More Cops

The San Francisco Police Department is actively recruiting Police Officer Applicants from November 1 until the end of the month. Applications are available at district stations, the Police Academy at 350 Amber Drive, and the Department of Human Resources at 44 Gough St. Applications must be postmarked by November 30, 2005 or hand delivered to the Examination Unit at the Hall of Justice at 850 Bryant St., Room #577-13 by 5:00 pm, November 30, 2005.
The Minimum qualifications for the job are:
§ Must be 20 years old by November 30, 2005.
§ US Citizen or Permanent Resident.
§ US High School diploma or equivalent.
§ Valid Driver’s License.
§ No domestic violence convictions
§ No felony convictions
For more information, see the SFPD web site, www.sfgov.org/police or call the Examination Unit at (415) 575-6325 to request an application by mail.

Day School's plans... continue?

Please visit the SF Day School web site which has a specific page called "New Spaces" and download all 3 sections for the latest School development. There is no mention of the neighborhood or issues surrounding the project...just fund raising and academic potentials. They wish to begin construction June 2006.


http://www.sfday.org/About_SFDS/New_Spaces.html

Community Meeting about the Haight St. Fair

The Park Precinct will host a community meeting on 12/1 @ the Page St. Library to discuss the Haight Street Fair. Capt. Ehrlich has suggested a beer garden idea to reduce the amount of drinking in public. The organizer's reaction is unclear from this note, but seems like a reasonable compromise to me.

Our next Community Forum on Thursday 12/1 6pm at the Page Street Library will focus on the Haight St. Fair.

I am attaching the letter that the Fair organizer Pablo Heising wrote to the Board of Supervisors. I urge you to read it. He is very passionate which is understandable as his livelihood depends on street fairs.

The Haight Street Fair has traditionally allowed alcohol to be consumed anywhere within the perimeter. There are booths which furnish alcohol beverages that are sponsored by the fair's promotor. Liquor stores also sell alcohol which can then be consumed within the confines of the fair. My estimate is that over 90% of the alcohol consumed on the street is sold by retail stores. Mr. Heising estimated that around 70,000 people attended the 2005 Fair. We have discussed having beer gardens as the only place where alcohol can be consumed. This would change the design of the event currently in the approval process by the street closure (ISCOTT) committee.

It is the experience of the SFPD that allowing unlimited amounts of alcohol to be consumed inside a public event requires more police officers than a restricted format or an alcohol free event.

At a meeting Mr. Heising agreed (see attached letter) to hold meetings about the fair in November. The Haight Ashbury Street Fair, a non-profit corporation, gets the alcohol permit from ABC. Information on charities should be available on the State Attorney General website ag.ca.gov/charities. Mr. Heising said that he would make available the amounts disbursed through the non-profit. I agreed that I would show SFPD costs.

The SFPD assigned 1 Sergeant and 15 Officers to spend their entire regular shift at the fair. This was accomplished by taking officers away from their regular duties at other stations. In addition, the Tactical Unit had a squad at the fair from around 4pm to 7pm. Park Station had several units from the night watch divert from their regular beats to assist the units at the fair. There were 35 officers on overtime at a cost of more than $19,000. The State of California provided ABC and State Parole agents. Other City Departments such as DPT & DPW provided assitance, but I do not know what were their costs or who paid for them.

It is my responsibility to see that the needs of the community are represented and the SFPD operates efficiently. Overtime budgets are declining so money that is spent here means that it is not available for other issues.

I have recieved many e mails including some from people who live in the area. Please let me know what you think.

Captain John Ehrlich

You can email Capt. Ehrlich at SFPDParkStation@ci.sf.ca.us

Dangerous Intersection: Golden Gate and Masonic

The SF Day School and neighbors are concerned about the safety of the intersection at GG and Masonic. Below is part of an email that got things going with them, written by a parent at the school:

> In the past year or so, this intersection has undoubtedly become one
> of the most dangerous in the city. Just in the last two months, I
> have witnessed two head-on collisions and numerous near misses.
>
> Those accidents took place not only during rush hours but also when
> young and innocent kids were crossing the intersection to attend the
> San Francisco Day School. In the last accident, which occurred
> approximately two weeks ago, car parts were flying into the San
> Francisco Day School and onto my sidewalk. Luckily no kids were
> hurt. I am afraid that it is a matter of time that a fatal, tragic
> accident will take place, however.
>
> One main problem is the fact that drivers are willfully ignoring the
> posted speed limit, especially those driving southbound from Turk.
> Moreover, they take illegal left turn during prohibited hours and run
> the red light during all hours of the day. Regular commuters know
> enforcement is non-existent. They in turn take more risks in
> violating traffic laws, thus endangering the safety of pedestrians
> including young, innocent kids.
>
> Another problem is the fact that the physical location and size of
> the standard street lights have become inadequate given the
> ever-increasing car congestion and foot traffic over the years. As
> you know, we now have an Albertson's Market and a multi-unit
> condominium complex on Fulton and Masonic.
>
> To further complicate this matter, during each fall and spring,
> trees on both sides of Masonic often block those standard street
> lights. I have talked at length with Jack Fleck with Parking and
> Traffic on this issue and he has assured me a study will be conducted
> in the near future with proposed remedies.

Investigation by possible developer: the Touchless Carwash

NOPNA got a call from a developer (Pulte, inc) about how they were just thinking about making an offer to the guy who owns the Touchless Carwash at Oak and Divis.

One of the reasons they were calling neighborhood groups was to find out what we thought about their idea of building housing on that spot. (the whole carwash area plus two empty buildings next to it)

Some might say 'yay, no more ugly car wash!' some might say 'yay, more housing!' others might say, 'hey, they employ a lot of people' or 'why should we allow more condos (i.e. rich folks) into the neighborhood?'

One of the major caveats of this -only just thinking about it- development is that in order to 'make it worth their time' they'd have to get the area RE-zoned for higher density... Currently, the area is zoned to support 60 units, the developer would want it to be up to 100, or it's not worth it to them.

When I talked to the guy, I told him some of the standard stuff neighborhood groups want to see: parking issues addressed, bike parking addressed, look and design, traffic flow, support of the community, all the standards.

What do you think?

Rumors about businesses in the 'hood

Here's some old news that I would like an update on--

A couple months ago the NOPNA board heard that Albertson's would be leaving the Fulton Market complex at the end of the year, to be replaced by Mollie Stone's... anyone know the currency of this information?

Noticed that Tango20! closed? I know at least one neighbor doesn't think it's temporary, and isn't shedding tears about the loss...

What is the Green Chili Kitchen business that's going in at Fulton & Baker? The interior looks nice, but their website is a bust...

Pacific Primary Preschool to buy Hicks Temple across the street?

Those in the know, please share your knowledge!

SFPD wants your 2 cents on the Haight Street Fair

Received this note today from Capt. Ehrlich at the Park Station...

Friends
People in the community have expressed concerns with the Haight Street Fair. I asked that the ISCOTT (street closure) hearing be postponed in order to get input from you.

We will have a meeting on Thurdsday December 1 at 6pm at the Page Street Library. I would encourage anyone with an interest to attend. If you are unable to attend please e mail me with your support or with any issues with the fair organization. I will in a future e mail outline the police costs. Pablo Heising, the organizer, promised me the financial breakdown of the money contributed to non-profits from the fair proceeds. My understanding is that he only recently received the final City bills.

--Captain John Ehrlich

Aside from these requests for input, the Park Station sends out a weekly crime bulletin with descriptions of notable police activity over the past week. You can subscribe to that by emailing a request to SFPDParkStation@ci.sf.ca.us.

Status of pot club regs

It just occurred to me that I hadn't seen anything about the pot club regulations proposed by Mirkarimi... a small delay, but doesn't sound like it will kill it.

Last-Minute Appeal Delays Passage Of SF Marijuana Legislation
POSTED: 9:21 pm PDT October 25, 2005
SAN FRANCISCO -- A last-minute appeal has temporarily halted the passage of San Francisco's first set of medical marijuana regulations, delaying a final vote on the legislation until Nov. 15 at the earliest. Bill Barnes, a former aide to Supervisor Chris Daly, filed the appeal on Friday... Barnes pointed to the possibility of the closure of three pot clubs on Haight Street and many more throughout the city, and how this could affect traffic and other environmental considerations if medical marijuana patients have to travel to find a new clinic. "That's a significant change," he said. "(The supervisors) should at least tell the people of San Francisco how it is going to affect them." ... Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, sponsor of the legislation, struck a more positive note, arguing that his ordinance had sufficient support to pass the board. "We are very close to coming to an agreement," he said, adding that the current moratorium on new pot clubs, set to expire next month, may have to be extended to allow for the delay.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/5177283/detail.html

Cleaner Streets

NOPNA finds fund for Larkin Street homeless teens to clean up NoPa


I saw the kids out yesterday, picking up trash. They spread out throughout the neighborhood (usually wearing a black t-shirt that says Larkin on it) with trash grabbers and graffiti cleaner.

Currently they're doing the North-South streets, as that's usually where the trash blows, and piles up.

They do a pretty good job too. I swear I could tell the difference this morning, and it took me a minute to remember why the sidewalks didn't have as much trash on them.

If you see these kids out there, make sure to say hello, and if you can, offer a glass of water, a cookie, and definitely a smile. Make friends with these kids, they've got potential.

Earthquake preparedness for Neighborhoods

Well, I went to a presentation by the coalition of neighborhood groups in District 5: SF5Together, and was amazingly frustrated by (when we finally got around to discussing it) how the Office of Emergency Services (OES) seems to either not know what NERT does, or wants to recreate the organizational structure, or, possibly, just likes to create folders with presentations in them... that can sit nicely on shelves.

The only way we all are going to get through the aftermath of a big earthquake here in SF is if a vast number of people get trained by NERT and keep involved. (And, personally, I think the NERT training has a ways to go to be fully effective.) The NERT folks (and I'm one) say that about 11,000 people have been through their program. Sounds like a good number, but I'd say that only about 7,000 are actually still around (remember: they started this program 15 years ago, pre-dot.com and there's been a lot of turn-over in this town since then) and probably only 4000 of those actually feel like they would participate when the excrament hits the cooling device. Then add ridiculously rosy numbers of, say 75% of those people not traveling and actually surviving, you've got 3000 trained NERTs to suppliment something around 700 actual 'safety officers' (if most of them survive, get here from their homes in the east bay, and actually want to leave their families to fend for themselves) to cover the 1,000,000 people who will be in SF when it hits (we've got a sleeping population of 750k and a workday pop of 1.2m, so take an average)

Of course, keeping with our rosy numbers 75% of them will be dead, so we're back to our 750k, or only 202 dazed, scared, wounded people per trained responder to manage. No big deal, right?

(not surprisingly, I have a business proposal in to the Fire Department to consult on how better and more efficiently connect with the neighbors and improve their outreach, organization, and training.)

Great time had at Halloween in the Neighborhood

Big Kudos go out to Leela Gill, NOPNA board member who organized a great Halloween party for the kids up at Cafe Neon, and then got all of them to go out and Trick or Treat in the community. We had more kids at our house this year than ever. Well Done!