Bayfront Boulevard No More
— by Jeffrey Wisniewski — 22 February 2010 — 10 comments below »
Councilmember Ed Balico will get his wish. A competition will be held to determine the names for the future streets and public spaces in the waterfront. For some reason, the existing Bayfront Boulevard is one of them. Finalists for the Waterfront’s main street include Balico Way, Corruptible Drive, and the very short, yet apt, Ego (with no suffix).
Heeding the awkward demand of ethics-challenged Balico, the City and developer announced news of the competition,* which will start March 15, at tonight’s workshop that unveiled a very impressive interpretative program for the Waterfront’s public spaces. However, you may not be drinking coffee along Bayfront Boulevard in the next few years, but a street with an entirely different name. There will be seven streets (including Transit Loop Drive) and three parks/plazas that will be named via the competition. (Bayfront Boulevard could remain the name if it garners enough votes; it is a cruel world.)
The contest will feature three judges to decide the finalists — two staff members from the developer and one City employee — and then city residents will vote for the winners in the style of American Idol. Balico Way is the hands-on favorite.
* The competition itself was not Ed Balico’s idea; just renaming Bayfront Boulevard was.
If Bayfront is renamed Balico Way then Lombard Street in San Francisco will no longer be the crookedest street in the Bay Area.
How about ….We Lost Our Way or Blooper Loop or Chain of Fools Boulevard?
Dear Anonymous,
Nice touch…great sense of humor!
Embarcadero Way, Refugio Loop, Bay Point Boulevard? I don’t mind Bayfront Boulevard, but to me it’s also a name that’s worth defending. I do find Balico’s insistence that it must be changed comical and a waste of time.
Sorry…I meant a name that’s NOT worth defending.
@ Dan Ocampo — You are right. Bayfront Boulevard may not be worth defending. But why is it being attacked?
Not sure Jeff. My guess is that some politicians of our fair city have screwed up priorties. Shocker!
I’m going to play devil’s advocate here. For sake of argument, what if the Council was actually influencing the developer on street names? If this falsehood was true, they would have told the developer behind closed doors what to rename the streets. The developer then would have renamed them as directed, and the general public wouldn’t have been the wiser, or been involved, at all.
We all like Bayfront Boulevard because it’s a great place to watch the sun go down and because we’re excited for it to turn into our future little downtown. I understand people’s resistance to change (for there are two diehard Jeep lovers in my family), but the attack at the last workshop on the representative of the developer was unwarranted. Opening up the street naming to input from the general public is very generous, for usually developers name their streets by themselves and without public comment. Bayfront Boulevard aside, it’s awesome the developer is willing listen and name the streets something meaningful.
As a sidenote, I would like to ask the community for more civility and honor in how we address our leaders and the professionals working on our behalf. The belligerent attack by one notorious and pompous individual (definitely not you Jeff) is shameful and not a mature way of communicating. He is not helping our community with the many challenges it faces.
I vote for a variation of Ego ….. “Egotistical Avenue of Failures” …… We have the Water Hyacinth sewage treatment plant, the BART station chase out of town, an Elementary School in Victory by the Bay, the future not to be Transit Station, allowing a Contra Costa Public Building in Hercules to be built and not requiring Pacific Properties to provide a “Pedestrian Friendly” way to get there from other communities, and my favorite ……. the clean up of Pacific Refinery which is allowing contaminated water to run on to Garretson Ave in Rodeo to a Storm drain directly in front of Rodeo Hills Elementary School.
All of the above are full of yourself failures ……… look out Bell, we are going to top you.
Any reference to Bell will be thoroughly denounced!