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We have stated our position on recalls numerous times over the past year (the October, 2021 Voice: https://www.hanc-sf.org/24-home/643-what-are-recalls-all-about , the January 2022 Voice:  https://www.hanc-sf.org/24-home/664-hanc-opposes-politcally-motivated-recalls , in the February, 2022 Voice: https://www.hanc-sf.org/24-home/672-january-meeting-recap-tim-redmond-s-presentation-on-history-of-recalls , and in our ballot argument in support of Proposition C  in the June 2022 election, in the April Voice: https://www.hanc-sf.org/24-home/683-hanc-submits-ballot-argument-supporting-recall-reform ).

We oppose recalls for various reasons.  Foremost, they can be used by a minority in a low-turnout election to overturn the higher-turnout election they didn’t win.  Recalls are expensive.  Recalls undermine the independence of elected officials.  In San Francisco, recalls place more power in the hands of the Mayor.

For these reasons, HANC’s position is that recalls should be used only when an elected official should be impeached, but the legislature fails to act.  Recalls should be used for corruption, malfeasance, or graft, but not for differences of opinion or policy disagreements. 

HANC submitted a ballot argument in support of the Recall Timeliness and Vacancy Process ballot initiative that will be Proposition C in the June election.  We will provide more extensive coverage (including our endorsements) of the June election in the May—we do not want to divert attention from the April 19 election—remember to vote if you live in Assembly District 17.

Here is our argument in support of Proposition C:

Stop Letting Billionaires Buy Our Government. 

Vote Yes on C.

We’re outraged that a handful of bitter billionaires have raised millions of dollars to buy back elections that they lost.  Even the recallers themselves admit that 3 out of 4 signature gatherers were well-paid professionals, not San Franciscans.

This isn’t democracy.  This isn’t accountability.  This creates chaos.

Regular San Franciscans agree – Yes on C is a vote for democracy.

Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council. 

By Christin Evans, HANC Board

Didn’t we *just* have an election?!?   Yes, HANC will be discussing ‘How the Haight voted’ in the April election in the same meeting we discuss key measures in the forthcoming June election!   Strap in because here comes election number 3 of 4 this year!

We have invited proponents of both Propositions E and F to HANC’s May 12th meeting which will be conducted 7-9pm via Zoom - just in time for when the vote-by-mail ballots slide into your mail slot.

Proposition E is the Behested Payments measure. “E for Ethics!” is the campaign slogan. The measure comes hot on the heels of the Nuru corruption scandal, one chapter of which former DPW head Mohammad Nuru had solicited contributions from Recology via the nonprofit San Francisco Parks Alliance.  Those funds were then used for merchandise for staff and for a departmental party.  This all happened at the same time Nuru oversaw the rates Recology could charge for garbage collection.  These “behested” payments were actually not prohibited by law (they were required to be reported though), but if E passes they will no longer be allowed.  The language precludes elected officials, department heads and commissioners from soliciting funds from any party with city business before them.  Five supervisors have signed the proponents' argument (Peskin, Preston, Walton, Chan and Mar) and three have opposed it (Stefani, Melgar and Mandelman) saying the measure's language is overreaching.  

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By Calvin Welch, HANC Board

The broadly supported push to close Kennedy Drive to cars  attempts to address the concern over access to and within the park by suggesting various auto ( opening the deYoung parking garage to park visitors) and shuttle bus "solutions"- both dependent on greenhouse gas producing  internal combustion engines -that only partially address the issue.  Not discussed is a public transit solution which in a transit first city oddly places transit  not last but so far, not at all.

As a "front line" neighborhood to Kennedy Drive, the Haight-Ashbury has a special interest in the issue.  Unless an effective solution for non-car access is created the great bulk of non-local visitors to the park will drive their cars, especially from other parts of the City and the wider Bay region as they do now.  What a "car free JFK" will mean for us in the Haight-Ashbury (and Inner Sunset and Inner Richmond) given no effective non- car access alternative, will be  a "more car" neighborhood, as cars will circle our streets looking for parking.

We need a transit alternative to car visitors to Golden Gate Park.

Currently there are seven transit lines that go to Golden Gate Park: the 5, 7, 18, 28, 33, 44 and 66.  An additional line, the 21, while slated to return from Covid shutdown, still has not yet begin service to the north side of the park. That sounds like a lot, but closer inspection shows just how underserved the Park is by public transit. Five of the seven lines (and eventually the 21) only serve the edge of the park- the 5,7, 18, 33 and 66, and only one, the 5,  goes the entire length of the Park on the north side. The 7 turns south at 25th Ave., the 33 turns north at Arguello and the 66 has but one stop that borders the park, its last, at Haight and Stanyan.

Only 2 lines, the 28 and 44, actually enter the park, but only the 44 actually has stops inside Golden Gate Park as the 28 travels though the park without a stop.

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By Lisa Awbrey, HANC President

A few weeks back I attended a peace rally, concert and benefit for the People of Ukraine in Golden Gate Park. My mom and I are travel pals and avid hiking buddies; we made a date to go together but her 88 year old ankle is deteriorating so I fired up a newly purchased wheelchair for its maiden voyage. My task: navigating the sidewalks, streets and pathways from Hayes and Clayton to the Golden Gate Park Band Shell with my mom in a wheelchair. This journey turned out to be more difficult than anticipated, and I learned that accessing Golden Gate Park from a wheelchair is much more challenging than it ought to be.

I was averse to navigating a wheelchair across the Panhandle through Fell and Oak’s multi-laned treachery with speeding bicycles and cars to the 7 Haight bus. And even though I’m fit and strong, the prospect of pushing my mom two and a half blocks up hill in a wheelchair to the 5 Fulton was also daunting. For two and a half years service to our local reliable 21 Hayes bus line has been suspended. 

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By Richard Ivanhoe, HANC Board

HANC’s April meeting will focus on MUNI:  When will the 6 and 21 lines be restored?  What are MUNI’s long range plans to address both its budget needs and the reduction in downtown activity?  With the closure of JFK Drive, how can MUNI get people from other parts of the City out of their cars and into Golden Gate Park?

Approximately two years ago, MUNI shut down most of its bus and streetcar lines due to the Coronavirus pandemic, reducing service from approximately 70 routes to 17.  Service restoration has been incremental. 

In July, 2021, the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution calling upon SFMTA to “reinstate all transit lines and restore pre-Covid service hours by December 31, 2021 and release by September 30, 2021, a written plan for the restoration of all lines and service.”  (We wrote about this in the August 2021 Voice:  https://www.hanc-sf.org/24-home/630-we-must-fight-to-save-the-6-and-21-muni-lines ). 

In December, 2021, the SFMTA Board of Directors approved a plan for restoring most MUNI routes (https://www.sfmta.com/project-updates/2022-muni-service-network-approved-plan#Details ).  But within a few weeks, SFMTA wrote about the service changes “We had hoped to implement them all in early 2022, but unfortunately, our operator staffing has not increased as quickly as we had estimated when we started the public outreach process for these changes.”  The latest plan tentatively restores the 21 Hayes (to part of its former route) in June 2o22, and gives no projected date for restoring the 6 Parnassus (https://www.sfmta.com/projects/2022-muni-service-network ).

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