Membership Meetings: 2nd Thursdays ~ 7-9pm
Park Branch Library, 1833 Page St, SF, CA 94117 (except August)
On Saturday, February 26, HANC and co-sponsors (Coalition for a Complete Community, Senior Working Group, Cole Valley Haight Allies, Coalition on Homelessness, Homeless Youth Alliance, Larkin Street Youth Services, Acrosports, Booksmith, and Institute on Aging) held an event at 730 Stanyan to demonstrate that the space can and should be used pending the start of construction of permanent affordable housing.
The housing planned for 730 Stanyan will use public funds and is required to use part of the construction budget to fund art that will be visible from the street.
Artists who are interested should submit their qualifications by April 28 (this is not a deadline to submit proposals for the artwork).
There is a related series of five free online workshops Thursdays from 5:00 to 6:30 pm from March 17 through April 14, which cover "site analysis, stakeholder considerations, community engagement, RFPs vs RFQs, funding opportunities, contracting, and insurance." Registration for the workshops ends on March 10.
Here is the announcement from the project developers:
PUBLIC ART RFQ + FREE WORKSHOP
730 Stanyan 100% Affordable Housing Development team, a partnership of Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC) and Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC), is releasing the Public Art Request for Qualifications (RFQ) (https://www.dropbox.com/s/5o7ikik73w58zcc/730%20Stanyan%20PUBLIC%20ART%20RFQ_2022.02.17.pdf?dl=0) on February 17, 2022 for responses from artist applicants by April 28, 2022.
By Tes Welborn, HANC Board
Calvin Welch introduced the meeting topic, What's Up with the Mayor? He asked, “Why is the Mayor seeking more control in a second Emergency Declaration, when she already has enormous Emergency powers?” There are 34,000 city employees, 75 departments, and some 40 boards and commissions, and most are under the Mayor, even in non-emergency times. The Mayor proposed two charter changes that were discussed.
Jennifer Friedenbach, Coalition on Homelessness, tackled the Tenderloin Emergency 90 day Declaration. The Mayor called a meeting of the Board of Supervisors on Christmas Eve that lasted to midnight! The Mayor did not appear, and her representatives didn't have many answers. The vote was 8 yes, 2 no, Aaron Peskin absent. Ms. Friedenbach said that the Mayor already had the power to take action.
SF Rising's goals include:
The link below explains Redistricting, show maps of the city, and provide ways people can be involved in the important work of Redistricting San Francisco. (permission by SF Rising to republish)
CLICK HERE→ SFR-Redistricting-training.pdf
By Calvin Welch and Christin Evans, HANC Board
This month's general membership meeting will focus on the unprecedented series of unilateral actions taken by Mayor Breed during the longest period of "emergency powers" in recent San Francisco history. Specifically, three of Mayor Breed’s recent actions will be discussed by our invited panel: the declaration of a SECOND emergency (and emergency declaration within an existing declared emergency) regarding executive actions to be taken in the Tenderloin to "address the drug crisis"; the proposed charter amendments for the November, 2022 ballot to transform children services and funding by placing them all under the Mayor (see BoS file 211284) and finally, to redefine "affordable housing" to be up to 140% of Median Income ($2850 a month rent) and make its development as a "matter of right" with no public hearings (BoS file 211289).
Our panel will include three particularly experienced and knowledgeable participants: Jennifer Friedenbach, Executive Director of the Coalition on Homelessness will discuss the Tenderloin State of Emergency; Margaret Brodkin, Director of Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth for 26 years and former Director of the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families and leader of the campaign that created the San Francisco Children's Fund will discuss the Mayor's children's charter amendment ; Joseph Smooke, coordinator of Racial Equity in Planning (REP) a citywide housing coalition (of which HANC is a member) and former Executive Director of Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center, former Program Director for the Housing Rights Committee and a past aide to two San Francisco Supervisors, will discuss Breed's "affordable" housing measure.
UCSF is proposing to construct a new giant hospital, nearly 300 feet tall, about one hundred feet taller than existing campus buildings. A new hospital is required by law, but this size reflects UCSF's desire to serve more well-paying patients. Construction would begin in 2023 and be completed by the end of 2030.
Please comment by February 14 on Environmental Factors such as Air Quality, Noise and Vibration, Geology and Soils, Transportation, as well as the three Alternative Proposals including a smaller hospital, approved in 2014 Plan.
The Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) analyzes potential environmental impacts that would result from implementing the NHPH. The Draft EIR is available at tiny.ucsf.edu/HospitalDraftEIR for a 60-day public review and comment period from December 16, 2021 to February 14, 2022. You can obtain a paper version of the Draft EIR by calling (415) 502-5952.
While UCSF will self-certify the EIR, we need to put neighborhood concerns on the record and for possible use in the three pending lawsuits against the giant hospital.
By James Sword, HANC Board
Back in September 2021 I wrote an article asking the organized-under-COVID parent political action committee (formerly Decrease the Distance) to use their loud and well connected voices to improve issues within the school system rather than push for status quo and take credit for efforts by communities long ignored by politicians. (https://www.hanc-sf.org/24-home/639-sfusd-under-covid-19). While this group has mostly ignored this call to action, they have continued to focus on reforming San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) to better serve themselves and other already families already benefiting from the status quo (like mine). Two areas they have focused on are 1) helping raise nearly $1,000,000 for the recall of the Pacific Islander, Latina, and Black members of the Board of Education (BOE), and 2) increasing the power of the Mayor in influencing and controlling the BOE. As early as March of 2021 people closely connected to Decrease the Distance (DtD) began pushing a charter amendment to have the Mayor appoint the BOE rather than have it as an elected board – currently the only election where non-citizens are allowed to vote.
Fast forward to December 2021 when Mayor London Breed announced she was introducing a charter amendment, “Children First” ballot measure that will make San Francisco “a national model for how cities can improve the well-being for children. The measure will reform how the City delivers services to children and create accountability measures to ensure the San Francisco School Board focuses on kids, not politics.” The word salad announcement was dripping with irony, starting with the fact that DtD politicized SFUSD when they called for schools to reopen before teachers were vaccinated by leaning on the moderate politicians representing San Francisco to push the cause, and lobbying them to withhold money from an already underfunded school district.
By James Sword, HANC Board
There are many theories to policing. In 2010 HANC developed a community policing stance (https://www.hanc-sf.org/16-home/-sp-234/34-elements-of-effective-community-policing ) – in essence, work with the community and foot patrol = good, sitting in cars = bad. The key to community policing is community. Unfortunately, community policing is not how police seem to be deployed in the Haight as of late. More often than not police are seen selectively enforcing Sit-Lie and other “quality of life” policies.
Recently there were 6 police officers standing on the corner of Haight and Ashbury for an entire afternoon, six. One car was parked on the southeast corner, an SUV was parked the wrong way in the southbound lane at the northwest corner, six officers standing and talking. Neighbors asked if there had been a recent crime (in the last two years there’s been a shooting by an FBI agent and vehicle mayhem at this intersection. A month earlier there was a shooting resulting in death less than a block away). There was no crime; officers stated they were assigned to this corner by Captain Pedrini after a request for some police presence – “some,” not six.
