|
Dear District 8 residents and friends,
Happy New Year! 2024 is off to a fast start for us in the District 8 office, as I’m sure it is for many of you. Here are a few highlights of what we’ve been working on so far:
- Mental Health Beds: I am focused on getting San Francisco the mental health beds and staffing to effectively implement SB 43 , California’s most recent expansion of conservatorship laws. The expansion of conservatorship means greater demand for treatment placements: more beds and more staffing. In February, I will be holding a hearing on the Department of Public Health’s efforts to secure additional behavioral health beds over the last few years, current gaps in care, and plans for additional acquisitions and expansion.
- City College Accreditation : City College is an essential institution, offering free education for all San Francisco residents. As a former member and President of the City College Board of Trustees who helped lead the College out of its accreditation crisis a decade ago, I was concerned to learn about the recent findings of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) that the current City College Board is neglecting the college’s long-term fiscal health, failing to follow its own policies, and interfering with the Chancellor’s ability to implement policies. In January, I issued a formal Letter of Inquiry to the City College Board asking them to lay out their plan to address these issues and to appoint a new Chancellor in the next six months.
- Charter Reform : San Franciscans have had a long list of concerns over many years. Whether it’s addressing homelessness and the drug overdose crisis, navigating permitting to build housing, or anything that requires multiple city agencies to collaborate, it doesn’t always seem like we have a unified city government. Often, it feels more like we have a collection of loosely affiliated departments. That’s why I announced a package of charter reforms in October. In 2024, I am working with my colleagues on the Board of Supervisors to get these reforms onto the November ballot. Our charter reforms would allow the mayor to directly fire department heads, eliminate the ability of the Mayor or a minority vote of the Board of Supervisors to place initiatives on the ballot, and authorize a task force that would consolidate or abolish some of the city’s dizzying array of commissions, board and advisory bodies. Passing these reforms would be an incremental but important step toward securing for San Franciscans the government they deserve.
- Matthew Shepard Stamp Campaign: In January, I introduced a resolution to support the Matthew Shepard Stamp Campaign, which gained unanimous support and co-sponsorship from my fellow Supervisors. This stamp would memorialize Matthew’s life and legacy and also serve as a reminder of our continued responsibility to champion the values of tolerance, acceptance, and equality, as well as stand strong against hate in all its forms. I’m grateful to the organizers of the stamp campaign, International Court System and Matthew Shepard Foundation, for their efforts to honor Matthew Shepard and stop hate. Sign the petition to add your support!
Want to learn more or share your thoughts? Get in touch - I’d love to hear from you. You can email us at mandelmanstaff@sfgov.org or come to office hours - see below!
Cheers,
Rafael
P.S. We are looking for D8 office volunteers! Volunteering in my office is a great opportunity to serve District 8 and learn about the issues facing our city, gain valuable experience in the legislative branch of local government, and see how elected officials can work with the community to create effective public policy solutions to solve our toughest problems. Sign up here or reach out to zahra.hajee@sfgov.org for more information.
|
|
|
|
|
RETAIL THEFT TOWN HALL: TONIGHT!
Please join me and District Attorney Brooke Jenkins to for a town hall to address organized retail theft in District 8 and across the City. The District Attorney and I will be joined by SFPD Mission Station Captain Tom Harvey, and CA Retailers Association Director of Government Affairs Ryan Allain. RSVP required for entry. Sign up here.
Questions?
Please contact Adam Thongsavat at adam.thongsavat@sfgov.org.
|
|
|
|
|
MEET YOUR SUPERVISOR: FEBRUARY OFFICE HOURS
VIRTUAL OFFICE HOURS: Join me on Zoom for virtual office hours on Sunday, February 18, from 11AM-1PM! Sign up for a slot by emailing mandelmanstaff@sfgov.org
IN-PERSON OFFICE HOURS: Join me at Higher Grounds Coffee House in Glen Park (691 Chenery St.) on Saturday, February 24, from 10AM-12PM! Sign up for a slot by emailing mandelmanstaff@sfgov.org .
|
|
|
VOLUNTEER: NEIGHBORHOOD BEAUTIFICATION DAY!
|
On Saturday, February 10, the Love Our City: Neighborhood Beautification Day volunteer event is planned for District 8 and the kickoff location will be at James Lick Middle School (4161 25th St).
This event was formerly known as Community Clean Team Day — SF Public Works’ longest running volunteer program which had been placed on hold due to the COVID19 pandemic. This year, the revamped program is back for a 3rd year with more of the rewarding “civic pride satisfaction” the volunteers enjoy -- benefitting all communities throughout the district!
Sign up here ! Questions? Contact Henry DeRuff at henry.deruff@sfgov.org.
|
|
|
IMPLEMENTING THE HOUSING ELEMENT: CITYWIDE REZONING
The Planning Department is making progress in their efforts to implement San Francisco’s Housing Element, adopted by the Board of Supervisors in January 2023, which requires the City to plan for 82,000 new units of housing to be built before 2031. To achieve this goal, the Housing Element commits San Francisco to rezoning significant portions of the City, particularly in less-dense and transit-rich areas. Under State law, San Francisco is required to adopt compliant rezoning before January 2026. To meet this goal, Mayor London Breed’s Executive Directive on Housing for All required the Planning Department to submit a final zoning proposal for consideration by policymakers by January 2024; their submitted proposal includes the proposed changes below. The Planning Department will have their next informational hearing on the proposed rezoning on February 22 at 12pm. You can watch virtually on SFGovTV or join in-person at City Hall, Room 400. More information about this hearing can be found here .
Here are the proposed rezoning changes that may come to District 8. Note that
40 feet is roughly 4 stories, 50 feet is 5 stories, 65 feet is 6 stories, and 85 feet is 8 stories:
- Market/Castro and Market/Church
- Existing: 50 or 65 feet, 40 feet for surrounding blocks
- Proposed: 85 feet, 65 feet for surrounding blocks
- Glen Park BART Station
- Existing: 40 feet
- Proposed: 85 feet
- Along the J-Church line
- Existing: 40 feet
- Proposed: 65 feet (north of 21st St and south of Cesar Chavez) or 85 feet (between 21st St and Cesar Chavez)
- Noe Valley
- Existing: 40 feet
- Proposed: 65 feet along 24th Street
- 85 feet along the N-Judah line
- Existing: 40 feet
- Proposed: 65 feet (Duboce Triangle) and 85 feet (Cole Valley)
If you have any questions or concerns about the proposed changes, please contact Calvin Ho in my office at calvin.ho@sfgov.org
|
|
GET INVOLVED IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD!
District 8 is home to many active neighborhood groups that organize events for the community, lead projects to keep our neighborhoods clean, safe, and beautiful, and connect neighbors with City leaders to advocate for neighborhood priorities. Join an association or go to an upcoming local event - it’s a great way to get involved, make new friends, and change your community for the better!
Learn more about how to get involved in your neighborhood here!
- Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association : General Community Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of every other month from 7:00 – 8:00 pm. Meetings are held in the Ballroom of the Harvey Milk Recreation Center for the Arts, 50 Scott Street, Lobby level with entry from Scott Street and Duboce Park, and preceded by a community social from 6:30 – 7:00 pm.
- Dolores Heights Improvement Club. Green Gardens group holds monthly clean-ups on the first Saturday of the month from 9:00 – 10:30 am. DHIC Board meets on the second Monday of every other month. Meetings are held via Zoom from 7pm – 8pm. Email info@doloresheights.org to obtain the Zoom meeting link.
- Eureka Valley Neighborhood Association meets every other month on the fourth Thursday with options to join in-person or virtually via Zoom.
- Glen Park Association meets quarterly and alternates between in-person and Zoom meetings. Email info@glenparkassociation.org for more information.
- Upper Noe Neighbors meets every other month on the third Wednesday at the Upper Noe Recreation Center.
- Castro Art Mart is a monthly street fair on Noe Street between Market and Beaver the first Sunday of every month from 11:00 am – 5:00 pm, featuring LGBTQ art from local artists, live music, comedy and drag shows, and more.
- Noe Valley Town Square hosts regular events such as Acoustic Sunday, Rhythm and Motion dance, and Free Sunday Morning Yoga.
Don’t see your neighborhood group but want your information added to our website? Email Henry DeRuff at henry.deruff@sfgov.org .
|
|
|
FACES IN THE CROWD: HOWARD MUTZ
|
|
Welcome to Faces in the Crowd, written by Marshall Kilduff, accomplished journalist and long time volunteer with our District 8 Office. Marshall tells the stories of District 8 community members who are going above and beyond to contribute to San Francisco!
|
He's everywhere in Duboce Triangle, as familiar as the N Judah. Armed with a pickup grabber and plastic bag, Howard Mutz is a one man litter patrol. For nine years he's ventured from his 14th street apartment to walk the local streets from Haight to Market to clean the sidewalks and gutters. "I'm a fanatic about a neat and clean neighborhood," he says.
San Francisco can be a messy city, given overflowing trash cans, stiff winds that kick up trash, and careless residents. None of it dampens his attitude. "I like getting out and doing my part," he said, snapping up a plastic food box on Sanchez.
He's also something of an urban scholar on garbage. Fast food eaters pull over to the curb, open car doors, and dump the remains of a meal. Unhoused people sometimes fish through garbage cans and leave discarded clothing. People leave unwanted furniture on sidewalks, hoping a "Free" sign absolves them of responsibility. Home remodels generate debris. Porch pirates rip open stolen delivery boxes and toss away the packaging. All in a day's work for Howard. "Some people think I'm crazy, but a lot appreciate me," he says.
He wants the city to work harder. "They need to empty the trash cans more often," he notes. Sunday nights are the worst, with a weekend's worth of garbage needing collection. Beer cans and bottles pile up near Market street and picnic leftovers show up near Duboce Park. "No one wants to live in a pigsty," he says.
It's not all frustration and worry. He's found a $100 bill laying in the curb. (Probably from a drug deal, he thinks.) Coins and smaller bills too. "I do get to meet a lot of people and learn about the area,'' he says.
There's another side to his life. On Saturdays, he leads history tours of the St. Francis Hotel, where he works part time. A prior job at the Palace Hotel led him to study its storied past as well, wrapping in its Gold Rush era origins, the earthquake of 1906 and the fateful moment when President Warren G. Harding died of a heart attack, "in the presidential suite," he notes. His meticulous habits and devotion to the Duboce neighborhood date back to 1975 when he moved in. "It's time I did my part to give back," he says.
Marshall Kilduff worked at the San Francisco Chronicle as a reporter and editor from 1971-2021. As a general assignment reporter, he covered courts, police, education, City Hall, and urban affairs. He also worked as a city desk assignment editor and editorial writer. He wrote an occasional column and the weekly Chronicle Quiz in the Sunday Insight section. He is the co-author of "Suicide Cult," a book on the Peoples Temple and leader Jim Jones. He is a San Francisco native and attended Stanford University.
|
Thank you to our Winter interns and volunteers for all your hard work with #TeamMandelman!
|
On December 12, we celebrated Pau Crego for their seven years of service to San Francisco and work as the Executive Director of the Office of Transgender Initiatives. We will miss you Pau!
|
Happy 20th birthday to the Noe Valley Farmers Market! On December 16th, we celebrated the anniversary in honor and memory of co-founder and great Noe Valleyan Peter Gabel.
|
On January 31, I had the privilege to meet Matthew Shepard’s parents, Judy and Dennis Shepard. I am honored to have met them and am inspired by their work to establish the Matthew Shepard Foundation and to help pass the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
|
Congratulations to SFPD Park Station Officer Brown and Ingleside Station Sergeants Guerrero and Hoang for being recognized as Officers of the Month for January! They have gone above and beyond to catch burglars, stop organized retail theft, and make it safer for people to shop in District 8 and beyond.
|
On January 30th, we honored the Haight Ashbury Cooperative Nursery School, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2024. Director Cocoa has been organizing the parent-leaders of the Co-Op to provide thoughtful and fun play-based education for almost 40 years. Thank you for your service!
|
Janet Tarlov is known and beloved in Glen Park for her many years owning and operating Canyon Market and her service with the Glen Park Merchants Association. On January 23rd, the Board of Supes confirmed Janet's nomination to the MTA Board. Congratulations Director Tarlov!
|
On January 22, I had the pleasure of meeting Harif, the Boys & Girls Club of San Francisco Columbia Park Clubhouse Youth of the Year! The Club is a great partner to the City, to the neighborhood, and most of all, to our young people. Cheers to the Club and congratulations Harif!
|
|
San Francisco Supervisors Share Their New Year’s Resolutions for 2024
San Francisco Standard, January 1
Mandelman said addressing the city’s mental health crisis will be his top priority in 2024. “I would like to focus on getting San Francisco to have the appropriate number of beds and staffing to implement SB 43 effectively,” he said. “We see folks with untreated mental illness and very significant addiction on our streets every day. But we’re going to be limited if we don’t have appropriate facilities to help folks get off the streets and have appropriate care plans. I think we have some planning to do in that regard, and I’m going to push for that planning to happen.”
|
|
|
|
|
SF Supervisor Calls on City College Trustees to Explain Threat to Accreditation.
San Francisco Chronicle, January 23
On Tuesday, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who represents the Castro, Noe Valley and other mid-city neighborhoods, sent a formal letter of inquiry to Alan Wong, president of the Board of Trustees, asking why the trustees have allowed the college to run afoul of critical accreditation rules for the second time in a decade and how they will fix it. Accreditation is required for colleges to stay in business.
“This Board of Supervisors and the communities we represent have a strong interest in ensuring that City College is being governed in a manner that promotes its long-term financial stability and success,” Mandelman wrote.
|
|
|
This SF Program Only Helped 4 Homeless People Get Treatment. Here’s Why the Number Is So Low.
San Francisco Chronicle, January 30
Four years ago, San Francisco officials heralded a state law that they hoped would help force more unhoused people struggling with mental illness and addiction into treatment instead of leaving them to languish on the city’s streets. The law paved the way for San Francisco to launch a pilot program, called Housing Conservatorship, that they estimated could funnel up to 100 people a year into court-ordered treatment.
But when the program wrapped up last month, the city had little to show for it. Only four people entered the program over the course of more than four years, offering a stark reminder of the challenges the city faces in helping those on the streets. “The legal tools are important, but you also need to have the resources to back up those tools,” said Mandelman, adding that the city needs more locked treatment beds. “Things like SB43 and CARE Court are going to very much depend on Prop. 1 — and, frankly, probably other resources at the state and local level.”
|
|
|
Breed, Jenkins Throw Support Behind Newsom-Backed Prop. 1
San Francisco Examiner, January 23
Prop. 1, a measure championed by former San Francisco mayor and current California Gov. Gavin Newsom that appears on the March 5 ballot, asks voters to approve a $6.4 billion bond for treatment beds and housing units meant for people with mental illnesses and addiction. It would also raise funding for mental-health services. The bond would create up to 4,350 new housing units and 6,800 beds for people needing mental-health care or drug or alcohol treatment. “We know that mental-health programs and wraparound services make a world of difference for people facing addiction homelessness and other mental health issues,” Mandelman said. “That’s exactly why we need Prop. 1.”
|
|
|
San Francisco Lawmaker Floats Plan To Bolster Power of Mayor’s Office
San Francisco Standard, October 31
Under a proposed ballot measure dubbed "Effective Governance," Supervisor Rafael Mandelman wants to change the city’s charter to allow the mayor to directly fire and hire certain department heads, eliminate the ability of the mayor and Board of Supervisors to place initiatives on the ballot and authorize a task force that would consolidate or abolish some of the city’s dizzying array of commissions, board and advisory bodies.
|
|
|
SF Supe Floats Sweeping Charter Amendment to Enhance Some Mayoral Powers, and Curb Ballot-Box Governance
SFist, November 1
"San Franciscans are proud of our city but increasingly frustrated with our local [government], especially with SF's current challenges," Mandelman says in a statement. "This reform package will help City [government] act more like a unified whole rather than a group of loosely affiliated departments."
|
|
|
S.F. Mayor Breed Might Be Given More Power By Voters. Here’s Why.
San Francisco Chronicle, October 31
“There’s a general feeling that, in a host of areas, whether it’s homelessness or permitting that impacts housing or any of the things that require multiple city departments to collaborate, that it doesn’t always feel like we have a unified city government. And sometimes it feels more like we have a collection of loosely affiliated departments,” Mandelman said. “Whether or not San Francisco is ungovernable, I think it feels to a lot of people like it is insufficiently governed.”
|
|
|
SF Supervisors Set to Back Matthew Shepard Stamp
Bay Area Reporter, January 22
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is to become the first government body to endorse the issuance of a U.S. postal stamp honoring murdered gay college student Matthew Shepard. Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman will introduce a resolution in support of the postal tribute Tuesday, setting up a vote on it at the board's January 30 meeting.
"Tragic as his story is, his life is worth the recognition. He became a symbol for crimes and murders that were being committed against queer people and continue to be committed against queer people. But, for whatever reason, his story captured the public imagination and led to change," noted Mandelman.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
