San Francisco Native Street Tree

[Anonymous]

I'm also looking for a native 'street' tree, this time to plant in front of an apartment building on Nob Hill here in San Francisco. Not the best environment I know, but then the Friends of the Urban Forest trees planted here a couple of years ago both died we're on the south side of the street & the south side of the hill, so the trees were well shaded by the building unfortunately. I'm hoping that a tree native to San Francisco might stand a better chance I don't think their trees were. The building owner has expressed a willingness to spring for a mid-sized tree, not the twigs that were put in two years ago. I'd love to give him at least a couple of native candidates for consideration, but the tree would need to meet several criteria:

1 Couldn't get too big or would have to grow very, very slowly so that pruning wouldn't be a huge chore.2 Couldn't make a mess or stink, although dropping leaves in the fall wouldn't be a biggie - folks might like a little more sunshine in winter, anyhow3 Would have to tolerate wind, as it gets breezy in between all these large apartment buildings4 Would have to tolerate some fog5 Would have to tolerate some smog, though nothing like LA's smog or even Oakland's6 Would have to have non-invasive roots that don't destroy the sidewalk

That's a pretty long list of requirements - it almost sounds like a houseplant I don't think a little ficus tree could adhere to all of them. Any suggestions?</p>