Newsflash

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.

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By Michelle Welch, HANC Board

Recent meetings called by the Planning Department have included representatives of the Haight Ashbury Merchants Association (HAMA), the Haight Ashbury Improvement Association (HAIA), the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council (HANC) and the Cole Valley Improvement Association (CVIA).  These meetings were to go over all the ideas compiled from 150 Surveys completed by community members, some of whom attended the initial meetings at the Urban School over the last two years.

(As defined by DCP: “The goal of the Working Group is to develop preliminary recommendations for what should happen on the sidewalk at specific locations along Haight Street. Building on the input that we received from the larger community this summer, the group will think about where to provide elements such as art, special paving, plantings, etc., and will discuss the character of those elements that would be appropriate for Haight Street.  Two to three working group sessions will take place throughout the fall. The group will consist of 6-8 neighborhood representatives.”) 

The biggest changes for Haight Street from Stanyan to Masonic include “bulb outs” at pedestrian crosswalks (a pedestrian safety method touted by the SFMTA to decrease the distance a person has to walk to cross the street and thus their time in the street), and mid-block “bulb outs” to relieve the human congestion often occurring on Haight Street sidewalks (these could be “greened” or include art installations). In general, parking for cars will be diminished. Better lighting is also on the agenda. 

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By Michelle Welch, HANC Board

On October 6, word was received that the Community Opportunity Fund (COF) grant requested for Panhandle improvements was denied.

Not to be deterred, residents will work to seek additional funds for other improvements outlined in extensive plans by Dera-Jill Pozner of NOPNA, including another application for COF money and private donations. This is independent of funds a HANC initiated coalition  got successfully allocated in this years budget that will total $500,000 over the next two city budget cycles to rebuild the southern pedestrian pathway along Oak Street.

Efforts will be made to get Supervisor Breed to continue with her support of this project, by getting the Rec & Park Department (RPD) to designate a project director for the Panhandle. Funds specifically earmarked for the southern pedestrian pathway rebuild need to be monitored to be sure that the funds remain committed to this project. 

For more detailed information about the project, check out http://www.panhandleparkimprovements.com/ where you can view the plans that went through three community meetings earlier this year.

The Haight Ashbury Street Fair is presenting the 9th annual Children’s Halloween Hootenanny on Saturday, October 25, from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Waller Street cul-de-sac, just west of Stanyan.

There will be games, activities, a Jumpy house, art, raffles, music, performances, and more.  There will be a costume contest.  This year’s theme is alien / sci fi.

HANC has been a regular supporter of this event, and has once again made a donation this year.

The event is free and is recommended for ages 3 and up.  Bring your kids (or grandchildren, or friends or neighbor’s kids), and have fun!

The Urban School's proposed Academics and Athletics facility, to be built over the two St. Agnes parish-owned parking lots along Oak Street, is currently slated to begin construction in the Spring of 2015.  An environmental review "categorical exemption" from the SF Planning Department has been granted and a final presentation before the Planning Commission will occur in early 2015.  Meanwhile, a community meeting has been Scheduled Tuesday, December 9, 6 pm, St. Agnes Church Sanctuary, 1025 Masonic Avenue (enter main door of church on Masonic). 

As folks may remember from the great Transit Effectiveness Program (TEP) debate , which defeated MUNI recommendations to end the Upper Ashbury Hill  stops of the 6 Parnassus, changes were also proposed for the 71 Haight-Noriega line.  These changes have been adopted and are now being carried out.

Called “Travel Time Reduction Proposals” (how much does MUNI pay to devise these clever program names?)  the changes consist mainly of replacing stop signs with street lights, reducing or relocating stops and creating new “pedestrian bulbs” illustrated below.

The problem is that MUNI is not really increasing services by adding busses or replacing cuts in service (like restoring the 7 Haight line) from previous years but literally  moving the “deck chairs” ( actually, bus stops) around, “tweaking” travel time.  Indeed, MUNI seems actually disinterested in devising programs and solutions to increasing and restoring services to “transit dependent” neighborhoods such as the Haight-Ashbury which has fewer than one car per household.