555 Washington's denouement

More than a month has passed since the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously decertified the EIR for the 555 Washington Tower, killing the project off. Next up, hopefully, is a reconsideration of the planning context of the city's downtown retail and financial districts and the neighborhoods that adjoin them. Among the wild cards is the "central subway" that will connect the Caltrain station at Fourth & King with Chinatown. Some argue that it will result in the obliteration of Chinatown. More likely Chinatown will survive in a form similar to the antiquarians' row on Jackson Street. The real issue, I think, is what happens to this transitional area as a whole. The risk is that denser development will surge haphazardly north across the current Washington Street divide, with pockets of "history" embalmed within it. Absent a new plan, or the affirmation of the current one, a resurgent economy will generate a renewed push north - and spot zoning will again raise its ugly head. A new plan could focus attention on the transit-served heart of the core, and ideally reaffirm the limits of high-density redevelopment to the north.