Bernal Cut / Arlington Greening
Expanding a decade of community-led greening along the Bernal Cut corridor — adding sidewalk rain gardens, street bulb-outs, traffic calming, and slow street enhancements from Glen Park BART to Dolores Huerta Elementary School in the heart of the Islais Creek watershed.
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📍 Location
Corridor: Bernal Cut / San Jose Ave from Glen Park BART to Dolores Huerta Elementary School
Key Streets: Arlington Slow Street (Bosworth/Arlington to Arlington/Fairmount — 6 blocks including Natick, Roanoke, Mateo, Miguel, Highland, and Charles), Surrounding Areas: Bosworth/Lyell, Richland/Miguel, College Ave/St. Mary's Ave
Neighborhood: Bernal Heights / Glen Park (Bernal Glenn)
District: Supervisor Rafael Mandelman (District 8)
Watershed: Upper Islais Creek
🌱 Project Overview
The Bernal Cut Project has been transforming the San Jose Avenue corridor since 2014 — planting and maintaining hillsides, installing wayfinding plaques, and building community around one of San Francisco's most unique urban landscapes. What began as an effort to address blight and habitat loss has grown into a multi-faceted exploration of place, history, and environmental stewardship along the mile-long Bernal Cut pedestrian corridor.
Now, that decade of proven community stewardship becomes the foundation for the next phase: a coordinated campaign to expand sidewalk rain gardens, install street bulb-outs for trees and traffic calming, harden Arlington's daylighting zones with planters, and ultimately secure permanent green infrastructure improvements for this under-invested slow street corridor.
Arlington Slow Street serves as the primary bicycle route connecting Glen Park and Bernal Heights neighborhoods — it's how families get kids to school safely, and how neighbors avoid the high-speed traffic of San Jose Avenue. But the sidewalks are too narrow for street trees, and the slow street designation hasn't delivered the physical improvements needed to truly calm traffic and green the corridor.
🤝 Stewards & Partners
Primary Stewards: Sophie Constantinou, John Francis
Community Partners: Bernal Cut Project, Glen Park Association, College Hill Neighborhood Association
Organizational Partners: Citizen Film, California Native Plant Society Yerba Buena Chapter, WalkSF
Government Partners: SF Public Works, SF Environment, SF Public Utilities Commission
Supervisor: Rafael Mandelman (District 8)
💰 Potential Funding Sources
Near-Term: Civic Joy Fund block party grant, Community Corners plan (daylighting hardening via planters and bike racks)
City Programs: SFMTA Slow Streets bulb-out funding (as seen on Sanchez), SFPUC Green Infrastructure Capital Programs (as seen at Cayuga/Alemany), DPW BUF tree well maintenance funds for extended tree wells and curbing
Political: Supervisor Mandelman has indicated access to bulb-out funding for District 8
Community: Neighborhood fundraising, volunteer plant stewardship, grants for community activations
🗺️ Site Location Map
Corridor: San Jose Ave / Arlington Slow Street, Bernal Heights / Glen Park
Context: Upper Islais Creek watershed, connecting Glen Park BART to Dolores Huerta Elementary School
Interactive map showing the Bernal Cut / Arlington corridor in the Bernal Heights / Glen Park area.
🏗️ Planned Improvements
- Sidewalk Rain Gardens: Expand the existing network of sidewalk gardens along College Ave, St. Mary's Ave, Mateo, Miguel, and other corridor streets to capture stormwater from hillside runoff in the Islais Creek watershed
- Street Bulb-Outs: Install bulb-outs on Arlington where sidewalks are too narrow for traditional street trees — bringing trees and shrubs into the street space to provide canopy, beauty, and traffic calming in one move
- Traffic Calming: Bulb-outs, daylighting hardening, street planters, chicanes (both hardscape and paint), and intersection treatments at key conflict zones like Arlington/Miguel
- Street Murals: Community-designed murals to claim space, celebrate neighborhood identity, and signal that Arlington is a people-first street
- Slow Street Enhancements: Restore and upgrade slow street signage (removed during repaving on Miguel and not replaced), improve indications of pedestrian safety throughout the corridor
- Extended Tree Wells: Work with DPW arborists to extend existing tree wells into the curb zone, unlocking additional funding streams and creating more growing space for street trees
🌿 Sidewalk Gardens Map
Map of planned and existing sidewalk gardens in the Bernal Cut and Arlington area. Courtesy Bernal Cut Neighborhood Alliance.
🌿 A Decade of Bernal Cut Stewardship
The Bernal Cut Project is a collaboration between Citizen Film, the College Hill Neighborhood Association, the Glen Park Association, and the California Native Plant Society Yerba Buena Chapter — with support from Public Works, San Francisco Environment, the SFPUC, and neighbors everywhere.
Since 2014, volunteers have revitalized the Bernal Cut by planting and maintaining the hillsides along San Jose Ave. Printed wayfinding plaques installed throughout the mile-long corridor invite visitors to consider the impact of urban planning and metropolitan growth on the environment and local pollinators. What began as an effort to address blight and habitat loss has flourished into a multi-faceted community institution.
Now that foundation of community trust, city relationships, and on-the-ground expertise becomes the launchpad for a broader vision: a green, safe, and livable Bernal Glenn neighborhood from the BART station to the school.
📈 Current Status & Next Steps
Status: Project formation and early community organizing
Short-Term: Activate & Claim the Space
- Block Party Activation: Host a Civic Joy-funded community gathering on Arlington to bring neighbors together around a shared vision for the street — with chalk art, conversation, and coffee
- Planter Deployment: Place temporary planters in existing daylighting zones to "claim the space" ahead of permanent Community Corners installations
- Sidewalk Garden Expansion: Add new sidewalk gardens with willing neighbors on College, St. Mary's, Mateo, and other corridor streets where funding and permits are in place
Medium-Term: Pursue Funding & Permits
- Pursue Community Corners plan installations, SFMTA bulb-out funding, and SFPUC Green Infrastructure capital programming
Long-Term: Permanent Green Infrastructure
- Bulb-Outs with Planting: Permanent concrete bulb-outs on Arlington with trees or shrubs — not just traffic calming, but genuine urban greening
- Stormwater Management: A connected network of rain gardens and bioswales along the corridor, protecting the Islais Creek watershed from runoff
- Safe Route to School: Physical improvements that make Arlington a genuinely safe, welcoming route for the families and children who rely on it daily
