Letter #7

Looking Ahead to Get Back

Dear San Francisco,

Guess what? I was just in New York for a quick visit. As I’ve noticed on other recent trips there, that city’s really back. Packed houses and standing O’s at Broadway shows, booming bars, museums drawing crowds for evening exhibitions, subway hustlers passing hats, Chinatown bustling, hordes trekking the Brooklyn Bridge ….

It was great to see Gotham in full swing, but it stung too. It reminded me how long your road back will be. Why aren’t you back in action? Too much tech to clear the decks, maybe—wait, hold that thought. I’ll come back to it, I promise, but not like you think. Because ….

As I absorbed the energy in “the city so nice they named it twice,” a thought struck me. What does back really mean? Back to what? The good old days? (Even I can admit they probably weren’t as good as I remember them.) Back to its (old) self? Business as usual? A return to its past as its best future? Maybe that’s why we call it “Old New York.”

And I’m all about the past. Melancholy? Loss? Nostalgia? A few of my favorite things, and where would A Bridge for the City would be without them? If I were a pop song, Adele would probably have to sing me. But not you, right? So, today I’m trading my trademarks for a burst of optimistic, future-leaning thinking. With Thanksgiving almost here, I’m going off-brand. Because I think the right back for you is something new.

And you’ll be getting a new mayor soon. Without getting political or personal, that result bodes well. With all due respect, it’s tough to imagine embarking on a renewed magical mystery tour with the old guide. Anyway, lots of ink has been spilled lately about what you should do for your next act as a city, but following are a few of my own paragraphs to add to the stack.

OK, here’s my pitch: What do you think of an arts and entertainment corridor planned and executed by you and funded by tech? Don’t you think the geography could work beautifully? What if you built connective tissue between (i) Mission Bay and the theatre district; and (ii) the theatres and the Opera House/Symphony, ideally minimizing disruption? Maybe you could use the blueprint from monthly events you’ve sponsored recently, like First Thursdays and Unstaged, closing streets to traffic to set up vendor areas, stages for bands, and pedestrian drinking zones. What about making some of those efforts permanent by designating parts of a few streets – 3^rd through 5^th, maybe? – as street art zones with space for small galleries and local artist installations? It’s worked like a charm in other global destination cities ….

Can you imagine catching an afternoon Giants or Warriors game and strolling up towards Market Street, browsing galleries and outdoor installations along the way? Then heading to the Golden Gate, ACT Strand, or the Orpheum for a show? Or staying on Market until you reach the Opera House or Symphony? Here’s just one of too many examples of blank space you could fill:

I realize this would be a haul. Cleaning up some of those blocks, establishing infrastructure, ensuring security, etc.? Not cheap or easy. But don’t you think a mayor with a mandate to think and act big could get it done? As for the dough … could you get tech to subsidize the arts? OK, maybe using standard-issue monetization metrics wouldn’t work here, but I bet you could convince tech companies that having an amazing reborn city to plant their flags in, with a downtown where workers, residents, shoppers, and tourists all want to be, is a worthy ROI. And your role? The good architect, host, and steward. (Could you try not to get in the way too much?) And hey, what do you think of IKEA/Saluhall as the lynchpin of this arts sprawl? That place already feels like a mashup of tech and the arts on some afternoons and evenings.

Best of all? If this idea flew, your path back to something brand new would make for a pretty good tribute to San Francisco’s creative, counter-cultural past self.

OK, today’s been a hard swerve from doleful reminiscence to unqualified advice on public policy and urban planning. Way above my pay grade. But what do you think?

Anyway, it was good to see Union Square a little busier yesterday. Happy Thanksgiving, and here’s to going back to the future, as they say in the movies ….