Petrelis Files

Milk Plaza Forum:
Aug 27, 5:30 PM at SF Gay Center 

For everyone who's complained in recent years about the run-down, dirty and uninviting environment of Harvey Milk Plaza and has ideas to revitalize this historic piece of public property, we have an opportunity next week to make the plaza something LGBT people can be proud of.

Here's the scoop from the Castro Benefit District's executive director Andrea Aiello:

The CBD is holding a meeting on Monday, August 27, starting at 5:30 pm, at the LGBT Community Center, Room Q11, to discuss strategies to make short term improvements at Harvey Milk Plaza. The goal of the meeting is to develop a consensus on a few short term strategies which can realistically be implemented to create a more welcoming environment for all at Harvey Milk Plaza.

I have a few doable suggestions to put forward:

1) Apply anti-bird gel to every surface where the pigeons land and defecate. The railing on the upper pedestrian level, that abuts the backside of the Diesel store, and is ten-feet in front of the rainbow flag, is a roosting spot and health hazard that must be made bird-free.

2) Since the Merchants of Upper Market Castro are responsible for the banner rainbow flag on the utility pole near the Muni underground entrance, they should immediately remove that feces-smeared flag. MUMC would do everyone a favor by replacing that filthy flag, which has been there for years, with a pristine one.

3) Remove at least one of the three useless and empty news racks cluttering the limited sidewalk space. Let's have more public space for standing around and cruising.

(September 11, 2011. Under a half-mast rainbow flag at Milk Plaza, Mayor Ed Lee, standing next to photographer Bill Wilson who organized the event.)

4) Return control of the enormous iconic rainbow flag on city grounds in the center of the plaza to community control. Let's stage a flag-lowering ceremony on September 11 to honor Flight 93 hero Mark Bingham and all who died 9/11. Such a ceremony would bring people to the plaza and what's so wrong with that?

Let's get a good turnout at the August 27 meeting and hear more creative ideas to bring vibrancy and fun to Harvey Milk Plaza. The SF gay community center is located at 1800 Market Street, near Octavia.