Mission Improvement Plan Meeting

MINUTES OF THE MEETING:

The IMNA met with community leaders and city representatives. The four areas of concern that community leaders voiced are the following:

1. Graffiti abatement;
2. Enforce crime in the Mission: SFPD to work with BART police to enforce crime at  plazas where illegal fencing continues to be a problem.  Reinstate the Nuisance Form to give neighborhoods the tools to control petty crime and chronic nuisances (Since the meeting, we have seen some improvements at the BART plazas);
3. Expedite neighborhood improvement projects such as landscaping, trees, and murals;
4. Streamline processes to make it easier to open businesses and create incentives for businesses in the Mission to stay.

Here are neighbors’ and community leaders’ concerns:

Samir Kandoth: Clean Horace Alley with street sweepers; expedite tree planting; educate day workers and others to not litter. "Children need to feel safe and comfortable on our streets."

Ryen Motzek: Wants to see more law enforcement at the BART plazas: street vendors are are being hijacked by criminals and the open air drug markets and the selling of fentanyl at the plazas are creating conditions that put our essential businesses at risk and are killing people. He wants the City to provide treatment on demand and more detox facilities.

Lyn Werbach: Lack of coordination in City departments leads to dysfunction; wants a strong graffiti abatement program in the Mission: "businesses, especially mom and pop stores are buckling from economic toll of dealing with graffiti and taggers are coming from all over San Francisco and beyond because of lack of enforcement." She wants to form a stakeholder group with residents and City agencies to address graffiti and offered to form a partnership with the SFPD, DPW, and District 9 Supervisor to work together to address graffiti.

John Loshuertos:  Concerned with the rapidity of businesses shuttering and the resulting blight, graffiti, and unsafe conditions; would like more community involvement in building projects; concerned by fires started by encampments that have set up close to buildings, for example, a building at 2874-76 16th St, next to the old Rolling Stock Tire (16th/Shotwell) store that burnt down in 2016 and has been an eyesore and a drug magnet for the past 7 years.

Joyce Ferman: Wants problems at Jose Coronado Playground addressed: men regularly loiter, drink, and blare loud music; drug use and prostitution persist; 311 tickets close without results and are not designed to address chronic long-term nuisances and petty crimes. IMNA would like to have the Nuisance Form reinstated to allow neighborhoods to address above issues.

Barbara Dwyer:  Noted that the general public are calling for laws to be enforced to restore basic quality of life and cleanliness. Concerned that Supervisor Ronen, in a recent interview, reiterated her intent to open a drug consumption site in spite of neighbors’ objection. "The City has let itself be hijacked by a small percentage of people who are making life miserable for those of us who live, work, and raise kids in San Francisco."

Another audience member described difficulty in opening her wine bar business in the Mission. The IMNA would like to see the application process streamlined to help small businesses to take root and to create incentives so that businesses stay in the Mission.

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The IMNA and community leaders will follow up with the same agencies in July or August to allow them a platform to present a consolidated plan to address the above four issues.