FWIW there’s never been an encampment, to the best of my knowledge, around that part of 24th. My sense is that the people into gardening as a cover for hating the unhoused prefer the aluminum tubs.
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Agreed. Also, the cost of any sidewalk planting / stormwater runoff project is expensive and is really only merited where it makes sense (to mitigate stormwater). There are standards and permits and inspections and real costs to these, so it's not just a barrier to encampments.
aug 22, 2025, 11:49 pm • 1 0 • view
There appears to be a genre (which I hope to explore more soon) of SF sidewalk planting that isn’t a “deep” stormwater runoff, just shallow removal of a few squares of pavement. Not sure if there’s a better name for it? Presumably permitting and concrete removal still not cheap, but less digging.
aug 22, 2025, 11:58 pm • 2 0 • view
yeah, i think there are a variety of options available to someone working with the city (and the city has a good plan and is motivated to improve the sidewalks and streets). real stormwater intervention is in the street (before the water gets to the catch basins), lots of work done in the mission.
aug 23, 2025, 12:01 am • 0 0 • view
The stormwater interventions are of course very necessary in a lot of the old creek parts of the Mission. But I’ve seen some of the shallower ones on higher ground that seem to be more purely cosmetic?
aug 23, 2025, 12:21 am • 1 0 • view
FWIIW yes the deep ones are vital for areas that already flood like Mission Creek and spots along Cesar Chavez but more shallow ones help things from flooding in runoff and flooding that might get worse in future. They are still sponges just not super sponges
aug 23, 2025, 3:08 pm • 2 0 • view
Is there a formal name for the shallow ones? I’m thinking eg on the south side of Precita across from the playground:
aug 23, 2025, 3:52 pm • 0 0 • view
I can't tell if these do much of anything - there should be inlets along the steel border for sidewalk runoff. Here's one of the city's pages on Green infrastructure for some more information: www.sfpuc.gov/programs/san...
aug 23, 2025, 4:05 pm • 1 0 • view
yeah, I’ve always assumed they’re more decorative than anything else (especially since they’re above the curb level). But still, it is nice decoration and I’ve been wondering if it’d make sense to do something similar at our place when we have to rip the sidewalk up for planned sewage pipe work.
aug 23, 2025, 4:24 pm • 1 0 • view
Don't know - also haven't been in SF for over a year :-) Trees that are planted should be permitted (e.g. roots, fruiting, micro-climates in the overall SF planting plan). Friends of the Urban Forest are good for support. Hardly any runoff on sidewalks, so it's really just a greening effort?
aug 23, 2025, 12:35 am • 1 0 • view