November 27, 2011 – Bricks

You don’t notice it right away, but there is something missing in San Francisco — bricks. You have to look hard to find brick buildings. There is a reason: brick buildings tend to fall over easily in an earthquake. This morning I walked by the site of a streetcar barn on Oak Street. I have seen the photos of the pile of lumber and bricks that was left in the aftermath of the 1906 Earthquake. Some of the city was rebuilt in bricks and more of those buildings fell in 1989. I used to work n Jackson Square where now the brick buildings are braced up with steel chevrons to give a false sense of security (the walls may still fall, the building just won’t pancake). Every other neighborhood has a few brick buildings that are closed, boarded up and waiting for the next one to finish them off. There is something picturesque about a brick filled urban landscape, but there is good reason we don’t have many in San Francisco.

April 18, 2011 – 1906

In San Francisco 1906 only means one thing. Today is the anniversary of the earthquake struck and subsequent fire that destroyed about 2/3 of the city. 200-300,000 left homeless and over 3,000 perished. Over a century later and the historical facts of the disaster are still open to debate. The exact number of deaths was never even established. Like many natural disasters, this one was worsened by bad decisions and human incompetence. Corruption lead to inadequate and poorly built infrastructure – chiefly the City had no water flowing to fight the fires. Some histories portray Frederick Funston as the military hero who saved the City. Yet, Funston was an outsider and a reactionary who illegally seized power. His obsession was protecting private property and preventing looting. Ordinary San Franciscans were determined to pitch in and fight the fire. Funston ordered his troops to clear the city and thousands of volunteers who wanted to help. We were turned back at the point of bayonets. And the city burned.

I live below Alamo Square in a neighborhood that was just spared the spread of the fire. There is an iconic photo taken of San Franciscans watching their city burn from the square. It is no wonder that park always feels haunted to me.

On this anniversary we can remember and we can prepare for the next big one. It will happen one day. When the earthquake happens, I have no doubt we will all come together and save, repair and rebuild our beloved City. And, like a century ago, I have no doubt people from all over the world will help us in those efforts. But most of all, we must be ready ourselves. The incompetent government responses to disasters like Hurricane Katrina and earthquake and tsunami this year in Japan are reminders – be ready!

January 14, 2011 – It’s our fault

No, we are not to blame. It’s the San Andreas Fault and other faults I am thinking of. Blameless, but at times we are in collective denial about where we sit on the edge of the North American Plate. The recent seismic activity down near Monterey is just a reminder. Are we prepared? It’s more than batteries and water we need to think about. It’s really a matter of mental preparedness and the inevitability of the “big one.” It’s not exactly profound to predict an earthquake, but I do feel it’s coming sooner than later.

I rarely have prophetic dreams about events or people. My dreams tend to be about spaces and places before I see them. Often I have dreams seeing a space and time over and over. Sometimes it as ordinary as seeing a friend’s new apartment before they find it themselves. There are times when I see a new city or town I’ll visit over and over before I go there. And then there are the post-earthquake San Francisco dreams.

I have two different types of post-earthquake dreams, each about 5-6 times a year. The first series of dreams find me wandering in a rebuilt San Francisco that is radically changed about 10 years in the future. Market Street is a corridor of new, mass high rises, subways everywhere, less cars and more urban plazas. It is the sort of radical change that could only happen after a large earthquake. The second dream is the one where I am coming home in the evening to a street that is dug up. Trenches and scaffolding are everywhere. My building is there, but there are usually a lot more people living here.

It’s hard to say when, but it’s not a question of “if.” It is our fault.