An informational meeting on Piazza Saint Francis, The Poets Plaza, will be held at 6pm on Wednesday, December 2nd at the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club, 1630 Stockton St. (near Union).
It's sponsored by the PiazzaSF.org board and the Knights of St. Francis, and representatives of several city departments and the construction company, Nibbi Bros., will be at the meeting.
Neighbors became concerned after a hearing in early September asking for a temporary closure of Vallejo Street between Columbus and Grant avenues. After they vocally opposed it at a later meeting, the closure was put on hold.
Vallejo Street.
Many city agencies have already signed off on the project, including the SF Fire Department, and several neighborhood groups have also given their endorsements. But some in the neighborhood say they were caught off-guard by the closure. Angela Alioto, who is spearheading the effort, told us last month that was highly unlikely. "You would have to have lived under a rock for the last 10 years to not know about the piazza," she said.
The neighbors say they were out of the loop precisely because the idea—originally developed by City Lights Books founder Lawrence Ferlinghetti—has been bandied about for years. Because nothing had been done until now, they didn't realize it would actually happen. They've said the voices of the people who live in the area and would be most affected by the closure aren't being heard. We'll see on December 2nd if this meeting proves to be a forum for concerns, in addition to a presentation.
