Nothing reveals the character of a metropolis greater than the best way it opens a gift.
California noticed as a lot this summer time, as Los Angeles and San Francisco every tore the wrapping paper off a ravishing civic present.
Comparisons are instructive as a result of the civic presents in query are so comparable. L.A.’s new Sixth Avenue Viaduct and San Francisco’s new Presidio Tunnel Tops are each costly new bridges that double as public spectacles.
In July, L.A.’s new $588 million bridge opened sizzling — too sizzling. The town was unprepared for the hordes descending on this fantastic thing about a bridge, with its unmatched skyline views and its “Ribbon of Mild” design.
On the bridge, we Angelenos did what we do: check limits. Moped racers did wheelies. Truck drivers and bicyclists took over the bridge for temporary durations. Taggers added graffiti. Climbers scale the construction’s steep arches. The official response was the standard L.A. fear-based overreaction. The authorities, citing “criminal activity” and “unruly crowds,” closed the bridge repeatedly — 4 occasions in a single five-day interval. The town introduced structural modifications — fences to discourage climbers, velocity bumps to decelerate road racers.
Native and nationwide media then did their drained tsk-tsking concerning the incapacity of Angelenos to behave with decorum.
C’mon. Our lack of decorum is why — cue Randy Newman — we adore it!
That didn’t cease holier-than-thou sorts in civic life from spewing cliched nonsense concerning the supposed disaster of Sixth Avenue. Metropolis Councilmember Kevin De León instructed that Angelenos have been overly excited as a result of we lack accessible public areas — which is self-pitying nonsense in a metropolis stuffed with improbable gathering spots. The Los Angeles Instances editorialized that the bridge, an transportation connector between Boyle Heights and downtown, must be closed to car site visitors. What’s subsequent — closing Dodger Stadium after eight innings as a result of closing pitcher Craig Kimbrel retains messing up the ninth?
Every week after the L.A. bridge opening, and 400 miles north, the $118 million Presidio Tunnel Tops opened. It’s a privately financed park that’s additionally a pedestrian bridge over Presidio Parkway, the highway to the close by Golden Gate Bridge. Tunnel Tops connects the Predominant Submit part of the Presidio, the army base-turned-national recreation space, to Crissy Area under.
Tunnel Tops has magnificent views of the well-known bridge and the skyline, meadows for napping and kite-flying, gardens of native vegetation, public artwork, a constructing for youths’ science classes, and an progressive playground referred to as the Outpost.
John King, the San Francisco Chronicle’s good city design critic, knocked it for missing a “sense of arrival,” and for broad strolling paths and concrete slopes that recommend “crowd management and upkeep wants received out over design intent.” However given what occurred in L.A., designing for crowd management appears prescient.
The park is an on the spot success. On its opening weekend, San Franciscans enthusiastically entered Tunnel Tops even earlier than it was formally open, and crowds have been immense. However there have been no studies of harmful incidents, and there was no safety crackdown. San Francisco performed its new bridge as cool as Los Angeles performed its new span sizzling.
This summer time, your columnist visited every of those new public areas. Police closures foiled my first three makes an attempt to cross the Sixth Avenue Bridge. However after I lastly made it on the market, I felt comfy and secure. A couple of passing motorbikes did methods, however police didn’t cease them. Additionally they didn’t cease pedestrians (your columnist included) after we raced throughout the site visitors and bike lanes to take a look at totally different views. My solely grievance was the shortage of locations to sit down down. However that must be addressed, partially, as quickly as subsequent yr, when Los Angeles is scheduled to construct a brand new park underneath the viaduct.
My visits to Presidio Tunnel Tops have been quieter than Sixth Avenue regardless of the presence of much more folks. The primary time, I spent an hour simply lounging round on the grass, and in chairs which can be arrange across the park, having fun with the bridge and metropolis views.
Then I acquired as much as discover the brand new facility. At one level, in my wandering, I stepped over a low rope to take a look at among the plantings in a single backyard. Inside seconds, two folks—not safety guards, simply native people out having fun with the park — referred to as out, “Sir, please don’t stroll across the vegetation. We’re not supposed to try this.”
I rapidly retreated, after which apologized — explaining that I’m from Los Angeles, and don’t know any higher.
Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zócalo Public Sq..
