Dear John,
Celebrating Our One Year in Office
One week ago today marks our one year anniversary in office. It’s been an incredible first year and it has been an honor to serve the residents of District 10 and San Francisco. We are excited to kick off our second year in office and continue our goals of building strong relationships and connecting community to be part of our work as well as continue to push for our Vision Zero Safety Plan, local mandatory hire, curbing illegal dumping, addressing our affordability crisis, improving transit and open space access in our neighborhoods, and accountability of our City Departments.
Our District 10 team is looking forward to working with you in 2020. Keep an eye out later this month as we will be releasing our releasing our individual neighborhood safety plans based on feedback from our series of community public safety meetings last year.
In addition to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, I also served on the:
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Rules Committee
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Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation Board
I will continue to serve on the following committees and boards:
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Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee
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San Francisco County Transportation Authority
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Treasure Island Mobility Management Agency
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Workforce Investment San Francisco Board
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Caltrain Joint Powers Board
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Bay Area Air Quality Management District
As of January 8, 2020, I will begin serving on the Board of Supervisors’ Budget and Finance Committee as the Vice-Chair.
Ending Violence in Our Communities
As a City, we have once again failed. We lost 12 lives in our District in 2019 to senseless violence. These fallen victims were our friends, brothers, sons and community members. We watch these young men grow up only to lose them too soon. We must work together to figure out how to help all members of our community live in safe neighborhoods where they can find meaningful work and contribute to all that San Francisco has to offer. We can not leave anyone behind. I am committed to ending senseless violence and will work with community over the course of my term to find solutions that are community-led and community-implemented. We know that traditional programs do not work and we need to find creative solutions. My public safety plan will be released at the end of the month and I am counting on you to give feedback and offer strategies that will help all our community members feel safe and connected.
Hunters Point Naval Shipyard Update
Our number one goal is to make sure that the Bayview Hunters Point Shipyard is clean and safe for families and community. Over the course of this year, we have taken several steps to ensure the goal of a safe site is achieved. These are some of the strategies we have implored to protect the community:
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Our office convened a meeting with shipyard residents immediately upon election, to inform them that we would do everything we could to make sure that the appropriate levels of testing were conducted and that we would make sure they had an opportunity to participate in the process of the testing and retesting;
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Our office spearheaded (along with the Mayor and City Attorney) to bring in academia (UCSF and UC Berkeley scientists) to conduct an independent review of testing protocols for both Parcels A and G on the shipyard. The results of this independent review should be available in the early part of this year;
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Our office connected shipyard residents with Navy personnel and assisted in developing a resident group that works directly with the Navy on addressing their concerns and learning about the Navy’s plans for testing and retesting;
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Our office attended Shipyard CAC meetings and other community meetings to receive input from everyone around their concerns and what they would like to see happen on the shipyard;
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Our office has met consistently with the Navy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in order to hold them accountable to shipyard residents and surrounding communities. We have been assured by the EPA that technical experts will be onsite to monitor the Navy’s work. The EPA will also duplicate the Navy’s scanning work in each area and will independently analyze select soil samples.
We understand that the Navy is 100% responsible for the testing, retesting and clean up of the Bayview Hunters Point Shipyard and all our efforts will continue to be focused on holding them accountable. The EPA is the body that is responsible for ensuring that all retesting and testing is adequate and will lead to a safe and clean site, and we will continue to work closely with the EPA to hold the Navy accountable as well. In addition, we have been reaching out to our representatives at the federal level—and state leadership—in order to obtain assistance in holding the Navy accountable. We will remain laser focused on protecting the people who are impacted by any environmental hazards that may exist on the shipyard and we will not stop until the community is safe.
Caltrain Joint Powers Board Updates
Upon our election, we joined the CalTrain Joint Powers Authority Board in order to represent our interest in the regional rail system. In District 10 we have 2 CalTrain stations and we have another one at 4th and King. We are excited about serving on the CalTrain Joint Powers Board (JPB) and as we move towards electrification and realize the elements of the Caltrain Business Plan (https://caltrain2040.org), we know that this regional rail system will provide more rapid and cleaner transit on the Peninsula Corridor. Caltrain is one of the busiest commuter rail systems in the country and demand for our service is growing. Caltrain already provides a convenient and cost effective alternative to driving, connecting more than 65,000 passengers a day to jobs and housing in San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties. In order to support a changing region and meet future demand the system will need to grow. Our office has been working to improve governance on the rail system for the following reasons and is excited we have a plan and strategy in place to address these areas of needed improvement and more.
Here are a few concerns:
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Caltrain staff are currently serving 3 Boards/agencies: SamTrans, San Mateo County Transportation Authority and Caltrain. This creates issues (perceived or actual) of staff capacity, fiscal transparency and policy conflicts of interest.
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As a regional JPB, San Francisco and Santa Clara County have no true jurisdiction over CalTrain staff (as SamTrans is the true authority in that regard). Our constituencies’ hold us accountable for the issues that exist with CalTrain, regardless of that fact.
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Even with all of the efficiencies that benefit CalTrain as a part of SamTrans, CalTrain needs a truly 100% dedicated staff as we are tackling electrification and the highly ambitious business plan.
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There is a major conflict with SamTrans and CalTrain having the same legal team in place. If we realize a conflict between SamTrans and CalTrain, CalTrain has no representation.
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Caltrain does not have a dedicated source of funding and has an on-going structural deficit in its operating budget, which must be addressed if Caltrain is to fulfill its potential as an effective regional rail service.
Our goal is to establish Caltrain as an agency with highly qualified, dedicated staff who are focused solely on the business of running Caltrain and improving it per the adopted service vision and business plan. I am excited to say that all three counties (San Mateo, Santa Clara and San Francisco) are working together to address Caltrain governance. It has also been exciting to work on the ambitious CalTrain Business plan which will improve and increase service, and provide cleaner transit (among other things). We are looking forward to continuing to serve on the JPB and realizing the ambitious service vision of the CalTrain Business Plan.
Study to Bring Back the 15 Third Street Bus
In December at the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, in collaboration with the SFMTA, Transportation Authority staff, and Citizens Advisory Committee, I requested $30,000 from the Prop K NTIP Planning funds to study the feasibility of bringing back the 15 Third Street Bus. The goal is to identify two main options that will increase the transit accessibility in District 10: 1) a traditional bus service with limited stops and 2) an express bus service serving the Shipyard, Candlestick Point and/or Hunters Point communities.
Feline Finesse Championship Win!
Our local ladies of Feline Finesse dance group won 1st place at the Jamz Cheer & Dance Championships on the weekend of December 7th and now they are on their way to Nationals!
Bayview Community-Based Transportation Draft Plan
The draft plan represents $3.63 million worth of transportation investments that have been developed and prioritized by the community, with an emphasis on those most vulnerable to changes in transportation in the Bayview.
View the plan here.
We honored quite a few community heroes in 2019 at the full Board of Supervisors meetings and we want to hear from you on who’s your community hero! Send us your nomination with a short bio and your community hero may just be honored at the regular Board of Supervisors meetings. Please email [email protected].
Public Notice:
Night Work at 2342-2344 Third Street Water System Improvements
Work Night & Hours:12/30/2019 to 1/31/2020
Mondays to Fridays, 7:00pm to 7:00am
Welfare Exemptions 101 Workshop with Assessor Carmen Chu
Performances by The Jerusalem Youth Chorus and Project Level
Tuesday, January 14, 2020, 9:00am to 11:00am
Bayview Plans It! Sunday Streets Kick Off
Monday, January 27, 2020, 6:00pm to 8:00pm
Location: CYC Bayview Office, 5300 Third Street
Join Livable City for an evening with neighbors to plan together, dream big and access meaningful resorces. Free raffle, food, and childcare provided.
12th Annual Neighborhood Empowerment Network Awards
Wednesday, January 29, 2020, 6:00pm to 8:00pm
Location: City Hall Rotunda
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