A Long Row to Hoe

Bringing Sunset Boulevard back from the edge of The Abyss

A Long Row to Hoe

My parents bought their first home in the Parkside in 1949. As I recall there were two constants in the greater Sunset and Parkside Districts – the fog and the sand.

We lived on 40th near Wawona, and the homes on our block were all 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, 1000 square-foot tract homes. There were still vacant lots on our block and at the time the Avenues behind us were not built up. And when the fog abated, the ocean views were fantastic.

In those days Sunset Boulevard was more than just a connecting road between Lake Merced and Golden Gate Park. Its green space was the only lush verdant “park” in the neighborhood. It was thick with trees and bushes and hidden within the green space on each side of the Boulevard were small paths made by the gardeners who watered and cared for the Boulevard. It was an idyllic make believe “forest” for all of us kids.

Kathleen Larson, The Sunset

Over seven years ago a core group of neighbors started a neighborhood group and called it Friends of Sunset Boulevard. For more than seven years we have documented and raised concerns, and we have urged, cajoled and pleaded with the City of San Francisco and the Department of Public Works to address the deterioration of the once lush and lovely – as described in Kathy’s opening testimonial – greenspace corridor along Sunset Boulevard.

It truly has been a long row to hoe. Many promises were made, not many were kept. Mayors, Supervisors, and DPW directors have come and gone, but the deterioration continued.

Honestly, some of our neighbors and allies have slipped away too. They have returned to their homes and their lives because too much time passed, and too little progress was made.

Those of us that remain are steadfast in our commitment to bring Sunset Boulevard back from the edge of the abyss. We are patient but also persistent. We entered the fight this year feeling, shall we say, jaded? It is a tall order to set aside cynicism acquired over years of disappointment and disillusionment and then gin-up anything like genuine optimism for the future of Sunset Boulevard under a new administration and relatively new leadership at the Department of Public Works.

However, we did the best we could. We have continued to be in dialogue with DPW Director Carla Short and others in leadership at DPW. And we continue to push for improvements.

• We continued to push our Supervisor and the new Mayor to create a role for Rec & Park to bring their expertise and personnel to Sunset Boulevard.

• We continue our call for a more accurate and specific timeline for connecting graywater to the Sunset Boulevard Corridor irrigation system.

• We continue to believe that the allocation of 100% of 2 gardener FTEs should be having a greater impact on the condition of Sunset Boulevard, although we acknowledge that these last few months there has been some progress in this regard.

  • Moreover, we continue to advocate for a greater presence of DPW gardeners on Sunset Boulevard. In October 2021 we were told that per Rec & Park calculations 8 gardeners would be needed to maintain an improved standard of care for the Boulevard. DPW then made a commitment to hire 6 with the additional budget authority obtained that year. After an additional budget increase in 2023 DPW renewed their commitment to hire additional gardeners but reduced the commitment to 4 FTEs. To date, the department has only managed to hire 2 gardeners that are assigned full-time to Sunset Boulevard.

We have seen progress – albeit grudging, at times even glacial – this year. New, purple irrigation pipes and sprinklers. Not enough water on the Boulevard in the dry season but a little greener is better than dead. Repairs to some of the broken infrastructure and amenities. Mowing and gardening work and, of late, we have even noticed edging work along sidewalks that had not seen edging work in likely a decade, or more. Some things are definitely getting better on Sunset Boulevard, but there is still much work to do.

A few weeks ago, Friends of Sunset Boulevard met with a representative from Mayor Lurie’s Office along with DPW Director Short, Rec & Park General Manager Phil Ginsburg and Supervisor Joel Engardio. Although the Mayor was not able to give us everything we were asking for, he did offer a compromise that, if funded in the City budget process, would bring Rec & Park into partnership with DPW to help address the deficiencies and deterioration on Sunset Boulevard.

It’s almost enough to make a weary community group optimistic again. In fact, we offer this promise, we will give it another go and muster all the optimism and enthusiasm we possibly can if, in return, Mayor Lurie, Director Short and GM Ginsburg will remember that bringing Sunset Boulevard back from the brink has been and still remains a very long row to hoe.

John Crabtree