Castro Benefits District Approves Bench Seating for Harvey Milk Plaza

By Jessica Mullins

On a recent sunny Sunday afternoon, local resident Daniel Railey sat perched on the tall s-shaped retaining wall in Harvey Milk Plaza. It’s a common seating destination in the Castro district, which some would argue lacks public resting spots.

“There’s not anywhere else to sit in the area,” Railey said.

Not for long.

To the delight of some and utter frustration of several local merchants, the Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District (CBD) last month unanimously approved the installation of benches in the Harvey Milk Plaza.

“I am against it 100 percent,” said Osama Ughman, a partner at Rossi’s Delicatessen, located close to the plaza at 426 Castro St. He said the benches would attract homeless people.
“They will stay there and sleep there. It’s bad news,” Ughman said.

Merchants of Upper Market and Castro (MUMC) President Steve Adams said the majority of merchants were in support of individual seats in the plaza, but not benches. “People can store stuff and lie down on benches.”

Adams said MUMC doesn’t feel good about the vote for the benches. “We are supposed to work together with the CBD. We just feel we were not being heard on this subject. We’re very upset about it.”

The plaza plan caught MUMC off-guard, Adams said. “We did an informal vote, which was pretty much roughly 58 [merchants] saying we were against any type of benches in the Harvey Milk Plaza.”

But CBD outreach efforts showed the community in support of more seating in public places, said CBD Executive Director Andrea Aiello, who stressed that people want “places where they don’t have to go to a restaurant and buy something to sit down and talk.” She said the “CBD feels strongly that we need to honor the process that we had when we did the planning.”

Aiello said there were about four people who spoke during the public comment session at the benefit district’s March 11 meeting, when the plaza improvements were voted on. “The primary concern was homeless people,” she said.

Benches were in the plaza years ago and they were removed due to problems with transients and drug use. “Homeless people came from all over,” Ughman said.

The CBD board deliberated the plaza improvements carefully, Aiello said, but felt the times had improved and homeless people would not likely be an issue. “People were referring to 25 years ago.”
Aiello said past homeless and drug problems were due to the Pink Triangle Memorial Park space, which was an empty lot and homeless encampment at that time. “Since that has become a park it is no longer a drug haven,” she said. “It helped clean up the neighborhood.”

The CBD has a Community Challenge Grant for $58,167 that will fund the plaza upgrade costs. An additional $10,000 to $15,000 for the project will come from the district’s streetscape fund.
The plaza will gain three seating areas from one continuous bench that is wide inside the retaining wall’s curves and narrow at the areas where the wall curves outward toward the center of the plaza. “It’s a difficult space up there,” Aiello said. “The design of the bench is really an attempt to work with the flow and existing conditions and to try to mimic that.”

Along with the bench will come new landscaping – replacing potted plants and more. Aiello said planting will begin in April and is expected to take one week. Organizers hope to have the bench installed by Pride Weekend, set for June 26.

The CBD board is committed to the bench, Aiello said. “If there is a problem we will address it with other sorts of intervention.”

Another reason the board approved the Harvey Milk upgrade was because of the success of the 17th Street Plaza, Aiello said. The plaza first took shape last May when approval was granted to temporarily close the end of 17th Street where the F-line ends at Market and Castro Streets. The initial plan was to have the plaza for one month, but plaza organizers are seeking permanent approval this summer. Pending approval, future plans for the plaza include sprucing it up and continuing with live entertainment.

Some local merchants were opposed to the 17th Street Plaza for similar reasons regarding the homeless. Ughman said he hasn’t experienced any problems with the 17th Street Plaza.

Copyright 2010 Castro Courier