Here are the minutes from the first two meetings to help you get caught up!

• Meeting 1 Minutes (April 2, 2012)
• Meeting 2 Minutes (May 7, 2012)

Meeting Notice for Rincon Hill Community Benefit  District Steering  Committee

Monday May 7, 6 – 7:30 PM
(doors  will open at 5:45 PM)

at the Sailors Union of the Pacific, 450  Harrison Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
Proposed Agenda
1. Introductions
2. Additions/Changes to agenda
3. Brief recap of April 2 meeting (meeting notes  attached)
4. New additions to Steering Committee/Chairman
5. Signatures for grant application to City
6. Shopping list of services and costs
7. CBD budgets in San Francisco
8. Boundary discussion
9. Schedule
10. Set next meeting date
This is a public meeting and all members of the public are welcome. The Steering Committee is still adding members and all are welcome  to join.

If you have questions or comments, feel free to contact Jim Chappell of MJM Management Group at jchappell@mjmmg.com or 415-285-0910

Inequality for SoMa Kids Unaddressed in Proposed 2012 Parks Bond Projects

Prepared by Rincon Hill resident Jamie Whitaker

Goal:

To add upgrades to playgrounds in South Park, plan and build a new, grand playground on the south end of Justin Herman Plaza to replace the underutilized pair of bocce ball courts, and to build a playground in Mission Creek Park.

Rationale:

• If the 2012 Parks Bond is $185 million as currently proposed (4/21/2012), South of Market property owners from 9th Street and eastward (Assessor’s Volume 25) will be paying $28.1 million of the principal PLUS all of the interest owed on that $28.1 million portion of the $185 million in bond proceeds. This is because SoMa constitutes $22,645,203,343 in assessed property values of the City’s total $149,400,538,426 (or 15.2%) in FY 2011-2012.
• Over $9 million has been deposited into the Downtown Park Fund by commercial developers who pay $2 per net additional square foot of office space. The only SoMa playground that benefitted in part is the one at Victoria Manalo Draves Park which received less than $500,000 from the fund. Large portions of the Downtown Park Fund have been diverted to Union Square’s shopping district and also used outside of the downtown area for which the fund was originally intended for uses in 1986.
• In Rincon Hill alone (zip code 94105), a simple comparison of the 2000 Census versus the 2010 Census shows that the total population of kids (19 years and under) has increased by 592% from 53 to 367 – with the biggest jump occurring in kids under age 5, up 950% from April 2000 to April 2010 (from 20 to 210).
• Also in Rincon Hill, about 600-700 kids spend their weekdays in the various daycare centers located near their parents’ office jobs. While most daycare centers do have some small caged outdoor play area, none offer adequate room to run and exercise for these children. The play areas are privately owned and not accessible by the public.
• The San Francisco Parks Alliance’s parent Neighborhood Parks Council made the disparity between the west side of San Francisco and the east side of San Francisco (especially Supervisor Districts 3 and 6) very clear in their Green Envy reports in 2003 and 2007.
• Nine or more of the neighborhood parks that appear on the proposed 2012 Parks Bond projects list are making their 2nd appearances – either receiving funding from the 2000 or the 2008 Parks Bond for improvements.
• Mayor Ed Lee, several Board of Supervisors members, and even Phil Ginsburg himself as head of the Recreation and Parks Department claim that “Family Flight” from San Francisco is their number one concern – and clearly South of Market’s population of children is increasing markedly while the overall City population of kids has been declining. If we sincerely want to keep families in San Francisco, we need to build playgrounds in SoMa now.
• Rincon Hill is a neighborhood concept that was intended to minimize the need for use of personal cars to move around the City.  If there is no playground nearby or in Rincon Hill, parents will need to transport their kids to playgrounds by car – adding more traffic to an already congested and polluted downtown San Francisco. Add to that, no bus lines run past 2nd Street into Rincon Hill from other parts of SoMa.
• 35% of the housing built in the Transbay project area north of Folsom Street and east of 2nd Street will be below market, family housing. As we’ve already seen with the new housing in Rincon Hill and reflected in the 2010 Census data, young couples moving into the area are bound to start having babies soon … and with 5,000 or more housing units to be built, the population of kids residing in Rincon Hill will surely increase by several hundred over the next decade.
• About 2,500 more housing units will be built in Rincon Hill over the next 2-3 years. Again, we have already seen that young couples moving into these buildings will have children.
• Recreation and Parks has been let off easy in prior years because the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency has been building new parks in the area (South Beach, Rincon, Mission Creek, Yerba Buena), but the Agency is dissolved and the focus now rests with Recreation and Parks to do more than take SoMa’s property tax and general obligation payments and run to the west side of town.
• Finally, there’s no good excuse to leave SoMa kids out of a $185 million bond issuance for parks for which SoMa will be paying 15% of the bill. To not add playgrounds in SoMa with the 2012 Parks Bond would be pure discrimination by Recreation and Parks and the City & County of San Francisco in general.

NOW IS THE TIME TO ADDRESS THE INEQUALITY IN PLAYGROUND ACCESS IN SoMa.

Why South Park?

• Let’s say it costs $1.5 million – that still leaves $26.5 million of SoMa’s contribution to the principal payment of the $185 million general obligation bond for other uses.
• The South Park playground equipment is tens of years old. There are gaps in the playgrounds where equipment used to stand but had to be removed as it disintegrated.
• South Park provides a safe respite from the otherwise traffic sewer-infested sections of SoMa.
• There is already a South Park neighborhood group who act as stewards of the park.
• South Park is the gathering spot in the event of a major disaster along the eastern end of SoMa. A playground will help occupy kids who may be separated or who may have lost parents in the disaster.

Why replace bocce ball courts at Justin Herman with a new, grand playground?

• Let’s say it costs another $5 million – that still leaves $21.5 million of SoMa’s contribution to the principal payment of the $185 million general obligation bond for other uses.
• Talk about “Family Flight” is cheap and meaningless without a visual representation of the City Family’s sincere desire to welcome and keep kids in San Francisco.  With millions of visitors to our Ferry Building and riding past on our historic F-Market streetcars, a grand playground would put substance behind the politicians’ words.
• Justin Herman Plaza is a safe walk for most of the 600-700 kids in various daycare centers near their parents’ workplaces.
• This location would be convenient for most of the Rincon Hill residential buildings’ parents to take their 367 (and increasing in number all the time) kids.
• The bocce ball courts are extremely underutilized, and we cannot afford to waste precious downtown Recreation & Parks owned property for uses that the community does not demand.
  As a backstory: Recreation and Parks promised the Rincon Hill and Barbary Coast community the use of the concrete pad attached to the bocce ball court grass area for a playground if we could raise the $300,000 we’d need to build and gift it to the Department in fall 2010. In the summer of 2011, the Recreation and Parks Department broke their promise and told us that valet parking for Ferry Building Farmers Market cars was the best use for the Recreation and Parks concrete pad – and they shoved us over to Sue Bierman Park where it will cost nearly $1 million (3x’s the amount to do the same at Justin Herman Plaza) because earth moving equipment (Bulldozers) would be needed to build a playground on a flat surface.
  See this Chronicle article for more background:
  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/31/BAIK1F5PL6.DTL
• The Embarcadero YMCA hosts up to 200 kids for summer day camps while school is out, and unlike the nearby private business daycare centers, the Y has no outdoor cage with play toys for the kids to get the mental and physical exercise they need.
• With The Exploratorium opening up at Pier 15 in 2013, why not have a large playground for kids who may need to burn off energy before or after their visit to this new facility on our waterfront?
• In 1989’s Loma Prieta earthquake aftermath, people naturally gravitated towards the Ferry Building as a community meeting spot of sorts. Why not have a playground nearby to keep the kids occupied?
• While the Recreation and Parks Department somehow found $50,000 to re-landscape the grass around the underutilized bocce ball courts, a playground would definitively keep any “Occupy” camp from forming in that location in the future because adults unaccompanied by children won’t be allowed.  Also, even the most strident activist isn’t going to get in the way of innocent kids getting exercise and play time on playground equipment.

Why build a playground at Mission Bay’s Mission Creek Park

• Let’s say it costs another $5 million – that still leaves $16.5 million of SoMa’s contribution to the principal payment of the $185 million general obligation bond for other uses.
• Corinne Woods and Sarah Davis from Mission Creek would know the best facts, but it is clear that when 100% of the available housing units come online all at once, younger couples tend to fill a decent portion and they start having kids.
• Mission Creek Park is the closest thing to a regional park within transit distance of SoMa, and why shouldn’t it have a play area for kids when it meets the needs of almost every other age group PLUS DOGS.
• The Mission Bay Library has frequently “sold out” book readings for children. Many other San Francisco neighborhood libraries have playground equipment nearby for kids, and why not SoMa’s only library branch too?

Let’s not allow the SoMa kids to be short-changed any longer – let’s get $11.5 million (a mere 6.2%) from the $185 million in bonds designated for much-needed playgrounds in/near SoMa.  The demographics point to growth in children in SoMa since 2000, and the planning projects all point to even more children coming to SoMa.  Let’s end the disparity and inequality in playground access for our kids now.

Thanks for reading.

We are pleased to inform you that we have reached the home stretch regarding adoption of the Transit Center District Plan. We are anticipating a three-hearing schedule at the Planning Commission to consider the Plan as follows:

April 19, 2012
Informational Hearing. We will refresh the Commission about the Plan’s proposals and discuss revisions, updates and refinements to the draft Plan proposals. On this day the packet of key plan adoption materials will be delivered to the Commission and made available to the public, including draft Planning Code, Zoning Map and General Plan amendments. The full packet of materials will be posted on our project website (http://transitcenter.sfplanning.org) by close of business on Friday April 20.

May 3, 2012
Plan Initiation. At this hearing we will continue the informational discussion and ask that the Commission formally initiate the amendments so that an adoption hearing can be held three weeks later.

May 24
Final EIR Certification and Plan Adoption.

Please remember to check the Planning Department’s website (www.sfgov.org/planning) for Planning Commission agendas and schedules, as final meeting dates, times, locations and agendas may vary. Planning Commission agendas are typically posted on the Friday before the Commission hearing.

According to this schedule we anticipate the Plan will be before the Board of Supervisors in late June or early July, enabling projects to seek entitlement under the newly adopted Plan by late summer or early autumn.

We will be proposing very limited revisions to the November 2009 Draft Plan, primarily geared to clarifying certain policies and updating miscellaneous graphics. The Planning Department, working with the City Attorney’s office, TJPA, Redevelopment Agency (now “Successor Agency”), Mayor’s office, and other city and regional agencies, have also refined the Funding Program, which will be reflected in the updated Plan and described in a new Program Implementation Document, submitted to the Planning
Commission.

We have come down a long road together and the Plan that will before the Planning Commission in a few short weeks is an exceptionally forward-thinking, comprehensive and exciting piece of planning that will chart a bright course for downtown, the City, and region. We look forward to your engagement and support for the Plan as we proceed through the approvals process at the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors.

I phone the SFPD’s Non-Emergency dispatch, and was transferred to Southern Station – the SFPD station that covers Rincon Hill. I told the officer who answered that pedestrians are being needlessly endangered by falling tree branches because a tree trimmer has not set up any signs or warning for pedestrians that work is happening above their heads. The officer said that it isn’t the SFPD’s issue – I should phone the Department of Public Works. Knowing that answer was just shirking work and brushing me off, I went ahead and phoned 311 just for kicks.

The operator at 311 told me that DPW issues permits, but this particular issue is a police matter and that I should call the police. I kinda knew that was the answer I’d get.

SO, after my business at the post office, I went back to 201 Spear Street and shot this video. I told the guy on the ground that they should stop tree trimming and close the sidewalk or otherwise mark it so that pedestrians are warned (though I don’t know how you warn a blind person without physically blocking the sidewalk, but I digress). The best part – the guy tells me they have cones, but they needed to use those to secure the street parking spaces they’ll need to trim the other trees.

I will be emailing to Southern Station Captain Orkes, DPW Chief Mohammed Nuru, and District Supervisor Jane Kim this to ask that the next time someone phone the SFPD with a pedestrian safety concern, it not be brushed off like my phone call was today. I hope no one is hurt by the tree trimming … and I’d be happy to testify in a lawsuit against Davey Tree if anyone is harmed while walking in front of 201 Spear Street this afternoon.

From Marty Coressel:

All,

Please mark your calendars for the second Saturday of the month, April 14, 10 am to 12 pm and join us for the Rincon Hill Dog Park “Clean & Sweep”.

Like last month, the tasks for this next event will consist of, some light raking, wiping down benches, hosing down the concrete, playing in the water etc… Or, just drop in to be social. We do need a couple of people just to keep an eye on our dogs, as we do these light maintenance tasks.

We will send an event reminder again next week.

Thanks – Marty

FYI – Remember – Owners are legally responsible for their dog(s) and any damage and/or injury caused by their dog.

For Rincon Hill / South Beach?

Join your neighbors to discuss this possibility on

Monday, April 2^nd – 6 pm (Doors open at 5:45)

Sailors’ Union – Library Room

450 Harrison Street (at 1^st)

In addition to first-rate maintenance, a CBD can include such things as neighborhood advocacy at City Hall, formation of a security council consisting of the security directors of each building, or fundraising for special events or facilities.  Investment in your neighborhood helps maintain and improve property and business values.

Come and discuss the benefits, boundaries, and Steering Committee.  Lend your voice to the process.

MJM Management Group has been contracted to form a Steering Committee to investigate this possibility.  For questions, please contact Jim Chappell at 415.285.0910 or chappell_jim@att.net.

Please share this flyer by posting it in the common areas of your building for neighbors to see.

If you would like to help steer the direction (and the costs on your annual property tax bill) of the proposed Rincon Hill CBD, you should join me as a member of the Steering Committee for the Rincon Hill CBD. We will be meeting once per month (probably around 6 p.m. on a weekday), and we will be working on the establishment of a CBD for our neighborhood for the next few months.

Please read through this handout describing CBDs from Lisa Pagan of the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development who helps to manage the dozen or so existing CBDs (also known as Business Improvement Districts (BIDs).

I am working on finding a meeting location for those of us interested in learning more to get together and talk about the idea of a Rincon Hill CBD and the benefits and potential downsides for us. Stay tuned!

In the meanwhile, please read this letter from Jim Chappell of MJM Management about how you can contact him to get involved in the Rincon Hill CBD Steering Committee!!

To:
Property Owners, Tenants & Business Owners in and around Rincon Hill & South Beach

RE:
Survey Regarding Potential formation of a Community Benefit District to nclude your
Property

Dear Rincon Hill & South Beach Neighbor:

The purpose of this announcement is to begin the process of examining the possibility of formation
of a Community Benefit District (CBD) in your neighborhood to make it a cleaner, safer, and more
welcoming place for residents and visitors alike. We are conducting a study in cooperation with the
City of San Francisco, and operating under their guidance.

A Community Benefit District is a public-private partnership formed by community stakeholders
to improve their neighborhood. Such Districts began in North American in the 1970s, and in San
Francisco in the early 1990s. There are currently around 1,200 such districts in the U. S. including ten
in San Francisco.*

The purpose of a CBD is to provide special services beyond those that the City provides. A CBD
provides a stable funding source and serves all the property owners, their tenants, and residents in a
given district. While each of us can maintain our own property to a high standard, we cannot maintain
a neighbor’s property without permission. With a CBD, the District provides these services and in a
more cost-effective coordinated way. Many types of property-related services can be provided, such
as sidewalk and curb cleaning, graffiti abatement, traffic control at key intersections, neighborhood
advocacy, security, and maintenance of the public realm improvements called for in the Rincon Hill
Plan and the Rincon Hill Streetscape Plan, such as the new Dog Park and the proposed Rincon Hill
and Oscar parks. Other typical functions of a CBD can include such things as neighborhood advocacy
at City Hall, formation of a security council consisting of the security directors of each building, or
fundraising for special events or facilities. Investment in your neighborhood helps maintain and can
improve property and business values.

Different services may be provided in different sub-districts depending on specific conditions and
needs. Unlike a tax, CBD assessment dollars fund services that are delivered directly to a non-profit
that manages the district. Property owners can serve on the Board of Directors that manages the
district, or attend those meetings, to make important decisions about the district, including how funds
are allocated and services delivered.

In order to form a CBD, the first step is to determine whether support exists among the property
owners and business owners within a given neighborhood, which is the reason for this survey. The
formation process takes a few significant steps, including: 1) formation of a Steering Committee, 2) a
survey of property owners, 3) determining the level of support, 4) setting boundaries and subareas, 5)
determining priority special benefit services, 6) development and adoption of a services plan that lays
out special benefit services to be funded and the costs of those services per parcel, 7) a petition drive
endorsing the plan, and, a mail ballot vote of the property owners to establish the district.

Over the next several months, alternative boundaries, service plans and possible assessments will
be proposed, hopefully culminating in formal votes by the property owners and by the Board of
Supervisors. MJM Management Group has been contracted to help form a Steering Committee to
oversee this process.

The purpose of this announcement is to seek your assistance in forming a Steering Committee to
study the possibility of formation of a CBD in your neighborhood. We are looking for Steering
Committee members from each building or complex in the neighborhood, from businesses and
from major property owners. We foresee a Committee of perhaps 20 individuals willing to meet
approximately monthly for six months to determine how a CBD could best meet your needs, and to
help contact your neighbors.

If you are willing to participate or have questions or comments, do not hesitate to contact me.
Telephone: 285-0910; email: chappell_jim@att.net.

Sincerely,

Jim Chappell,
MJM Management Group

 

* Castro/Upper Market, Central Market, Civic Center, Fisherman’s Wharf, Noe Valley, North of Market/
Tenderloin, Ocean Avenue, Yerba Buena, Union Square, 2500 Block of Mission

Topics will include: Risk Awareness, Disaster Supplies, and Personal Disaster Planning

To RSVP, email sffdnert@sfgov.org or call 415.970.2024.

Download the flyer here from the Yerba Buena Community Benefit District website.