CCDC
"I found the organization to be a very progressive place that really cared about the plight of many people and especially the community," said James Brady, Former Property Manager and Board Member of Chinatown CCDC. (Read more)

Planning: Current Projects


Central Subway


The Central Subway Project is Phase 2 of the Third Street Light Rail Project that will link Visitation Valley with Union Square and Chinatown. This project is vital to connecting the city’s civic, business and cultural centers with the diverse communities along the corridor. Once complete, the project will improve service reliability and travel times, enhance transit connections, and provide economic opportunities and access to jobs for local residents.

The Central Subway is a critical transportation improvement linking neighborhoods in the southeastern part of the City with the retail and employment centers downtown and in Chinatown.

The project:
  • Significantly improves travel times for both transit riders and motorists.

  • Reduces passenger overcrowding through the use of high capacity light rail vehicles.

  • Reduces pollution and surface congestion.

  • Provides more reliable transit service.

  • Improves travel time and efficiency by providing direct connections to Caltrain, BART, regional buses, cable cars and other Muni lines.

  • Provides transit connections in a corridor where the majority of residents do not have a vehicle.

  • Provides a direct connection to SoMa (South of Market), Moscone Center, Union Square, and Chinatown. It also connects the future Mission Bay community, the new UCSF campus and the revitalized Bayview-Hunters Point with downtown.


Broadway Street Projects


In response to the demolition of the Embarcadero freeway in the aftermath of the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, Chinatown CDC spearheaded a community planning process to plan for the future of the Broadway Corridor, an important artery linking the Chinatown and North Beach neighborhoods to the Embarcadero Waterfront. With the removal of the freeway ramps along Broadway, Chinatown CDC recognized the opportunity and the need for our enjoining communities to come together to develop a community vision for the Broadway Corridor.

With a grant from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Chinatown CDC brought together interested community members in San Francisco's northeast quadrant in an envisioning process that resulted in conceptual design schemes and land use recommendations in an effort to revitalize this once vibrant corridor.

Chinatown CDC was the project planner for the Broadway Streetscape Improvement Plan, a community-driven project to enhance the pedestrian experience and traffic flow along Broadway between the Embarcadero and Columbus Avenue. With support from the San Francisco Department of Public Works (DPW) and a planning grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), Chinatown CDC brought together neighboring community groups in Chinatown, North Beach, Telegraph Hill, and the Waterfront to participate in a series of streetscape design charrettes for the development of a streetscape plan for the Corridor. The Broadway Streetscape Project completed “Phase One” in the Spring of 2005 with a wider sidewalk area, landscaping, new street benches and bulb outs on Broadway from Montgomery to the Embarcadero. “Phase Two” will be completed in 2008, complete with a new public art plaza entitled “Language of Birds.” We are currently planning for “Phase Three,” a stretch of Broadway between Columbus Ave and the Broadway Tunnel.

Chinatown Alleyways


The Chinatown Alleyway Master Plan, authored by Chinatown CDC, originated from decades of community effort to improve and beautify Chinatown's numerous alleyways. Working with grassroots groups such as the Chinatown Alleyway Improvement Association (CAIA), Chinatown CDC successfully obtained $2.3 million in 1994 from Trammel Crow funds (gas taxes) to develop a master plan to improve and renovate 31 of Chinatown's alleyways over the next 10 years.

In 1996, Chinatown CDC spearheaded a two-year comprehensive community planning process to develop the Chinatown Alleyway Master Plan, conducting numerous community meetings and extensive surveys to solicit community feedback for alleyway improvements under the Plan. Chinatown CDC also worked closely with the San Francisco Department of Public Works (DPW), as well as other city agencies, including the Department of Parking & Traffic (DPT), the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), and the Recreation and Parks Department to ensure that the recommendations made in the master plan can be and will be implemented.

To date, eight alleyways have been renovated under the Chinatown Alleyways Master Plan – Hang Ah, Cordelia, Ross, Spofford, Commercial, John, Waverly and Jack Kerouac. Improvements have included new paving, pedestrian scale lighting, bronze decorations to the sidewalks, sewer and drainage replacements, metal bollards, and enlarged pedestrian right of ways. The impact of the Chinatown Alleyways Master Plan was readily apparent to members of the community, as the alleyways had long been neglected. “We tried for years to get that street fixed,” said former San Francisco Poet Laureate and City Lights Books founder, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, “but the Chinatown Alleyway Master Plan did it. All power to Chinatown CDC.”

The next three alleyways to be renovated are Wentworth, Beckett and Cooper. Renovation includes utility underground, examination of water main and sewers, street pavement improvement, sidewalk bulb out, and additional lighting. In 2007, Chinatown CDC was successful in getting stakeholders and community support to have parking eliminated at both Wentworth and Beckett, an effort to enhance pedestrian safety and promote usage of the alleyways.

Gold Mountain Mural Restoration


The Gold Mountain Mural is located at Romolo Alley, near Broadway and Columbus, on the side of the Swiss American building owned and managed by Chinatown CDC. It is the joint effort of Ms. Ann Sherry, the muralist, and Chinatown CDC depicting the lives of Chinese Americans in San Francisco. It was created in 1994, and once restored in 2004 due to heavy tagging. At that time, to honor her, we added the image of our local heroine, Ms. Betty Ann Ong. Ms. Ong is the American Airline stewardess who was the first one to contact ground crew informing them of the plane being hijacked on that fatal flight into the World Trade Center on 9/11.

Recently, this historic mural caught the eyes of the President of the National Museum of Murals and Mosaics in Philadelphia, and will be featured in their online museum website.

Once again, due to tagging, we will start restoring the mural in the near future. We have so far secured some funding to install surveillance cameras to safeguard the mural. Once restoration is complete, we will daily monitor the mural and assist the SFPD to apprehend taggers. (Volunteers interested to help can contact Cathie Lam at 415-984-1461.)

Sustainable Communities


Chinatown CDC is working with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation to promote Chinatown as a Sustainable Community. LISC has a successful history of working to revitalize underserved neighborhoods across the United States. As physical revitalization in neighborhoods has progressed over the years, LISC and its partners have turned to the next phase of building healthy communities: creating opportunities for residents of those communities to raise their incomes, build assets and gain access to quality education, health care, jobs, services and recreational amenities.

Five key goals define this larger goal:
  • Expanding investment in housing and other real estate

  • Increasing family wealth and income

  • Stimulating economic activity, locally and regionally

  • Improving access to education, training and family services

  • Fostering livable, safe and healthy environments


Other Projects


Chinese Recreation Center, Ping Yuen Public Housing Needs Assessment, Stockton Streetscape Enhancement, Pedestrian Safety.