Potrero Hill Neighborhood House
953 De Haro St. (at Southern Heights)
6:45 PM Social
7:00 PM Business Meeting
7:55 PM Break
8:00 PM Program
9:00 PM Adjourn
Tony Kelly, President
The Annual Booster Dinner May 25
The date is set for the Booster Dinner, the most social Booster meeting of the year, where new Executive Committee officers are installed (quickly and efficiently) and we share a great meal with our neighbors and friends! Tuesday night, May 25, is the date the location will be announced soon (hopefully at the Booster meeting on March 30). Mark the date, and please, think about bringing a neighbor along, to see what the Boosters are all about!
A Town Hall Meeting with Supervisor Maxwell April 3
On Saturday, April 3rd, from 10:00 am to 12 noon, Supervisor Sophie Maxwell is holding a Town Hall Meeting meeting at SF General Hospital's Carr Auditorium; 22nd St & San Bruno Ave. As usual at these meetings, reps from various City departments will be there to answer questions. You can bet that the SFGH rebuild and proposed helipad will be discussed! In addition, this a good time to raise questions about Muni's Third Street Light Rail Construction schedule it seems to expand on its own, before completion of the work that's been started. Contact your Third Street friends, pass the word, and make your voice heard to the City at this Town Hall.
Congratulations All Around for Defeating Proposition J!
When a contested election is decided by a margin of 70 to 30, you know you did a lot of things right! Congratulations to all the hard-working Boosters, neighborhood activists all over town, and an outstanding organizer that we know very well, Greg Asay, for bringing about the crushing defeat of Proposition J. (We look forward to working with Greg again on many issues, now that he has returned to Supervisor Sophie Maxwell's staff at City Hall following the Prop J campaign.)
We also look forward to continuing our work with the City's Planning Department again, now that this latest threat to community-based planning has been pushed back. Come to Tuesday's Booster meeting for an update on the Better Neighborhoods Central Waterfront Plan, as well as a first look at the proposed housing development at the Daggett Triangle (part of the Showplace Square community-based rezoning plan).
Savannah Blackwell wrote an outstanding analysis of the results for the sfprogressives.com website:
“Despite the soaring popularity of Mayor Gavin Newsom, his workforce housing initiative (Proposition J) went down in flames. Newsom's camp must have known the polling results looked grim; he was nowhere to be found on the Pro-J trail in the last couple of weeks.
“Credit the organizers of the No on J campaign—who managed to get the message out early to neighborhood groups that this measure posed a threat to community planning efforts. You can bet that moderates out in the city's western neighborhoods helped give this one its big win. Whenever San Francisco’s progressives and neighborhood moderates come together—the results look like those in the Prop J race.
“The last time we clearly saw an example of this was in 2000—when the ‘hoods and lefties united to dump former Mayor Willie Brown’s slate of supes at the polls. Disgust with Brown’s habit of dissing residents over developers in the high stakes construction deals of the late 1990s served as the catalyst. In this case, a strong desire to protect residents’ say in housing development played the same role. And when you think about it, both the results of the 2000 supervisorial races -- in which San Franciscans elected their local leaders by district for the first time since the death of Harvey milk -- and the overwhelming victory of Prop J -- are testaments to voters' desires to preserve the city's neighborhoods.”
Executive Committee Nominations are Due
In the past year, the Executive Committee of the Boosters has stepped up to make the Boosters more visible in the neighborhood, and to make the neighborhood more visible in the City. There's much more to come in the future, as the membership of the Boosters grows, and as the City looks to its southeast neighborhoods to solve more and more of its problems.
We've learned the hard way that when it comes to city planning and environmental issues, no one looks out for us like we can. That's why we need the Boosters, and why the Boosters needs active members and leaders.
I bring this up because it’s time for Executive Committee nominations for the coming year. We do have a couple of folks leaving the Committee, and we are always looking for new active members to join the Booster leadership. Candidates for Executive Committee positions must be announced by the end of the March 30 Booster meeting. If you have been a Booster for more than a year, and you are interested in becoming a member of the Executive Committee, please contact me or Dick Millet our contact information is on the back of this newsletter.
Thanks for helping us continue to make the Hill a better place to live!
compiled by Dick Millet
BLDG PERMIT APPLICATION #2002.09136447: 404 TEXAS/19th Sts. Proposed 3rd floor addition (attic expansion) to existing single family home in an RH-2, 40-X zone. Contact: Mat Snyder, Planner, ph: 575-6891.
BLDG PERMIT APPLICATION #2003.09255693: 843 VERMONT/20th Sts. Proposed to construct a 4 story (39 ft. - 6 in. high) 2-unit bldg. with 2 parking spaces in an RH-2, 40-X zone vacant lot. Contact: Winslow Hastie Planner, ph: 558-6381.
BLDG PERMIT APPLICATION #2004.01093693 (demolition) & Bldg #2004.01093690 & alteration #2004.01154119: 1691 l9th/Arkansas/Wisconsin Sts Proposed demolish existing garage and construct 2 single family units; one at the front property line over a 2 car garage and convert existing rear duplex to a single family unit in an RH-2, 40X zone. Rear yard is 25 ft space between front & rear buildings. Contact: Jon Purvis, Planner, ph: 558-6354.
BLDG PERMIT APPLICATION #2003.05225290: 684 ARKANSAS/22th Sts. Proposed to convert a single family into a duplex with 2 parking spaces by a vertical addition (2 stories over garage) and front and rear additions in an RH-2, 40-X zone. Contact: Jon Purvis, Planner, ph: 558-6354.
ZONING VARIANCE APPLICATION Case 2003. 1097V: 1525-27 18th/Arkansas Sts. Propose to construct a 3-story addition n exist’g western 15 ft side yard for the full depth of the lot. Existing side-yard was previously granted by variance as required in lieu of rear yard. Public hearing is 9:30am 24 March at City Hall, Rm 498. Contact: Mat Snyder, Planner, ph: 575-6891.
APPEAL of NEGATIVE DECLARATION of the HOUSING ELEMENT: The controversy is that the HE proposes a half mile wide density increase along transit corridors and will reduce to nil the required parking for these added units. Appellants claim that an Environmental Impact should be required. A Planning Commission public hearing is scheduled for 1:30pm, Thurs. April 1st at City Hall, Rm 400. Call: 558-6422 for last minute agenda updates.