By Lisa Awbrey, HANC President
The most important sentence in the Brown Act is: “all meetings of the legislative body of a local agency shall be open and public, and all persons shall be permitted to attend any meeting of the legislative body of a local agency except as otherwise provided.”
Now more than ever, especially during a global pandemic, transparency and accountability to the Public by our decision makers is essential. The People’s business and policy making must be done in the open air and sunlight. And the Public’s access to government meetings where decisions regarding complex quality of life issues (like local public transit, public space, street use, land use, and future development) are made and implemented is critical. Recently, when the SFMTA and its directors revealed a plan for the termination of local neighborhood serving bus lines, HANC joined with residents, numerous neighborhood organizations and community leaders to push for full restoration of ALL MUNI lines. At public hearings, through public comment, emails and demonstrations, the People called on the SFMTA to fully restore MUNI to pre pandemic levels. As of this writing, it appears SFMTA is changing course and listening because the public organized and spoke against the plan; none of this would have been possible without the Brown Act or without public engagement and public comment. The same could be said regarding recent public hearings on the controversial expansion of the UCSF Parnassus Campus, on various local D5 projects before the SF Planning Department and Commission and on decisions that impact our unhoused neighbors.
The COVID-19 global pandemic has resulted in many changes to how local governments conduct business, including significant changes to open meeting rules and the Public’s access to local officials.
“Cosi” Lee Fabian (Harrison) Pavalko passed away on July 21, 2021. An Ashbury Street resident for 40 years, she was vibrant and multifaceted. She was, among other things, an artist, activist, dog walker (her dog walking service was called “Mary Poopins”), and friend to many. She was instrumental in saving the 6 Parnassus bus route for our neighborhood a few years ago, led a neighborhood senior discussion group, established her own English garden in the front yard next to her home. Cosi’s life was celebrated at the San Francisco Columbarium on Saturday, September 25th. Her niche there is in the