Join HANC, community gardeners, and the urban agriculture community, at our general meeting on Thursday, July 12, beginning at 7:00 pm, downstairs at the Park Branch Library, 1833 Page Street.

Within the last year, community garden and urban agriculture sites in San Francisco, including the Free Farm (at Gough and Eddy), Hayes Valley Farm (at Oak and Laguna) and the Kezar Gardens and Ecology Center (at 780 Frederick), along with the more high profile Gill Tract (on UC Berekley property in Albany in East Bay), have all had to reckon with the uncertainty of tenure and permissible use for growing food for people. Each of these sites has its own story of impending change of land use, displacement or eviction of farming activities in favor of housing and commercial development except in the case of Kezar Gardens and Ecology Center which is being faced with the possibility of being evicted in favor of another community garden. At the HANC general membership meeting on Thursday July 12th we will hear from community members involved with these sites and learn more about the current status of these sites and solicit discussion from members about land tenure and community gardens and urban agriculture.

The Free Farm is currently on a vacant lot owned by St. Paulus church at the corner of Gough and Eddy. Earlier this year, St. Paulus signed an agreement with Maracor Development to go ahead with a plan of selling the land to them and having it developed for market rate housing and a new church building for St. Paulus. The Free Farm has some 24-36 months until “entitlement” or when the city gives final approval for the building project. This will include an environmental impact report, community meetings with the neighbors, coming up with a design, and dealing with all legal and building issues. Once entitlement is reached the church signs the property over to the developer. Maracorp Development has required that the Free Farm be removed from the site 6 months before entitlement happens. The Free Farm is currently searching for a new location (or locations) in the city.

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Also at July's meeting will be representatives from Mercy Housing and the Arc to answer questions about their plans for 1500 Masonic.

Mercy Housing and the Arc San Francisco are collaborating to renovate the long vacant property at 1500 Page, at Masonic, to provide 15 units of housing for low-income persons who are developmentally disabled.  Renovations will create 12 studio and 4 one-bedroom apartments as well as spaces for resident services.  Funding for the renovations has been committed by the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Housing and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Mercy Housing California is a nonprofit corporation whose mission is to create and strengthen healthy communities through the provision of quality affordable, service-enriched housing for individuals and families who are economically poor.  It developed the old Southern Pacific Hospital site at 333 Baker into 158 senior and 36 family affordable homes.

The Arc San Francisco is a non-profit service and advocacy organization for adults with autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families living in San Francisco and San Mateo counties.  The Arc provides a range of services relevant to all areas of adult life, from independent living supports and skills building to employment training and creative expression.

8 Washington is designed to take advantage of public views created when the Embarcadero Freeway came down. Sue Bierman worked to make that demolition happen.   It is SUE BIERMAN PARK that will be walled off by the 8 Washington project.   The extreme luxury housing on this site would eliminate a community recreation facility (outdoor swimming pools and tennis courts) serving seniors and children and seniors.

FACT - Height limits along the waterfront have NEVER been increased since they were first adopted 50 years ago.

FACT - San Francisco voters have NEVER placed a referendum on the ballot to reverse an ordinance adopted by the Supervisors. (It’s very hard to do.)

FACT - San Franciscans are out on the street gathering signatures on a referendum petition to challenge the first ever height increase - to 136’ across from Sue Bierman Park at Washington and The Embarcadero.

FACT - The height increase is for a project designed to be the MOST EXPENSIVE CONDOS IN SAN FRANCISCO - $3 to $8 million condos.

The physical petition is over 540 pages long - the size of the phone book - because the developer and City dumped documents into “the file” to force the petition to be that long. Could you help circulate a petition? Call Sue Hestor at 846-1021 or go by the NO WALL ON NORTHEAST WATERFRONT headquarters at 15 Columbus (894-7008).   Petitions will be available for signing at the July 15 HANC picnic. PETITIONS MUST BE TURNED IN THURSDAY, JULY 19.

PLEASE HELP US GET THE 20,000 VALID SIGNATURES WE NEED.

SUTTER EXPANSION PLAN FUELS CONTROVERSY

At the June HANC general membership meeting a presentation was made by two panelists from San Franciscans for Healthcare, Housing Jobs and Justice (SFHHJJ) , a coalition of some 60 community, neighborhood and labor organizations seeking amendments to the draft Development Agreement for the proposed Sutter/CPMC 550 bed hospital at Cathedral Hill at Geary and Van Ness. Little did HANC members know that within two weeks of the presentation dramatic chinches would occur in the project calling its final approval into question.

Bob Prentice, former Assistant Director of the Department of Public Health and Paul Kumar, former Political Director of SEIU, Local 250 presented SFHHJJ proposals for improving access to health care at the new facility, improving Sutter’s poor record of providing “charity care” for the medical indigent and assuring the continued operation as a full service hospital of St. Luke’s hospital, acquired by Sutter in 2004. Both speakers made the case that this huge expansion of Sutter in San Francisco would give it “market control” of heath care which demands that the City, as a condition of approval of the project, make sure that it not result in lower health care services and higher health care cost.

Two major concerns were discussed: the impact on City health care costs for its workers and “Healthy San Francisco” given Sutter’s market dominance and the requirement that Sutter maintain St. Luke’s for a minimum of twenty years as a full service hospital in the medically underserved southeast portion of the City. The fact that the first issue has yet to be resolved has meant that none of the Boards conservative members have stepped forward to endorse the project.

But it was the St. Luke’s issue that now threatens the approval of the project.

At a hearing before a Board Committee on June 25^th, a representative of the Mayor reported that the “deal” reached with Sutter regarding an “escape clause” which if met would allow Sutter to get out of operating St. Luke’s and originally thought to be based upon a remote set of conditions in fact, was not at all that remote and, indeed, was close to being met even before the project was approved allowing Sutter to end its operation of St. Luke’s within as few as five years, far short of the twenty year requirement in the draft agreement.

The announcement was greeted by stunned anger by the Board of Supervisors for having this significant fact held from them nearly two weeks. Not one Supervisor had co-sponsored the Mayors draft deal and with this announcement some Supervisors have called for the entire project to be sent back to “the drawing boards” and fundamentally re-negotiation.

The Stanyan and Page intersection traffic lights were turned on in May, 2012, only six years after HANC and nearby residents petitioned the City to install them. Heavily used by pedestrians both ways , the intersection was a “speedway” between the Haight Street traffic lights and the Fell street lights, creating real life dangers for all. Making material improvements to our neighborhood takes time and persistence, which is why neighborhood organizations like HANC are critically important. Individual residents may know the problems but it takes a neighborhood organization to change them.

Join HANC!

Pros and Cons of Props A & B Discussed

PROP A:  Garbage and Recycling

May's HANC general membership meeting featured representatives from both sides of Proposition A (on the ballot in June, calling for competitive bidding of San Francisco's garbage and recycling contracts) presenting their cases and taking questions from the community.  In attendance were Tony Kelly and Paul Zusky defending each side of Prop A.  Some of the points brought up by the attendees were as follows:  Is Recology against competitive bidding?  Who controls the trash rates in our city?  What is going to happen with the Yuba City Landfill?  Is it better to change the system through Prop A or leave things well enough alone?

The community comments, questions and elaborations allowed for a discussion, not just a political pitch.  The best part of this night was the fact that a real conversation on the state of our trash and our goals was had and many varying points of view were welcomed and addressed by Tony Kelly and Paul Zusky.  It was a clear indication that no matter where you fall on Prop A, we have much to sort through on the subject of trash in San Francisco.  This complicated part of our existence is in a major state of change and to better our future, we all need to get involved.  Check out video footage on this subject at the Kezar Gardens Blog.

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For more information about these workshops, or to become a GFE (Garden for the Environment) member, go to www.gardenfortheenvironment.org

INTRO TO ORGANIC GARDENING
PART III, GARDEN WATERING
Dates: Saturday, June 16th, 2012
Time: 10AM - 12:30PM
Location: Garden for the Environment, San Francisco
Cost: Free, (Registration Required)

INTRO TO ORGANIC GARDENING, Part III
Water is vital to garden health. But, when is enough, enough? Join us to learn earth-friendly ways to water the garden and the most efficient practices for the Bay Area’s Mediterranean climate.

Topics covered include:

• Hand watering and automatic sprinklers
• Year-round schedules that conserve
• Hand watering—is it efficient?
• Eliminating runoff
• Spray vs. Drip irrigation
• What kind of plants are you watering?
• Sprinkler lifetime and care

Click Here to Register

AVOIDING LEAD EXPOSURE FROM GARDENING

Date: Saturday, June 30th, 2012
Time: 1pm - 3pm
Location: Garden for the Environment, 7th Ave at Lawton Street, San Francisco
Instructor: Instructors from the San Francisco Childhood Lead Prevention Program at the SF Department of Public Health
Cost: FREE (Sponsored by the SF Department of Public Health)

Human and childhood exposure to lead is a well-documented and preventable environmental health problem. In the context of urban gardens, exposure to lead is most likely to come from contaminated soil. In this accessible and practical 2-hour class you will learn how to reduce the health risks for you and your family from exposure to lead through from urban gardening.

You will learn:
- How and why lead exposure occurs in soil
- Best practices to reduce the risk of lead exposure through gardening
- How to assess the risk of lead exposure to you and your family
- How to have your soil tested for lead
- How to remediate lead paint and soil hazards

Click Here to Register

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Our Recycling Center has been transformed into a Community Garden, Native Plant Nursery, and yes, the Recycling Center is still open!  Stop by at 780 Frederick Street (near Arguello), and see how we have changed.

Recycling Center hours are 9 am to 4 pm Monday through Saturday for material drop-off; 10 am to 3 pm Monday through Saturday for cash redemption of CRV, and noon to 4 pm Sunday, with no cash redemption on Sunday.

Our Community Garden is up and running!  Plots were assigned by lottery on January 15, and our gardners have been growing their gardens.  Stop by and see how they grow . . .

Yes, we still have native plants.  Stop by and take home a plant from our complete selecion of San Francisco native plants.

For more information click here