On Tuesday, January 24, 2017, the San Francisco Foundation, in collaboration with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), hosted an information session on community benefit opportunities for local and national developers. The SFPUC is about to launch a citywide $8 billion sewer system improvement program (SSIP). The first step toward SSIP is the completion of a $2.9 billion renovation and retrofit of the Southeast Wastewater Treatment Plant in Bayview Hunters Point, a historically neglected San Francisco neighborhood.

Through the SFPUC's Community Benefits Program, all contractors applying for a project must demonstrate their commitment to partnering with the SFPUC and local community-based organizations. The goal is to create a significant, positive community impact in communities and neighborhoods throughout SFPUC's service area. The $2.9 billion renovation of the Southeast Wastewater Treatment Plant will result in approximately $9 million in community benefits over 10 years.

Most contractors submitting bids to the SFPUC for these projects have no local context to neighborhoods like Bayview Hunters Point. The SFPUC and the San Francisco Foundation have partnered to provide contractors with more information and resources to help them develop their strategies for impactful community empowerment opportunities.

During the information session, the San Francisco Foundation presented its regional equity strategy and direction the SFPUC's Community Benefits Program. The San Francisco Foundation led contractors through a brief history of Bayview Hunters Point and presented demographic information to give contractors more context about the affected area and the obstacles residents face. We have outlined our investment strategies in Bayview Hunters Point and provided examples of some of our key community partners in Bayview Hunters Point. We led the contractors through an in-depth discussion of community-based organizations in Bayview Hunters Point to help them shape their investment strategies.

All contractors appreciated the partnership between the SFPUC and the San Francisco Foundation and indicated that they had not seen this type of partnership when working with previous public agencies. Many participants were inspired to develop holistic strategies for their investments and asked to have the San Francisco Foundation as an ongoing resource.

The San Francisco Foundation and SFPUC will continue to work together to expand access to good jobs and career opportunities for San Franciscans in these impacted areas.

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James Keys hasn’t moved far from the spot on the street where, several months ago, he was living inside his 40-foot RV. In fact, that vehicle is still his home, and the south end of Bayview-Hunters Point is still his neighborhood.

On the street last year, Keys had to bury his waste, with no access to a bathroom or shower. Now, at the city site, he can use portable toilet, a shower trailer, two microwaves and a charging station for electronics. He gets two hot meals every day, and as of last week the city planned to send in more services, including case managers who can help place him into more permanent housing.

“It’s way better,” Keys told The Chronicle as he walked through the sanctioned parking site last week. “I’m giving them an A-plus.”

James Keys look out from his parked RV at the Bayview Vehicle Triage Center in San Francisco, California Thursday, March 3, 2022. Keys, 59, who previously lived in his RV with his brother and girlfriend along Hunters Point Expressway and subsequently at a temporary city-run RV site on Carroll Avenue after the atmospheric river event in November flooded much of the Expressway, initially resisted the move from the Carroll site but has since come around in support of the Triage Center and its support services despite being unable to use generators and open flames for warmth and cooking.

Stephen Lam / The Chronicle

Officials say about 50 households are living at San Francisco’s Bayview Vehicle Triage Center, the name for the sanctioned Candlestick Point parking site the city set up to address the growing ranks of people living inside RVs or cars. The site, operated by the nonprofit Urban Alchemy, is expected to grow to accommodate 130 households in the coming months.

San Francisco opened the Candlestick Point site in January and simultaneously shut down a nearby lot on Carroll Avenue where the city had let people living inside RVs set up temporarily. Officials had opened the Carroll lot as a short-term emergency location last year after a rainstorm led to flooding along Hunters Point Expressway, causing extensive damage to some of the vehicles parked there.

The city’s closure of the Carroll lot was met with strong resistance by some of its residents. They were deeply skeptical of the new Candlestick Point site, pointing to its limited electricity and rules banning propane tanks and generators, among other issues.

Propane tanks and generators remain disabled at the vehicle triage center. But Emily Cohen, a deputy director with the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, said the city is working to get electric utility service connected to the RVs.

RVs are seen parked inside Bayview Vehicle Triage Center at Candlestick Point State Recreation Area in San Francisco, California Thursday, March 3, 2022.

Stephen Lam / The Chronicle

“We want this to be better than being out on the street,” Cohen said. “This is hopefully a step on the pathway to people’s place somewhere more permanent.”

The site serves only a small portion of San Francisco’s vehicle dwellers. As of November, the city had tallied about 1,000 inhabited vehicles, with the largest concentration — about half of the total — residing in supervisory District 10, which includes Bayview-Hunters Point.

And as the city tried to set up the sanctioned parking site at Candlestick Point, it encountered opposition from residents concerned that it was trying to warehouse homeless people in one area. A local neighborhood group filed a lawsuit challenging the parking site and is now in settlement talks with the city.

Board of Supervisors President Shamann Walton, who represents District 10, said he’s been talking to constituents to hear their feedback about the Candlestick Point site and the number of inhabited vehicles in the area.

RVs are seen parked inside Bayview Vehicle Triage Center at Candlestick Point State Recreation Area in San Francisco, California Thursday, March 3, 2022.

Stephen Lam / The Chronicle

“Everyone was happy about changes to the expressway,” Walton said, referring to a lack of people parked on the street near the vehicle triage center. “There are still some concerns about folks who live in vehicles, but it’s not the same (level of) concern we saw a few months ago.”

Still, complaints from some neighbors persist. Timothy Alan Simon, who lives near the parking site, said its “extremely bright” nighttime lights have been a nuisance and inhabited RVs still populate many blocks in the area.

“The focus, understandably, is on the unhoused, but there seems to be no consideration for residents,” Simon said. “Based on our observation, the vehicle triage center has done nothing to reduce the unhoused RV population in the neighborhood streets themselves.”

The Candlestick Point site will be operational for at least two years, and San Francisco is looking into opening a second location for people who live in their vehicles.

Not everyone living at the current site is intent on staying. Marissa Magnusen, 50, told The Chronicle last week that she was considering leaving and finding somewhere else to park her RV while she tries to get into permanent housing.

“I don’t really like being told what to do all the time,” Magnusen said. “(But) it’s a nice program, I guess — for some people.”

JD Morris is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @thejdmorris

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San Francisco this week quietly opened a large sanctioned parking lot for homeless people and made dozens of Bayview spaces available for those living in RVs and cars.

Despite stiff opposition, including a lawsuit from some neighbors, the Vehicle Triage Center at Candlestick Point State Recreation Area welcomed residents Wednesday, marking the beginning of a two-year program designed to provide vehicle residents with a safe place to park, sleep, and connected to services being.

Ultimately, the site will have 130 parking spaces, but it’s starting at 57 while officials get the program up and running.

The vehicle center is part of an attempt to help the city’s skyrocketing population living in RVs and cars — a pressing problem in the southeastern part of San Francisco, which has by far the largest number of inhabited vehicles in the city.

While many homeless people and their advocates agree that a large licensed parking lot is badly needed, some people the space is intended to serve have resisted moving there from a nearby property on Carroll Avenue. They told The Chronicle on Wednesday they didn’t want to go to the new location because, among other things, it has limited electricity and banned propane tanks and generators.

“That pretty much makes your RV a storage unit,” said BA Anderson, who has lived on the Carroll Avenue property since the city designated it as an emergency parking lot late last year. “No one would say, ‘I’ll rent you this house, but you can’t cook.’ Treat people like people.”

Anderson emailed city officials a list of demands Wednesday, asking for immediate access to electricity, heating, hot and cold running water, mechanic help and more.

He included photos of a few dozen signatures that he said were from people who lived in vehicles and organized themselves into a tenants’ alliance.

Neither the city nor its contractors would allow The Chronicle on the Carroll lot or the new location. But Emily Cohen, an assistant director for the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, said officials had received the list of demands and were trying to respond.

“We’re definitely always interested in hearing from the clients on our programs,” said Cohen. “We want to make these programs as accessible, welcoming and dignified as possible.”

The city didn’t plan to address every complaint. Individual propane tanks and generators aren’t allowed because they pose a fire hazard, Cohen said. But the city tried to solve other problems, such as insufficient electricity supply.

“There are long-term plans for the power supply, but it’s going to take a while to get it up and running, so we’re working on an interim solution,” Cohen said. “There is currently limited power capacity available.”

The new site, which the city spends $2.8 million a year to operate, has running water, officials said.

City officials established the Carroll lot as a short-term emergency parking lot more than two months ago after a rainstorm caused flooding along the Hunters Point Expressway, where scores of people lived in vehicles. Some of the vehicles – and the belongings of the people inside – were badly damaged.

Officials say they only have access to the Carroll property until the end of the month, so they’re trying to get everyone to the new location as soon as possible.

As of Thursday noon, 17 households living in 15 RVs and two cars had moved from the Carroll property to the new vehicle center, according to Cohen. About 25 mobile homes and 42 cars remained.

Some homeowners involved in a local neighborhood group have filed a lawsuit against the secure parking lot, but its opening has not been delayed. Yet neighbors continue to resist what they see as an attempt to shelter the homeless in a corner of town.

“We shouldn’t be burdened with the uneven burden of housing these people,” said Shirley Moore, a longtime resident who lives in a house near the RV site. “If you’re going to let them park on our streets, let them park on the streets in every community throughout San Francisco and don’t focus them on our area.” It’s about balance.”

City officials point to the high concentration of people living in RVs and cars as justification for opening a large center to cater to them.

Regulatory District 10, which includes Bayview-Hunters Point, had more than 500 occupied vehicles in November — up from about 300 in April 2019, city data said. District 10’s latest count was far higher than that of the next most concentrated area, District 7, which had about 150 inhabited vehicles in November.

“The one common denominator that we can all agree on is that we have a lot of people living in vehicles in District 10,” said Supervisor Shamann Walton, who represents the area. “My job is to make sure we are responsive to the needs of the community and also to the needs of people who are not housed in vehicles or on the road. You can do both.”

About 20 vehicle residents gathered outside the Carroll property Wednesday afternoon to discuss the next step. Several said cooking and generator restrictions were one of the main reasons they didn’t want to move to the new location. Local residents also worried about whether the site would have enough water and electricity.

“They make it really impossible for people to be there,” said Cynthia Keener, 57.

She said she uses a nebulizer twice a day because she has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, and she doesn’t think the new property has enough infrastructure to accommodate her needs. She wondered if it wouldn’t be better to park her vehicle back on the street instead of driving to the sanctioned Candlestick Point lot.

Sonya Rekula-Talone, 54, said she and her husband had their own generator powering their vehicle, which was parked in the Carroll parking lot, on Wednesday. Her husband uses a walker and she works night shifts, so she was very concerned about the ban on generators at the new location.

“I will not leave my husband alone in the dark when he can barely walk,” she said.

Anderson, meanwhile, said that as of Thursday, some residents of the Carroll property were determined not to go to the new site until their demands were met, and he continued to lobby them.

“You don’t want to go anywhere where the situation is worse than here,” he said.

JD Morris is a contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thejdmorris

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Tiffany Carter grew up on foods grown in her grandmother’s garden. Plums, lemons, and apples fell from branches and practically landed on her plate. Crispy kale, harvested from the same garden, was a staple food.

But Carter’s childhood is not the norm in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco, where she grew up. Today, most residents don’t even have access to a well-stocked grocery store, let alone a backyard garden.

“It definitely has an impact on your psyche,” she said of the lack of food. “San Francisco is known as the Food City. People literally come from all over the world to eat here, but they don’t come to Bayview. “

Eating desert

The United States Department of Agriculture defines a “food wasteland” as a “low-income census district in which a significant proportion of the population does not have easy access to a supermarket or large grocery store.”

By that definition, the vast majority of zip code 94124 – which includes Bayview-Hunters Point – is qualified.

There are only two major grocery stores in the Bayview neighborhood – Grocery Outlet and Foods Co. – but none of these stores meet the needs of the community, especially when it comes to fresh produce and a range of ingredient options.

Local residents have gathered for a permanent solution for years, but many of the more upscale brands have poked fun at the idea of ​​invading the neighborhood. Others have come and gone. Fresh and Easy was closed in 2013. Duc Loi’s Pantry was closed in 2019.

“We were a food wasteland and people outside of Bayview were okay with that,” said supervisor Shamann Walton, who represents the neighborhood. “Things are changing, but only because we focus on creating more food security.”

The result is widespread food insecurity, or uncertainty about how to get enough nutrition to maintain a healthy diet. Instead, people turn to mom and pop stores and gas stations, where the shelves are lined with processed produce, or they eschew eating enough altogether.

“Anyone who thinks (food security) is an abstract concept is privileged to have these things already,” said LySlynn Lacoste, executive director of the community organization BMAGIC. “I think what families fight for is just the bare essentials, the bare minimum, so that they can have what others take for granted.”

Carter, who tries to combine her grandmother’s cuisine with fresh produce at her Boug Cali pop-up restaurant, hopes to change people’s perception of what is possible for the Bayview and the people who live there.

“We didn’t know anything about farmers’ markets and other options,” she said of much of her childhood. “I had to leave my church and see other things in different neighborhoods. We want whole foods here. “

There’s a straight line between the health risks Bayview residents face and the lack of healthy food nearby.

According to the 2019 Community Needs Assessment, a triennial report issued by the San Francisco Department of Health, inadequate diet and lack of physical activity contribute to nine of the top 15 causes of premature death in San Francisco: heart failure, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, prostate cancer , Colon cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, breast cancer and lung cancer.

The zip code 94124 has consistently had some of the worst health indicators compared to other citywide. Residents here are more likely to have cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and the area has one of the highest rates of avoidable emergency rooms and obesity in San Francisco.

“People have said it was genetics and poverty, which means it was the blacks’ fault,” said Michelle Pierce, executive director of Bayview-Hunters Point Community Advocates, a local nonprofit. “However, we still have the same health results. That said, it’s not a genetic thing. There are environmental pressures that need to be addressed. “

Lawyers, community leaders and elected officials point out a number of measures to improve access to food in Bayview and, consequently, improve the health of residents.

Helping each other

Bayview-Hunters Point was devastated by the pandemic. On November 11, it had by far the highest case rate of any neighborhood in The City: 1,377 confirmed positive cases per 10,000 residents, according to DPH data. The closest is the tenderloin with 970 cases per 10,000 inhabitants.

The neighborhood demonstrated the power of mutual aid among parishioners. Almost immediately, pop-up grocery banks and senior home delivery services sprang up, and community institutions like the Bayview Opera House and the YMCA stepped up service delivery and support.

They provided all kinds of help, but these groups had one thing in common: the power of established relationships.

Brittney Doyle was already running WISE Health, a public health organization providing advice and projects in underserved communities, when the pandemic broke out. She was able to start home delivery of groceries the same day the on-site lodging issue came into effect, an achievement she attributes to existing trust and knowledge of how to deliver groceries that the People actually eat.

“I know the participants and their families, and I have an insight into what the community really needs,” she said. “With this established relationship, I was able to redirect my business very quickly and identify needs.”

The city has provided funding and other support to grassroots food security groups. However, a December 2020 report from the COVID-19 Command Center, which led much of the emergency response in San Francisco, found that coordination between local government, existing organizations that can deliver large-scale food, and these grassroots groups should be improved .

“While this coordination is on an ad hoc basis, it is necessary to develop a sustainable strategy for coordinating these partnerships to ensure that fear or suspicion is not a barrier for individuals in need of access to food aid programs,” it says.

“Market to strengthen food”

Grocery banks and other delivery models are essential for now, but the ultimate goal of many community members is that Bayview residents have the right to choose their own food.

“The chalkboard is your Whole Foods. The blackboard is your safeway, ”said Frommer. “It is wonderful that it is available, but there is no choice.”

Enter the Food Empowerment Market, a place where people can pick up the food they want either at a discounted price or for free. Buyers could choose their own ingredients, and they would also have access to a communal kitchen or delivery service for the elderly and people with reduced mobility.

The idea grew out of a law introduced by District 11 Supervisor Ahsha Safai, which is allocating $ 1.5 million from the Human Services Agency to the project. It would be run by a local non-profit and take the physical space of the now-shattered Duc Loi’s Pantry on Third Street.

Walton endorses the idea, saying it would provide residents with unprecedented healthy choices, and he hopes the city will stand behind any deal that is struck between the current owners of the empty space and the Human Services Agency.

Focus on seniors and families

Food insecurity is twice as likely to affect Latinos and black seniors in San Francisco, according to the city’s COVID-19 Command Center report. Many of them live in Bayview-Hunters Point and have historically had low enrollment rates for distribution and grocery delivery programs, making them difficult to reach.

Families experience the risks of living in a food desert early and intensely.

Nearly 27% of pregnant Latina mothers and 20% of black mothers in San Francisco don’t know where their next healthy meal is coming from. Children from the same families are also most likely to consume fast food than their white peers.

“We see children come to the centers hungry,” said Gina Frommer, CEO of the San Francisco Children’s Council. “Children who are hungry don’t learn. Children who are hungry are angry. “

All efforts to address food insecurity should focus on seniors and families, two groups particularly vulnerable to food insecurity, say proponents and officials. Not only does this contribute to healthier communities, it also begins on the path to ensuring equal opportunities and access for all residents.

“That wouldn’t happen to white kids in San Francisco,” Frommer said.

cgraf@sfexaminer.com

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Where should those whose only home are on wheels be accommodated? There are growing concerns among some residents of the Bayview-Candlestick Point neighborhood.

Local residents said their community has been overrun with recreational vehicles and people who live in cars – and now the city wants to make them permanent.

A number of RVs and cars used as homes can be seen throughout the Hunters Point Expressway.

“These unhappy brothers and sisters currently facing economic disaster is a problem for the city and county of San Francisco,” said Anthony Alan Simon, a San Francisco resident. “It’s not a Bayview problem.”

During the pandemic, people lost their jobs and the number of uninhabited populations skyrocketed. But neighbors said the problems increase as more RVs move in.

A local resident reports a pile of medical waste and needles that he has to walk through in the neighborhood.

Local residents said there were real concerns about conditions with generators running all night, propane tanks, landfills and trash. Now, neighbors are concerned about a proposal for a vehicle triage center or secure parking lot with 150 spaces at Candlestick Point State Recreation Area in a challenging community.

“Until we have rebuilt Candlestick and the issues listed above are not resolved, we will not be able to organize or organize a vehicle triage center in the Bayview ward,” said Cynthia Bell of San Francisco.

San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Shamman Walton, who represents District 10, said the proposal addresses the reality of the situation with so many people living in vehicles.

“We’re not going to move people in the middle of a pandemic and send them back onto the streets. What we’re suggesting is a vehicle triage site, ”said Walton.

Walton added that the site would have restrooms and plumbing, 24/7 security, and janitorial services. The proposed triage site would also work with organizations that connect people to homes, according to Walton.

The goal? “Do all we can to get people back on track where they don’t have to live in vehicles,” said Walton.

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The Board of Directors of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency on Tuesday approved a new series of Slow Streets, all of which fall in neighborhoods that did not have any of the partially car-free corridors to date during the pandemic.

However, a vote on four of the nine new streets that needed to be approved was postponed after agency staff asked for an additional four weeks to respond to community calls for deeper engagement and greater contact with residents on planned closings respond at Bayview-Hunters Point.

Tom Maguire, Street Director at SFMTA, described the “key tension” the agency faces in implementing transformative changes like Slow Streets as a choice between acting quickly to achieve its goals and moving more carefully.

“We know that if we are to do any substantial, community-led work, we must pay special attention to how deep our reach is in it,” Maguire said at the board meeting on Tuesday.

Back in November, the SFMTA touted its outreach plan for this fourth wave of slow streets, which aims to provide urgently needed open spaces and mobility access to “historically underserved” districts that historically have often only been told by the public to agencies about what is happening to their communities instead of being involved in the decision-making process.

Over a period of about a month, the SFMTA concentrated its reach on 10 districts.

It sent direct mail home, hosted four virtual events and three neighborhood events, posted flyers along the suggested corridors, and distributed neighborhood-specific surveys that yielded 1,278 responses.

But Shamann Walton, the manager who represents Bayview-Hunters Point, said the agency fell short in his district when he asked for a list of community groups and residents with whom the SFMTA had worked to conduct effective public relations he said the agency could not provide details.

“People always want to play a role in the discussion about what is happening to their neighborhoods,” he said. “At the very least, MTA should be able to tell who they met and who they reached. They haven’t made it yet. “

Erica Kato informed the auditor that in addition to the above efforts, the agency provided feedback from the Bayview Hills Neighborhood Association on January 6th to the Bayview Citizen Advisory Committee and the Bayview Hills Neighborhood Association on February 1st, soliciting them and hosting four virtual office hours .

She also said the staff discussed Slow Streets with “community group representatives,” but did not provide any additional information about who they were or who they represented.

Walton urged the transit agency to think beyond online reach, a tool that fails to reach many of its constituents and that is gathering responses from a limited segment of the city’s broader population, and instead consider diversifying contact methods.

In a sort of mea culpa, the SFMTA admitted that it could have done more to adjust its approach to Bayview, for example, but also stressed the challenges of face-to-face interaction during this time.

Maguire said the agency recognized that the “cookie cutter view” of online and virtual workshops is not working effectively, and going forward, SFMTA would not simply assume that the tools that work elsewhere are the answers there too .

“We want to acknowledge the fact that we have been asked to do more,” he said of the need for a four-week delay before voting on the four Bayview-specific proposals for the Slow Street Corridor.

Delaying the vote on approval should not delay implementation. Due to the ongoing shortage of materials in the construction of the demarcations and barricades that signal a slow road, all new rollouts will be suspended for at least a few weeks.

The Board almost delayed the vote on the entire fourth wave of Slow Streets at the recommendation of staff, but after violent testimony during public comments calling for action, it decided to separate the five corridors in higher density neighborhoods, in those who had not been raised with the same concerns about reach and move forward with them.

Local residents and supporters of SoMa’s road safety were particularly strong in public comments and expressed their “complete disappointment” with the idea of ​​further delays. Many of them have been calling for a car-free corridor since the start of the Slow Streets program in April 2020.

“SoMa has very fast traffic, it is dangerous for pedestrians and there is tremendous support for slow streets in the neighborhood,” said supervisor Matt Haney, reiterating her frustration. Residents have asked, fought and asked for SFMTA to create slow roads in SoMa and throughout District 6. We cannot accept any further delays. “

With board approval, implementation will begin as soon as materials become available, which the SFMTA is expected to conduct in the spring of this year.

cgraf@sfexaminer.com

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The post SFMTA delays vote on Bayview Gradual Streets, approves 5 others in ‘underserved’ areas – The San Francisco Examiner appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Built in 1910, this home has been taken down to the tunnels and completely renovated with all new plumbing, electrical, roof, floor and surface fixings.

Upon entering you have an open living and dining room with an eat-in kitchen; Equipped with new cabinets, a large center island with vegetable sink and all new quartz countertops.

Down the hall are two spacious bedrooms and a lovely bathroom.

The completion of the house is a quiet garden perfect for barbecues and entertainment.