Landscape architect has new vision for San Francisco's Civic Center Plaza
For a half century, a list of mayors and city leaders have offered up plans to remake San Francisco's Civic Center into something more welcoming and appealing for residents.
Now there are new additions to the plaza as the space continues to wait for a major makeover.
"These pits were empty for the last couple years," said Allison McCarthy of SF Rec & Parks.
It is not everyday that the city goes digging into Civic Center Plaza. But on this morning, gardener Marvin Mouton and Parks Services Manager McCarthy are launching an endeavor that might take decades.
"So what we have to do is we have to wait until the tree gets to the height of the mature trees," McCarthy said.
These mature trees stand as a kind of San Francisco artifact; The most distinctive feature on City Hall's front lawn, with those unmistakable shapes.
"These are sycamore trees," McCarthy explained. "They are the most commonly pollarded trees in The City and County San Francisco. P-O-L-L-A-R-D. It's a type of pruning so that it looks like a big hand by the end of the pruning. Every year you have to prune it, and it keeps the trees at one standard height."
The oldest trees here went in the ground about 80 to 90 years ago. The four that are being planted will take decades to catch up. And that is one of the reasons why the pits where sycamores had failed sat empty for so long.
"It takes a really long time to grow to this form," McCarthy set of the delay. "So I think there may be hesitation in replanting because you never know how the city is gonna change. So they're like 'Oh, there maybe a redesign' or 'Maybe we should wait.'"
"The biggest goal of the plan is to reintroduce vegetation on a grand scale," said Willett Moss, founding partner of CMG Landscape Architecture. "In addition to the existing 350 trees, add another 300 trees."
Moss has a plan for Civic Center Plaza. In 2017, Mayor Ed Lee called for a redesign, and hired Moss's CMG Landscape Architecture to draw up a new vision for this space. A realm that has long showcased the city challenges, hosted its protests, and welcomed its celebrations.
"So there are these massive events. And at the same time we have the least served neighborhoods in the city directly adjacent, specifically the Tenderloin being the most obvious," Moss said. "There's calls for more open space in the Tenderloin, Here's 17 acres."
Mayor Lee's initiative was not to be. At least not during his lifetime. There would be a new mayor, and the plaza would become host to a new crisis.
"Admittedly, the transformation of the plan that we worked on called for our incredibly expensive in the grand scheme of things." Moss added. "And the cities credit they've made changes around this area. The playground. The kiosk."
The plan Moss drew up wasn't the only new vision for this plaza. By one count, there have been 10 different plans presented for Civic Center over the past 50 years. Two a decade. But the years come and go along with all those grand visions. Why does nothing ever stick?
"Trying to say something that isn't cynical," Moss said after a pause. "I think the obvious answer is that it is, in fact, the heart of the city. So it belongs to everyone, and yet no one."
"So we're gonna wait a couple years till we get established before we start pollarding." McCarthy said of the sycamores. "When we start that process, which we started, this tree in front, is about maybe that's like 20 years old. So that's like a teenager."
So with no one to champion a new plaza, at least for now, things will stay as they are. And that means the young sycamores might be here for a while.
"We're only gonna leave those ties on for one growing season because the tree has to build its muscles and it can only do that by being able to sway a little bit," McCarthy explained. "So, depending on where the wind is going, it's gonna build extra layers of bark muscle, so you need to give it that wiggle room. So depending on where the wind is going, being able to sway a little bit."