Friends and Neighbors,
I am proud to represent District 5, one of the most diverse districts in all of San Francisco. Home to the Western Addition and Fillmore neighborhoods, we’ve been celebrating Black History Month this month, and hope you have been too. There are still plenty of events in the final week of Black History Month, and I wanted to take the opportunity to share events happening citywide as well as some of the work we are doing in the D5 Office.
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Vaccines are being distributed in San Francisco to those over 65 and to healthcare workers, but new groups of people will be eligible soon! Check here for your turn and book an appointment.
You can also call the CA COVID-19 Hotline at 1-833-422-4255 to make an appointment. Hotline hours are Monday to Friday, 8 am to 8 pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 8 am to 5 pm.
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Reminder that walk-in vaccinations are now available for San Francisco residents 65 and older! Drop-in daily, 9am-3pm until 2/23 at SF General Hospital (1001 Potrero Ave, Building 30). No appointment needed.
**Muni is now FREE to and from appointments, just show the driver proof of your appointment/destination.**
Maxine Hall in District 5:
Vaccines at Maxine Hall are limited to those within Phase 1A and 1B who are part of the SF Health Network-- they do NOT vaccinate patients from other medical groups such as Kaiser, CPMC, UCSF, One Medical, and others.
Our office is also pushing DPH and Covid Command to release a more comprehensive vaccination plan for the Fillmore and Japantown, especially given the high number of vulnerable residents.
Reaching out to seniors:
Come join our office as we reach out to those who are eligible for the vaccine— starting with senior renters! Our volunteers are calling to make sure neighbors are getting the info they need to get vaccinated. This is the first step in a larger neighborhood outreach project — join us! Write jen.snyder@sfgov.org for more info!
We’re also hosting office hours on the vaccine next week on Wednesday, March 3rd at 1pm! We’ll send out that info soon, but contact prestonstaff@sfgov.org for any questions or ideas of what you’d like to learn during office hours!
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➩ Black History Month Events
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Black Table Talk: Grown Folks Healing
- February 26th, 2-4pm via Zoom (link to register below)
- Hosted by SFDPH, in partnership with Supervisor Shamann Walton, Supervisor Dean Preston, Rafiki Coalition for Health & Wellness, and Bayview Hunter's Point YMCA.
- There will be discussion on wellness in the Black community and culturally-specific wellness resources for people of African Descent.
- Click here for more information.
KQED Presents: A Love Supreme, Black History Month Drive-in at Fort Mason
- February 23rd, 8-10pm at the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture
- This event is a drive-in movie night, screening shorts made by Black artists and WHEN THE WATERS GET DEEP, which is a film that focuses on the Oakland-based band Sol Development. There will also be a screening of this event on KQED’s YouTube channel. Tickets are $30.
- Click here for more information.
Storytime Science for Kids Online: The Color Episode
- February 24th, 1pm (online)
- Hosted by the Exploratorium, this is a read aloud of the book Black is a Rainbow Color about the meaning and significance of color, particularly the color Black. This will be followed by a color mixing activity, kids will need to have their own art supplies.
- Click here for more information.
TLGB Black History Power Ball
- February 27th, 12-3pm (online)
- Hosted by the SF LGBT Center, this event is an all inclusive online Kiki Ball. The ball will include competitions with judges that are yet to be announced.
- Click here for more information.
More Than a Month 2021
- All of February (online)
- Hosted by the San Francisco Public Library, this is a series of events to honor Black History Month. These include suggested readings, online book clubs, online readings, performances, and dialogues.
- Click here for more information.
Diasporic Futurism Part II: The Future Futures
- All of February (online)
- Hosted by Root Divisions, this event is an art exhibition featuring a video series and an immersive multidimensional gallery experience including videos, sculptures, comics, and graphic drawings. The art was created by Black, Indigenous, People of Color with a focus on an imaginative future of beauty, possibility, and liberation.
- Click here for more information.
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➩ Funding a Fair Recovery
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Proposition I, our ballot measure to fund a fair recovery, passed with a clear mandate, with 58% of voters in support. That plan includes directing the Prop I revenue to COVID-related rent relief, and to fund permanently affordable, social housing.
We received some good news from the Controller’s office, which projects that revenue from Prop I is actually double what was previously anticipated! So we are moving forward with legislation to immediately allocate funds to our rent relief and housing stability programs, and this will be heard in the Budget Committee this Wednesday. Based on the budget projections, we will be increasing the amount to $20.1million total!
We are proud that our effort to tax the wealthiest real estate transitions with Prop I will bring in much-needed revenue, and that revenue should go to what the voters demanded. Still, we need the Board of Supervisors to approve this funding allocation, so if you’re with us, we’re asking you to call in to the Budget and Finance Committee this Wednesday, February 24th to make your voice heard.
Our item is scheduled to be heard at approximately 11:30am, here’s the call-in information (and here are best practices for making remote public comment):
- Dial: 415.655.0001
- Enter Meeting ID: 187 836 1885 # #
Want to learn more? Reach out to D5 staff member Kyle Smeallie (kyle.smeallie@sfgov.org) with any questions.
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➩ Extending No Fault Eviction Protections
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This past October, the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed my ordinance to ban so-called “no fault” evictions, like Owner Move In and Capital Improvement evictions through the end of March 2021. With the expiration date approaching, I introduced this law to extend the no-fault eviction ban through June of this year.
This is a commonsense extension. There is no good reason a tenant should lose their home through no fault of their own, and that is particularly true during a pandemic. This will be heard by the Board of Supervisors tomorrow.
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➩ Update on Buchanan Mall
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Some exciting updates on the Buchanan Mall. With the passing of the Health and Recovery Bond in November 2020, the Recreation and Parks Department has secured funding to renovate the first block between Turk Street and Golden Gate Avenue!
For more information about the plans, and to give your input, please take a minute to fill out this survey. Our thanks to Citizen Film and all the community members who have led this effort.
We are also excited to announce that through the Neighborhood Transportation Improvement Program (NTIP), the SFMTA will be build bulbouts, widen sidewalks and relocate utilities and drainage to improve pedestrian safety and walkability at the intersections of Buchanan Street and Golden Gate Avenue as well as Buchanan Street and Turk Street, which are community-identified priority streets in the Western Addition neighborhood.
The project will include new widened sidewalk areas, new ADA curb ramps, and utility and drainage relocation at the intersections of Buchanan Street and Golden Gate Avenue as well as Buchanan Street and Turk Street. The NTIP funded project will enhance connectivity to the mall and surrounding community assets by reducing pedestrian crossing distances and increasing visibility of pedestrians, will address the community pedestrian safety and security concerns, and enhance community connections to recreational spaces of community-identified priority streets in the Western Addition neighborhood.
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➩ Update on SIP Hotel Program
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We don’t need to tell you how much we love the Shelter In Place (SIP) Hotel program for unhoused people. The latest is that we cosponsored another emergency ordinance that will guarantee all the vacant rooms get filled with more unhoused folks.
We ALL benefit when people are indoors, and FEMA will be reimbursing 100% for this cost during SIP thanks to the Biden administration expanding reimbursement and eligibility. Getting folks housed during this crisis has been a top priority for our office and we’re going to keep doing that as much as we possibly can!
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➩ Thank you to our Educators
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The pandemic has been brutal for our educators and school staff, who have been working overtime to teach, feed and help our kids under incredibly difficult conditions. THANK YOU to our hardworking teachers who have dedicated their lives to a better future.
This past weekend, I wrote an op-ed in the San Francisco Examiner, thanking the dedicated educators and staff who have been shouldering so much during this pandemic. These workers are eager to get back to a safe classroom, and I want to thank them for all they do.
If you support public school teachers, let them know! Tag @UESF on Twitter or @unitededucatorsofsf on Insta!
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Happy Lunar New Year! We welcome the Year of the Ox and are so grateful to Chinatown and the Chinese community. May this year bring us all health, respect, equality and gratitude. We stand proudly with the Asian American community against anti-Asian racism.
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➩ Raising Awareness and Urging Protection of Human Rights in Ethiopia
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San Francisco is home to many immigrants from Ethiopia, especially in District 5. We have partnered with leaders in the Ethiopian-American community to introduce a resolution calling for an end to human rights violations and violence in Tigray, Ethiopia. The situation in Tigray is dire and has not gotten the attention it deserves. Our resolution in defense of the people of Tigray will be introduced at tomorrow’s board meeting.
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Please do not hesitate to reach out to our office with any ideas, questions or concerns, at prestonstaff@sfgov.org.
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