By Bruce Wolfe, HANC President

Despite somehow being locked out of the building due to a pass-key foul-up, we started about ten minutes late. Board President/Supervisor London Breed was on time but had to leave within 30 minutes. We began right away. Unfortuantely, not enough time to get deeper into issues, she fielded questions from members about bike safety, affordable housing, Panhandle southern walkway repair, Haight Street construction and 4/20 event. There wasn’t anything earthshattering to report other than status quo and that she was monitoring these issues.

Dave Groeschel interviews Alex Aquino, HANC Board members

We asked Dave Groeschel, owner of Mom’s Tattoo (1408 Haight) to interview Alex Aquino, owner of Black Scale (1409 Haight). Here is the debrief he shared with us.

     I sat down with Alex Aquino, the owner of Black Scale on Haight Street, this morning to talk about how the 4/20 event went.  Alex put together a group of local sponsors, including Diamond Supply (1560 Haight), Cookie’s (1429 Haight), and Black Scale and some not so local ones like High Times magazine to raise $145,000 so the event would have security, clean-up, medical services, portable toilets and more.  

By Richard Ivanhoe, HANC Board

 On April 27, the Planning Commission considered competing proposals regarding affordable housing, one from Supervisors Kim and Peskin (Proposal A) and another from Supervisors Safai, Breed and Tang (Proposal B). Either proposal would make significant changes to the affordable housing requirements passed overwhelmingly (67.9% of the vote) in June, 2016 as Proposition C.

Proposition C did not change the requirement that developers of projects of 10 or more units must either a) pay an affordable housing fee, b) build affordable housing on the project site, or c) build affordable units offsite, but it did change the number of affordable units or amount of the fee.

Founded by Doniece Sandoval, Lava Mae launched its mobile hygiene service in June of 2014 and has since provided more than 14,000 showers to 2,400 people moving through homelessness, inspired replication of its hygiene services, and dramatically raised awareness about the lack of access to showers and basic hygiene across the U.S. and around the globe.

Lava Mae is undergoing some upgrades and will be returning to the neighborhood in the near future. We may get an update at the April meeting; if not, then it will be presented in May.

By Bruce Wolfe, HANC President

At the March Membership meeting, we heard from Shahid Buttar, director of grassroots advocacy for the Electronic Freedom Frontier (EFF). Shahid gave interesting insights as to what is current and coming up on the horizon from the new presidential administration under Donald Trump. He gave an overview of the new FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and what we could expect from his tenure, including the repeal of Net Neutrality and online privacy. Shahid gave some simple suggestions to help us all be safe online and fielded many questions.

By Christin Evans, HANC Board

In anticipation of the 50th Anniversary of the Summer of Love celebrations in 2017, the Haight Ashbury Merchants Association requested a moratorium on non-emergency road work. However, the notorious water/sewer repair line project which plagued the 1400 block of Haight street for good parts of 2015 and 2016 is still not complete. Multiple gas leaks leading to evacuations and shelter-in-place orders, as well as, sinkholes and safety violations, led the city to terminate the sub-contractor overriding the primary contractor Ghilotti Brothers’ objections.

By Shira Noel, HANC Board

At the March 18 Park Station Community Meeting, Captain Sanford announced that there will be more beat officers deployed through the district. Specifically, in preparation for the upcoming 4/20 and Summer of Love events, he has deployed two additional officers. Two more additional dedicated beat officers will be patrolling the Duboce Triangle, and another in the NOPA area.

HANC is planning for 2017.  We want our meetings to address the needs and interests of our community.

Do you have topics to suggest?  If so, let us know by email or letter:

Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

P.O. Box 170518

San Francisco, CA 94117

HANC now provides the option of receiving the Voice by email instead of postal delivery.  If you would prefer to receive the Voice digitally, just send a message requesting the change to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  The message can be as simple as "Add me to the Voice email list."  We will then email the newsletter monthly as a pdf attachment to your inbox and stop sending you the print edition.  HANC will, however, continue printing the Voice, because some of our members do not have easy access to email.

April 1 through April 30

Tuesday, April 11, 6:00 pm - Park Police Station Community Meeting, First A.M.E. Zion Church, 2159 Golden Gate

Tuesday, April 11, 7:00 pm - Open Mic (Poetry and Acoustic Music), Park Branch Library

Thursday, April 13, 7:00 pm - HANC general meeting, Park Branch Library

Tuesday, April 18, 6:00 pm - Haight Ashbury Seniors, Park Branch Library

Wednesday, April 19, 6:30 pm - Movie Night, "I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!,"Park Branch Library

Friday, April 21, 6:00 pm - Haight Ashbury Peace Vigil, Corner of Masonic and Fell

Send calendar items (within HANC's boundaries—Arguello to Divisadero, Fulton to 17th Street) to:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

  1. March 9 at HANC: The Impact of New National Policies on San Francisco
  2. Deltas Bring Pro Soccer to Kezar Beginning March 18th
  3. Apartments and Retail Planned for Haight and Shrader Lot
  4. February Meeting Recap: Documentary Highlights Plight Faced by Parkmerced Residents
  5. February 9 at HANC: Merchants Plan 50th Anniversary Celebrations of Summer of Love
  6. Hooray for City College!

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