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Dear D9 Neighbor,
Happy Pride!! The D9 office has been celebrating all month, including with a special commendation at the Board, lifting up the work of District 9 LGBTQIA+ leaders and organizations, and advocating for the critical programs that address the needs of the queer community in D9 and San Francisco.
It was an honor to recognize Esperanza Macias at the Board of Supervisors on June 18th. Esperanza is the outgoing Director of Strategic Development & Communications at Instituto Familiar de la Raza, after having served at the organization for the past fourteen years. She is a gifted storyteller and passionate advocate for the Latine, LGBTQ+, women, and youth communities. In celebration of her retirement, we thank her for her decades of service to our communities in District 9.
We are also featuring Communities United Against Violence (CUAV) in this newsletters organizational profile. CUAV is an inspiring D9-based organization that builds power for LGBTQ communities, supports healing, and replaces the cycles of violence and trauma with safety and liberation. See more about their work below.
Also this month, we saved the Alemany Flea Market, started a pilot effort to support formerly-permitted street vendors, and fiercely advocated to restore critical services at risk of cuts in the City budget. We also worked to save the Office of Community Engagement and Immigrant Affairs (OCEIA) Community Ambassador Program (CAP), a program that has skilled workers out in the streets every day, solving some of the most difficult problems in our neighborhoods in a compassionate way. Our trained Community Ambassadors are making our streets safer. Throughout all of our advocacy, we have been buoyed by the tremendous engagement of our D9 residents who have emailed, called and visited City Hall to fight for these essential services for our communities.
Read on for more news from around the neighborhoods, and as always, feel free to reach out to me or my staff to share concerns and bright spots from the District that you think we should know about.
In community,
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Homelessness & Street Conditions
Street Vending in the Mission
Since the start of the Mission Street vending moratorium, we have worked hand-in-hand with formerly-permitted vendors to help them remain economically-stable as we took steps to make the corridor safer for all.
Last week, we started a pilot program that brought back 10 street vendors formerly permitted on Mission Street to the 2700 block between 23rd and 24th Streets. You’ll recognize them from their yellow canopies and shirts. These authorized vendors, some of whom had previously sold on Mission Street for 20 years, are thrilled to see their sales up again. You can read about the pilot in this Mission Local article.
During the pilot, the moratorium will continue to be in place to curb the sale of stolen goods by fencers. SF Public Works and SFPD are working to create greater effectiveness and consistency of enforcement as fencers move around and our officers balance other safety matters citywide. Meanwhile, I am advocating for additional, dedicated resources for our inspectors and pushing for changes in state law that will allow us to more effectively stop fencing.
This has been one of the hardest issues I’ve worked on in my time at City Hall, but I remain committed to securing the health and safety of our beloved Mission neighborhood.
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| Photo credit: Sheila Chung Hagen. (Left) Street vendor Consuelo Wofford sets up her vending post and welcomes customers. (Right) Street vendors Arturo Francisco Vargas and Rocio de Jesus Bernabed sell an array of merchandise in the pilot area. |
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Mission Cabins and Homelessness
The Mission Cabins continue to be a great success. We have seen improved street conditions on Capp Street and the immediate area, and there has been great progress in getting some of the most vulnerable and individuals with acute health and mental health challenges to accept the help they need and get healthy again. Every day we are seeing promise that our strategies, including regular one-on-one outreach with individuals on the streets, and a multi-departmental approach to addressing homelessness and street conditions, are indeed working.
We have also seen the number and size of encampments significantly decrease. While we celebrate these wins, there is still a lot of work to do to reach folks who are sleeping in doorways, and who experience severe addiction and mental illness. Through our partnerships with community service organizations and City departments, we will continue to make improvements in our approach to addressing these needs and expect that these efforts will keep showing positive results in the District.
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Affordable Housing
Update on the status of the Regional Housing Bond
When I ran to be Supervisor over 8 years ago, I pledged to help create 5000 units of affordable housing in the District. I knew it was an ambitious goal. Since I started we have built, obtained units that became deed restricted affordable housing, and put in the pipeline over 2900 units of housing for formerly homeless, very low income, and low income San Franciscans. We still have two years to reach my goal and this week I had the honor of casting a vote to get us there.
On Wednesday, June 26, as a member of the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority, I cast perhaps the most important vote of my career. We unanimously placed a $20 Billion regional affordable housing Bond on the November ballot. Not only will this money create tens of thousands of affordable housing in the 9-county Bay Area, it will also create the first public bank in the region which will generate new revenue for affordable housing that isn’t paid for by taxpayers, and it will create tens of thousands of good paying union jobs!
This has been a long time coming and has been backed by many housing heroes in the region. I’m proud I voted yes on this, and will be proud to vote yes in November.
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| Photo credit: Sheila Chung Hagen, Hillary Ronen. Metropolitan Transportation Commission Meeting, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. |
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Supporting Economic Security
Alemany Flea Market Saved!
I am happy to announce that the Alemany Flea Market has been saved and will not be cut from next year’s City budget! There was a risk it was going to be on the chopping block in the City’s budget, as departments looked to cut given the current deficit. For decades the market has been run by the City Administrator’s Real Estate Division, a department that is admittedly ill equipped, given their core competencies, to run such a market efficiently. When we got word of this proposal, we worked together with the Mayor’s office and the City Administrator to agree on a plan to keep it for at least the next year, during which time we will collaboratively come up with a plan to improve its management and secure its future into the next 50 years. The flea market is a historical and cultural San Francisco landmark that plays an important role in the economic security of people who sell and buy at the weekly market, supporting small businesses and individuals in District 9 and Citywide.
Thank you to the community members who spoke up to defend the market, your advocacy made a difference!
For more details on the Alemany Flea Market and the efforts to save it, read this KQED article here.
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| Photo credit: (Left) Todd Lappin, flickr; (Right) Kathleen S. on yelp in a May review of Alemany Flea Market. |
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Valencia Bike Lane Update
On June 19th, the MTA Board endorsed a conceptual side-running design for the Valencia Bikeway to replace the center-running bikeway pilot project currently in place. MTA project staff are continuing outreach on the corridor and will host an open house later this summer to share the final design. They will then bring a final project design before the MTA Board this fall, and if approved, will begin construction in approximately early 2025. The project team is taking all community feedback at Valencia@SFMTA.com and you can learn more about the project and history here. A visualization of the new proposed bikeway is below.
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Green Spaces and Community Improvements
Bernal Heights Recreation Center
A creative group of D9 residents, supported by the nonprofit greeningprojects.org , have been in talks with the San Francisco Department of Recreation and Parks to improve, beautify and add green components to the plaza between the Bernal Heights Rec Center and the playground. This much loved, and daily used, recreation space has been in need of repairs and redesign for some time. The community-led effort to upgrade the space includes plans to bring in new design and environmental elements while retaining its fundamental purpose, for multi-use recreation for youth, families, and adults. There will be a community event on July 27 to engage neighbors in the proposed designs to gather input and support.
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Cesar Chavez/Peralta Greening and Beautification
D9 residents in the Cesar Chavez/Peralta/Holladay area are also working with greeningprojects.org to redesign and beautify the City lot on César Chávez at the Peralta stairs for community access and recreation. The ideas include native plants and other sustainable environmental features, a dog play area, benches and space for families to walk and kids to play. The group also plans to add a commemorative landmark, such as a mural or sculpture, to honor the legacies of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. There is an event planned for this Saturday, June 29 at 11 am at the site, the first major event for this project, inviting the community to weigh in and participate further in the design and visioning for this space.
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Spotlight on a D9 Community Organization
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To lift up the amazing work that is happening every day in Bernal, the Mission and the Portola, we are featuring the work of one D9 organization in each newsletter. This month features…
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Liberation, Healing, Transformation, Mutual Safety, Community & Leadership
Founded in 1979, Communities United Against Violence (CUAV) works to build the power of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) communities to transform violence and oppression. We support the healing and leadership of those impacted by abuse and mobilize our broader communities to replace cycles of trauma with cycles of safety and liberation. As part of the larger social justice movement, CUAV works to create truly safe communities where everyone can thrive.
CUAV's Services
At CUAV we provide Advocacy-Based Peer Counseling where LGBTQ+ people dealing with violence or abuse can access short-term counseling to receive emotional support, safety planning, referrals, and limited case follow-up. Our Take Care Tuesday is an ongoing support group that is open to all LGBTQIA2-Spirit survivors of violence held on Tuesday evenings. Our curriculum incorporates wellness skills that support participants' healing and self care practices.
And in the spirit of collective healing, our SAF-T Program fosters a membership base in order to develop the leadership and capacity of LGBTQ+ survivors of violence to break isolation, increase community connections and create systemic change toward the larger goals of decreasing deportation, homelessness and incarceration rates. And twice a year we conduct our Fundamentals of Healing and Community Leadership Training, open to queer and trans survivors of violence. This 40 hour training focuses on building a solid foundation in CUAVs vision of collective healing and transformation by developing individual and community capacity to increase safety in our queer and trans communities. Additionally, we provide trainings to organizations and agencies across our city and the larger bay area to increase their skills to provide their services to our diverse LGBTQ+ communities.
For a great profile on CUAV published in the Bay Area Reporter in May, go here. For more info on CUAV, go to their website here.
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| Photo credit: CUAV staff. (Top photo) CUAV at the May 1st March in San Francisco; (Bottom photos) CUAV at Dolores Park celebrating Pride with a Picnic! |
•• SATURDAY & SUNDAY, June 29th and 30th
This year marks the 54th year of San Francisco's PRIDE parade and celebration. The theme this year is Beacon of Love . Every year, the community has gathered on the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall uprising to demonstrate to the world who we are and what we stand for. We have marched to demand our rights and freedoms, and we have marched to honor our dead-–all the while celebrating our lives and loves in an explosion of queer joy and creativity. We hope you will make plans to attend San Francisco Pride this year, whether for your first time ever, or for the first time in a long time. With hard-won LGBTQ freedoms being stripped away, and oppression of our people growing ever more extreme across the globe, we must all come together to demonstrate our resolve to be unapologetically queer.
More info on the parade and a whole weekend schedule full of events can be found here.
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