Merchants Struggling to Survive MUNI’s St. Francis Circle Project

By Elliot Wagnerconfusing signs at St. Francis Circle

Merchants up and down West Portal Avenue are struggling to survive the chaos of the St. Francis Circle rail replacement project. Although MUNI conducted several community meetings to provide outreach to the stakeholders in the neighborhood, they waited until the last minute to ‘drop the bomb’ of gory details that caused an uproar. The merchants were dismayed that they were never consulted on a project that could potentially devastate them economically. The project has created far more intrusive challenges than anyone could have predicted. By some accounts, merchant traffic is down 20% with merchants losing as much as $250,000 per month in revenues.

The challenges run the entire length of the district. At the “circle” end of the street, poor signage and unexpected street closures were causing confusion for drivers. The full potential impact of the project hadn’t been communicated by the SFMTA. As the frustration mounted, merchants composed a letter to the Mayor asking to be heard and offering solutions to some of the major problems, particularly recommending that MUNI promote a “West Portal Grand Re-opening Event” once the project is completed within the next 3-4 months.

Kirsten Macauley, from the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services and Supervisor Sean Elsbernd brokered a meeting with the merchants, local residents, SFMTA officials, and the day-to-day project management team on June 18th at Waldorf High School. It drew a quite a vocal mixture of merchants and neighbors. Frank Alejandro, the project’s Overall Operations Manager, stressed that SFMTA was there to listen. From the “tunnel to the circle” the meeting focused on seven major areas of concern. The MTA officials, the Project team and the Contractor listened carefully to the concerns and in some cases are now addressing the issues.

#1 West Portal Tunnel: Merchants were distressed about the Parking Control Officers (PCO) and Transit Inspectors simultaneously attempting to direct both pedestrian and vehicle traffic. This causes mass confusion and unnecessary congestion, with one officer telling cars to make a turn, while the other telling pedestrians to walk, — often directly into the path of those turning cars. Solutions: MUNI officials promised to substantially reduce the number of PCO’s to avoid conflicting instructions, plus SFMTA vehicles will no longer park in the circle at the tunnel’s entrance, and PCO vehicles will be prohibited from using metered customer parking spots. 

Issue #2 Ulloa Street: Ulloa Street merchants were crippled by all the buses parking directly in front of their stores, blocking visibility and destroying their take-out businesses. Solutions: following the meeting, MUNI announced that the K bus drop-off location was moved to the front of the Library, and it had just finished repainting one of the Ulloa red zones as a 4-space, 30 minute green zone. These changes will go a long way to solving the problems.

Issue #3 Restrooms: Lack of restroom facilities for passengers on MUNI, who pour out of the buses, demanding to use bathrooms, even when bathrooms are not for the public.  “I have to go,” they frequently say, as they walk in, forming long lines that deny the use by paying customers. It’s a persistent problem exacerbated by the project and consensus was that it is MUNI’s responsibility to establish restrooms. Solution: SFMTA will investigate possible long-term solutions, but some short-term solutions will be attempted.

Issue #4 Informational Signs: Lack of signs informing drivers “West Portal is Open for Business.” The placement of signs in merchant windows and on the buses has proven ineffective. Solution—MUNI installed multiple banners on posts at the St. Francis intersection announcing “West Portal is Open.” Unfortunately, banners are prohibited on Portola Drive, which is classified as residential.

Issue #5 Do You Know the Way to WP? Already hard to find, all the construction and continually changing road detours, has made it more difficult — even for regular customers. East-bound drivers on Sloat are clueless about where to go after making the U-turn on Junipero Serra Blvd. There are no easily readable overhead signs with arrows informing drivers, in advance, about which lane leads to which of the intersection’s multiple streets. Currently, only ground level signs exist, visible at the last moment. Solution: New large “West Portal” (with an Arrow) sign and promises to keep working on the problem.

Issue #6 Invisible Businesses: West end West Portal businesses are “invisible” because the K & M LRVs no longer pass by them. Solution: SFMTA has rerouted the 17 Park Merced bus thru St Francis Circle going down the 3rd block, with a bus stop at 14th.

Issue #7 Realistic Timetable: Probably most important, as I pointed out at the meeting, SFMTA’s own literature says “To minimize these inconveniences, the SFMTA is implementing a series of measures. Proceeding with work 7 days a week to finish construction as quickly as possible, working 7am to–9pm M-F & 8am to 9pm on weekends.” But that hasn’t been the case. Work actually ends at 3pm with no work on Sundays. Yet we were told September 1st is still scheduled for its completion. This begs the question: could the project have been completed more than a month earlier by working the implied “full” schedule? Or could just working Sundays shave it by 14%?

There are no easily readable overhead signs with arrows informing drivers, in advance, about which lane leads to which of the intersection’s multiple streets. Currently, only ground level signs exist, visible at the last moment.

Unfortunately, it’s going to take 3.5 months — long enough to change shopping habits. When it’s inconvenient to come to West Portal, customers change drycleaners, go to a different branch of their bank, or a different restaurant. And when they go to these other areas, they start to form personal relationships with new merchants. Will they come back to West Portal? It’s not only about the business and revenue we are losing now, but what we will lose in the future, the long term economic consequences. It’s our economic survival.

The Contractor (NTK) responded that working more hours doesn’t always help. A great deal of time was spent waiting and working with PG&E to physically locate power grid points. SFMTA Traffic controllers make them wait for approvals and instructions. Additional complications, such as the availability of rails from the manufacturer and budget constraints necessitate spending as money it is available. Many complained about the lack of coordination for a project that has been in planning for years; issues should have been worked out with PG&E and suppliers in the beginning.

NTK promised to work closely with the Project Manager and team, and said that if it is reasonable to spend a little money to get it done-even one day faster, it will be done. MTA Project Manager Ha Nguyen added a very uplifting finishing touch: “If it’s any comfort, every day I look at the schedule and try to find how can we cut it down. It’s my responsibility. I am listening to your concerns.”

Despite the problems some progress is being made. Construction schedules have been lengthened; sign improvements are being implemented to help drivers, and project officials took the time to listen. Merchants appreciate SFTMA personnel’s sincere efforts and project Manager Ha Nguyen, Drew Howard, and SFMTA Public Relations officer Jeannette Sanchez, and Director Bond Yee for their contributions.

We also thank our neighbors for their ongoing support. We can only pray that you will continue to make a concerted effort to patronize our West Portal businesses during these very difficult times.

A vibrant WP Merchants Association can put on successful street events, fight for small businesses, combat parking changes and new taxes, and achieve a balanced variety of stores so that the Avenue will continue to be a “charming place to shop.”

Elliot Wagner, his wife Dimitra, and brother Dr Andrew Wagner, have operated Dimitra’s SkinCare & Medi-Spa in WP for over 30 years. For the last 6 months, he has been trying to rally merchants into restarting the West Portal Ave Association, after being on its Board for over 15 years. He’s also a VP on the SF Council of District Merchants. Elliot serves as the merchant liaison to GWPNA and WOTPCC.

July 2010

Special Report to the West of Twin Peaks Observer

Taggers hit west Portalgraffiti on West Portal


By Mitch Bull

Vandals using spray paint cans tagged the West Portal Avenue and Junipero Serra Boulevard areas with a barrage of graffiti, upsetting residents, damaging storefronts and creating an environment that will prove costly to the city and local merchants.

The damage, which occurred during several days in late May, was widespread and affected many businesses and property owners in the West Portal corridor. Residents reported the tagging to the SF Police Department, who are still conducting an investigation to find the groups that are responsible. At the West of Twin Peaks Central Committee meeting in May, Sgt. Randall Young of the Taraval station told the concerned residents that the SFPD has a file with over 24000 different “tags” and the department would be comparing the new graffiti with their records to try and find out who defaced the property.

Cynthia Pagan, President of the West Portal Merchants Association told the Observer, “The police are being very responsive to this problem and are partnering with us to try and catch the people responsible and help to ensure that this type of thing doesn’t become a regular occurance”. The owner of the “Just Because Gift and Card Shoppe” went on to explain that the problem with graffiti tagging is that if it is not cleaned up by the merchants and property owners it helps to create a “self perpetuating” situation where the vandals think it is OK to come back and re-tag the storefronts.

At a time when the economy is less than robust, the cost of repairing and cleaning up a damaged storefront can seriously hamper the small business owner. “To replace glass that has been acid etched by vandalism can cost in the thousands of dollars, and unfortunately many of the shops are just scraping by at the present time”, said Pagan.

The long-vacant store that used to house “Waldenbooks” seemed to be a favorite target of the vandals, and has been tagged several times over the past several months with little being done to repair the obvious damage to the glass storefront.

When asked for the status of repairs, Jerry Moskowitz, a representative of the Edward Plant Co., says that the ownership is between a rock and a hard place, “The graffiti problem is a big issue as the empty, damaged storefront is ugly, but with the etching of the glass, the owner of the property can’t replace the glass and storefront and have this happen again. We have had some interest in the property but we haven’t yet had success in getting a retail tenant into the space. We hope to have someone in the near future so the damage can be repaired.”

Supervisor Sean Elbernd’s office is also working with the merchants to provide help. In mid-June a representative from Elsbernd’s office, Olivia Scanlon, and John Riley of the SF Graffitti Abatement Department walked the street to see the damage and meet with some of the merchants. Although the City has several “graffiti abatement zones”, the West Portal Avenue corridor is not included in the list, as it hasn’t had a long term problem with tagging, unlike some of the more heavily traveled urban areas such as Mission Street.

Pagan felt that the walkthrough was important as Riley and Blackstone took photos and documented the extent of the damage and explained that the City would contact building owners and set up a timeframe for repairs. If repairs are not made in a timely manner, the owners can be subjected to fines and citations. The merchants association is hoping to have a “one time” city fix applied to assist with cleaning up the damage in the open space areas that were tagged.

They are also working proactively with local business owners to help in the battle with graffiti by encouraging store owners to partner with their landlords to install a new type of window film that will help to prevent the “acid etching” damage from some sprays.

In addition, within the next week or so, the association will have the sidewalks power washed and the “West Portal” banners reinstalled up and down the street. The banners were taken down from wind damage earlier in the year.

The public can also help in the fight against graffiti by calling 311 to report instances of tagging and to assist the City in documenting any damage that has been done.