SFMTA Launches Plaza Naming Contest
SFMTA Plaza Naming Contest Flyer.pdf
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which oversees transportation in the city, including the Municipal Railway (Muni), has launched the public plaza on Ocean Avenue naming contest. The plaza, which has yet to be built, will be located near Ocean and Phelan avenues, next to the SFMTA's Phelan Loop Bus Terminal. The online contest is now open to the public and will continue until Tuesday, October 15.
Name suggestions will be collected in the following categories relevant to the plaza such as: historic names; geographic names or significant natural features; purpose or function of the plaza; people who have contributed to the community and are also deceased; or acknowledging a significant geographic location or historical event. Participants are reminded that the naming of the plaza should promote ready identification and/or geographic association for the public.
“The $6.8 million federal investment for the Phelan Loop Bus Facility made great progress for livable communities and transit-oriented development,” said Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. “With the completion of the Loop initiative, San Francisco can now develop new affordable housing and create more open space. This contest is a wonderful way for San Franciscans to be a part of our city’s rich history.”
“The Phelan Loop project represents the best of transit and housing planning, and we’re grateful to Leader Pelosi for her leadership in making this project possible,” said Mayor Edwin M. Lee. “Yesterday’s groundbreaking symbolizes this city’s commitment to working together for the benefit of those who live, work, and visit San Francisco and this opportunity to name the plaza is another step in our work to get this important project done.”
The public plaza on Ocean Avenue will serve as an attractive pedestrian link between Muni’s K Line stops on Ocean Avenue, the expanded City College campus, the new Phelan Loop bus terminal, and the adjacent housing development. The plaza will be a 210-by-65-foot public open space west of the bus terminal consisting of landscaping, seating and pedestrian-level lighting spread throughout.
The future plaza, which is expected to break ground in two years, will serve as a hub connecting businesses, residents, schools and Muni, as well as a place for community events such as street fairs and farmers' markets. This will provide a safer and more convenient pedestrian passage between the Ocean Avenue small business corridor, Muni routes 8X/8BX, 29, 43, 49 and nearby K Ingleside line, and the City College Campus.
About the Projects
The public plaza on Ocean Avenue, in conjunction with the adjacent Phelan Loop development and the Ocean Avenue supportive housing project, is a key component of the Balboa Park Station Area Plan. The plan was the result of more than 10 years of neighborhood-driven planning that culminated in the approval of the plan by the Board of Supervisors in 2008.
In May, the SFMTA reconfigured the Phelan Loop, the terminal for the 49 Van Ness-Mission and 8X/8BX Bayshore Express routes, to free-up the surrounding land for mixed-use affordable housing and the plaza to better integrate this key location at Ocean and Phelan avenues with the City College of San Francisco campus and the Ocean Avenue merchant corridor. This portion of the project utilizes part of the previous loop as well as underutilized public land north of Fire Station 15, with buses exiting onto southbound Phelan Avenue.
Contest details and project updates can be found at www.sfmta.com/phelan. Mail-in entries can be requested by calling 415.701.4790.