Hi Neighbors -
Last Thursday was our quarterly meeting. Approximately 30 people attended.
Our new meeting location is the Castro Community Meeting Room above the B of A on Castro and 18th. The move was necessary because the Dept. of Parks and Rec. has started charging a considerable amount for use of the space – whether you're non-profit or otherwise. The CCMR charges a reasonable $25 per use.
Mission Accomplished : We're hoping to set up a minimal website, blog or such to have neighborhood information more readily available. Anyone able and available to help set this up would be most appreciated.
Kevin Dunn is our new Treasurer. Please mail your dues to him at 123 Corbett (or drop in mailbox). Make checks payable to Corbett Heights Neighbors. (Dues are $15 per year)
Our bank balance is around $1300. Currently it is used for printing and the meeting room. Our hope is to begin maintaining some of our pocket parks with the money we collect.
3 officers from Park Station attended the meeting. We discussed crime and traffic-calming a bit. Any crime or suspicion of crime should always be reported – no matter how slight. The general, non-emergency phone number is 553-0123. There is also an online site to easily report crimes: http://sfgov.org/site/police_index.asp?id=28854
There is a new Captain at Park Station – Teresa Barrett. I spoke with her last week. I inquired about the possibility of an occasional drive-by in our area, and she said that they are now doing that.
Next to speak was Port Commissioner Ann Lazarus. She came to discuss Proposition A, the parks bond. Despite the fact that the mayor, all 11 members of the Board of Supervisors and every environmental and parks advocacy group are all in favor of this bond, there is still a possibility that it will fail. Bonds must receive 2/3 of the votes to pass. So please vote and support this valuable bond.
Now to utility undergrounding. Due to the fact that accurate reporting from PG&E, Comcast or AT&T has been virtually non-existent, and many frustrated residents have had no clue as to how to proceed, a couple of our neighbors – Leslie and John Koelsch – took it upon themselves to find out which homes have not been connected, and what procedures must be taken in these final stages of the project. A flier was printed up and mailed to every homeowner affected, giving the most up-to-date information and all of the phone numbers to call to complete the work. This was done with help from the internet, our good friend, Lynn Fong from DPW, and just walking door to door to check out which homes had had the preliminary work done.
First to speak was Ranjit Parhar from DPW. After telling me last year that we would receive weekly, or at least regular updates on the progress of the project, I have yet to receive one email from her. At the meeting, we were promised that these updates would now be forthcoming.
Next, Doreen Martinez from PG&E said that after dozens of meetings to discuss undergrounding, they are hoping that they are finally on track. We'll see.
Representatives from both Comcast and Smartech (doing the work for AT&T) had promised to come, but were no-shows. Comcast emailed me to say that due to the sheets that we mailed out with the phone numbers to call, they have been receiving between 5 – 10 calls a day to complete the connections. At this point they expect for the poles to come down by MID-APRIL, but let's make believe they said before Christmas, so we won't be too disappointed.
Kevin Dunn, a real estate agent at Herth, gave us some information about home sales in our area. Apparently, despite the gloomy news about home sales across the country, most of San Francisco remains an oasis of prosperity.
He also reported that the tree-planting that he's been working on with Friends of the Urban Forest will finally take place in a couple of weeks.
And last, I read a few excerpts from Mae Silver's book Old Corbett Road. Unfortunately it's out of print, but let me know if you'd like to see a copy. It's also available in the Public Library.
Our first garden cleanup day will be sometime in the last half of February. Date and time to follow.
That's all for now.
- Gary Weiss, President CHN
