My Wish List for the 58th SF International Film Festival

The big announcement press conference tomorrow, March 31, from the leading staff of the San Francisco Film Society at the Fairmont Hotel will unveil the full line-up for the 59th SF International Film Festival.

We know that the opening night film is the doc "Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine", closing night is the feature "Experimenter", and iconic actor and human rights advocate Richard Gere will receive the Peter J. Owens Award before his latest film "Time Out of Mind" is screened.

For me, the festival is always a cinematic cornucopia and a highlight of the Bay Area's robust film cultural offerings. I've compiled a list of works on my wish list and hope to be at the presser on Tuesday and hear that these films will unspool during the festival, which runs from April 23 through May 7. More info here.

Here is the list, films listed alphabetically:

1) "A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence", by Roy Andersson, Sweden. His earlier work, "You, the Living", was one of the highlights of 2008 festival. His latest is another deadpan look at humanity.

2) "Clouds of Silas Maria", director Olivier Assayas, France. One of France's always intriguing actresses Juliette Binoche stars as an ageing actress facing the challenges of her waning career. Even with a U.S. distributor, the film hasn't played in theaters.

3) "From What is Before", director Lav Diaz, Phillipines. This latest epic of his runs just over five-and-a-half hours, all about a barrio's citizens and troubles before strongman Ferdinand Marcos declare martial law. The only chance to see it will be through the auspices of the Film Society.

4) "Hard to be a God", director Aleksei German, Russia. A master filmmaker shamefully not receiving the attention he deserves from American audiences. This is his final film made before his death and is based on a classic sci-fi story that is sure to dazzle the eye.

5) "Horse Money", director Pedro Costa, Portugal. A followup to Costa's trilogy about poor residents of a public housing complex, his newest film concerns the protagonist Ventura of "Colossal Youth" as a political revolution unfolds.

6) "Pasolini", director Abel Ferrera starring Willem Dafoe, France/Belgium/Italy. I don't care about the plot or early reviews. Any look at the life of Piers Paolo Pasolini, much less one directed by Ferrera and featuring Defoe is a must-see and very unlikely to play outside the festival circuit.

7) "Winter Sleep", director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey. Another look at the divide between rich and poor in Turkish society, it won the 2014 Palm D'Ore at the Cannes Film Festival. There was a short run in New York last year, but the distributor has not booked the film for showings on the art house circuit beyond Manhattan.

Weekend Woof #98: Bonjour, San Francisco

The Little Hollywood laundromat on Market near Laguna is the location where I met two handsome French bears this week. Alain and Christophe have lived together for twelve years, don't want to get married and earn livings as DJs.

They charmed the pants off of me, not literally unfortunately, with their enthusiastic love of San Francisco that was infectious. Wish they were hanging out a few more days before returning to Paris, because I would have live to spend time showing them my San Francisco.

I'm learning the bells and whistles of MovieMaker, so you'll notice a slo-mo effect for some of the street footage. Can't believe we're approaching the 100th edition of this queer photo and video series. Thanks to all the dudes that crossed my camera's lens.

 

Tez Anderson and His SF AIDS Vanity Charity

Many are the approaches to assist ageing men and women living with HIV maintain wellness and even thrive, for the over 50 crowd which I'm proudly a part of and also amazed at the number of brothers in their 70s in this cohort.

With the onset of my latest health challenge of celluilitis and two antibiotics added to my cocktail for the week, I needed camaraderie with other people with AIDS. Btw, the cellulitis is much improved and diminished. Hope to be back at the Embarcadero Y on Monday.

One group that was of no succor whatsoever was Tez Anderson's vanity charity known as Let's Kick ASS (AIDS Survivor Syndrome), either online or in real time off-line. He founded this group about two years ago, with the juvenile name (hardly suitable for a senior constituency), decided all members were suffering ASS and advocated for wounded warriors.

The LKA site is updated only by Tez, with practically every post about Tez, or a link to a story that features Tez, or a report on his travels to an AIDS junket in Palm Springs (how that benefits SF PWAs is unknown), and there's the tear-jerking PSA starring Tez who, of course, is the first face shown.

If that's not enough Tez for you, check out LKA's press room page where he shares a mix of old and new TV and print media of, well, Tez. He averages two posts a month. Not exactly much online engagement there.

Tez runs an office on 18th Street near Castro, and haven't a clue why it's needed, how much the rent is or who pays. LKA has a 501c3 tax exempt status but it's so new they haven't filed an IRS 990 yet. I made public info requests withe Ryan White CARE Council and SF Department of Public Health and neither has funded Tez's operation.

Except for a Saturday morning cafe chat (which I attended one of last year and witnessed The Tez Show live on a small scale but with his big ego dominating) and a weekly stretching class led by someone other than Tez (shocker!).

For May's listing of events, there's a single item. On May 1, Tez is going on a junket to an AIDS and ageing confab in Austin, Texas.

Tez held incredibly well-attended forums in 2013, harvested lots of names and emails, and met the needs of hundreds of gays of a certain age, poz and negative, and he established his bona fides as a superior control queen, with a following. More power to him if he's helping PWAs sharing so much of his ego with the world.

I took care of my camaraderie needs, not to mention also meeting a gay PWA older than I who had worse cellulitis and the bonding btwn us was very healing for me, by attending the 50 Plus group on Wednesday hosted by Vince Crisostomoo of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. (Whoever thought I'd turn to them for assistance, after decades of criticism. lol.)

It was just what the Goddess ordered for me. About fifty guys around small tables, nibbling food and kibbitzing, a few friends among the beautiful faces and new acquaintances met. Lotta excellent ideas suggested for future chat topics or outings. Felt a vibe of "let's take care of our ageing asses" without a jargon-heavy overview or much of an agenda beyond getting enjoyable psycho/social support.

When I left the get-together, I was more educated and empowered and ready to attend again. Yes, I am blessed that services exist to benefit me and want to give a shout out to all among my AIDS support network pals who lessened my burdens to bear in the past ten days.

Proof Progressive Poobah Tim Redmond is a Peabrain?

For many of us San Francisco's political animals who live in the realty-based world, we long ago learned to look upon Tim Redmond for comedic relief and to consider doing the opposite of whatever he was proposing. He's so stuck in a 1970s hippie-think time warp.

Redmond now operates the 48 Hills blog and a few times each week, he serves as the trusted mouthpiece of the lazy and inept David Campos. He actually thinks Campos matters for anything other than a few laughs or as the target to vent frustration over the decimation of Latinos in the Mission and the disfigurement of the district.

Here's some silliness from Redmond dated Dec. 22, 2014:

"Supervisor David Campos has an idea that could revolutionize electoral politics in San Francisco – and it’s so simple that I’m amazed none of us thought of it before. Campos told me last week he wants to explore legislation to direct the Department of Elections to mail an absentee ballot to every registered voter in the city, every election. [...] This one could be fascinating. Watch for it in the new year."

The political landscape is so littered with examples of Campos supposedly exploring or drafting legislation he should be cited for polluting the political environment.

The absentee ballot idea may have merit, but this simple and potentially revolutionary suggestion as Redmond puts it is the 439th such time Campos had an idea pop into his head, yakked it up with someone who uses social media, it goes nowhere and progressives fail repeatedly to hold Campos accountable.

Should we break the news to Redmond that the first quarter of the new year is closing and there's nothing to watch out for from Team Campos?

Changing SFO's name to Harvey Milk Airport. Opening the Tamale Lady cafe in the Mission. A 24-bed queer homeless shelter in District 9 is taking more than 4 years to open. Maybe drafting fire prevention legislation. Perhaps writing a new market rate housing construction moratorium law.

An effective elected official Campos ain't, but he's the bee's knees to Redmond

And the beat goes on . . .

Housing Authority Meetings Must Air on SFGovTV

Here's a real head-scratcher. Housing, the lack or high price or construction or maintenance of, has been a top concern of many in San Francisco for quite some time, yet the Housing Authority meetings are not broadcast on SFGovTV's various media platforms.

As part of my learning curve up about Mission and Citywide housing matters, I wanted to watch the SFHA meetings and get up to speed on their agenda and discovered the meetings are not aired on TV, the web or archived for video-on-demand viewing at SFGovTV's site.

According to a distressingly snarky February column in the SF Chronicle by Heather Knight, the SFHA's budget is around $45 million and she recounts numerous problems with past executives, failures to maintain City-owned housing including keeping elevators operating, lawsuits and thousands of tenant complaints. Knight shed light on lack of transparency:

"What happened to the plan to televise Housing Authority Commission meetings like so many other rarely watched government get-togethers on SFGTV? [sic] Nothing. The commission meets in a room at City Hall that doesn’t have the wiring. So, sadly, the agency remains less transparent than it could be and you still cannot watch the meetings from the comfort of your (hopefully cockroach-free) home."

First of all, can Knight back up her claim of rarely watched hearings? Second, regardless of Nielsen ratings and online viewing, government transparency isn't about entertaining the masses.

Third, how about the Chronicle and housing rights, tenant and homeless advocacy groups, the Harvey Milk and Alice B. Toklas Democratic Clubs, members of the Board of Supervisors pressure the SFHA to take the radical step of simply getting another room at City Hall with cameras?

If the issue is scheduling of rooms with wiring and there not being enough such rooms, how about the Supervisors and Mayor allocate funds, maybe solicit underwriting from Tech Inc, and make _every_ City Hall meeting room camera-equipped?

Seems like a no-brainer for The City That Knows How to make 2015 the year in which _every_ City commission and body hold their meetings at City Hall and that they air on SFGovTV.

If SFGovTV is able to broadcast and archive the Entertainment Commission, the Commission on the Environment, the Disaster Council, the Mayor's Disability Council, the Transportation Authority Vision Zero Committee and other panels, and practically every photo-op of the Mayor's when he's cutting ribbons, then our elected official must endeavor to air Housing Authority meetings also.

City Attorney Withholds Campos' Housing Moratorium Emails

On Feb. 12, Supervisor David Campos began running his mouth about potentially drafting legislation that might enact a market rate housing construction moratorium in select areas of the Mission. It was his typical method of releasing a (lead) trial balloon with no text of a new law to examine and no timeline of when he possibly take concrete steps to back up his words.

The moratorium was one subject of my public records request this week to the City Attorney Dennis Herrera, which generated this response explaining the withholding of govt documents:

"This email is in response to your Immediate Disclosure Request, which our Office received on March 23, 2015. In your IDR, you seek: 

"[C]opies of any and all emails sent to or received from Supervisor David Campos or anyone in his office to anyone in the City Attorney's Office related in any fashion to a market rate housing moratorium, condo development or affordable housing either in the Mission District or Citywide, from October 1, 2014 through March 22, 2015."   

"Our Office has now completed a search for records falling within the scope of your request.  After reviewing the records, we have determined that all email messages responsive to your request are exempt from disclosure under the Sunshine Ordinance and Public Records Act because they contain privileged attorney-client communications and/or constitute protected attorney work product. [...]" 

Of course, if Campos were a transparent and accountable legislator, we'd have a few real clues about if and when he's going to move on the moratorium idea, six weeks after he first broached it.

How many more low income folks have to be evicted or displaced, and new luxury condos and market rate apartments, and community crisis meetings held, before Campos either shows us his draft legislation or drops the idea?

With Plaza 16 Coalition, Maximus Has Nothing to Fear

Since June of 2014, the effort to stop a condo development at 16th and Mission Streets has been on my radar and it's time to assess the lead organization attempting to halt the project.

The Plaza 16 Coalition touts itself as a community-based and community-led organization, but after several intense weeks of seeing how aloof and opaque the steering committee is and attending their March 18 meeting, I know the grip of Mission and Latino nonprofits is strangling genuine democracy and transparency for the group.

Let's go over some key deficits. The steering committee is stacked with a majority of nonprofit community organizers who have been PC-processed to death and lacks a basic plan to simply keeping tabs on the developer Maximus Partners. Folks monitoring Planning Commission meetings and reports, or mobilizing folks to use public comment at those meetings? No.

The March 18 steering committee meeting was the first time Plaza 16 had any assessment of its action two-weeks prior disrupting Maximus' community meeting. With disfigurement of the Mission marching on every day and no curbing of developers' hunger, it's shameful it took two-weeks (two-months equivalent in the web-age) to hold a followup gathering.

Build on the energy of the March 4 disruption? That would require advance thinking, something sorely lacking. No general membership followup or steering committee meeting, no plans to picket the Mayor's ribbon cutting on March 5 at the homeless navigation center opposite the site of the Maximus condos (where dozens of electeds and people with power over planning and the media were in attendance), no clues of what to do after March 4.

What were some of the items on the committee's agenda last week? Potentially endorsing a request from Sup. Jane Kim about the Planning Commission's analysis of Prop K, the symbolic policy statement passed by voters in November wishing for more affordable housing. There was nothing in writing laying out precisely what the supervisor was pushing and even there had been it would have been one more thing to divert the committee's attention away from the dearth of a guiding agenda for Plaza 16.

Let Kim fight her own battles at the commission and City Hall and get Plaza 16 to develop and focus on its own agenda free of influence from electeds.

A central figure in Plaza 16 is Oakland resident Maria Zamudio of Causa Justa, a truly inept organizer. During the steering meeting, as we discussed moving these meetings and those of the dysfunctional work groups from Wednesdays at noon to early evening hours, she again showed her true colors opposing a change because it would mean more folks could attend and organize for change.

"It's really hard to have good meetings with 30 or 40 people," Zamudio said. Effective organizers would welcome such high numbers at activists' planning meetings, when taking on a wealthy developer and their myriad buddies at City Hall, because it's going to take a lot of folks to stop or radically change the project. The last thing she and other steering members think of is how to engage more folks to do more monitoring and activism of all sorts because it would mean more scrutiny of their poor leadership and less control for them.

It's not rocket science to see there are no minutes or agendas from the past 18 months, since Plaza 16 was formed, on their site. Yes, the administrator Andy Blue shared a report back from the February monthly community meeting, but if you're a Mission resident or business person and want to get up to speed on where the group has been, such info is omitted.

No, it's not enough to share photos from fun and powerful action, and quote and highlight only the voices of nonprofit reps, as the primary source of engagement with the general membership and public.

Then there's the detriment of Plaza 16's closeness to Sup. David Campos. As far as I can determine, there's not been of peep of protest against him. In his press release before the March 4 forum and then report back, Blue cited Campos' complaining about being misidentified as a co-sponsor. Blue didn't point out that Campos has been spineless on Maximus and gentrification in his district.

For the sake of the Mission and 16th Street BART Plaza area, it would a wise step if Plaza 16 folded and a new, truly democratic and transparent organization were to form in its place. The current incarnation of the coalition gives Maximus no reason to fear them.

ER + Cellulitis = Keflex & Bactrim: Yummy!

Lemme start off expressing deep gratitude I have public health insurance that covers visits to the emergency room, practically all of the fab folks at the SutterHealth Davies Campus ER I engaged with today have treated me in the past and my husbear Mike has kindly been laffing at my weak jokes.

My right ankle and lower calf muscle are infected with cellulitis. The swelling, pain level of 4 outta 10, and warmth of the problem area are a bit diminished after a few doses of the antibiotics I have to take week, keflex and bactrim.

The ER said an infection got under my skin and their first fear that my problem was a blood clot, were thankfully unfounded. The doctor treating me was the same woman who was on duty when I had that episode of Bell's palsy.

You may recall she and I got into friendly argument, so she knew my condition then with the droopy face and speech impediment was not stroke, and today we picked up where we left off. Needless to say, I like her personality and she's helped me twice now with health challenges.

When I came home and told Mike about the cellulitis, he mockingly congratulated me on racking up yet another weird disease out of the blue. After almost 19-years together, he still brightens my every day.

So, I'm resting, drinking a lot of water, had two naps, skipped the double-feature film noir program at the Roxie Theater. Yeah, life is sure strange and I'm incredibly happy to still be alive experiencing one more health challenge.

And how was your Sunday?

DPH Prescribing Anti-OD Drug Naloxone to Save Lives

In a very laudable move to prevent deaths from opiate drug overdoses, the Department of Public Health recently began a project to get more naloxone out to the at-risk population. Naloxone reverses the effects of opiates and is an important tool to save the lives of drug users.

At the March 3 meeting of the health commission, DPH chief Barbara Garcia reported on the department's latest efforts to provide this life-saving drug to patients who use or abuse opiates. Here's her report:

"The Substance Use Research Unit received funding from the California Healthcare Foundation to conduct 'academic detailing' of community primary care providers in San Francisco to encourage co-prescribing naloxone to patients who use opioids.

"Part of a larger effort by DPH to address opioid overdose in San Francisco, this project dovetails with successful naloxone prescribing efforts within the CHN.

"Phillip Coffin and Emily Behar lead the pilot, which has led to production of user-friendly, visually-stimulating materials for patients and providers, and are reaching out directly, in one-on-one meetings, to 40 community providers."

If you or someone you know injects or uses street drugs or prescribes painkillers, please make sure they are aware of naloxone and have access to it.

Campos Expanded SF Police Activity at BART's Plaza 16

What, if anything, he doing now about these plazas?

Strange as it seems, Mission Supervisor David Campos, generally missing-in-action on most crucial issues of the district, took action to address several public safety and public health concerns at the 16th Street BART Plazas more than a year-and-a-half ago. He was gearing up his campaign for state assembly at the time.

According to the last newsletter from Campos and his three paid aides, which came out in October 2013, they reported on several actions involving various City departments to clean up the plazas. Everything from getting more police officers on patrol to getting BART to power-clean the surfaces to helping SRO residents.

He also promised a public hearing. Assuming it took place and wasn't just another hot air idea from Campos, if you know info about the hearing, lemme know. Same goes for other big promises he makes here. Excerpts from his last newsletter to constituents. Note that expanded police presence is his number one item:

"Here is a list of some of our accomplishments and works-in-progress: 

"1)      Increasing community policing in the area: We have secured 2 additional food beat [sic] police officers who are in the plaza daily, as well as two additional police radio cars who work along the mission corridor during high crime hours. SFPD is also now increasing the foot patrol of Capp Street and along Mission Street towards 17^th since receiving reports that drug activity is moving to these areas.

"2)      Ensuring regular cleaning of the plaza. We have been in regular communication with BART to ensure that steam and power cleaning occurs at the BART Plaza daily. DPW is also cleaning 16^th street daily. 

"3)      Improving the climate and bathroom access at the plaza.  We are working with Mission Neighborhood Center to create two stipended positions for peer navigators to monitor the use of the public bathroom in the plaza and help de-escalate conflicts.

"4)      Increasing services and housing access for homeless and disabled people who spend time in the plaza. We are working with Bevan Dufty, the director of The Mayor's Housing Opportunity, Partnerships & Engagement (HOPE) to increase the engagement of SF HOT Team workers in this area, and to secure at least 15 stabilization rooms for homeless people who spend time at 16^th and Mission.

"5)      Improving conditions in the surrounding SROs.  We are working with the City Attorney's office, HOPE and SRO advocates to develop strategies to improve conditions in the surrounding SROs."

Did any of this really happen? Who in the Mission community has demanded accountability from Team Campos regarding his promises. Enlighten me, please, if you have facts to share.

KGO's Dan Noyes Behaves Badly in Bike Lane

Move over, hunky big bear TV scold Stanley Roberts of KRON. There's competition from me in the filming of people behaving badly on the streets of San Francisco.

I'm a slow biker who hews to the right in bike lakes, always wears a helmet, has endured too many scrapes with cars on Valencia Street because of people standing in the bike lane pushing me into vehicular traffic and avoids fast bikers.

I was in no mood this afternoon for going around a TV reporter, his cameraman and an interview subject as they colonized the bike lane in front of Fourbarrels Coffee. When I stopped to asked what they were doing blocking the bike lanes, we all quickly got into an argument. They wanted me to go around them, said they were shooting footage for a bike theft story (I had my hearing aids in but pretended I heard them say "bike _safety_ story", lol) and I began filming them.

The reporter was Dan Noyes of KGO, in my vid you see him acting chivalrously and in fine drama queen form, placing himself in jeopardy and closer to the oncoming traffic and giving me a wide berth, while his camerama extends his hand as if commanding me to ride on. Dude!

You hear Dan on the other side of the camera saying my name then laughing, I guess realizing it was me was reason to giggle. He came over and said "I read your blog!" We shook hands, enjoying the sunshine and goofing on each other, and I was on my way.

Thirty-minutes later, helmet-less KQED reporter Bryan Goebel ride his bike near me and stopped to ask, "What was Dan Noyes doing a story about on Valencia Street?" How the hell did Bryan know what had gone down?

He was riding on the opposite of Valencia and thought he heard Dan say, "I love your blog!" Nope, not what he said but still I was impressed Bryan heard anything Dan said from across three lanes of pavement. I should have snagged footage of Bryan without his helmet on and scold him too.

I'm just glad my biking today didn't involve coming across a homeless druggie pissing on Market Street and drinking his urine in the middle of afternoon. Enjoy the vid:

Vid Excerpts From Mission Housing Meeting on Monday

A robust crowd turned out on March 16 at the Galeria de la Raza on 24th Street in the Mission, after longtime Latino advocate Roberto Hernandez organized the community meeting to discuss his plans to address development and lack of affordable housing in the area.

Over at the Mission Local site, writer Daniel Hirsch has a good recap of the evening along with the list of demands and a may of major developments in the Mission created by the Anti Eviction Mapping Project.

On the positive, it was a good turnout and there was plenty of energy in the room. It was also great that Roberto had a printed agenda, names and contact info for Planning Department employees responsible for certain big developments, the same for members of the Board of Supervisors and plan to protest inside City Hall on Friday, May 1.

The down side was that many of the presenters and folks who spoke were the same folks saying the same things we've heard for quite a while. There was very little time for open discussion, during the time I was in the room. Due to an allergic reaction from folks wearing fragrances, I stepped out on to the sidewalk for 25 minutes.

Former planning commission member and member of the Board of Supervisors Christina Olague spoke at length about organizing a crew to regularly attend commission meetings, but unfortunately had no plans to be at their weekly meeting tomorrow, Thursday.

However, on Tuesday, we exchanged emails and it turns out she and a few others are attending the commission hearing because data will be presented about Prop K, the policy statement voters approved in November about affordable housing goals.

Seems to me this was an excellent organizing hook to get folks to City Hall tomorrow to feed two birds with one seed. Speak during general public comment about items not on the agenda, an example includes curbing market rate condo development in the Mission, and address the commissioners a second time after the Prop K findings are presented.

The 800-pound elephant in the room that needed attention was the abysmal failures of Supervisor David Campos to have _any_ plan for _any_ housing problems in his district. Many times, people spoke about a moratorium on market rate housing construction, yet no one talked about where exactly Campos' language for it was and what his legislative plan is. How much longer will Mission activists wait for Campos to get his act together?

There was one man who called out, "Campos, take a stand!" and his aide Hillary Ronen was in attendance for about an hour. Big whoop.

Frankly, instead of applying pressure to dozens of planning commissioners and planning department employees and the Supervisors and their staff, pick just a single politician who needs his butt kicked: Campos. Get him to do his job and have _him_ pressure the planning folks and other Supervisors and the Mayor and Rep. Nancy Pelosi.

Finally, wife-beater Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, the man who's in charge of the department that carries out evictions and who is up for re-election in the fall, made an appearance and didn't speak. One woman presenter rambled on about creating an eviction free zone and it would have been a step forward if Mirkarimi had heard folks tell him to stop the evictions -- if he wants our votes.

Here's a video of excerpts from the meeting:

Current & Ex Supes' Prez Breed, Chiu Withholding Emails?

It's Sunshine Week right now, a time to celebrate and utilize FOIA and open government laws.

Wouldn't it be a huge step forward to open San Francisco's City Hall if a news outlet or online site with stringers, or one of the many nonprofits with paid community organizers, regularly filed requests for the calendars, emails and other assorted public records being created daily by the Board of Supervisors, the Mayor, all department heads and once responsive records were obtained, sharing them on the web?

In a word, yes. May I live so long to see the day.

On March 16, I filed requests with Board President London Breed for some of her emails and the Clerk of the Board Angela Calvillo, for all of ex president David Chiu's emails in 2014. The records I seek, created with taxpayer funds, are clearly identified and my requests are in league with the FOIAs filed by the New York Times and Associated Press for all emails of Hillary Clinton during her State Department tenure.

Delaying searches by San Francisco electeds and appointed City administrators needs sunshining. Is it going too far to say if records aren't forthcoming that they're being withheld? Talk amongst yourselves. Here's what Breed sent today:

"California Government Code Section 6253(b) and the City Attorney Office’s Good Government Guide makes clear that a public records request must specify an identifiable record or category of records sought, and must be sufficiently clear and defined that it reasonably identifies a specific subject matter.  The law does not generally allow a requester to look indiscriminately through a department’s files. 

"In reference to your request for 'any and all emails sent or received by the ‘London.Breed@sfgov.org’ addy from Jan. 1, 2015, through March 13, 2015, you will need to identify the specific subject matter (i.e. file, legislative item, issue) of the information you seek." 

This is what Clerk Calvillo sent this morning:

"In response to your request for 'any and all emails sent or received by "David.Chiu@sfgov.org", the addy used by the former president of the Board of Supervisors, from Jan. 1, 2014, through December 31, 2014,' we request that you please identify the specific subject matter (i.e. file, legislative item, issue) of the information you seek."

This was my response to Breed and Calvillo:

"Last October, City Attorney Dennis Herrera, in response to my public records request for any and all emails sent or received over a certain period of time for his deputy Ms. Tara Collins, after much wrangling via email and a complaint to the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force, posted thousands of responsive public records on his site for the public to read.

This wonderful precedent, I believe, should be your guide to complying with request for the identified emails. Let me know if you will reconsider your denial of releasing the responsive records."

Depending on the responses tomorrow from Breed and Calvillo, my next step may be to lodge a complaint with the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force. Stay tuned for updates.

Have you filed a public records request this week? Do democracy a favor and file a FOIA!

Homeless Man Drinks His Piss on Market Street

Over a month ago, the Mayor's homeless czar Bevan Dufty said he would respond to my request for his view on opening some of the San Francisco Fire Department's forty-plus facilities with taxpayer-funded toilets. I am campaigning for that department and the Department of Public Health to begin a public debate about opening SFFD facilities during restricted times for the homeless for peeing and pooping.

Unfortunately, I didn't hear from Dufty but on March 12 at the fire commission, I used public comment time to advocate for this proposal with SFFD Chief Joanne Hayes-White, as both a public safety and public health measure.

Today, I was at the health commission's meeting and during public comment pushed DPH Chief Barbara Garcia to nudge the SFFD to open their toilets for the stated reasons.

About half an hour after leaving that meeting, I saw a strung-out homeless dude in the middle of Market Street's vehicular traffic at the Valencia Street intersection, pissing and drinking his urine. This was a clear reminder of the need for more public toilets and mental health services for folks living on the streets.

Here's the video of what I saw on Market Street today:

SF Fire Dept Votes to Move Meetings to City Hall

When Ken Cleaveland joined the fire commission in July 2014, he began a push to have their meetings televised on SF GovTV. There was strong resistance from San Francisco Fire Department brass and then-commission president Stephen Nakajo, who stated it was enough transparency for the taxpayers to read minutes weeks after meetings took place.

In October 2014, I began attending these meetings and used public comment to advocate for not only airing them but also moving the meetings to City Hall, making it more convenient for many members of the public to participate and observe the commission in action.

On March 12, this important commission voted 3 to 1 to move their meetings to City Hall starting in the new fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2015. President Andrea Evans and Commissioners Cleaveland and Francee Covington voted in favor of the motion, while Commissioner Michael Hardeman was against it and Commissioner Nakajo was absent.

To her credit, Chief Joanne Hayes-White had previously advocated for keeping the meetings at fire department headquarters at Second and Townsend Streets for the convenience of her brass and admin staff, but her thinking evolved over the months and she came out in favor of this leap forward for transparency. Big thanks to her and the commissioners who voted the right way.

The commissioners must wait for the Mayor and Board of Supervisors to approve the department's new budget, which includes funding for televising meetings, and for a camera-ready room at City Hall to open up.

As far as I know, the fire commission is the last major panel in San Francisco government to provide transparency via SF GovTV on cable and the web, and to hold hearings at City Hall.

I must point out that when London Breed was on the commission, I contacted her about bringing transparency to the panel and she did nothing to make that happen. Also, not one member of the Board of Supervisors, despite the fact that the fire department plays such a vital role in public safety and receives a huge chunk of the City budget, lifted a finger to get the fire commission to this point.

That said, it's not too late for the Supervisors to help the commission secure a convenient meeting slot at City Hall now or very soon in the new fiscal year.

Finally, many thanks to commission secretary Maureen Conefrey for keeping me and the public informed about the commission's work and deliberations.

Why SFPD Must Keep Racist, Homophobic Cops on the Force

Idris Shelley. Sheila DeToy. Alex Nieto. Matthew Hoffman. Amilcar Perez-Lopez. Just a few of the names of civilians killed by members of the San Francisco Police Department. Not one of the officers who fatally shot them or any other civilian has been indicted by district attorney's over the years, forget about being driven from the force or jailed.

On Friday, March 13, reporter Alex Emslie over at KQED's site reported on troubling texts contained in a federal court filing involving former SFPD Sgt. Ian Furminger who was convicted recently in federal court of theft and corruption charges. Emslie writes:

"The texts show Furminger and other San Francisco police officers repeatedly swapping slurs about black people and gay people, including other police officers. In one exchange on Nov. 9, 2011, Furminger writes about his son’s school:

"'We got two blacks at my boys school and they are brother and sister! There cause dad works for the school district and I am watching them like hawks.' [...]

"Furminger: 'Yeah we burn the cross on the field! Then celebrate Whitemas … Its worth every penny to live here [Walnut Creek] away from the savages. [...]

"An anonymous SFPD officer had a suggestion for Furminger after the convicted ex-sergeant texted that a friend of his wife’s was visiting with her husband, who is black:

“'Get ur pocket gun. Keep it available in case the monkey returns to his roots,' the response says. 'Its not against the law to put an animal down.” [...]

"Furminger also repeatedly calls another officer a 'fag,' and makes racist comments about Mexican and Filipino people."

Let's now turn to Jaxon Van Derbeken's story in the March 15 SF Chronicle about the four officers facing an SFPD internal investigation:

"In 2009, [Noel] Schwab was the unwitting star of a video showing him arresting a skateboarder. In the confrontation, Zach Stow was handcuffed and arrested for illegal skateboarding. Before the arrest, Schwab is seen threatening to break Stow’s his arm 'like a twig' if he resists. Although there was a departmental investigation, it is not clear whether he was disciplined in connection with the incident."

Since California's Supreme Court upheld the privilege of cops' disciplinary records remaining sealed from the taxpayers, we don't know if Schwab faced a penalty the skateboarder case. Then there's officer Michael Robison. The Chron says:

"The latest investigation is not the first time Robison has been accused of using a racial epithet. Three years after he joined the force, Robison faced internal misconduct charges related to an incident in which he was accused of placing a loaded firearm under the chin of a suspect and calling him a racial slur."

His charges were dismissed by the Police Commission. What about the third cop? From the Chron: 

"[Michael] Celis, 47, a 16-year veteran, has been in trouble in the past. In 2004, he was charged with four counts of misconduct stemming from an incident in which he was accused of flashing his badge and offering a $100 bribe to try to get into his estranged wife’s Burlingame hotel room. He was also charged with disobeying the department’s order that he be disarmed when he bought a gun the day after surrendering his service revolver in the hotel incident."

Celis was slapped on the wrist with a suspension. The fourth SFPD officer, Rain Daugherty, apparently has no blots of shame on his record.

And what do our Chief of Police, Greg Suhr, and the Mayor have to say about these guys? The Chron quotes them saying: 

"'It makes me sick to my stomach to even have these guys around,' [Suhr] said. [...] "Christine Falvey, a spokeswoman for Mayor Ed Lee, said the mayor found the texts 'both disturbing and shocking' and that he vowed that 'such actions have no place in the Police Department.'"

I say keep these four SFPD officers on the force. Let them find ways to make amends while on duty and penalize them with lots of unpaid community service to racial minorities and gays. Whether they stay or are fired, they remind us it's apparently OK to Suhr and Lee that cops kill civilians and get away with murder, but using racist and homophobic slurs and offensive language can get you into hot water and may be something to get you fired.

Weekend Woof #97: Beefy BART Riders, Boys Too

I spoke with a straight woman yesterday who mentioned she looks at this photo and video series of men, of all and unknown sexual persuasions or identities, appealing to my queer eye. Carla spurred me to crop and splice recent footage shot around San Francisco and the East Bay, into a new video. Hope she and you find it pleasing to the naked eye.

 

Sup. 'Hillary' Breed Didn't Delete Her Calendar But . . . 

To their credit, Sup. John Avalos and Sup. David Campos both provided me the calendars for everyone in their offices within 24-hours after I filed an Immediate Disclosure Request for those public records. Those records were released in electronic format.

Not so with Sup. London Breed, who's the president of the Board of Supervisors and showing her true colors as no fan of government transparency in a timely and unhindered manner.

Breed received the same request made to Avalos and Campos, for her work calendar from Jan. 1, 2014, through Jan. 31, 2025, in an electronic format. Her aide Conor Johnston wrote:

"Because of the voluminous nature of the documents that we will need to search to respond to your request, and because of the need to consult with another interested department, we are in invoking an extension under the Administrative Code. You will have a response by March 8."

On March 5, Johnston said Breed would give hard copies of her calender to the Clerk of Board, Ms. Angela Calvillo. Not only was Breed failing to comply with my request for records in a PDF and via email, she didn't provide me with the records directly. Here's the reply from Calvillo's office:

"Due to required review, President Breed’s calendar will be provided to you on an incremental, or rolling, basis as soon as it is available pursuant to the Administrative Code. The Office of the Clerk of the Board will be forwarding you with the remaining responsive records immediately upon review and collection."

Required review? Well, that wasn't necessary from Avalos and Campos. I asked Calvillo's aide to simply put the pages in a copier/scanner hit one button to create a PDF and email it to me. You know, provide a public service to the taxpayer. The reply:

"Per President Breed, the Office of the Clerk of the Board is not authorized to reproduce her calendar, and the documents are available for pick-up in hard copy only. The estimated page count is 58 pages, and is available at the standard rate of $.10/page.  I will be glad to prepare an invoice/receipt for you upon pick-up at the front desk. If you have specific questions about the content of the records, please contact the President Breed’s office."

What politician instructs the third-party to do nothing to make it easy for requester to obtain the responsive public records? One not adequately committed to the spirit and letter of government transparency. Is Breed playing by the Hillary Rodham Clinton rule book for retention and release of her (the public's really) files created on government time, dime and infrastructure? From Calvillo's aide:

"The calendar was reviewed by President Breed's staff.  Again, the Office of the Clerk of the Board is merely facilitating delivery of the documents to you as it was dropped off with us for your pick-up.  If you have any questions regarding the format or contents, please kindly contact District 5 staff."

I went to Silly Hall, paid the $5.80 and tried to read Breed's calendar. She printed all 58 pages in super small font. I've made them into a PDF, available here, and thanks to modern technology, which Breed isn't interested in using to make her office transparent, just use the enlarge open to read her calenders without needing magnifying glass.

Welcome to the Breed Era, where she will be an adversary of full and easy sunshine principles. Not an admirable quality in the President of the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco. This matter is a subject for the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force to adjudicate when my complaint comes before them.

Mission Housing Activists' 3/16 Meeting: Target City Hall 

After months of dysfunction with the Plaza 16 coalition's steering committee and misguided influence of professional community organizers from local nonprofits regarding advance agendas, lack of active committees and little transparency about who's in charge, my activist bones were tickled to receive this invitation.

(Hernandez speaking with Barbara Garcia, SF Department of Public Health boss. Credit: Bill Wilson Photos.)

It's from longtime Mission resident and organizer of the annual Carnivale Celebration Roberto Hernandez. Finally, a grassroots organizing effort that informs potential participants how they'll spend their time, issues to be discussed and a proposed action targeting City Hall. Needless to say, I've put this on my calendar! From Hernandez:

The "Invasion of the Mission" is at an all time record high by nine, 9, developers.These developers' plans are to build market rate housing. Combined all the units they propose to build it's over 1,000.

  

Currently over 3,000 children are homeless most are Latino/as and a lot from the Mission.

We have been on the defense! Now is time to get on the offense! We been talking about how do we build affordable housing. Now is the time!

Date: MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

Time: 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM  

Location: The L CAFE, 2871 - 24th Street, near Florida

AGENDA

1. Welcome & Introductions - 5 minutes

2. Vision for all of us to work together effectively to manage the invasion -  5 minutes

3. Details of the 9 proposed developments  ~ 10 minutes

4. Creation of 9 Committees to monitor each development ~ 10 minutes

      

5. Role & Responsibility of Committees ~ 10 minutes

6. Sign up for a Committee ~ 10 minutes

7. Proposal to build 3,000 new units of Affordable Housing in the Mission - 10 minutes

8. Sites to build affordable housing - 10 minutes

9. Purchase of properties that go up for sale by non-profit community based Mission organizations - 10 minutes

10. Purchase of properties by social responsible entrepreneurs ~ 10 minutes 

11. Sign up on Committee to Build Affordable Housing in the Mission

12. Draft of Demands to the City of San Francisco  ~ 10 minutes 

13. Proposed Mission Day of Action at City Hall  ~ 10 minutes

      i: Board of Supervisors members

      ii: Planning Commission members

      iii: Mayor Ed Lee

14. Sign up for Mission Day Action at City Hall - 10 minutes

15.   Announcements

Time to build Affordable Housing in the Mission by the People! 

Si Se Puede!

Roberto Y Hernandez

Our Mission No Eviction

Castro's Warner Plaza to Be Cluttered With a News Rack?

Public space in San Francisco diminishes daily and I'm a longtime and strong believer in deleted a lot of the street furniture cluttering our sidewalks and other areas. As many readers know, I've insisted since August 2011 that the Castro gayborhood's news racks be removed and first called for City-wide consolidation in 2009.

(Warner Plaza and 17th Street, August 2011.)

With the expansion of the Castro's sidewalks last year, the Department of Public Works had to remove the pedmount at 17th and Castro Street, abutting Jane Warner Plaza. It not only block the view of patrons of the historical landmark Twin Peaks bar, but was also a safety impediment for wheelchair users and pedestrians, so when it disappeared many were pleased.

But now DPW is about to reinstall that pedmount and one merchant, Steve Porter who's the general manager of Harvey's bar and restaurant, is pleading with Mohammed Nuru, the chief of DPW, to 17th and Castro Street pedmount free. Porter writes:

"On Friday March 6th I attended a neighborhood walk through with your staff, representatives from the publishing industry, and fellow merchants.  I’m happy to say that we were able to reach compromises that work for everyone with regard to the placement of most of the racks on Castro Street.  However the proposed location of the 6 pack box at the southeast corner of 17th and Castro is entirely unacceptable. 

"I’m sure you are well aware of all the arguments against this location so I won’t waste your time by reciting them again.  I want to go on record as joining the chorus of voices that are urging you to do the right thing and put the interests of our community first.  Allowing the publishers and Clear Channel to place a box anywhere on that corner will setback the efforts our community is making to provide a safer atmosphere in Jane Warner Plaza, will also restrict the flow of pedestrian traffic in an already congested area."

Joining the chorus is Andrea Aiello, the executive director of the Castro Benefit District, who sent this to Nuru:

"I am writing to put on record the Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District's opposition to replacing the pedmount at 17th and Castro. As you are well aware, placing a pedmount in this location is the antithesis of all the (good planning by City forces) and the CBD are doing right now in Jane Warner Plaza to create a more open plaza; one which has no physical barriers to pedestrians entering the plaza. [...]

"When the CBD has events in the plaza, those [Twin Peaks] windows facing 17th st. have a great view of the entertainment. A pedmount in front of these windows is ugly and blocks the view. People don't go to Twin Peaks to have a drink and stare at the pedmount news rack. [...] Help keep the Jane Warner Plaza an interactive and positive environment and encourage visitors to the Castro."

Here's the email received today from Cynthia Hoe, DPW's program manager of news racks:

"I was joined on the [March 6] walk by representatives from the News Rack Advisory Committee, publishing industry, community members, and Jana Lord of Clear Channel.

"We walked and reviewed all the locations that pedestals have been designated to be reinstalled and a majority are to be reinstalled at their original locations prior to the temporary removal during the streetscape construction.  I am evaluating the possibility of reinstalling the pedestals originally in front of Bank of America at alternate locations, agreed by all individuals present. 

"The next steps are to obtain approval for any pedestals to be reinstalled at alternate locations.  Once we obtain the necessary approvals, we will provide installation photos to Clear Channel, who will then apply for permits."

Hoe shared this photo of her crew measuring the location of where it's highly likely the news racks will be back on 17th Street.Does this mean we're about to permanently lose more of our precious public space in the gayborhood? 

Sup. Campos Avoids Reporter's Questions About Mission Housing

Can someone please serve District 9 Supervisor David Campos a bit of vegan cheese to go with the whine he made at the Board of Supervisors meeting yesterday? On the agenda was another supervisor's legislation introduced to curb monster construction in Corona Heights, which brought forth these words from Campos, captured by the closed-captioning function of SF GovTV:

"The difference actually between the two neighborhoods right now in terms of where corona heights is and where the mission is, is that we, in my office, have yet to actually introduced a formal proposal for the mission and yet there has been opposition already to something that hasn't even been presented but the reality is that in in each case neighbors want to slow down a certain type of development."

About a month ago, Campos sent up another one of his lead balloon ideas, this time about a moratorium on market rate housing in the Mission. Put aside the fact that Campos would not be able to muster the necessary votes among his colleagues to pass such a radical measure, because Campos is still twiddling his thumbs and hasn't shown anyone draft legislation for this moratorium. 

It's never too early to call Campos out on his nonsense. What's taking Team Campos so long to provide everyone with the moratorium legislation? 

I saw Campos outside City Hall yesterday and tried to question him about the Maximus Parnters' proposal for a huge building at the BART 16th Street Plaza and housing issues in the Mission. My video camera was rolling hoping he'd say a few comments, but he remained silent. Just more of the same from this lazy politician who is simply playing for time as his Supervisorial tenure heads into the sunset in 2016. It's not too late for Campos to learn how to play for keeps and become the fighter at City Hall that the Mission so desperately needs.

Here's my video. Pardon my mistake with the wrong year on the opening title card. The magazine he's holding is Car and Driver:

No Homeless Folks or Open Mic at SF Homeless Forum

Don't get enough of lecturing and pontificating from members of the Board of Supervisors during their weekly meetings at City Hall which, by the way, never schedule public comment at a fixed time so you have to wait for hours for them to hush up so the taxpayers can speak?

Are you in need of hearing from nonprofit executives, most likely saying they need more money, and from a member of the Mayor's staff touting his homeless navigation center, as he steamrolls to his November coronation, er, reelection campaign?

Not interested to listen to what current or former homeless people, or you and other members of the general public, have to say about homeless in San Francisco? If yes, there's a forum for you.

Homeless Inc and Mayor Ed Lee's homeless czar Bevan Dufty and his staff are putting on a three hour meeting tomorrow, March 11, at the Nourse Auditorium on Van Ness at Grove Street, and it's an event I'll be sure to miss. Some info on the agenda:

6pm - Open networking 

6:40pm - Welcome
Kara Zordel, Executive Director of Project Homeless Connect

7:00pm - Presentations:
SF Navigation Center: Sam Dodge, Mayor’s Office of Housing Opportunity, Partnerships, & Engagement (Deputy Director)
Crowdfunding for Neighbors in Need: Rose Broome, HandUp (Founder)
Mobile Showers for the Homeless: Doniece Sandoval, Lava Mae (Founder)
Ending Veteran and Chronic Homelessness: Emily Nolan, The Rapid Results Institute (Catalyst)
Tent Villages: Arondo Washington Cox, Camp Unity (Camp Supervisor)

8:05pm - Panel Discussion:
Gary Kamiya, San Francisco Magazine (Editor)
Supervisor Jane Kim, City & County of San Francisco
Supervisor Mark Farrell, City & County of San Francisco
Sherilyn Adams, Larkin Street Youth Services (Executive Director)
Jeff Kositsky, Hamilton Family Center (Executive Director)
Joe Wilson, Hospitality House (Program Manager)

8:55pm - Closing Talk
Greg Gopman, Founder of A Better SF
Kara Zordel

Slumlords Gave How Much to Campos for Assembly?

The Legal Aid Society of San Mateo county and a private law firm in 2013 announced an out of court settlement with Dipak Patel, owner of the Industrial Hotel which primarily houses mentally challenged individuals. It was alleged that Patel ignored several deplorable conditions at his hotel including a bedbug infestation.

Patel is a member of an extended family of hotel owners who have long been the bane of housing advocates and residents of their dwellings. Lots more info on the Patel family and why they are viewed as slumlords is here.

The SF Examiner's Jessica Kwong in November 2014 wrote about the legal troubles of Nasir Patel because of shady housing practices:

"Steve Collier, an attorney with the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, on Wednesday filed a wrongful eviction lawsuit on behalf of Kirkbride and five other former tenants at 1040 Folsom St. against building owner Nasir Patel and Haber, alleging they refused to re-rent the units to the displaced occupants after the May 5, 2011, fire. [...]

"Collier pointed out that apart from failing to allegedly re-rent units to displaced tenants, the landlord in 2008 obtained a $100,000 interest-free loan from the Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development to renovate the hotel and agreed to keep 10 units affordable to people making 40 percent of the area median income for 15 years.

"The office on Oct. 28 issued a notice of default on the loan due to Patel and Haber's alleged failure to rent the units at the agreed-upon rate."

According to public records, Dipak Patel gave Supervisor David Campos $2,000 for his assembly race, while the Nasir Patel Family Trust donated $200.

Campos also received $4,100 from Van Ness Clay LLC, the company that built and owns the outrageously expensive and hideously ugly luxury condos at the Vida complex, located 2558 Mission Street, pictured. Many protests have targeted the complex as a prime example of disfigurement and gentrification of the Mission.

What other Mission condo developer gave to Campos last year? The Mission Position blog in October reported Campos accepted $4,100 from the Residential Builders Association, $1,000 from Sean Keighran and $1,500 from his firm SJK Development, all of whom were pushing for Planning Commission approval of the 490 South Van Ness complex that neighbors were opposing.

A donation of $1,500 from Urban Inc sweetened Campos' coffers, and that development firm also pressured the commission and Campos also raked in $500 from Reuben and Junius, the law outfit for 490 South Van Ness. The Mission Position points out that Campos, after years of objections, in October dropped all opposition to this complex and it won approval for construction to begin.

The folks at the Anti Eviction Mapping Project delved into Campos' donations and gleaned information showing at 26%, his largest category of donors came from people working in the real estate or building industries.

Just a few pieces of data found on the Campos money trail.

Plaza 16 Sunshiners: Planning Dept Status of 1979 Mission

There needs to be more transparency over the 1979 Mission condo project being pushed by Maximus Partner and the Plaza 16 made more of a functional coalition with various actors and factions, which is why I've formed the Plaza 16 Sunshiners. It's an affinity group out to educate about govt documents and various public files, how to obtain them, what to do when records requests are denied, and the importance of sharing responsive records on the web.

I've kvetched lately that there's no concise report out there about where the planning and approval process is for 1979 Mission. Well, this document was distributed at a fall meeting of Plaza 16, which I wasn't at, and is exactly the doc I need to bring me up to speed. Surely a few deets must have changed since this was circulated, but it's a fab primer for me, maybe others too.

Btw, I followed the link at the very end to the planning department's property search engine and looked up the latest figures and such on 1979 Mission. Color me shocked to read the land mass for it worth only $1,082,055. Seems the land alone should be worth way more, given the sizzling hot property values of the Mission. Here's the primer:

1979 Mission

Planning Department Status

September 25, 2014

Conditional Use

In order to receive building permits for 1979 Mission, Maximus must receive a Conditional Use Authorization from the Planning Commission.  The Planner overseeing this process, Doug Vu, does not know when the Commission will consider this Conditional Use, but is confident it will not be in 2014.

Planning Department Contact:  Doug Vu, 415-575-9120, doug.vu@sfgov.org.

Appropriate Environmental Document

An Environmental Review that considers 18 aspects must be completed before the Conditional Use can proceed.  The Planning Department will evaluate background technical reports on a variety of factors to determine if it will require a more extensive Environmental Impact Report on some of those 18 environmental topics.  These reports will most likely be issued in early 2015, and will be open to public comment at that time.

Planning Department Contact:  Debra Dwyer, 415-575-9031, debra.dwyer@sfgov.org.

Transportation Study

One important environmental factor is transportation and parking.  By Planning Code, the 1979 Mission project requires no parking spaces, except for an off-street loading space if the gross floor area of the commercial uses exceeds 10,000 square feet and two spaces for commercial uses exceeding 60,000 square feet.  Maximus is proposing 155 off-street parking spaces (22 for retail, 133 for residential) in an underground garage accessible from Capp Street.

Planning Department Contact:  Andrea Contreras, 415-575-9044, andrea.contreras@sfgov.org.

Shadow Study

The Planning Department will consider shadow impacts from the proposed development as part of its Environmental Review, especially new shadows on SF Recreation & Park properties (required by 1984’s Prop K) and other public open spaces, like the BART Plaza (required by California Environmental Quality Act).

Planning Department Contact:  Doug Vu, 415-575-9120, doug.vu@sfgov.org.

This information comes from telephone and email conversations with Planning Staff and from http://propertymap.sfplanning.org/?dept=planning.  Enter 1979 Mission in address box.