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Had a (chilly) blast judging the Easter bonnet contest at the Castro Merchants’ Eggstravaganza!
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WHAT WE'VE BEEN WORKING ON
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CELEBRATING SAN FRANCISCO PRIDE: On June 25, over 150 friends, neighbors, and supporters joined us for the annual SF Pride Parade down Market Street. The Pride parade is always one of my favorite events of the year, and it was great to have representation from each District 8 neighborhood. I want to thank and acknowledge the organizing committee for their tremendous work to organize another safe, beautiful and inclusive Pride. And if you didn’t make it, we hope to see you next year!
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UNPACKING THE NEW CITY BUDGET: Starting the year with a projected two-year deficit of $780 million in the general fund, we anticipated this year’s budget cycle would be difficult. As the new Vice-Chair of the Budget Committee, my priority was to deliver a balanced budget that preserved critical investments in public safety, vulnerable communities, and District 8 neighborhood priorities.
Although the budget forwarded from committee to the full Board early in the morning of June 29 included some painful cuts and left little room for new programs, it could have been far worse. Partially drawing on the City’s healthy reserves and a number of one-time solutions that will not be available in future years, we were able to reach agreement with the Mayor on a two-year budget that prioritizes public safety, including funding for the hiring and retention of police officers (SFPD is down more than 500 officers). The budget also invests additional funding in community ambassadors, non-police response for people in crisis on the streets, and civilian staff within SFPD who can free up officers to get them out from behind a desk and into the communities they serve.
The Mayor’s proposed budget included, and we preserved, funding to end open-air drug markets, including funding for a Drug Market Agency Coordination Center under the Department of Emergency Management to coordinate operations regarding drug enforcement and treatment, and data collection on outcomes of various efforts to disrupt public drug markets.
We also programmed funding to sustain and foster new community activations and events that bring vibrancy to our neighborhoods. Events like this year’s second annual Castro Family Pride Day, an opportunity for children and families to celebrate Pride month in a safe, welcoming environment right on the neighborhood block. Thanks, and congratulations to the Castro Merchants and DTNA on another great Noe Street activation this Pride!
EXPLORING BUSINESS TAX REFORM: With this budget cycle all but complete, we must prepare for more challenging times ahead. That's why last October, I asked the City Controller and Treasurer to study the impact of remote work and commercial vacancies on the City’s tax base. That analysis, July 12, concluded that our City budget has become increasingly dependent on a declining number of taxpayers and increasingly vulnerable to decisions by a few large corporations about where to locate their operations. That makes us particularly vulnerable to a few companies moving their headquarters out of San Francisco, an alarming trend made all the more worrying by the unprecedented rise in commercial vacancies.
As we prepare for next year’s budget, I will be working with the Mayor and others on the Board to find ways to encourage businesses to locate and grow in San Francisco and make our tax base more resilient. The health of our downtown economy is essential for the funding that helps make our neighborhoods safer, cleaner, and more vibrant for everyone, and we ignore the current state of downtown at our peril.
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On July 12, I joined Governor Newsom, state legislators, and a coalition of leaders in Sacramento to discuss the Governor’s proposal for the first major reform to California’s behavioral health since the Mental Health Services Act was passed two decades ago.
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Connect with Your Supervisor This Summer
Join us around District 8 this summer:
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Join us for a Stroll with the Supervisor in Twin Peaks on Saturday, July 29th from 10-11:30AM. Walk with us and get to know our District 8 neighbors! If you would like to join us, please RSVP at MandelmanStaff@sfgov.org and we will send additional details!
Our next Neighborhood Office Hours will be in Cole Valley at Wooden Coffeehouse (862 Cole St) on Sunday, August 20th from 10AM-12PM. Email MandelmanStaff@sfgov.org for an appointment.
Virtual Office Hours will be held Saturday, September 9, from 10am-12pm, via Zoom. Email MandelmanStaff@sfgov.org for an appointment.
Neighborhood Meetings & Happenings
Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association General Community Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of Every Even Numbered Month (February, April, June, August, October, December) from 7:00 pm to 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 pm to 07:00 pm.
Eureka Valley Neighborhood Association meets every other month on the fourth Thursday with options to join in-person or virtually via Zoom.
Upper Noe Neighbors meets every other month on the third Wednesday at the Upper Noe Recreation Center.
Glen Park Association Summer Meeting will be held TONIGHT, Thursday, July 27, from 6-7:30pm at the Glen Park Recreation Center.
Dolores Heights Improvement Club. Green Gardens group holds monthly clean-ups on the first Saturday of the month from 9am – 10:30am.
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.
Castro Art Mart is a monthly street fair on Noe Street between Market and Beaver the first Sunday of every month from 11am-5pm 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.
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Laidley Street Fourth of July!
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Hefty Taxes Threaten Downtown San Francisco’s Revival, Report Finds
The San Francisco Standard, July 12
“Our unique vulnerability to a few companies moving their headquarters out of San Francisco demands that we urgently explore new ways to encourage businesses to locate and grow in San Francisco, as well as strategies to make our tax base more resilient,” Mandelman said.
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SF police describe chaos at skateboard event, face questions over mass arrests
San Francisco Chronicle, July 9
“I’m relieved that there wasn’t the same level of injury and destruction and even death as in prior years,” said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, whose district includes the vicinity of 17th and Dolores streets, a block from Dolores Park, near where the altercations took place…This is a very problematic event that has negative impacts on the neighborhoods around Dolores Park and has been associated with violence and property damage,” he said.
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Only 1 Person at SF City Hall Knows the Answer to This Simple Question
The San Francisco Standard, July 6
“The clean slate initiative would take a very close look at these commissions and either restructure or eliminate many of them,” Mandelman said in a recent phone interview. “I think there are certainly administrative costs associated with them. The way they’ve developed over the last couple of decades with charter reform, they do play into the difficulty of governing San Francisco.”
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What’s Up With San Francisco Traffic Enforcement?
The San Francisco Standard, July 1
“In that letter, we asked them, ‘What would it take to get to 2014 levels of enforcement?’” Mandelman said. “Give us a plan and give us what you need in terms of staffing and additional resources while potentially changing the law or policy, so that we could have meaningful traffic enforcement on the streets of San Francisco.”
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Padilla announces plans for Senate mental health caucus
CBS Bay Area, June 28
Prior to the announcement, Padilla held a discussion about LGBTQ youth mental health concerns with SF LGBT Center members and San Francisco Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, whose district includes the LGBT Center and the surrounding Castro District.
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Cell phone thefts on the rise in San Francisco
KRON 4, June 28
San Francisco Board Supervisor Rafael Mandelman says police are trying to find out if this is an organized crime ring. “Some in neighborhoods I represent,” Mandelman said. “And in other parts of the city… often targeting women, often taking cell phones.” “It seems like there may be a pattern that we have seen over the last few days, and it seems like these incidents may be related,” he said.
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Construction Begins on Long-Delayed Castro Muni Station Elevator Project
Hoodline, June 27
"We're fortunate to have the support of both Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, State Senator Scott Wiener along with both our State Assemblymembers to cover transit and infrastructure enhancements," said Springfield.
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20th annual Trans March a poignant kickoff to San Francisco Pride weekend
Fox KTVU 2, June 23
Supervisor Rafael Mandelman said Pride is a mix of celebration and protest, and there is also worry and anxiety for many. "The violence that has been directed at the queer communities around the county has been really terrible over the past year. The politics are really ugly in some places," said Mandelman.
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Pink triangle ceremony celebrates defiance, pride and love
San Francisco Examiner, June 17
Before dawn on Saturday morning, 400 volunteers gathered atop Twin Peaks to install an acre-wide neon pink triangle 925 feet above San Francisco. Once an illegal rebel project, the nearly three-decade-old tradition now requires hundreds of volunteers to orchestrate and organize.
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24/7 Castro Pit Stop Returns After Request From Neighborhood Group
Hoodline, June 9
In response to the change, District 8. Supervisor Rafael Mandelman tells Hoodline “There are clearly not enough public restrooms in San Francisco, and the Castro is no exception, which is why my office advocated for this change…I hope the extended operating hours at this pit stop will result in less human waste on the streets of the neighborhood, and provide a modicum more dignity for people experiencing homelessness in the Castro," added Mandelman.
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San Francisco to Implement Newsom's CARE Court Plan to Treat Severe Mental Illness
KQED, June 6
Supervisor Rafael Mandelman said those civil liberty concerns were being trumped by a larger concern: how to get people who aren’t engaged in mental health services into treatment. “There are certainly folks on the Board of Supervisors and there are certainly people in the broader ballot body politic who really don’t want to see any more coercion of people into care who are not voluntarily seeking it,” Mandelman said, adding, “There’s a larger group of people who want these problems solved and want to see people get care.”
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San Francisco Mayor To Ramp Up Homelessness Spending Despite Budget Deficit
The San Francisco Standard, May 30
Breed credited Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, a strong proponent of adding more shelter beds, for pushing her to pursue a “shelter first” approach … Mandelman said the investments in shelter are part of an attempt to more immediately reduce the amount of people sleeping on the city’s streets. “I don’t think we’re abandoning housing first. […] If we had infinite resources, that’s what we would do,” Mandelman said. “San Francisco is increasingly realizing that it doesn't have infinite resources, but we do want to end homelessness for as many people as we can.”
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S.F. supervisor wants police to ramp up enforcement of these five traffic violations
San Francisco Chronicle, May 23
District Eight Supervisor Rafael Mandelman wants San Francisco police Chief Bill Scott to come up with a plan before the end of June that would “restore overall traffic enforcement to 2014 levels.” … “The city’s failure to make good on Vision Zero over the last decade is closely linked to the steep decline in traffic enforcement,” Mandelman said in a statement. “Despite a decade of policy efforts and tens of millions of dollars invested in infrastructure to make our streets safer, our streets are as deadly as ever.”
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