The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-12
THEY ARE TO BE SEEN IN THE
COMMERCIAL DISTRICT OF
SAN FRANCISCO.
UNEVEN GRADES ON MARKET.
UNATTRACTIvE SIGHT Down THE
CITY'S PRINCIPAL THOROUGH
FARE.

are sadly in need OF improvement, and
many are in the commercial district. Not
only are the streets in bad condition, but
the sidewalks are worse, and to walk up
one grade and down another, where the
walks should be as level as a planked yard,
makes walking over them a task that only
few care to undertake unless forced to do
so. Now that the spirit of reform and
progress is awakening in San Francisco
there should be a concert OF action to COM
pei the authorities to put the thoroughfares
in a condition above that of third-class
country town.
On the north side of Washington street
the sidewalk at Battery is on level with
that grade, but before the middle of the
block is reached it slopes upward and rises
thirteen inches above the street; then it
slopes down to Front On the south side
of the street the walk is far below that
grade, and it gives the street the appear
ance of being lopsided. Right around this
district there are any number of sidewalks
that are above and below one grade. Every
property-owner seems to have obtained in
dependent lines on which to lay the first
floor of his house, and if it happened to be
higher than that of his neighbor he simply
sloped the end of his sidewalk in order to
reach the adjoining one. In some places
two narrow, rickety steps take the
place OF the incline, while in others the in
cline is SO steep that cleats have had to be
nailed down so as to give the pedestrian a
foothold.
On Davis street, near Oregon, there is
one of these cleated inclines that leads to
the walk proper, nearly a foot above the
other one; then at the other end if the
pedestrian is not careful he will drop about
ten inches before he touches the sidewalk.
Innl hot pofN
Front, bears evidence that at one time it
was paved with that worst of all fortunes
ever conceived to ruin horses feet, cobble-
stones. Wear and tear has caused depres-
sions and the loosening of the cobbles from
their foundation, leaving the thoroughfare
in such condition that teamsters are
afraid to drive over that portion of the
street. At the East-street end of Jackson
the street has been laid with basalt blocks
and it is considerably higher than the por-
ton west of it, also the cross streets.
Between Market and Pacific streets, east
of Battery street, there are more than
dozen different grades, consequently the
sidewalks are as uneven as the undulating
waves of ocean.
AT the gore of Sacramento and Market
streets on the Market-street side the walk
is about fourteen inches above the level of
the street and to enable foot passengers to
reach the street crosswalks have been set
at an angle that make the descent anything
but agreeable. At the western end there
is slope nearly five feet in length to reach
the other sidewalk below. This is ira
Versed by thousands daily on the way to
and from the ferry. Every time they
ascend and descend they say something
about the horrible sidewalk and resolve to
do something, but before they have walked
many blocks they forget all about it and
are not reminded of the resolution until
they come to that walk again. At that
particular point the pedestrian is at least a
foot above the one on the south side of the
street. This, of course, is not a recon-
mendation to the thousands of strangers
who land at the foot of San Francisco's
main thoroughfare and whose opinions of
city are often formed by first observa-
tions. Nor is the opinion improved when
their eyes rest upon the ramshackle struc-
lures that are to be seen on both sides of
the street within block and a half of the
landing.
The value of property on that great
thoroughfare ought to be sufficient incen-
tive to the owners of these sheds to re-
move them. They go far to sustain the
assertion that in many respects the ninth
city in the Union is "a jay town" These
rattletraps ought to come down to make
way for more pretentious buildings, in
keeping with many west of the line of
| Main street. The owners of these may
| suddenly be awakened by the reform earth
quake from their dreams of the past, realize
| that they are living in the present and do
their share toward beautifying the city.
| On Mission street between Main and
Beale, when the Market-street Company
laid its tracks for the Mission electric line,
it conformed to the grade of East street,
and when the work was finished the tracks
were about a foot above the curb on either
| side of the street. The two feet of space on
the side of the outer track had to be paved
and the way the PAYERS did it was to slant
the basalt blocks till they reached the lower
grade of the street. The street is in such
a condition that when teams are once on
the railroad track it is impossible for them
to turn out. If they attempt it the wagons
would certainly capsize, so the teams have
to remain on the track until cross street
is reached. This is without doubt the very
worst piece of pavement in the whole city.