A Digital Journal - San Francisco Public Works
In the Works
July 2024
Renovation of the beloved Mission Branch Library requires a precarious balancing act: Overhauling the landmark building to meet modern-day needs while preserving the integrity of the historic structure.
FEATURE STORIES
Mission Branch Library Renovation:
An Exercise in Exactitude
The Public Works-led project, delivered on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library, will help restore the beloved neighborhood branch.
Growing the Next Generation
of Green-Jobs Workers
The Public Works Street Tree Nursery, which opened last fall in the South of Market neighborhood, is already putting down roots in the community with the New Roots workforce development program.
The Nature of Art
This month, the Public Works Street Tree Nursery hosted the world premiere exhibition of artist Sarah Chaseʼs Hidden Botanical Universe.
When It Comes to Expanding Accessibility, Our Enthusiasm Is Not Curbed
San Francisco Public Works oversaw the installation of 799 new ADA-compliant curb ramps during the past year, expanding accessibility in neighborhoods throughout the City.
Landscape Design Initiative to Cool Down the South of Market Heats Up
Public Works is exploring the potential to redesign a stretch of right of way beneath the I-80 freeway overpass to help mitigate climate change impacts.
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#LoveOurCity
Dozens of community volunteers joined forces with our Public Works crews this month to green, clean and beautify the Marina, Cow Hollow, Pacific Heights and other District 2 neighborhoods.
During the Public Works-led renovation work, crews are careful to preserve the design integrity of the landmark Mission Branch Library, including its historic façade.
Mission Branch Library Renovation: An Exercise in Exactitude
When Raymond Lui, chief structural engineer for Public Works, visits his most challenging project, he watches the windows.
In an effort to keep the Mission Branch Library’s historic plaster on its ceiling and walls intact during the building’s Public Works-led renovation, the old windows act as a canary in the coalmine of sorts.
“We don’t want to see cracks in the plaster,” said Lui, who is the structural engineer of record on the project. “One of the indicators to me, if I’m just walking down the street, is all the glass panes are in great shape. So nothing has been distressed, there’s no cracks. That already gives me a level of confidence” that everything is going according to plan.
Raymond Lui (center), chief structural engineer for Public Works, gestures during a site visit at the Mission Branch Library on July 2, 2024.
The Public Works-led project, delivered on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library, will help restore the beloved neighborhood branch – more than 100 years old – to some of its original glory while adding much-needed upgrades to transform the facility into a less cramped, more accommodating and more climate-resilient space for staff and patrons.
Crews have to be careful as they dig into the soil to carve out the basement, gut the inside of the structure and work on the rebar that crisscrosses the facility, which sits at the corner of 24th and Bartlett streets.
From left to right: Tony Abuyaghi, a member of Public Works’ architectural design team, Mike Brostko, superintendent with S.J. Amoroso Construction, and Raymond Lui, chief structural engineer for Public Works, inspect rebar inside the Mission Branch Library during a site visit on July 16, 2024.
Workers also have an alarm that is triggered by any significant movement or vibrations to help safeguard the precious plaster.
In his 14 years with the department, the complex renovation of the historic building – one of seven Carnegie libraries in San Francisco – is the most complicated undertaking Lui has ever worked on.
“We’re moving parts of it, adding more parts to it, we’re going underneath it,” said Lui, as heavy machinery hummed nearby. “So there’s a lot of complications in this thing."
Crews take a quick break from their renovation work at the Mission Branch Library.
The makeover must preserve the design integrity of the landmark building while preparing the facility for modern-day needs.
Among the planned improvements: providing a 100-person community room, constructing a dedicated teen room, restoring the main entry to its original location, replacing the lost historic main staircase, building additional restrooms and adding a fenced courtyard and sustainability features, such as rooftop solar panels and air conditioning.
The library – the first branch in the San Francisco Public Library system – is steeped in history and San Francisco lore. For engineers like Lui that means keeping a watchful eye over every step of the renovation, which kicked off last August and is expected to wrap up by fall 2025.
Renderings show what the inside and outside of the historic Mission Branch Library will look like after the renovation.
Construction on the building – which is designed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style – is a precarious balancing act. Literally.
In order to excavate the new basement space, crews installed so-called soldier piles and beams that hold up the building’s side facing Orange Alley. That means part of the structure is essentially suspended in mid-air.
“I’ve never floated a historic building,” Lui said.
The steel piles were driven up to 16 feet into the soil and encased in concrete beneath the surface to add additional strength and stability. After all, they need to be able to hold up a quarter of the building while work carries on around them.
The measure is temporary.
So-called soldier piles and beams hold up the building’s side facing Orange Alley so crews can excavate the new basement space.
“We’re going to put new columns, new foundations underneath to support that side,” Lui said.
On the library’s south-facing side, meanwhile, the project called for the complete demolition of an annex structure. Because of the proximity to a nearby residential building, crews had to navigate a tight space during their work. They had to be mindful to minimize any dust or noise impacts.
Seismic improvements also are slated for the renovation project. Crews will construct a new, stouter shear wall to make the library more resilient in the face of earthquakes. Vertical elements, like a concrete shear wall, help transmit inertial forces from the quake down into the structure’s foundation, providing an element of lateral resistance to the shaking.
Raymond Lui, chief structural engineer for Public Works, inspects shotcrete work outside the Mission Branch Library.
Part of Lui’s job is to make sure that what is sketched out on a plan becomes reality. On a recent July morning, he walked the site with a superintendent for a Public Works contractor, S.J. Amoroso Construction, checking for rebar placement.
“They had an issue with some of the beams, so I’m going to go take a look,” Lui said. “I can draw lines on a paper. Easy-peasy. They gotta go install that line.”
Inside the library, sparks from welding work bathed parts of the gutted ground floor in a bright purple glow. Crews in orange vests and white hard hats climbed ladders, reaching the second floor where the grand reading room – the crown jewel of the facility – is housed. Rapid-fire sounds from a jackhammer echoed through the building, usually an oasis of quietude.
The library's grand reading room is the heart of the historic building.
Still, the work – reimaging a historic structure – is an exercise in exactitude: Taking care of the past while building for the future.
On another recent morning, construction dust and particles danced through the muggy July air, illuminated by sunlight filtering through the leafy trees near the library. Beneath the foliage, workers pointed a hose toward rebar panels, pelting the steel with shotcrete – a concrete mixture that is sprayed into place. Just around the corner, an excavator greedily gnawed into the earth.
A worker pelts rebar panels with shotcrete – a concrete mixture that is sprayed into place – outside the Mission Branch Library.
Though just a test run, the shotcrete spectacle helps Public Works architects and engineers determine if the crews are capable of properly carrying out the work. They check to make sure the finish is up to snuff and core into the concrete to see if it is structurally sound. Care and precision are paramount when renovating a one-of-a-kind structure.
Tony Abuyaghi, a member of Public Works’ architectural design team from the Bureau of Architecture and a job captain on the project, knows that all too well.
“It’s like surgery,” he said.
The renovation of the Mission Branch Library is expected to wrap up by late next year.
PUBLIC WORKS
BY THE NUM83R5
2024 -YEAR TO DATE
7,964
POTHOLES
FILLED
4,126
TREES
PRUNED
341
CURB RAMPS
CONSTRUCTED
263
NUMBER OF BLOCKS RESURFACED
14,033
TONS OF DEBRIS COLLECTED
Peter Hernandez (left), Julian Valdivia (right) and Bianca "Bee" Vasquez (foreground) are part of the newest New Roots workforce development cohort at the Street Tree Nursery.
Growing the Next Generation of Green-Jobs Workers
The Public Works Street Tree Nursery, which opened last fall in the South of Market neighborhood, already is putting down roots in the community.
In collaboration with nonprofit partner, Friends of the Urban Forest, the New Roots workforce development program provides community members with apprenticeship opportunities in street tree stewardship.
Four participants from San Francisco’s disadvantaged neighborhoods have completed the program and this month the latest cohort began work at the nursery.
Bianca "Bee" Vasquez, Julian Valdivia, Peter Hernandez and Lawrence Tablada Tacto (left to right) meet with Street Tree Nursery Project Manager Jon Swae during a break from their work.
The program, which launched last December, offers young adults, 18 to 26 years old, training and hands-on work experience in nursery operations, tree planting and tree care.
The program curriculum includes introductory botany and ecology courses, resume workshops, career counseling and communication training. The program also works with the YWCA and the Bill Sorro Housing Program, a local affordable housing advocacy group, to offer financial literacy training and affordable housing assistance workshops to help meet participants’ needs.
The trees and plants cultivated at the nursery will in turn be used to continue greening San Francisco neighborhoods.
New Roots is funded by the California Natural Resources Agency, the state Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the City of San Francisco through a Cal Fire grant. Participants earn $19.95 an hour.
The introduction of the New Roots program coincided with the opening of the Street Tree Nursery. Developed on a 14,000-square-foot plot of underutilized Caltrans land, the nursery is situated underneath the I-80 freeway, off of Fifth Street, between Harrison and Bryant streets.
One recent afternoon, the four newest participants were out weeding, removing green waste and pruning in the nursery garden. They’ve been studying nursery essentials, such as proper plant feeding and soil mixtures, cataloging nursery plant and tool inventories and keeping pests and contaminants out of the nursery environment.
New Roots participants landscape the fence line at the Street Tree Nursery.
Public Works Director Carla Short, a trained arborist, said she is pleased to see New Roots participants gain practical skills they may one day be able to apply to full-time positions in the public and nonprofit sectors.
“The New Roots program is an example of Public Works’ commitment to grow a strong workforce,” Short said. “These young people are poised to be the next generation of leaders in green science and technology, infrastructure, as well as planning and design of open spaces.
“Our gardeners and public service aides,” she added, “have mentored them, along with Friends of the Urban Forest’s leadership, in gaining practical skills that will benefit them in their education and career endeavors.”
The Public Works Street Tree Nursery, first conceived of in 2014, has been a beacon for not only the South of Market neighborhood – one of San Francisco’s neighborhoods with the smallest tree canopy – but for the City as a whole.
New Roots dovetails with the nursery’s mission to be a community gathering point where Public Works landscape gardeners work alongside volunteers and apprentices to cultivate young trees that are resilient and will thrive in San Francisco’s diverse microclimates.
New Roots workforce development participant Ezra Blaser prunes fruit from an Arbutus unedo, or strawberry tree, in the gardens at the Street Tree Nursery.
Friends of the Urban Forest Executive Director Brian Wiedenmeier lauded the New Roots workforce development program for providing “vital green-collar opportunities for local residents to learn not just how to grow trees, but how to establish strong roots as civic-minded San Franciscans committed to climate justice.”
He added, “New Roots participants represent the best of Public Works and Friends of the Urban Forest, and our joint mission to make San Francisco a more livable, sustainable city for all our residents.”
The New Roots participants come from San Francisco neighborhoods, including the South of Market, Tenderloin, Mission, Excelsior and Bayview.
The two-and-a-half-year pilot program will include five six-month sessions, each with a cohort of four program participants. New Roots graduates will have support in transitioning into other paid positions through partnerships with the City and community-based organizations and employers, Wiedenmeier said.
Ezra Blaser and Julian Valdivia (left to right) remove green waste from the nursery gardens.
The program also assists participants with developing technical and interpersonal job skills as it nudges them toward permanent employment opportunities in the green-collar workforce in the Bay Area.
Leading this workforce development initiative for the Public Works Bureau of Urban Forestry are Chris Reed, chief nursery specialist, and Ross Pearson, outreach and volunteer coordinator. They have been working with members of the New Roots program to prune native plants at the nursery garden.
Jon Swae, the bureau’s contracts, grants and initiatives manager, said he is deeply moved to see the apprentices gain a foothold in their new roles as street tree stewards.
“It’s poignant that these youth come from some of our least leafy neighborhoods and have made it their mission to provide their communities more street trees, a more breathable and peaceable environment and become ambassadors of tree stewardship,” said Swae, who also serves as the nursery’s project manager. “I’m inspired that Public Works is able to impart to them extremely valuable green industry skills so they can one day become full-time, certified arborists, gardeners or nursery specialists themselves.”
Marta Percolla, New Roots program manager at Friends of the Urban Forest, views the young apprentices through a prism of community forestry working toward mitigating the effects of climate change in the most vulnerable communities. She designed the program curriculum to link practical job skills with developing healthier habits.
Marta Percolla, New Roots program manager, designed the workforce development program.
“I want them to leave advocating for themselves, leading healthier and stable lives,” she said. “I borrowed from the strategies the medical field has taken in increasing their workforce… What are the contributing factors to quality of life? We are doing our best to address (those factors) in a way that is helping participants gain that stability in life and improve their quality of life.”
Percolla said the initiative isn’t just driven by the number of trees planted. It’s also about what participants gain in the process of planting trees and improving the urban canopy – not only honing and practicing technical skills, but developing and fostering healthier views of themselves, their place in society and in the environment.
“It’s an incredible opportunity for us to be a model for how we can approach the intersection between community development, strengthening the social safety nets and urban forestry,” she said.
New Roots participant Bianca “Bee” Vasquez was working at the nursery this month with fellow apprentice Julian Valdivia. Their task was to remove some pernicious weeds from the nursery’s fence line. They struggled together to unearth the unwanted plant whose tendrils had reached 3 feet underground. They gave each other a fist bump and wiped sweat off their brows after successfully eradicating the invader.
Having recently worked as an intern for nonprofits, including the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts and Bay Area Community Resources, Vasquez said being part of New Roots is her way of giving back to her community.
“I like being involved with my city,” she said. “Being born and raised here, I’ve seen my city being gentrified. I’ve seen a lot of things being moved and pushed around – buildings replacing trees and gardens, especially here in SoMa. It’s mostly buildings. It’s downtown. It’s filled with a lot of pollution, a lot of drugs, a lot of trash. The climate is skyrocketing as we know it. Animals that used to be here are now extinct. I jumped in because I want to be part of the environment and keep my community in shape. This can be a great job to help the City and yourself.”
New Roots participant Ezra Blaser, a member of the first cohort, finishing his final month on the job in July, said he’s learned a great deal about the ecology of Northern California, including edible and medicinal plants. A native of Washington state, he said trees always have been an important part of his life.
“One of my primary goals,” Blaser said, “is to understand the systems, to increase my identification knowledge, to get to know plants with medicinal and edible properties that can be helpful to people. I feel more confident. I’ve been applying for jobs in the ecological field. The knowledge I’ve gained here, I’m thankful for it. I’ve enjoyed seeing the progression of the nursery from mostly concrete to every week we see new trees and plants coming in.”
Growing up in the Northwest, Blaser said, he was surrounded by trees. “It’s very healing for me to be in the forest. My housing situation growing up kind of sucked. I wasn’t home very often. The forest was something I could connect with and learn about and feel at peace.”
Learn more about San Francisco’s Street Tree Nursery and the Friends of the Urban Forest’s New Roots workforce development program.
Artist Sarah Chase talks with a visitor during her art exhibition event at the Public Works Street Tree Nursery.
The Nature
of Art
This month, the Public Works Street Tree Nursery hosted the world premiere exhibition of artist Sarah Chaseʼs Hidden Botanical Universe – the first in a series of free art and community events to be offered at the new nursery in the South of Market.
Chase – an artist, performer and choreographer based on Hornby Island in British Columbia – has spent the past two years creating more than 1,000 pieces of art using botanical materials. Her striking compositions of dancers, animals, birds and landscapes are comprised entirely of objects gathered in nature, including plants, flowers, leaves and mushrooms.
The Street Tree Nursery on Fifth Street, nestled between Harrison and Bryant streets, showcased Chase’s art for a special exhibit opening with the artist on July 25. The exhibition will continue to be on view by appointment at the nursery through October (email streettreenursery@sfdpw.org for more information).
British Columbia-based artist Sarah Chase uses botanical materials to create her artwork.
The art will also be front and center for the nursery’s community open house – paired with Public Works’ Neighborhood Beautification Day – on Saturday, Aug. 17, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The nursery – which was built on a vacant freeway parcel at 415 Fifth St. and opened its doors to the public last fall – features a central growing area for young street trees, outdoor gathering spaces, landscaping, a classroom and offices.
Jon Swae, who serves as the Street Tree Nursery's project manager, chats with a visitor during an art exhibition event at the nursery.
These two new ADA-compliant curb ramps in the Outer Richmond improve accessibility.
When It Comes
to Expanding Accessibility,
Our Enthusiasm
Is Not Curbed
San Francisco Public Works oversaw the installation of 799 new ADA-compliant curb ramps during the past year, expanding accessibility in neighborhoods throughout the City.
The total number for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2024, represented a 10% increase over the prior year.
For people who use a wheelchair or walker, push a stroller or delivery handcart or have difficulty stepping up or down a curb, well-designed, well-built curb ramps make it easier to get around.
All City departments and private contractors doing work in the public right of way near street corners may be required to put in curb ramps that meet today’s state and federal disability access requirements.
Among the projects that trigger the need for new curb ramps are street resurfacing operations, traffic signal upgrades, sewer and gas line replacements, private developments and streetscape improvements.
Public Works’ engineers design the curb ramps, which vary from location to location due to such factors as slope and other site conditions. The curb ramps are built by both Public Works’ Cement Shop crews and private contractors.
Public Works crews install bright yellow detectable tiles on a curb ramp.
With about 50,000 potential locations for curb ramps in San Francisco, Public Works began installing them in the 1970s and implemented a formal program in 1989. Today, there are more than 35,000 curb ramps – a significant achievement, but there’s more work to do.
Public Works is committed to advancing our goal of creating a city that is easier to navigate and more inclusive.
We continually assess requests for new curb ramps. The top priority is given to people with mobility disabilities who ask for curb ramps at an intersection where each corner does not have at least one curb ramp in good condition.
The department then takes into account several factors when prioritizing installation, including the number of requests for a location, if the location is along a high-injury corridor, meaning there have been a disproportionate number of pedestrian injuries, and proximity to schools, senior centers, health care facilities and other key community-serving resources.
We also consider the condition of the existing curb ramps, the impact on the path of travel and geographic equity.
People can request a new curb ramp through the City’s SF311 customer service center. Requests also can be filled out online by clicking this link.
On the heels of the success of its budding street tree nursery in the South of Market neighborhood and with the help of a new state grant, Public Works is exploring the potential to redesign a stretch of right of way beneath the I-80 freeway overpass to help mitigate existing flooding issues, better protect pedestrians and bicyclists and safeguard residents from climate change impacts.
Public Works was awarded a $626,000 grant from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) this summer to launch the SoMa Under Freeway Park project. The funding is a needed first step to create a vision for the space – roughly 10 acres total – bounded by Fourth, Sixth, Harrison and Bryant streets.
A map shows the study area for the SoMa Under Freeway Park project. Map credit: Jocelyn Chiou.
In addition to lighting, greening, art and stormwater management elements, the heart of the project would be an open space that – depending on community input and available funding – could include basketball and pickleball courts, a skate park, a dog park or similar amenities.
Not only does the neighborhood suffer from a dearth of open space and recreation opportunities, but its residents are also disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change, including heat and air quality inequities, said Public Works Landscape Architecture Bureau Manager Jennifer Cooper, who is spearheading the project.
She pointed to a recent study – produced by the Public Works Landscape Architecture team – showing that SoMa residents are more likely to be hospitalized for asthma or with diabetes complications during a heat event. That is because the area – with its proximity to the freeway, abundance of asphalt and lack of shade from trees – creates the perfect environment to trap heat and air pollution, a phenomenon known as the urban heat island effect.
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This map shows how SoMa residents are more likely to be impacted by excessive heat and pollution. Map credit: Ava Ross
“SoMa can’t wait. They don't have enough open space now. They have health problems now,” Cooper said. “And, so, I think this is a rare opportunity for our team to take a leadership role in getting these types of projects started so that they’re well set up to get funding for implementation.”
Besides increasing air pollution in the neighborhood, the freeway divides the community and creates unsafe street conditions for people who walk and bike due to its street design, ramps and crossings. The new project will aim to right these environmental inequities, provide access to recreation, expand the tree canopy and biodiversity and celebrate cultural expression for the underserved neighborhood.
By providing a general vision and framework for the parcels under the freeway, which are currently largely leased out by Caltrans as parking lots, the hope also is to create a more welcoming environment.
“We want to make the highway more of a gateway than a barrier,” Cooper said.
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A conceptual rendering shows potential improvements to the freeway overpass and surrounding area at Fifth Street. Image credit: Jocelyn Chiou.
With Public Works’ new Street Tree Nursery on Fifth Street, between Harrison and Bryant streets, and a dog park being built nearby, the new open space project would add to a growing mosaic of reimagined spaces in the area that could create additional interest and investment in the neighborhood.
A key next step will be gathering input and feedback from neighborhood residents and groups on what they would like to see in the space – a process that will be led by a community organization that Public Works will hire to do the outreach. The hope is to start collecting feedback and ideas early next year.
Several organizations in the area – including SOMA Pilipinas, the SOMA West Community Benefit District, the Yerba Buena Community Benefit District and the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District – already have expressed support for the undertaking.
“Now the community finally gets to have a say in what happens in these spaces,” Cooper said. “We’re excited to hear what’s going to make this a meaningful space for them, because the possibilities are wide open. These types of underutilized parcels are an opportunity because there’s no expectation for them. And anything we do there is going to be so much better than what’s there now.”
A conceptual rendering shows a much greener future for SoMa. Image credit: Jocelyn Chiou.
Landscape Design Initiative to Cool Down the South of Market Heats Up
Volunteers and Public Works crews work together to plant a new street tree in front of Sherman Elementary School during this month’s Love Our City: Neighborhood Beautification Day event.
#LoveOurCity
Dozens of community volunteers joined forces with our Public Works crews this month to green, clean and beautify the Marina, Cow Hollow, Pacific Heights and other District 2 neighborhoods at our Love Our City: Neighborhood Beautification Day event.
We kicked off the July 20 volunteer workday at Sherman Elementary School before teams fanned out to plant new street trees, pick up litter, wipe out graffiti, spruce up medians and mulch planters.
Every month, Neighborhood Beautification Day focuses on a different supervisorial district, bringing together residents, community groups, merchants and Public Works employees – including many volunteering on their own time – to improve San Francisco neighborhoods.
The Neighborhood Beautification Day team greens and cleans the area surrounding Sherman Elementary School.
The workdays are open to people of all ages and offer great opportunities to make new friends and give back to our communities.
Next month, we’ll be cleaning and greening District 6 neighborhoods, including the South of Market, the Tenderloin and the East Cut.
The volunteer workday on Saturday, Aug. 17, will get underway with an 8:30 a.m. registration at the Public Works Street Tree Nursery at 415 Fifth St. Please join us!
