By Richard Ivanhoe, HANC Board
HANC’s January general meeting was an old-fashioned discussion with our members and guests, as our invited speakers were not able to attend. We presented an update on the Panhandle, and discussed how car-sharing parking spaces and the proposed Area Q residential parking permits will affect our neighborhood. Car-sharing and residential parking permits are discussed elsewhere in this issue of the Voice, so this article will provide an update on the Panhandle.
By Calvin Welch, HANC Board
Jan 27, 2015 — The Mayor, Supervisor Weiner and Rec & Park and DPW have definitely responded to our concerns about Buena Vista Park sent out exactly a year ago in a Change.org petition. The Mayor provided $100k in his budget to prune the most hazardous trees (work begins this fall), Sup. Weiner obtained funds for a chipper to help with mulching/erosion (on order), and RPD & DPW have really improved garbage pick-up in the park as well as initiating a pilot erosion-control landscape improvement on the west side.
We now have a chance to develop the first-ever Capital Plan (i.e. physical structures, irrigation, paths, forest) for the park beginning on February 10th at the Randall Museum, 6-8 PM. The plan is essential to understanding what funds are really needed for more 'permanent' fixes to erosion, deteriorating paths, lack of sufficient irrigation, and a declining forest canopy. The process (3 meetings in total) will identify approx 3 small (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
A fire broke out on 1/31/2015 at McAllister Street and Scott Street, affecting several buildings and residents. Alamo Square Neighborhood Association (ASNA) has set up a collection fund to go to those displaced by the fire. Donate via our GoFundMe page: www.gofundme.com/alamosquare/
You can also send a check to:ASNA, 530 Divisadero St. #176, San Francisco, CA 94117 (Please write Fire Fund in memo line)
ASNA is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. All funds raised will go directly to the residents displaced by the fire.
Another fund has been started at www.gofundme.com/l1hrw8 for the victims of the big fire recently at 22nd & Mission.
By Calvin Welch, HANC Board Member
On December 17th, Kathryn Studwell of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) informed HANC that the agency had removed more than three blocks from the proposed “Area Q” Residential Permit Parking (RPP) addition now under consideration by the SFMTA.
The area removed was the three blocks from Baker to Masonic, between Fell and both sides of Page Street originally included in the proposal (See maps, below). The area removed would also include Panhandle parking spaces along both sides of Oak Street, west of Baker.
Original Proposed “Area Q” Permit Parking Area
Proposal After HANC’s Advocacy
It’s January again. As we look forward to 2015, we can also take this opportunity to reflect on last year. HANC again focused on themes that recur in our neighborhood – housing, transit, parks, local elections, and homelessness. We had some victories, weathered some defeats, and continued to provide information about our neighborhood and our city not available anywhere else. We held eleven meetings open to the public, and published eleven issues of our Voice newsletter. All 2014 issues of the Voice can be downloaded from our website at www.hanc-sf.org/the-voice-docs/16-2014/.
We devoted last January’s general meeting to tenant issues in preparation for citywide tenant conventions. HANC sent recommendations to the convention to fund rebuilding public housing, to require registration and payment of the hotel tax by Airbnb and similar short-term rentals, and to require newly legalized in-law units to remain rental units and not be converted to condos. February’s meeting, ironically held during one of the largest downpours in 2014 (until December), featured a discussion of the drought, and the SFPUC presented its proposal for water rate increases. Our March meeting discussed transit—SFMTA’s Transit Effectiveness Plan and proposal for the November ballot.
By Calvin Welch, HANC Board
In the lowest national turnout in 70 years and the lowest governors’ race turnout in modern history, Haight-Ashbury voters swam against the rising tide of voter cynicism in numbers that exceeded city, state and national levels-56% of us cast our votes in the November, 2014 elections.
In the chart below (click on the "read more" link) voter turnout is given for each precinct in the three “sub areas” of the Haight-Ashbury: the North Panhandle (N PAN), that area from Fell to Fulton, Stanyan to Baker; the “Flatlands” (FLATS), Oak to Frederick, Stanyan to Baker and the “Hills” from Frederick to 17th, Stanyan to Clayton/BV West.
By Richard Ivanhoe, HANC Board
This month, the topic of our general meeting (December 11 at the Park Branch Library, 1833 Page St, beginning at 7 pm) is Cleaning Up in the Haight-Ashbury, plus an update on the Homeless Youth Alliance (HYA). We’re not speaking metaphorically about cleaning up—we are not inviting speculators, and we are not featuring transients selling their northern harvest. Instead, we’re speaking literally—sidewalk cleaning and showers.
We have invited Christian Calinsky and Carlie Leduc from Taking It to the Streets. The organization began this past February, with the goal of interrupting the cycle of homelessness and transitioning people back into housing. One of the programs they started employs street kids (“kids” could be as old as in their 30s) to clean the sidewalks, abate graffiti, and acting as a liaison between business owners and the street population, in exchange for housing and food.