Building on the success of the weekly Mission Community Market, plans for a permanent Mercado Plaza on Bartlett between 21st and 22nd streets are starting to take shape.
The conceptual plan for the plaza is to create permanent pedestrian zones and a flexible urban space to accommodate the weekly Market and other neighborhood gatherings:
With $1,600,000 in funds already dedicated to pedestrian and public space improvements along Bartlett Street, San Francisco’s Planning Department will co-host a community workshop on the plans for the Mercado Plaza tomorrow, May 29, from 6-7:30pm at 3543 18th Street (The Women’s Building, Room A).
∙ Mercado Plaza Design Overview [missioncommunitymarket.org]
How will this affect the New Mission Theater redevelopment? Don’t those condos have their parking entrance on this stretch of Bartlett?
This part of Bartlett already has one side that is nothing more than a wall of parking entrances: http://goo.gl/maps/TxUTv
25 feet of nothing but stucco and gates. It looks nice a minimum security prison. As a friend always says, these architects should be severely punished by being forced to live there.
Don’t be so quick to blame ONLY the architects; blame also the budget, the contractor, the Planning and Building Department; all contributing factors.
All have a hand in successful and not so successful projects.
But this new pedestrian plaza is a winner!
Casa de la Raza nowadays would be built with more density and underground parking to create a more street friendly presence, but residents probably feel safer with the current configuration. I was surprised the newer Valencia Gardens did not build underground parking to free up more surface space. Seems like a missed opportunity.
Good point Marten: Valencia Gardens could have had much more open space/trees/landscape by going to below grade parking.
futurist,
Sure, but we have to start somewhere 😉 This 25 foot high wall of nothingness is a soul crushing monument. The only thing it’s missing is a moat. But they had maximized the footprint already.
ummm…budgets for assisted housing being what they are, it’s not exactly a surprise that Valencia Garden didn’t have any budget to go below ground for parking. Plus since it’s largely public housing it shouldn’t be providing much parking to begin with. Valencia Gardens was once a mega-block public housing development with a large internal courtyard that was award winning (Tommy Church, yes?) but was not “defensible space” and contributed to the social disaster. When it was torn down streets were re-inserted and the place seems to be one of the best Hope Six rebuilds in the City (plus I believe it is NOT managed by the Housing Authority). I believe it includes both public (Section 8) housing and affordable housing, but no market rate housing. My only argument with the parking is that they created new through streets, but reserved the parking for residents. In San Francisco’s crowded Mission that hardly seems fair.
Plaza del Mercado. I love it! Just keep it clean and safe.
Forty parking spaces gone! Yes sir, the bike coalition and SFMTA at it again.
curmudgeon: exactly. We have a shortage of affordable housing, so let’s make sure it’s even more expensive to build?!
This plan is a disaster; it has been shepherded by the mission community market people in a desperate attempt to keep their failing market afloat. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are going to be spent to provide permanent shelters for a market that occurs once per week.
The elimination of parking is not actually necessary; but as Gone points out, it is politically correct.
The people who live in the neighborhood and the local merchants have been trying to get the City to consider a design that doesn’t eliminate parking, but the City isn’t interested.
Just another typical SF planning department project.
OMG – I’m so excited to see this built!!! As a local resident, I LOVE it, and this city desperately needs more permanent all-pedestrian zones! Even a few short blocks of pedestrian plaza can radically transform and liven up a neighborhood in a very compelling way!
hope it gets built ASAP!
Dammit that’s my 50 cents an hour parking lot all day at the office!
But seriously, great idea. The street is a frickin dump, a homeless meth head outdoor latrine, thanks to the block long parking structure on one side. And mission mercado or whatever it’s called ain’t behind this, thou I suppose they will be happy to see it.
Doubleplusgood
As I live at the end of this street, I am very happy to see Bartlett get improved. It is a bummer to loose parking, but hopefully the end result will be worth it.
Noeneighbor – I disagree that the farmer’s market is failing. I see it getting better and better. I just mentioned to my wife last week, while we were at the market, that the dinner choices look good and we should think about making Thursday night – eat at the market night. If you only know the market from some cold fall or spring day, or just visited last year, you should give it another try.
I like the Mission Community Market but it hasn’t really succeeded as a “farmer’s market”. Last time I was there only a few vendors were selling fresh produce, usually at post-gentrified prices.
I hope they succeed at building something nice here and that it serves the Mission as well as the Valencia.