City releases video of San Francisco Plaza plan

On Wednesday, the city of Cuenca and architects from the University of Cuenca released a five-minute video of the latest design for San Francisco Plaza (see below).

The video appears to show no changes from plans released weeks ago showing an open plaza with movable stations for the dozens of commercial vendors who currently occupy the plaza. Plans call for storing the stations in adjacent buildings overnight.

The video shows the proposed redesign from all angles, from dawn to dusk.

Vendors organizations are demanding permanent sales buildings in the plaza and say they will go to court if necessary to get them. They say the will participate in meetings with the architects and city officials in coming weeks in hopes of resolving the conflict.

Several Cuenca architects not associated with the project have criticized the new plans as lacking imagination. “What they propose is sterile and arid,” said one architect. “The plaza looks like a parking lot, not like an inviting public space.” He suggested adding green areas with trees as well as more benches.

The city says construction could begin as early as April 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=r0rhYfZE5rg