Membership Meetings: 2nd Thursdays ~ 7-9pm
Park Branch Library, 1833 Page St, SF, CA 94117 (except August)
By James Sword, HANC President
I attended the first 30 minutes of the "Pre-construction Open House" for the July 2016 to November 2017 Masonic construction project. There were about 20 residents and 10 to 15 staff from MTA, Bike Coalition, and DPW. About half the residents appeared to have issues with the project, mostly due to increased traffic and reduced parking, Others felt they were not heard during the outreach process.
By Christin Evans, HANC Board
On the evening of July 6th, community members gathered in the Park Branch meeting room to review the latest designs proposed for upper Haight street. The project, which started in 2012 as a public realm visioning, was pushed ahead by SFMTA, which had earmarked dollars for their Muni Forward plan to speed the buses.
At the meeting, DPW planners Martha Ketterer and Fiona Cundy showed designs with alternatives for pedestrian-scale light fixtures, as well as identifying features and tilework at the corner of Haight & Ashbury. Also discussed at the meeting was the possible removal of up to one third of the street's trees which are in poor shape and may not survive the project's disruption to their root structure. Construction work is scheduled to start early in 2018 and to last at least 18 months, sometimes blocking access to Haight street merchants.
By Calvin Welch, HANC Board
The Haight-Ashbury voted for Bernie, Kim and affordable housing this June. No real surprise there except the growing difference in the vote in the “hill” portions of the neighborhood (also called “Cole Valley”): it voted for Clinton and Wiener. The “North Pan” is the area from Fulton to Fell, Stanyan to Baker; the “Flats” is that area, mainly from Oak to Frederick, Stanyan to Buena Vista West/Baker and the “Hills,” Frederick to Belgrade, Stanyan to Clayton/Ashbury.
AB 2395: It authorizes AT&T to abandon their land-based phone networks and to withdraw phone service from any community, at any time, even if no options exist for other phone or broadband service. This bill would allow AT&T to eliminate landline phone service and will have negative impacts on millions of Californians, including the elderly and those with disabilities.
We believe changes to universal service policy should only be set after extensive consultation, and must include meaningful protections for those groups most dependent on landlines. Seniors depend heavily on legacy technology, and Californians with disabilities depend on landlines for health monitoring, TTY, and unlimited toll-free access for public services.
Lurilla regularly attended the SDA (Senior and Disability Action) General Meeting at the Unitarian Universalist Church, and on her way to the meeting on June 9th, she was struck and killed by a Paratransit van. Lurilla was a wonderful presence at our meetings and events. She was also very active in the community, attending citywide pedestrian safety meetings and speaking her mind when she was so moved. Lurilla used a walker, and if you asked her if she needed anything, her response was always, “Yeah, chocolate” Lurilla was a longtime participant in Senior Action Network, now Senior and Disability Action. She was also involved with the Gray Panthers. She had been a proofreader and led a very interesting life. We remember her hats, her mischievous smile, and her wit. We extend our condolences to Lurilla’s son and to all her friends.
A memorial will be held for Lurilla on Tuesday, July 19, 2016, Noon to 2 pm, at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 1187 Franklin Street, in the Martin Luther King room.
By Bruce Wolfe, HANC Vice President
In 2011, in the wake of a corruption scandal that still threatens the tenancy in the Parkmerced apartments adjacent to SF State University, which began many months of hearings brought by angry renters, the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force (SOTF) found several SF elected Supervisors to be in violation of the Ordinance for not adhering to state Brown Act open meetings rules.
In 2012, the entire membership of the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force (SOTF) was summarily purged at their regular appointment cycle, not for the reason above, but for a specious supposition made by Supervisors that the SOTF disobeyed City Charter Article IV when it adjusted its bylaws over an inconsequential voting procedure. The SOTF for three years researched its authority to do so, finding its obedience is to California state law, not to the City Charter.
