Date: Wednesday, June 11
Time: 6-8pm (stop by anytime)
Location: Park Branch Library
1833 Page Street, San Francisco, 94117

At the Planning Department's February workshop, there was a lot of excitement about the possibilities for Haight Street between Central and Stanyan.  Since then, they've been moving forward to refine public realm ideas in coordination with the MTA’s proposed transit improvements along the Haight Street corridor.

In the next few months, the Planning Department will be making decisions about what sort of amenities and identity features should be included on Haight Street. Examples include better lighting, wayfinding signage, history markers, public art – let us them what your priorities are! The workshop will be open house format, so drop by any time between 6-8pm and stay for as long as you’d like. (Note: this meeting will only look at Haight Street. They will be re-examining Stanyan and Masonic later in 2014.) 

Your feedback is important to the Planning Department, and will help to inform how streetscape amenities are prioritized.

By Karen Fishkin, Recycling Chair

The hearing we announced in the last voice was postponed. The new date is June 19th.

I spoke with Supervisor Mar's staff to see if there was some problem that might cause another postponement, but was assured there is not, and that the hearing will take place on the 19th.  The hearing will be with the Board of Supervisors' Neighborhood Services & Saftey Committee, at Room 250 in City Hall.  The meeting begins at 10:00 a.m., but where the recycling issue is on the agenda is not known at this time.  The agenda should be available by the Monday before the hearing.

They really want to hear from those interested in any issues surrounding recycling, or ideas as to how San Francisco might make it convenient for those who want to do drop off, or to get their rebates.

So sorry for the bum steer, and hope to see you there.

For agenda information you can look at the City website (http://www.sfbos.org/meeting.aspx?page=13993) or you can call Sup. Mar's office: 554-7410

Summer Work Days in Buena Vista Park

Saturday, June 7th

Saturday, July 12th

Saturday, August 2nd

When:  9:00 a.m. - Noon

Where:  Meet at Children's Playground at Waller & Buena Vista West

Bring:  Tools and gloves are provided, but you can bring your own if you prefer

Wear:  Sturdy shoes and long-sleeved shirt.

Individuals kindly rsvp to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

(need to make minimum & for tool count)

By Joey Cain, HANC Board

The annual celebration of pot known as "420" Day held on April 20th came to the Haight Ashbury again this year. Both the City of SF and the Rec and Parks Department were much better prepared than in previous years to handle the tens of thousands of participants who flooded into the neighborhood for it. In fact, some might say there was a bit of overkill in the street closures that were in effect. 

Street closure overkill?

Haight Street from Masonic to Stanyan was closed from about 10 a.m. to around 7 p.m. and both Waller and Page Streets were shut down as well, something that does not even happen for the Haight Street Fair which draws many more folks than the 420 celebration. Stanyan Street from Page to Frederick Streets was also closed all day long. It was definitely not a day to be coming to the Haight in a car!

As the crowds started to leave what is the holy ground and high point for the event attendees, 4:20 pm on Hippy Hill in Golden Gate Park, Muni seems to have had added many more buses to move folks out of the neighborhood. There were at least 12 Muni staff people working all day long at Masonic and Haight and a sizable contingent working the N Judah stop at Parnassus and Cole as well. Coming to the event by Muni proved challenging. I rode an N Judah from Fourth and Townsend about 2 pm that day and by the time we reached Powell Street it was packed and no one could get on for the rest of the trip until it reached the Cole Street stop. The next run was scheduled 13 minutes later. I have been told the surface buses were no better.

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By Tes Welborn, HANC Board

Urban School reported few changes to its plan to build on St. Agnes's parking lot. They expect to start construction in May 2015 with completion by August 2016. They will return late summer with more detailed schematics.

The French-American International School's Page Street Pre-School will have 108 kids ages 3-6, and occupies the school district land on a 30 year lease. They plan to open in August this year. Several neighbors had issues about both the white zone location and the pick-up and drop-off plans. While the pick up times are spread out from 3:15 to 6 p.m., drop off is concentrated in 8:15 to 8:45 a.m. The school requires at least the parents of the youngest children to park and walk kids into school. They have 12 off-site parking spaces available for this. They think that this, plus shuttles from Oak campus, carpool encouragement, and site monitors will work for all. We asked them to return in 1-2 months to discuss traffic plans further.

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The University of California San Francisco occupies a large part of our neighborhood, has a large impact, and is one of the city's biggest employers.  It has been developing a long-range plan to cover the next about 25 years.  Some changes to agreements with the S.F. community the HANC Board feels are acceptable, such as maintaining the space ceiling and excluding the Aldea Housing and any new housing from it. 

The HANC Board is very concerned about the major changes to the Mt. Sutro plan, which go from true management, replanting natives, and conservation to a "chop and mow" approach.  This change also affects Rec and Park's management plan for the Inner Greenbelt, and the larger city plan of green belts.  The University is rushing through these changes before a new Chancellor is selected. 

Please voice your opposition re Mt. Sutro to the UC Board of Regents, Senior Vice Chancellor, Finance and Admininstration, John Plotts, and Vice Chancellor, Strategic Communications and University Relations, Barbara French.

By Karen Fishkin, HANC Board

Supervisor Eric Mar recognizes that San Francisco needs to take a look at the state of recycling in San Francisco. What is the plan? Is there a plan? Do we need a plan? Is there a price to be paid for closing neighborhood recycling centers? What are the benefits and who pays the price?

The Supervisor is holding a hearing on May 15th., room 250, at City Hall.

The meeting starts at 10 AM, but since the the agenda has not been determined as of yet, we cannot tell you just when this issue will be discussed. Check with his office the day before.

Expect to hear from small businesses, since they are facing daily fines, the Department of the Environment, (maybe they'll have a plan), the Coalition on Homelessness, and any of you who have concerns and/or ideas.

It is hoped legislation will follow.

By Calvin Welch, HANC Board

The SFMTA withdrew its ill-considered seven-year-old proposal to remove 6 Parnassus service from the Upper Ashbury portion of the line and relocate it to Haight Street to make up for the previous loss of the 7 Haight line, and will keep service to the Haight-Ashbury unchanged. The decision was approved by the SFMTA Board on March 28 when it adopted the citywide Transit Effectiveness Program (TEP) which made changes to 59 of the City’s 81 transit routes. The plan also calls for the net reduction of two stops on Haight St.: the removal of the Haight/Cole stop and consolidation of two stops on either end of Buena Vista Park into a single new stop at Lyon and Haight.

HANC and other residents of the neighborhood consistently opposed the proposal since it was first made in 2007 when the TEP was first announced. HANC also strongly opposed the ending of the 7 Haight service, from Stanyan to the Transbay Terminal but SFMTA ended the service anyway as part of the original TEP “service enhancements”.Oddly, one of the reasons cited by SFMTA re-routing of the 6 from Ashbury Heights to Haight St. was to “provide more service to Haight Street.”

At HANC 's March general membership meeting, the odd history of the TEP as well as the current state of Mayor Lee's transit proposals were the subject of discussion by a panel made up of HANC's former President and current Senior Disability Action staff member, Pi Ra; Bob Allen, Acting Executive Director/Transportation Justice Program Director, Urban Habitat; and Peter Cohen, of the Council of Community Housing Organizations.

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