Tuesday, December 13, 2011
WE WON TODAY! One round left...
Friday, December 9, 2011
PLEASE help save Corbett Slope!
Hi All
This past Monday the Land Use committee voted unanimously to allow the transfer of the Corbett Slope back to DPW from the Dept of Real Estate. It seemed as though the rest of the process would be smooth sailing. But now, as I understand it, a large and outspoken contingent of affordable housing advocates has been aggressively lobbying the supervisors in advance of the hearing of the full board this Tuesday.
As you know, we have had numerous successful work days on the site so far, and have been looking forward to having steady access well into the future.
The goals are to have an accessible section for the neighborhood, as well as fruit and vegetable areas, native plant areas and a trail system thru the uppermost parts.
Now we really need your help!
This coming Tuesday, 12/13, the item will be discussed before the full Board of Supervisors. There will be no public comment, but if you'd like to attend, it will be at City Hall, Room 250. The hearing begins at 2PM but we're #35 on the agenda.
PLEASE write a short letter - BEFORE TUESDAY - (and include your address) stating that this wonderful open space needs to be preserved. Affordable housing is essential also, but virgin open space - what little remains in SF - should not be sacrificed. If we lose, the land WILL be sold, and market-rate housing will replace the mature trees.
If you would either send the letter to me, or send a copy to each of the Supervisors, it would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks very much for your help!
Gary
Here are the Board of Supervisors' contacts:
John Avalos
David Chiu
Malia Cohen
Mark Farrell
Eric Mar
Scott Wiener
David Campos
Carmen Chu
Sean Elsbernd
Jane Kim
Ross Mirkarimi
Monday, December 5, 2011
WE WON AT THE LAND USE HEARING!
Friday, December 2, 2011
CORB. SLOPE TRANSFER TO BE PROTESTED!
WRONG EMAIL ADDRESS
Thursday, December 1, 2011
CORBETT SLOPE HEARING THIS MONDAY!
Corbett Slope Hearing Coming Up!
Thursday, November 10, 2011
CORBETT SLOPE DAY SAT! + Crime Article
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
More information on crimes in Corbett Hts.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
MORE CRIME IN CORBETT HTS
Monday, November 7, 2011
Crime in Corbett Heights!
Thursday, November 3Serious Incidents17th and Temple Streets 11:10 PM Robbery A 46 year old Corona Heights
man was robbed at gunpoint as he walked home.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Notes from Corbett Heights meeting
Thursday, October 27, 2011
MEETING TONIGHT! & SLOPE NEWS
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Corbett Heights Meeting Thursday!
Friday, October 21, 2011
Corbett Slope Photos
Just thought I’d sent you these photos of the Slope. The first is from Scott Wiener’s newsletter.
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CORBETT HTS MEETING - NEXT THURS, 10/27
Thursday, October 13, 2011
CORBETT HEIGHTS MTG - THURS, OCT 27
- Progress at Corbett Slope;
- Traffic calming on 17th Street;
- New developments in our neighborhood and along the Market Street corridor;
- and SF Beautiful’s suit to prevent AT&T’s installation of utility boxes.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Workday on the Slope
Monday, October 3, 2011
CORBETT SLOPE WORKDAY THIS SAT!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
The Latest on AT&T
Associate
San Francisco Beautiful
100 Bush Street, Suite 1812
San Francisco, CA 94104
T. 415.421.2608 x13
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
CORBETT SLOPE - CLEANUP HAS BEGUN!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
17th St. Traffic Island!!!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
SATURDAY AT THE SLOPE POSTPONED!
Monday, August 8, 2011
CORBETT SLOPE COMMUNITY GARDEN
Monday, August 1, 2011
Flier for Mayoral Forum - With Corrected Date!
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
CORBETT HTS MEETING REMINDER
Thursday, July 21, 2011
CORBETT HEIGHTS MEETING - Next Thursday!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
CORBETT HEIGHTS - OTHER NEWS
IMPORTANT CORBETT HEIGHTS MEETING!
- Supervisor Scott Wiener will give us updates on District 8, so bring any questions you may have for him.
- David Chiu, President of the Board of Supervisors and Mayoral Candidate will discuss his vision for San Francisco
- Corbett Slope Community Garden - Successes & visions for the future.
- Redistricting - how it could impact Corbett Heights.
- A representative from SF Planning Dept.'s Historic Preservation Program will discuss the process of making Corbett Heights a historic district.
- Plus many updates on neighborhood projects.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Corbett Heights Updates
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Action Alert: Save our Public Realm
Day of Action to
Halt AT&T's Utility Box BlightLet your voice be heard
May 17, 2011
San Francisco Beautiful calls forPublic Rally in Support of EIRDespite environmental concerns, AT&T is pushing its plans to install 726 refrigerator-size, sound-emitting utility boxes on city sidewalks. The massive installation will proceed unless the Board of Supervisors votes to require an environmental impact report (EIR), scheduled for Tuesday, May 24.
To win this vote, we must counter AT&T's considerable lobbying pressure upon the Board. The neighborhood coalition, including San Francisco Beautiful, is holding a:
DAY OF ACTIONMonday, May 23 at NoonSteps of City Hall1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett PlaceSan Francisco, CA 94102
A noon press conference with community speakers will be followed by citizen lobbying to the offices of individual Supervisors. Everyone is encouraged to join this event and communicate with his or her Supervisor.
Support us by contacting these five key Supervisors:
554-5144 554-7450 554-7670 554-7630 554-6968
AT&T secured a blanket go-ahead for its massive "U-verse" installation, when the Planning Department granted a "categorical exemption" from an EIR.This exemption allows AT&T to disregard environmental impacts caused by the giant utility boxes that will litter our sidewalks. SFB and Planning Association for the Richmond (PAR) challenged that determination and filed an appeal with the Board of Supervisors. The number of community groups supporting the appeal for an EIR is growing, but so too is AT&T's considerable lobbying pressures upon the Board of Supervisors.
Normally required of any large scale project, an EIR would produce an objective and transparent analysis to measure the cumulative impact upon our neighborhoods. It would address the current AT&T plan, plus existing and anticipated additions to our streetscapes. Following protocols of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), an EIR should ensure efforts are made to mitigate or eliminate environmental impacts. An EIR should buttress enforcement of existing regulations that prevent the needless privatization of our public sidewalks.The Board of Supervisors first heard the appeal last month. During five hours of testimony, AT&T told the full Board of Supervisors reasons it was either unable or unwilling to comply with City regulations that require their boxes to be primarily placed underground or private property.
The need for an EIR became even more apparent when Supervisors questioned assumptions City departments had made in granting the categorical exemption. Some findings from last month's testimony:
- One Supervisor found it "hard to believe" that AT&T cannot maintain U-verse equipment on private property even though AT&T maintains infrastructure for its wireless network on private property.
- The Department of Public Works (DPW) relies almost entirely on information provided by AT&T rather than conducting its own review of alternatives to placing the boxes on our sidewalks.
- There are no metrics for determining the cumulative effect. The Planning Department stood by its claim that AT&T's proposed 726 utility boxes pose no cumulative effect to our environment, yet City departments cannot quantify the various structures already populating our sidewalks.
- Though the current AT&T plans are virtually the same as those submitted then withdrawn three years ago, U-verse boxes are as huge today as they were then.
AT&T is attempting to sidestep the more costly alternatives required under regulations signed by Mayor Ed Lee in 2005, when he was Director of the Department of Public Works. Those regulations state that, if not placed underground, utility boxes are to be placed on private property. This private-sector solution requires genuine, thorough efforts to contract property owners who are willing to lease space for Internet and cable equipment. These existing regulations state that street-level fixtures are a last resort only if the other two approaches prove technologically or economically infeasible.
In writing the 2005 regulations (and after extensive collaboration with San Francisco Beautiful, AT&T and others), Lee determined "...surface-mounted facilities in the public right-of-way will impede travel on public streets, inconvenience property owners, create visual blight, or otherwise incommode the use of the public rights-of-way by the public." As a matter of City policy, utility boxes are blight.
The same DPW order acknowledges the quick evolution of technology, requiring the City to conduct annual meetings to review the latest equipment and best practices that would mitigate utility box blight. The City has not held the required meetings in five years. An EIR would go far to make up for lost time and to help pierce the prevailing information vacuum.At the Supervisor's hearing, at least two potential undergrounding alternatives were mentioned and have since been outlined in a Bay Guardian article that tempers some of the U-verse marketing claims.
AT&T's 726 proposed utility boxes are four-feet high, four-feet wide, and over two feet deep. They would be flanked by vertical posts to prevent damage by vehicles. They emit a steady noise, the sound of, says AT&T, an electric toothbrush.Already intrusive, the utility boxes will be permanent graffiti magnets, obstacles to the visually impaired, and hazards to opening passenger car doors. Property values are jeopardized since a utility box certainly detracts from the "curb appeal" of one's house or commercial property.
Contrary to its ad slogan, AT&T seemingly refuses to "rethink possible." An EIR would force the opposite, and identify current, practical and equitable means to vastly reduce utility box blight. At the same time the City's high-tech infrastructure would expand - all in environmentally responsible ways that are possible today.
If there is to be progress, an EIR is a must.But your Supervisor must hear from you before next Tuesday's vote.
Supportive Neighborhood and
Community Groups (partial list):· Alamo Square Neighborhood Association· Cole Valley Improvement Association· Dogpatch Neighbors Association· Dolores Heights Improvement Club· Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association· The Forest Hill Association· Haight-Ashbury Improvement Association· Lake Street Residents Association· Liberty Hill Neighborhood Association· McKinley Square Community Association· Mission Dolores Neighborhood Assocition· Pacific Heights Residents Association· Planning Association for the Richmond· Potrero Boosters Neighborhood Association· San Francisco Tomorrow· Telegraph Hill Dwellers· Walk San Francisco· The Sierra Club
About San Francisco Beautiful
San Francisco Beautiful is a 501(c)(3) non-profit membership organization that works to assure that the city retains and enhances its unique and memorable sense of place, balance and diversity as a beautiful, livable, green and vibrant urban center.
San Francisco BeautifulJonathan GoldbergAssociatejonathan@sfbeautiful.org
415.421.2608 x13
Monday, May 2, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
CORBETT HEIGHTS MEETING - Thurs, April 28
ATT's Utility Box Blight
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Important meeting on Trader Joe's next Monday
From our Duboce Triangle neighbors:
You have probably heard about the Trader Joe's store which is proposed for the Market & Noe Center, in the space formerly occupied by Tower Records and Video. This proposed project has profound implications and would change our neighborhood—for better or worse (or probably both)—for decades to come. We want you and as many of our neighbors as possible to learn about the project, so that you can weigh in during the public process the project will go through.
The proposed Trader Joe's will be the main agenda item at our upcoming General Meeting on Monday, February 14, from 7 to 9 pm. Our meetings are held at CPMC Davies Hospital, Castro St. & Duboce Ave., in the Auditorium which is on Level "B". I know it's Valentine's Day, but I hope you'll consider attending. We'll have refreshments (including wine and chocolates) available for your enjoyment.
Trader Joe's will present their plans publicly for the first time, and DTNA will discuss our analysis of the project as we understand it, along with information on some of the ways the proposed store would impact our neighborhood. We believe that this project will have a greater impact on the Duboce Triangle than any other development project we have seen to date. If you live, work, or own property in this neighborhood, I strongly encourage you to come and be informed as to the benefits and impacts of this project.
Come at 7 pm to meet your neighbors and enjoy some refresments. The meeting agenda will begin at 7:30. The DTNA Board and I hope to see you there!
Very truly yours,
Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association
Monday, February 7, 2011
Fires in Corbett Heights
homes near San Francisco's Castro neighborhood early today was ignited
by rags used to varnish a deck, authorities said.
The fire that broke out at a home on the 300 block of Corbett Avenue
was spotted by two police officers shortly after 3 a.m. They roused
the residents and notified firefighters.
The blaze jumped to a home on the 1300 block of Clayton Street.
Firefighters put out the flames within 45 minutes, and no one was
hurt.
The fire started in rags that were being used to varnish the deck of
the Corbett Avenue home, authorities said.
The blaze does not appear to be related to four arson fires that broke
out within a 24-hour period in the Castro last week. The fire was in a
hillside neighborhood west of the Castro and north of Twin Peaks.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Castro Neighborhood Arsons
From: SFPDParkStation@sfgov.org
Date: February 3, 2011 5:10:49 PM PST
Subject: Castro Neighborhood Arsons
the neighborhood of 16th and Market Streets. Park Station officers investigated two fires at 2155-15th Street and
3620-16th Street. Mission Station officers investigated a third fire at 17th and Hartford
Streets. The San Francisco Fire Department Arson Task Force is actively
investigating these fires. Inspector Jeffrey Levin is the Police Department investigator in these
cases. Inspector Levin can be reached at (415) 553-1133 during business
hours or at (415) 553-1071 after business hours. Park Station and Mission Station are increasing their patrols in the
neighborhood and conducting a joint operation to address these fires. Please report any suspicious activity immediately to 911. Please call the SFPD Anonymous Tip Line at (415) 575-4444 if necessary. Denis F. O'Leary
Captain - Park Station
Denis.O'Leary@sfgov.org
415.242.3026
Friday, January 28, 2011
Regarding the Corbett Slope
Relative to the news of a Corbett Slope cleanup:
Using the 341 Corbett space as a community garden would be wonderful! Little anecdote - when I first moved to 311 Corbett, in 1978, the neighborhood was heavily populated with little old ladies, some of whom used that space as a community garden. I once asked one of the women if I could have some space, and she looked at me suspiciously and said, "I don't know, sonny, you don't look like the type that would keep it up!" And she was probably right. She may have been the same lady that came up to me and my son and a friend of his in 1979, when we were playing frisbee at Corbett and Mars, and told us, "We don't play frisbee on Corbett!" I was so taken aback that I actually stopped. from the desk of
Marv Lehrman
Corbett Slope
With the renewed interest at City Hall in preserving green spaces, and with growing food locally, organizations like KitchenGardenSF have formed. I've been discussing the possibility of collaborating with them and with members of the SF Permaculture Guild on a project at the Corbett Slope. They work with students who design and implement a plan for a particular green space. Neighbors are, at all times, included in the planning, and possibly the implementation as well. The first step would be to clear out the site - hooray! So you will probably see some students scoping out the site and working to eliminate the weeds and other undesirables.
I've already spoken with one of the chiefs at the Mayor's Office of Housing. She was very optimistic that, after a proposal is submitted, we will get permission to proceed. If you're interested in being involved, please let me know. I'm meeting with them this afternoon at 3:30.
More details to follow!
Gary