The 16th Avenue Tiled Steps Project

The 16th Avenue Tiled Steps project has been a neighborhood effort to create a beautiful mosaic running up the risers of the 163 steps located at 16th and Moraga in San Francisco. We succeeded!!    We've been working on this project since January of 2003, with the support of the Golden Gate Heights Neighborhood Association. The San Francisco Parks Trust is our fiscal sponsor.    Artists Aileen Barr and Colette Crutcher led the creation of the 163 mosaic panels that were applied to the step risers, over 300 neighbors joined us in making them, and over 220 neighbors sponsored handmade animal, bird and fish name tiles imbedded within the mosaic. The City permitting process was completed on August 18, 2004. KZ Tile,  a major San Francisco tilesetting company, generously agreed to set the mosaic panels into the risers and tile the step treads with rough, nonslip tile. We completed the installation of the Project in August 2005, with the exception of the caulking, which will be done in early September 2005.   On Saturday, August 27th, 2005, we had our inauguration ceremony. Chinese lion dancers (Sefu Dino Salvatera's "Hung Sing Gung Fu Club") rushed up and down the steps to the sound of popping firecrackers, gongs, and drums. They were followed by graceful members of Nguyen Dance Company descending the steps. We were honored to be joined by Prof. Francesco Pignataro, Mayor of Caltagirone, Italy (location of the famous Scala Steps), who cut the ribbon, together with Supervisor Sean Elsbernd (acting as Mayor for the Day). Assemblymember Leland Yee,  Supervisor Fiona Ma, Adah Bakalinsky (author of Stairway Walks inf San Francisco), Frank Bonfiglio (President of the Sicilian American Association), and Fabio Ficano and Valeria Rumori, representing the Italian Cultural Institute, also joined us for this happy occasion. The event was covered by Italian national television, a Sicilian newspaper, and several local San Francisco newspapers, including the Chronicle and the Beacon.