HANC’s May general meeting featured three separate presentations—a discussion of Recology’s proposed new rate structure, a discussion of a planned independent living center at 1500 Page Street, and a question and answer session with Park Station Captain Corrales.
Recology
Paul Giusti from Recology presented the proposed new rate structure. With rising costs for labor and fuel (biodiesel), and San Franciscans doing more composting and recycling, Recology will be asking for a change to the current rates. The current rate structure charges customers only for their black bins (landfill). The proposed new rate structure will, for the first time, charge customers a small fee for the green (compost) and blue (recycling) bins. These charges can be offset by using a smaller black bin. So, instead of the current $27.31 flat rate, the proposed new rates would be $5 per month, plus $2 per month for every green or blue bin, plus $25.51 per month for every 32-gallon black bin, for a monthly total of $34.51. But this total can be reduced to $26.94 per month, slightly less than the current rate, by downsizing the black bin from 32 to 20 gallons. Watch for hearings before the SFPUC and the Board of Supervisors on the proposed rate change. During the meeting, there were also questions about and a discussion of what exactly can be put into the recycling and compost bins.
1500 Page Street Proposal
Next, there was a presentation about the independent living center for developmentally disabled adults proposed for 1500 Page Street. See the accompanying article for more details.
Q&A With Captain Corrales
Finally, there was a question and answer session with Park Police Station Captain Gregory Corrales. Here are a few of the points addressed: The bulk of robberies in Park District, as well as in the rest of the City, are cell phones. Most people no longer carry much cash, but cell phones can be stolen and resold for a few hundred dollars. So be aware of your surroundings when you are using a cell phone. Park Station is one of the most understaffed of the City’s police stations, but it has been allowed to be understaffed because our district has one of the lowest crime rates in the City. The Park Station website is now up and running at www.parkstation.org., where you can find safety tips, contact information for Park Station, and read the latest Park Station newsletter. The Captain invites everyone to the Park Station Community Meeting, the second Tuesday of each month beginning at 6:00 pm in the Community Room at Park Station. Captain Corrales had met with some homeless advocates, who had expressed concern about how some of the people cited or arrested had been described. He agreed to tone down the characterizations—he did not consider writing the newsletter to be police work, but he was required to produce it, and was trying to make it a little more fun. There was a discussion about how Park Station was addressing people with mental illness that sometimes created disturbances. There is a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Larkin Street Youth Services, but this is more an agreement that the police will provide services to the organization when needed rather than the police asking for help from Larkin Street or other service providers when confronting someone with mental illness. Captain Corrales did mention that somebody who appears “unsavory” has a right to be at Alvord Lake or other public places, as long as he or she is not committing any crimes. Although there are rumors that Captain Corrales is planning to retire soon, nobody asked about this. The discussion with Captain Corrales lasted about an hour. Video of most of this session can be seen here (part 1) and here (part 2).