HANC's monthly (except August) general membership meeting is usually held downstairs at the Park Branch Library, 1833 Page Street (between Cole and Shrader) on the second Thursday of the month, beginning at 7 pm.  Our meetinngs are open to the public and free to attend.

Election Day for this year’s Primary Election is June 5, but early voting begins on May 7.  Our April and May general meetings will provide information on some of the local ballot measures.

We will begin with Proposition F, which HANC has endorsed.  Prop F, if passed, will require San Francisco to provide a free attorney for any San Francisco resident who receives an eviction notice.  Aditi Sherikar, an activist and attorney associated with the campaign, has been invited to give us an overview and to respond to any questions.

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By Rupert Clayton, HANC Housing & Land Use Chair

Coming to your neighborhood very soon is a hip new concept for funding and controlling local services – the “green benefit district”. Local grandees are trying to launch one for the Inner Sunset and there’s already one up and running for Dogpatch and Potrero Hill. There’s also a proposal for a “Greater Buena Vista Green Benefits District” with the potential to encompass all of the Haight Ashbury. It sounds warm, fuzzy and eco-friendly, right? But what does it really mean?

Green benefits districts (GBDs) are the green-washed version of community benefits districts (CBDs), which are the residential cousin of business improvement districts (BIDs). San Francisco has 15 CBDs or BIDs already, covering areas from Fisherman’s Wharf and Union Square to Noe Valley and the Castro/Upper Market. The official line is that each district is a voluntary agreement by the owners of a majority of the property within its boundaries to levy an assessment (basically, a tax) on property to fund local services.

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By Carlie Leduc, HANC Board Member

At our March meeting, we were lucky to have with us Ozzie Rohm from Noe Neighborhood Council and Lisa Fromer from Liberty Hill Neighborhood Association.  They were with us to discuss SB 827 & SB 828, two California Senate Bills proposed by Scott Wiener that would disproportionately impact San Francisco.

SB 827 would remove local controls throughout California from all development in “transit-rich” areas.  “Transit-rich” is defined as areas within one-half mile of transit that arrives at least once every 15 minutes during peak hours.  This impacts nearly all of San Francisco and could mean significant neighborhood changes.  To say the least, this would remove any restrictions on height, number of dwellings per lot, floor area ratios, minimum parking requirements, and design guidelines.  Under SB 827, there would be no opportunity for the public (neighborhood) to voice their opinions and influence development.  This bill would cause property values to skyrocket and it would encourage property owners to evict tenants, causing even further displacement of San Francisco residents.

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