#HTE

Urban Design Observations, San Francisco Edition: Looking Down

I stayed in the Bernal Heights area and didn’t have much time to explore, but observed what I could. I was surprised to see that the municipal government goes to the added expense of having the street names etched into the sidewalk at the intersections.

I don’t keep my head down much in New York, as you’d do better keeping your eyes up to see what (or more pointedly, who, and if they’re a threat) is around you. But looking down I also spotted this sign asking you not to dump things down the sewer drains.

I like that they drew a little crab on it, reminding you that there are living creatures on the outlet end of this drain. It’s just a simple outline of a crab but I appreciate the message they’re trying to get across.

Of course, if you look down you also see some things that are gross.

If I had to guess, here lives a couple, or perhaps roommates, where one of them smokes and the other can’t stand the smell, so it must be done out-of-doors.

And sometimes when you look down, you see things that are sad.

It was a dead hummingbird. I’d hoped it was sleeping, but nope, it was dead.