By Lisa Awbrey, HANC President

A few weeks back I attended a peace rally, concert and benefit for the People of Ukraine in Golden Gate Park. My mom and I are travel pals and avid hiking buddies; we made a date to go together but her 88 year old ankle is deteriorating so I fired up a newly purchased wheelchair for its maiden voyage. My task: navigating the sidewalks, streets and pathways from Hayes and Clayton to the Golden Gate Park Band Shell with my mom in a wheelchair. This journey turned out to be more difficult than anticipated, and I learned that accessing Golden Gate Park from a wheelchair is much more challenging than it ought to be.

I was averse to navigating a wheelchair across the Panhandle through Fell and Oak’s multi-laned treachery with speeding bicycles and cars to the 7 Haight bus. And even though I’m fit and strong, the prospect of pushing my mom two and a half blocks up hill in a wheelchair to the 5 Fulton was also daunting. For two and a half years service to our local reliable 21 Hayes bus line has been suspended. 

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By Tes Welborn, HANC Board

Every ten years, the boundaries of San Francisco's Supervisor Districts are redrawn to ensure that each district maintains approximately equal numbers of residents. Members of the public are encouraged to participate in the redistricting process.

Why does Redistricting Matter? Redistricting directly impacts communities' access and ability to voice their goals, ideals, and objectives. This process helps ensure that Communities of Interest are kept intact and with meaningful representation to access funding for schools, hospitals, parks, community resources and services.

Because of all the population growth and housing approved in Districts 6 and 10, they have to reduce in size, and most other districts have to grow and/or change shape. And D5 is right in the middle of all these changes!

The Redistricting Task Force [RDTF] has the ultimate authority to create a city-wide map and we have the opportunity to influence the result. Their map must be finished by April 15.

Calvin Welch and others have been working with San Francisco Rising to develop a Community Unity Map. Because the boundaries of any given district affect other districts, SF Rising has been working with dozens of community organizations to identify and address issues, seeking a map for the whole city that large numbers of people can support. San Francisco Rising builds the political power of working-class communities and communities of color in San Francisco to lead the way for democratic governance that prioritizes racial, economic and environmental justice.

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 On Saturday, February 26, HANC and co-sponsors (Coalition for a Complete Community, Senior Working Group, Cole Valley Haight Allies, Coalition on Homelessness, Homeless Youth Alliance, Larkin Street Youth Services, Acrosports, Booksmith, and Institute on Aging) held an event at 730 Stanyan to demonstrate that the space can and should be used pending the start of construction of permanent affordable housing.

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The housing planned for 730 Stanyan will use public funds and is required to use part of the construction budget to fund art that will be visible from the street.

Artists who are interested should submit their qualifications by April 28 (this is not a deadline to submit proposals for the artwork).

There is a related series of five free online workshops Thursdays from 5:00 to 6:30 pm from March 17 through April 14, which cover "site analysis, stakeholder considerations, community engagement, RFPs vs RFQs, funding opportunities, contracting, and insurance."   Registration for the workshops ends on March 10.

Here is the announcement from the project developers:

PUBLIC ART RFQ + FREE WORKSHOP

730 Stanyan 100% Affordable Housing Development team, a partnership of Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC) and Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC), is releasing the Public Art Request for Qualifications (RFQ) (https://www.dropbox.com/s/5o7ikik73w58zcc/730%20Stanyan%20PUBLIC%20ART%20RFQ_2022.02.17.pdf?dl=0) on February 17, 2022 for responses from artist applicants by April 28, 2022.

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By Tes Welborn, HANC Board

Calvin Welch introduced the meeting topic, What's Up with the Mayor?  He asked, “Why is the Mayor seeking more control in a second Emergency Declaration, when she already has enormous Emergency powers?”  There are 34,000 city employees, 75 departments, and some 40 boards and commissions, and most are under the Mayor, even in non-emergency times.  The Mayor proposed two charter changes that were discussed.

 Jennifer Friedenbach, Coalition on Homelessness, tackled the Tenderloin Emergency 90 day Declaration.  The Mayor called a meeting of the Board of Supervisors on Christmas Eve that lasted to midnight!  The Mayor did not appear, and her representatives didn't have many answers. The vote was 8 yes, 2 no, Aaron Peskin absent. Ms. Friedenbach said that the Mayor already had the power to take action.

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HANC supports San Francisco Rising's work to create a Redistricting Community Unity Map.

SF Rising's goals include:

1. Maintain the voting power/representation of working class BIPOC communities
2. Avoid diminishing/lowering of the Progressive Voter Index and the Socio-Economic Voter Index
3. Keep communities of interest whole

The link below explains Redistricting, show maps of the city, and provide ways people can be involved in the important work of Redistricting San Francisco. (permission by SF Rising to republish)

CLICK HERE→ SFR-Redistricting-training.pdf

By Calvin Welch and Christin Evans, HANC Board

This month's general membership meeting will focus on the unprecedented series of unilateral actions taken by Mayor Breed during the longest period of "emergency powers" in recent San Francisco history. Specifically, three of Mayor Breed’s recent  actions will be discussed by our invited panel: the declaration of a SECOND emergency (and emergency declaration  within an existing declared emergency) regarding executive actions to be taken in the Tenderloin to "address  the  drug crisis"; the proposed charter amendments for the November, 2022 ballot to transform children services and funding by placing them all under the Mayor (see  BoS file 211284) and finally, to redefine "affordable housing" to be up to 140% of Median Income ($2850 a month rent) and make its development as a "matter of right"  with no public hearings (BoS file 211289).

Our panel will include three particularly experienced and knowledgeable participants: Jennifer Friedenbach, Executive Director of the Coalition on Homelessness will discuss the Tenderloin State of Emergency;  Margaret Brodkin, Director of Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth for 26 years and former Director of the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families and leader of the campaign that created the San Francisco Children's Fund will discuss the Mayor's children's charter amendment ; Joseph Smooke, coordinator of  Racial Equity in Planning (REP) a citywide housing coalition (of which HANC is a member) and former Executive Director of Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center, former Program Director for the Housing Rights Committee and a past aide to two San Francisco Supervisors, will discuss Breed's "affordable" housing measure.

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UCSF is proposing to construct a new giant hospital, nearly 300 feet tall, about one hundred feet taller than existing campus buildings. A new hospital is required by law, but this size reflects UCSF's desire to serve more well-paying patients. Construction would begin in 2023 and be completed by the end of 2030.

Please comment by February 14 on Environmental Factors such as Air Quality, Noise and Vibration, Geology and Soils, Transportation, as well as the three Alternative Proposals including a smaller hospital, approved in 2014 Plan.

The Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) analyzes potential environmental impacts that would result from implementing the NHPH. The Draft EIR is available at tiny.ucsf.edu/HospitalDraftEIR for a 60-day public review and comment period from December 16, 2021 to February 14, 2022. You can obtain a paper version of the Draft EIR by calling (415) 502-5952.

While UCSF will self-certify the EIR, we need to put neighborhood concerns on the record and for possible use in the three pending lawsuits against the giant hospital.