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Resident urges commission to review Japantown changes that would alter Ruth Asawa installation
Summary
A Japantown resident asked the Historic Preservation Commission to place a public-works plan affecting Osaka Way on its agenda, saying new planter benches would obscure a designated Ruth Asawa installation; planning staff said the project is under historic-resource review and staff is looking into impacts.
Masako Takahashi told the San Francisco Historic Preservation Commission during general public comment on May 21, 2025, that planned public-works changes to Osaka Way in Japantown would irreparably alter a long-standing Ruth Asawa public-art installation and urged the commission to place the project on its agenda.
Takahashi, who identified herself as a member of the Takahashi family with longtime businesses in Japantown, said the block-long installation of origami-inspired fountains and benches is a city-designated historic public art installation that has been in place since the 1970s. She showed photographs and said a public-works plan would replace parts of the work with large cement planter benches that would obscure the original design. She asked the commission to "please put it on your agenda so you can discuss this and consider it," and described the matter as urgent.
Commissioner Baldauff asked staff about the permitting status. A Planning Department staff member said the project is currently being considered within the historic-resource review process and that staff would look at impacts under the department's Part 1 (character-defining features) and Part 2 (impacts) review. The staff member said long-range planning staff and Rich Sucre have been briefed. Takahashi told the commission she believed permits were approved and that work was waiting only on a contractor bid; department staff said they were looking into the matter and did not indicate that immediate construction was about to begin.
Takahashi also said the fountains have not worked for decades and that her preference would be to repair and restore the fountain elements rather than replace them with benches. The commission did not take formal action on the comment and staff said they would investigate and brief the commission further.
No formal action or vote was taken on this matter during the meeting.
