New Funds Approved for Castro District Safety Measures
At the Transportation Authority meeting on October 20, additional funds were approved to enhance safety in the Castro District. As Supervisor Rafael Mandelman wrote, “You shouldn’t have to risk your life to cross Castro Street, and I have heard of too many scary incidents where pedestrians were hit or nearly hit in that crosswalk.” The funds will help to pay for signal improvements to the busy Castro and Market Streets intersection. Supervisor Mandelman added that the additional funds “will also close a funding gap and advance the larger Upper Market (Street) Safety project, which will add safer crosswalks and bike lanes, new lighting, street trees, and trash cans to the neighborhood. I’m proud to support this project and these improvements which will make the Castro a safer and more welcoming place for everyone.”
Upper Market Street Safety Project: https://www.sfmta.com/projects/upper-market-street-safety-project
San Francisco Continues Reopening with Expanded Business Operations and Activities
Mayor London Breed and Director of Public Health Dr. Grant Colfax this week announced San Francisco is continuing its measured reopening of the economy. Here are the newly revised goals for the reopening of the City:
Allowed to reopen as of October 27 – Non-essential offices, with limited capacity; climbing gyms, indoor, with limited capacity; indoor gyms with increased capacity (but no indoor cardio classes); indoor personal care that includes mask removal for some services; outdoor higher education classes with increased capacity.
November 3 – Businesses, new with limited capacity; swimming pools, indoors; bowling alleys, indoors, and other family entertainment centers; locker rooms in indoor gyms; drive-in live performances; activities with increased capacity; places of worship, indoors and outdoors; political protests; movie theaters, indoors, with no food or drink; dining, indoors; indoor zoos, museums, aquariums; film production, indoors.
Mid-November – Bars, wineries, and breweries without food (outdoors).
Details about the reopening plan are at https://sf.gov/topics/reopening
‘Safe Sleeping Site’ Placement Envisioned for All Unsheltered San Franciscans
To address the crisis of street homelessness in San Francisco that has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman introduced legislation this week that would require the City to establish a network of temporary safe sleeping sites to provide a safe place for every homeless person in San Francisco to sleep. “In San Francisco, in 2020, no one should have to spend the night in a tent on a median or curled up in a doorway,” said Supervisor Mandelman. “Despite investing billions of dollars in addressing homelessness over the years, we have never taken responsibility for the many thousands of unhoused people who can still not access a supportive housing unit, shelter bed, or hotel. A Place for All will finally ensure that all unhoused people have a safe place to spend the night so that no one has to camp on our streets, and that no neighborhood has to offer up its sidewalks as shelter of last resort.” The legislation would require the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing to submit an implementation plan to the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors within 60 days that describes how the Department plans to open enough safe sleeping sites to serve 500 unsheltered people within nine months, and all safe sleeping sites needed to accommodate every unsheltered person without alternative shelter within 18 months. The legislation is expected to be voted on in the coming months.
30% of Income Proposed as Standard Maximum Rent for Supportive Housing Tenants
Supervisor Matt Haney on October 20 introduced legislation to codify the practice of setting rents at no more than 30% of a client’s income for new PSH (Permanent Supportive Housing), an extension of current practice. It would also set a timeline of October 1, 2023, to transition all older supportive housing units to a 30%-of-income model. “San Francisco’s current practices are inequitable and unfair because they don’t apply evenly across all supportive housing buildings,” said Supervisor Haney, who authored the legislation in partnership with supportive housing tenants. “Tenants who are overwhelmingly in some of the oldest supportive housing buildings sometimes pay up to 70% of their income to rent in PSH, leaving little for basic necessities.”
Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing information: https://hsh.sfgov.org/services/housing/
Published on October 22, 2020
Recent Comments