Originally envisioned as a community garden, the McCoppin cul-de-sac between Valencia Street and the Central Freeway ramp will become the mixed-use McCoppin Hub Plaza, with pads for food trucks, farmers markets, or other community events.
The ordinance to rezone the cul-de-sac as open space has just been introduced, construction is underway, and the Department of Public Works is coordinating with Caltrans to include the fenced Caltrans land at the back of the parcel in the overall plaza design.
For those who may not know, Frank McCoppin was the first foreign-born Mayor of San Francisco. Born in the Republic of Ireland in 1834, McCoppin married Elizabeth Bird Van Ness in 1862 and was the Mayor of San Francisco from 1867 to 1869.
So many substance abusing urban campers in this immediate neighborhood (I live a block away). I really hope the city can keep them out. Otherwise this is just going to be their lounge.
Until that neighborhood-dividing eyesore highway is removed (or probably converted into an elevated park) — these initiatives are encouraging.
Like skate park block away in development under the highway too.
How are the food trucks going to park here without tearing apart the grass? It’s going to take some fancy maneuvering.
[Editor’s Note: The bollards are removed and the trucks simply drive up and down the concrete slope on either side of the planted areas.]
“Until that neighborhood-dividing eyesore highway is removed”
Oh good lord, get serious. The city went through three separate referenda just to get to the mutulally-unsatisfying Octavia boulevard that we have today, and the off-ramp here is all of about 10 feet high as it comes down to land at Market. And you want to upend all of that (and put *all* of that always-backed-up off-ramp traffic on Valencia and Duboce)?
And people wonder why people with real planning experience and dreams for this City eventually give up and go away.
Sweet! I own property nearby, so this is a plus.
Both are obvious improvements to the status quo, but food trucks over a community garden? There are years-long wait lists to join the few community gardens in the city. They’re in high demand, they look nice, they make people happy, and they’re better for the environment. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
Not sure if I want to harvest anything from a city garden that’s under pollution abuse from the neighboring freeway. But, that’s just me.
Posey is right…this area will be an upscale camp space for the homeless and drug abusers. We can’t have nice things in SF.
Posey, I thought the same thing. I go by this place frequently, and my first thought upon seeing this article was that the new park would become a haven for rejects and dealers. Good idea, but I’m skeptical that it’ll turn into what they’re thinking it will be… I hope I’m wrong.
Years long waiting list? Thank your lucky stars you aren’t in the UK, where allotment waiting lists stretch into the decades.
The more the rest of us go there, the less room there will be for druggies and urban campers. Let’s occupy it.
One little thing: “Frank McCoppin was the first foreign-born Mayor of San Francisco. Born in the Republic of Ireland in 1834…”
Nuh-uh. He can’t have been born in the Republic of Ireland, because Ireland wasn’t an independent country (the Irish Free State) until 1922 and wasn’t a republic until 1937. /pedant
Invented @ 9:58AM: “Until that neighborhood-dividing eyesore highway is removed….”
Ah, it’s good to see the anti-car crowd is up this morning. If the Central freeway to Octavia Blvd is torn down where do you expect all the vehicles to go? Surely, riding your fixie bike will get more difficult on crowded side streets?
Horrible design, its too subdivided the scale is all wrong. The layout of so many zigs and zags with alternating paths and stairs, its at the dead end of a street!, this layout is for a space twice as big at least. Are those people like 4 feet tall?! another example of a graphic that isn’t a true reflection of the space, artistic license? I understand they want an ADA ramp that gets from upside to Valencia Street, but this feature is the thing that is wagging the dog. An opportunity to have a really vibrant accessible space and you get glorified circulation patterns. They should go back to the drawing board, look at Romes, Spanish Steps as an inspiration.
And former Mayor McCoppin has an elementary school named for him in the inner Richmond. Thanks for the history. I did not know we had a McCoppin as mayor.
This, along with the work along Castro Street to widen the sidewalks and let people eat outside continue the trend of San Francisco as a place where people like to eat in the streets.
But the U-Haul will still be there, for now.
Been riding my bike to work using the ramp alongside the new plaza for several years now. Can’t quite imagine wanting to sit or eat anywhere near there until that area is detoxed, power- washed, and fumigated! It is a scourge; a zone of blight filled with the remnants of human waste and filth. Just today I had to evade piles of vomit, feces, broken glass, and discarded clothing on the sidewalk there, while trying not to disturb the sleeping homeless person as I went by. I find it interesting that people will organize to create one more space where they can buy pricey prepared food, but no place for the mentally ill and impoverished people to have institutional care, shelter, and hygiene provided.
Totally Predicable: It only took a few months for McCoppin Plaza to be taken over by the area homeless population and less than year for it to devolve into a semi-permanent camp. Today I noticed the plaza has been completed fenced-off. The neighboring residents and businesses (U-haul, V-105 Cafe, & The Travelodge) must be ecstatic!
[Editor’s Note: The reason the Plaza was padlocked.]