Just days after concrete barriers were removed from Capp Street and new steel bollard replacements were left to their own devices, some of the new bollards have already been damaged and knocked over.
The collapsible yellow steel bollards along Capp Street from 18th to 22nd streets are intended to limit car traffic on the Mission’s informal red light district. The posts are held upright with pins, but already, several of the padlocks keeping the pins in place have been removed.
Others are missing their pins altogether, and keel over with a push of the hand. Residents have put wooden planters out as reinforcement, keeping the bollards upright. On Wednesday, workers installed new signage to accompany the already damaged barriers.
“We are worried about their fortitude,” said resident Jason Schlachet. “I’m glad they are there, but they need to be effective.”
San Francisco Public Works installed the bollards in May, after a trial period with concrete barricades showed apparent success at deterring sex cruising in the area.
The south end of the 18th and Capp intersection is blocked with bollards, as are the north ends of the 20th and Capp, 21st and Capp, and 22nd and Capp intersections.
The far more impenetrable concrete slabs that preceded the bollards were only removed on Saturday. Those hulking barriers had been covered in graffiti, and the Fire Department raised concerns about accessibility in case of an emergency.
Emergency vehicles like fire trucks are able to drive over the new bollards and collapse them, and the city can later replace the pins that hold them in place.
But, it seems civilian vehicles — or people with bolt cutters — can also flatten the steel posts.
Public Works spokesperson Rachel Gordon said she was unsure of how the damage occurred.
“We’re looking into why it failed, and how we can make sure they’re secured going forward,” she said.
For now, many residents are still pleased with the effects of blocking the streets: Several residents said at a police community meeting, held earlier this week, that sex work and car traffic has practically disappeared on the blocks where the barriers were installed.
Children’s chalk drawings can be seen in the middle of the street, and traffic is minimal. Loading trucks park along the barriers, without having to use a parking spot or block the roadway.
“For the first time in 40 years, I can open my window at night,” said one woman at the community meeting. “Literally … I can open my window at night without having to listen to arguments, and cars rock back to back to back.”
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PW needs to do a better job of maintaining these bollards. The damage on 21st was caused by a drunk driver trying to plow over, then around them and up on the sidewalk last Saturday at 2:30am (as a resident’s video footage revealed).
However, the bollards have still been quite effective at eliminating the back to back traffic of pimps and’ johns, so that’s good .
Perhaps the city can add more planters on the ends of the bollards on each block. Not only does it look nice but they add reinforcement for those who are too lazy to turn around want who try to drive up and around (or over them).
I have lived on Capp street for over 50 years, prostitution has been an ongoing problem and we learned to live with it. However, in the 6 months, prior to the boulders installation , the problem became intolerable, dozens of prostitutes on each corner , between 19th and 22nd streets, various groups of pimps, much yelling and fighting, and the streets bumper to bumper cars cruising, looking, playing music, and yelling. I had never felt unsafe , and always had empathy for the ladies working, but it became dangerous and unsafe, myself and many neighbors felt imprisoned in our homes, as we could not safely go outside in the evenings, we became embarrassed to invite friends, and the police seemed unable to do anything about it. The barriers have stopped traffic, crime, prostitution, and have given us back a quiet , normal, family neighborhood. I am thankful for the neighbors who took the initiative to get this done, and yes, I can open a window at night, and after many years sleep through the night.
I live on 21st and capp. The bollards help waaaay more than I thought they would. I was against solving a sex trafficking problem with a vehicle traffic solution from the start but now i have to admit that it helped. The problem is not completely gone or “solved” but the neighbors have a chance to relax while the city figures out the next move. I hope they don’t think the job is done tho.
It seems obvious that you need to have more than a pin holding the bollards upright, you need to have a long-shackle padlock on each bollard. Putting a removable pin there is stupid, of course people are going to remove them!
Our MTA wastes so much time and money and assumes that everyone has the best of intentions. They’d be more effective if they assumed the opposite.
Put some undercover police there and arrest the morons damaging city property. Overall these bollards have been a huge success and has made Capp livable again. The pins removed are easily replaced.
Cruising on Capp had reached a fever pitch of obnoxiousness. The barriers are helping neighbors sleep again. It’s too bad they reduced parking spaces which were already scarce. Does anybody know why Harley riders get a kick from setting off car alarms?
I live at Capp &22nd. Hookers are still here. The bollards by my house cause people to turn around at the corner, and hit my brand new car, 11 times since the street closed. Who’s fixing that?