This is where I stand and hold the line because I know that if we are to win anything, we have to move past the wedges that have been placed before us to open up a never closing breach that would keep us apart, keep us from seeing
each other as valuable citizens of this city and of the community in which we live. Time after time I have felt the need to remind everyone that San Francisco is crowded onto only 49 square miles and that conditions which harm one of us could eventually harm all of us. I have no respect for invisible
lines that serve no real purpose other than to keep us apart.
Right now in San Francisco we are caught up in one of the biggest economic booms ever seen by any San Franciscan since the Gold Rush. Yet an enormous number of San Franciscans are not working. Why? Because, although all of us have a stake in what happens here,
many of us have been foolishly left out of the planning stage.
When I am supervisor, each and every person will have a stake and a say in our City’s planning. I will see to it that each community has the final word on what goes in or comes out of their community.
This means first and foremost that any work being done there by the City, such as building or repairing, gets its first and its final review by the community and that the community must be allowed and enabled to do as much of the work as possible. Only then should
work be made available to businesses and workers from other parts of town or from outside the City.
Schlage Lock site
So in the case of the land where Schlage used to manufacture locks, lying on the east edge of Visitation Valley, adjacent to Little Hollywood and just to the south of Bayview Hunters Point, where Home Depot wants to build one of its huge stores, the decision as to
how the land should be developed and by whom should rest with you as a community. You who live nearby know what you need and what factors will enhance your neighborhood.
I believe as most of you do that what’s developed there should include both commercial use and living space and that it should be affordable to the community. City Hall must learn to listen to you and not exclusively to big business.
I am convinced that unless we the people have the final say, then we never truly get what we want or need. As your supervisor, your representative at City Hall, I’ll see to it that the people prevail.
Parks and open space
Right now in District 10 - the neighborhoods of Potrero Hill, Bayview Hunters Point and Visitacion Valley - it is said that the population will grow by 11 percent, adding some 7,500 new residents, by 2003. Our district is largely families and already has the
highest proportion of youth in the City. And another 1,500 young people will be added to the rolls in the next three years. The senior population is growing rapidly, too, with more than 2,000 more seniors expected in the same period of time.
In spite of the fact that our district has one of the highest rates of homeownership in town, yielding a vast wealth of property tax dollars, our parks, recreation facilities and open space in District 10 are in need of $68,000,000 in repairs and renovation for
the 32 existing sites. Coffman Pool, the clubhouse at Jackson Playground, Milton Meyer Recreation Center, Hunters Point Gym, Palega Recreation Center, Potrero Hill Recreation Center, and the Visitation Valley Playground clubhouse all need work. Substantial renovation is needed in Adam Rogers Park,
Campbell Rutland Park, Gilman Playground, Hilltop Park, Herz Playground, Kelloch Velasco Park, Little Hollywood Park and Louis Sutter Playground, McLaren Park, Selby and Palou Minipark, Visitation Valley Playground and Youngblood Coleman Playground. Yet it is only now that any of the work needed to be
done in these existing parks and playgrounds is being done.
With District 10 growing so rapidly, there’s no time to waste. The much needed work on our dilapidated park and recreation centers must be completed.
The 1998-99 park and open space assessment contains detailed findings and recommendations making it clear that much more than renovation is and will be needed to bring the public spaces in this long forgotten district into complete repair for maximum use. If our
parks and recreational facilities were up to par, then the wish we hear our children make most often would be granted. You’ve heard them. They say it all the time: “We have no place to go after school and on weekends.”
For their sake, we must insist that the City comply with the recommendations made in the study and complete the work quickly. Our children deserve clean, safe, well kept parks and recreation facilities where they can play, gather with their friends and grow strong
and healthy.
Jobs and job training
Jobs and job training is one of the most urgent needs in the Bayview Hunters Point community and District 10 as a whole. But in order to employ more of our people, local businesses must be doing well enough to need more help and they must look for that help in
their neighborhood.
Yet I know for a fact that right now our small businesses, contractors and start up businesses are not being given the support they need in order to create the jobs that will keep our young people from spending many more days unemployed. I also know that what is
being offered in some cases as job training is likely to do little or no good.
This must change. No more job training without a real job at the end!
And the training must reflect the job market and fit the jobs it is preparing people for. Too many of our young people are being trained for the same scarce jobs as the adults - in some cases, their own fathers and mothers. Others are being trained for jobs that
have a special need or component that is not being taught to our folks.
That kind of training will simply keep them unemployed and in need of other training. People are tired of the training merry-go-round. We must put a stop to it and bring back accountability.
A strong representative in City Hall, where the training funds come from, can keep us on track. I’ll see to it that our community will never be left behind again.
Community first
A strong community will join with their representatives and insist that any company that would do business with this City must hire first from the community in which it operates and then city-wide.
The same principle should be applied to the banks. Every bank in San Francisco must be able to demonstrate that it is reinvesting back into the neighborhoods the deposits that it drew from those neighborhoods. Or it will do no more business in that community
or this city.
After all, that is the law. And enforcing the will of the people is part of having a strong ecosystem. Safe and secure housing with a good and rich education should complete the sum of what it will take to bring things into harmony.
