In the Works - Community Newsletter August 2017 | Page 25

It was a huge triumph for the
community and marked a major
accomplishment for the City’s
urban forest.
Volunteers from across the
City, including 260 Public
Works employees; members
of community and business
groups, such as the Rotary Club
of San Francisco, the Tzu Chi
Foundation and Walgreens, put
more than 15 species of trees
into the ground in the City’s
southernmost neighborhoods,
including the Excelsior, Outer
Mission, Crocker-Amazon and
Ingleside.
Twenty-four teams of volunteers
dispersed throughout these
neighborhoods – going down
Alemany Boulevard, Ellington
Avenue, around the perimeter
of Balboa High School, along
Capitol Avenue and many other
corridors – to fill empty tree
basins and medians with young
trees that will help make San
Francisco a healthier and more
beautiful city. Trees help clean the
air, calm traffic and deter sidewalk
parking.
The Aug. 26 Community Clean
Team event kicked off in true
Public Works fashion with a
spirited rally that set the tone
for the energetic and productive
workday. As the sun beamed
down on the crowd, volunteers
got inspiration from Mayor Ed
Lee and state Sen. Scott Wiener,
who both have long supported
the greening of the City, as well
as Assemblyman Phil Tang and
District 11 Supervisor Ahsha
Safaí, who secured additional
funding for the planting of the
trees.
The tree-planting event came on
the heels of Proposition E, the
San Francisco ballot measure
approved by 79 percent of voters
last fall that sets aside $19 million
in General Fund revenue for
Public Works to maintain all of
the City’s nearly 125,000 street
trees and to repair any tree-related
sidewalk damage under our new
StreetTreeSF program.
The support from the nearby
community was overwhelming
and the dedication and hard
work of our Bureau of Urban
Forestry crews proved to be an
invaluable asset that made the tree
planting not only a reality but an
extraordinary success.
Collaborating with partners at
Friends of the Urban Forest,
Public Works crews put in
countless hours prepping work
sites and making sure everything
was safe and ready to go for our
volunteers.
And after only a few hours into
the day, every tree was planted
successfully, which opened the
remainder of the afternoon for a
communal lunchtime gathering
where friends, families and
community groups basked in their
hard work and celebrated their
civic pride.
Bravo!
The volunteer workday
constituted the August
Community Clean Team event.
We'll be back next mo