Transcript from Community Meeting #2 on July 8, 2025 Formal Presentation

Aaron Fenton: Alright everybody, I think we're going to get started. If you could have everybody who needs to take a seat or include the conversation, but I'd appreciate it. Thank you very much. There's a couple of seats up front if anybody wants a better view. I think there were a couple seats up front we had to make some more room for. If you need a seat, we have a seat. So come on up front, we have an empty seat.

All right, great. Well thank you all for coming, uh, to our space called Codi. This is a, a temporary pop-up that we've created. Um, you know, since the pandemic, which has been a really great collaborative meeting space, uh, that the community, our tenants, and really anybody can, uh, can utilize. Uh, so thank you. My name is Aaron Fenton. Uh, I work for BXP. I run our development teams, uh, for the West Coast. Um, I introduced myself the first time around, so it's nice to see a lot of familiar faces here.

[01:29] As I mentioned in the first meeting, this is a project that was conceived, I mean, less than a year and a half ago. Uh, and, you know, we had the fortune of being able to partner, uh, with HOK architects, and uh, Park and Rec, and, uh, OEWD in the City of San Francisco to collaborate and work on and push forward what we think could be a tremendous, tremendous opportunity for the city of San Francisco, its residents, employees, the tourists.

[01:57] Basically everybody that comes to work, live, and enjoy downtown San Francisco. This is such a great piece of real estate that's highly accessible through various modes of transportation. It's got the iconic views with the Ferry Building and the Bay Bridge. You've got all the great retail that exists here in Embarcadero Center and at the Ferry Building.

[02:16] You've got the connection all the way up through Market Street. And again, we think this is a tremendous opportunity. And it's just so nice to see so many people in the crowd here today who are engaged and willing to participate in this community process. Because this is a park for the people, right? And that's why you're all here. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Park and Rec, uh, Eoanna Goodwin who's been the project manager, leading the way, um, on behalf of, uh, RPD, uh, to commence the presentation. Thank you.

Eoanna Goodwin: Hey everybody. Um, so great to see a full crowd. Again, like Aaron mentioned, everybody really cares about this space. Um, we're here to make it better. I think you all share that goal in mind. Um, and how we do that is what we really want to get out of this meeting, right? We want to, we want your help in shaping this beautiful space.

[03:09] Uh, we want your help giving ideas on kind of our next steps and how to move this project forward. Um, as Aaron mentioned, this is a private-public partnership. So we're working with BXP. We're also working with the Office of Economic and Workforce Development. Um, and we're also working with, uh, Prop K. So we have money from Prop K. We have money from Prop B.

[03:30] Um, within Rec and Park, there's a handful of us here. I think they're kind of in this corner. We have Lisa Bransten and Stacy Grantley, if you could wave your hands. From Park Folk, Family A and Wyatt Pritchett over there as well. Um, and so when we break up the sessions, I'll probably about to see you to warm you up. Um, so you guys kind of know who to go to and obviously come to me as well. [03:52] If you need to leave early, no problem. My business cards are up front. We'd love to connect with you directly with, um, your thoughts. I read all of your emails. I try to respond kindly. Um, and if I don't, please email me again. I'm happy to talk to you over the phone or via email and get your thoughts and concerns, ideas, so on and so forth.

[04:17] Uh, so the agenda for tonight, just did a welcome check. Uh, we're going to go through some of the survey findings. So this is our second community meeting. Our last one was at the beginning of March. Uh, afterwards there was a survey open for about three weeks, an initial survey and then we also had input through a handful of different community engagement, um, methods.

[04:38] So we were talking to different stakeholder groups and, uh, we also had a paper survey here at the last community meeting and then we also had community engagement boards. So we're kind of taking all that feedback and this was our survey recap. Um, and a site assessment. So from the last community meeting to some new findings we've had, so wanted to do a report back with everyone. Um, and then finally go into the park program. So taking all the input we had and using that for how we're shaping, uh, the next steps in the design process.

[05:10] Then we'll break out into a community engagement activity followed by Q&A. Um, I'm asking for two big things. One is hold off questions until the end. Hopefully we'll be able to get through all of your questions and answer them either here or at the community engagement boards. We'll do a report back from what we heard at those boards here, just to relay back what we heard.

[05:32] And maybe we missed something and you're like, that's not right. Um, just let us know, right? So that's kind of our opportunity to hear what you said and report it back. Um, and then at the end we'll have Q&A. We did this at the last community meeting. Took as many questions as we could and I think we were able to answer all the questions that people had, which was great.

[05:49] Um, the second big thing I'm really asking people is to be respectful. Um, we learned through the community engagement process, people have a lot of different ideas about what this site can become and we need to respect that. So one person might say, I want this green lawn and the person next to you has a completely different thought. And that's okay. We're here to hear you out and we want to be respectful and have a, um, have a dialogue that will be productive, right? So, saying you hate something or you're wrong, great, right? But let's really talk about solution-oriented opportunities.

[06:23] All right, so the question I get the most with all of my projects is when the heck is this happening? When will it get done? Um, there are a handful of things that have to happen, so I can't give you a definitive answer, but I'll, I will walk you through some of the steps. I think with a private public partnership, um, people are, are thinking like, oh, this will get done with private money and you're going to skip past some of the public process. That is not the case. Um, we had our first community meeting in March. The, as I mentioned, the next one is today. Welcome. Um, and then the third community meeting will likely be in a couple months. Uh, if you remember, if you were at the first community meeting, we were hoping that the next one would be about a month later or so.

[07:02] We got an overwhelming response from the surveys and so we had to kind of pump the brakes, make sure we were responding to those thoughtfully and be able to answer questions that were had. Um, so yeah, we have hopes and desires for schedule and speed of things, but we also need to be mindful that we're, we're responding to all the questions that we have come in. Um, after we go through the community meeting, we will be developing a concept design. It'll go to the Rec and Park Commission for approval and we'll also be doing an environmental review. We'll start going into the next design phases, secure construction funding and that's when construction documentation will begin. That's basically like the blueprint drawings.

[07:47] Then we'll go to the city agency for permit approval at DBI. Then we'll be the bid and award phase. This will all be through, um, public works. So our typical, um, bid and award, lowest bidder, contract's going out. It'll all be very public. Um, and then finally, once we get the, uh, final bid, it'll go to a Rec and Park Commission for approval of the construction contract and then construction begins.

[08:12] Okay, survey findings and community meeting one recap. So there were a total of 1,054 total responses to the survey, which is fabulous. Um, 9% of those were in person, 91% of those were online responses. Um, there is definitely a difference. People were getting all the information and responding to kind of the presentation that we gave.

[08:36] And a lot of people were kind of seeing this blind, right? And so, um, that's just important to note. I'm really happy that so many people are here so that we are getting the information firsthand. Um, and also spread the news to your friends to give your feedback and give your comments. People are responding to this, to the survey from literally all over the country. Um, and just one point to make is that the survey that I'm giving a snapshot of on the bottom, the survey results reflect input from the digital responses and the community meeting participants.

[09:07] They're not a representative sample. We hope that it would be, um, but it's just one piece of the broader engagement process. We know that coming to a community meeting and taking an online survey might be more difficult for some than others, right? And people might not even heard about this project. Some people can't take it for various reasons. And so stakeholders that came, came to us, we also try to set up meetings with them and meet in person as well. Um, so we talked about our project goals in the last community meeting and this was, this is them in order of, um, popularity. People are asked to select their top three. So create a world class iconic park that represents San Francisco's vibrant culture for both local and international visitors. That was clearly the top contender.

[09:52] Uh, next was creating a welcoming public space with access for all. Tied in, tied for third was igniting the downtown recovery and revitalizing the heart of the San Francisco waterfront and also honoring the rich history of the San Francisco waterfront. Um, and lastly, still important, it still got about a third of the responses was activating the park with a wide range of programming catered towards diverse communities.

[10:16] The next question is what new features or improvements would you like to see? Um, the survey showed a vast majority, and this is a select all that apply. So if you're doing math and saying there are 1,000 responses, this is way over. This is why people could choose as many as they wanted to. Seating and gathering took the cake for this one at 60%, followed by public art and more grassy open areas.

[10:38] People really wanted to, you know, engage with culture. We saw outdoor dining, stages for performances coming in as well. Um, and then towards the bottom, we have dog park, outdoor fitness equipment, temporary ice rink, group exercise area. Um, and then we also had a write in area. And what was really, um, prominent here, over 20% of the responses typed in skateboarding, right? So I kind of had this on the side because if it was a selection, maybe it would have been more. Um, but we've really heard, you know, I didn't expect the most organized group to be the skateboarders, but good job, guys. Right? We heard you.

Eoanna Goodwin: Similar demographic as community meetings, so we're happy to have you. Welcome. Um, okay, survey findings. So what best describes your connection to the Embarcadero Plaza? This was also a select all that apply. Uh, the top vote on this one or whatever, response was the recreational user. So people coming for skateboarding or padel or exercise or walking. Again, for this next survey, we, we put skateboarders into their own category because we, they were so prominent.

[11:56] Um, local residents came in next. So about, for the most part, about 40% of responses were local residents or recreational users. Then came in urban design and preservationists, community advocates, commuters, the business community, visitors, tourists, event participants, family and play. Um, and this is select all that apply, which means there's a wide range of users and we use this data to make sure that who uses the park is reflective of the demographics that we saw on site or what we see day to day, or are there, you know, additional outreach we need to do for some of these groups.

[12:29] And how often do you visit the park? About a third come in weekly, 20% or so monthly. Uh, 17%, two to three months, 19% daily. So people are coming to this park very frequently. 1%, I've never been. If you're here, walk there after this meeting. Um, and then when do you usually visit? This is an interesting one because this is kind of known as a downtown site.

[12:52] And we have an even number of weekday, not even, but you know, pretty evenly faired weekdays and weekends. Almost 70% or about 70% or so. Um, so for a downtown area that's getting visited so much on the weekday, weekdays and weekends, um, this is a really special site. And how do you typically travel to the site? Again, select all that apply.

[13:14] We're having half the people walk or take public transit, 30% or so skateboarding, rollerblading or scootering. Um, and not really a car-heavy area. Those were driving and ride-share were the lowest, uh, percentages on here. All right, some of the responses from those write-ins. Um, so this is what I'm calling diverse perspectives.

[13:38] There were some, um, categories in the write-in responses that people had very different opinions on. Uh, when it came to events and programming, people were saying, I love having events here. It brings the community together. This is so much fun. Other people are like, this is noisy. Get this out of here. I live over here. I don't want to hear it.

[13:58] Um, and so we're going to talk about how we're responding to each of these as well. Uh, landscape preferences, we heard everything from we want native planting to lawn, to turf, to concrete paving, to restore the brick plaza. Um, padel, a lot of people called it pickleball. That's how you know that people don't know what's going on in this space.

[14:18] They just see some loud ball knocking around. Um, some people thought it really brought the community together and it activated the space really well. Other people are like, why is it here? It doesn't fit here. Get it out. Um, Vaillancourt Fountain, known as an iconic historic piece. Other people are calling it, I'm not going to say those words, but in the room, and I saw her so on and so forth.

[14:43] And the shared priorities. Guys, these are the least sexy things I've ever seen, but we're all on the same page, so that's great. Um, safety and access. People want to feel safe. They want it to be accessible. There are a handful of band-aid issues that, you know, we've just been making it accessible versus really getting to the root of the problem. Um, having clean, accessible restrooms on site, and then maintenance and upkeep. People want trash bins. Um, people want something that can be maintained forever, not easily graffitied or broken or so on and so forth. So from all this data, we came out with what we're calling the Five Ls for designing Embarcadero Plaza. Um, any new parents out there might know about the Five Ss. Um, this is kind of similar to that. It helps you remember some of the, um, phrases with the alliteration. So we're talking about location. This is the placement of the programs and the features that respond to the site context, accessibility, and user flow. So some of the adjacencies that are really important to people. Um, ledges. So having a variety of seating options constructed with high quality, durable materials, different types of seating will invite relaxation and also informal activities like skateboarding. Um, having smooth, level ground, um, it allows for multimodal access and meandering pathways, encouraging exploration and leisure.

[16:08] Um, a well-lit place lighting, this will enhance safety, visibility, allow the site to be used at night. Um, and lastly, layers. This is really talking about celebrating the site's layered history, acknowledging its unique character and spirit. I'm going to do a quick history recap for folks. We went through this in detail in the first community meeting.

[16:30] Um, these slides are also up on our website. Uh, the slides that I'm showing from the last first meeting are up on our website. The slides I'm showing will be available tomorrow as well. Um, so 1898, the Ferry Building was originally completed as a terminal for ferries. This key transit hub. Um, at that time, the ground level was not open to the public and there was a double-decker freeway right in front of the Ferry Building.

[16:56] It wrapped around our site. Um, in response to what was going on with the waterfront and in response to a 1960s, uh, city report called What to do about Market Street, Lawrence Halprin and others came up with an idea for how to reinvigorate Embarcadero Plaza. Um, that included the plaza that's there today, as well as Vaillancourt Fountain.

[17:18] So in 1971, 1972, the Vaillancourt Fountain went in. Um, very popular site. It was there for a lot of reasons. Um, it brought water, a new water feature since you couldn't access the waterfront anymore. Um, it also blocked the, blocked, not blocked, it was in front of the freeway. At the same time, we had the Embarcadero Center and the Hyatt being built, um, around the same time.

[17:44] So you have these kind of brutalist architecture pieces made of concrete in front of this huge concrete mass of the freeway. Um, and then in 1990, 1980s and 1990s, there was also, um, an intervention by William Turnbull Jr. um, and the rise of skateboarding on site. So on the left you'll see what this was really designed for, right?

[18:07] You can see some of the construction I was talking about on the left with Embarcadero Center and the Hyatt. Um, and the Vaillancourt Fountain. Um, on opening day, very popular. Um, in front of the freeway. And this was really made to face, have like an inward facing, um, site versus what it is today. Once that freeway came down, suddenly it was, the parking plaza could model it with outward and starting to connect with the waterfront and their surroundings.

[18:35] Um, a view of the existing conditions. So this is what's on site today. We have the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Memorial, um, just on the east side of the fountain. Um, we have, um, Sue Bierman Park. This, um, was redesigned and opened in 2010, 2011. Um, and most recently there was arson on site, so it got redone in 2023.

[19:16] Um, Sue Bierman Park has a drainage issues that we're, we're looking at too. Um, and there are a host of accessibility issues both physically and visually. So you have these ramps that are coming up, just to go back down to go to different parts and programs of the plaza. Um, and a lot of people are on the Ferry Building side, not even knowing what is across because you kind of have these different tiered levels over there.

[19:43] Um, and then lastly, Vaillancourt Fountain. Um, Vaillancourt Fountain's last pump went out last year in 2024 and it's been dry since and we're going to talk about some of the findings, um, on the fountain as well today. Okay, so the fountain conditions assessment. This is new information since the last community meeting that we wanted to walk through and share with you all. Um, this was done as we do with any of our projects. If there's a structure on site, we need to assess it, assess it for structural integrity, hazardous materials, so on and so forth to really understand what we're getting into, um, and find out what's, what's on site as it has been explored previously. Here are some of the key findings from that assessment. Some we knew such as the end of life of the infrastructure systems. Um, the plumbing and the electrical systems are completely shot. This, this fountain when it was running, it had water going through it about 30,000 gallons a minute. Um, and that was really noisy and it was noisy for a purpose. It was trying to block out the sound of the freeway behind it.

[20:48] Um, as I mentioned, it was creating a water feature. Um, but the pumps no longer work. It had four working pumps and the last one went out last year. Um, from the conditions assessment, there are also hazardous materials found throughout the fountain, including asbestos and including lead. We tracked some of the maintenance costs over the last few years when the fountain was running. It was costing about 100K a year to maintain the fountain. Um, our, our structural maintenance staff was coming out pretty much daily to, uh, check on the fountain. It got cleaned out completely quarterly. Um, but it was starting to be hazardous. One of the items here is also the failed waterproofing membrane in the pool of the fountain, starting to flood the underground vault, um, that is at the fountain. Um, the fountain itself is not accessible. It was designed in the 70s, about 20 years prior to, um, the ADA Act being signed into law. Um, unsuitable soil conditions and then a host of structural issues from corrosion of the structural elements, cracks and spalled concrete, surface level, a lot of things look fine, but then when you start to get into the fountain, um, it's not. And even under ideal conditions, if this fountain was designed and built today, it would not meet current seismic and safety standards. So then tying on all the corrosion and all the issues, um, it's, it's starting to be a lot. The fountain restoration cost, um, RPD did an internal cost, um, through some of the recommendations from the stakeholders, they asked us to hire a third party consultant to do cost estimating. So we did that. Um, we just got the cost in and the cost to renovate to, restore the fountain to its full glory to have, uh, take care of all the structural issues, to, um, have the new systems in place, um, it is estimated at $29 million. Um, the fountain itself is about 710 tons.

[22:45] When you think about each arm, they're about 10 to 11 tons each. So in order to fix this piece, um, you know, those arms are coming off, you need to check all the structural elements for corrosion, make sure that it's safe putting it back on. The reason that this is what it is is it's a handful of reasons. One, um, this is, you know, a structural restoration project, a seismic retrofit, but it's also an art piece.

[23:14] And so we're treating it as both of those. Um, which is important to note. Um, this fountain was designed, as you saw in the previous slides, to be participatory. People are supposed to be running through it. There's supposed to be water, you're supposed to be engaging with it. What it is right now from finding this report at the beginning of January, we had to put up fences because people are sleeping in it, they're climbing on it.

[23:36] That's what they're supposed to do, maybe not sleeping in it, but hey, rent's expensive. Um, but yeah, people are kind of doing a host of things and that's really what the idea was, right? I think the hard news is that this is over our budget. I think what I'm hoping comes out of this meeting and maybe I'm being like overly optimistic is that we can come together and figure out ways to honor the site's history, to bring in that character and to bring in the spirit and to move this project forward.

[24:05] Um, it'll, it'll take us kind of, you know, being creative and, and thinking about options and opportunities, but what we want to hear from you is like what is important to you and how we can do that. Um, Lawrence Halprin, when he was starting to design this space, he was, he was more or less talking about this as, um, a space where, you know, it's, it's a total space of participation.

[24:28] All these elements are coming together. And what it is in its current state, it's not participatory. All these elements are kind of fractured. And so we want to bring us together and bring those pieces together and take in what we can from these community engagement processes to keep this going. Um, from here, I'm going to hand it over to Brian Jencek at HOK.

[24:51] Um, what he's going to do is walk us through a possibility of what the site can be, taking in the constraints of safety, of accessibility, of our budget constraints. Um, and then from there, we're going to start to break up into sessions, talk a little bit more and more about, you know, how we can start to shape this plaza together as a team.

Eoanna Goodwin: Great. Thank you. Um, I don't know where you are, but I've heard Supervisor Sauter is in the house. Um, and we'd like to recognize you. Thank you for joining us. Um, Supervisor of District 3 where this project is at. Um, would you like to...

Danny Sauter District 3 Supervisor: I will, please. Um, good evening everyone. I'm really happy to see such a large audience out here tonight. Um, I'm Supervisor Danny Sauter and as your District 3 supervisor, I represent the space just steps from here, uh, where this project is, is being... Thank you for coming out tonight. Um, if you're interested in this project, if you have feelings about this project, if you want to see something in this design, if you think that, uh, this park, this plaza, this space needs to meet a certain, uh, criteria, a certain need for you, maybe as a business owner nearby or as a resident nearby, this is exactly the time to get involved.

[26:22] I think that, um, we all share, I hope we all share a broad vision that this space can be a lot more than it is today. It is still a relic of when there was a freeway looming above it. And we know it can be a lot better. We know it also can tie into our downtown recovery and reimagination of open spaces around here.

[26:43] How we get there exactly and what that looks like is what we're all going to decide together and what we're going to start the conversation on tonight. Um, our office has been busy, uh, in early in our term passing legislation securing, uh, bond funding for this project, um, doing that in tandem with all of our partners at downtown partnership, BXP, uh, Rec and Park of course, and many others. So, uh, we're excited about this. Please, uh, in addition to the stakeholders here tonight, continue to engage with our office. We want to make sure that this project is something you're excited about. I certainly am. I know there's a lot of steps between now and and getting this open, uh, in a few years, but I think we can do it and I'm really excited. I think it will be a big part of our downtown recovery. And again, I also want to recognize that it needs to work for all of you that live right here. So thank you.

Brian Jencek: Well great. I'm going to try to keep that energy going because that kind of vision is exactly what helps get these projects done. So it's good to see you all again. I'm Brian Jencek. I'm the lead designer from the firm HOK. We have the honor of leading the design for all of you on behalf of the city, BXP, and so many other stakeholders. I'm going to now get into the programming building on our last meeting here together.

[27:54] I'm going to keep this fun going, then we're going to get into an interactive activity. And as Eoanna mentioned, we're going to then have a Q&A. So, here we go. So program organization. What we're going to do next is essentially take the uses and priorities that you identified on the poll, as well as in our last session here at the Embarcadero Center, we were upstairs for that green dot exercise.

[28:14] I see a lot of familiar faces. We're going to take those priorities that you listed and begin to land them on your park. So to do that, what we do as designers for you is analyze first our understanding of the site. Um, the maps that you're going to look at all have a scale. We live in planned view as designers. We look down on things like birds.

[28:33] So I know not everybody is used to looking at a site like this. The Ferry building is here. This is 300 feet, which is, you know, approximately a football field. So that length of the park right there, about a football field, that helps you orient yourself. Um, this faces east. North is that direction. This is Sue Bierman Park today.

[28:52] I see a lot of the, um, um, residents that live around us over there on that side to the north. The Embarcadero Center where you're in today is right here. So all the maps will orient the same way for our activities as well as here on the screen. So for site understanding, there's a few things that really just struck us about the existing park that resonate and inspire us for where we may land the uses you identified.

[29:12] The first is just working from the top to the bottom, the Embarcadero buffer. I think we would all agree that along that edge, there's an opportunity for something that helps separate the park a little bit from the busy road. Whether that's plantings with stops and parent soccer ball from rolling into the street, whether it's gardens, whether it's potentially historic or interpretive elements.

[29:32] We think that that edge is really important, not just for buffering the street, but that's also where we get great views out to the bay and connects us to our ferry terminal and everything that you want to discussed. Market Street itself, this extension where it becomes pedestrian during this segment before you cross the street. This is an opportunity for Market Street to spill in. We see that currently today where the various markets set up, artisans come out on the weekends, that occurs right here on this plaza.

[29:59] We think there's an opportunity for continuing that. In blue, this is where the current retail spill-out is, where you see tables and chairs out there today in the plaza. Some of the most used spaces, people just, you know, enjoying their lunch break, eating a sandwich, going to the various restaurants, coming out, enjoying a place to sit. There's trees, there's shade from the Embarcadero Center. That blue area we think is very successful and should continue.

[30:22] As we come around the horn, there's an existing restroom over on Drum Street, um, which you, you know, if you've been there. Clay Street extension, which is right here. This is on the north side of the Embarcadero Center and it's how you get down into the garage. But you'll see in the future, this becomes an incredible asset. As we think about future activities and events, Clay Street gives us an access for trucks and other things to set up tents, Shakespeare in the Park, a lot of the things that we know and love.

[30:47] Those require truck access. So that little gray rectangle there is actually really important for successful parks around the world we've done. Continuing around, the existing playground. It works. It's great. It's one of the most utilized places in the park today. We see it full on the weekends, full during the week. We want to keep that. It's, it's not broken. Don't fix it.

[31:07] And then, of course, we have the large, you know, expanse within the middle that we can now land your program priorities on. So think of this in many ways as our canvas. And then on top of that, we begin to think about how do we place your program? So one of the first things that we do is start with bubble diagrams like these. And many of you probably been through this process before.

[31:27] We think about what are the big buckets or areas of the site that really just ask for certain programs? This is how we organize them into various categories just top to bottom. I'll read them out for those in the back. So purple is community and family oriented. Now, why would that use and any uses within begin to orbit in this direction? Well, Washington and Drum is how a lot of our residents that live just north of the park currently access the park.

[31:52] We know that there's families and children living in there. That's where the current playground is, we just talked about moments ago. There's a restroom, there's quieter streets, much quieter than the Embarcadero Center or the Embarcadero, um, uh, avenue. And so this is where we can have drop-offs. It's a little quieter. There's a lot of reasons why these kinds of uses listed up here make sense over there.

[32:13] Going around the horn, so next is ecology and history. We have heard from you that we want to have wildflower gardens, pollinator gardens, we want places for habitat, ecology in what is right now largely a paved plaza. When we're thinking about where that wants to go, the site slopes towards the Embarcadero. And so that suggests to us that as we celebrate ecology and nature on the site, that's a good location for it. It's where water wants to go for the plantings. It's inherently a low spot. It also speaks to our history on the waterfront. So as we celebrate those interpretive elements, it could be that that's a great place for them to land. Market Festival and art. I just, we went over this just moments ago. We think that, you know, as we think about the terminus and Market Street, how they connect you over to the Ferry building, connects back to our downtown, this plaza, it wants to get a little bigger.

[33:02] Right now, there's enough room for the various tents and activities that set up along it on the weekend, but it gets pretty crowded as you cross over here and you see you're kind of jammed, right? I know the residents around here know what I'm talking about. So we think we want to extend that plaza. It needs more room. Dining and spill-out continues. And then in the middle, we've got that multi-purpose space that Eoanna was talking about.

[33:21] That canvas where we can bring together all those uses to create this iconic park. Those are the various big picture zones. We think make sense based on your park, the five acres that you have, the relative views and opportunity around us. So now, how do we actually take your program priorities and land them on the site?

[33:43] Now, we're not going to actually design the park as a bunch of blue and pink circles. This is just a diagram suggestive of where these uses might land. But this is really the bones of the design that will follow. Let me walk you through it real quick. In the upper right, this is the various buckets or zones that I went through before. And in the middle of the screen, now is where we start to think about, okay, within a multi-purpose area, where might we place a stage?

[34:09] And how might that stage orient its amplified sound out towards the southeast, out towards the water, away from residents, away from the hotel, where we could actually have a multi-purpose area for a larger scale events once you ask for. We think orbiting around that is a large multi-purpose area, maybe broken into a larger area towards the ferry building, potentially larger opportunities for activities.

[34:33] And then maybe something smaller over here towards the family zone. Places to play, kick around a soccer ball, that kind of thing. Um, as we continue around, the plaza extends, we think there's a great opportunity for art in that plaza. We know how vocal the ferry building, its clock tower, the Embarcadero Center, Market Street. We think somewhere around there, a permanent art piece or potentially some type of a rotating exhibition could make a lot of sense.

[34:59] So we want to hear your thoughts on that. It's very vocal, very visible. Um, as we continue around, along the, along the Embarcadero itself, the blue dots represent interpretive historic elements. This is where we really celebrate that history that you all walked through moments ago. Some picnic areas, as we now move into the gardens, continue around to the, to the playground. And we're going to need your help in the activities here to follow. We've all been to a children's playground. We all know that nearby we want a picnic table set up for a birthday or put down some pizza after a soccer game or whatever it is. And then near that, we may need restroom. We may want a fitness area. So as the kids are playing, others can work on fitness.

[35:42] We know often on our weekends and our weekends are very similar to mine, there could be a dog involved. And so, kids are playing, people are setting up their picnic tables, maybe there's a workout area. Maybe potentially that's also now where the dog park goes, close to our crosswalks, close to the residents that have pets in the surrounding area. The reason I share that example is in a moment, we're going to break into activities. And in those activities, those various zones, we're going to go through, are these program areas in the right location? Do you agree with it? And then the various uses, are they aggregated together? So that again, it makes for a wonderful Saturday afternoon, a busy Monday morning, and it accommodates all of your desires and, gateway plazas, we want when you first arrive in the park to feel really open and welcoming. Very accessible, accessible for everyone. We want to make sure that everybody can navigate through this open space and be able to get to wherever they want to go without walls or railings or stairs and things in their way. We really want this to be highly accessible.

[36:43] So you'll see these gateways at all the corners. I could go on, but we'll get into this at the stations. We'll have a station devoted to this. But this is how we as designers take your program priorities, size them. And again, there's a scale down here, and then begin to land them where it makes sense on the property. We're very excited about where this could go.

[37:03] We're seeing that these five acres can accommodate everything you've asked for in an incredibly world-class open space way. So, pretty excited about where this is going. This ultimately, after we get your feedback, becomes next, the bones for the design. That's where we begin to lend form and craft. But that comes next. Tonight, we really want to make sure we heard you.

[37:25] We got the uses and we've landed them on the park in the best possible way. So that's park programming. I truly multi-use park. I think as we think about overall, what's really organizing this park? That priority of multi-use as opposed to just one surface, hardscape for one kind of a thing. We've heard more and more you want multiple uses throughout your park.

[37:48] So you'll see that throughout the various activities and throughout that park programming diagram. We took photos of the red dot green, green dot exercise that we went through before. We know that we are going to integrate skateboarding throughout. We know there's a want for more green space. You want activities that you can do in your park, whether it's movie night, festivals, art, and honestly, you all want just a great place of casual hangout area most of the time when it's not an event mode for the residents and visitors.

[38:18] Honoring our history is going to be a big part of this project as well. It's interesting to think about where San Francisco began, this harbor that we had once here. We would have been in open water long ago when our city was first founded. Incredible histories unfolded. Piers, cotton sailed ships, ultimately creating the ferry building, extending our downtown to the water, and creating the Embarcadero Center and the site we have today.

[38:41] Since then, we have, of course, the former freeway location, um, that gave us this connection to the water, the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Memorial, um, concrete ledges that are currently used by both skateboarders and folks who just want to sit and enjoy the plaza. Um, we got the brick paving with the divots, um, that Ashley and others have helped us really understand the deep history on the site for, as well as we've got remnants of the seating, you know, that was in the original design.

[39:07] We've got an opportunity to celebrate these elements, these cultural elements throughout the park. We have some ideas about where they might go in terms of the blue dots, but we love to hear from you where you'd like to see your history and your culture celebrated and if we've overlooked anything on the list.

Audience Member: And the fountain.

Brian Jencek: And the fountain, which Eoanna spoke to. Absolutely. So, this is, this is how we begin the design process. Um, we take your ideas, we convert them into space and size, and we begin to think about where they want to go and how they work together. I think one of the big hallmarks in addition to multi-use that we heard from all of you is that you want a unified park, a park that feels connected and open and welcoming, and not one that's broken up. And so we'd love to hear your thoughts about sure, multi-use, but how do we engage that multi-use space effectively? We've heard large scale events and other things like that. We'd love to hear more as we break into our stations. So, our activity for tonight, this is community meeting two. Community meeting three will focus on design.

[40:11] Tonight, what we would love your help with is first, the program. As I mentioned, have we captured everything? And is it what you think in the right location? Give us some feedback. We'd love to hear your thoughts. The other stations, two, three, and four, we want to now start to get feedback from you in terms of the character of the park that you would like to have. I'll give you some examples and with our docents, you'll you'll be able to have a more kind of one-on-one conversation.

[40:34] But I'll just kind of see a few ideas that we've been talking about. One is, one of the highest priorities was actually just bringing more green ecology, um, lushness to our downtown. Right now, it's a very heavily paved, um, plaza. Those types of landscapes, those gardens, they can be very informal, they can be very natural-looking.

[40:54] Think like Tunnel Tops Park, which I'm sure many of us enjoy. They can also be quite structured and formal on the other end of this gradient. Uh, similar to some of the gardens around the museums at Golden Gate Park, you know, where the landscape is very structured, very geometric. You asked for more landscape, more green. Now we're asking you, give us some thoughts on the character of that green.

[41:14] The way we'll do that is across these, these, um, these gradients here, we once again got the red dots and green dots to help us understand where you, where your priorities fall. Another great example is plazas. They can be quite urban, quite orthogonal, quite structured, quite geometrically. And then you'll see at the station, they can also be quite landscaped, you know, quite curvilinear and quite sculptural. So yes, paving, yes, a plaza for various users, but how would you like it to feel? So that's where we're going next. I'll let the docents at the stations go through the rest. I'll be at station one alongside Yuliana. We'll be talking about program. Station two, um, will be set up back over there. Um, this is where we'll be talking about the program character, um, gradients for seating and gathering and fitness.

[41:57] Um, station three, if you can't read it, is dining, picnic and gardening. And then station four is historic recognition, the deep cultural and historic history of the site, as well as the plaza. Rotate around. We hope to get your feedback at every one of these stations if you can, though we recognize you might have certain priorities or certain interests and kind of stick at one.

[42:15] We want to get all your feedback, and then we'll come back up here and, uh, Q&A at the end. I know that was a lot. I tried to get through it quickly so we can get to the activity. But I think with that, we're going to move into the activity. Is there anything I missed?

Eoanna Goodwin: Um, so yeah, Brian mentioned, we're going to split up into different stations around the room. Um, we're going to have a paper survey for people to fill out. Um, there will also be a digital survey and we'll put the QR code up here. It'll also be on the paper survey. We encourage you guys to take the survey, to pass it along to friends.

[42:53] Um, and just from rumblings and kind of hearing about, you know, typically all these projects, we'll have multiple options. We did look into keeping the fountain on site, but once we are looking at all the site constraints, including the budget constraints, it's not possible to have it on the site with our current budget, like where we are financially right now.

[43:15] So this is why we're showing this program and we do welcome all of your feedback on how we can still integrate the history of the site on, on here. Um, I just wanted to kind of let that note out, because I did hear that a couple of times. I want to make sure everyone's aware of where we are. Um, and it is in a handful of reasons, but just this is why we're showing this. We'll be, we'll be around, feel free to come up to us too with additional questions and feedback.

[43:35] Um, you can start on any station you'd like. Station one over there, two, three.

This transcript was automatically created through the use of generative AI. Some minor corrections were made to speaker names, but no other adjustments were made.