By Peter Albert, DTNA President

The community meeting in May was a big event for Duboce Triangle: bringing Supervisor Bevan Dufty, City Planner John Billovits and Adopt-A-Street Promoter Liz Lerma from DPW to our neck of the woods (few neighborhoods in San Francisco can get away with that description, thanks to the Ash, Maytens and Chinese Elms that grace our streets).

We got an earful of their ideas and commitment to improving the quality of living in the Duboce Triangle, and we got the chance to lay out some of our key concerns and issues. Trying to keep the outcome of the meeting manageable, the DTNA Board asked our neighbors to pick three specific areas for investment and focus over the next few years-projects that are not too complicated to get underway in our lifetime, but not too simple that they did not deserve the attention of the city leaders present. We arrived at three doozies:

1) Improving the intersection of Church, Market and 14th so it would be safer for more people: pedestrians, transit riders, drivers and bicyclists. DTNA took a survey a year ago and found that among the many troubled intersections in our neighborhood, this one was the worst. We hope to build on the Planning Department's "Market and Octavia Better Neighborhood 2002" program and use its momentum to get badly needed safety improvements underway at this intersection.

2) Underground Utilities on all Duboce Triangle Streets: finish what was started back in the 1970's. In general, the numbered streets are fine, but Henry, Beaver, Belcher, Walter, Duboce, Hermann and others still lie under a tangle of telephone, cable and PG&E wires. The waiting list is long for neighborhoods wanting this work, but we agreed it's important to get on the list and move ahead with planning. While we are thinking of these streets, we would hope to work out a better program of streetlights and trees as well. New streetlights come with undergrounding utilities, so we can choose a standard that fits our neighborhood better.

3) The Safeway Perimeter: The Better Neighborhoods Plan for the Safeway block is pretty ambitious, but whether or not we take the bold steps the Plan recommends, we see the need to make the area bounded by Duboce, Market and Church work better. Some issues include the public bathroom on Market, the use and safety of the Duboce bikeway, and the conflicts and benefits of the recycling center-both for the recyclers and for the other users of the street.

For each project, volunteers were identified to help scope out an effort and take it through some degree of progress. I hope to hear neighbors express an interest in these projects, which I think were not only admirably chosen but stand a good chance of getting some support from the City. I welcome calls and names of others who want to get on board while we are still picking up speed: 415/255-4852.