24138 Wed May 14 15:10:38 -0700 2003 5 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 93511 Although I've never been to the Saturday market, I'm a regular at the Tuesday market, run by the same people with many of the same (although many fewer) vendors. This market has also moved from Justin Herman Plaza to the Ferry Building. Impressions: Plusses: better flow around the stalls; a couple of new vendors (Zuckerman has set up its fry station -- yum!); seems to be better attended. Minuses: Dangerous! Since this market attracts mainly office workers, large numbers of pedestrians are crossing the Embarcadero, which involves two sets of traffic lanes and the Metro tracks, all with separate lights. Many, many people were crossing against the lights, including me: the crowd had surged across the street and I followed, not realizing the light hadn't changed and there was fairly high-speed traffic approaching the crosswalk with a green light. They need to cycle the lights more quickly so people don't get impatient; even better, they need someone directing traffic out there on Farmers' Market days. Still, I think once the Market Hall is completed it's going to be an asset to those of us who work downtown or pass through that area on our commutes. Wed May 14 15:10:38 -0700 2003 0 Ruth Lafler 1 93521 I'm curious to know how you feel about the location in front of the building on the sidewalk---its much louder than the plaza, and I keep imagining the summer traffic clogging the Embarcadero... If it was on the water side of the Ferry Building it seems that it would certainly be more pleasant. Wed May 14 16:01:18 -0700 2003 93511 0 dutch 1 93550 Here's a link to my reactions on the Tuesday affair, which got buried in the earlier thread about the new location. Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/23883#92076 Wed May 14 19:24:16 -0700 2003 93511 0 nja 1 93585 As it was critiqued in some of the local press back when they opened the new design of the crossing there ... it was a major and stupid oversight to not have a better pedestrian crossing across Embarcadero to the Ferry Bulding. An underpass or overpass, or heck, just ban the cars completely. And this was years before the farmers' market was moving back there... SF urban planning is so lame. Thu May 15 00:36:05 -0700 2003 93511 0 snappy 2 93703 You know, the suggestion of banning traffic altogether is a brilliant one. If they did a tunnel under that area for cars, that would open up a lovely plaza and on Saturday's allow more room for the vendor's to park their trucks. Then maybe they could keep all the vendors in the same area. For all my griping about the Saturday market, during the week, this is a nice location for commuters and downtown workers. However, having seen the Marin Market, to take the ferry over to buy from the same vendors that sell at Marin seems pointless. Thanks. I'll include this in the letter I'm writing to the CUESTA board of directors ... for all the good that will do ... I'm SURE they will just sit up and pay attention to a cranky former shopper. Fri May 16 02:33:58 -0700 2003 93585 0 Stanley Stephan 3 93725 At the time they were planning the renovation of that area there was some discussion of sinking the traffic lanes, either a tunnel or a sunken roadbed with pedestrian overcrossings. I suppose it was too expensive, but in hindsight it looks like it would have been worth it! I think that area has drawn more foot traffic than they anticipated (remember at the time they had just removed the Embarcadero freeway, the whole area was a semi-construction zone and the Ferry Building was closed -- no one walked there). Fri May 16 12:37:01 -0700 2003 93703 0 Ruth Lafler