The proposed recycling center at 10th and Harrison Streets lost round one at the Board of Appeals on Wednesday night when the commission voted unanimously to uphold the suspension of its permit. Scott Sanchez, the city’s Zoning Administrator, suspended it for failure to conduct neighborhood outreach. Continue reading
S.F. has new data-driven solution to old S.F. problem: human excrement
by JOHN COTE
San Francisco Chronicle
Today the Department of Public Works will roll out the city’s latest approach: mobile bathroom stations at the three most well-used areas. Each station will include two specially outfitted portable toilets, a sink, a needle disposal bin and a dog waste station, all mounted on a flatbed trailer.
“We’re championing our residents’ right to clean streets and a safe place to do their business with dignity,” said Supervisor Jane Kim, who represents the area and has been pursuing a public toilet program since fall of 2012. Continue reading →
Filed under quality of life
Help improve transit connections in the Rincon Hill neighborhood
by JAMIE WHITAKER
www.RinconHillSF.org
The Rincon Hill neighborhood has an opportunity to get local bus service again. First, the SFMTA and MUNI need to get information from us (residents, workers, or visitors who would maybe use a bus to travel to and from the waterfront along Folsom or Harrison Streets)!
Also, if you work in the neighborhood (South of Market Street, east of 2nd Street), please consider asking your HR Dept. if the survey and informational website links can be sent around the office because the City would like to gather input from commuters who might be potential users of any new local bus service with stops around Folsom Street and/or Harrison Street east of 2nd Street near the waterfront. Go direct to the survey: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1718957/Rincon-Hill-Survey
Filed under community services, transportation
Fifty new units of housing planned for Folsom Street near 11th
from SocketSite™
Plans to largely demolish the auto repair shop at 1465 Folsom Street and construct a five-story vertical addition with between forty and fifty new dwelling units have been submitted to San Francisco’s Planning Department for their preliminary review and reaction. As proposed, the five-story addition would be setback from the existing building’s facades on Folsom and Juniper and the ground floor of the development would become 3,384 square feet of commercial space along Folsom Street, a bit of interior open space and a 28-space garage.
Filed under planning
Can Supe Cohen stem the tide of PDR to office conversions that she set loose?
by JIM MEKO
Earlier this year, Supervisor Malia Cohen carried a piece of legislation for the Mayor that would reward high tech companies by allowing them to build offices in zones that were formerly set aside for the protection of production, distribution and repair (PDR) businesses in exchange for setting aside 1/3 of that space for these light industrial jobs. No guarantee that the space would actually be filled, no controls on the rent, and big loopholes that allowed 100% office use under the Small Enterprise Workshop program. The Board of Supervisors passed it unanimously without even considering some thoughtful amendments proposed by the community organizations that were involved in the original rezoning.
When queried about the inconsistency of supporting such a dubious deal while the Planning Department was actually sacrificing so much existing PDR space nearby by recommending PDR to office conversions in every single case that came before the Planning Commission, Cohen “didn’t want to get involved in something outside of her own District.” Continue reading
“[Our] office supports responsible recycling centers in our city.”
from SUNNY ANGULO
Legislative Aide, District 6
I want to thank everyone for coming out to last month’s community meeting at the Arc San Francisco (and especially thank the Arc for hosting). I would also like to thank the city staff that took time out of their evening to come and offer resources and input, including the Mayor’s Office of HOPE Director Bevan Dufty and Kevin Drew from the Department of the Environment. Finally, I’d like to thank the individuals that emailed or called me privately after the meeting and expressed their disappointment with the behavior of some of their neighbors and recommitted themselves to working toward positive solutions that would benefit everyone in the neighborhood. On a personal note, I was deeply appreciative of that, so thank you. Continue reading
Filed under community services, meetings, public safety, quality of life
Controversial ex-commissioner flacks for Build Inc.’s 1532 Harrison project
by JIM MEKO
SoMa neighbors who attended Jane Kim’s 10th and Harrison recycling center meeting two weeks ago were surprised to find an email from Terrance Alan in their inbox on Friday. Alan, the ethically challenged former entertainment commissioner, had nothing to do with the center but Kim’s office apparently shared the sign-in sheets with him. Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
Report from SoMa neighbors regarding the 10th and Harrison recycling center
from SF SoMa Neighbors:
Last week approximately 70 residents and local business owners attended a neighborhood meeting concerning the proposed recycling/buyback center at 10th and Harrison Streets. Almost everyone in the audience was opposed.
Sunny Angulo, an aide in Supervisor Kim’s office moderated the meeting. She stated that Our Planet Recycling was issued a permit in error, and that they would be required, per a letter from the City Zoning Administrator, to re-apply for permits. This will require neighborhood notification, and the neighbors can then file appeals to block or modify the permit. Neighbors could also file with the Planning Department for a Discretionary Review (DR).
Continue reading
Filed under community services, meetings, planning, politics, quality of life
It’s the neighborhoods that make San Francisco special
As the San Francisco establishment bemoans the loss of the George Lucas museum to Chicago and chafes at the opening of a new 49ers stadium 45 miles south of the city, in an essay titled “Lucas might be gone, but the force stays right here,” San Francisco Chronicle columnist Carl Nolte reminds us that “We still have Clement Street. And 18th Street on Potrero Hill, Stockton Street in Chinatown, Valencia Street in the Mission, Irving Street in the Inner Sunset, Taraval Street in the Parkside.”
“So what makes a neighborhood?” Nolte asks. “There are certain essentials, like a Muni line down the shopping street, stores, a bank branch, a neighborhood restaurant or two where they know the customers. There should be a school and at least one church. A community garden. A park is important. A branch library and a bookstore are prized.”
In an impressively prescient piece, Nolte reminds us to keep our priorities straight. Read more →
Filed under Uncategorized
Jane Kim cleans up her 11th Street zoning mess
by JIM MEKO
The entertainment lobby thought they were too cute by half when they talked Supervisor Jane Kim into wrapping the 11th Street corridor with a zoning proposal (WMUO) designed for the area surrounding the Caltrain depot. The good news, in their opinion, was that nighttime entertainment would become a fully permitted use and housing was no longer allowed. The downside was that it came with a prohibition of new nightclubs within 200 feet of recognized Residential Enclave Districts (REDs). Continue reading
Filed under entertainment, planning
soma leadership council 