A plugged-in reader reports on the new palms (not The Palms) along Third:
I was walking to my office near the ballpark from my home in Dogpatch this morning, enjoying the sun. The 3rd street sidewalks continue to improve, much to my delight.
They’ve been planting palm trees (I know—not appropriate for SF, blah blah), alternated with strawberry trees along the sidewalks in the Mission Rock stretch of 3rd street. I was wondering how in the heck they got the palm trees into the planting wells in the sidewalk. This morning I got to see the process up close and personal. The trees were lying in the adjacent parking lot and the fork/crane thing picked them up by the tops and lifted them over the fence into the hole. Pretty easy process.
Little by little, Mission Bay is looking better.
Cheers for the report, the photo, and for walking to work. And of course for plugging in.
Mission Bay keeps getting better and better. Soon it will be the best neighborhood in SF and the trendy place to live. Any idea when 4th street will be opened south of Mission Creek?
YAY!
I love trees
I love trees
I love trees
this is a positive step for the city of SF, and this neighborhood in general.
I heart palm trees! A Bonzai redwood would look amazing on our sidewalks too.
Nice … they’ll be enjoyed by the folks swinging through on May 10th for Sunday Streets! http://www.sundaystreetssf.com
3rd Street, soon to be re-named “Willie Lewis Brown Junior Boulevard.” Better contact your supervisor if you want to stop the madness.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/14/MN6I16F3A8.DTL
Few things are as cool as a long street lined with palm trees. Very slick.
I agre on this area getting more liveable. One of my regular running routes is through here. (Th. tempo run–from Potrero hill to mission bay campus to 3rd st. then past the ball park and along the bay to the Ferry Bldg. and back–nice run). It’s been fun to see this area get more active the last year–a lot more students and just seems like more people on the streets and sidewalks.
One negative though: I tried to ride my bike down 3rd street once and that didn’t feel very safe.
I am all for this city getting better, but for those of you who like streets lined with banal modern buildings and palms, tell me again why you pay a San Francisco premium? Ever heard of San Diego? Better weather, better palms, etc.
Since many seem to want this city to re-brand itself into a foggy version of Orange County, my question is more about what this identity choice says about recent transplants to this area. So much for Paris on the Pacific.
SFHawkguy…Regarding 3rd not feeling safe as a biker, a biker only lane is planned along the water. Will definitely be another positive step for the hood (although who knows when it will actually be done).
palm trees are totally fine for this part of San Francisco. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
I wish they had built more family sized housing over in Mission Bay as it seems it is shaping up to eventually be a desirable neighborhood for families.
Wrong. Palms have nothing to with this climate. Just because they grow here does not make it so.
There are trees, flowers and shrubs that belong in the Bay Area believe it or not. Native grasses, trees and flowers, IF PLANTED, could help the regional bird and insect populations, but why would we want to do that when we can try to pretend we live in Los Angeles instead. Has anyone ever experienced the actual native wildflorwers of this region? Can anyone even name what the native trees are of the Bay Area?
Parallel Third St and one block down towards the water is Terry Francois Way. On this street you will find the official Blue Greenway and Bay Trail bike lanes. It is a safe haven from 3rd St. and a much better ride that will take you to the Embarcadero.
There’s also the a new park by the water 2 blocks east of 3rd St. where the new palms are. Look past the construction fence and you’ll see a park flanked on each end with evergreens. Plum blossom trees were planted and should blossom beautifully in April. This not so known park is phase one of a 5 block linear greenway that stretches to the the Channel canal.
Yeah, I didn’t move to SF for LA lite … not to mention that palm trees are basically luxury high rise condos for rats.
Palms don’t really do much to reduce the heat island effect of urban environments or combat climate change.
This is a mistake IMHO.
@curious —
I can name a number of native trees, but not from living in SF.
A better approach than palm trees would be madrone trees: vertical growth habit, beautiful red-brown bark, whitish-pink flowers and red berries, and part of the local ecosystem.
There are a few madrone on Townsend near Embarcadero. Perhaps they cost more than palms and lollipop plane trees.
bitch bitch bitch.
Take a look at some of the San Francisco pics at the sfpl site – go back as early as you like and you will see palm trees. BEFORE LA even had 200k people.
If you really wanted to go native in SF, you’d return everything to sand dunes – no? Then get over it and recognize that you dont own the SF brand – and you might do better realizing that this city isnt any one single thing
Palms don’t really do much to reduce the heat island effect of urban environments or combat climate change.
Wait, if there’s something we could do to reduce the heat island effect, is there something we could do to increase it? Please, warm up my chilly City!
“Wait, if there’s something we could do to reduce the heat island effect, is there something we could do to increase it? Please, warm up my chilly City!”
Wins a Dick (Cheney) Award.
@Joe
Whatever it is that ails you, it is not socketsite or the commenters here. Do you reside in this city? If so, what do you propose?
@ curious – Wrong! There are no trees native to San Francisco. http://www.fuf.net.
Didn’t mean to sound like I don’t appreciate the greening of 3rd street, I applaud the addition of any sidewalk trees or planted medians.
I am just not a fan of Palms being used because that don’t actually add much green, carbon absorption, shade for buildings to reduce HVAC costs, or wind break/rain absorption effect to reduce erosion.
Kudo’s to the city for taking steps to green 3rd st and draw retail and residential growth there. I would love to see more substantial and aggressive efforts to green SF.
This is great. The Cesar Chavez greening can’t start soon enough.
The trees are fantastic.
4th street looks like it could open anytime and they will probably have some official event to signify it.
Also, notice the framework of the new Pfizer building in the background of this picture. I’ve seen them working weekends and overtime to get this thing up as quickly as possible.
“IF PLANTED, could help the regional bird and insect populations, but why would we want to do that when we can try to pretend we live in Los Angeles instead”
I like the Palm trees of the Mission District. They fit as well as they do in LA and have been there for generations. Cities are for people not insects. Trying to bring nature into cities is a very odd obsession of some. I would prefer that we make nice city parks for people and preserve nature somewhere else for bugs and coyotes.
but for those of you who like streets lined with banal modern buildings and palms,
I too would love it if they planted trees other than Palms.
But I’ll take Palm trees over barren sidewalk 1000x.
SF needs more green. I’ve given up hope that it will ever be a green city (looks wise)… but at least it can be greener than it once was!
I am all for this city getting better, but for those of you who like streets lined with native trees, tell me again why you pay a San Francisco premium? Ever heard of Portalnd? Fewer modern buildings, more native trees, etc…
Just to clarify, the palm trees on 3rd do alternate with what I think are madrones–with the hanging blossoms and berries and the wonderful bark. Plus, these particular palm trees have a really cool orange-y bark, very distinctive.
Anyway, I’m all for trees being planted along 3rd Street, no matter what kind they are. And I like the continuity with the existing palms along the waterfront.
As for “Willie Lewis Brown Junior Boulevard”, I wouldn’t mind if they were just going to call it Brown Street in his honor. We have many other streets named after former mayors, and the section of 3rd beyond the 3rd street bridge is out of sync with the numbered street grid anyway. But this movement in recent times towards using people’s full names as street names seems totally impractical to me.
“I am just not a fan of Palms being used because that don’t actually add much green, carbon absorption, shade for buildings to reduce HVAC costs, or wind break/rain absorption effect to reduce erosion.”
questions: is 3rd street a paved road? is there a dirt sidwalk or concrete? is it reasonable to worry about the erosion of asphalt and concrete?
“I am just not a fan of Palms being used because that don’t actually add much green, carbon absorption, shade for buildings to reduce HVAC costs, or wind break/rain absorption effect to reduce erosion.”
questions: is 3rd street a paved road? is there a dirt sidwalk or concrete? is it reasonable to worry about the erosion of asphalt and concrete?
If we are speaking of native species only being allowed in the Bay Area, then anybody who is not Native American/ Aztech should start taking their own advice and pack their bags. (Including me, though I try to not be so up tight about things). This is a silly discussion that somehow turns a tree into issues of superiority and context, as if the rampant homelessness, litter, vandalism, and crime don’t define our negatives clearly enough to any “outsider” already.
Face it…there is absolutely no rational reason at all to “pay the premium” folks. You should all just depart forthwith for San Diego or Portland. It is the rational thing to do.
and certainly, stop hanging out on a San Francisco discussion board. Why do you care, given the joys of San Diego and Portland you will so soon be experiencing?
@reader —
You’re right–they’re alternating palm trees and madrone on 3rd. Interesting effect.
I took a look around at some of the nearby streets–it appears that each block is getting a different species of tree. And none of them seem to be that ubiquitous urban plane tree. Still, I wish tree species were mixed within a block, with no particular regularity. Right now the overwhelming impression one gets in mission bay is of a well-appointed office park (which it is). A little less obvious regimentation of trees would ameliorate this effect.
(don’t get me wrong–the planting going on in mission bay is pretty damned good, but that shouldn’t prevent consideration of improvement)
I did not know palm envy could cause such hate as well. Think of it this way…..
Would you want redwoods to line State Street in Santa Barbara?
Would you want Carmel to replace the cypress trees with palms?
Should Ojai rip out the oaks and replace them with palms?
I have to agree in favor of a large interesting mixture of trees instead of the Orange County office park look. I also love the use of Madrone trees which are vanishing on the hills of northern California. Why do European and older American cities (Midwest especially) choose to have many different trees on one block while we have to use the same tree over and over?
One city that sets an interesting example to consider is Palm Desert. About 10 years ago they gave up on the Hawaiian palm tree look and started re-landscaping streets with native desert trees and plants. I just returned from that area and you should see the wildflowers in bloom. These new LOW WATER use landscapes have four season blooms, and provide birds and insects with real habitats. The funny thing is the Palm Springs-Palm Desert area is one of the places you would think people would still be planting palms, but they have already moved on.
I like palms, but just wanted people to consider other alternatives to the over use of palms as street landscaping in San Francisco. A variety of trees in this tree starved city would be very beneficial.
What’s wrong with Little Orange County? We already have Little Italy, Chinatown, Haight Ashbury, Presidio, etc. We don’t need another of those.
So, shall we rename Mission Bay as Little Orange County?
Would you want redwoods to line State Street in Santa Barbara?
Funny you mention it, Santa Barbara had its sidewalks refreshed 6-7 years ago. Among other things, the famous sidewalk tiles were partially replaced by bricks. They also removed some palm trees to plant Eucalyptus instead. Everyone complained at the time but the city said palm trees “cheapened” downtown SB.
Of course, nobody would see Cabrillo Bd (the coastal road) without its 80-Y old palm trees, but I think the new mix worked pretty well for State Street.
“Mission Bay = Little Orange County”
Good One JJ!
Is that trademarked, or can we use this if we give proper credit? As someone who has had to listen to Marina bashing for years, I have never understood the love affair some have with Rincon Hill and Mission Bay. They call my neighborhood and unit which partially includes a view of the Palace of Fine Arts and lagoon “plastic, boring, suburban, everything looks the same”, while Mission Bay seems to get a pass even though it really does look like an Irvine Office Park. The Marina, like Mission Bay, is an area that was built rapidly within about 15 years yet I find more diversity of buildings, trees, shops and views than is planned for Mission Bay. Mission Bay is one of the great lost opportunities of San Francisco, we should expect more.
“plastic, boring, suburban, everything looks the same”
Anon I think they are taking about the people in the marina not the buildings. Sorry I couldn’t resist:)
By the way I’m glad we have some Irvine “office park” in SF. God forbid we actually encourage new industry here.
The madrone-looking trees are Arbutus ‘Marina’, a hybrid created here in San Francisco, at a nursery in the Marina District. The two species used to make the hybrid are native to the Mediterranean region, not California. The California native species is Arbutus menziesii, the madrone. its habitat runs from Baja California to British Columbia. In the Pacific Northwest they call it “Madrona.” It is one of the most difficult native trees to cultivate and would not be a viable option for a street tree. There is a nice specimen planted on the northeast slope of Bernal Heights.
Washingtonia robusta, the Mexican fan palm, is the species planted along Third Street and Mission Street, and is also native to Baja California.
The only tree species native to San Francisco are the coast live oak, Quercus agrifolia, and California buckeye, Aesculus californica. Golden Gate Park and Buena Vista Park contain lovely native groves of the coast live oak. Both can be cultivated easily but neither is a very good street tree. Toyon, Heteromeles arbutifolia, is an SF-native shrub attaining tree size occasionally.
The palm species native to California, in the Palm Canyon for which Palm Springs is named, is Washingtonia filifera, the California fan palm. It is a poor choice for humid California climates like ours — thus the use of Washingtonia robusta, its immediate cousin, on Third Street.
What you have along Third Street is a reasonable facsimile of a native California planting; alas, few benefits for the native insect fauna, but perhaps a perch for migratory and native birds.
An even-more-appropriate palm for San Francisco is the Guadalupe palm, Brahea edulis. It is native to a foggy island off Baja where lots of familiar California natives grow, and is uniquely adapted to our foggy, windy, summer-dry climate. It looks better, stays smaller, and requires much less pruning than the Mexican fan palm, but is not nearly so cheap or fast-growing, and is thus rarely used as a street tree.
Pritchard, thanks for the detailed info. Is this available online somewhere, or it something you know?
This is stuff I’m interested in and know, but here are some interesting resources online:
http://www.indian-canyons.com/Palm.html (info on native palm oasis at Palm Springs)
Info on Guadalupe Island species:
http://www.islandconservation.org/gallery/ (Click through to #5 for the palm.)
Wikipedia entry on Guadalupe Island is pretty good:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guadalupe_Island
madrone info (native):
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Pacific_Madrone
Arbutus ‘Marina’ (the street tree that looks like madrone):
http://www.smgrowers.com/info/arbmarina.asp