Petrelis Files

Victory!
Empty News Rack Deleted at Milk Plaza

My first post about the useless pedmounts gobbling up too much of public sidewalk space was published in July 2009. Following up in August 2011, I blogged on the twelve mostly empty news racks cluttering up the Castro's pedestrian-congested sidewalks and called for deleting some, while consolidating others.

After three years of kvetching, the Department of Public Works and Clear Channel have finally removed one pedmount from the Castro. This effort also involved the support and strong advocacy of Andrea Aiello of the Castro Benefit District and pushing from Supervisor Scott Wiener.

BEFORE: Here is what pedmount number 133, on the right, looked like last year on the edge of Harvey Milk Plaza and Castro Street.

AFTER: And this is how the plaza looked yesterday afternoon when I took this photo.The former pedmount was deleted early yesterday morning.

BEFORE: This is a shot of the backs of the then-two pedmounts at the plaza last summer, when they had lighted ad space on their rears.

AFTER: Here is what the same part of the plaza looked like yesterday, after pedmount 133 had been removed, so had the lighted ad shell on the remaining pedmount.

It feels so satisfying to reclaim a small piece of public space back from Clear Channel and to have more room on the sidewalks for the public.