If the issue is a public plaza and who controls it, don't expect much communication from either Supervisor currently running for the District 11 state senate seat.
Neither Jane Kim nor Scott Wiener has addressed the controversy ignited over the failure to fly the rainbow flag at Harvey Milk Plaza at half-mast for five days honoring the LGBT people massacred on June 12 in Orlando, and they're both silent about a soon-to-be built fence at the McCoppin Hub. We live three blocks from there.
Located at near the intersection of the two Supes' district, closed to Valencia and Market Streets, the hub will soon be fenced as an anti-homeless measure.
For many years, residential and business stakeholders have activated themselves with any and all City officials who might address the lack of housing for the crowds of homeless drifters and others, and the resultant sanitation and criminal problems of folks living in the public space for extended periods.
Let's follow the email trail in recent weeks.
The hub is nestled just inside the border of Kim's District 6, alongside the freeway off-ramp which is in Wiener's District 8, so neighbors are right to put pressure on her for communication. One nearby resident's plea, made on June 11, for a response from Kim expresses the wish of many but Kim's office is woefully silent.
On June 29, a local businessman complained of no engagement from either Kim or Wiener and that it's an election year, and we might expect these electeds to address quality of life concerns in the hub. Still no word from Kim.
A response from a manager at the Department of Public Works informed everyone that the City is rapidly moving forward to install the fence and it should be completed at the McCoppin Hub in about 4-5 month period. We'll see the fence at this public space after the November election when either Kim or Wiener is newly-elected to Sacramento.
What surprises me about these latest anti-homeless developments at the McCoppin Hub is that I've not heard a peep of protest from all the progressive nonprofits, Democratic affiliates including the Harvey Milk Club, and community organizers backing Kim.
Can you imagine the din that would erupt if the fence were to be erected in Wiener's district? It'd be so loud my hearing aids wouldn't be needed to hear the kvetching.
Watch this recent video taken at the hub: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ns7hlx61nhdfp3w/Hub_June_29.MOV?dl=0
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