Neighbor digs in till ugly spots bloom Shaw, who is from North Wales and has a cheerful disposition that belies a don't-mess-with-me will, rolled up her sleeves, pointed her car headlights at the blighted land, and began her after-hours cleaning and digging. Five years later, after staring down various city and state officials, securing community grants, and rallying the locals, Shaw has transformed not just one scrap of Potrero Hill dirt into an urban oasis, but two. Over three weekends in January and February, she and a team of 70 volunteers put in 23 trees, 800 plants, a rainwater permeable sidewalk and parking wheel stops made from Sonoma fieldstone boulders. At the meeting, attended by seven Caltrans representatives, Shaw listened as she was told she couldn't have a bench (homeless people would camp out there), she couldn't have twig borders (someone could trip), and she couldn't have any number of things she'd already done. [...] Gary Brickley, who owns a film and video production company adjacent to the nascent garden, stepped in and told the state officials that locals really liked what Shaw already had. Many benefits"It's great for the neighborhood, great for the environment, and great for the birds, bees, insects and animals," Brickley said, as Shaw - who had already spent $5,000 of her own money - made it clear in her firm-but-smiling way that she was just getting warmed up. After planting thousands of species - the most prevalent being tough succulents like aloe, yucca and various cacti, as well as lavender, grasses, Bush poppy and daffodils, a flower of Wales - Shaw began to eye another blighted area down the street. Grants came throughShe and her boyfriend, Matt Petty (a former Chronicle art director), had moved a few blocks down, and her view lacked one thing: a garden. Shaw surveyed the newly planted area, to be called the Pennsylvania Railroad Garden, with its rainwater permeable sidewalk, dozens of trees and hundreds of plants, with its wheel stops made from boulders, and said, It's never done. Returning to the Pennsylvania Garden adjacent to the Mariposa Street off-ramp, she stood under an archway covered with cape sweet pea, a South African vine that she noted smells like grape Kool-Aid.
Neighbor Digs In Till Ugly Spots Bloom
Bay Area News, San Francisco Chronicle: Local
Mon, 02/25/2013 - 3:46pm
Topics: north wales potrero hill january february sonoma caltrans gary brickley bush shaw grants matt petty chronicle pennsylvania railroad garden returning pennsylvania garden mariposa street south african kool-aid shaw wales brickley ugly spots bloom neighbor digs in till ugly digs in till ugly spots great began trees wheel area adjacent rainwater blighted told locals plants stops boulders sidewalk state officials permeable
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