By Calvin Welch, HANC Board Member

Turnout in the March Democratic Presidential primary was off the hook, with a whopping overall neighborhood turnout of 72%, with 70% of the voters casting ballots in the North Panhandle precincts, 71% turnout in the progressive voting Flatland precincts and a whopping 75% turnout in the Hill precincts.   The turnout vastly exceeded the 2016 Primary vote in which  59%  of the voters in  the Haight Ashbury cast ballots,  with 58% turnout in the North Panhandle,  61% in the Flats and 59% in the Hill precincts.   (Charts for voter turnout, Presidential vote, and Props D and E turnout are at the end of this article).

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By Tes Welborn, HANC President

On Sunday afternoon, February 23rd, Supervisor Dean Preston and staff hosted a District 5 public meeting about Navigation Centers -- what they are and what they do. The meeting was held at Gateway High School.  Other speakers included a young man, Justin, who has benefited from a Navigation Center, Steve Good, director of 5 Keys, the service provider at the Bayview Navigation Center, Christin Evans, from the Prop C campaign, and Jennifer Friedenbach, Coalition on Homelessness. Captain Engler, from Northern Station, and a lieutenant from the Park state were also available for questions.

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By Christin Evans, HANC Board Member

On Saturday February 8 at approximately 11:30pm, San Francisco police officers were called to the intersection of Haight and Ashbury where an off-duty FBI officer reportedly fired his gun 3 times, striking street musician and formerly homeless youth Tad Crane twice in the abdomen and lung. 

The community gathered at the Bindery on February 18th and heard from Supervisor Dean Preston who had been on site within an hour of the shooting and whose office had been coordinating the release of all possible information from SFPD, the DA and FBI.

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By Christin Evans, HANC Board Member

Starting with our March meeting, the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council (HANC) will begin recording its monthly meetings and streaming the meeting video live on the Council’s Facebook page.  

The HANC board believes that not only will video streaming create an accurate record of the meeting discussion but that it will also create greater accessibility to HANC’s programming to current and prospective members.

To access the video content, search Facebook Groups for the “Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council.”  Or enter this URL: https://www.facebook.com/groups/177524865599522/

Since the group is set up for Public access, there is no need to create a Facebook login to view the video content.  Feel free to like or leave a comment on each video if you’d like to continue the conversation beyond the meeting. 

By Christin Evans, HANC Board Member

HANC's monthly (except August) general membership meeting is usually 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. 

At the February 13 meeting of the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council (HANC), we will host speakers in favor of Propositions D and E.

Proposition D

Proposition D had more than a year-long journey to the ballot.  Initially floated in 2018, the proposal by Supervisor Aaron Peskin sought to respond to concerns by neighbors and businesses about the increasing number of storefront vacancies in the North Beach district.

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At our February 13 meeting, There will be a presentation by David Williams of the California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA) about the Schools and Communities First initiative ( SCF ).

The SCF ballot initiative will reclaim $12 billion for schools and local communities by closing corporate loopholes and requiring commercial and industrial property owners to pay fair market value property taxes. The initiative maintains critical exemptions for homeowners, renters and seniors from increased property taxes while also implementing new small business tax relief.

Note that although this measure will reform 1978’s Proposition 13, it shouldn’t be confused with the Proposition 13 that appears on the March ballot.  The March Proposition 13 is a bond measure for the renovation and construction of education facilities. 

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Greetings HANC members! As your new District 5 Supervisor, I wanted to extend a warm and grateful hello to the great Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council! 

Many of us have been organizing together for years. For those whom I have not yet met, allow me to introduce myself: I’m a long time affordable housing and tenant rights advocate. I’m also a Democratic Socialist, an everyday MUNI rider, and a public school parent. I’ve lived in D5 for over 20 years. I’m looking forward to working with HANC and all our neighbors to tackle the issues that are important to you. 

We’ve hit the ground running in our first few weeks in City Hall:

• Promptly responding to dozens of constituent issues
• Working to extend rent control to Midtown Park Apartments on Divisadero
• Identifying possible sites for a Navigation Center for our District -- Save the date for a community meeting on February 23rd

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