San Francisco — San Francisco Beautiful (SFB) has announced the 2005 Beautification Award winners. SFB Executive Director, Dee Dee Workman says of the 2005 Awards, "Special consideration went this year to projects reflecting the theme, Environmental Solutions and Urban Beauty. Across the City, San Francisco citizens have found environmentally sound and aesthetically pleasing solutions to improve the urban landscape. Building public parks in vacant lots, painting murals to eliminate graffiti, restoring historic buildings with sustainable design features are all examples of projects that will be considered award-worthy. The kinds of projects that won the 2005 Beautification Award increase our awareness about the importance of protecting our environment, and the outcome is a healthier and more livable city."
Awards best illustrating the 2005 theme Environmental Solutions and Urban Beauty went go to individuals, organizations, businesses, agencies and city entities. Awards will be presented during San Francisco Beautiful's annual Beautification Awards Dinner at the Hotel Nikko on October 20th.
San Francisco Zoo/Lurie Education Center (Outer Sunset) — The San Francisco Zoo has been revitalized by the implementation of its new master plan. Improvements include new and expanded areas for the animals and a level entry on the Great Highway that is accessible to all. The animals may have benefited most from the changes——especially in the new savannah area where giraffes and zebras now live together. The Connie and Bob Lurie Education Center is a prime example of architecture that engages the public while being suited to its location.
Kid Power Park: Hoff Street between 16th and 17th Streets (Mission) — This was an undeveloped lot in a densely populated part of the Mission. When the owner decided to develop the property, youths from nearby St. John's Educational Thresholds Center launched a successful campaign to save the open space for recreation. With extensive community input, the Recreation and Park Department built a charming new playground in what is now known officially as Kid Power Park. An open space has been spared and continues to provide light, air and happiness to a diverse neighborhood.
Chinese Historical Society of America Museum and Learning Center: 965 Clay (Chinatown) — The Chinatown Historical Museum is located in the historic YWCA on Clay Street in Chinatown. Many know that Julia Morgan designed the building, but few know that the original building was funded by private donations from Chinese laborers. It was designed with a Chinese sensibility and completed in 1932. The recent rehabilitation of the building has been a sensitive and economical paring away of decades of modernizations. The architecture of the YWCA building has been renewed for all to appreciate and the Historical Museum has become more central to the history and destiny of Chinatown.
Shotwell Greenway/Plant SF: Shotwell between 17th and 18th Streets (Mission) — Plant SF's Jane Martin and her neighbors on Shotwell Street were concerned about illicit activities occurring at all hours in and between the cars parked on the street and sidewalks. Jane created a pilot project for "greening" the sidewalks with cut-out areas, rocks and low fuel plants. The result has been the introduction of 'permeable landscapes' in front of nearly every property between the sidewalk and the curb. Plants requiring more attention are grown in metal containers placed on the sidewalks that also serve as bollards. The result is a block with cars parked on the street and sidewalks filled with drought tolerant plants within rock beds. Cut outs allow rainwater to drain through to the subsoil, thus helping to replenish the ground water instead of flowing into the over-taxed sewer.
Brooks Park: Shields and Ramsell (OMI) — Brooks Park was the scene of drug use, dealings and conflicts over territory. Alarmed neighbors decided to take back the park by using it. Peter Vaernet spearheaded the campaign and envisioned creating a natural area and community garden. Volunteers worked with the Recreation and Park Department to make it happen. The natural area attracts a wide variety of insects and birds. A sloping field to the west recalls the flora that preceded civilization. To the east, a fenced area serves as a community garden. Volunteers maintain the area and work with children from the adjacent school in the appreciation of growing vegetation. Brooks Park has indeed been reclaimed by its neighbors.
Stern Grove Restoration/Rhoda Goldman Concert Meadow: 19th Ave. and Sloat (Sunset) — The Rhoda Goldman Meadow is the setting for summer concerts in Stern Grove. For years, the meadow provided an ample, if ad hoc, venue for the popular annual free concert series. Today, a new and well-equipped amphitheater beautifies the meadow. Landscape architect Lawrence Halprin created a place in harmony with the tall trees and marine climate. Large granite blocks for seating border a large flat lawn. The blocks create giant steps that climb an existing slope to form, with great lengths of lawn, a stately and stunning amphitheater.
The Josephine Randall Junior Museum, 199 Museum Way — This year the Friends of the Josephine Randall Junior Museum organized an informational exhibit to promote sustainable energy devices. Included are two large wind power generators made of thin steel rods and solid transparent panels. Both provide enough energy to run the museum's interactive exhibits. The museum has also recently improved its facilities with new exhibit and teaching spaces, a dining area, terrace, accessible ramps, and has replaced part of its parking lot with native plant gardens to provide more permeable ground areas.
Robert C. Friese Award for Neighborhood Conservation: Linda Blacketer and Dan Dodt for the restoration of Sylvester House and their long-standing commitment to improving neighborhood livability in the Bayview — In 1978, Linda Blacketer found the abandoned and dilapidated Sylvester House (built in 1865) in the Bayview. Her goal was to restore the house to its original condition — not just to modernize its interior behind a classical façade. It took many years of search and sacrifice to achieve the historically relevant showplace that makes its neighbors proud. The house has become a Bayview landmark not only for its historic significance but because it hosts community and political meetings open to the neighborhood. Linda also founded the new Bayview Historical Society. Her husband Dan Dodt is a long-term member of the Bayview Project Area Committee and serves on the board of the Alliance for a Clean Waterfront. Both have been active in neighborhood improvement efforts and promoting sustainable development for a cleaner environment in the Bayview.
SFB has put a face on those responsible for beautification efforts in the City for over 30 years and has saluted their impressive successes via the prestigious San Francisco Beautiful Beautification Awards. Founded in 1947 by the 'cable car lady' Friedel Klussmann, SFB is dedicated to creating, enhancing and protecting the unique beauty and livability of San Francisco.
2005 Beautification Awards Dinner