By Calvin Welch, HANC Board, and past member of the Advisory Committee for the Future of UCSF Parnassus Heights (2019-2020)
The Haight-Ashbury neighborhood existed before the University of California, then known as the Affiliated Colleges, opened in the fall of 1898 on Parnassus Heights. By 1883, with the completion of the Haight Street Cable Car, some dozen blocks of homes had been developed in the neighborhood, with Haight Ashbury real estate being touted by speculators because of its location next to Golden Gate Park, the Chutes amusement park (on Haight St between Cole and Clayton) and the California League Baseball stadium at what is today Frederick and Stanyan streets.
It is important to understand that the continued existence of the neighborhood’s access to transit and housing has been an ongoing issue between the neighborhood and UCSF for much of its 120 year history on Mt. Sutro. And as the UC Regents ponder a new expansion plan for the campus, which will remove a forty -five year old agreement with the community to expand off the Parnassus campus, the neighborhood’s future is again to be decided by an unelected body advised by unaccountable campus administration.