It's summer on Sunset Boulevard!

Together with community partners, Public Works is transforming the beloved 2-mile-long greenbelt that connects Golden Gate Park and Lake Merced. Follow our story here.

Hello District 4 residents, property owners, merchants and visitors!

I’m pleased to present our summer issue of the Sunset Greenbelt Connection. We have many great updates since we last reported to you in the spring about the maintenance progress San Francisco Public Works is making along the City’s iconic western greenway.

June 27, 2025

In this issue ... Don’t miss our profile on Sunset Boulevard’s maintenance manager, Gilbert Fragoso Jr., and an inspiring Q&A with Jennifer Cooper, our Bureau of Landscape Architecture manager, who discusses the origin of, and path forward with, the Sunset Boulevard Master Plan – a bold civic roadmap for achieving greater biodiversity and recreation opportunities along the greenway.

Public Works is delivering daily on Sunset Boulevard with a diverse roster of Operations pros. Our plumbers are out tackling essential irrigation repairs and adding protection to equipment; new bus stop benches are coming thanks to our partners at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.

Meanwhile, our carpenters and painters are breathing new life into original park seating; gardeners and general laborers are clearing sidewalk paths and attentively mowing grasslands; and our arborists are removing downed tree limbs. The irrigation sprinklers are working again thanks to a unified effort, and we’re tackling litter and green waste removal on a much more regular cadence.

We hope you are enjoying the pride and purpose Public Works is putting into our beloved Sunset Boulevard greenbelt.

In partnership,

Carla Short

Director, San Francisco Public Works

Carpenters cover vaults pending irrigation repairs, while locksmiths install new locks to secure on-site equipment boxes

Public Works locksmiths installed new locks on irrigation controllers and our carpenters covered the vaults with protective lumber, while crews perform repairs on the Sunset Boulevard irrigation system.

May 1 workday

Sunset Boulevard All-Hands-on Deck Assignment

On the morning of May 1, Bureau of Urban Forestry landscape crews tackled weeding and litter removal along the north side of Sunset Boulevard from Noriega to Irving streets. The work scope included line trimming tree basins and around benches, and gathering bagsful of litter and green waste. Later in the day, they tackled the west side of the corridor.

Meanwhile, another Public Works team targeted on the the east side the greenbelt from Taraval to Noriega streets.

Elsewhere, that day our gardeners and laborers tackled the east side from Ocean Avenue to Taraval Street. The team got a lot of impactful improvements accomplished on the May 1 workday.

"Knowing our work will be appreciated for a very long time, gives me a great deal of satisfaction."

KEEPING COMMUNITY CLOSE AT HEART

Introducing Sunset Boulevard Maintenance Manager Gilbert Fragoso, Jr.

A fourth-generation painter, Gilbert Fragoso Jr. began his new role as the Sunset Boulevard Maintenance Manager in January, overseeing all aspects of San Francisco Public Works’ general upkeep of the iconic greenway.

Raised in the Central Valley, Fragoso Jr., said it was a no-brainer to follow his great-grandfather, grandfather and father's footsteps into the painting trade. His father, Gilbert Fragoso Sr., is retiring this summer after working 34 years as a painter for Muni. His grandfather worked for decades at the Todd Shipyards in Alameda.

“My high school guidance counselor told me, ‘Don’t you want to do something with your life?’ To which I responded, ‘Just let me graduate and I guarantee in a week’s time, I’ll be making a secure living.’ ”

“The benefits from having this position – and all these different tradesmen and tradeswomen bringing to the fore their skills to address long-standing problems along the Sunset Boulevard greenway – have felt instantaneous.”

– Gilbert Fragoso, Jr.

A Legacy of Civil Service

He made good on his promise to his guidance counselor. The week after high school graduation, Fragoso was hired at the District Council 16 International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, headquartered in Livermore. He worked side by side with the union’s painters, drywall finishers, floor coverers, glaziers, and production workers.

His career with the City of San Francisco began in 2010 when he joined the Real Estate Department as a painter at the Hall of Justice. Two years later, he moved to San Francisco General Hospital, when he transitioned to permanent civil service status. Fragoso calls this period at the public hospital his “5-year tour” during which he witnessed just about every miracle and crisis imaginable working at the Level 1 Trauma Center that treats 2,100 patients a year for everything from gunshots and stabbings to car crashes and head-injury falls.

He said he’s enjoyed his varied roles with the City ever since.

“Painting the Third Street Bridge was cool, after the barges crashed into it,” during a high-wind storm in 2023, he said. “Painting all the City Hall interior, something that is there forever, knowing our work will be appreciated for a very long time, gives me a great deal of satisfaction. Not a lot of people have the opportunity, or are given the trust to care for these significant buildings, structures and greenways.”

“Act like you’re putting your name on that work because you are."

In 2017, Fragoso joined Public Works’ Bureau of Building Repair as a paint supervisor (with a brief stint as acting maintenance manager). Last fall, he applied for and took the exam to be considered for another promotion. In January, he was hired as maintenance manager, overseeing Sunset Boulevard’s landscape, irrigation, and maintenance activities.

While he is still feeling out his new role and adapting to the vagaries of being a captain of many trades, he said he already loves the work.

“The benefits from having this position – and all these talented tradesmen and tradeswomen bringing to the fore their skills to address long-standing problems along the Sunset Boulevard greenway – have felt instantaneous,” Fragoso Jr. said.

“It’s looking better and better out there every day,” he said. “I enjoy seeing happy young couples pushing strollers without tripping over grass or weeds, kids and seniors sitting and relaxing on the refurbished park benches appreciating nature. That makes the job even better, helping the community out and their appreciating it.”

He takes great pride overseeing the plumbing crew fixing aging valves, working with gardeners to replace defunct sprinkler heads and observing landscape crews mow and edge the vast grasslands and flora beneath the Monterey pines and cypress trees towering above. He’s undaunted when a problem needs to be fixed.

“The irrigation situation is quite the task,” he said. “It can’t happen overnight. It’s very time consuming. There are a lot of sprinkler heads busted or entrenched with roots, but we’re painstakingly repairing the network block by block.”

The motto he tries to impart on his direct reports – “Show up and do your work with pride,” he said. “Act like you’re putting your name on that work because you are.”

In his free time, Fragoso enjoys attending his son’s high school football games and taking his daughter to her jazz and hip-hop dance classes. He also has a newfound passion for refurbishing vintage cars. His pride and joy is his cherried-out 1967 Chevy Impala, which he and his father began meticulously restoring during the pandemic.

Now resplendent in white with red interior, the car was formerly a shell in his parents’ backyard in 2020. “We rebuilt the motor and refinished it entirely,” he said. “It was a labor of love that took two years. My wife just loves being the passenger princess in the car.”

Last year, he took home the trophy for Best Low Rod at the Manteca Auto Swap Meet and Car Show. The category recognizes the best-in-class among beefy-wheeled low riders with muscle rims. “I want to start another,” he said, with a grin.

Maintenance Manager Field Notes

After consulting with the Plumbing Shop, going forward to have a proper functioning irrigation system, we may have to start changing out the

main shut off valves to the vaults and that might just be the start.

Also, landscape district captain Sabrina Soto and I walked Sunset Boulevard near Irving Street and discussed some plans for how to tackle the landscaping. We might need some tree removal too.

We came up with an idea for the neighborhood gardens that have been abandoned and need to be demolished. Let's get the word out about this and the rogue playground equipment which should be discouraged.

IN CONVERSATION

"Art was always in the air in our house," says Jennifer Cooper, who is shepherding the Sunset Boulevard Master Plan for Public Works

Jennifer Cooper has served as Public Works' Landscape Architecture Bureau manager for nearly seven years. She earned her master's at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Starting her career at a women owned firm, she said, showed her that there is no ceiling.

"Growing up in a very green Chicago suburb, I always loved nature, and was inspired by my parents' creativity. Art was always in the air in our house.

"I am particularly proud of the Sunset Boulevard Biodiversity Master Plan we created with the team at Public Works," she said. "We saw the opportunity to turn an ask for a drought tolerant master plan into something much more meaningful for the community and environment. And a shout out to my female partners on the project: Solange Guillaume, ASLA, and Jennifer Brooks!"

Q. For those newsletter readers new to the Sunset Boulevard Master Plan, how would you explain it briefly?

Driven by community interest, the San Francisco Public Works Sunset Boulevard Master Plan effort launched in earnest in 2019. Previous droughts and an aging urban tree canopy had left the community unsatisfied with the look and function of our iconic Western greenway. Energized by multiple well-attended community meetings, the Public Works Landscape Architecture team created options for community review and comment.

Q. Walk us through the plan’s initial machinations?

Yes, it was lively. Although there were diverse desires for the space, the size of the boulevard allowed for a “yes, and” approach integrating both future green lawn space for neighborhood use and a larger idea situating the boulevard as a native biodiversity corridor connecting Golden Gate Park and Lake Merced.

Q. Sounds like a lot of passionate interests to balance with limited resources? How do you keep the momentum going?

Exactly. Just as funding for early phase implementation seemed imminent, COVID-19 hit. Rather than let momentum slow, multiple nonprofit groups stepped up to keep the dream alive. I’d like to give a special shout out to the California Native Plant Society’s Yerba Buena chapter which adopted the block of 36th Avenue between Santiago and Taraval streets in 2020 as a pilot and provided the plants, labor, and maintenance to get native plant habitat established.

Q. What tremendous civic pride bubbling up amid such challenging times for our City and nation.

Inspiring indeed. They have since expanded to the other side of the Sunset greenbelt on 37thAvenue as well and continue to host community workdays. Coinciding with the Native Plant Society’s work, staff and volunteers with our nonprofit greening partner Climate Action NOW! rolled up their sleeves to expand on the urban forestry work they had been doing for years through CalFire grants to establish biodiversity hubs along the boulevard during the pandemic. They cultivated a native plant habitat between Ortega and Pacheco streets, on the 37th Avenue side, in 2024, which is being maintained by Sunset Mercantile, a community small business incubator, and host of a popular weekly farmer’s market.

Q. How do you feel as you look at the path forward?

Buoyant. The amount of community activity speaks to a real desire to use the adjacent open space and participate in stewardship. The Great Highway closure presents a bigger opportunity for Sunset Boulevard to play a key role for the community. And with the upcoming introduction of recycled water, ongoing irrigation repair, and increased maintenance staff on the greenbelt, it is better set up for success. I’m excited to hear your ideas for what the future of Sunset Boulevard could look like!

Other Sunset Boulevard improvements in the works

New bus pads, curb ramps, and electrical conduits for new bus stops.
Additionally, new pipes are being laid to deliver recycled water to Sunset Boulevard.
Public Works plumbers and the Cement Shop are actively working on a $900,000 project to repair and expand the existing irrigation system.
The City has allocated $2.4 million in the capital budget to connect the San Francisco Public Utility Commission’s recycled water lines to Sunset’s irrigation system. The design and engineering for this project is ongoing.

This article includes excerpts from the blog, The Field, originally authored by members of the American Society of Landscape Architects’ Professional Practice Networks.

Carpenters and painters give Sunset Boulevard benches much-needed TLC

The Carpenter Shop started caution- taping off the damaged benches and fixing the benches that need to be repaired.

"They are coming out nice," maintenance manager Gil Fragoso Jr. said. "I have noticed a lot more of the public sitting on the repaired benches. I even had a couple of neighbors thanking us for repairing them.

"The carpenters had to replace the cement footing and all the wood slats on the bench at Ulloa Street and Sunset Boulevard. The bench looks like a car must have hit it at some point. The carpenters are still working on the worst ones first."

Making pathways accessible

Late this spring, landscape supervisor Douglas Reed's crew went to task on tall grass and overgrown weeds impeding the path of travel along Sunset Boulevard.

They used large mowers, line trimmers and shovels. "My staff finished up the mowing on Sunset Boulevard from Ocean Avenue to Martin Luther King Jr. Drive on both the 36th and 37th avenue sides," Reed reported.

"On Tuesday, my staff will start the whole process of mowing over again beginning at Sunset Boulevard and Lake Merced Boulevard heading toward Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to ensure that the weeds are kept at a manageable height.

"Today we finished Yorba to Taraval streets on both the 36th Avenue and 37th Avenue sides of Sunset Boulevard. The purpose was to redefine the edge as well as bring the pathways back up to Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) standards once again.

"On Monday, I will put together a list and get a quote for the additional irrigation parts needed for Sunset Boulevard such as sprinkler heads and risers."

SAVE THE DATE

Two Sunset Boulevard Love Our City Greening Days

Bring your elbow grease and civic pride and join your neighbors in weeding and planting two very special Sunset Boulevard locations:

June 29

Sunset Boulevard/Taraval Street/36^th Avenue

10am

https://www.mobilize.us/sanfrancisco/event/554627/

July 13

Santiago Street/36th Avenue

10am

https://www.mobilize.us/sanfrancisco/event/444421/

IN THE NEXT ISSUE

A friend of Public Works and the greater western San Francisco community for years, Sunset Greenbelt Connection invites Sunset Boulevard volunteer steward Bob Hall to a conversation about the California Native Plant Society's greening efforts in District 4.

Coming to a Bus Stop Near You

New benches will be provided as a part of San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s bus boarding island project on Sunset Boulevard. The upgraded seating, replacing the older green benches, will have comfortable wood seats with back rests and arms for ease of use and are expected to be installed by fall 2025. Some wooden green benches in other locations will remain in place.

Do you have something Sunset Greenbelt Connection-worthy? Let our editors know what you'd like to see. If you're receiving this newsletter as a forward from one of your neighbors, we'd be delighted to add you to our subscriber list. Drop us a line at sunsetnewsletter@sfdpw.org.

Should you wish to opt-out from receiving these electronic updates, please let us know by replying to this email requesting to be removed from future updates or unsubscribe by clicking the link below.