By Bruce Wolfe, HANC Board

Last month's meeting welcomed a very informative panel on the status of Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) in California, AB 2145 (Bradford, D-Gardena) and the future of CleanPower SF, our own CCA program. The panelists were D5 Supervisor and LAFCo Commissioner London Breed, our own Jason Fried as Executive Officer of SF LAFCo , Jed Holtzman of SF Bay Area 350.org, Eric Brooks of Our City and SF Green Party, and, myself, Bruce Wolfe, facilitating on behalf of the HANC Board of Directors. SFPUC Commissioners Vince Courtney and Francesca Vietor declined to attend. Californians for Energy Choice (CfEC) lobbyist David Balla-Hawkins of ART Consulting from the Sacramento area was unable to attend. (Jed, Eric and I are coordinators and also representing CfEC).

The energy business in CA and around CCA is very wonky but all panelists gave excellent reports and explanations everyone could understand. A good outline of the history of CCA and what it brings to CA ratepayers was given. Any CCA formed would bring cheaper and cleaner energy to homes and businesses. Marin and Sonoma Counties have already implemented their programs and are reaping the benefits in addition to plans for local renewable energy build-outs better known as distributed generation. 

AB 2145 was the bill to kill CCA. It was hard fought by CfEC and allies who were successful in defeating it with the expert help of David Balla Hawkins despite various, significant labor unions being dragged into the fray under spurious influence by trade front groups, SuperPACs and investor-owned utilities (IOU) like PG&E, SoCalEdison and San Diego Gas & Electric. CfEC is reaching out to them to repair this political damage and explain that CCA is a boon to jobs in the emerging renewable energy industry in CA. They were sold a bill of goods that CCA would reduce jobs.

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All current members of HANC are invited to nominate office and board members for the 2015 HANC Board.  Submit nominations by mail to:  HANC, P.O. Box 170518, San Francisco, CA  94117, or email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your nominations.  Nominations stay open until the November general meeting.

All officers and 6 of the 8 Board member positions are open for nomination.  You must be a member of HANC to be nominated.  All members of HANC as of October, 2014 can vote at the November 2014 election.

The current board offers the following slate for consideration by the general membership:

James Sword, President                                         

Bruce Wolfe, Vice-President

Michael Behrens, Recording Secretary              

Richard Ivanhoe, Corresponding Secretary

Tes Welborn, Treasurer                                          

Joey Cain, Nominating

Michelle Welch, Membership                               

Calvin Welch, Housing & Land Use                  

Karen Fishkin, Recycling                                      

Christin Evans, Merchant Liason

Members at Large:  Jim Rhoads, Burt Phillips, Colleen Rivecca, Rupert Clayton, Kevin Bayuk

By Michelle Welch, HANC Board

Recent meetings called by the Planning Department have included representatives of the Haight Ashbury Merchants Association (HAMA), the Haight Ashbury Improvement Association (HAIA), the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council (HANC) and the Cole Valley Improvement Association (CVIA).  These meetings were to go over all the ideas compiled from 150 Surveys completed by community members, some of whom attended the initial meetings at the Urban School over the last two years.

(As defined by DCP: “The goal of the Working Group is to develop preliminary recommendations for what should happen on the sidewalk at specific locations along Haight Street. Building on the input that we received from the larger community this summer, the group will think about where to provide elements such as art, special paving, plantings, etc., and will discuss the character of those elements that would be appropriate for Haight Street.  Two to three working group sessions will take place throughout the fall. The group will consist of 6-8 neighborhood representatives.”) 

The biggest changes for Haight Street from Stanyan to Masonic include “bulb outs” at pedestrian crosswalks (a pedestrian safety method touted by the SFMTA to decrease the distance a person has to walk to cross the street and thus their time in the street), and mid-block “bulb outs” to relieve the human congestion often occurring on Haight Street sidewalks (these could be “greened” or include art installations). In general, parking for cars will be diminished. Better lighting is also on the agenda. 

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If you haven't renewed your membership in HANC, or if you want to become a member*, please take this opportunity to do so.  Membership fees are $15 (regular) or $3 (low income).  Additional donations are accepted.  Please send a check, payable to HANC, to:  HANC, P.O. Box 170518, San Francisco, CA  94117.  Include the name of each member, address, phone number and email address.  Thank you.

Also, if you are receiving the HANC Voice newsletter by postal mail, and would rather have it sent electronically, let us know by sending an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

*Membership is open to anyone who resides in or owns property or a business within our boundaries, or who works, lives, or performs a service in the Haight-Ashbury.  Our boundaries run from Arguello to Divisadero, and from Fulton to 17th Street.  Our monthly general meetings are open to the public, but only HANC members may vote.

By Bruce Wolfe, HANC Board

This month, at our general meeting on October 9, in the Community Room at the Park Branch Library, 1833 Page Street, beginning at 7 pm, HANC will sponsor an in-depth discussion of Clean Power SF.  A panel of folks knowledgeable on the subject will guide us through the ins and outs of recently defeated State legislation that would have killed Clean Power SF.

On Saturday, August 30, 2014, in an extraordinary legislative upset, David beat Goliath in Sacramento. Senator Darrell Steinberg brought down the gavel at 3:00 a.m. to close the 2013-14 legislative session, with no vote on Assembly Bill 2145. AB 2145, a monopoly utility driven bill aimed at crushing locally based clean energy efforts known as Community Choice energy programs in California, is officially dead.

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By  Burt Phillips, HANC Board

So if you haven't heard, and it seems most neighbors did not (which was a main point of contention), the Haight had a street party a couple of weeks ago. It was billed as the San Francisco/Haight Ashbury Merchants and Music Street Fair (SFMMSF) and sought to promote local  merchants AND the community.

The organizers (Black Scale, Pink Dolphin, and other shops) did a good job of reaching out to the non-profit and social services groups as was evident by at least a half dozen booths used for those groups. The booths, chairs, canopies and tables were all supplied by the organizers of the event at no cost to those groups.

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The Haight Ashbury Street Fair is presenting the 9th annual Children’s Halloween Hootenanny on Saturday, October 25, from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Waller Street cul-de-sac, just west of Stanyan.

There will be games, activities, a Jumpy house, art, raffles, music, performances, and more.  There will be a costume contest.  This year’s theme is alien / sci fi.

HANC has been a regular supporter of this event, and has once again made a donation this year.

The event is free and is recommended for ages 3 and up.  Bring your kids (or grandchildren, or friends or neighbor’s kids), and have fun!

By Calvin Welch, HANC Board

HANC devoted its September meeting to hearing from campaigns that it endorsed and discussing a plan of action for the November election here in District 5.

As readers of the Voice may remember HANC has devoted its last two meetings to discussions about the crucial importance of this year's ballot. In a City that has the double whammy of having the greatest income inequality of any major American city AND the highest housing costs in the nation, two measures on the ballot--Proposition G, which would raise the transfer tax on speculative real estate transactions which result in “flipping” properties after holding them for 5 years or less and Proposition J which would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2018 – will actually seek to address these huge issues.

Additionally this November has two measures aimed at making San Francisco more “child friendly.” The first, Proposition C would extend the historic “only in San Francisco” funding program for children, families and youth. The second, Proposition E would tax sweet beverages, the proceeds of which will fund new programs aimed at healthy diets for children.

Two measures address the distressing conditions of Golden Gate Park, measures H and I. Proposition H, placed on the ballot by signatures, would prohibit the installation of artificial turf and event night lighting at the western end of GGP. Proposition I was placed on the ballot by Mayor Lee And Supervisor Chiu specifically to “kill” H should it pass. But Prop I goes farther than that as it automatically approves any “renovations” to playgrounds, fields or trails that have a certified EIR, basically overriding citizen concerns.

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