In 2012, HANC built a community garden at the Recycling Center and Native Plant Nursery site, creating Kezar Gardens Ecology Center, and garnered massive community support in opposition to our eviction. We did a lot more. Here is a recap of our monthly meetings: 

In January, we discussed the Recreation and Open Space Element of the General Plan. This now seems to have stalled. Captain John Feeney, who took charge of the Park Police Station in January, met with HANC in February and answered questions about traffic safety, enforcement of the sit-lie law, and parklets. Captain Feeney was replaced by Captain Greg Corrales in June.

Our March meeting featured a discussion with Supervisor Christina Olague, who began her term as Supervisor in January, 2012. Topics of discussion included the future of the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic, HANC’s Recycling Center, redistricting, chain stores appearing in our neighborhood without Planning Commission review, and food trucks. Supervisor Olague’s term ends in early January, 2013.

In April, we presented an update on Kezar Gardens, including a slide show of the 50 community garden beds that had been built, filled, and planted, and presentations and stories by some of the community gardeners. In May, we discussed the very short June ballot and had a debate on the proposition to put the City’s garbage contracts out for competitive bid.

In June, we discussed CPMC/Sutter’s plans with Bob Prentice and Paul Kumar from San Franciscans for Health Care, Housing, Jobs, and Justice. Although the plans to build a large facility at Geary and Van Ness will affect housing, traffic, and employment, the discussion focused on the impacts the development could have on the City’s healthcare costs for its workers and “Healthy San Francisco” participants, and also on the agreement to keep St. Luke’s Hospital open. The CPMC/Sutter plans have stalled, but it appears that there will be further developments during the next few months.

In July we held a discussion about displacement of community gardens. We had representatives from the Hayes Valley Farm, the Free Farm, and the Gill Tract, as well as from Kezar Gardens to inform and advise us.

We do not meet in August. In our September meeting, we discussed local ballot measures, with numerous speakers presenting opposite sides of most of the propositions. We discussed the State ballot propositions in October. In November, Alexis Smith and David Alambaugh, both from the Planning Department and Christin Evans from the Haight Ashbury Merchants Association presented the “Haight Ashbury Public Realm Plan,” which is in its initial planning stages. We were able to voice some concerns to the Planning Department about their lack of enforcement of existing codes and policies.

We ended the year in December with a discussion of how the Haight Ashbury voted in the November election 

Please join us in the coming year. We meet on the second Thursday of each month, downstairs at the Park Branch Library, beginning at 7 pm. We will continue to keep you interested and informed about our neighborhood.