San Francisco Planning
I fell in love with San Francisco on my first visit in the summer of 1978 and made up my mind to return. Five years later I started studying at UC Berkeley and in 1984 moved to San Francisco. I studied in Berkeley until 1987 and had a transport planner’s dream commute: Hyde Street cable car to BART and a nice walk through the Berkeley campus. I’ll never forget the late night cable car rides home through the fog on the front running board.
Planning Advocacy
I quickly became involved in San Francisco’s very active city planning advocacy community. I joined the board of directors for San Francisco Tomorrow. SFT was fighting for growth limits on office skyscrapers and more community benefits for the Mission Bay development. In this time I organised several conferences in support for better public transport in the city and region.
Between 1988 and 1992 I served as President of SFT and we had several years of very active political work starting with a fight against a new baseball stadium. I wrote two op-ed articles against the proposal (SF should stick with the ‘Stick and We don’t need it!). Many of my arguments were used in developing the plan for the new ballpark plan in 1996 (now Oracle Park) which I consequently supported.
In 1989 we wrote a ballot initiative calling on the city to prepare a comprehensive plan for the waterfront (Proposition H). The city had just approved construction of a hotel on the waterfront and we were concerned that this would start the process of eliminating public access to the waterfront. My Op Ed: Save San Francisco’s Waterfront. The initiative passed and the Port of San Francisco developed an excellent waterfront plan with extensive public involvement.
I served on numerous advisory committees including the San Francisco County Transportation Authority citizen’s committee and UCSF Long Range Plan.
In the 1990s I joined the Board of Directors for Greenbelt Alliance, a regional planning advocacy group working to protect open space and encourage increased density in urban areas, and the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research (SPUR) working on improving planning in San Francisco. I served as President of Greenbelt Alliance between 1999 – 2001. Since moving to Europe in 2001, I really miss the local advocacy and political scene in San Francisco.
San Francisco County Transportation Authority
The Transportation Authority is a long range planning and funding agency for transport in the city of San Francisco. In 1988 I was appointed to the citizens committee appointed to develop the initial plan for the SFCTA. A measure to create and fund the SFCTA was placed on the November 1989 ballot and passed overwhelmingly despite the October earthquake that same year.
I served as a member of the SFCTA’s Citizens Advisory Committee from 1990 to 1997. I was CAC chair between 1993 and 1997. In 2000 I started working for the SFCTA as the director of planning. Later in the year I was appointed Executive Director, a position I held until moving to Europe in 2001.
San Francisco Writing
San Francisco Bay Area Regional Rail Plan: A Vision – Nash, Andrew; A vision of San Francisco Bay Area transport in 2030.
Tearing down the freeway: How prosperity sprung from disaster – Nash, Andrew; Land & Liberty, Conference Supplement 2002.
Save the San Francisco Waterfront! – Nash, Andrew; Op-Ed, San Francisco Examiner; 18 October 1990.
Effective Citizen Involvement in the Transportation Planning Process, Case Study: California Academy of Science – Nash, Andrew; TRB Annual Meeting 1990.
San Francisco Ballpark – We don’t need it! – Nash, Andrew; Op-Ed, San Francisco Examiner; 6 November 1989.
San Francisco Ballpark – SF should stick with the ‘Stick! – Nash, Andrew; Op-Ed, San Francisco Examiner; 24 August 1989.