This Is How We Stay Above the Waterline in San Francisco
If we are going to preserve what’s so special about this stretch of shoreline — its historic neighborhoods and natural beauty — we must address seismic safety and sea-level rise.
San Francisco’s Northern Waterfront is part of what makes our District 2 neighborhoods amazing. Up against the Bay, the bustle of urban life washes away and we are taken up by the natural majesty of this special place.
But right now, this roughly 3.5-mile stretch of shoreline from Fort Point under the Golden Gate Bridge to Fisherman’s Wharf suffers from congestion, unsafe streets, and a lack of public transportation options to take us to the rest of the City. Governed by 6 different agencies, there is no coordinated plan to confront the huge threats from sea-level rise and the hundreds of millions of dollars of infrastructure at risk to seismic events. And there’s no integrated vision or plan for how to find the neighborhood-serving tenants needed for the Palace of Fine Arts or to buttress Fort Mason’s arts and culture nonprofits. For too long, the City has failed to confront these threats. We must act now to preserve what we love most about the Northern Waterfront.
We must act now to preserve what we love most about the Northern Waterfront.
As your Supervisor, I will make preserving what is special about the Northern Waterfront a top priority. I will also fight against the commercialization of the Northern Waterfront. Leaning on my experience bringing together the community with diverse stakeholders, I will drive the necessary public-private and interagency partnerships that will be needed to confront the threats to the Northern Waterfront.
Climate Change and Earthquakes
Living in the Bay Area means facing the threat of earthquakes and rising seas¹. Overall, San Francisco has been a world leader at confronting these great threats and keeping our communities and families safe. But the Northern Waterfront still has far too much infrastructure that’s in grave danger of being engulfed by the Bay. And to make matters worse, most of this waterfront land is susceptible to liquefaction in a powerful earthquake².
Seismic Safety
One of those areas is the Marina District and its iconic Palace of Fine Arts, both of which were built over landfill and suffered widespread damage in the 1989 earthquake. The City wants to create a new cultural destination at the Palace that would feature a museum, expo hall, and restaurant while retaining the theater. However, interest in the project has been low while the cost estimates have been high³ at $20 million just for seismic and preservation work on the main building behind the rotunda. The City must commit to sharing the cost burden for this transformative project, and as Supervisor I will focus on finding this funding and bringing aboard a strong development partner.
Municipal Pier at Aquatic Park is another crumbling piece of infrastructure that costs more than $100,000 a year just to maintain⁴. But this national historic landmark needs much more than annual Band-Aids.
A 2009 study estimated that in order to rebuild the pier to its original glory it would cost $60 million to $70 million. And because it sits on federal land, the pier falls under the watch of the National Park Service.
The pier is an important element of San Francisco and the Northern Waterfront, and one of the favorite attractions of District 2 residents. It’s vitally important for San Francisco to be a partner in renovating this unique asset, and instead of spending $100,000 a year just to keep it from completely falling apart we should make the long-term investment in keeping it safe for generations to come.
Sea-Level Rise
Sea-level rise has gone from an “if” to a “when” in a very short time. Under current simulations, by researchers at UC Berkeley and Arizona State University, most of the Marina north of Beach Street, Crissy Field, Aquatic Park, and the approaches to the Golden Gate Bridge will all be underwater. They will be vulnerable to flooding well before that, as early as 2030. We need to take action now to protect our Northern Waterfront.
Ocean Beach is a great example of how to do this. There, various government agencies have united to create an adaptation strategy to deal with sea-level rise⁵. This strategy even included public input and help from the think tank SPUR, on whose board I sit. Engineers are bringing in huge amounts of sand to make up for what’s lost to erosion to keep an important sewage and stormwater pipe intact. There are also plans for “managed retreat” in which part of the Great Highway roadway will be replaced by a trail to reduce pressure on the beach.
Yet the City has still not prioritized a plan to mitigate the impacts of sea-level rise on the Northern Waterfront. In 2016, San Francisco released the Sea Level Rise Action Plan to call on City departments to come up with ways of being more resilient⁶. It said an adaptation plan would be created by summer 2018, but that has been pushed back as the City works on a Vulnerability and Consequences Assessment before tackling the adaptation plan, according to the Planning Department. As Supervisor, I will prioritize developing such a plan for the Northern Waterfront. I will draw on the successes of the Ocean Beach master plan conducted by SPUR and the Adapting for Rising Tides competition, administered by the Bay Area Regional Collaborative, on whose board I also sit.
Critical to mitigating the impact of sea-level rise will be to mix engineered and natural solutions. As Supervisor, I will work with the community to ensure that while the response to sea-level rise captures both new infrastructure solutions and new ways of using and thinking about the waterfront, it also retains what is so unique about this special place.
Earlier this year, Assemblymember David Chiu spearheaded a state bill to bring funding to waterfront upgrades along the Embarcadero. It specifically targets upgrades to the seawall, which is not related to any sea-level rise planning. But we can pursue a legislative funding effort for the Northern Waterfront as well. As Supervisor, I will work with state leaders like Chiu, Assemblymember Phil Ting, and Sen. Scott Wiener to deliver this kind of funding mechanism for seismic and sea-level rise upgrades.
These portions of the Northern Waterfront are some of the most recognizable destinations in San Francisco, and we must work to keep them that way and protect what we love most. As Supervisor, I will lead efforts to ensure our Northern Waterfront is thriving well into the future.
Note: This is the second in a three-part series on how we can address the challenges facing the Northern Waterfront from Aquatic Park to the Golden Gate Bridge — transportation, sea-level rise, seismic safety, and ensuring the great institutions of the Presidio, Golden Gate Park, and Fort Mason remain vibrant neighborhood hubs. Read Part 1 about transportation here, and Part 3 about ensuring our great institutions continue to thrive here.
- https://sfport.com/sites/default/files/PRESS&MEDIA/2018%20PRESS%20&%20%20MEDIA/City%20Residents%20Overwhelmingly%20Support%20for%20Improvements%20to%20SF's%20Seawall%2002-12-18%20final.pdf
- http://default.sfplanning.org/plans-and-programs/planning-for-the-city/sea-level-rise/160309_SLRAP_Final_ED.pdf, Page 19
- https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Palace-of-Fine-Arts-proposals-down-to-1-and-it-9173747.php
- https://saveaquaticparkpier.com/faqs
- https://www.wired.com/story/want-to-fight-sea-level-rise-look-to-san-franciscos-ocean-beach/
- http://sf-planning.org/sea-level-rise-action-plan
UPDATE: This story has been revised to clarify my position on the Northern Waterfront after receiving feedback from members of the community.
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS: The Golden Gate Promenade is truly about building something for the entire community, so I want to know what you think should be included in the vision. Send ideas to NickJ@NickJosefowitz.com.
Over the coming months leading up to the November election, I will be sharing stories and data about the top challenges we face in San Francisco — from homelessness and property crime to street safety and neighborhood-specific priorities for District 2. I’ll explore tactics used in other cities and whether they resulted in any meaningful changes. And I’ll present datasets that offer insights into what can be done differently by our city government.
Paid for by Nick Josefowitz for Supervisor 2018. Financial disclosures are available at sfethics.org.
