridges and train tunnels.The same ocean that touches the sand of Ocean

Beach is the one that inundated Japan during the

tsunami. We sit across from one another on thesame seismically active plate. While there are many

geological differences that separate us from Japan, wewould do well to learn from its successes. And from

its mistakes.

After the Kobe earthquake of 1995, Japan adoptedvery stringent building codes, leading to some of

the most seismically safe buildings in the world.The strength of the country's buildings undoubtedly

saved lives and will lead to an easier recovery. But

even Japan did not go far enough. The damage toits nuclear reactors shows what happens when not

enough attention is paid to the possible impacts of a

major disaster on vulnerable systems.Of course, there isn't just the "fast" disaster of

an earthquake to think about. There's also the slow

disaster of global warming and sea-level rise. Ocean

Beach is San irancisco's case study in the local

The same ocean that touchesthe sand of Ocean Beach isthe one that inundated Japanduring the tsunami. We sitacross from one another onthe same seismically activeplate. We would do well tolearn from Japan's successes.And from its mistakes.

impacts of climate change. Though most of us know

Ocean Beach as a place to have fun or enjoy nature,

critical lifelines are embedded there as well, includinga sewer trunk line and pumping station that provide

wastewater service to the western half of the city.

How should we plan for Ocean Beach when we

expect sea levels to rise 16 inches by 2050, and 55inches by 2100? What should we do when, as the re­

sult of powerful storms, bluff tops along Ocean Beach

recede 40 feet, undermining the pavement of parkinglots and the shoulder of the Great Highway?

In this month's Urbanist, we share our latest think­

ing about how to conduct a master planning processamidst enormous uncertainty. Not uncertainty about

whether the slow disaster of climate change will affectus - that question has been answered by the world's

brightest scientists. The questions facing us todayare: When will we see the major impacts of climate

change, and how bad will they be? Should we be

planning for the climate change impacts that affectonly us - or should we be thinking, too, about those

that our children and grandchildren will face?Ocean Beach is a small part of a very big world.

But that world is, quite literally, connected. It is con­

nected by geology. It is connected by climate. And wewould do well to begin to plan now for the big moves

ahead in both.•

'">aU

Page 3: The Urbanist #502 - April 2011 - Ocean Beach

April 2011

What we're doing

REDEVELOPMENT: FACING THE AXIn January, Gov. Brown proposed eliminatingredevelopment agencies in California as asolution to the state's budget crisis, putting intoquestion such projects as Treasure Island, theTransbay Terminal and the Hunters PointShipyard - not to mention a major portion ofthe state's funding for affordable housing. Theproposal has thrown the California planningcommunity into disarray; though the politicsare changing by the day, as of this writing itlooks like the state will abolish redevelopmentagencies. SPU R's efforts have focused ontrying to save what's good about redevelop­ment - the financing tools to undertake infilldevelopment, as well as the creation of afford­able housing - while acknowledging thatredevelopment has been abused. We arealready turning our attention to what replacesredevelopment to enable critical projects tomove forward. Read Gabriel Metcalf's op-ed atbitly/gm-oped and then watch a debate on thefuture of redevelopment, co-hosted by SPU Rand the Bay Citizen, at bit.ly/spurdebate.

SHORT-TERM FUNDSSUSTAINING CALTRAINGood news on one of our

campaigns: it appears that MTC

has brokered an agreement to

provide operating funding for two

years of continued Caltrain

service. The solution, to shift

some capital funds into operating

subsidies and have the three

counties that support Caltrain

provide temporary funding, is

exactly what SPUR and others

had been asking for a short-term

fix that gives us time to get a

longer-term solution in place,

Now we must shift our focus to

the more permanent solution,

Caltrain needs a dedicated

funding source like BART has,

and it needs a governance

structure that will allow it tothrive. Even the short-term

funding for Caltrain needs critical

support. Interested in saving

Caltrain? Contact transporta­

tion@spur,org.

SPUR APPOINTED TO BONDOVERSIGHT COMMITTEESPUR Good Government Policy

Director Corey Marshall was

appointed to the Citizens'

General Obligation BondOversight Committee (GOBOC)

this month. The committee is

charged with oversight of the

City's spending of general

obligation bond proceeds,

including such major capital

projects as the rebuilding of

Laguna Honda and General

Hospital, branch library improve­

ments, and seismic retrofits of

the city's police and fire stations.

The committee also serves as a

Citizens Audit Review Board,

established under Proposition C

in 2003.

SUPERVISORS CONSIDERPAYROLL TAX EXCLUSIONFOR CENTRAL MARKETThe Board of Supervisors Budget

and Finance Committee

considered the proposed payroll

tax exclusion for jobs created inmid-Market on March 16. The

proposed exclusion would

exempt new jobs created in thedistrict from the City's payroll tax

for six years, in hopes ofstimulating development in an

area exceeding 30 percentvacancy, the highest in the city.

For-profit businesses with payroll

exceeding $250,000 currently

pay a payroll tax of 1. 5 percent.

While the news has focused on

the opportunity to keep Twitter in

San Francisco, SPUR has argued

that we should not be making

decisions based on individualfirms. What we like about this

proposal is that it targets the tax

break to an area that appears

unlikely to attract jobs without

the extra help.

GROWTH PROJECTIONS AREFIRST STEP TOWARDSUSTAINABILITY STRATEGYIn March, ABAG and MTC

released an initial "visionscenario" for the Bay Area, a first

step toward developing a

Sustainable Communities

Strategy, the core provision of

the state's smart growth law (SB

375). The scenario assumes 97

percent of new householdgrowth will be on existing

urbanized land as the Bay Areapopulation grows by 2 million (to

94 million) and employment

increases by 1.2 million (to 4.5million) by 2035, The scenario

also achieves a region-wide 12

percent per capita reduction ingreenhouse gases. This is short

of the statutory 15 percent per

capita goal set by the state's Air

Resources Board, and most of

the reduction comes from an

assumption of slow economic

growth, not an urbanist land-use

vision. While it's a good start,

SPUR hopes subsequent

scenarios test a much more

transit-oriented growth pattern

for the region. Follow the

development of the Sustainable

Communities Strategy at

onebayarea.orglplan_bay_area .•

Urbanist> April 2011 3

Page 4: The Urbanist #502 - April 2011 - Ocean Beach

OVERVIEW Iby Benjamin Grant Climate Change

How will San Francisco manage Ocean Beach's tricky balanceSea-level rise

Recreationof natural resources, recreational uses and infrastructure needs

Habitatunder the new realities of a changing climate? SPUR leads amaster-planning process to develop a long-term vision for thisimportant resource.

The Future of Ocean BeachThanks to sea-level rise, a beloved public place alreadybusy with uses becomes even more complex

Benjamin Grantis SPUR's projectmanager for theOcean Beach MasterPlan.

Ocean Beach, the three-and-a-half-mile stretch of

sand and dunes along San Francisco's rugged Pacificcoast, faces serious challenges. Part wild landscape,

part urban beachfront, it draws a remarkably diverse

three million visitors per year to stroll, bike, surf,walk dogs and enjoy the stunning natural setting. Its

bluffs and sands - part of the Golden Gate National

Recreation Area - host two threatened bird species

and an extensive dune system. Meanwhile, it's the siteof an important sewage-treatment system that protects

the ocean from wastewater pollution.

Ocean Beach also represents one of the firstlocations in San Francisco where the effects of climate

change will come to a head. The existing shoreline,

already located on fill and subject to erosion, will

recede further as sea levels rise, exposing both naturaland built resources to coastal hazards. We face

difficult choices about how to manage these hazards

while maintaining valued resources. Deepening thesechallenges is the complex array of federal, state and

local agencies that oversee Ocean Beach, each with

different responsibilities and priorities.

4 Urbanist> April2011

Page 5: The Urbanist #502 - April 2011 - Ocean Beach

San Francisco's past two mayors convened

community-led task forces, the Ocean Beach Task

Force and Ocean Beach Vision Council, to address

the challenges at Ocean Beach. But neither processincluded a pathway to implementation, leaving some

participants frustrated and problems unresolved.

The Vision Council submitted a grant proposal to theCalifornia State Coastal Conservancy, with partial

matches from the San Francisco Public Utilities

Commission (SFPUC) and National Park Service(NPS), for a comprehensive long-range planning

process to be led by SPUR.

But before the funding was even approved, thesituation at Ocean Beach worsened considerably.

EROSION EMERGENCY: RESPONSEAND CRITICISM

In the EI Nino winter of 2009-2010, powerful

storms battered the bluffs of Ocean Beach south of

Sloat Boulevard, resulting in dramatic erosion. In somelocations, bluff tops receded 40 feet, undermining the

asphalt of parking lots and the shoulder of the Great

Highway, which was closed southbound for much of

the year. The episode was the most serious in a series

going back several decades.

The City's response - the construction of 425 feet

of rock revetments (embankments of stone riprap) ­

has drawn criticism from environmentalists, who are

concerned that such armoring often carries a heavycost in beach and habitat loss. They ask whether an

event as predictable as erosion at Ocean Beach can

be meaningfully described as an emergency. Indeed, a

similar episode in 1997 resulted in the construction of

rock revetments that are still in place. With no policy

for how to address the inevitable, the City repeatedly

finds itself in a reactive posture, shoring up the bluffs

under an emergency declaration with the lukewarm

sanction of the Coastal Commission and National

Park Service. The 2010 storm may have been an

emergency, but it was hardly a surprise and, above all,reflects the lack of a policy framework to guide action

in a crisis.

The environmentalist response may be a fair

criticism, but erosion meanwhile poses a very real

threat to a critical sewage-treatment complex that

we depend on to protect coastal water quality. In the

absence of another approach, this infrastructure, someof which lies underneath the Great Highway, must be

armored against coastal hazards.

A MASTER PLAN FOR OCEANBEACH

With funding now in place, SPUR has spent the

past seven months spearheading the development ofa comprehensive interagency master plan for Ocean

Beach. We have been working with a consultant team

and a wide range of stakeholders to gather information,

conduct research and articulate the complex and

interconnected challenges facing the city's open coast.

This issue of the Urbanist provides an update on the

project thus far as we begin to consider solutions.

The Ocean Beach Master Plan is charged with

looking at all major aspects of the beach for the next

50 years and beyond. By taking a decidedly long view,developing a consensus vision and working backward

to arrive at near- and medium-term actions, the master

Ocean Beach- 3.5 milesof sand anddunes on thecity's edge ­faces seriouschallenges fromerosion and sea­level rise, whichthreaten localinfrastructureand ecosystems.

Urbanist> April 2011 5

Page 6: The Urbanist #502 - April 2011 - Ocean Beach

plan is intended to provide the framework that is

missing from short-term decisions today.

The study area encompasses the beach and

adjacent lands from the high-water mark to the

property line at the eastern edge of the Lower Great

Highway and excludes any private property. It takes

in 3.5 miles of contiguous coastline from the beach's

northern extent to the Fort Funston bluffs. Of course,

numerous processes and practices, from transit accessto offshore dredging, must be considered as well.

The plan will consider Ocean Beach as a whole

place: as an urban promenade, a changing coastline,a key segment of the GGNRA, a habitat corridor and

a major infrastructure complex. But as much as these

aspects are interdependent, the conversation aboutOcean Beach invariably returns to the most pressing

crisis: the erosion at the south end of the beach

and the infrastructure that lies in its path. To planmeaningfully for Ocean Beach as an open space, we

must define an approach to coastal management that

balances infrastructure needs, natural-resource valuesand the realities of a changing climate.

PLANNING FOR UNCERTAINTY ONA DYNAMIC COASTLINE

We know that sea levels are rising due to melting

polar ice and thermal expansion of the oceans. The

State of California projects sea-level rise of 16 inches

by 2050 and 55 inches by 2100. The frequency

and severity of storms are also likely to increase,and local policymakers have no choice but to adapt.

Climate-change adaptation consists of policy and

OCEAN BEACH SITE OVERVIEW

design responses to the negative effects of climate

change that have already been "locked in," regardless

of how we address carbon emissions going forward.

Adaptation will be required in many arenas, from watersupply to biodiversity to extreme heat events, but few

are as vivid and pressing as sea-level rise.

At Ocean Beach, this means that the sort of erosion

episodes that took place in 1997 and 2010 will

happen more frequently. As the shoreline recedes,

critical wastewater infrastructure along Ocean Beachwill face increasing pressure and will need to be

protected, reconfigured or abandoned. Natural habitat

and recreational amenities are threatened as well.Although we have a pretty clear picture of what will

happen as sea levels rise, there is a great deal ofuncertainty about its timing and extent.

Ocean Beach is the city's first real test in

responding to the effects of climate change. The

proximity of critical public infrastructure to the coastthrows the challenges into high relief. Where should

we hold the coastline? What is the economic value ofa beach? A dune system? A threatened bird species?

When and how will private property be exposed to

coastal hazards?

There are also significant limitations in the availabledata about the effects of sea-level rise. Existing studies

paint a general picture of likely impacts but do not

account for local factors like coastal armoring and

topography, which will shape coastal processes.

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Page 7: The Urbanist #502 - April 2011 - Ocean Beach

PLANNING FOR A DYNAMICLANDSCAPE

Planning for climate-change adaptation sets the

complex tradeoffs typical of planning processes

against even more complicated new variables: the

uncertainties inherent in climate projections.

In this context, planners and designers face new

challenges in both space and time. The space itselfis changed both by climate impacts and management

choices. Even the location of the coastline remains

a variable until we have determined where to hold

the line and where to retreat. The timing of climate

impacts is also uncertain, complicating, for example,

the cost comparison of protecting infrastructure versusrelocating it. When and how much protection will be

required, and how costly will it be? How much of the

infrastructure's serviceable life will remain? Discountingand amortizing - tools that economists use to

compare costs and benefits over time - become verychallenging in a time-uncertain setting.

There are several strategies to address these

challenges. First, future adaptation actions can be tied

to triggers, rather than dates. These may be physical

or spatial (a defined amount of sea-level rise or coastal

recession) or fiscal (a defined investment in coastal

defenses). Second, planning options are developed not

as fixed endpoints but as sequences of actions, each

affecting the next and each tied to triggers. Contrast

this with a typical design exercise, which may be

phased but culminates in a "finished" vision.

At this stage, the Ocean Beach Master Plan has

defined seven major focus areas, which we'll examine

more closely in the following pages, to organize and

distill the project's complex parameters. Although all

are important, three have emerged as "drivers" (or

form-givers, in design terms) that will establish the

context for the others: coastal dynamics, infrastructureand ecology. Over the coming months, the project

team will develop scenarios illustrating contrasting

approaches to these key areas and the implications of

each scenario for Ocean Beach as a whole.

PROCESS AND PRODUCTSPUR's nongovernmental status brings both

benefits and challenges to the planning process. The

Ocean Beach Master Plan will not have the force ofregulation. No such plan could, since it addresses

federal, state and local agencies. It will live initially

as a series of project and policy recommendations

from SPUR to the relevant agencies, elected officials

and other decision makers. Each agency will have

to pursue implementation through its own planningprocesses, spurred by the momentum and consensus

of an effective planning process and the urgency of the

situation.

On the positive side, SPUR has the freedom to

take a long and broad view. We are less constrained

by the highly structured requirements of process

and scope faced by public agencies, including the

need for immediate environmental review under the

California Environmental Quality Act or the National

Environmental Policy Act. In this case, environmental

review will be conducted by individual agencies as

they take up implementation actions.

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Urbanist> April 2011 7

Page 8: The Urbanist #502 - April 2011 - Ocean Beach

ECOLOGY

ASPIRATION: Restore and establishconditions that support thrivingbiological communities

Although Ocean Beach is very much a managedlandscape - the alignment of the coast, theshape of the beach and bluffs, and the form andcomposition of the dunes are all man-made­important biological communities make their homesthere. The beach and dune system provide acorridor of scarce habitat for numerous species andconnect adjacent parklands.

In particular, there are two threatened birdspecies at Ocean Beach. The Western SnowyPlover, a federally listed threatened species,inhabits dry back beach, especially in the centralpart of Ocean Beach. Concerns about the ploverhave been a factor in a recent proposal by theGGNRA to limit dog access to parts of OceanBeach. The bank swallow, a state-listed threatenedspecies, inhabits hollows in the exposed bluffsat the south end of Ocean Beach, an especiallyvulnerable position given the threat of erosion andthe installation of coastal armoring.

Both species are protected to some degreeby current management practices, including theprohibition of dogs on much of the beach during

Ocean Beach Master Plan Goal:

To knit the unique assets and experiences ofOcean Beach into a seamless and welcomingpublic landscape, planning for environmentalconservation, sustainable infrastructure andlong-term stewardship

plover season (J uly to May) and the cessation ofwork by San Francisco Department of Public Works(SFDPW) crews during bank swallow season (Aprilto August).

The dune system that predominates fromFulton to Noriega streets (and recurs elsewhere)was primarily constructed as part of the CleanWater Program in the 1980s and helps toprotect both wastewater infrastructure andadjacent neighborhoods from coastal hazards.Its morphology and plant communities are bothnon-native, with iceplant and European dunegrasspredominating. The prospect of restoring a nativedune system is compelling to many people,although a comprehensive effort would likely bevery costly. The master-plan team is examining theimplications of such an approach for ecologicalvalues, cost, maintenance and coastal hazards.

The currentdune system atOcean Beachwas constructedin the 1980sand '90s aspart of theSan FranciscoPublic UtilitiesCommission'sClean WaterProgram. It isa non-nativesystem, butit provideshabitat, sandstabilizationand coastalprotection.

8 Urbanist> April 2011

Page 9: The Urbanist #502 - April 2011 - Ocean Beach

Ocean Beachis the visibleportion of amuch largercoastal sedimentsystem. Tidesand currentscirculate withinaU-shapedsandbar calleda littoral cell,eroding anddepositingsand. The southend of OceanBeach is outsidethis cell, andtherefore subjectto erosion.

COASTAL DYNAMICS

ASPIRATION: Identify a proactiveapproach to coastal management, inthe service of desired outcomes

Ocean Beach is the visible portion of a muchlarger coastal sediment system, the Golden GateLittoral Cell. The cell is bounded by a large,semicircular sandbar within which sand circulateswith the currents and tides. The U.S. Army Corpsof Engineers annually dredges a ship channel in thesandbar to allow access to the Golden Gate.

The northern end of Ocean Beach has beengetting wider since the 1970s due to both sedimentmanagement practices (dumping dredged sandwithin the system rather than in the deep ocean)and natural changes to the sandbars. Meanwhile,the southern end is narrowing as erosive forcesscour away sand and bluffs, leaving less bufferbetween waves and critical infrastructure.

The western shoreline of San Francisco isartificially maintained about 200 feet seaward ofits natural equilibrium. Sand was pushed westto create level ground for the construction of theneighborhoods and the Great Highway. The erosionat Ocean Beach is in part a symptom of the coastalprocesses seeking that equilibrium.

Sea-level rise and accompanying storm surgeswill significantly worsen erosive pressures at OceanBeach in the coming years. There are three optionsfor the management of this erosion:

Coastal armoring seeks to resist erosive forcesand the receding shore with hard structures suchas seawalls or revetments. Depending on its height,a structure might be overtopped by wave runup

during storm surges, inundating inland areas. If thecoastline recedes until it reaches a hard structure,the beach may be lost. There are nearly 10,000linear feet of hard structures at Ocean Beach, inthe form of the three existing seawalls and recentrevetments. This does not including the WestsideTransport Box, which could end up functioning asa sort of seawall if exposed by beach and dunerecession. Additional armoring is likely south ofSloat Boulevard.

Beach nourishment, or the deliberate placementof sand to counteract erosion, is a promising optionat Ocean Beach, since 300,000 cubic yards ofdredged sand are available annually. The costbeyond current practices would be shared betweenlocal and federal agencies. An effort is underwayto retrofit the Essayons, the Army Corps' dredge,to enable it to pump sand directly onto the beach.This could reestablish a wide beach north of Sloatand buy considerable time.

Managed retreat is the gradual reconfiguration orremoval of manmade structures in the path of theadvancing coastline, according to pre-establishedtriggers. This approach seeks to avoid expendingexcessive resources defending structures. It isrelatively simple to employ where structures likeroads or parking lots are concerned, but thisstrategy would be much more difficult to pursuewhere expensive, publicly funded sewage-treatmentfacilities stand in harm's way.

In all likelihood, all of these strategies will benecessary at Ocean Beach. A key objective for theOcean Beach Master Plan is to analyze the relativeneeds, costs and locations of various approaches,and build consensus around a compromise.

Urbanist> April 2011 9

Page 10: The Urbanist #502 - April 2011 - Ocean Beach

A wet-weatheroverflowstructure,one of two atOcean Beach.Combined-seweroverflows havebeen reducedfrom between60 and 70 peryear to fewerthan eight ayear by the westside's complexof wastewaterinfrastructure,which isincreasinglythreatened byerosion.

10 Urbanist> April2011

INFRASTRUCTURE

ASPIRATION: Evaluate infrastructureplans and needs in light of uncertaincoastal conditions, and pursue asmart, sustainable approach

Beginning in the 1970s, under pressure from

the federal Clean Water Act, the SFPUC began tosignificantly upgrade the city's combined sewer­

stormwater system, especially on the west side, where

the ocean was being subjected to 60 to 70 combined­sewer overflows each year. The SFPUC's Clean Water

Program completed the current system in 1993 and

has reduced overflows to fewer than eight per year.The system accomplishes this impressive feat

through a series of interconnected components. In dryweather, the west side's wastewater (sewage) runs

though the network of local pipes to the WestsideTransport Box - a large rectangular tube under the

Great Highway - then south to the pump station

at Sloat Boulevard. It is pumped to the OceansideWater Pollution Control Plant, from which secondary­

treated effluent is released through the Southwest

Ocean Outfall, 4.5 miles out to sea. In wet weather,stormwater runoff surges into the system. When

the plant's capacity of 65 million gallons per day is

overwhelmed, the transport box and Lake Merced

Tunnel - two massive structures designed to store

runoff and prevent overflows - fill up and retain the

combined flow. Overflow there is decanted to remove

solids and pumped to the deep ocean outfall. Only

when that system's capacity is exceeded do combined

overflows occur, through two large overflow structureson Ocean Beach.

Parts of the Lake Merced Tunnel under the Great

Highway south of Sloat Boulevard are immediately

vulnerable to erosion. The Westside Transport runsunder the Great Highway from Lincoln Boulevard

to Sloat Boulevard, and it may become a significant

factor in shaping the beach and dunes as the coastlinerecedes.

Newer thinking at the SFPUC and elsewhere

emphasizes low-impact development and greeninfrastructure - both terms for modifying urban

watersheds to increase stormwater retention andinfiltration into the ground. Permeable surfaces, green

roofs, swales and the restoration of natural waterways

can add up to a significant reduction in stormwaterentering the combined system.

Wastewater infrastructure is designed for the longhaul: Parts of the current system are more than 100

years old. The west-side system is new, expensive

and very effective. Unfortunately, it is also exposed tovarying degrees of coastal hazard, which we are only

recently coming to understand. The Ocean Beach

Master Plan is working with the SFPUC to consider

how to manage coastal hazards to the infrastructure,

including the form and location of coastal armoring,

and which components might be reconfigured ormoved over time.

Page 11: The Urbanist #502 - April 2011 - Ocean Beach

IMAGE AND CHARACTER

ASPIRATION: Preserve and celebratethe beach's raw and open beautywhile welcoming a broader public.

Although Ocean Beach is in the city, its urban

setting is dwarfed by the vastness of the natural

context. Like many of San Francisco's best open

spaces, it offers a portal to the regional landscape.

But both its wild and urban aspects are decidedly

less genteel than those of other natural places in

the city. The environment - built and natural ­

shows the elemental scour of wind and waves,

and is known for its dense and persistent fog. The

local culture has developed an edge that mirrors the

environment: Most days, even a stroll on the sand

demands a bit of ruggedness, and the surf's frigid

rip currents have regularly threatened and even

taken lives.

A century ago, Ocean Beach was a very different

kind of place, more Coney Island than wilderness.

Before the Richmond and Sunset districts took

shape, Adolph Sutro's steam railway drew day­

trippers through the dunes to his gardens and

baths, and to nearby Chutes-at-the-Beach (later

Playland). A settlement built of decommissioned

horsecars offered a destination for bohemians

and bicycle clubs. As the automobile came to

prominence, the soft sand was pushed seaward to

create a "Great Highway" for Sunday drivers, all the

way south to Fleishhacker Pool, near the current

site of the San Francisco Zoo. A massive saltwater

recreation center built in 1924, the decrepit

poolhouse today offers a tempting opportunity for

adaptive reuse.Today, when those few sweet warm days arrive,

Ocean Beach again becomes a retreat for the whole

city. A festival atmosphere prevails as a crush of

cars, bikes and Muni riders descends, and the

shortage of services becomes acute as trash piles

up, bikes are heaped up and locked together, and

dunes become restrooms of last resort.

It would be wrong to ignore the basic needs of

the more than 3 million annual visitors to Ocean

Beach. But as many in the community have

expressed, "prettying up" is not what the beach

needs, either. The master-plan team is taking

that observation to heart. Good landscape design

has the power to strike that balance - to solve

problems and serve needs while speaking to the

soul of a place.

Our ownConey Island:Ocean Beachoffered diverseamusementsfor wy-trippersto the "OutsideLands," includingthe Sutro Bathsand Chutes-at­the-Beach (laterPlayland, shownhere in the1930s).

Urbanist> April 2011 11

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PROGRAM AND USES

ASPIRATION: Accommodate diverseactivities and users, managed forpositive coexistence

To be successful, improvements at Ocean

Beach will need to accommodate and balance

a wide range of users, from surfers to families,

birdwatchers to cyclists. For the most part, activities

sort themselves into linear zones that can informthe approach to design and programming: joggers

and cyclists on the multi-use path, walkers on the

dune trails and promenades, anglers on the wetsand and surfers in the water. Basic amenities ­

such as restrooms, waste collection and food - are

in limited supply, and jurisdictional challenges

complicate their siting, funding and operation.As in most open spaces, there are conflicting

ideas about which uses belong where, and which

are worthy of accommodation. Pedestrians and

cyclists get tangled on the multiuse path, birdersraise an eyebrow at dog-walkers, and night-time

bonfires are a grand tradition to some and a messy

nuisance to others.

What Is the Ocean Beach Master Plan?The Ocean Beach Master Plan is aninteragency effort convened by SPUR todevelop a sustainable long-term vision forOcean Beach, addressing public access,environmental protection and infrastructureneeds in the context of erosion and c1imate­related sea-level rise.

Project phases and schedule1. Startup (Jun-Aug 2010)

2. Problem Definition (Sep-Dec 2010)3. Alternatives/Scenarios Development (Jan-May 2011)

4. Draft Master Plan (Jun-Sep 2011)

5. Final Master Plan (Oct-Dec 2011)

Project Funders:California State Coastal Conservancy

San Francisco Public Utilities Commission

National Park Service

Project TeamAECOM - Landscape Architecture, Environmental Planning

ESA/PWA - Coastal EngineeringSherwood Design Engineers - Civil Engineering and

Infrastructure

Nelson/Nygaard - Transportation Planning

12 Urbanist> April 20ll

In January 2011, the National Park Service

issued its Draft Dog Management Plan for the

Golden Gate National Recreation Area, In its

preferred alternative, the northern end of Ocean

Beach would remain an off-leash area but much

of the beach would be entirely off-limits to dogs.

Much of that area is already off-limits for nine to10 months of the year (during plover season), and

the GGNRA would remain the only national parkto allow dogs at all. Still, the proposal has rankled

many dog owners and remains controversial. The

National Parks Service is accepting public comment

on the draft plan until May 29.One key challenge is the distinctive pattern of

use over time. Most of the time, the beach and

promenades are used by relatively few people,many of whom are locals and regular users: walkers

and joggers, surfers and cyclists, This "baseline"

condition (with its own seasonal and diurnalvariations) holds sway until one of those rare hot,

sunny weekends, when the beach experiences an

enormous spike of visitors from around the region.

ACCESS AND CONNECTIVITY

ASPIRATION: Provide seamless andfluid connections to adjacent openspaces, the city and the region

Ocean Beach is not only a destination in itself; it

is the connective tissue that links an abundance ofopen spaces on the city's west side. From Land's

End and Sutro Heights at its north end to Golden

Gate Park, the Zoo and Fort Funston to the south,

Ocean Beach is a key corridor, While movement

along Ocean Beach is fairly easy, it offers much

weaker connection to adjoining open spaces,neighborhoods and other amenities. In particular,

arriving at the beach from Golden Gate Park, which

ought to be one of the great landscape experiencesin San Francisco, is an anticlimax for pedestrians

and cyclists, who are dropped into a sea of asphalt

roadway and parking, with little sense of how to

proceed. Another significant gap is from OceanBeach to Fort Funston, the GGNRA's next major

park to the south, where pedestrians must walk the

highway shoulder and hop the guardrail to access

the trails and beach.Ocean Beach is well-served by the Muni transit

system, but while the 38-Geary, N-Judah and

L-Taraval lines each terminate within easy walking

distance of the beach, the pedestrian connectionsare weaker than they might be if welcoming transit

users were made a priority.The Great Highway was built in the 1920s

as a grand vehicular promenade, the widest

stretch of pavement for its length in the world,

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AGENCY JURISDICTIONS AT OCEAN BEACH

Ocean Beach Great Highway Lower GreatHighway Park

westside transport box(SFPUC)

San Francisco City and County ownership

Coastal zone (subject to local coastal program)

( California Coastal Commisf,on jurisdiction

I

J Golden Gate National Recreation

U.S. Army Corps authority Area ownership(with California Coastal Commission consistency)

Area appealable to California Coastal Commission

Its reconfiguration in the 1990s narrowed it by

nearly half, but it remains a traffic artery first and

foremost, with a capacity that exceeds its actual

usage. South of Sloat Boulevard, the Great Highway

is squeezed between the eroding bluffs and inland

structures, with traffic capacity to spare.

The City of San Francisco's Sunday Streets

program has closed the road to cars a few times,

showing us a tantalizing multimodal vision more

"great" than "highway." Meanwhile, a campaign

by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition to build

a bikeway from San Francisco Bay to the

ocean is highlighting Ocean Beach as a major

cycling destination with significant shortfalls in

connectivity. As our ideas about multimodal streets

and recreational waterfront access evolve, it may

be time to reevaluate the vehicular emphasis on the

city's only oceanfront street.

MANAGEMENT ANDSTEWARDSHIP

ASPIRATION: Provide an approachto long-term stewardship acrossagencies, properties and jurisdictions

Although visitors experience Ocean Beach as a

whole place, it is administered by an alphabet soup

of federal, state and local agencies. The beach,

dunes and promenades are mostly federal GGNRA

parkland, while the Great Highway, multiuse

trail and most parking lots are owned by the San

Francisco Recreation and Park Department. The

SFDPW provides maintenance and emergency

repairs on both city and federal property, while

the SFPUC owns and manages underground

wastewater infrastructure and the Oceanside

Water Pollution Control Plant. Dredging and

sediment management by the U.S. Army Corps

of Engineers shape the beach. The California

Coastal Commission is the permitting authority at

the beach. Further inland within the coastal zone,

the San Francisco Planning Department oversees

development decisions through the City's Coastal

Commission-approved Local Coastal Program (the

Western Shoreline Plan).

With so many agencies involved, it's not

hard to understand why problems as simple

as managing litter can be challenging - never

mind protecting infrastructure while managing a

habitat for threatened birds. Not only are these

agencies administratively distinct, they often have

conflicting priorities as well. For example, National

Park Service policies favoring natural resources

and processes may conflict with the needs of

the SFPUC's infrastructure, although both serve

environmental imperatives.

Could Ocean Beach be managed as a single

unit? What form would that take? Simply having aconsensus vision in place would provide a basis for

improved interagency cooperation. A joint operatingagreement clearly defining responsibilities, or even

the creation of a new management entity or park

boundary, could provide the kind of integrated

management to see Ocean Beach through the

challenges we know are coming.•

A basicchallenge:Many differentagencies overseeaspects ofmanagement,planning andpermitting atOcean Beach.Each has itsown prioritiesand internalprocesses, andno one agencyoversees thewhole.

Urbanist> April 2011 13

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104.11 I BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Welcome to SPUR's new boardmembers for 2011-2012

Jeanne Myerson is the president and CEO of the

Swig Company, a 75-year-old commercial real

estate investment and management companybased in San Francisco with more than 9

million square feet of office properties in coastal

California, New York and Washington, D.C.Jeanne was formerly on the board and executive

committee of the San Francisco Chamber of

Commerce and helped with the formation of the San Francisco Center

for Economic Development. She is a member of the board of directors

of BRE Properties, Inc. and an advisory board member of Presidio

Bank, and served for many years on the board of the Homeless

Prenatal Program.

Gordon Mar is a longtime community organizer

on issues of concern to low-income and working­

class communities in the Bay Area. He currentlyserves as coordinator of Jobs with Justice San

Francisco, a coalition of 25 labor unions and

community organizations advocating workers'

rights and social justice locally and nationally.Gordon has previously served as director of the

Chinese Progressive Association, director of the Northern California

Citizenship Project, campaign director of the Bay Area Environmental

Health Collaborative and co-chair of the Southwest Network for

Environmental and Economic Justice. He has a bachelor's in

conservation and resource studies from UC Berkeley.

James Tracy is an organizer with the Community

Housing Partnership in San Francisco. He has

more than 20 years of experience working

for housing rights and economic justice. Inthe 1990s, he partnered with public housing

residents demanding a voice in the HOPE VI

process through the Eviction Defense Network.

He is the author of the upcoming book HillbillyNationalists: Urban Race Rebels and Black Power, to be published in

September by Melville House.

management and business and strategic development and wasprogram manager of capital programs, including the Central Subway

Project and the Transbay Transit Center Program. Emilio has also

served in the public sector as general manager of the Department of

Public Transportation, director of economic development for the Cityof San Francisco, director of operations for the Port of San Francisco

and chief of staff to Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr.

Emilio Cruz is owner of On Point Management

and Consulting Services and is currently under

contract to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority

as program manager for the $4.2 billion multi­

modal transit facility in downtown San Francisco.

Prior to founding On Point, Emilio spent a decade

in the private sector working for EPC Consultants

and URS Corporation. He worked in operations

Chris Block is the chief executive officer ofAmerican Leadership Forum - Silicon Valley,

where he is also a senior fellow and has served

on the board of directors since 2007. Prior to

joining ALF, Chris was involved in affordable

housing in Silicon Valley for more than 20

years. He was the executive director of Charities

Housing from its inception in 1989 until joiningALF in 2009. Chris is also a fellow in the Kellogg National Leadership

Program. He holds a master's in counseling psychology and a

bachelor's in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame.

Cindy Wu manages and oversees the day-

to-day operation of the Community Planning

Program at Chinatown Community Development

Center. The program connects grass-roots

leaders in Chinatown to the decisions thatchange their neighborhood with regard to

transportation, affordable housing, public space

and land use. Currently, Cindy is managing amultiyear community planning process to ensure that the design and

implementation of the new Central Subway Project is coordinated with

neighborhood needs. Previously, she worked in supportive housing

at Glide Foundation in the Tenderloin. She received a B.A. from UCBerkeley and a master's in city planning from MIT.

Alexa Arena is vice president of development

for Forest City, where she leads the NorthernCalifornia team. She is working on the

redevelopment of approximately four acres in

downtown San Francisco known as the 5MProject. Developed in partnership with the Hearst

Corporation, it will foster communities that serve

the innovation economy. Alexa is a prior board

member of the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition and an activeparticipant in SPUR. She holds a bachelor's in urban studies, political

science and sociology from Columbia University, as well as a master's

in public administration and an MBA from Harvard University.

14 Urbanist> April 2011

Page 15: The Urbanist #502 - April 2011 - Ocean Beach

In his time at PG&E, Ontario has served as a resource

to regulatory client groups in their interactions with the

California Public Utilities Commission and other government

and advocacy groups. Ontario has a degree in economics

from the University of Pennsylvania and completed the San

Francisco Chamber of Commerce's Leadership San Franciscoprogram.

Richard Lonergan's career in

computers and management spanned

35 years, ending in retirement from Visa

International as executive vice president.

He has been a resident of San Francisco

for more than three decades and is

currently involved in issues regarding

his South Beach neighborhood. Dick

serves on the boards of the New Century Chamber Orchestra

and Palo Alto University and was formerly on the board of

Katherine Delmar Burke School and the North Lake Tahoe

Arts Council.

Terry Micheau has served on

SPUR's board and advisory council

over a period of 18 years. In his

35-year career, he has managed the

construction and development of

significant real estate projects, mostly

in the Bay Area, for both private and

~ public owners. He is a licensed civilengineer and California real estate broker and has served the

community on various boards and commissions, including

his current role as treasurer of the San Francisco LGBT

Community Center and the Golden Gate Chapter of LambdaAlpha.

Wade Rose is vice president of external

and government relations for Catholic

Healthcare West, the eighth largest

hospital system in the nation and the

largest hospital provider in California.

Focusing on CHW's strategic goals and

objectives, he works with governmentalentities at the federal, state and

local levels, and with significant private organizations and

individuals within communities. Preceding his involvement

in health care, he served on the staff of Govs. George

Deukmejian and Jerry Brown.

Ontario Smith is a senior government

relations representative for Pacific Gas

and Electric Company. Previously he

worked as a principal strategic planner

at PG&E, where he was responsible

for reviews of the rate effects of policy

proposals, greenhouse gas emissions

analyses and marginal cost studies.

Madeline Chun is a partner of the

law firm of Hanson Bridgett LLP and

has served as legal counselor to local,

regional and state public agencies

for almost three decades. She has

a strong commitment to sustainable

public transit services and has been

closely involved in many major publictransportation infrastructure projects. She served as a trial

attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights

Division from 1979-1983, and has been active in the AsianAmerican Bar Association, Equal Rights Advocates and the

Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center of San Francisco.

Manuel Flores is a proud member of

Carpenters Local Union 22, where he is

approaching 30 years of membership.

He is currently the marketing

representative for Local 22 and has

served on the local executive committee

'~ and various apprentice committees.\~ Born and educated in San Francisco, he

is dedicated to keeping his native city a special place to liveand work.

Michael Cohen is a principal in Strada

Investment Group, a San Francisco­

based real estate firm focused on

high-barrier-to-entry urban markets.

Prior to joining Strada, Michael ran

San Francisco's Office of Economic

and Workforce Development. In that

capacity, he managed major projects

including the redevelopment of the Hunters Point Shipyard,

Candlestick Point and Treasure Island. Michael serves as

the Mayor's representative on the Transbay Joint PowersAuthority and is the co-chair of ChinaSF, an initiative to make

San Francisco a primary gateway for commerce with China.

Urbanist> April 2011 15

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URBANFIELD NOTES

16 fonts on 16th Street:the city through a phone

An additive archive of cultural landscapes and observations Caseworker: David Prowlercompiled by SPUR members and friends. Send your ideasto Urban Field Notes editor Ruth Keffer at [email protected].

CASESTUDY #37

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RENE M. MEDINA 1

AUDITORIUM

Minimala Medium Italic

Mostra Nuova

Aftk6kl&I iI THAI CUISINE

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CC Sticky Fingers Italic

Lady Starlight

.....

Mordings

",*!......

David Prowler is aprincipal at Prowler Curtis, adevelopment and consulting partnership. He served on theSF Planning Commission, was the Mayor's project managerfor Mission Bay and the Ballpark, and developed the GlenPark Marketplace, which SPUR called "the perfect project"

When a friend bought a home computer20 years ago, I wondered why. Back then,computers couldn't talk to each other: youcouldn't download tunes, buy a book or alamp or schedule a flight. There wasn't anyGoogle or Wikipedia or much of anything.

Now, I don't leave home without my pocketcom puter/phone/camera/clock/newspaperlmusic.

With a smartphone in my hand I can walkdown the street and see on a map where Iam, when the next bus is coming, whatpeople say about that restaurant on the cornerand whether it's going to rain. I can friend andtweet, text or skype.

Unfortunately, the phone won't alert me towhat a dog left in my path, or the car orbicycle heading my way. And when I'm staringinto my palm I won't see the flesh-and-bloodfriend across the street, or smell the coffee.

I've got the world at my fingertips, and Icould be anywhere. Or nowhere.

But the ways in which my smartphone canchange my experience on the street continueto evolve. I recently took a walk along 16thStreet from Market to Mission with my phonein hand, using an app called What the Font,which tries to identify fonts. I just take apicture, apply the app to the shot, and presto,it suggests the name of the font. Sometimesthese suggestions are correct - based onresemblance to an actual documented font- but most of the time they have nothing todo with the typeface I just captured. But it'sfree, and sometimes the names are a kick.

16 Urbanist> April 2011

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Sailors Tattoo Pro Xmas Rhodaelian Ligatures Lithia Off Kilter

Urbanist> April 2011 17

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URBAN DRIFTcity newsfrom aroundthe globe

PUBLIC SPACE KEY INEGYPTIAN REVOLTWhen the Egyptian peopletoppled Hosni Mubarak'sregime, journalists credited theInternet, particularly Facebookand Twitter, for the uprising.While the web had a centralrole in spurring the protests,what made them successfulwas the number of people thatgathered to occupy Cairo'scity center. Under Mubarak'spolicies, access to Tahrir Squareand other key locales had beenrestricted for decades. By takingaway public spaces and focusingdevelopment on golf coursesand shopping malls, Mubarakmade the city's population easierto control. When the revolutionstarted, people did the opposite:they converged on the square,occupied it and refused toleave. The occupation becamean experiment in communalliving; the residents set uptheir own security, defense,recycling and trash collectionand food distribution. And afterthey defended the square fromviolent government attacks, ittook on an even more importantrole as a symbol of resistance.Despite a complete shutdownof the Internet, gatherings in thesquare continued to grow, makingEgypt's opposition to the rulingregime visible not only to thegovernment but to the world."Tahrir Square: Social Media. Public Space" - MohamedEIShahed, Places Journal - 2/272011

PERTH MAKES APRICEYINVESTMENTAfter 30 years of debate, Perth,Australia, is on the verge ofspending $440 million (AU D)

18 Urbanist> April 2011

on a massive plan to rebuild thecity's waterfront. The project willstart construction soon and becompleted by 2014. The plancreates 1,700 apartments, morethan 1 million square feet ofcommercial floor space and about420,000 square feet of retailspace. Extensive landscapingfeatures will lead to easierwaterfront access, and diningand retail facilities will encouragepeople to congregate. Developershope the completed project willincrease property values andsales in the area."Perth's $440m Waterfront plan revealed" - RussellQuinn, PerthNow - 2/15/2011

UK CENSUS FLAWS COULDCOST MILLIONSThe United Kingdom willundertake its census this year,a process that ultimately willbe responsible for allocatingover £100 billion per year ingovernment funding. Many localgovernments around the countryfear that people will be missedin the count, especially part-timeresidents, people sharing a homeand short-term migrants. Theseconcerns led to the creation of anational address register in 2003,but it was never used. Instead,three lists were compiled fromthe National Land and PropertyGazetteer, Ordnance Survey andRoyal Mail, and census formswere sent out without cross­checking with councils. How bigof a problem is undercounting?Westminster council, in London,claims that 25 percent of itspopulation was missed in the2001 count.'Councils fear census flaws will cost them millionsin lost funds' - lami. Onward, The Observer (UK) ­3/6/2011.

QUAKE DAMAGE EXTENSIVEIN CHRISTCHURCHThe shallow 6.3 magnitudeearthquake that struckChristchurch, New Zealand,February 22 is thought to havecaused approximately 200deaths and severe damageto many prominent buildingsin the center of the city, Cityofficials are just beginning toaddress the longer-term problemof buildings that have beenrendered uninhabitable. Tenthousand houses will have tobe demolished, including 3,300that were damaged in the 7.3magnitude earthquake that strucklast year. Other areas of thecity will have to be abandoned;liquefaction has pushed unstablesilt to the surface, and the landwill not support new structures.Seventy thousand people, onefifth of the city's population, havealready left."PM: Parts of quake-hit NZ city to be abandoned" - TheSan Francisco Chronicle at slgate,com - 3/5/2011

BIKE LANE BICKERING INBROOKLYNNew York City has gainedattention around the world forits aggressive implementationof new bicycling and pedestrianimprovements. In the summer of2010, the city's Department ofTransportation installed a two­way bike lane in the ProspectPark neighborhood of Brooklyn.A new lawsuit challenges thislane and the entire approachof the department, which hasimplemented bike lanes on afast timetable over the past fewyears. Filed by a group of wealthyresidents with ties to the formertransportation commissioner,the suit argues that the currentcommissioner and her staffhave cherry-picked statisticsand collaborated with bicycleadvocates at the cost of spacefor automobiles and visibility forpedestrians."lawsuit Seeks to Erase Bike lane in New York City"-Michael M. Grynbaum, The New York Times - 3/7/2011

Page 19: The Urbanist #502 - April 2011 - Ocean Beach

SPUR Board of Directors Chairs and committees Welcome to ournew members!

Co-Chairs Board Members John Madden PROGRAM Downtown Transit Facility Rental

Gordon Mar COMMITTEES Center INOIVIDUALS Colin PiperLinda Jo Fitz Carl Anthony Bill Stotler Joshua Arce Christopher Pizzi

Lee Blitch Alexa Arena Jacinta McCannBallot Analysis

Emilio Cruz Terry Bergeson Jonathan RewersExecutive

Fred Blackwell Chris MeanyBob Gamble Doyle Drive

Enkhtuya Bliss Susan Roegiers

Co-Vice Chairs Chris Block Ezra MerseyAndy Barnes Kenneth Caldwell Tim Rooney

Peter Mezey Amanda Linda Jo Fitz Paul Dombowsky Aaron RothschildEmilio Cruz Larry Burnett Terry Micheau

Hoenigman Sarah Dominsky Paula Rubira

David Friedman Michaela Cassidy Mary Murphy Disaster Planning Finance Julia Ehrman Phoebe Schenker

Jacinta McCannEph Hirsh

Bob Gamble Cristina Garcia Mark SoleMary McCue Madeline Chun Jeanne Myerson

Dick MortenPeter Winkelstein Tracy Geraldez Mark Sopp

Bill Rosetti Michael Cohen Brad Paul Human Resources June Grant Matthew Ticknor

V. Fei Tsen Charmaine Curtis Chris Poland Chris Poland Regional Planning Dana Gregg Derek Lindner andLydia Tan

Gia Daniller-Katz Teresa Rea HousingLarry Burnett Jeff Gubitosi Rena Tom

Secretary Byron Rhett Libby Seifel Individual Justin Ann-Ariel VecchioOscar De La Torre Ezra Mersey Hanzel-Durbin QingWang

Tomiquia Moss Kelly Dearman Wade Rose Lydia TanMembership Mark Hogan Linda Wheaton

Shelley Doran Victor Seeto OPERATING Bill Stotler Cheryl Holzmeyer Wade Wietgrefe

Treasurer Oz Erickson Elizabeth (Libby)Project Review COMMITTEES Marcus A. Hopper adam wright

Charmaine CurtisInvestment Darton Ito Ronald Yearwood

Bob Gamble Manny Flores Seifel Audit Ann Lazarus Stephanie Jaeger Sue May Yen

Norman Fong Chi-Hsin ShaoMary Beth Sanders

Peter MezeyNoah Kennedy

Reuben Schwartz Major Donors Chris KlutheEli Zigas

Gillian Gillett Ontario Smith

(Immediate Board Linda Jo Fitz Tiffany LaRue BUSINESSES

Past Co-Chair Chris Gruwell Bill Stotler Sustainable Kelly Lawley ARCADIS Malcolm

Anne Halsted Stuart Sunshine DevelopmentDevelopment Anne Halsted Sean Madden Pirnie, Inc.

Andy BarnesMichael Teitz

Lee Blitch Christine Maher CummingDave Hartley Paul Okamoto Planned Giving

Paul Malone Corporation

Advisory Mary Huss James Tracy Bry Sarte Building Michaela Cassidy Gordon Mar

Council Chris Iglesias Will Travis Management Duane MartinezTransportation Silver SPUR Corey McCants

Co-Chairs Laurie Johnson Steve Vettel Larry BurnettEmilio Cruz Dave Hartley Jen McGraw

Michael Alexander Ken Kirkey Debra WalkerBusiness Amelia Mendez

Anthony BrulZone Patricia KlitgaardPaul Sedway Florence Kong Cynthia Wilusz-

MembershipLucien Muir

Dick Lonergan Lovell TASK FORCES Young Urbanists Jumana NabtiTom Hart Mark Nelson

Ellen Lou CindyWuClimate Adaptation Terry Micheau

Gwyneth BordenCaroline Nowacki

Janis Mackenzie Will TravisGia Daniller Kris Opbroek

Capital Campaign Deems Padgett

Chris MeanyCheryl ParkerRusty Pierce

Urbanist> April 2011 19

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