02.26.13 - ISSUE #17 – Spring 2013
- Author: davidprowler
- Categories: News
Prowler Inc. is celebrating 14 years of service to public agencies, landowners, developers and institutions.
Please take a look at this review of recent accomplishments, take the quiz, and visit the blog.
PROJECT UPDATES:
SFMOMA/Firehouse
On behalf of SFMOMA, Webcor is completing the construction of the firehouse on Folsom Street between Fifth and Sixth Streets.
The new facility, designed and built to the City’s specifications, will replace Firehouse 1 on the site of the future SFMOMA Expansion.
The land swap between SFMOMA and the City went into effect in mid-February. Construction of the new museum will begin this summer.
Prowler assisted SFMOMA by providing community and government relations services.
Here’s what Greg Johnson, Director of the SFMOMA Expansion Project said about David’s role:
“David is among the handful of team members whose work led to the approvals of our expansion and the firehouse. We really relied on his judgment, relationships, and experience every step of the way.”
UCSF Mission Bay
Mayor Ed Lee and UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann joined a handful of invited guests at a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the opening of Genentech Hall, the first building built in Mission Bay. The new 43-acre biomedical research campus and the Benioff Childrens Hospital (under construction) will ensure that UCSF remains one of the top spots in the world for medical advances and their applications. David Prowler was the Mayor’s Project Manager for the creation of Mission Bay.
888 Brannan Street
This historic battery factory is coming back to life as the new home of Airbnb. Prowler advised the owner, SKS, on Planning approvals for the conversion.
RECOMMENDED READING
San Francisco Chinatown: A Guide to Its History & Architecture by Philip Choy
— A close up look at how Chinatown came to be, from the birth of the City at Portsmouth Square to the “veritable fairy palaces filled with the choicest treasures of the Orient” that saved the community from relocation to Hunters Point in 1906, to the International Hotel and beyond.
SFMTA’s REAL ESTATE VISION FOR THE 21st CENTURY
Ed Reiskin, Director of Transportation, SF Municipal Transportation Agency
“Outstanding consultant team delivering a great process and a great outcome”
A team of consultants directed by David Prowler recently completed a report called SFMTA’s Real Estate Vision for the 21st Century.
It’s a blueprint for addressing the real estate challenges confronting our transportation system:
– To meet growing demand, the passenger fleet will grow about 20% by 2030, with some vehicle types doubling;
– Some facilities are obsolete and seismically vulnerable. For example, the base for repairing overhead lines is in an 1893- era unreinforced masonry building;
– The entire system of maintaining and parking vehicles could be more efficient, enabling operating savings, better working conditions, and better service.
In addition, SFMTA has the chance to offer selected sites for development, providing revenue to address facilities needs and to help meet City smart growth goals.
The SFMTA Board accepted the report at its meeting of January 29. No decisions have been made regarding report implemetation.
The report results from collaboration between the consultants, including Prowler Inc., Parsons Brinckerhoff, Gensler, Keyser Marston Associates, and Vital Environments and the staff of SFMTA. We held 8 workshops, toured SFMTA facilities and interviewed line staff, and conducted a survey of sister agencies to learn how they do things. We held briefings with members of the Board of Supervisors and their staffs, the SFMTA Citizens Advisory Committee, and SPUR.
Here is the link that leads to the Vision Report. Some of the key recommendations:
– Increasing flexibility by accommodating longer buses everywhere and adding electric lines capacity to the Flynn Yard;
– Consolidating storage, paint and body repair, and the historic fleet;
– Increasing energy and water sustainability;
– Addressing obsolescence and vulnerability of Presidio and Potrero facilities in partnership with private developers;
– Offering the Upper Yard at Balboa Station to the Mayor’s Office of Housing;
The report recommends implementation measures including financing sources.
RECENT POSTS AT PROWLER BLOG
RECENT POSTS AT PROWLER BLOG
You ought to check out the blog, www.davidprowler.wordpress.com.
JK Dineen of the San Francisco Business Times posted on Facebook, “ I love David Prowler’s blog”. Posts concern urbanism and design and have recently touched on the past lives of Rockefeller Center, the surrealist architecture of Frederick J. Keisler, broken clocks, and mastodons.
QUIZ
1. The Moscone Convention Center has enough Wi-Fi capacity for how many mobile devices at one time:
A- 2,500
B- 5,000
C- 7,500
D- 60,000
See Answers Below
2. Who said, “The things that spell San Francisco for me are disappearing fast” and when did he say it?
A- Jerry Garcia, 1974
B- Gavin Elster, 1958
C- Dan White, 1977
D- Emperor Josiah Norton, 1859
3. Americans took 10.4 billion rides on public transit in 2011. That’s a billion more than in 2000. What was the hit song in the year that had set the previous high?
A- All Shook Up, Elvis Presley (1957)
B- The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Roberta Flack (1972)
C- To Sir With Love, Lulu (1967)
D- Riders in the Sky, Vaughn Monroe (1949)
4. It’s expensive to live in the Bay Area. Of the 9 Bay Area counties, in which does the typical household spend the lowest percentage of its income for housing + transportation combined?
A- San Francisco
B- Alameda
C- Marin
D- San Mateo
5. This was the original Fillmore Ballroom, where Bill Graham introduced the San Francisco sound to the world. What’s here now?
A- Moscone Center
B- Embarcadero Center
C- San Francisco Honda
D- Kabuki Hot Springs
6. Match the number with the statistic – served by HPP (Homeless Prenatal Program) last year:
A- Families served.
B- Babie born (of which 98% were born drug-free and over 90% normal birth weight).
C- Families placed in permanent housing.
D- Clients receiving help with domestic violence.
1- 142
2- 451
3- 371
4- 3,734
ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ
1- D. 60,000 conventioneers can yak on their cell phones at the same time.
2- B. Gavin Elster, a character in the film Vertigo, in the scene where he hires an unsuspecting Scottie Ferguson (James Stewart) to follow his wife, Madeleine Elster (Kim Novak).
3-A. All Shook Up, 1957.
4- A. San Francisco is the lowest cost of all the counties, at 39.5%. Households pay the highest percentage in Marin (56.3%).
5- C. San Francisco Honda, at Market and South Van Ness.
6- A-4; B-3; C-2; D-1. In addition, HPP even helped clients with 1,337 tax filings, recouping for these families, who have average monthly incomes of $930, tax returns totaling $1,872,707. David Prowler serves on the Board. To learn more or to donate, visit www.homelessprenatal.org.