Last Friday, I attended the launch of a new effort to revitalize commercial corridors in San Francisco. It's called "Arts in Storefronts", and it's the topic of my next piece. The SF Arts Commission joined up with the Mayor's office, and the Office of Economic and Workforce Development to commission art installations to fill empty storefronts in the Central Market, Bayview, Tenderloin and Market neighborhoods. The idea is to join the artists, property owners, and merchants with the goal of avoiding blight and bringing foot traffic to these areas that sorely need it, especially after the recent economic downturn.
I was impressed with the turnout at the launch. At 5pm, the corner of Sixth and Market was transformed, a live latin band started to play, people in cocktail dresses and neat suits started dancing in the street, people passing by lingered to hear the music and look at the art...for a few hours, it seemed to overshadow the usual rushed and abandoned feeling of the place.
But even as speakers took to a mic set up right there in the middle of the sidewalk, several homeless men got uncomfortably close to disrupting the flow of the evening, a vendor even pushed her cart right through the middle of the crowd as one of the key speakers addressed the crowd. I couldn't help but think that these two worlds were going to have some trouble coming together, and just maybe, that they might carry different hopes for this neighborhood.
For more info on the Arts in Storefronts project, click here, and to listen to my report, tune in to Crosscurrents at 5pm on Nov. 2nd.
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