Opinion: What's happening at 7th & Lawton?? Hi Everyone, I'm sorry for the delay in reporting back to you. I have not beenwell, and I don't have good news about the open space either. On May 8, the board of education accepted the report of the advisorycommittee on surplus space and real property and declared our openspace surplus property. Although around 20 of us showed up in February to speak on behalf ofour open space, there were only 5 speakers this time, and this was before the full board. Not good. I reminded the board that there is a restrictive clause on thequitclaim, that the property be used for school purposes for at least 30 years, and there are 20 more years to go. I also stated that the property was incorrectly stated as vacant land. This is "public open space" under the city"s master plan and there has been no change in use. In the board's discussion, th e board raised the possibility of askingthe city to lift the restrictive clause. Nobody touched the point that this is public open space. All of us 5 speakers lamented theloss of open space, but none opposed anything because the school district has not openly advocated a specific use yet. Despite this, Commissioner Jane Kim made it a point of calling us nimbys. Commissioner Jill Wynns said that our open space would be anexcellent site for teacher housing. On May 29, I attended a meeting of the Grounds and FacilitiesCommittee. The real estate department reported that they have put out a request for proposals for affordable housing and have extendedthe deadline to June 12. At Public Comment, I said that nobodyunderstands why they are going into the housing business. If we are losing families in San Francisco, if we are closing schools, wouldn'tthey have enough teachers? In the newspaper reports, contract negotiations seem to focus on salary increases, I have not read ofteachers asking for housing. To top it all, the school district cannot discriminate. If they offer housing, they have to offer it toall staff, so how many teachers can benefit? I was told that sincethey cannot compete salary-wise, they have to offer housing to attract teachers from other districts. What Can You Do? 1. Oppose the lifting of the restrictive clause? I don't think itwould be good public policy for the city to let the school district off the hook. This was such a sham transaction in the first place. The school district told the PUC that they were going to put in a child care center there when they knew they were not going to do that. 2. Fight the change in use? I am suspicious about the schooldistrict describing the property as vacant land. I hope this is notan attempt to avoid going through the requisite due process. 3. Ask Rec and Park to acquire this open space? I am aware thatYomi Agunbiade has been reluctant to acquire land that does not come with a funding source for maintenance. The school district has notdone anything to maintain this open space. The Steinhoffs spruce upthe space in September and DPW trims the trees. If the Garden forthe Environment and the White Cranes Springs Garden work with the Steinhoffs, maybe we can have a community space that will not be a burden on the city. If we can come up with proposal, we could approach the Rec and Parkcommission. It meets this Thursday, June 7, but it is probably too soon for us to have something ready. Please let me have some feedback. Chooi Eng Grosso

 

Opinion: "Slaughter on 19th Avenue", and what else is new. That is the attitude expressed by City and State officials, tonite, at a Meeting of the Sunset Hts. Assoc. of Responsible People, at the Taraval Police Station. The guy from the City could only talk about the financial "hokey pokey" between the City and Caltrans and the Governor, about the budget and bidding for the needed Traffic Signal upgrades. The Police spoke about understaffing... The state guy said he would do what he could ...to move things along, but he made no promises. To which the M.D. who attended to the latest pedestrian victim, as she lay dying in his arms, at 19th and Noriega, on June 3rd., said to both sides "You have created the Perfect Bureaucratic nightmare", and it is Bullshit"... This was the second pedestrian death this year, in the Sunset, on 19th Avenue, while the City and State fiddle away, to the tune of "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" (plus 9 more, for our local "West Side Gory". The moral: Look Both Ways, all the way, and don't assume that because 5 out of 6 lanes of traffic have remained stopped for yourself, crossing in the Xwalk, that there is not a speeding nutjob in the 6th lane, aiming to mow you down., Improved Signals, which have been funded for years, and not installed, due to red tape, could save you, if they were in, but they aren't even on the horizon. S.H.A.R.P. will report continuously on our website. Stay tuned to "www.SHARPSF.com" Thank you, john barry, past president, SHARP.