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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