AIA SF Board Unanimously Endorses Prop A:

On February 5th, San Franciscans will vote on Prop. A, a $185 million bond to repair and rebuild neighborhood parks and playgrounds, plant trees, replace restrooms, reinforce recreation centers and restore open space across the City. Just as important, Prop. A fixes our parks while holding property taxes steady.

 Prop A will:
* rebuild playgrounds
* fix restrooms in our parks
* repair our recreation centers with seismic problems
* reconstruct athletic fields
* build waterfront parks along the eastern side of the city (portions of the BlueGreenway)
* repair trails in our natural landscapes
* plant and care for our much neglected park trees (100,000 trees which need it!)
* fund community-nominated projects for park repairs

The proposal has extremely broad support - to learn more or get involved visit (www.fixourparks.com). However, the measure needs to get 67% support on the ballot to pass, so success is not guaranteed.

Planning The City's Future: 2007 Update

Three years after the publication of the AIA/SPUR Report, Planning The City's Future, a critique of San Francisco's project review processes, a task force of AIA and SPUR members assembled to evaluate the current status of San Francisco's Planning and Building Departments. A comprehensive report card, including an updated top to bottom analysis of the practices within these critical departments, as well as specific recommendations for reform is now available for review.

Download the report HERE .

Download Designing for the Public Realm and Understanding Context.

AIA San Francisco has a long tradition of public advocacy as a means of improving the quality of San Francisco's built environment. Being one of the early advocates for the removal of the Embarcadero Freeway through the use of design charettes in the 1980s is one example of our many successes. In 2003, we joined with SPUR to publish Building the City's Future:  An Agenda for Change in the San Francisco Planning Department and Department of Building Inspection, with recommendations necessary to bring these departments back on track. Then newly elected Mayor Gavin Newsom embraced these proposals, resulting in a leadership change at the Planning Department, with the task of finding ways to improve the quality of architectural design.

Part of this effort required a better understanding of the principles of high quality architecture by the Planning Commission, Planning Department Staff and the general public. In 2006, AIA San Francisco's Public Policy Committee commenced a series of  presentations before the Planning Commission to achieve this effort. Understanding Context and Designing for the Public Realm became the first in a continuing series of educational workshops that advocate design excellence and the broadening of the range of approvable design in San Francisco.



The impact of these presentations has been greater than their original intent. They were initially developed as a new way for local elected and appointed officials to evaluate the merits of proposed projects. It has subsequently become a training tool for Planning Department Staff to use in their review of projects and their consultations with project sponsors. They have also introduced a new language for the general public to use when discussing projects in public forums, enabling greater participation in the discussion of the importance of architectural design.