April 8 Neighborhood Meeting

2 May 2025 10:55 AM | Jonathan Moscone

Dear Neighbors,

We held our second 2025 neighborhood meeting of the Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association last Tuesday April 8 at the Harvey Milk Recreation Center.  I’m so grateful to the Center for opening up their space to us.
 
Thank you to all the members who participated in the meeting, especially our intrepid board who volunteer so many hours to help our neighborhood.  And it was great to see folks who were not yet members but joined after the meeting!  For all of you who could not make it, I want to share the evening’s highlights, including some links I promised to send the attending members that I hope are informative and useful.
 
As is our custom, we started with a ½ hour of wine, soda and snacks so everyone could re-connect and get to know each other.

I provided a few updates, including:

1. The tree planting project (including some stump removals) continues,  and DPW’s promises to keep us in the loop of the completion of their planting project.  I’ll update you all when I know the exact date. If anyone has an issue regarding plantings, do reach out to me at president@dtna.org and I’ll make sure to connect you to the right City folks.
2. CPMC continues to be responsive to our requests for beautifying the exterior of their campus.  A big shout out to DTNA board members Erik Honda and David Troup for leading the charge. CPMC has also replaced all three trees along Noe between Duboce and 14th that were vandalized.  They look beautiful.
3. I am so grateful for our community building events, like the recent Seed Swap which was led by the Friends of Slow Noe, and Wigglefest, led by Doug Thorogood and Patrick Waters.
4. The Land Use committee is looking into the new zoning map, which will have serious impact on our neighborhood.  The state requires more housing to be built near public transit hubs and the Mayor has released the plan for upzoning.  Please stay tuned for more on this very important issue from our Land Use committee.

There will be hearings at the Planning Commission where your voice can be heard on the issue of upzoning.  Check out: https://sfplanning.org/hearings-cpc-grid for more information as to which hearings will focus on upzoning.
 
Next up, Robert Reed, Public Relations Manager for Recology,  presented on the rate increase for garbage pick up, which they are proposing to San Francisco. You can read the slide show with all the details, attached here.  And you can reach out to Robert with any questions about this or anything Recology related at rreed@recology.com.

D8’s own Rafael Mandelman, the President of the Board of Supervisors, presented on the City’s billion dollar deficit. This will result in cuts to many programs, such as Urban Alchemy (which provides the Community Ambassadors), 15% cuts across the board in each City department; $350 million deficit at SFMTA, and so much more.
 
Supervisor Mandelman sees an improvement in encampments in the Castro and thinks the City still needs to work on mental health and substance abuse issues.
 
He then commented on the Mayor’s new proposed upzoning map to meet requirements under state law. It’s concentrated on major corridors, which includes high heights on the edges of the Triangle, including very tall and very dense housing at Safeway (if it ever gets developed). And lower but still tall (12-15 stories) west of Church on Market. He thinks it is necessary to provide needed housing, but it is also necessary to identify and preserve historic resources.
 
He celebrated the Castro Upper Market entertainment zone. During events, bars and restaurants can give to-go cups. Neighbors seem broadly supportive, but if you have questions, do reach out to his legislative aide Calvin Ho at calvin.ho@sfgov.org. 
 
Other topics covered include:

• Duboce Triangle Slow Street Study;
• EV curbside charging pilot;
• The need for better traffic enforcement, acknowledging that SFPD is down 500 officers;
• The need for another $20million to construct the Harvey Milk Plaza.  Senator Scott Weiner is working on it at the state level;
• LGBTQ Museum, which bought the Barry’s building, might not open until 2027; and
• Neighbor Tim Sheridon asked about congestion pricing and how that would impact an empty downtown.  Supervisor Mandelmen Rafael agreed that it’s not a good idea at the moment but says at some point it will be necessary to generate revenue for public transit. 

We pivoted away from the planned agenda, replacing the brainstorming with a conversation with Captain Jack Hart, Precinct Chief of the Park Station and Dave Burke Public Safety Liaison for D8. Jack has been three years at Park Station and is also now acting commander of 5 stations. At Park he has about 48 offices in contrast to 100 a few years ago.
 
He stressed that neighbors should not fear calling 911 in case of any kind of emergency, even if they are not sure of the seriousness of the situation.  Same goes for 311, especially when people experience encampments.  The City will then direct the issue to the right department.
 
Captain Hart Presented on some traffic data:

While citations do not totally encapsulate "traffic enforcement" (where it's impossible to measure accidents avoided or pedestrians/cyclists not hit due to an officer's presence in a parked vehicle monitoring an intersection or an officer advising a violator instead of citing them), 23 citations were written in the Park Station precinct in January, with 43% being "focused on the five" primary violations:  speeding; violating pedestrian right-of-way in a crosswalk; running red lights; running stop signs; and failing to yield while turning.  

In February, Park wrote 55 citations with 85% being "focused on the five." In March. Park officers wrote 115 traffic citations with 74 being "focused on the five"  for a total of 64%.

He thinks the support of the community to write citations and emails directing them to problem locations in the district have been efficient and effective and he continues to encourage that members of the neighborhood email him with any issues.  While the officer count is far below what it needs to be to cover our entire City, there is concerted effort in hiring and retaining officers, and becoming a motorcycle trained cop has become a lot easier, which aids in traffic enforcement and citations.

Captain Hart’s email address is jack.hart@sfgov.org.
Dave Burke’s email address is dave.burke@sfgov.org.
 
We went a little over, ending the meeting at 8:10, but I continue to be so inspired by the level of engagement everyone showed at our meeting, and I hope more of you can attend our next one on June 10 (click here for full meetings calendar).

The more we engage, the more we can get done to protect, improve and create joy in our beautiful neighborhood.  

If you have any questions, reach out to me at president@dtna.org.
 

Warmly,

Jonathan Moscone
President of the Board

Jon Moscone's Update

Dear Neighbors,

We held our first 2025 neighborhood meeting of the Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association last Tuesday, February 11 at the Gazebo Room on the CPMC/Davies Campus.  And I am happy to report we kicked the year off with a lot of positive energy and engagement.

Thank you to 50+ members who participated in the meeting, and several folks who signed up for membership after the meeting. For you and all of you who could not make the meeting, I want to share the event highlights, including some links I promised to send that I hope are informative and useful

After a lovely reception where neighbors (re)connected and engaged in color drawing on the hearts that board member Kimyn Braithwaite creates and decorates our neighborhood with, we began the meeting with a welcome to members, other neighbors, and some of our local businesses, notably Fisch & Flore, Chartreuse by Roje and The Academy.

I provided a few updates, including:

1. The City has approved the implementation of the Duboce Slow Streets Study, to be run by the SFMTA, which includes a holistic traffic and circulation study and a budgeted robust community engagement process, where all our voices will be heard. Read more about it here.

2. CMPC/Davies continues to green up its campus exterior and will continue to improve its visual relationship to the neighborhood.  They are also promising to have a permanent fix to mitigate the HVAC sound no later than June 30, 2025.

3. The Mayor has initiated a community affairs team to help track departmental progress in addressing resident and business needs throughout the city.  When you have an issue, concern or question to one of the City departments,  in addition to cc’ing our Supervisor’s office, you can also cc 2 members of the Community Affairs team, Moisés Garcia and Angelina Polselli.  They will help track the responsiveness of the departments as part of the Mayor’s promise for more accountability.   In addition, if you have a public safety concern, please reach out to D8’s public safety liaison from SFPD, Dave Burke.  You can find their contact information here.

D8’s own Rafael Mandelman, the newly elected President of the Board of Supervisors, spoke about the new administration and shared updates around:

• The timeline for the coming GLBT History Museum in the Tower Records (Barry’s) building, which was bought by the City and will take some time for it to go through the bureaucratic process towards becoming a reality.

• The establishment of parts of the Castro as one of the City’s entertainment zones, which when permitted, will allow people enjoying events such as the Castro Night Market, to carry alcohol between venues.

• The need for psych beds to address the problem he has long been focused on – untreated mental illness on our streets. 

• The timeline for the completion of the Harvey Milk Plaza on the corner of Market and Castro, which includes the need for more money beyond what the City and State have provided.

We then invited meeting participants to join breakout sessions to brainstorm ideas around the following four issues and opportunities:

1. Vision 2030, including Transportation Issues and Slow Streets.

2. Beautification

3. Community Events

4. Land Use

Our board will coalesce the brainstorm ideas and come back to the neighborhood at our April meeting with a game plan.  For those who could not attend but want to engage in any of these topics, please contact info@dtna.org so that our board members leading these committees can reach out to you.

I have to say I am so inspired by the level of engagement and enthusiasm everyone showed at our meeting, and I hope more of you can attend on April 8 (click here for full meetings calendar).

The more we engage, the more we can get done to create an even more beautiful and safe neighborhood!

If you have any questions, reach out to me at president@dtna.org.

Warmly,

Jonathan Moscone

President of the Board

Jonathan Moscone

President of the Board