HANC’s July 8 meeting will focus on what recovery from the pandemic looks like for the Haight-Ashbury

On June 11, the San Francisco Department of Health replaced its “Stay-Safer-At-Home Order” with its “Safer Return Together Order,” effective on June 15 (the full Order can be found at . https://www.sfdph.org/dph/alerts/files/C19-07-Safer-Return-Together-Health-Order.pdf ). 

A Patchwork

As the number of Covid-19 infections has decreased, we have seen a patchwork of re-openings and reduced regulations:  Face coverings are now optional in most situations (required on public transportation, in schools, nursing homes, and indoor homeless shelters).  The Board of Supervisors is meeting in-person, but public comment is still remote.  Public schools are planning to reopen for in-person classes in August.

What does recovery look like for the Haight-Ashbury?  MUNI lines 5, 7, 33, 37, and 43 and the N streetcar are running.  SFMTA doesn’t plan to bring back the 6 or the 21 until winter, 2022.  The Park Branch Library is open for pickup only, and is not planning to reopen until September (HANC will resume in-person meetings when the Library’s community room again becomes available).

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Please join us on Thursday, July 8, at 7:00 pm.  We will discuss what recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic looks like for the Haight-Ashbury

To join the meeting, copy this link:
https://zoom.us/j/97001985280?pwd=Nkx2UVFPSTRVWGVXUVZEbFRkb0xwQT09

Or, with the Zoom app:

Meeting ID: 970 0198 5280
Passcode: 333544

Zoom also provides telephone numbers.  These are not toll-free numbers.  Check with your phone company before you incur charges.

The closest number is:
        +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 970 0198 5280
Passcode: 333544

Additional numbers can be found at: https://zoom.us/u/acJ3FRWOWk

By Christin Evans, HANC Board

Before the pandemic started Haight Street was already at a record high 21 storefront vacancies.  Rising costs including skyrocketing rents, payroll and other costs coincided with 4 years of disruptive street construction making it a tough go for many shopkeepers.  Notable closures in that time included the 40 year old Haight Ashbury Music Center, Carlos’ Shoe Repair, and Kids Only. 

So when the pandemic forced doors closed and the plywood went up, there was a period when it looked like many more Haight businesses wouldn’t survive.  By March 2021, a year from the first shelter-in-place order, there were 32 storefront vacancies (about a fifth of the storefronts between Stanyan and Central).  Many of the pandemic closures were clothing stores such as Haight Ashbury T-Shirts, Static and Crossroads Trading Company, which struggled to meet rent obligations with a significant drop in sales. 

But as local retail is inching out of its pandemic funk, and restaurants and bars are expanding service, vacant storefronts are beginning to fill in.  Here are some notable new businesses:

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In April 2020, after the Bay Area was officially in lockdown in response to the pandemic, Food Runners San Francisco found a temporary home at 1525 Waller Street (where the weekly food pantry operates) to cook, pack, and store meals for distribution to those in need throughout the City. Presently, staff and volunteers are preparing between 12,000-15,000 meals each week. The non-profit organization created in 1987 aims to alleviate hunger by using excess food that otherwise would be discarded and in doing so helps prevent waste and sustains the community-at-large. 

Because occupation and use of the Waller Street space was planned as short-term only, the operation needs to relocate in September 2021. According to Food Runners staff, its new location needs: a catering or restaurant kitchen; equipment (e.g., large cold storage, flat top, grill, ovens, burners, ice machine, dishwasher); area(s) for food packing; office space; and parking (a minimum of six (6) vehicle spaces and area for food delivery drivers and trucks). 

Any neighbors or friends who know of a space for lease that meets these criteria should contact Ashlee Thompson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Enrollment at City College of San Francisco dropped from approximately 39,000 in Fall, 2019 to approximately 27,000 in Fall, 2020.  City College faces its next accreditation review in 2023.

HANC has been concerned about cuts in available classes and about cuts in faculty.  HANC is also concerned about the change in focus at CCSF from being a community college for all segments of San Francisco’s population to becoming a junior college, directed at those planning to transfer to four-year colleges and universities.

The main argument in support of these damaging changes is that belt-tightening is necessary to ensure City College’s fiscal survival.  Regardless of whether you agree with this argument, one of the best ways to increase City College’s income is to increase enrollment.

Registration Opens

The Fall semester begins August 14.  Registration is now open.  Classes are available at our local branch, the John Adams Campus, at Hayes and Masonic, as well as at other campuses and online.  John Adams offers credit classes in Biological Sciences, Child Development & Family Studies, Fire Science Technology, Health Care Technology, and Licensed Vocational Nursing and Certified Nursing Assistant.  Noncredit programs include Disabled Students Programs & Services and English as a Second Language.  Information about the John Adams Campus is available at https://www.ccsf.edu/about/our-locations/john-adams-center .

Class schedules for all of CCSF’s campuses and online can be found at https://www.ccsf.edu/academics/class-schedule .  Most of the cost can be covered by the Free City College program for San Francisco residents.  (Some fees are not covered).

HANC encourages its members and neighbors to enroll in one or more classes at City College.

By David Woo, HANC Board

In June we have celebrated both Pride month and Juneteenth. While participating in or celebrating these events, we must connect them to ongoing struggles.

Pride Month

Pride month seeks to honor the LGBTQ+ community and the struggles for justice within the queer community. While Pride Month has been folded into the corporate mainstream divorcing it from the radical roots of the queer liberation movement - with Bank of America and SFPD floats at the SF Pride Parade - some of the current struggles for the queer community are more visible when viewed along class lines. A disproportionate number of homeless residents in San Francisco identify as LGBTQ+ (27% versus 12% citywide), and that is especially true for homeless youth (46% of homeless youth identified as LGBTQ+)*. With a historical presence of homeless youth in the Haight, it’s important to remember that being pro-LGBTQ ultimately means supporting and fighting for the rights, well-being, and dignity of our houseless neighbors.

Juneteenth

Juneteenth commemorates the day on June 19th, 1865 when Union troops entered Galveston, Texas and announced that slavery had ended. It recently became a federal holiday. The historical and ongoing displacement of the Black community in San Francisco serves as a reminder of how the struggle for justice for the Black community is ongoing. For past and current administrations in San Francisco, the city is being built for new wealthy and disproportionately white populations. While San Francisco is only 5-6% (or less) African American, African American’s make up 37% of the homeless population in the city (and 24% of homeless youth).

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*Data is from the 2019 SF Homeless Point in Time Count.

By Lisa Awbrey, HANC President

In the Spring of 2020, during an unprecedented chain of events relating to the COVID-19 shut down and Shelter In Place orders, bold action by San Francisco’s leaders and electeds, neighbors and residents was required. On April 14, 2020, the Board of Supervisors passed unanimous emergency legislation mandating (by an 11-0 vote) that by April 26, the city obtain 8,250 hotel rooms, with 7,000 earmarked for unhoused folks living on the streets and in congregate shelters. But the emergency legislation was never put into effect by the Mayor who quietly refused to fund it. 

On a national level, the CDC (along with global and local level UCSF physicians) continued to caution against the health dangers of congregate living settings (like indoor shelters). UCSF doctors also warned against moving too slowly in obtaining hotel rooms for the City’s most vulnerable: our unhoused people. Medical workers and first responders staged a street demonstration (dubbed a “die in”) in front of Mayor Breed’s home to underscore the crisis in an attempt to spur her to swift action. 

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By Tes Welborn, HANC Board

Community members have been fighting UCSF's unilateral decision to break the Space Ceiling limits agreement  of a maximum of 3.55 million square feet, established in 1976 and written into state law.  The coalition, of which Calvin Welch and I are members, supports retaining the Space Ceiling and the 2014 Long Range Development Plan's smaller new hospital.

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