Ridiculous 1BR Apartment Rents in Bernal Heights Are Marginally Less Ridiculous

/ Todd_Lappin / 5 Comments

bernalrentdetail2016

The number-crunchers at the online apartment rental site Zumper recently crunched the numbers to determine the current median rent for a 1-bedroom apartment in various neighborhoods around San Francisco. Not surprisingly, the data reveals the rent is too damn high. Our friends at CurbedSF summarize the story citywide:

Rental site Zumper released a new average rent price map, and it resembles a good steak, with pricey red-meat neighborhoods surrounded by the pale marbling of more affordable destinations.

Zumper reports a slight (2.6 percent) increase in the price of a one bedroom in the city, and a larger (3.8 percent) jump for two bedrooms, but notes that things aren’t as bad as they were at peak prices last summer. Whether this is bad news or not as bad as it could be probably depends on how inured you are to such things.

South Beach, Russian Hill, and the Dogpatch clock as the city’s priciest neighborhoods for renters. South Beach rents are up $140 since Q3 2015, to an average of $3,920. Russian Hill rents increased by $110, to $3,850, but down in the Dogpatch things declined by $170, to $3,810. The previous most expensive neighborhood, the Financial District, declined $380, to $3,800 even.

All that said, when Bernalwood looked at Zumper’s analysis, we were pleasantly surprised to see that median rents in Bernal Heights ($2660) remain on the less-expensive side, relative to comparable nearby ‘hoods such as The Mission ($3300), Potrero Hill ($3570), Glen Park ($2850), and Noe Valley ($3490). So while it would be ridiculous to boast that Bernal is low-rent, we can still boast that we are somewhat lower-rent. Woo-hoo!

Here’s data covering the rest of the city, for the morbidly obsessed:

zumperrentmap.2016

GRAPHICS: Courtesy of Zumper

Bernal Producer Co-Creates Guerrilla Homage to The Exploratorium

/ Todd_Lappin / 4 Comments

exploratoriumstill

Bernal neighbor Ryan Avery  lives near the southern end of Peralta. He just helped complete an unauthorized video about the fabulous Exploratorium, and he wrote to Bernalwood to tell us all about it:

One of your fellow Bernal Heights residents (myself) helped produce and direct a music video immortalizing the Exploratorium. It’s a parody of “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars, shot guerrilla-style in San Francisco.

I’m a local music producer who goes by the alias of Chance’s End. A good friend of mine, Jade Stone from the Noe Valley district, called me up about a month ago and explained “I want to record some lyrics I wrote. Can you help me out?” After learning the lyrics were about the Exploratorium parodying Uptown Funk, I was in 100%.

We recorded her vocals one evening, and then set to work planning on the music video. We recruited a bunch of our friends to be backup dancers (all Bay Area residents), and Jade brought her parents up from Southern California to help with filming. Then we spent a weekend shooting the video. It was a bit tricky in places without the consent of the Exploratorium (ahem), but I think it turned out pretty nicely!

Why’d we make this? I think Jade would agree with me – “Just because we felt like it.”

Enjoy the video! It’s nerdtastic fun, and we’ve waived the admission fee:

Judgemental Signs Tell Bernal Neighbors How to Live

/ Todd_Lappin / 38 Comments

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Some Bernal neighbors have been entertained, some have been bemused, and others have been annoyed, but the preachy home-made signs that have appeared on utility poles around Cortlandia have definitely gotten people talking.

Neighbor Matt shared the photo up top, while Neighbor Rebecca photographed a more elaborate installation on the corner of Cortland and Moultrie. “Fascinating neighborhood discourse,” she says.

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Others, however, find the signs insufferable:

Look closely at the photo of that sign and you’ll see a respone written in pencil at the bottom. It says, “Don’t tell me whut to do.”

Coleridge Mini-Park Neighbors Exasperated by City Inaction on Safety Lighting

/ Todd_Lappin / 26 Comments

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For a year and a half, a group of neighbors who live near the Coleridge Mini-Park have been in contact with city officials and representatives from Supervisor Campos’s office to upgrade the street lighting in the area and make it safer at night. So far, however there has been a lot of talk, but little action. Neighbor Valerie summarizes what’s happened — and not happened — so far:

We wanted to tell you about the efforts that have been made by neighbors here to get better lighting in the Coleridge Mini Park. Our effort has involved multiple calls to 311, SFPD, and Carolyn at Supervisor Campos’ office to follow up.

The initial meeting with representatives from Supervisor Campos’s office was October(ish) of 2014. By early February 2015, they essentially gave us the classic City response of “we hear you, but we can’t do anything about it.” We were basically told that they couldn’t help us because there were too many obstacles and bureaucratic hurdles to overcome, but we could either purchase solar lights or find someone to donate them and only at that point, would they try to help — and by help, they meant figure out IF said lights could actually be installed. All of the work and effort to increase the lighting was kicked to us with no confirmation that it would actually lead to a change. The only thing they keep offering us is to cut back the trees in the park, which we’ve told them multiple times are NOT the problem.

Unfortunately, the only time we’ve heard any follow up to this is after the assault occurred on the Esmeralda Stairway last January. Since that time, Carolyn [Goossen, a legislative aide in Sup. Campos’s office] has reached out again, with a promise that “this was a good season to request grant money.”

However, if Campos and his office have a plan to secure said funds, we haven’t heard about it. The lights on the stairway were replaced with LED bulbs which are *slightly* better, but that doesn’t change the issue IN the park. We are constantly calling SFPD to come out and patrol and/or deal with the drug dealers, meth users, parties, etc. There was another arrest in front of the park on March 14.

We, and our neighbors, have done everything we can do to help improve the safety in this area, including adding additional lights to private homes and installing cameras which did help to catch the guy who assaulted our neighbor at knife-point.

Enough is enough though. I don’t think it’s our responsibility to seek out private funding to pay for lighting in a City maintained park. We, and most of our neighbors, are very frustrated by the lack of response from our Supervisor’s office and as I’ve said previously, it’s insulting that I’m good enough to ask for a vote during election season but he can’t move the needle on a persistent public safety issue.

PHOTO: Police arresting a suspect near the Coleridge Mini-Park on March 14, 2016. Photo by Neighbor Valerie

Rainbows In Bernal Heights Trigger Awe, Ecstasy, Euphoria

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

Processed with VSCO

At dusk last night, a magical combination of sun, clouds, and precipitation triggered a Category 6 Rainbow Barrage that left Bernal Heights squealing with laughter. As news of the prismatic event rippled through social networks, we activated the Bernalwood Rainbow Situation Control Facility to monitor the action.

@darth even got a notification about it (despite a weak mobile connection):

rainbowAlertPhone

Down in La Lengua, rebel propagandist Burrito Justice captured this direct strike:

Neighbor Chuck witnessed a full-arc rainbow unfolding over South Bernal:

Neighbor Peter activated the Mobile Rainbow Tracker Uplink Unit to capture this video footage of a rainbow touchdown near the Alemany Farmer’s Market:

Take it slow on the streets today; all that residual unicorn glitter and leprechaun sweat may make the roads a little slippery. But oh, it’s so worth it…

PHOTO: Top, Rainbow over Bernal Hill, March 21, 2016 by Britnell Anderson

New Bus-Only Lanes and Mandatory Turns Can Make Mission Street a Parking Lot

/ Todd_Lappin / 48 Comments

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Let’s begin with a few stipulations: Public transit is good. Encouraging people to take public transit is good. Making public transit faster, safer, more convenient, and more reliable is good. Policies that discourage the use of private cars are … awkward at times, but they’re generally in the service of a worthy goal. In fact, that’s official policy, as enshrined in our city charter.

Now, with all that said, let’s also stipulate that so far, the new “red carpet” transit-only lanes along Bernal’s stretch of Mission Street are not generating much goodwill.

The photo shown above was taken by Neighbor Margie during the Friday morning commute, looking south at the intersection of Mission and Cesar Chavez. As you can see, the backups created by the new traffic configuration extended all the way from Cesar Chavez to Valencia Street. Cars were backed up. MUNI buses were backed up. No one was transiting rapidly.

The problem, apparently, was not so much the new MUNI-only red lanes, but the new, mandatory right turn from Mission Street northbound onto Cesar Chavez eastbound. Left turns are now banned too, which means that in theory, motorists can no longer drive down Mission Street continuously from Precita Avenue to 26th Street.

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To head north, you must turn right on Cesar Chavez, then turn left on South Van Ness — and in the photo up top from Friday morning, you can see the SFPD motorcycle officers who were on hand that day to enforce the new rules. But before you can turn right onto Cesar Chavez, everyone first has to merge from two lanes down to one. With rather predictable results.

Neighbor Bill wrote to say:

These traffic planning groups are operating without a logical approach. They don’t exponentially increase the quantity or frequency of bus lines, or spend the money to create a comprehensive underground rail system with full access to all neighborhoods. They just gum up the streets to force the behavior they want – to make more residents take public transportation. This is behavior that simply can’t change without the requisite infrastructure in place.

Sorry to add to the chorus. It is nuts.

Hopefully, the backups we are seeing today are just early teething pains. Hopefully, before too long, the traffic patterns along Mission Street will realize the intended purpose of the new configuration: To make bus transit faster and more efficient than it was before.

This morning your Bernalwood editor visited the intersection of Mission and Cesar Chavez, to see how things were going. The traffic snarls were gone, but that was probably because lots and lots of passenger cars were ignoring (or blissfully unaware of) the new right-turn requirement.  This morning, motorists were zipping across Cesar Chavez via Mission Street, much as they always have:

Missionchavezblwothru

As a result, there was no backup south of Cesar Chavez.

It’s hard to tell what all this portends for traffic patterns along Mission Street in the future. A system that works to the extent that it is ignored is no system at all, but the SFPD will no doubt conduct occasional enforcement operations along Mission Street to, uh, remind motorists about the new mandatory right-turns. Tickets will be issued, and some motorists will be sad, but over time traffic patterns may indeed change for the better.

On the other hand, if the new flow consistently generates big back-ups along Mission Street, the SFMTA might find their offices surrounded by mobs of angry Bernalese wielding pitchforks and torches:

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PHOTOS: Top, Mission at Cesar Chavez, Friday morning, March 18, 2016 by Neighbor Margie. Traffic signs and intersection on March 21, 2016 by Telstar Logistics.

Precita Eyes and Residents Avoid Eviction by Buying Precita Park Building

/ Todd_Lappin / 15 Comments

precitaeyes.aug2015

Precita Eyes Mural studio on Precita Park, along with 4 residents of the building at 344 Precita Avenue, have prevailed in their effort to purchase the building from the trustees of the late owner. The effort comes at the end of a long and at times acrimonius struggle to prevent the sale of the building to new owners who might have attempted to evict Precita Eyes and other residents.

The funding required to make the $1.35 million purchase possible was secured by the Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA):

The Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA) has been able to purchase 344-348 Precita Avenue in San Francisco, so that all tenants can remain at affordable rents.

The commercial tenant is Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center, which has for decades created colorful murals, especially in the Mission community. Precita Eyes was nominated as the city’s first legacy business, per Prop J passed by San Francisco voters last November.

The apartments house four working-class residents – educators, musicians and therapists – who have long called the neighborhood home. All tenants were at risk of eviction from buyers looking to flip the building.

Tenant Dennis Mackenzie is thankful to remain in his home of over 30 years. He states, “Thanks to the many good people who made this possible, including MEDA, the San Francisco Community Land Trust, our families, friends, neighbors and others. This deal shows that there are ways to assist people so that we can remain in our longtime homes and businesses without being displaced and forced to move out of San Francisco.”

Community support made this deal a reality, with MEDA’s $400,000 downpayment raised by family, friends, neighbors and building residents, the latter raising over $19,500. The rest of the downpayment, more than $380,000, came from MEDA’s newly launched Neighbor-to-Neighbor (N2N) Fund, a community effort that is the brainchild of Mission resident Spike Kahn, who is also the founder of the nonprofit arts center, Pacific Felt Factory.

Neighbors from the Mission and Bernal Heights were very concerned about the potential loss of the Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center, a community arts institution in place for over 40 years on the site. The building’s residents used fundraising efforts, along with the N2N funds, to quickly raise the downpayment within 30 days, and were able to meet the seller’s timeline.

PHOTO: Precita Eyes Mural Center on Precita Park, by Telstar Logistics

Shoplifters, Scammers, and Other Challenges of Being a Cortland Merchant

/ Todd_Lappin / 14 Comments

Shoplifter.heartfelt

It’s not easy being a merchant on Cortland Avenue.

Obviously, providing products, attracting customers, paying commercial rent, and managing the books are challenging tasks unto themselves. Yet over the last few years, as your Bernalwood editor has gotten to know many of the merchants who serve our community, I’ve also been impressed by how exasperating it can be when earning a livelihood means keeping your front door open to any random person who feels like walking in.

Neighbor Darcy from Heartfelt on Cortland shared this story — and a surveillance camera video — of a shoplifter who recently swiped some of her merchandise:

In the video, you can clearly see the young woman who shoplifts. The young lady with the tan cardigan, red scarf, and green purse looks around the room and pick up two Corkcicle-brand thermoses. At 02:09 she puts one in her purse, and at 02:52 she adds the second one to her purse, after which she quickly exit the store with a companion. We think the video speaks for itself.

Needless to say, if you recognize the perp, please stop by Heartfelt to let them know.

Meanwhile, a few blocks up the street, Neighbor JoEllen from Pinhole Coffee had her time wasted by this two-bit scammer who tried to pull the old “but wait, I gave you a $20 bill” trick:

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JoEllen says:

The gentleman shown here has been trying to trick cashiers into giving him more change back. During the transaction he tried to distract me by being charming, pointing to certain areas of the room and commenting on the design…blah blah blah. He then told me he gave me a $20, when clearly he gave me a $5, and asked for more change. I said “nope.”

Norman of Elsie St. came in soon after and told us he heard he’s been doing that up and down the street that day.

Ask yourself: Have you hugged a Bernal merchant today?

Saturday: “Viva la Noche” Fundraiser Gala for Flynn Elementary School

/ Todd_Lappin

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Neighbor Daniella invites you to participate in a glamorous evening of food, wine, music, and treasure happening on Saturday night, to benefit the Leonard R. Flynn Elementary School on Precita Park:

Saturday night, March 19th, the Leonard R. Flynn Elementary School PTA will be hosting its 5th annual “Viva la Noche” fundraiser with music, hors d’oeuvres, wine, and a fantastic silent auction.

Bid on all sorts of Bernal local favorites including gift certificates to over 100 local businesses like Hillside Supper Club and Little Bee Bakery, vacations, wine, massages, and more! Fun new items this year include a weekend at Costanoa, a week in an AirStream RV, and a GoCar tour of SF.

Saturday, March 19, 2015
7:00pm until 11:00pm
@ Mission Rock Resort
817 Terry A Francois Boulevard, SF, CA 94107

Tickets are $30 at the door.

About the PTA and the School:
Flynn is the elementary school that borders on Precita Park. We serve close to 500 students from K to 5th grade in both Spanish immersion and English language programs.

The mission of our school is to promote excellence in education and create a nurturing learning environment for our students. Over 65% of our students come from low-income families who qualify for free or reduced cost breakfast and lunch.

Donations to the PTA fund the programs that the district is not able to provide — things that many of us would consider essentials for a decent education for our kids:

  • Physical Education – a program that promotes physical health and social development
  •  Sciences – programs in partnership with Mission High School, plus gardening, and water conservation
  • Arts Enrichment – Visual arts, dance and music education

Your donation is fully tax-deductible. Leonard R. Flynn PTA is a non-profit tax-exempt organization as defined by IRS code section 501 (c)(3) and our non-profit tax I.D # is 56-2587473.

**We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of the local businesses that so generously donate to this event. We absolutely could not do it without you, and we are truly grateful for your support.**

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Time Machine: A Survey Tour of Bernal Heights In 1984

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

BernalJournal1984.coverJuly-August

Last night your Bernalwood editor spent some time perusing an archive of old back-issues of the Bernal Journal, the Bernal Heights newspaper from the days when news still came on paper.

This isn’t the first time that I have fallen into this archival rabbit-hole, but per usual, my exploration yielded a trove of history, context, and memory. One article in particular  caught my attention: An overview of the social and economic conditions in Bernal Heights as things stood in July of 1984.

Here’s how the article looked. (Don’t worry about trying to read the layout here, because the full text of the article is provided below, for your reading enjoyment.)

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A few obvious and fabulous visual details:

  • That hand-drawn Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center ad! Wow.
  • That El Rio ad! With the same logo and “Your dive!” slogan they’re still using today! Hooray!

In the article itself, here are some highlights:

  • Demographically, the article describes Bernal as “predominantly white. Latin Americans, mainly from Mexico, form the second largest group, followed by Asians, particularly Filipinos, and Blacks. In 1979 there were also 59 Samoans, 42 Vietnamese, 27 American Indians, 2 Guanamanians and 2 Aleut Eskimos.”
  • In 1979 Bernal residents earned a median income of $22,300, as compared to $25,672 for San Francisco as a whole. Bernal Heights residents were, on average, four years younger than the rest of the city’s residents.
  • In 1984, a wave of Laotians were moving to the Bernal, along with “the so-
    called ‘new breed of ‘young urban professionals,’ most of whom are white.”
  • Cortland Avenue was struggling at the time, as “the neighborhood’s reputation as a high crime, poorly frequented area [was] very damaging for new businesses.”
  • Speaking of crime, “in 1983 the western slope of the hill, in the area where Cortland Avenue and Mission Street meet, had the highest crime rate in the Ingleside district, while crime figures on the eastern slope of Bernal Heights were some of the lowest in the city.”
  • “The average price of a house in 1979 was $84,300. According to Abbe Stevenson, a Cortland Avenue real estate agent, homes rarely sell for below $100,000, and there is a big discrepancy between the cost of houses at the very top of the hill, many of which are now in the $180,000 range.”
  • There was still room to build new homes in Bernal, which contained “one quarter of San Francisco’s available building lots, with land values
    averaging $20,000.” Building permits, increased 74 percent in San
    Francisco during 1983, and housing starts rose 11.2 percent in February, 1984 to their highest level since 1978.
  • However, Bernalese didn’t much care for new home construction back then either.  The article says, “Keeping speculators away from the hill is an issue that residents here have always rallied around, earning for themselves a reputation for hard-headedness at City Hall.”
  • Ultimately, the article concludes “All city neighborhoods change, as the City’s inhabitants migrate through them. Bernal Heights just seems to have done so a little slower than the rest. For that, most of its residents are grateful.”

Here’s the full text of the article, straight from 1984 to you:

BERNAL HEIGHTS REVISITED . . .
By Abigail Stexling-Vasquez

“Bernal Heights isn’t exactly the go-go market of
real estate,” says Supervisor Bill Maher, who has lived
here for the past eight years. Yet on this San Francisco
hill, where some of the wealthiest residents still live
off of dirt roads, the way things are is just the way
people want them to stay.
Continue reading →

D9 Supervisor Candidates Square Off in Bernal Heights

/ Todd_Lappin / 19 Comments

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The political hopefuls competing to become the next District 9 Supervisor convened last Thursday night, as the Bernal Heights Democratic Club (BHDC)  held a candidate endorsement forum at the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center.

Our current D9 representative, Supervisor David Campos, is termed-out this year, and five candidates seek to replace him. They are:

  • Joshua Arce: 40, a pragmatic progressive with close ties to the labor, nonprofit housing, and environmental movements.
  • Iswari España: 42, a training officer with the San Francisco Human Services Agency.
  • Edwin Lindo: 29, A Bernal resident and Bernal Height Neighborhood Center board member who is also active with the San Francisco Latino Democratic Club.
  • Hillary Ronen: 40, A legislative aide to David Campos and his chosen successor, backed by the progressive establishment.
  • Melissa San Miguel 29, a former policy manager with the National Center for Youth Law and former MissionLocal reporter

Reporter Joshua Sabatini from the San Francisco Examiner attended the BHDC endorsement forum, and he proclaimed Ronen and Arce to be the front-runners. Here’s how he described Ronen’s pitch:

Ronen says she is part of a larger movement to preserve the progressive majority bloc on the Board of Supervisors, running for one of the three open seats this November with termed out progressive supervisors.

She has secured the sole endorsements of the traditional progressive candidate backers like Service Employees International Union 1021 — the government employee’s largest labor union — and the California Nurses Associations, Unite Here Local 2 and former Assemblymember Tom Ammiano.

Ronen blames the Mission’s crisis on Mayor Ed Lee and his allies for “short-sighted thinking and shutting out community voices and only listening to corporate voices — and their horrible negotiations.”

For the past six years, Ronen has served as an aide to Campos. Before that she was an attorney with La Raza Centro Legal, a group which advocates for low-wage and immigrant workers.

Arce, for his part, presented himself as a coalition-builder:

[Arce] said he voted for a measure last November that would have imposed a moratorium on market-rate development in the Mission. The measure, Proposition I, was opposed by real estate interests and developers, and lost at the ballot.

Arce condemned Ronen as part of a failed status quo unresponsive to district needs. “It’s not progressive to talk about meeting the needs of our community, but not returning phone calls or emails,” he said.

“People look at the Mission as being at a crossroads,” Arce said. The path forward, he added, is “working with communities and not only that but bringing people together.”

Arce frequently used the pronoun “we” during the interview. He prides himself on a political style he describes as forging unconventional coalitions to achieve policy wins.

Assembly member David Chiu, Supervisor Scott Wiener and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom are among those endorsing Arce.

By the end of the night on Thursday, the Bernal Heights Democratic Club overwhelmingly endorsed Hilary Ronen — an outcome that basically pre-ordained, given the close ties that exist between Supervisor Campos’s office and the BHDC.

The general election for the D9 Supervisor’s race will take place on Nov. 8, 2016

PHOTO: D9 Supervisor candidates at the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center, March 10, 2016. From left to right, Melissa San Miguel, Hillary Ronen, Edwin Lindo, Josh Arce, and Iswari España. Photo by Emma Chiang for the San Francisco Examiner

Summary Notes from the Feb. 25 Community Safety Meeting at BHNC

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

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There was a community safety meeting at the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center late last month, and Neighbor Edie took some rather thorough notes which we’re sharing here. Read on for encouraging updates on some recent high-profile crimes and disappointing news from the DA’s office about auto break-in arrests:

Bernal Heights Community Convening Meeting Notes
Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center
Thursday, February 25, 2016, 6:00 pm

Welcome/Meeting Purpose
Ailed Paningbatan-Swan, BHNC

Important to have regular meetings so we can work together stay on top of issues…The Neighborhood Center will be hosting these meetings the 4th Thursday of every month.

Police Update by Captain Joseph McFadden

Esmeralda Stairs assault Update: people put in custody with the work of Bernal neighbors who looked for videos and witnesses. Booked not just the original person who assaulted, but his girlfriend who was also involved too.

Auto break-ins—Good Life and Other two arrests directly after the previous meeting, both felonies, reduced to misdemeanors and now back on the street. This is a problem that has happened with the past 4 people they’ve caught. These are primarily recidivists. Community pressure will help getting this situation turned around. Public needs to talk to DA, judges to make the point that letting them go doesn’t do any good. Send video, witnesses must agree to testify.

Questions and Answers
Q: Let’s keep a list of felons who are let loose immediately, track their cases, and go to the presiding judge and ask why they’re reducing sentences. (The Captain agreed to give us the police reports after some editing).

Q: Do you have a recommendation of video systems?
No – police can’t recommend, but SF SAFE has info.

Q: Why can’t you put bait in a car and arrest them?
Murphy’s law – when we set up, they sometimes don’t bite. Q: What happened to the video I gave the police a few weeks ago? Captain will check.

Archie Wong, Assistant District Attorney
The DA’s office has placed Assistant DAs with all the police stations to get to know the police and the area better. Archie Wong works with McFadden and Ewing in the Tenderloin. The Tenderloin CPD is planning to roll out cameras, and recommend getting the best quality you can, high mega- pixels and mega zoom, and night view. If you don’t get good images, they don’t help the police at all. On the Esmeralda Stairs assault, next court date is end of March, Judge Crompton.

Q: About the Good Life auto break-ins:
Sgt. Alvarez is tracking down white car involved, and she’s very persistent.

Q: Why do cases get reduced, people let out?
Depends on their past criminal history, what was stolen, the attorneys, the jury, the wording of the law.

Q: If someone’s on probation, can we ask the probation dept to send them back if they commit a crime?
Felonies are on supervised probation – standards are lower for sending them back to jail.

Q: Wouldn’t it be better to have health care, jobs, and education for people who criminals who come out and don’t have any other means of earning money?
There are a lot more programs in SF to help people, but there’s a lot more crime here. There are criminal gangs and families here, looking for Louis Vuitton and laptops. At some point, something has to click for people to want to get help.

Follow-up on previous meeting issues:

1. Holladay Avenue Caltrans property
Shane O’Connor, neighbor Live on Holliday, parallel to and right above 101 – close proximity to all Bayshore 101 activity, a magnet for illegal activity: lots of cars dumped, garbage dumped, homeless, people come to park in dark areas up to no good. Set up meeting with Campos HR, neighbors did a walk in the fence area belonging to CalTrans. Meeting with DPW, city agencies to see if there’s city interest in doing something productive with the abandoned area. Instead of being a magnet for garbage, mess, and crime, it could be a magnet for community participation and planning of a beautiful area that benefits the whole city.

2. Hot Spot walks : Tentative Dates
These consist of neighbors and representatives from city agencies checking areas that need attention cleanup or repairs to prevent crime and/or preserve public safety. Scheduled walks are: Region 1: Mon 03/14, Region 2: Thu 03/31, Region 3: Thu 04/14, Region 4: Wed 04/27

Supervisor Campos’ office—Hillary Ronen

1. Car Break-ins: after last meeting, learned Weiner and Yee had already had a city-wide meeting on the topic, so Campos called a follow-up. Mayor said there’s increase in break-ins all over the city, but most in District 6. City has focused their efforts using new crime-stopping techniques on the touristy areas. Campos asked for help for all city residents, since many have been broken in to several times.

2. Homeless Encampment at Cesar Chavez : it’s important for people to have a place to go so—otherwise they just move into the nearby neighborhood. It doesn’t work to throw away people’s belongings, and it’s inhumane.. This is a health, human rights, quality of life city wide-crisis. There was a meeting today to align all city departments to streamline resources and work together, but few new ideas or solutions—expanding Pier 80 is a short-term goal.

3. March 2 public hearing on Navigation Center, a full-service for homeless people who typically don’t want to use current shelters —this allows families/opposite sex partners, belongings, and pets, which are not allowed in current shelters (except for Pier 80). Here they get counseling, connecting people with social services and long-term housing, working to create stability in their lives. The first Nav Center has been open for a year in the Mission & has 75 beds, Mayor has praised it, but no new Navigation Centers are in the works. Campos putting pressure on Mayor to do more, smarter, faster.

4. Cesar Chavez and Potrero to meet DPW, homeless outreach team; will discuss how they can block off the space after the homeless are moved to shelters so they can improve the site; neighbors are welcome to attend.

Questions and Answers
Q: Have you worked with bicycle coalition?
t’s gotten challenging to use the bike path. Not yet.

Q: What about Pier 80?
It’s at capacity, all the time. You can have opposite sex partners, belongings, and pets, but there are no social workers.

Q: Are Nav Centers offering mental health, other social services?
Yes. It’s very hard for homeless to get services, but it’s very successful in the Nav Center, and there is a lot of demand. Great idea, and trying to get it implemented, but it’s very hard to make it all happen, especially with homeless persons’ lack of documentation. We also need a safe injection center and a wet house for people who haven’t stopped drugs and drinking yet. We’re having a problem with needles on the street.

Spotlight: DPW and PUC Charles Sheehan, Communications Manager, SFPUC SFWater.org

1. City converting over 18,000 lights to LEDs over next 5 years. City owns 60%, PGE owns 40%. However, it’s not always easy to put in new lights because not every neighbor wants them (shines in at night )

2. Holliday Ave. lights: PGE is responsible. 4 poles. Pretty bright already, but could ask for an increase to 150 watt bulbs

3. Cortland underneath highway. Some lights out, should have been repaired by now. Also two MUNI poles near residences, so they could support lights.

4. Pathway up from Andover to Bernal Heights Boulevard, possible to increase lights.

Questions and Answers
Q: What’s the best way to get a light in or increased?
Call 311 and put a request for lighting assessment, that puts it into the SFPUC queue to review and have lights added.

Q: Bennington and Cortland is a super dark area.

Neighborhood Projects—Working Together Edie Williams & Bobbie Cochran, neighbors

As a community we’re stronger if we get to know folks from all over the area, discuss our goals and concerns for Bernal, and then work together to get things done. We should work from a position of knowledge and action, rather than reacting fearfully and being victimized by unexpected crime or unsolved problems.

In the past, we’ve done hot-spot walks; the Bernal GO Team and the BHNC passed out flyers to let neighbors know how to protect themselves from theft; individuals and groups have worked with Rec and Parks to clean up the gardens and one neighbor even developed the garden walks to inform about native plants.

From January meeting survey:

What I like about Bernal:

  • Diversity
  • Nice Neighbors, great community
  • Bernal Hill, parks, weather, view, walkability
  • Shops & Services, Restaurants, Parks, & Library Parking

What I don’t like about Bernal:

  • Crime, violence, car break-ins
  • Gentrification, neighbors quarrelling
  • Not feeling safe walking
  • Trash, graffiti, dump sites
  • Parking

What else needs doing? Brainstorming Session Ideas from community

1. Get and share info on best cameras to use

2. Traffic calming in areas with the most speeding: Cortland toward Bayshore, Alemany

3. Mission between Appleton / Highland – not enough lights to see pedestrian stripes in the road or the pedestrians themselves.

4. Pedestrian safety working group? Tom Folks, DPT traffic engineer, is the best contact.

5. We can pay attention to problems and get them fixed if we all know how to use the system. The city works on data. Contact 311, explain the problem, get a CAD number, tell your friends to call too. There’s also a
new Blue 311 app you can use.

6. At Cortland and Coleridge there’s been ongoing robbery and destruction of plants, even those in pots too big for one person to take. Need to install motion detector lights on the house.

7. Clean up Cortland on both ends.

8. Use Next Door to post safety information.

9. Someone stole a bike from the bike shop on Cortland. It appears from the video to have been a crime of opportunity, and the woman doesn’t seem the type to ride this bike. Store owners would like the bike back, no questions asked. Will put up signs, see if anyone knows the woman who took it.

PHOTO: Capt. Joseph McFadden at BHNC, Oct. 20, 2015 by Telstar Logistics