By Richard Ivanhoe, HANC Board

This year, HANC plans to present a series of meetings on the so-called “sharing economy” and its impact on our neighborhood and on our city.  First, we want to come up with a better name.  We’ve considered “greed economy,”  “monetized economy,” “taking market,”  “command economy,” and “share-the-scraps economy” (http://robertreich.org/post/109894095095).   

Here’s an example that explains why the word “sharing” is being misused: A)   In the school lunchroom, a student brought more than he can eat.  He gives one of his two sandwiches to his friend.  This is sharing.  B)  The school bully takes a student’s lunch.  This is not sharing.  C)  The smarmy kid says, “Give me a dollar and I’ll tell you who brought more lunch than he can eat.”  This is not sharing, but looks like the model for entities like AirBnb and Uber.

On January 6th,  District Five Supervisor London Breed was elected President of the Board of Supervisors.  She is the second District Five Supervisor to be elected President of the Board since the return of District Elections in 2001.  D5 Supervisor Matt Gonzalez was elected President in 2003, serving until he left the Board in 2005.  Interestingly, both Breed and Gonzalez, representing the most liberal voting district in the City, received key support for Board President from the Board’s most conservative members: Supervisor Breed was supported by Supervisors Wiener and Tang and Gonzalez received support from Tony Hall.

Oddly, press coverage of Supervisor Breed’s election repeatedly described District Five as including only the Western Addition, the neighborhood in which the native San Franciscan was born.  District Five includes, as Supervisor Breed well knows, the Haight-Ashbury, Hayes Valley, and the Inner Sunset neighborhoods as well.  She and her office have worked hard to represent the entire district.

By Richard Ivanhoe, HANC Board

HANC’s January general meeting was an old-fashioned discussion with our members and guests, as our invited speakers were not able to attend.  We presented an update on the Panhandle, and discussed how car-sharing parking spaces and the proposed Area Q residential parking permits will affect our neighborhood.  Car-sharing and residential parking permits are discussed elsewhere in this issue of the Voice, so this article will provide an update on the Panhandle.

By Calvin Welch, HANC Board

On January 16th, 2015, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) held a 10 a.m. hearing at City Hall on the proposed “Area Q” Residential Permit Parking“ covering some 20 square blocks of the Haight-Ashbury, making it the largest such area in the neighborhood.   The proposed “Area Q” had been reduced at HANC’s request in mid December.  Maps of the original and reduced area Q were printed in the January issue of the Voice and can also be seen at http://www.hanc-sf.org/general/sfmta-reduces-proposed-permit-parking-area-q-at-hancs-request-more-reduction-needed.html.

Jan 27, 2015 — The Mayor, Supervisor Weiner and Rec & Park and DPW have definitely responded to our concerns about Buena Vista Park sent out exactly a year ago in a Change.org petition. The Mayor provided $100k in his budget to prune the most hazardous trees (work begins this fall), Sup. Weiner obtained funds for a chipper to help with mulching/erosion (on order), and RPD & DPW have really improved garbage pick-up in the park as well as initiating a pilot erosion-control landscape improvement on the west side.

We now have a chance to develop the first-ever Capital Plan (i.e. physical structures, irrigation, paths, forest) for the park beginning on February 10th at the Randall Museum, 6-8 PM. The plan is essential to understanding what funds are really needed for more 'permanent' fixes to erosion, deteriorating paths, lack of sufficient irrigation, and a declining forest canopy. The process (3 meetings in total) will identify approx 3 small (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

A fire broke out on 1/31/2015 at McAllister Street and Scott Street, affecting several buildings and residents.  Alamo Square Neighborhood Association (ASNA) has set up a collection fund to go to those displaced by the fire. Donate via our GoFundMe page:  www.gofundme.com/alamosquare/ 

You can also send a check to:ASNA, 530 Divisadero St. #176, San Francisco, CA 94117 (Please write Fire Fund in memo line)

ASNA is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.  All funds raised will go directly to the residents displaced by the fire.

Another fund has been started at www.gofundme.com/l1hrw8 for the victims of the big fire recently at 22nd & Mission.

By Calvin Welch, HANC Board Member

On December 17th, Kathryn Studwell of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) informed HANC that the agency had removed more than three blocks from the proposed “Area Q” Residential Permit Parking (RPP)  addition now under consideration by the SFMTA.

The area removed was the three blocks from Baker to Masonic, between Fell and both sides of Page Street originally included in the proposal  (See maps, below).  The area removed would also include Panhandle parking spaces along both sides of Oak Street, west of Baker.

Original Proposed “Area Q” Permit Parking Area

Proposal After HANC’s Advocacy

It’s January again.  As we look forward to 2015, we can also take this opportunity to reflect on last year.  HANC again focused on themes that recur in our neighborhood – housing, transit, parks, local elections, and homelessness.  We had some victories, weathered some defeats, and continued to provide information about our neighborhood and our city not available anywhere else.  We held eleven meetings open to the public, and published eleven issues of our Voice newsletter.  All 2014 issues of the Voice can be downloaded from our website at www.hanc-sf.org/the-voice-docs/16-2014/.

We devoted last January’s general meeting to tenant issues in preparation for citywide tenant conventions.  HANC sent recommendations to the convention to fund rebuilding public housing, to require registration and payment of the hotel tax by Airbnb and similar short-term rentals, and to require newly legalized in-law units to remain rental units and not be converted to condos.  February’s meeting, ironically held during one of the largest downpours in 2014 (until December), featured a discussion of the drought, and the SFPUC presented its proposal for water rate increases.  Our March meeting discussed transit—SFMTA’s Transit Effectiveness Plan and proposal for the November ballot.