SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 16, 2007 - KGO --
San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood is one in transition. The
once industrial area has become home to million dollar homes - but some
parts of the neighborhood still show signs of their gritty past.
And now some residents are turning things around one block at a time.
Not far from Moscone Center and the San Francisco Shopping Center, the
streets and alleys around South of Market are being transformed. The
one time industrial area has slowly been turning into a residential
neighborhood.
"The neighborhood was just on the very
beginnings of the transition to the new south of market," said SoMa
resident Foster Weeks.
Foster Weeks moved into the neighborhood 11 years ago. He's watched the area develop.
"Because we have so much pedestrian and street traffic - our needs are
a lot different then say someone who lives out at Noriega and 48th,"
said Weeks.
Frustrated by the trash all those people leave behind, Weeks called City Hall - but was surprised by what he learned.
"Our taxes do go for towards the street cleaning - the machines that
come at nighttime - but it doesn't cover the sidewalks apparently,"
said Weeks.
So Weeks took matters into his own hands. His
homeowners association hired a cleaning company to come in and clean
the sidewalks.
They turned to Dome LLC, a maintenance service for help.
"There's a group of us that go out and walk through the area and try to
access their needs and also assess their needs based on what they can
do - you know what they want from us," said Tarah Ornealas from Dome
LLC.
"Since then there's been such a great response from my
neighbors and the people who live in my building that we've kept it up
ever since," said Weeks.
The service now comes down the street twice a day - seven days a week and has captured the attention of other neighbors.
"We just develop a tremendous amount of trash -garbage from just all
sorts of sources - that just accumulates here - and there's just nobody
else cleaning it up," said SOMA resident Josh Morgan.
Josh
Morgan lives one street over on Clementina. He saw what was happening
on Tehama and saw an opportunity to build a community.
"We went around and knocked on doors and said this is what we want to do," said Morgan.
"Clementina cares" was born: A group of neighbors committed to improving the quality of life in SoMa.
They've hired cleaning crews to come in once a day - five times a week
for $1,100 a week. Businesses and residents chip in to make it happen.
"We were hoping that if we could bring some attention to this
neighborhood and start cleaning it up - that the city would really take
more of an interest helping us improve it," said Morgan.
Four blocks are now using the service.
Fred Adabi is the head of the Public Works Department. He applauds the residents for picking up where the city doesn't.
"To see a group of citizens taking the initiative, hiring contractors,
to maintain the sidewalks are amazing," said Director of San Francisco
Public Works Fred Abadi, Ph.D.
Foster Weeks says it's just a matter of time before the movement spreads further.
"I really feel that people are going to be pleasantly surprised two to
three years from now with the downtown San Francisco that we are going
to see," said Weeks.
The residents along Clementina hope to soon ramp up their cleaning to seven days a week.
