With the giants game going on, it was no wonder that only 16 people showed up for the meeting! Huge thanks for the folks who helped distribute the fliers!: Ted Teipel, Kevin Dunn, Barbara Presta, John Koelsch, Nathan Hall, Kazumi Matsuyama, Janice Low, Philip Byland and Kathy Flanders.
Jeff Adachi, Public Defender of SF since 2002, is the author of Proposition B. The goal of Prop B is to reign in pension and health care costs to the city. After Jeff described the proposition in great detail, I asked him 5 questions. Then he took questions from the group. This is by far the most contentious SF ballot measure this year. Public employees are upset that their benefits will be cut, labor unions are fighting to keep these benefits for the employees, and the city is looking for ways to eliminate or reduce some of its skyrocketing expenses. The biggest burden would be on those who earn less, who have more than 2 children and who are hoping to keep their current health plan. Whether it's Prop B or some other drastic measure, some method of cutting costs will need to be implemented.
Mike Lowman, a member of the Civil Sidewalks field staff came to discuss Proposition L & M. Prop L would enable police to address the problem of people camping out on sidewalks and in many cases disrupting residents, merchants and shoppers. It would be in affect only from 7AM - 11PM, and only pertain to sidewalks. It would not change people's ability to camp out in plazas or in doorways. The SF version of this proposition originated in the Haight where the problem has become extreme. It's designed to close a loophole in the police's ability to request that a person or people move along or risk getting arrested. Something similar has been enacted in 60 other US cities. He also discussed Proposition M, which is the "poison pill" for Prop L. If Prop M gets one vote more than Prop L - even if Prop L passes, Prop M's passage would void Prop L. (Very confusing - sorry!)
Traffic Calming: Back in August or September, several of us went down to City Hall for the MTA hearing on our traffic calming plan for 17th St. The plan is to build an island median on the downhill side of the street, just above the top of the Corbin Steps. And a speed radar sign a bit farther down the hill. Almost all of us got up to speak - all in favor. No one spoke out against it. And it passed!
Here's the schedule I received from the person who handles traffic calming at MTA:
End of November - Finalize the locations of the island and speed radar sign.
End of December - Finalize costs and designs.
January - March, 2011 - Construction. The large window of time is to cover
DPW's construction crews' schedules and weather conditions.
75 Mars: The owner of this home has applied for permits to do a major enhancement to the property. He would like to add a unit below on the Corbett side, and an additional level above. There is a hearing scheduled for November 17th. In addition, he would like to clean out the northernmost part of the little pocket park on Mars/Corbett, and build a public stairway from near the base of his property up to Mars, near where the little bench is. This second proposal would involve separate permitting, and is far from being addressed with the Planning Dept. If you would like more information, or to see a copy of the plans, just let me know.
Corbett Slope: For years, after our success in preventing the largest open space in our neighborhood from becoming housing, I have been talking and meeting with people about possible uses for it that would keep it green and building-free. Currently no one is allowed inside. All likely winners in the District 8 Supervisor's race are pro green space. Last week I met with Karly Nagy and Jay Rosenberg at the site. They are with the SF Permaculture Guild and Kitchen Garden SF. We discussed possibilities that they could envision for the space. The Permaculture Guild educates young people about land use, soil improvement and garden design - among many other things. The hope is that some of these students would opt to work on the Corbett Slope, come up with some plans, discuss with our neighborhood, and hopefully get some assistance from us to make improvements. I'll keep you posted.
STOP signs on Mars: There is a desire by many to reduce the speed of traffic on 17th and Corbett. Our island median will hopefully alleviate this problem on 17th St. Exiting Mars in either direction can be life-risking if you've ever done it. The problem we have is that both Corbett and 17th are "major arterials" and it is very difficult, if not impossible to have STOP signs installed on such streets. In these cases it would be completely unacceptable to MTA and DPW. A neighbor had hoped to at least get STOP signs that would cause Mars traffic to stop. But since there is no possibility of exiting Mars without stopping, the idea has been tabled.
AT&T's proposed utility boxes: As AT&T's product has been losing some of its edge of late, and they are losing market share for some of its products, they are wanting to become more competitive with companies like Comcast and Verizon. Whereas those 2 companies have managed to provide internet service relatively unobtrusively, AT&T wants to erect 726 enormous boxes on our sidewalks - adjacent to their existing boxes. The new ones would be 48" tall, 51.7" wide and 26" deep. They would also be beige - graffiti magnets - AND they would hum all day - a sound similar to an electric toothbrush, according to an ATT rep. Many groups I am involved with have met to discuss this issue. Everyone would want ATT customers to have access to the UVerse product, but we are pushing them to do this without creating such visual and audible blight.
Cannabis Clubs: There were 2 applications for Cannabis outlets in the Castro - one to go into the FinDecor store on Noe St near La Mediterranee, the other into the Earthtones space on Market near Gold's Gym. Both have been tabled due to their proximity to schools. They would need to be at least 1000 feet from any school, and these 2 locations did not satisfy that requirement.
Gold's Gym: Gold's is just one of several new projects proposed along the Upper Market corridor. The original plans called for an additional floor of gym and 2 floors of rental housing above that. This plan would put them over the maximum height limit, so they are working with the Planning Dept to come up with a way around that. Almost all of the neighborhood associations and merchants approve of the plan. Word got around last week that Richard Rowling, founder and CEO of TRT Holdings, which owns the Gold's Gym brand as well as Omni Hotels, contributed over $2 million to American Crossroads, a major player behind several anti-gay candidates in this year's midterm and local elections. American Crossroads was founded by Karl Rove. The local Gold's is looking to remove itself from the Gold's
umbrella, but their contract doesn't expire until September 2012.
Trader Joe's: It is becoming more and more likely that we will not see a Trader Joe's in the old Tower Records building. There are so many roadblocks that it would be difficult for them to overcome most of them. There's the parking issue, traffic, Radio Shack's not agreeing to leave, among many other problems.
Whole Foods: The proposed store on Market at Dolores, in the old S&C Ford dealership is inching closer to acceptance. They've gotten support from almost every organization in the area as well as the neighbors, but the city still has some issues with parking. If you'd like to check out the plans, you can view them at: 2001marketsf.com.
If any of you is website-smart, and would be interested in helping out with our erstwhile website, please let me know. It would be greatly appreciated. Also, membership dues are $15/year, and they cover July thru June. If you'd care to join or renew, please send a check (made out to CHN or Corbett Heights
Neighbors) or cash to 123 Corbett or to 78 Mars - or drop it in either mailbox.
Thanks for your interest in our neighborhood!
- Gary
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