Supervisor Chan 032824 Newsletter

Golden Gate Park Community Benefit Fund

As part of the Outside Lands contract with the City the Richmond receives funding from Another Planet Entertainment (APE) to help mitigate the impacts the concert series has on our neighborhood. Last year, the City agreed to expand the concert series to include a smaller scale concert the weekend after the OSL Festival. While I was the lone no vote on this expansion, I recognized it would pass so I negotiated an additional $10,000 to be added to the Community Benefit Fund for this new weekend closure, in addition to free concerts downtown, to generate positive activity and revenue for the rest of the city.

Another thing I required to ensure Richmond residents would be heard during the initial conversations about the concert expansion were community input meetings. Through these meetings you spoke about the impacts the park closure and concerts have on the neighborhood, including the lack of revenue for local small businesses, the difficulty with parking, the harm caused to native wildlife, and the trash left by concertgoers. We also reached out directly to you to gather further input on how these funds should be utilized.

Last week, I was joined by the Golden Gate Park Community Benefit Fund recipients and Another Planet Entertainment to announce $110,000 in funding for community based organizations and programs. This process has show that, together we can find solutions that support Citywide interests and bring benefits to our neighborhood.

Supporting Small Businesses

To help mitigate the loss of revenue to our neighborhood commercial corridors, we are partnering with merchants to expand neighborhood celebrations including night markets, film festivals, and more. These festivals will bring residents and visitors to the Richmond and foot traffic to our merchants. Sean Kim, owner of Joe's Ice Cream on Geary and one of the merchants helping to plan our first Night Market, spoke at the announcement.

Supporting our Schools

Each year during the Outside Lands Festival, some of our public school Parent-Teacher Organizations (PTOs) hold fundraisers, utilizing their school yards for paid parking for concertgoers. To help alleviate the parking issue for residents, I am working with the local PTOs to create parking vouchers for residents to park in the school yards during the concerts, giving funds directly to the PTOs to benefit the schools and giving residents easy parking. Lamar Heystek, Co-Chair of the Argonne Elementary School PTO joined us and spoke at our announcement.

Supporting our Environment

During the community meetings, we heard from many of you about the environmental impacts the concerts have on our neighborhood and our local wildlife. To help offset this we are investing in San Francisco Nature Education (SFNE), which has provided San Francisco children with environmental education and field trips to local parks for over 20 years. Nancy DeStefanis, founder of SFNE spoke at our announcement about the importance of teaching our future generations how to preserve and protect our wildlife.

We also will be funding the Cabrillo Playground Dahlia Garden, bringing more beauty to the Richmond District. Dr. Devi Joseph has been volunteering her time for over 15 years to maintain the garden and bring San Francisco's official flower to the Richmond.

Supporting our Public Spaces

Lastly, we identified funding to bring new equipment to the Richmond Recreation Center. The rec center has a large contingent of ping pong players, but the aging equipment makes it difficult. The funds will go towards purchasing new tables and paddles, and we will be organizing a ping pong tournament for this spring. One of our frequent players, Humphrey Woo spoke at the announcement about how these tables will impact his community, and how ping pong serves as great exercise and also a chance for community building for seniors. He also promised to make sure one of the tables is always open for youth wanting to learn to play.

Helping Small Businesses Thrive

My team and I are always here to assist residents and merchants in dealing with city departments. Many times city departments can be difficult to navigate; we can help track and monitor issues to ensure things are as quick and easy as possible. I am happy to share with you two stories from Richmond merchants that our team was able to help. Click on the images below to watch the videos.

Just this week, we were made aware of an issue a Richmond merchant is having with opening up a new bakery in the neighborhood. My team is now in touch with the city departments, and hopefully we'll be eating delicious croissants soon! If you need assistance, please reach out to us at chanstaff@sfgov.org or 415-554-7410, and if we can help, we will!

Joe's Ice Cream

Kio Ramen

Community Updates

Celebrating Cal's Pet Supply

Last week, I stopped by Cal's Pet Supply to celebrate their 13th anniversary. I presented Tricia a certificate of honor from the Board of Supervisors and grabbed some treats for Urso! I love supporting our local small businesses and Cal's Pets provides for our cutest furry residents with such care.

Goldstar Discount Store

Stop by Goldstar Discount store on Clement Street to pick up all sorts of things you might need. From pots, to decorations, to kitchen supplies! Click on the picture below to read about how you can support Goldstar. Shop local and support our Richmond merchants!

Shanghai House

And while you're out in the neighborhood, grab some delicious dumplings from Shanghai House! I love their xiao long baos!

Boba with Connie!

Join me Friday afternoons for office hours in the district at one of our amazing neighborhood Boba shops to talk about the Richmond. Sign up for a slot by emailing chanstaff@sfgov.org. See you in the neighborhood!

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Board of Supervisors | District 1 | Connie Chan 陳詩敏
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 554-7410 | Fax: (415) 554-5163

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