As mentioned in the prior e-mail, San Francisco's Recreation and Parks Department will host a public meeting to discuss the proposed change in use of the grassy park space between Justin Herman Plaza and the Railway Museum along Steuart Street. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 7th starting at 5:30 p.m. at Pier 1's Bayside Conference Room (you'll enter The Port's offices and head to the meeting room to the right). Personally, I am pleased that Recreation and Parks came to our August 24th Rincon Hill neighborhood meeting and set up this September 7th public meeting to give folks a chance to talk about the proposed change of use of the grassy park space - that was my personal goal when I started making noise about the lack of public outreach regarding the proposed bocce ball courts a few weeks ago.
FYI, there was a very nice article written by Rachel Gordon about our neighbor Adhamina Rodriguez and her determination to get a childrens' playground built in or nearby the Rincon Hill neighborhood in yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle. With over 900 kids in the neighborhood each weekday in our homes and at nearby child care facilities and the Embarcadero YMCA, I have no doubt that we need a playground nearby.
Adhamina and I are working with the City to figure out if we can maybe use the concrete just south of the grassy park space and closer to the Railway Museum as a childrens' playground space. If you would like to team up with Adhamina, myself, and other neighbors advocating for a childrens' playground, please e-mail me at RinconHill@gmail.com.
While it probably isn't a big surprise to most of us who patronize the Borders Books location at 3rd and King Streets, the store will officially close on October 16th according to an article in the San Francisco Examiner. My good friend Jeremy had the scoop over a week ago on his www.LiveSOMA.com website, and he's heard that the space may be reincarnated as a bowling alley. One thing is for sure - it almost has to be a chain retailer of some sort because only chain stores could afford to lease out a 23,000 square foot space. Why do we create these humongous retail spaces that pretty much rule out character-building mom & pop shops in the new condo buildings? We should probably try to push for smaller retail spaces in any new construction - spaces small enough for mom & pop start up shops to rent.
By the way, as a member of the South Beach | Rincon | Mission Bay Neighborhood Association, I can say that we are a little worried about how long this space might sit unoccupied and we are going to be discussing this topic specifically at our November meeting (Monday, November 8th at 6 p.m. at the South Beach Harbor Services Building's Community Room).
Call for Help from the Patrol Special Police
To whom it may concern:SFPD hired a group to research our the Patrol Special Police program, this study was paid for by the police department (our competition), and it was done by retired police officers in an effort to disband our program so that SFPD could have more 10-B hours, which is overtime hours.For reference, read the Examiner, August 27, 2010. If they disband our business, since we are their only competition, they will be able to charge their rate of $108 per hour. By getting rid of us there will be no competition for them. We've been working with you for some time and you are aware of what we can do for you and for your neighborhood. The calls we respond to for you are low priority calls, the SFPD response time is slow at best. Our response time is less than 5 minutes, no matter what the crime is.They finished the study and it's negative towards the patrol specials. We just found out about the a few days ago. The SFPD want to bring it to the police commission on Wednesday, September 1st, and we have not even been able to review it.Would it be possible for you to show support for our services and program, by sending a short email to the commission? (see the email address below). Please address how our program has decreased crime in your neighborhood. Send us a copy of your response at atbyard83@yahoo.com so we can keep it for our records.Please respond as soon as possible as they plan on meeting on Wednesday, September 1st.The email address is sfpd.commission@sfgov.org
Thank you for your time.
An additional article on this topic shows up in today's San Francisco Examiner.
Heart of SoMa - One Heart. One Community. One Night.
Save the date of October 26th for a fabulous charitable event that will be held at Rincon Hill's Terra Gallery. The event title is Heart of SoMa, and Rincon Hill residents and friends are playing a very big role in putting the event together. Please head over to the event's Facebook page and "Like" it right now ... and bookmark the event website. Look for official announcements in the coming weeks!
District 6 Supervisor Candidate Forum
To acquaint as many voters as possible with the top-funded candidates running for District 6 Supervisor, the South Beach|Rincon|Mission Bay Neighborhood Association (SB|R|MB NA) is hosting a Candidate’s Forum Monday, September 13 at Genentech Hall's Byers Auditorium in Mission Bay, from 6—7:30 PM, moderated by KQED’s radio reporter, Scott Shafer.
A Taste of South Beach | Mission Bay on September 25th
Please join neighbors and local businesses for this third annual event. Experience the local cuisine and drinks from neighborhood restaurants and bars. Support the various flourishing businesses in South Beach and Mission Bay. Proceeds will benefit the South Beach Mission Bay Business Association as well as local nonprofit Project Open Hand. The event will be held along The Embarcadero between Pier 40 and AT&T Park. See list of participating restaurants at www.southbeachmissionbay.com/
Have a pleasant Labor Day holiday weekend!
