Bayview Quick Builds: Uplifting Voices and Fostering Community

Thursday, April 15, 2021

When it comes to transportation planning in the Bayview, the SFMTA recognizes our involvement in the long history of past racist policies that have led to disinvestment in that community. Rectifying these injustices will take time but begins with near-term efforts like the Bayview Community Based Transportation Plan and the Bayview Quick-Build Transportation Projects. The goal of this work by SFMTA staff is to begin the process of building trust with community members and uplifting their voices.

A recent example are the murals painted along the Bayview’s first Vision Zero Quick-Build Project, unveiled by the SFMTA and multiple community partners on Saturday, April 3. Vision Zero Quick-Build Projects are defined by their ability to rapidly install inexpensive, easily adjustable street safety improvements. For this project, safety improvements required the installation of concrete barriers to delineate space in the roadway, which provided a canvas for community art.

Community participation plays a key role in how we develop quick-build improvements. The location of this particular quick-build was identified as a recommended corridor for traffic calming improvements in the Bayview Community Based Transportation Plan (Bayview CBTP). That plan is a multi-year effort to foster a more collaborative and responsive relationship with residents of the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood. Ariel Ward, SFMTA project planner and manager, who worked previously on the Bayview CBTP, brought her knowledge and relationships to help guide the Bayview Quick-Build project.

The project corridor along Evans Avenue, Hunters Point Boulevard, and Innes Avenue is on the Vision Zero High-Injury Network, the 13% of city streets that account for 75% of severe and fatal traffic injuries. Conversations with the community revealed that the location where Innes Avenue turns into Hunters Point Boulevard is often referred to by residents as “Dead Man’s Curve.” Over the past five years at this location, 20 collisions resulted in 32 injuries and one fatality, with many of these crashes caused by unsafe speeds, turns, and lane changes.

Influenced by the input received through the Bayview CBTP, the project team implemented quick-build improvements that include reducing the number of traffic lanes from four to two, a protected bicycle and pedestrian path using concrete barriers along Hunters Point Boulevard, upgrading and installing continental crosswalks and a creating a transit boarding island on Evans at Middle Point Road.

These improvements eliminate the possibility of drivers making high speed lane changes, encourage slower vehicle speeds, and provide protection for people to safely walk and bike along the corridor. While each of these tools has clear road safety purposes, Ariel viewed the concrete barriers as an opportunity to continue collaborating with the community and build on the relationships she established through the Bayview CBTP.

Through a call for submissions, the SFMTA worked with BMAGIC, Hunters Point Shipyard Citizens Advisory Committee, Shipyard Trust for the Arts, San Francisco African American Arts and Cultural District, and the India Basin Neighborhood Association, to select six artists who live and work in the Bayview to use the concrete barriers as canvases and helping to beautify the project. The community was able to raise $30,000 in philanthropic funds to paint murals along the entire length of the concrete barriers.

Listening to advocates and working with the community helps ensure that our traffic safety improvements benefit everyone. This requires fostering ongoing relationships by speaking directly with those who live and work in the project area to better understand their specific needs. Ultimately, the safety barriers will not only protect people walking and biking, but also celebrate the rich history, culture, and identity of the Bayview. We hope you’ll enjoy this celebration of a vision built in collaboration with artists, activists and community members over the years at Bayside Saturdays.

This effort would not have been possible without the generosity and time donated by BMAGIC, the Box Shop, India Basin Neighborhood Association, San Francisco African American Arts & Cultural District, Shipyard Trust for the Arts, Wendy MacNaughton, Livable City, SPIN and CEMEX.

View the slideshow below to learn more about some of the community members and groups who helped the murals come to life.

Dr. Veronica Hunnicutt – Chair, Citizen’s Advisory Committee for the Hunter’s Point Shipyard “The CAC for the Shipyard continually upholds its mission to transform the D10 by working with community elders, merchants, entrepreneurs, youth groups, community-based organizations, artist groups and businesses. We are delighted that the mural project has been developed and supported by SFMTA, artists and community groups, and we will continue to work for projects that highlight and uplift the community.”

Linda Fadeke Richardson -- Long-time Resident and Chair of Land Use, Planning and Transportation Bayview Hunter's Point Project Area Committee. “Our community is very pleased to see emerging interest and activities centered on the implementation, finally, on long overdue transportation projects. Kudos to the leadership of the Board of Supervisors President and D10 Supervisor Shamann Walton. The SFMTA Quick-Build Project for the Hunters Point Blvd and Innes Ave was remarkable for the stellar SFMTA Staff Community Outreach and Collaboration. The SFMTA would be wise to follow this model and approach for the rest of the Agency's Quick-Build, Temporary and Permanent Transportation Projects.”

Tanya Herrera – Mural Artist, Pyrographer and Heat Artist, Bay Area Native “Art is important for any community anywhere in the world, it should always be accessible to those who want to make it and those who want to enjoy it, especially for children who don't get art classes in school or in communities like Hunters Point that have been historically disenfranchised. This is my first public art piece and I truly am honored and humbled to the community that will enjoy it for years to come.”

Afatasi the Artist – Mural Artist, San Francisco Native, Bayview-Hunter's Point Resident “I love making art for my community; I want local residents to see themselves in everything I create.”

MalikHeru Seneferu – Mural Artist “Art and architecture help to develop culture, and representation is essential in Bayview Hunters Point. When it comes to designing and creating art for Black communities, we need to hear from the people directly involved and impacted, and what the future looks like moving forward.”

Rhonel Roberts - Hunter’s Point Shipyard Artist/Painter, Hayes Valley Art Association Artist ‘Jazz Improvisation’. - A tribute to the jazz musical culture highlighting trumpeter Roy Hargrove and a saxophonist. They are both 'improvising within the music,’ this is a metaphor for each other. How we are different but can agree to communicate together.”

Rhonel Roberts and Peter Avery

Barbara Ockel – President/CEO, Shipyard Trust for the Arts (STAR) “I really appreciate the outreach the SFMTA conducted to create an inclusive mural project. Shipyard Trust for the Arts is proud of the four Black Shipyard artists who were selected to participate, allowing our neighbors a glimpse of what artists are creating in their Shipyard studios.”

Sean Karlin – Hunters Point Community Member, on the board of the India Basin Neighborhood Association “I want to believe that the work we do to improve the neighborhood by making the streets safer will translate to the entire community and not become a tool for excluding some groups in favor of others. I echo Brooklyn urbanist Majora Carter when I say the original community does not hate gentrification because it brings them safer streets and cleaner playgrounds. They hate gentrification because they fear they will not be able to stick around and benefit from it.”

Ericka Scott – Director of District Projects, San Francisco African American Arts & Cultural District/Founding Owner, Honey Art Studio “SFAAACD is pleased to partner with SFMTA and our art-based community partners to amplify the voices of Black artists, and we look forward to more collaborations that model much needed diversity inclusion throughout our city. SFAAACD is excited to continue our mission to create an environment that reflects African American history, contributions, and legacy as we continue to beautify the Bayview with visual projects that reflect black culture.

Lyslynn Lacoste – Executive Director, BMAGIC/SF Office of the Public Defender “BMAGIC is honored to be a part of the amazing collaborative effort that went in producing and highlighting this Quick Build project. What started off as a traffic calming project has transformed into an empowering community building opportunity; showcasing of immense local artists and beautiful community. “

Photo of Susie McKinnon and Charlie Gadeken

Susie McKinnon and Charlie Gadeken – The Box Shop “The Box Shop is delighted to support and partner in the SFMTA K-rail project to increase safety and add color and art to the neighborhood, as well as showcasing the 80+ murals we’ve been commissioning in the past year to help beautify the area. And, we're thankful to have the opening at our space to showcase the 80+ murals we've been commissioning in the past year to help beautify the area, which also aids in encouraging all to slow down, look around and enjoy the incredible art and new vibrancy. https://boxshopsf.org/murals”