Thursday, May 13, 2004
I recently got an emailed question (that went to all the candidates) from someone who lives in the Lower Haight. Here's the main part:
The Lower Haight is in desperate need of attention. While I wholeheartedly supported Matt Gonzalez' political aspirations, I was relived that he would not be pursuing re-election to represent District 5. His attention to his district needs has been questionable at best, completely absent at least.
Specifically, the Haight & Fillmore intersection and the several blocks that surround the area have fallen on dismal times of late. In the past several years, I have noticed the area's demise and realize that it's on board to becoming the new "Bayview Hunter's Point" of San Francisco -- in that little attention is paid to evident problems. Open drug dealing occurs all day and all night. One can stand at both bus stops (at Haight and Fillmore - heading East and West) and watch drug deals occur regularly. It's a safe haven for deals to occur as their is little police presence or enforcement. Is this okay?
It's common knowledge that the three blocks on Haight, between Fillmore and Laguna is not safe. Period. End of discussion. Is this okay?
In addition, the area is filthy. It gets filthier by the day. Little effort or attention is paid to cleaning up the area. The affect results in a slow progression of inattentiveness to outlying blocks and neighboring streets. Is this okay?
I know this is long, but I wanted to post it somewhere where everyone could see what my response was...
***
Your questions of ‘is this ok?’ really seem to want a response to: ‘what can be done about this?’ and while I think these issues of crime in the community are more about police policy/action and then prosecution by the District Attorney, I do believe there are things the community can do.
First of all, the surrounding community needs to get involved. In fact, I would say that in some ways, what’s going on at the 400 block of Haight is a response to community involvement in other surrounding areas. Communities like Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association and the strong-willed community members of the Hayes Valley North/South housing development like Sandra Swanson and SF Neighborhood Safety Partnership and SAFE http://www.sfsafe.org/ have been working for years to get crime out of their streets… and have succeeded, thus pushing this activity to the two block area where it’s still being allowed to happen.
How did they do it?
By building a sense of community and working with the police to communicate specific concerns and actually tell them about each and every possible bit of criminal activity they were aware of. By meeting regularly with the police reps from Northern Station, learning about how best to report these crimes, and letting the criminals know it won’t be tolerated any further. By learning to call the police with a detailed description of a specific situation: ‘the guy with the blue jacket and red pants has been dealing on Saturday mornings, and he keeps his drugs stashed in the bushes at the corner of….’ Instead of simply, ‘they look like they’re selling drugs all the time’.
Then, the much harder part -- standing together and following through on the prosecution of these criminals once they’re caught. So many times in community meetings I hear the fear of retaliation to testifying against these types of criminals. The only answer to that is the whole community needs to truly follow through on these trials, go there, testify, to say as a group: this is a bad guy who’s hurting our community. We don’t want him back in our neighborhood.
Then, as has been shown by the other neighborhoods right in the area, the work has to continue. Communities have to find things to keep the kids busy, to keep the areas clean, and to encourage the local businesses to stay involved and ‘present’ on their sidewalks.
I mentioned Sandra Swanson above. She runs an after school reading program right at Haight and Buchanan, and on Wednesdays (4:30 to 5pm) she has invited the community to participate by coming over and reading to the children from the neighborhood. That’s the sort of continued community involvement that’s needed, and that builds strong relationships that can change a community for the better.
It’s interesting that you bring up Supervisor Gonzalez’s ideological leanings, and mention what you see as his difficulty balancing the local needs with his citywide and/or philosophical points. I too, tend to generally agree with MG’s ideology, but have also seen the realities of local issues in opposition to some of them. It was interesting to learn, for example, that MG strongly backed DA Hallinan for re-election, when many community leaders (and certainly pundits) felt that Hallinan’s record on working with the police and following through on prosecution of these ‘lower level’ quality of life crimes was not strong. From what I’ve seen of the new DA Harris’ positions and work style, she intends to work much more closely with the police to help communities get these sorts of crimes off the street. (I hope the current death penalty for a cop killer doesn’t hurt that relationship.)
What can be done about the cleanliness of the area?
Again, my first response will point back to the community, but includes action from city agencies. As you may know, trash is certainly one issue I’ve worked on a lot in my own neighborhood. Read about my many different, specific solutions to the city’s trash problem at: http://www.tyssniffen.com/trashrant.html but, let’s talk about lower Haight:
- The community, that is, neighbors who care, such as yourself have to come out and help. On April 17th, we just had a very successful clean up in that surrounding area hosted by the Clean City Coalition www.sfcleancity.com that included many different groups, including DPW. I hope you got a chance to participate. That sort of event shows how much neighbors care, and how we can work with the city to focus their attention where it needs to be.
- The community needs to tell those merchants on Haight to clean up in front of their stores. They will respond saying they are struggling as it is, and don’t have the energy or time to do more. This isn’t an acceptable answer. We, the community, need to let them know that if they don’t include themselves in the solution, they won’t be around much longer. One suggestion might be to use the model that Upper Haight has implemented, creating a clean up crew sponsored by the immediate merchants. I can get the specifics from the President of the Haight Merchants Assoc. if you’d like to learn more. I think Walgreens could be the focal point for the start of this effort, as they of course have the corporate backing and wherewithal to kick off this process, perhaps by renting a sidewalk steam cleaner. (interesting isn’t it, that sometimes a corporate chain might be part of the solution, not the danger it is painted as by some elements of the ‘progressives’)
o I find that the merchants are just as frustrated as you are, and are looking for support and help. Someone just needs to start the process, and they often ‘jump on board’.
- The community also needs to communicate its dissatisfaction with the situation to the Department of Public Works whenever possible. I hope you know about the ‘trash report line’ 28-CLEAN (282-5326) which is open 24/7 for notification of a specific problem. I call about graffiti, illegal dumping, and general dirtiness whenever I see it. Remember, however, that DPW isn’t charged with cleaning the sidewalks, the property owners are. Focus on reporting graffiti on public and private property, illegal dumping (like the couch on the sidewalk) and if people are using the public trash cans for other than their intended use.
o Another interesting side note on trash cans: That new Indian (Pakistani?) restaurant going in specifically asked to have the public trash can *removed* from their corner because they didn’t like it in the front of their building. Now, probably, people are dropping more trash on the street. Hmm..
What can a Supervisor Do?
As I mentioned above, this isn’t exactly an issue that is typically solved from an office in City Hall. BUT, my plans as supervisor would certainly facilitate the above suggestions. In my planned District Town Hall events http://www.tyssniffen.com/promises.htm#townhalls we will bring in the city department managers (not necessarily the Executive Directors, who are often good at saying much and responding to little, but the mid-level folks who are in charge of our areas) and bring these specific issues up in the public forum, taking notes on their responses and following up with them until the job is done. As your supervisor, I will focus persistently on accountability among our city department managers, especially in high crime – high trash areas in our district. But again, my plan depends on regular community-member involvement.
I also want to start a ‘Community Leader Training’ process, where neighborhood leaders can attend workshops and trainings to help them understand community issues, what’s worked in other areas and other cities, how to build community support, even work on resolution of conflicts, and more.
We also need to update and promote our civic responsibility outreach, so that children and the public at large realize that we’re all responsible for our environment and our communities. When was the last time you heard a ‘give a hoot, don’t pollute’ commercial? Seems like years to me.
And of course, I want to implement a number of policies and practices mentioned in my trash solutions page http://www.tyssniffen.com/trashrant.html like a better definition of who’s in charge of the sidewalk, which will slowly change the culture of trash and litter.
The SFPD has a new tool to work on these issues as well. The City CrimeStats program, which you can use yourself online: http://gispubweb.sfgov.org/website/san_francisco_community/ will allow the police to better focus their responses by seeing trends in crimes. Of course, these maps will only show *reported* crimes, so it is even more important to educate the community about calling and reporting crimes when they happen.
Finally, I do want to talk about cultural perceptions. We live in a very diverse urban environment, where many different sorts of cultures and attitudes rub up against one another. From some people’s idea that graffiti is ‘art’ while others see it as simply gang tagging, to the long cultural history of African-American’s interacting in their community by ‘hangin’ on the stoops and front steps of their homes, socializing and spending time with friends and neighbors… which is often perceived with trepidation and concern by those of us from other backgrounds, we have to carefully examine our own reactions and perceptions. If we feel unsafe simply because there’s a lot of people around us who don’t look like us or talk like us, do we need an institutional response, or do we need to learn more and build bridges to other communities? Is drinking alcohol on the sidewalk something we want to crack down on? Maybe, but maybe not. Is the double parking causing real trouble? Or the loud radios? We have to decide what’s acceptable in an urban environment and what’s not. Where we decide to draw the line on enforcement of our laws is more of a cultural decision than a legal one, as I’m sure you know.
As Supervisor, I will lead the District 5 community towards solutions like these on this issue, and bring this level of focus and understanding to the other important subjects of our city as well.
Well, I’m interested in your response, and while I have more thoughts and ideas, I’ll stop here. Let me know if you want some assistance if you’re interested in rallying the neighborhood. I’d also be interested in the other candidates’ responses, if you get any. And of course, you can forward this to them if you want.
Tys
Your candidate for Supervisor.
***
The Lower Haight is in desperate need of attention. While I wholeheartedly supported Matt Gonzalez' political aspirations, I was relived that he would not be pursuing re-election to represent District 5. His attention to his district needs has been questionable at best, completely absent at least.
Specifically, the Haight & Fillmore intersection and the several blocks that surround the area have fallen on dismal times of late. In the past several years, I have noticed the area's demise and realize that it's on board to becoming the new "Bayview Hunter's Point" of San Francisco -- in that little attention is paid to evident problems. Open drug dealing occurs all day and all night. One can stand at both bus stops (at Haight and Fillmore - heading East and West) and watch drug deals occur regularly. It's a safe haven for deals to occur as their is little police presence or enforcement. Is this okay?
It's common knowledge that the three blocks on Haight, between Fillmore and Laguna is not safe. Period. End of discussion. Is this okay?
In addition, the area is filthy. It gets filthier by the day. Little effort or attention is paid to cleaning up the area. The affect results in a slow progression of inattentiveness to outlying blocks and neighboring streets. Is this okay?
I know this is long, but I wanted to post it somewhere where everyone could see what my response was...
***
Your questions of ‘is this ok?’ really seem to want a response to: ‘what can be done about this?’ and while I think these issues of crime in the community are more about police policy/action and then prosecution by the District Attorney, I do believe there are things the community can do.
First of all, the surrounding community needs to get involved. In fact, I would say that in some ways, what’s going on at the 400 block of Haight is a response to community involvement in other surrounding areas. Communities like Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association and the strong-willed community members of the Hayes Valley North/South housing development like Sandra Swanson and SF Neighborhood Safety Partnership and SAFE http://www.sfsafe.org/ have been working for years to get crime out of their streets… and have succeeded, thus pushing this activity to the two block area where it’s still being allowed to happen.
How did they do it?
By building a sense of community and working with the police to communicate specific concerns and actually tell them about each and every possible bit of criminal activity they were aware of. By meeting regularly with the police reps from Northern Station, learning about how best to report these crimes, and letting the criminals know it won’t be tolerated any further. By learning to call the police with a detailed description of a specific situation: ‘the guy with the blue jacket and red pants has been dealing on Saturday mornings, and he keeps his drugs stashed in the bushes at the corner of….’ Instead of simply, ‘they look like they’re selling drugs all the time’.
Then, the much harder part -- standing together and following through on the prosecution of these criminals once they’re caught. So many times in community meetings I hear the fear of retaliation to testifying against these types of criminals. The only answer to that is the whole community needs to truly follow through on these trials, go there, testify, to say as a group: this is a bad guy who’s hurting our community. We don’t want him back in our neighborhood.
Then, as has been shown by the other neighborhoods right in the area, the work has to continue. Communities have to find things to keep the kids busy, to keep the areas clean, and to encourage the local businesses to stay involved and ‘present’ on their sidewalks.
I mentioned Sandra Swanson above. She runs an after school reading program right at Haight and Buchanan, and on Wednesdays (4:30 to 5pm) she has invited the community to participate by coming over and reading to the children from the neighborhood. That’s the sort of continued community involvement that’s needed, and that builds strong relationships that can change a community for the better.
It’s interesting that you bring up Supervisor Gonzalez’s ideological leanings, and mention what you see as his difficulty balancing the local needs with his citywide and/or philosophical points. I too, tend to generally agree with MG’s ideology, but have also seen the realities of local issues in opposition to some of them. It was interesting to learn, for example, that MG strongly backed DA Hallinan for re-election, when many community leaders (and certainly pundits) felt that Hallinan’s record on working with the police and following through on prosecution of these ‘lower level’ quality of life crimes was not strong. From what I’ve seen of the new DA Harris’ positions and work style, she intends to work much more closely with the police to help communities get these sorts of crimes off the street. (I hope the current death penalty for a cop killer doesn’t hurt that relationship.)
What can be done about the cleanliness of the area?
Again, my first response will point back to the community, but includes action from city agencies. As you may know, trash is certainly one issue I’ve worked on a lot in my own neighborhood. Read about my many different, specific solutions to the city’s trash problem at: http://www.tyssniffen.com/trashrant.html but, let’s talk about lower Haight:
- The community, that is, neighbors who care, such as yourself have to come out and help. On April 17th, we just had a very successful clean up in that surrounding area hosted by the Clean City Coalition www.sfcleancity.com that included many different groups, including DPW. I hope you got a chance to participate. That sort of event shows how much neighbors care, and how we can work with the city to focus their attention where it needs to be.
- The community needs to tell those merchants on Haight to clean up in front of their stores. They will respond saying they are struggling as it is, and don’t have the energy or time to do more. This isn’t an acceptable answer. We, the community, need to let them know that if they don’t include themselves in the solution, they won’t be around much longer. One suggestion might be to use the model that Upper Haight has implemented, creating a clean up crew sponsored by the immediate merchants. I can get the specifics from the President of the Haight Merchants Assoc. if you’d like to learn more. I think Walgreens could be the focal point for the start of this effort, as they of course have the corporate backing and wherewithal to kick off this process, perhaps by renting a sidewalk steam cleaner. (interesting isn’t it, that sometimes a corporate chain might be part of the solution, not the danger it is painted as by some elements of the ‘progressives’)
o I find that the merchants are just as frustrated as you are, and are looking for support and help. Someone just needs to start the process, and they often ‘jump on board’.
- The community also needs to communicate its dissatisfaction with the situation to the Department of Public Works whenever possible. I hope you know about the ‘trash report line’ 28-CLEAN (282-5326) which is open 24/7 for notification of a specific problem. I call about graffiti, illegal dumping, and general dirtiness whenever I see it. Remember, however, that DPW isn’t charged with cleaning the sidewalks, the property owners are. Focus on reporting graffiti on public and private property, illegal dumping (like the couch on the sidewalk) and if people are using the public trash cans for other than their intended use.
o Another interesting side note on trash cans: That new Indian (Pakistani?) restaurant going in specifically asked to have the public trash can *removed* from their corner because they didn’t like it in the front of their building. Now, probably, people are dropping more trash on the street. Hmm..
What can a Supervisor Do?
As I mentioned above, this isn’t exactly an issue that is typically solved from an office in City Hall. BUT, my plans as supervisor would certainly facilitate the above suggestions. In my planned District Town Hall events http://www.tyssniffen.com/promises.htm#townhalls we will bring in the city department managers (not necessarily the Executive Directors, who are often good at saying much and responding to little, but the mid-level folks who are in charge of our areas) and bring these specific issues up in the public forum, taking notes on their responses and following up with them until the job is done. As your supervisor, I will focus persistently on accountability among our city department managers, especially in high crime – high trash areas in our district. But again, my plan depends on regular community-member involvement.
I also want to start a ‘Community Leader Training’ process, where neighborhood leaders can attend workshops and trainings to help them understand community issues, what’s worked in other areas and other cities, how to build community support, even work on resolution of conflicts, and more.
We also need to update and promote our civic responsibility outreach, so that children and the public at large realize that we’re all responsible for our environment and our communities. When was the last time you heard a ‘give a hoot, don’t pollute’ commercial? Seems like years to me.
And of course, I want to implement a number of policies and practices mentioned in my trash solutions page http://www.tyssniffen.com/trashrant.html like a better definition of who’s in charge of the sidewalk, which will slowly change the culture of trash and litter.
The SFPD has a new tool to work on these issues as well. The City CrimeStats program, which you can use yourself online: http://gispubweb.sfgov.org/website/san_francisco_community/ will allow the police to better focus their responses by seeing trends in crimes. Of course, these maps will only show *reported* crimes, so it is even more important to educate the community about calling and reporting crimes when they happen.
Finally, I do want to talk about cultural perceptions. We live in a very diverse urban environment, where many different sorts of cultures and attitudes rub up against one another. From some people’s idea that graffiti is ‘art’ while others see it as simply gang tagging, to the long cultural history of African-American’s interacting in their community by ‘hangin’ on the stoops and front steps of their homes, socializing and spending time with friends and neighbors… which is often perceived with trepidation and concern by those of us from other backgrounds, we have to carefully examine our own reactions and perceptions. If we feel unsafe simply because there’s a lot of people around us who don’t look like us or talk like us, do we need an institutional response, or do we need to learn more and build bridges to other communities? Is drinking alcohol on the sidewalk something we want to crack down on? Maybe, but maybe not. Is the double parking causing real trouble? Or the loud radios? We have to decide what’s acceptable in an urban environment and what’s not. Where we decide to draw the line on enforcement of our laws is more of a cultural decision than a legal one, as I’m sure you know.
As Supervisor, I will lead the District 5 community towards solutions like these on this issue, and bring this level of focus and understanding to the other important subjects of our city as well.
Well, I’m interested in your response, and while I have more thoughts and ideas, I’ll stop here. Let me know if you want some assistance if you’re interested in rallying the neighborhood. I’d also be interested in the other candidates’ responses, if you get any. And of course, you can forward this to them if you want.
Tys
Your candidate for Supervisor.
***
