Nov 11 2021
To: Everyone at the HANC meeting on Nov. 11'21 including Dean Preston
From: Louise Dunlap, Senior Working Group
I was cut off the meeting right after Calvin made his comments about the hold up on 730 Stanyan. I couldn't get back on the phone site.
So, here are the comments I have about the hold ups:
1) The Senior Working Group needs access during the interim use period in order to help seniors sign up for any units when the building opens;
2)This access would be a necessary part of MARKETING units to seniors. A point Calvin brought up in his comments just before I lost my phone connection. Thank you, Calvin!
3)Someone ask Dean Preston if the building construction could start earlier since no interim use is scheduled.
The problem is the Developers need to set up providers for the ground floor uses (such as the Senior Center) before construction. However, as Bo Han informed me, no organization applied to run the senior center for various, logical reasons. So the Developers are going to restart the application process [for on-site senior services] next March. I dont know if the same problem arose with either child care and or the cafe. If so,it would have been for the same reasons as happened with the Senior Center.
I any case, the selection delay prevents starting construction earlier than the exisitng time frame.
If you have any questions for me feel free to call:
Louise Dunlap
Senior Working Group
415 346-3195
By Lisa Awbrey, HANC President
The most important sentence in the Brown Act is: “all meetings of the legislative body of a local agency shall be open and public, and all persons shall be permitted to attend any meeting of the legislative body of a local agency except as otherwise provided.”
Now more than ever, especially during a global pandemic, transparency and accountability to the Public by our decision makers is essential. The People’s business and policy making must be done in the open air and sunlight. And the Public’s access to government meetings where decisions regarding complex quality of life issues (like local public transit, public space, street use, land use, and future development) are made and implemented is critical. Recently, when the SFMTA and its directors revealed a plan for the termination of local neighborhood serving bus lines, HANC joined with residents, numerous neighborhood organizations and community leaders to push for full restoration of ALL MUNI lines. At public hearings, through public comment, emails and demonstrations, the People called on the SFMTA to fully restore MUNI to pre pandemic levels. As of this writing, it appears SFMTA is changing course and listening because the public organized and spoke against the plan; none of this would have been possible without the Brown Act or without public engagement and public comment. The same could be said regarding recent public hearings on the controversial expansion of the UCSF Parnassus Campus, on various local D5 projects before the SF Planning Department and Commission and on decisions that impact our unhoused neighbors.
The COVID-19 global pandemic has resulted in many changes to how local governments conduct business, including significant changes to open meeting rules and the Public’s access to local officials.
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