Supervisor Hillary Ronen - February 2020 Newsletter

February 2020

Dear Neighbors,

Happy Lunar New Year! I'm wishing everyone a safe, happy, and healthy Year of the Rat.

盧凱莉市參事祝大家新年快樂.笑口常开,身体健康!

I had a blast kicking off the Year of the Rat at the Chinese New Year Parade with my motley crew and watched San Francisco's smallest and fiercest lion dancer at the Portola Lunar New Year celebration!

I've been busy this month focusing on our budget, preparing our city for the novel coronavirus, helping vacant storefronts and nonprofits, protecting tenants rights, prioritizing public safety, saving our board-and-care facilities, building more housing, solving homelessness and cleaning our district, and more.

To learn more about my efforts, please feel free to get in touch with my office anytime. You can also follow the real-time work of my office via Twitter and Facebook.

Information on the Coronavirus

Photo via Jennifer Li

San Francisco has been actively preparing to respond to the novel coronavirus.

Health officials advise that the best way to protect ourselves and others is to wash your hands with soap and warm water and rub for at least 20 seconds, sneeze and cough into your elbows, stay home if you are sick, and get your flu shot to protect against flu or symptoms similar to the novel coronavirus.

As our health officials continue to monitor the situation closely, I caution San Franciscans against acting out of fear. This virus is NOT based on race, ethnicity, or culture. We must be vigilant against acts of racial, ethnic, and cultural discrimination and xenophobia against the Chinese community. There is no excuse for this type of behavior, and novel coronavirus fears should not be used to stoke the ugly flames of racism.

I wholeheartedly support the Chinese community’s call for compassion and love. Please continue to go to our Chinese businesses.

Photos via Jennifer Li

Thank you to the SF Department of Emergency Management and SF Department of Public Health for holding a community meeting at Portola Family Connections on the novel coronavirus, answering questions, and keeping our families informed and prepared.

SFDPH's Coronavirus page

Planning for Budget Priorities

Photo via SFGov TV

The city’s annual budget process kicks off in March, and as a member of the Board’s Budget and Finance Committee, I am already digging deep into current departmental spending and looking for savings wherever possible, so we can stretch your dollars to cover our most urgent needs. My priorities for the year are implementing Mental Health SF and more affordable housing in District 9. Of course both these priorities will help us make real progress in solving the crisis of homelessness. Let me know your priorities; you can email them to Santiago Lerma, my staffer who is assigned to budget at santiago.lerma@sfgov.org.

Strengthening Our Response to
Homelessness in the Mission

Photo by Photo by Susie Neilson for Mission Local

After months of persistent advocacy from my office, I have received stronger commitments from the Department of Homelessness, Public Works, SFPD, and Department of Public Health to address neighborhood conditions in the north Mission, where we have seen some of the most challenging street conditions. My new action plan creates a coordinated and reliable schedule of services designed to address urgent issues around cleanliness, tent encampments, public safety, and sidewalk accessibility that exist in the northern areas of the Mission. Here is an overview:

Street Cleanliness
In addition to the existing cleaning schedule, Public Works will now power wash and clean sidewalks every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday between 7 am and 11 am, focusing on the three highest-need blocks of the north Mission. High-need blocks are determined by 311 service requests and will change over time to meet the ongoing maintenance needs of the neighborhood.

Tent Encampments
A large number of tent encampments remain in the north Mission, and the unhoused individuals residing here often lack viable alternatives. Under my new action plan, the Department of Homelessness and the Department of Public Health will conduct joint outreach and mental health assessments to individuals living on the streets in the North Mission every weekday between 9 am and 2 pm. More than 40 additional Navigation Center beds will be dedicated specifically for unhoused individuals residing in the north Mission.

Weekend Street Market
The weekend street market that takes place along 15th and Mission Streets often obstructs public access to sidewalks. Under my new plan, the Mission Police Station will assign 2 beat officers to monitor these blocks each Saturday and Sunday from 8 am to 6 pm and ensure that the walkways remain passable. Public Works will also now power wash, flush, and clean these sidewalks each Saturday and Sunday at the end of the day.

Activating Vacant Storefronts
with Nonprofit and Arts Activities

Photo by Jessica Christian for the SF Chronicle

This month, I introduced legislation that will allow nonprofits providing arts and social services to move into vacant storefronts under a temporary use permit.

Right now, hundreds of empty storefronts line our commercial corridors and the blight that they create is seriously threatening the health and vitality of our neighborhoods. At the same time, dozens of nonprofit agencies and arts and culture organizations are being displaced and are struggling to find new places to operate.

By making it easier for nonprofits to operate out of vacant storefronts, my legislation creates a win-win situation that helps address two major neighborhood issues.

Prioritizing Public Safety in the Portola

Photos via Jennifer Li

Thank you to all the neighbors who came out to our Portola Safety Meeting this month to voice their concerns and give us feedback on where we should install security cameras along San Bruno Avenue.

Public safety, especially on busy San Bruno Avenue, was our main topic, and I’m committed to doing all I can to make sure our most vulnerable populations, like our Chinese elders, are protected and feel safe in their communities.

Thank you to Captain Dangerfield for coming out and meeting residents and to community groups SF Community Empowerment Center (SFCEC), Portola Family Connections, and SF Shanghai Association for teaming up to make this event happen.

And an extra special thank you to Teresa Duque for hosting the event at the SFCEC, and the SFCEC volunteers who helped with Chinese interpretation and event logistics. Click here for coverage from World Journal.

Protecting Tenants from Losing their Homes

Photo vy Kevin N. Hume for S.F. Examiner

This month, the full Board of Supervisors unanimously passed the legislation I introduced back in December to tighten regulations on landlord buyouts and to protect tenants from being subjected to steamroller tactics to get them to leave their homes.

The new laws will ensure that tenants are informed of their rights and given the time they need to make an informed decision and will force landlords to record the buyouts with the Rent Board.

Saving Critical Board & Care Facilities

Photo by Joe Eskenazi for Mission Local

In 2013, San Francisco operated 1,000 board-and-care beds. Now, there are fewer than 600. With the current mental health and homelessness crisis, we cannot afford to lose any more of these beds. That is why I am proud that we successfully persuaded the city to acquire South Van Ness Manor, a board-and-care facility in the Mission with 29 beds that will now be preserved as permanent housing for some of our highest need residents. We need to protect these critical services now more than ever.

Building Housing, Not New Offices

Photo via SFGov TV. Supervisor Ronen introduces

I introduced zoning changes this month that will promote new housing instead of office construction in the city’s eastern neighborhoods.

The Eastern Neighborhoods were rezoned years ago as “Urban Mixed Use” districts to protect the wide variety of arts and light manufacturing spaces while balancing the potential for new housing. On many sites, offices were also allowed on upper floors. However, today’s real estate market has made it impossible for the arts, housing, and light manufacturing spaces to compete with high-rent professional and tech offices.

San Francisco’s office rents are soaring, and investors are capitalizing on that demand. Offices, not housing, are the investment of choice. Every one of us knows that SF is facing a housing crisis. We need housing, not more expensive offices in the Mission.

My legislation will remove offices as a permitted use on the upper floors in Urban Mixed Use districts, while still allowing neighborhood-serving offices on the ground floor. No change is made to other uses, which include arts and light manufacturing, and of course, housing, all of which continue to be permitted as before.

Bringing Oumar Home

Photo via Paul Monge

Oumar Yaide is a longtime resident of the Mission and a District 9 constituent who was unlawfully deported to Chad in December, a country that still criminalizes same-sex activity and puts the lives of LGBTQ people like Oumar at risk. This month, I introduced a resolution calling on the Department of Homeland Security and our federal representatives to ensure Oumar’s safe and immediate return to the United States so that he can have his asylum case properly adjudicated. Together we can #BringOumarHome!

Welcoming Bernal Hype!

Photo via Bernal Hype

Congratulations to Bernal Hype for launching! I couldn't be more excited that there's a brand new neighborhood blog. Welcome, Bernal Hype; I’m so excited to have a new channel to keep in touch with everyone!

Check out Bernal Hype Here!

Cleaning Up District 9

I was proud to stand with the fabulous workers of Public Works to kick off Community Clean Team Day in District 9. Don’t forget to thank the hard workers when you see them. It’s a tough time in this city, but these workers show up and work hard to keep our city beautiful.

Supporting Tartine Workers' Right to Organize

Tartine workers in San Francisco have started the process to form a union, seeking better pay, job protections, and more consistent scheduling. As a former worker rights attorney, I wholeheartedly support the organizing efforts by Tartine workers to form a union. Having a union is essential to protecting and advancing workers’ rights and a voice on the job.

The owners of Tartine have always been good neighbors and shown a generous spirit towards our community; I hope that they extend that same compassion and spirit towards their workers. Solidarity with the workers! I wish them the best of luck! #tartineunion #tartineunidos

Justice Collaborative Panel on
Alternatives to Policing and Incarceration

I was honored to speak on a Justice Collaborative Panel and strategize about how we resist the criminalization and dehumanization of our poor communities and create legislation that prioritize human rights and human dignity for all. It was an inspiring conversation, and I’m ready to fight for more community engagement and less reliance on overincarceration!

Celebrating Black History Month Honoree Lauren Babb

It was my absolute pleasure to recognize Lauren Babb at the Board of Supervisors as our District 9 honoree for Black History Month. Lauren is currently the Public Affairs Director for Planned Parenthood Northern California, where she works as a fierce advocate for reproductive rights, health justice, and gender equity. Lauren is carrying on a strong tradition of African American women who have been on the frontlines of the battle for reproductive rights and justice. Congratulations and keep fighting the good fight with all your might, heart, soul, and amazing energy!

COMMUNITY EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Call for Nominations

Submit nominations for the Third Annual Edwin Mah Lee Public Service Award by March 10, 2020. The goal of this Award is to recognize role models in the APIA community who exemplify Mayor Lee’s legacy and to inspire Asian Pacific Americans to pursue careers in public service. Submit nominations here.

Adult Education Center Open House

1st Time Homebuyer Workshop

Join Camp Blaze 2020!

This is an incredible opportunity for young women from 16-19 years old to go to a week long fire camp this summer. It is a leadership and empowerment camp base in firefighting skills.

The camp is run by volunteers and costs nothing to the camper. Many of our own SF firefighters volunteer their time and energy to be a part of the camp. It is located in Washington State and campers can work with Camp Blaze if they have difficulties with transportation to and from camp.

Applications are open for girls ages 16-19 years old for Camp Blaze 2020 in Washington State. Applications are due March 31st, and campers will be selected for 24 spots. Staff applications will be available starting March 1st.

Apply here!

Share Your Thoughts with

the Office of Economic & Workforce Development

The Office of Economic & Workforce Development will be holding a series of Community Listening Sessions to gather input on their upcoming Request for Proposals. The time and location for the District 9 Community Listening Session is as follows:

Wednesday, March 25
5:30-7:30pm
745 Treat Ave

RSVP here

Save the Date: Asian Pacific

American Heritage Month Celebration

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Got an upcoming event or opportunity to include in this newsletter? Email Jennifer.Li-D9@sfgov.org

Our mailing address is:
Hillary Ronen, District 9 Supervisor
San Francisco City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 244
San Francisco, CA 94102-4689

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