February 20, 2025 — San Francisco is considering whether to underground Geary Boulevard, which split Japantown and the Fillmore in the 1960s during the City’s urban renewal program, accurately termed “Black removal” by James Baldwin. Now, we have the opportunity to reclaim and rebuild this land for community purposes, which has the Ayatusch Ohlone, Black, Japanese, Jewish, Filipino, Latino, and other communities, and 10% of the City’s population.
As an urban/environmental planner whose Nichi Bei Bussan family store was evicted several times before opening a second store in San Jose’s Japantown (see History at nbstore.com), I reimagine the Geary corridor as a vibrant multicultural hub with music and dance malls, solar sculptures, affordable housing, shops, museums, martial arts schools, nonprofits, walkways and restaurants. It could become our “MoTown of Multicultural Arts”, which I describe in my new novel “Bop City.” https://www.amazon.com/Bop-City-Revitalizing-Francisco-Japantown/dp/B0DNMR2DLH
I’m a member of the Japantown Task Force’s Land Use and Housing committee, which supports a new supermarket for the Fillmore as well as more affordable housing, so Geary undergrounding would be the ideal way to revitalize our community at the heart of the City. Email me if you’re interested in exploring this initiative: smtatsuno@smtatsuno
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