Fran Martin and Anne Seeman are San Francisco heroines. With no more spare time than other mortals, the intrepid neighbors managed to convert a half-dozen empty, weedy lots owned by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission into a sinuous strip of gardens and green spaces. If you've never seen the Visitacion Valley Greenway, you're in for a treat.
Vis Valley was a long-neglected part of the city on the far side of McLaren Park (the second largest park in San Francisco and its most underused). You can't even get into McLaren from Vis Valley although it's RIGHT THERE. With Leland Avenue, the area's commercial corridor, virtually vacant, few green spaces or public places existed for social activity (of the healthy sort). That began to change with the extension of the T-Line into the southeast sector, but it really started long before, with Fran and Anne, who conceived the Greenway and advocated endlessly for it.
With support from the Trust for Public Land and other non-profits, they raised the money (gazillions of dollars) to design and build the Greenway. Community gardens, a children's recreation area, an herb garden, a teaching garden, a native plant garden, a greenhouse, the list goes on of the resources the Greenway now offers the public. Each lot is unique, and uniquely beautiful. The quality of materials and design of each site is first rate.
It took 14 years but finally the Visitacion Valley Greenway was completed last fall. Abandoned lots are now bursting with colorful plants abuzz with bees, and people are enjoying this remarkable gift with their families for the first time.
Take the T-Line streetcar to Hans Schiller Plaza on Leland Avenue to start your tour, then wind your way upupup through each section of the Greenway.
Here's more info about it from Dee Dee's San Francisco:
http://www.workmansf.blogspot.com
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