WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED AT OUR SECOND NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING OF 2025?

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.

Warmly,

Jonathan Moscone
President of the Board