By Bruce Wolfe, HANC Vice President

The Clean Power San Francisco (CPSF) program is moving along nicely. It is set to officially launch in late spring in the Southeast side of the city.  It will include all those who requested, through the website, to receive service early.  There will be two tiers: Green (30-50% renewable) and SuperGreen (100% renewable), both designed to meet or beat PG&E's current rates.

But, as SF Clean Energy Advocates (SFCEA) expected, more obstacles have been thrown in by SFPUC (the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission) and whoever else is seeking to slow things down. SFPUC suddenly replaced its CFO, and the new CFO now wants a far more granular business plan than is necessary before the launch. At a recent commission meeting, an announcement was made that the launch may be delayed because of this.

SFCEA and its partners are preparing for such notice of a delay. We are forging ahead in moving the public information campaign with the current target launch date. If the SFPUC will not honor that date to the residents and businesses of our City then we will be calling on you to express strong public opinion and to apply whatever pressure to assure CleanPower SF launches on time. Sign up today at http://CleanPowerSF.org.

HANC President James Sword, center, and Haight Ashbury Merchants Association  Board Member Christin Evans, (left of James)  joined by representatives  of ProSF, Alamo Square Neighborhood Associatio , and North of Panhandle Neighborhood  Association at an October 26th Press Conference, calling on Supervisor Breed to conduct a hearing on five recent Haight Street gas leaks.

James Sword, President of the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council, called upon the Board of Supervisors to hold a hearing on a series of five gas leaks that occurred in one block of Haight Street between April and October which resulted in three evacuations of both businesses and residents, two “pauses” in the project to sort out the problem, and its final postponement in mid-October.  The project is still not completed and there are no known dates for its final completion.

Read more ...

Beyond Vape,  a sixteen-store national chain selling electronic smoking devices with a  mission, in addition to selling the devices,  “to inspire and educate customers about vaping” held a “pre-application” meeting  at their proposed location at 1463 Haight Street (between Masonic and Ashbury).

HANC members attended the October 12th meeting and were not “ inspired” to support what would be at least the tenth such high- or low-tech  “smoke shop” on Haight Street.

Beyond Vape was seeking a Conditional Use permit to locate on Haight Street.  According to the Planning Code a primary requirement for such a permit is that the  use is both “necessary and desirable” at the proposed location.

In HANC’s view, Beyond Vape is neither.  HANC wrote to the Planning Department urging it not to grant the permit. 

Following the closure of the Wednesday afternoon Upper Haight Farmers Market in August, the Recreation and Parks Department is proposing to “activate” the asphalt area at Waller and Stanyan by adding a second evening of food trucks.

Off the Grid has been bringing food trucks to the site on Thursday evenings since 2010. RPD has now floated the idea of “adding an additional Tuesday night market” which “will likely provide the healthy community engagement that the Department and the surrounding community and merchants desire.”

Read more ...

By Bruce Wolfe, HANC Vice President

At our September 10th meeting, Captain John Sanford, Jr., the new Park Station Commanding Officer, joined us. A calm guy presented his vision of policing for our neighborhood. He explained the recent roadway traps focusing on bicycle riders, that got plenty of press, was to help protect pedestrians and reduce dangerous altercations with motorists. He received a lot of complaints about bikers and since there is law about bike riding on open roadways, specifically, rolling stops at traffic control devices and signage, he felt it prudent to monitor and then act if the issue was credible. It appeared it was.

Read more ...

By Calvin Welch, HANC Board

This November will be fifth anniversary of the passage of the deeply controversial--at least in this neighborhood--Sit/Lie law by the voters of San Francisco, which made it a jailable offense to sit or lie on a public sidewalk .  One month later the Recreation and Parks Commission voted to end some 30 years of operation of the HANC recycling center at Kezar Stadium.  Both actions were sold by both the Gavin Newsom administration (chiefly. Rec and Parks General Manager Ginsburg and Chief of staff Steve Kawa)  and the Chronicle (chiefly through the ranting of columnist CW Nevius) as effective measures to reduce homelessness in the Haight-Ashbury.  It didn’t quite turn out that way, however. Not even close.

Read more ...

By:  Tes Welborn, HANC Board

In April's meeting, we learned that the “sharing economy” encompasses a wide range of non-profit, barter, cooperative and for profit structures. All are based on mobile networks and social networks, tech plus trust, and facilitated by the economic downturn. However, the for-profit sector is the one that is booming.

Many have criticized the for-profit sector of the sharing economy, writing that sharing economy businesses "extract" profits from their given sector by "successfully [making] an end run around the existing costs of doing business..." New York Magazine wrote that sharing economy innovations have made a difference, but that the for-profit sector of the sharing economy has succeeded in large part because the real economy has been struggling. "Lots of people are trying to fill holes in their income by monetizing their stuff and their labor in creative ways..." The magazine writes that "In almost every case, what compels people to open up their homes and cars to complete strangers is money, not trust...But what's getting them to the threshold in the first place is a damaged economy, and harmful public policy that has forced millions of people to look to odd jobs for sustenance."

 If a business normally had, say, a 10% profit margin, And they could save 30% of labor costs by NOT having employees, and NOT having to build or buy buildings, or a fleet of cars, their profit margin could be 40% or more! Investors see the failure of government to aid us, our cities and our communities, and are eager to help us get by --But not by giving us JOBS !!

In May's meeting, we learned that while Short-Term Tourist Rentals are enjoyed by many, these Tourist Rentals are definitely reducing affordable, rent-controlled housing in both the Haight and San Francisco. Up to 30% of “available housing” is being used for full-time tourist rentals! Thousands of illegal STRs cannot be made legal under both current law and proposed law, and they supply most of Airbnb's and all of VRBO's income.  Effective local regulation can only be achieved, HANC believes, by voting for Proposition F this November.

Read more ...

By:  Rupert Clayton, HANC Board

HANC's monthly (except August) general membership meeting is held downstairs at the Park Branch Library, 1833 Page Street (between Cole and Shrader) on the second Thursday of the month, beginning at 7 pm.  Our meetinngs are open to the public and free to attend 

If the city rented the parking spot outside your home to your neighbor for $150 a month there’s a good chance you’d
be pretty annoyed. But if ten of your neighbors sold the private cars they parked on your street you’d probably be much more enthusiastic, and wouldn’t much mind that their new shared car gets a reserved parking space. In fact, both those trends are part of San Francisco’s nearly two-year-old On-Street Car Share Pilot Program. Finding the right policy for on-street car-sharing is the subject of HANC’s July 9 membership meeting, part of our series on the impact of the “sharing economy”.

Panelists at the meeting will include Elliot Martin, a research engineer with UC Berkeley’s Transportation Sustainability Research Center, Andy Thornley, the project analyst in charge of on-street car-sharing in San Francisco, and a representative from City CarShare.

Two recently designated on-street parking spaces for City CarShare on Cole St at Carl St lie empty awaiting a red curb paint.

Read more ...