In the Works - Community Newsletter In the Works April 2017 | Page 28

Hundreds of students and other
community partners joined
us in celebration of Public
Works Week 2017 – a series of
festivities where we hosted open
houses, offered behind-the-
scenes project tours and joined
together as an organization to
recognize our accomplishments
over the past year.
Public Works Week 2017, which
ran from April 24 to April 28,
was packed with exciting and
educational activities for our staff
and the public showcasing what
it takes to care for our city. It
also gave us a chance to reflect
and appreciate the hard work
performed day in and day out by
our dedicated staff.
“We’re a boots-on-the-ground,
24/7 operation that at its
core is about people – people
working on behalf of the people
of San Francisco,” said Public
Works Director Mohammed
Nuru. “Public Works Week is a
great opportunity to showcase
our projects and programs
and introduce our youngest
generations to interesting and
important careers in public
works.”
More than 300 students
participated in the Operations
Yard Open House on April
26 where they built planter
boxes with our carpenters and
crafted nifty tool boxes with
our sheet metal workers. They
also filled potholes, planted
flowers and herbs, painted
out graffiti, rode sky-high in
bucket and scissor trucks, drove
mechanical sidewalk sweepers,
cut tile and pipe and explored an
underground training sewer.
The next day, Public Works
architects and engineers opened
up their offices to build model
cities with 100 fourth, fifth
and sixth graders. They used
everything from wooden sticks
and plastic straws to carpet
squares and crinkly paper
to fashion shops, parks, ice
skating rinks, animal shelters,
housing and other elements of
a metropolis. Then, they placed
their creations on a shake table
to test them for earthquake
resiliency. The cheers were
thunderous when nothing
toppled.
We also led public tours of
featured projects and facilities,
including our Materials
Testing Lab, the Office of the
Chief Medical Examiner, the
Moscone Expansion Project,
tiled staircases and the Transbay
Terminal.
In addition, we held our annual
employee recognition and
milestone anniversary celebration
at City Hall; hosted our
inaugural safety breakfast that
recognized individuals and teams
for demonstrating an unwavering
commitment to safety; turned
out some 500 strong at a Giants-
Dodgers game at AT&T Park for
our employees and their friends
and families; and capped the
week with our annual employee
family picnic, held this year at
Crocker Amazon Playground.
The Board of Supervisors
declared the week of April 24,
2017 as Public Works Week
2017 in the City and County of
San Francisco.
Check out this KCBS
radio news segment
on our architecture
and engineering
open house event!