Lounging on asphalt (from How Weird Faire, 5/4/08)

Today’s San Francisco Chronicle and The Examiner newspapers have an idea floated by Mayor Newsom to use The Embarcadero and other streets in the more urban, densely residential neighborhoods as community recreational space. My first reaction is “Fabulous! When can we start doing this in Rincon Hill?”

Newsom Envisions Dancing in S.F. Streets - San Francisco Chronicle

With the 94105 zip code (the Rincon Hill neighborhood, more or less) population increasing from about 2,000 in the year 2000 to around 15,000 by 2015, we absolutely need more open space. I like the idea of using The Embarcadero along the waterfront for a few hours on Sunday because the residents, while working in offices downtown and throughout the Bay Area Monday through Friday, could really only make use of large open spaces on the weekends anyway. Also, I consider the Rincon Hill neighborhood to be the heart of public transit in the Bay Area, and this opens up what could potentially be a wonderful pedestrian and bicycle promenade filled with exercise activities, music, and other community-building events to not just Rincon Hill, South Beach, and Barbary Coast neighbors but to the millions of folks living in the Bay Area.

If you agree that this is a great idea, please start thinking about how we can build support and make it a reality. This could be a great community project for us in Rincon Hill - to get a few hours on Sundays to expand our open space for recreation on The Embarcadero between Bryant and the Market Streets.

Please Donate Today!

From the STOP AIDS Project web site:

In San Francisco, there are approximately 15,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, the majority of them being gay men. This represents approximately 33% of all gay men in San Francisco who are already infected with HIV, with an estimated 1 in 3 of these men are unaware of their HIV-positive status. Because of this high prevalence, with every unsafe sexual encounter for MSM in San Francisco there is a greater risk for HIV transmission as compared to other US cities.

AIDS may not be as visibly present in San Francisco as it once was, but it is still certainly here and impacting our City’s vibrancy with each community member we lose to the disease. I try to do my part to help people directly affected by AIDS by participating in and raising funds for AIDS Walk San Francisco every year.

This year, I have created a Rincon Hill Neighbors AIDS Walk team with the hope that some of you (I’m hoping at least 9 neighbors) may join the team and help me to raise funds for AIDS Walk and, at the same time, build community goodwill for our neighborhood. You can join the team by visiting this web page and clicking “Join Our Team” at the top.

If you do not want to join our Rincon Hill Neighbors AIDS Walk team for the actual walk or to raise funds but you would still like to help our team, please visit the Team donation page and make a $25 or higher donation (it is a 501(c)(3) organization, all donations to AIDS Walk San Francisco are tax deductible).

My goal is to raise $1,000 as the Rincon Hill Neighbors team, and I’ve already got us past the halfway mark by raising $525 (so far) in offline pledges from my fabulous, generous co-workers. Please take a moment to donate $25 or more by credit card right now before it slips your mind.

AIDS Walk San Francisco benefits the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and other HIV/AIDS organizations serving the six Bay Area counties. Established in 1982, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation develops innovative solutions, combining evidence-based strategies with community experience to fight HIV/AIDS and promote holistic good health. With the unrestricted funds raised by AIDS Walk San Francisco, the Foundation is able to provide direct services to thousands of people living with HIV/AIDS and focus intensive prevention programs to those most at risk of contracting the disease.

The San Francisco AIDS Foundation continues to lead the way in HIV/AIDS advocacy, lobbying for critical policy change in Sacramento and Washington, and working to ensure unfettered access to life-saving HIV treatment and care.

Thank you for reading this entry and thank you even more if you have decided to join the Rincon Hill Neighbors AIDS Walk team and/or donate. I look forward to taking a walk in the park with some of you on July 20th!

www.RinconHillNeighbors.org

If you’re on the Rincon Hill Neighborhood Association e-mail mailing list, you have already received a notice that Vitaly sent out. If you’re not on the e-mail list and want to sign up, please do so by visiting www.RinconHillNeighbors.org.

The next Rincon Hill Neighborhood Association meeting happens this Tuesday, May 13th from 6:00 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. It is graciously being hosted by The Infinity in their Club Lounge (accessible by stairs through the courtyard off of Main Street, just south of Folsom Street). Please RSVP to attend by sending an e-mail to Info at RinconHillNeighbors.org

The meetings provide a chance for you to introduce yourself to your neighbors in the Rincon Hill neighborhood as well as learn about organizations or issues that affect our quality of life.

GUEST SPEAKERS THIS MONTH:

Rob Black, Vice President of Public Policy, San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, will introduce and discuss the idea of making the Rincon Hill neighborhood a Community Benefit District.

C.W. Nevius, Political Columnist, San Francisco Chronicle, will share his perspectives on the Rincon Hill neighborhood and other City issues.

I do hope you can join us on Tuesday!

SF Dept. of Elections

I cannot find the June 2008 voting guide on the www.SPUR.org web site right now, but I’m sure it will be posted in the near future.The SPUR voting guide is now available online.

I tend to agree with SPUR’s voting recommendations because they usually take a progressive outlook anchored down with realities of demographic changes and other practical constraints that need to be considered along with the ideals proposed by a ballot measure.

Here’s a quick summary of SPUR’s June 3, 2008 voting guide recommendations (as printed in the May 2008 issue of SPUR’s Urbanist magazine).

State Measures
Prop 98, Eminent Domain and Rent Control: No
Prop 99, Eminent Domain Restriction: No

City Measures
Prop A, School District Parcel Tax: Yes
Prop B, Retiree Health Care Reform: Yes
Prop C, Moral Turpitude: Yes
Prop D, Diversity on City Commissions: No
Prop E, SFPUC Commisioner Appointments: No
Prop F, Affordable Housing in Bayview Hunters Point: No
Prop G, Bayview Hunters Point Development Plan: Yes
Prop H, Campaign Contribution Limits: No

If you are a member of SPUR (which I highly recommend), look at the May 2008 issue of Urbanist for the organization’s analysis and explanations of these measures. I assume it’ll be online in the near future at www.SPUR.org as well.You can also read it online.

The City’s Proposition B is the most important on the June 3rd ballot in my humble opinion. The current City and County retiree healthcare benefit vesting period and structure is completely unsustainable. I cringe when I read about the City of Vallejo because I fear they won’t be the last municipality to be pinned down under the weight of committments by prior Boards and Commissions who did not set aside any money to pay for those commitments. Please be sure to vote on June 3rd (or beforehand if you’re signed up to vote by mail, the most convenient method available).

In addition to sharing fun events happening in the Rincon Hill neighborhood or nearby that may allow us to meet and to get to know each other as neighbors, I also strongly promote civic engagement on this blog. As Howard Dean used to say, if all you do is vote, you get a C- grade for civic engagement.

One of the basic ways to get more involved is to attend public meetings. Unfortunately, most meetings are held during hours that most working folks are unable to attend if they want to keep earning a paycheck or do not want to use their precious 10 or 15 days of annual vacation time for that purpose. Luckily for us, 14 of the major board, committee, and commission meetings are recorded and available for viewing either online at SFGTV or on Comcast cable on channels 26 or 78. There is also a colorful summary of the Board of Supervisors meetings provided by local blogger “Sweet Melissa” at sweetmelissa.typepad.com.

However, there are about 100 oversight groups that are not recorded and available for residents to hear or see - 100 oversight groups that require you to be physically present if you want to capture what was discussed.

The Board of Supervisors recently passed legislation that would require the City to record all public meetings held at City Hall and post archives on the Internet for interested parties to review. The estimated cost was only $76,000 - in the context of a $6 billion plus budget, that is peanuts. Sadly, Mayor Gavin Newsom vetoed the legislation and left the citizens of San Francisco who cannot attend these public meetings for various reasons in the dark. This is something to think about if our Mayor decides to run for Governor.

In the meanwhile, maybe the folks who can and who do attend the 100 or so groups’ meetings can take on the task of recording and posting the meetings to iTunes or another easily accessible spot. I’d give those folks an A+ for civic engagement.