Carolina Greenway
A safe, green walking route for schoolchildren and community members from Potrero Hill to the heart of the Showplace Design District — reconnecting neighborhoods with a continuous corridor of native plants, street trees, biodiversity habitat, and bioswale stormwater infrastructure.
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📍 Location
The Carolina Greenway is a continuous corridor spanning four connected segments:
- Carolina St, Mariposa to 17th — fronting the to-be-renovated Jackson Park
- Carolina St, 17th to 16th — an unaccepted street block with significant greening potential
- Carolina St, 16th to 15th — currently near-zero tree canopy or greening
- 15th St, Carolina to De Haro — the connection to the forthcoming Live Oak school annex
Neighborhoods: Potrero Hill ↔ Showplace Square / Design District
Adjacent: Jackson Park, Live Oak School (current + future annex), Potrero Hill Montessori, Showplace Square Design District, former Anchor Brewing properties
🌱 Project Vision
The Carolina Greenway is a neighborhood-scale vision of a continuous green route that gives Potrero Hill's kids and families a safe, shaded, biodiverse walk down the hill and into Showplace Square and vice versa. Live Oak students will be able to walk from the main campus at Mariposa and Arkansas, through a renovated Jackson Park, down the Carolina Greenway, and across 15th Street to the new Live Oak annex — all under tree canopy, alongside native plants, with traffic calmed and stormwater captured in bioswales.
The greenway stitches together four very different blocks — a park frontage, an unaccepted street, a treeless corridor, and a school-annex connector — into a single, coherent pedestrian-first spine linking Potrero Hill to the Design District.
🤝 Supporters & Advocates
Lead Advocates: Friends of Jackson Park, Green SF Now, Sierra Club SF Group
Key Stakeholders: Live Oak School, Potrero Hill Montessori, Showplace Square / Design District businesses, Potrero Hill neighbors, Fletcher Studio, Friends of the Urban Forest
Contact: info@friendsofjacksonpark.org
💰 Potential Funding Sources
City Programs: SFPUC Green Infrastructure Grant Program, DPW street tree program, SF Urban Forestry Council initiatives
State Funding: California Urban Greening Program, California Natural Resources Agency grants
Private: Developer contributions tied to redevelopment of the former Anchor Brewing properties and other Showplace Square projects; school and foundation partnerships tied to the Live Oak annex
🗺️ Site Location Map
Corridor: Carolina Street from Mariposa to 15th, plus 15th Street from Carolina to De Haro
Interactive map showing the Carolina Greenway corridor linking Potrero Hill to Showplace Square
🌳 Why This Corridor
- Safe route for kids: Gives Live Oak and Potrero Hill Montessori students a continuous, traffic-calmed walking route from home and school
- Hill-to-Design-District connection: Provides Potrero Hill residents a green pedestrian spine into the heart of the Showplace Design District
- Fills a canopy gap: Carolina between 15th and 16th is nearly devoid of street trees or greening today — a high-impact place to add canopy and habitat
- Unaccepted street opportunity: Carolina between 16th and 17th is unaccepted, creating design flexibility without standard street-acceptance constraints
- Park-adjacent multiplier: Carolina from Mariposa to 17th already benefits from the planned Jackson Park extension (6 feet into Carolina, 200 feet from Mariposa) — a natural anchor for the greenway
- Biodiversity & native plants: A continuous corridor supports pollinators and wildlife far better than isolated plantings
- Stormwater management: Bioswales and permeable surfaces along four blocks capture and filter meaningful runoff volumes
- Excess street width: Carolina is wider than its traffic needs require; through traffic is minimal and most use is parking-related
📈 Current Status
Phase: Vision & Coalition Building
Recent Progress:
- Working with Fletcher Studio and Friends of the Urban Forest on design elements
- Utility surveying completed in the Jackson Park area
- DPW street tree commitment secured for the park-adjacent block
- Engaging Live Oak, Potrero Hill Montessori, and Showplace Square stakeholders to align around the school-access vision
📸 Project Gallery
