Rincon Hill - News and Events
Jamie Whitaker - RHNA President
The South Beach/Rincon/Mission Bay Neighborhood Association meets on
Monday, March 8th from 6pm until 7pm at the South Beach Harbor
Services Building's Community Room (located between Pier 40 and AT&T
Park on The Embarcadero). They are holding Board and Officer
elections (members in good standing who've paid their dues for 2010
may vote) and also talking about the new SFPark program that SFMTA is
implementing in our neighborhoods along the SoMa waterfront and
elsewhere in San Francisco. Channel 5 had a brief story on the
subject the other day, and you can get a quick synopsis to help fuel
some questions at Monday's meeting by watching here:
http://cbs5.com/video/?id=62...@kpix.dayport.com
If you missed this past Tuesday's Rincon Hill Neighborhood Association
meeting where we discussed the rationale for "developer stimulus" and
"green development agreement" legislation and their potential benefits
to the Rincon Hill neighborhood, you have an opportunity to hear about
the "green development agreement" portion this Tuesda, March 9th at
SPUR's lunchtime forum entitled "Vacant lots: ideas for temporary use"
hosted by the San Francisco Chronicle's John King (the one we can
thank for providing impetus for these ideas in the first place with
his July 2009 articles on the topic). Learn more at
http://www.spur.org/events/calendar/leftover_lots_city_program_using_vacant_lots
During Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting (starts at 2pm),
Supervisor Bevan Dufty will introduce a resolution to enhance
penalties for anyone who assaults a Patrol Special Police officer.
Supervisor Dufty would greatly appreciate the public support of as
many individuals as possible at the meeting. With this past week's
foolishness (in my humble opinion) where a majority of the Police
Commission decided against allowing the SFPD to carry a less lethal
Taser as an option for police to subdue violently belligerent folks,
I'm not sure what political idiocy might get in the way of Supervisor
Dufty's resolution. As you may or may not know, Patrol Special Police
have been hired by members of the South Beach and also the Rincon Hill
neighborhoods to help supplement SFPD resources with a focus on
securing the areas around the buildings paying for their services.
Learn more by reading our neighbor Ken Craig's appeal at
http://rinconhillneighbors.org/2010/03/support-to-enhance-penalties-against-anyone-who-assaults-a-patrol-special-police-officer/
You can learn more about the history and services of Patrol Specials
at http://sfpatrolspecpolice.com/
Tuesday, March 9th, 5:30pm - 7:30pm, Transbay JPA office, 201 Mission,
Suite 2100 - Transbay JPA CAC meets to talk about the initial work
(shoring and excavation) planned for the new Transbay Transit Center
among other things. I posted the agenda here:
http://rinconhillneighbors.org/events/?event_id=139
Wednesday, March 10th, 6:00pm - 8:00pm, SFMTA – 2nd Floor Atrium
Conference Room, 1 South Van Ness Avenue - The SFMTA hosts its first
FY 2011-2012 Town Hall. The meetings and discussions that SFMTA hosted
thus far were just concentrated on filling the budget gap for THIS
fiscal year (ending June 30, 2010). The FY 2011-2012 budget has a huge
hole at the City/County level in general and unlike many other
departments of our local government, SFMTA's MUNI affects everyone ...
whether you use MUNI or if you just have to put up with more private
cars congesting and polluting the City because people find it more
convenient or cheaper to drive than to ride MUNI. SPUR has some
interesting ideas for SFMTA: http://www.spur.org/files/u7/SPUR_Transit-First_MTA_Budget_Proposal.pdf
If you attended (or wanted to attend) the Community Housing
Partnership's community meeting at The Met a couple of Wednesdays ago
to discuss the designs for the supportive housing development on
Folsom Street at Essex (Block 11a in the Transbay Redevelopment Area
plan), Michael Chao from CHP has graciously posted the drawings
presented at that meeting for your reference at
http://www.chp-sf.org/documents/Neighborhood_Meeting.pdf Typically,
the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency's Transbay CAC would meet on
the second Thursday of the month (March 11th, in this case), but I
haven't received confirmation that they'll meet this week or not - nor
whether the CAC will again consider the Block 11a development's design
for recommendation.
On Saturday, March 13th you can join folks in celebrating Irish pride
for the 159th (!!!) San Francisco St. Patrick's Day Parade in downtown
San Francisco. The parade runs from approximately 11:30am until 2:00pm
starting at 2nd and Market Streets (yep, that means the Rincon Hill
neighborhood will get a preview as floats line up along Main Street
for the parade) and ending up at Civic Center where there is a
festival from 10:00am until 5:00pm. Learn more at http://www.sfstpatricksdayparade.com/
On Sunday, March 14th from 10am until 3pm, Sunday Streets returns to
the place where it all started in 2008 ... along the SoMa and
waterfront ... running all the way up to Fisherman's Wharf along The
Embarcadero. I'm sure they could probably use volunteers still ... if
not for this event than for upcoming Sunday Streets events this year.
Learn more about the event and how you can volunteer at http://sundaystreetssf.com/
One final note ... via Twitter, I learned of a forthcoming fictional
book titled "Scandal on Rincon Hill" written by Shirley Tallman. I'm
not a big fiction reader, but I'll probably pick this title up because
it supposedly provides some historically accurate context for the
RIncon Hill neighborhood of the late 1800s when Rincon Hill was San
Francisco's first fashionable neighborhood (before the "Second Street
Cut of 1869" and cable cars made Nob Hill the new "it" spot in San
Francisco).
Also, I assume most folks received a notice that Harrison Street will
be repaved from Main Street west to 8th Street beginning at the end of
March and finishing sometime in June/July. This is nice for our cars,
but probably terrible for pedestrians who will have to pay even closer
attention as they cross Harrison Street's intersections and drivers
feel compelled to drive less cautiously for fear of hitting potholes
and what not that currently exist. Michael Yarne said it the other
day .... until there are a lot more Rincon HIll residents who will get
together and demand our property tax dollars be spent in our
neighborhood to improve things like the sidewalks and to build the Guy
Place Park, we're not going to get squat (of significance) for
residents.
Have a wonderful week!
Jamie Whitaker
President
Rincon Hill Neighborhood Association
www.RinconHill.org