By Rupert Clayton, HANC Board

HANC’s March meeting heard from two people whose organizations are working to bring comfort and cleanliness to homeless people in San Francisco, and potentially the Haight Ashbury.

Doniece Sandoval is the executive director of Lava Mae, which provides mobile showers in a converted former MUNI bus. The bus has two self-contained bathrooms, each with a shower, toilet, sink and hair dryer. Being able to take a shower helps people who are homeless retain some sense of dignity and self-worth, making it easier for them to engage with housing, health care and job training services. The service also brings broader benefits for sanitation and public health in the city.

At each location, the bus hooks up to a fire-hydrant, with disinfected grey water discharged into catch basins and the toilets emptied by a waste disposal company. With 15-minute sessions, each bus can serve 42 people during a six-hour shift. Lava Mae’s forward bathroom is accessible, thanks to the bus’s wheelchair lift, and they have found that 48% of customers have a disability. Buses are always staffed during service hours, and Lava Mae works closely with existing agencies and non-profits so that people have somewhere to wait before their shower and can find out about services they may need.

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Planning staff of the SFMTA announced last week that three lines serving the Haight-Ashbury will have their names changed later this month.  One will actually have its number changed, the other two will keep their numbers, but change their names.

The 71 will now be re-numbered the “7” the number used by the old “ 7 Haight,” discontinued in 2009.  The old line started  at Haight and Waller  and ran to the Transbay terminal. The old 7 followed part of the line originally started in 1916 with the “17 Haight” which ran all the way to Ocean Beach. The new “7  Haight-Noriega “ will follow that historic route of running from downtown  to Ocean Beach, using the entire length of Haight Street to do so.

The two additional changes will be of line names, not numbers:  The 6 will now be called the “Haight/Parnassus” and the 33 will now be called the “Ashbury/ 18th.” 

Two years ago, HANC led the fight to keep the 6 serving the Upper Haight (that is the “real” upper Haight above Waller Street and not the real estate speculator term now in use for the Haight-Ashbury).  In that fight HANC members urged that the line name be changed to advertise the fact that it served the Haight-Ashbury.  Score one for HANC 

Construction will start in late April on pavement renovations, sewer replacement and water main installation. Work will include new electrical systems as well, and replacement of curb, gutter, sidewalk and curb ramps. Finally, the project includes road base demolition and replacement of the asphalt street. More info: Alex Murillo, DPW, (415) 437-7009.

PUBLIC HEARING ON DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT FOR WESTSIDE RECYCLED WATER PROJECT (amongst other things, it affects the Panhandle).   Meeting date: April 23, 2015, City Hall, Room 100. More info: Scott MacPherson/SFPUC, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

GOLDEN GATE PARK, WALLER STREET PHASE 2 SKATEBOARD PARK, COMMUNITY MEETINGS were held on March 5 and March 31. The project of the SF Skateboard Association is being considered for a Community Opportunity Fund grant to create a more permanent and enhanced "skateboard plaza". More info: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

A tour bus, the size of a standard Google bus, was high ended on March 30th,  when it attempted to turn south on Ashbury Street, up the slight incline.  It held up traffic for nearly an hour as a large tow truck  at right of picture) had to be called to remove it.  With SFMTA simultaneously allowing a “pilot program” of oversized buses  using  MUNI stops AND proposing various “bulb outs” (including at this very corner) at intersections along Haight Street, is this a view to be a common sight on Haight Street?  

By Calvin Welch, HANC Board and Kezar Stadium Citizen  Advisory Committee

Kezar Stadium will open its new track on March 13th (ribbon-cutting at 3 pm).  The 18 month rebuild came at the instigation of the Kezar Stadium Citizen Advisory Committee.  The 11 person KSCAC has overseen the use and condition of the stadium since 1991.  Made up of user groups and neighbors  (with HANC being a founding and continuing member) the KSCAC has had to resist various attempts on the part of Recreation and Parks Department from time to time to “professionalize” the uses of the stadium.  The Committee drafted and had the Rec and Parks Commission adopt an “Operation and Permit Policy”  in August, 1991 (Resolution 16191)  that sets “informal community access “ as the “primary use of the new Kezar stadium”  with “public and private schools” being the “primary user group at Kezar stadium”.  To make the facility less attractive to commercial events and professional sports teams the stadium policy states “consumption or possession of alcohol will not be permitted on the premises at any time”.

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By Christin Evans, HANC Merchant Liasaon / HAMA

At HANC’s February meeting, the preview of the final draft of the Haight Ashbury Public Realm plan was presented by SF Planning Department representatives Lily Langlois and Patrick Race.  First, handouts summarizing the results of the community survey conducted in the summer of 2014 were distributed and discussed. The data reflected input from more than 150 survey respondents. The community priorities identified in rank order were: 1) Lighting, 2) Greening, 3) Identity, 4) Signage and 5) Seating.  (Note: The survey results and handout are available as a PDF on the SF Planning website.)

The final plan includes a proposal for numerous sidewalk extensions at corners, also referred to as “pedestrian bulbouts.”  With a primary goal of the Transit Effectiveness Project being the speeding up of the buses down the corridor, the SFMTA has included the pedestrian safety measure which shortens the distance one must walk to cross the street.  A preliminary design of the intersection of Haight & Ashbury includes 3 such pedestrian bulbs. 

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By Richard Ivanhoe, HANC Board

This year, HANC plans to present a series of meetings on the so-called “sharing economy” and its impact on our neighborhood and on our city.  First, we want to come up with a better name.  We’ve considered “greed economy,”  “monetized economy,” “taking market,”  “command economy,” and “share-the-scraps economy” (http://robertreich.org/post/109894095095).   

Here’s an example that explains why the word “sharing” is being misused: A)   In the school lunchroom, a student brought more than he can eat.  He gives one of his two sandwiches to his friend.  This is sharing.  B)  The school bully takes a student’s lunch.  This is not sharing.  C)  The smarmy kid says, “Give me a dollar and I’ll tell you who brought more lunch than he can eat.”  This is not sharing, but looks like the model for entities like AirBnb and Uber.

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On January 6th,  District Five Supervisor London Breed was elected President of the Board of Supervisors.  She is the second District Five Supervisor to be elected President of the Board since the return of District Elections in 2001.  D5 Supervisor Matt Gonzalez was elected President in 2003, serving until he left the Board in 2005.  Interestingly, both Breed and Gonzalez, representing the most liberal voting district in the City, received key support for Board President from the Board’s most conservative members: Supervisor Breed was supported by Supervisors Wiener and Tang and Gonzalez received support from Tony Hall.

Oddly, press coverage of Supervisor Breed’s election repeatedly described District Five as including only the Western Addition, the neighborhood in which the native San Franciscan was born.  District Five includes, as Supervisor Breed well knows, the Haight-Ashbury, Hayes Valley, and the Inner Sunset neighborhoods as well.  She and her office have worked hard to represent the entire district.

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