Growing pains: what on earth are they doing to Mid Market and the 4th Street corridor?

Two teams of city family representatives will join us at next week’s meeting on Wednesday, February 15 at 6:00. Planning Department staff from what they call the “Central Corridor” project are making their second appearance at the SoMa Leadership Council as part of their public outreach efforts and representatives from the Department of Public Works would like to talk about the status of the Better Market Street project. 

The city seems to be all a’twitter about the prospects for making San Francisco the “Innovation Capitol of the World.” In the process, they’ve thrown out the Service and Light Industrial (SLI) zoning in east SoMa and are considering major changes to the Service, Arts and Light Industrial (SALI) zoning in the area near Caltrain that’s part of the Western SoMa Plan. The city wants to attract more high tech industries, but the wholesale intrusion into the SALI raises concerns about where blue collar jobs and the arts are going to be accommodated in this city. For more information, please go to http://centralcorridor.sfplanning.org.

DPW would like to share what they have learned about existing conditions and best practices for Mid Market from a series of public workshops and get input from us since the SoMa area is tied directly to the corridor. With the loss of Redevelopment as a funding tool, the city is scrambling to find other means to finance all the changes that have been promised. A proposal for an arts and entertainment district has been floated. You can find out more about the project at http://www.bettermarketstreetsf.org/.

The SoMa Leadership Council meets in the community room of the Folsom/Dore Apartments at 1346 Folsom Street.

Jim Meko, chair
SoMa Leadership Council