Public Gets a View of what Keeps San Francisco Working - SFGate - 4/29

Read full article on SF Gate.

From 70 feet in the air, Brooke Bianco clutched the rim of a bucket cart as it jerked and jumped higher and higher.

“I can see bird nests up here,” she called down to her 10-year-old son, Luke Bianco. “This is so freaky. I have a bird’s-eye view of the birds. You never get to see this from the ground.”

Luke waved and inched forward in the line, eager for his ride in the bucket truck. A line of elementary students snaked behind him, heads craned up to look at Bianco.

They were among the more than 200 children and young adults who filled the San Francisco Public Works operations yard off Cesar Chavez Street Thursday to crawl through a sewer, build a planter or toolbox, fill potholes, and operate a backhoe. Hordes of tiny workers in bright yellow hard hats and plastic gloves learned the nitty-gritty of carpentry and street cleaning, metal work and tree trimming.

The event was part of Public Works Week and sought to showcase how skilled labor helps keep the city running. And, in a city fixated on technology, it was an introduction to types of work children might not have otherwise considered.

The department employs about 64 trade workers, including carpenters, locksmiths, electricians, painters, plumbers and metal workers. At one workstation, carpentry supervisor Jeffrey Soria helped students hammer together wooden planters. Soria, whose father was also a carpenter, has done the work for 25 years.“We want kids to see that these are real, good-paying jobs,” said Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru. “There are a lot of opportunities. Nothing happens in this city without Public Works being involved. We fix and build, and deal with roads, trash, trees and graffiti. We rely on skilled laborers, and we need more of them.”

“So many times kids are glued to their phones or the technology part of things,” he said, sighing. “But if your toilet floods, you still call the plumber. And if your roof leaks, you call the roofer. Things like building a planter show kids that the field can be fun and that it’s necessary for the city to function and thrive.”

Jane Rudenko, a 9-year-old dressed all in pink, struggled to hold a rake nearly twice as tall as she is. Under the instruction of a volunteer, she used it to fill a square pothole with asphalt. Her mother, Masha Rudenko, recorded a video on her iPhone.

“Coming from Ukraine, I have an interesting perspective on all of this,” Masha Rudenko said. “I just want my daughter to see a little bit of everything. It’s very important to understand how the city works and how our streets stay clean and functioning. San Francisco does a great job.”

The hands-on experience drew shrieks and giggles from the groups of students, who also got to paint traffic pylons covered in graffiti and scoop up dirt with a backhoe. Ellie Griffiths-Barnhart, 10, planted rosemary and yellow marigolds in two pots, then scribbled her name on the side with permanent marker.

“This is really, really cool, but kind of a lot of work,” she said. “I poured asphalt, and someone has to figure out where it goes while the other person mixes it around. Planting the rosemary was my favorite part because my dad and I like to cook together.”

Others had already chosen the line of work. A large group of Treasure Island Job Corps students moved from station to station, trying to decide which trade they should focus on. Booths from different unions lined a walkway, and members were ready to provide advice.

Johnathen Dugue, 21, inspected a newly made planter, pointing out a gap where the boards didn’t perfectly come together.

“I would have measured this and made it a tighter fit,” he said. “I think carpentry is what I want to do. But this gives us a chance to explore what each trade does. It gives you a heads up as to what is out there. These kind of jobs are so necessary, and there is a huge market out there. It’s nice to know I’ll have a job doing something I love.”

Lizzie Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ljohnson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LizzieJohnsonnn