by Christina A. Macintosh : missionlocal – excerpt
Spurred by complaints from neighbors, five city departments have signed onto a plan to clean up the streets around the Mission’s 1515 South Van Ness Safe Sleep Site and the Division Circle Navigation Center.
A new agreement among the departments and involving the nonprofits that have contracts to run the sites details a plan to clear both garbage and encampments from the blocks around the sites. It also promises daily police presence and monthly community meetings.
Francesca Pastine, the author of a petition to end the safe sleeping site on South Van Ness at 26th Street, said she is optimistic about the updated commitment from the city…(more)
I talked to Francisca and other neighbors as well as people who are trying to set up more safe sleeping sites and they are all equally upset over the lack of progress that has been. So far no one’s circumstances have improved. Meetings bring together a lot of disgruntled people but nothing seems to fix the hot mess in the Mission. It is good to see some enthusiasm coming out of this one. I just drove by the area and saws no tents on 26th Street and barriers set against the 1515 South Van Ness building. A few people stood in front of them on the sidewalk. A successful cleanup here may convince the neighbors around 16th and Mission to accept a community of tiny houses, especially if the population is carefully selected.
When the Plan Bay Area density growth program was introduced the authors of the plan admitted their plan would displace around 40% of the residents. Turns out they were right. Large numbers of displaced residents left San Francisco and the state and many more plan to leave soon. There are mixed reports on how many of the people living on the street are SF residents and who many are coming from out of town. At this point it may not matter.
I am talking to people in the Richmond and the Sunset about documenting the changes they anticipate will come to their neighborhoods as rezoning for dense development heads west. SFMTA is already bringing street “improvements” that are closing businesses. Many landlords are pressuring merchants to leave and single family homes are on track to be torn down to make room for denser housing.
What makes anyone think the Richmond and Sunset residents will escape the same fate that killed the downtown and eastern neighborhoods as they were gentrified? Certainly not the businesses that are already closing and residents making plans to fight or flee.
We can only hope that a recent election that brought a new supervisor to District four may get the attention of more city leaders and they may start to listen to their constituents.