San Francisco district names gives destination identity for small business

Some value for Pacifica?  

....It's all in a name, said Regina Dick-Endrizzii, director of the city's Office of Small Business. "Having a named shopping district really does make a difference," she said. "It helps create an identity. You think of the Castro, you think of 24th Street in Noe Valley."

That push for identity is behind the city's Neighborhood Commercial District plan, which not only allows local business districts, with the approval of the Board of Supervisors, to grab that name identification, but also lets them design zoning regulations that apply strictly to their community. The goal is to make those neighborhoods more attractive to shoppers and new businesses.

Chestnut Street, Marina

 ....  Within those new districts, businesses will be allowed to add another 5 feet to their ground-floor heights, making new and remodeled shops more inviting. In an effort to encourage more small-scale manufacturing, like custom leather, carpentry work or custom upholstery, "trade shops" will be allowed to use two-thirds of their shops for manufacturing, as long as the front third has a retail use.

The local controls, as the Irving Street plan puts it, "are designed ... to maintain a harmony of uses that support the district's vitality."  That means pushing for storefront restaurants and retail businesses that attract shoppers looking to stroll the local streets, pedestrians who bring excitement and life to the area.  San Francisco Chronicle/John Wildermuth, 9/8/12. "Small San Francisco shopping districts get nod."  Read Article.

....  What's in a name? You've ridden the N-Judah to Ninth Avenue and Irving Street to eat sushi at Ebisu, drink a beer at Yancy's or venture into Golden Gate Park. But where are you?  Most people would say the Inner Sunset, but realtor John Barry thinks that's all wrong. He wants his neighborhood to be renamed. He's not sure what to, but it should definitely have the word "village" in it. "It's got to be short," he said. "Two syllables and then the word 'village' is about the maximum that you want."

Haight Street, Haight Ashbury

.... The problem, as Barry sees it, is that the Inner Sunset is too big. The commercial corridor between Fifth and 19th Avenues and Lincoln Boulevard and Judah Street should get its own distinct name.

 "...  People say, 'Let's go to Ninth and Irving.' Well, it's not Ninth and Irving if you're at 16th and Judah," he said. "It's just nice to have a destination name as opposed to not having a destination name."  But it sounds as if Barry's dream may fade into the sunset. We couldn't find anybody else who likes the plan. "San Francisco Chronicle/Heather Knight, 9/8/12. "San Francisco Proposition B heats up November ballot." 

Read Article.

Related - San Francisco Chronicle, City Insider, 9/8/12. "Should the Inner Sunset get a new name?  One resident say yes."

Posted by Kathy Meeh