450 O’Farrell: Housing Excludes Kids

Chinatown and Tenderloin Group Housing Ban Needed For Kids

On February 10 the San Francisco Planning Commission considers legislation to ban new group housing in the Tenderloin and Chinatown. Group housing requires no private kitchens or bedrooms, and does not serve either community’s acute shortage of housing for families with children.

The Planning Department backs the measure. It comes at a pivotal time.

Both neighborhoods face threats from developers eager to build a type of housing that fails to meet community needs. Two recent group housing projects proposed for the Tenderloin (468 Turk and 450 O’Farrell) exposed the rising risk that the neighborhood’s scarce number of potential housing sites will be denied to families with kids.

Many families live in overcrowded units. They desperately need the larger homes that the historic construction of both Chinatown and the Tenderloin failed to provide.

Urgent Need For Kid-Friendly Homes

450 O’Farrell was alarming because the group housing replaced a community-backed market rate family housing project approved in December 2018. Many saw the sudden shift to an anti-kids housing model as a developer money grab that betrayed the neighborhood’s urgent family housing needs (“group housing” currently lacks full private kitchens and has no bedrooms).

The new 450 O’Farrell developer is already building two large group housing projects in the Tenderloin—unless stopped, the Marin developer will acquire site after site for group housing because that’s all they build.

Fortunately, the Board of Supervisors voted 11-0 in favor of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic’s appeal of the 450 O’Farrell conditional use. The Board’s unanimous rejection speaks volumes. It’s a bad project.

Yet the battle to preserve the site for kid-friendly housing is not over. Sonja Trauss’ YIMBY Law has sued the Board and THC over this project. Some Yimbys are publicly attacking D6 Supervisor Haney for opposing the anti-kids housing proposal, believing that they know better than Tenderloin residents what the community needs.

Haney has gotten more heat for voting with his constituents and as part of an unanimous 11-0 Board vote against 450 O’Farrell than on any vote during his entire tenure— sad how some so-called housing “advocates” ignore the housing needs of those living in the Tenderloin.

Group housing may pose an even greater risk in Chinatown. It needs housing for kids but its a prime market for housing designed to serve single adults working downtown. Banning group housing in Chinatown will encourage group housing in downtown and other neighborhoods where such housing serves a need; the ban is a win-win for San Francisco.

The Chinatown-Tenderloin Connection

The Tenderloin-Chinatown connection goes back over 40 years. Both are dominated by SRO hotels.

These two neighborhoods led efforts to pass the city’s historic 1981 Residential Hotel Conversion Ordinance (ie the HCO). The struggles over SROs in the early 80’s is how I got to know the housing attorney for the Asian Law Caucus, a man named Ed Lee. CCDC joined tenderloin groups in passing a strengthened HCO in 1990; the measure effectively saved SRO hotels citywide.

At THC I used to hear regularly from Chinatown and North Beach tenants about problems. After I notified CCDC founder and longtime leader Gordon Chin about problems at the Tower and Swiss American Hotels in North Beach, CCDC soon bought both properties.

That’s the type of connection the Tenderloin and Chinatown have long had. And it got stronger when Tenderloin activists pushed CCDC to come to the Tenderloin.

This happened in 1983 when developer Art Evans asked the North of Market Planning Coalition which nonprofit he should partner with for proposed family housing at 201 Turk (long the Yellow Cab Garage). We all said CCDC (TNDC was not doing development then). 201 Turk became a model for the type of kid-friendly affordable housing the Tenderloin and Chinatown both need. Nonprofits in both neighborhoods have long prioritized building new family housing—all while also acquiring affordable historic SRO hotels

A Pro-Housing Measure

Some believe that San Francisco’s housing shortage is so extreme that anything built is better than nothing. But that’s wrong. When the Tenderloin and Chinatown have ample housing for single adults and an acute shortage of housing for families with kids, using scarce land for housing that bans the latter is destructive.

That’s why activists in Chinatown and the Tenderloin urged Supervisor Aaron Peskin to sponsor a group housing ban for both neighborhoods. He and staffer Sunny Angulo have worked closely with residents in both neighborhoods in drafting the legislation and moving it forward. We want to get the ban in place before future group housing is proposed.

The San Francisco Democratic Party has endorsed the legislation. Special thanks to Peter Gallota for leading the effort to get the resolution of support approved.

The Planning Commission should approve the measure on February 10. And Board passage should follow.

This group housing ban will shift potential projects to neighborhoods where it is actually needed. And by using space in the Tenderloin and Chinatown for housing families with kids rather than single adults, the ban expands the number of people who will be housed in both neighborhoods.

Expanding kid-friendly housing in both neighborhoods via a group housing ban is the “pro-housing” position.

Randy Shaw

Randy Shaw is the Editor of Beyond Chron and the Director of San Francisco’s Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which publishes Beyond Chron. Shaw’s latest book is Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America. He is the author of four prior books on activism, including The Activist’s Handbook: Winning Social Change in the 21st Century, and Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century. He is also the author of The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco

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The post Will San Francisco Defend Child-Pleasant Housing? appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

SAN JOSE (KPIX) – In the 12 days since the COVID-19 vaccine was approved for children ages 5-11, Santa Clara County has given nearly 34,000 doses, representing 20% ​​of the age group. After such a strong start, health officials don’t want to lose momentum.

“I think we did pretty well, 20% in two weeks,” said Dr. Marty Windowsheib, Santa Clara County Vaccine Officer.

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The progress report comes as the county unveiled kid-friendly jungle-themed decorations during its mass vaccination at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds.

Funded by the Valley Medical Center Foundation with private donations, a team of designers and event professionals turned into a jungle with inviting colors, animals, rainforest-like trees and lots of games, colors, scavenger hunts, fidgets and other small toys.

The foundation raised approximately $ 250,000 from Bloom Energy, the Bloom Energy Stars and Strides Run, and tech executive and philanthropist Godfrey Sullivan.

Camie Vankeuren, chief development officer at the Valley Medical Center Foundation, said some of the funds will also be used for training and liaising with parents. The jungle decorations were designed to distract the kids from the needles and create a positive experience that encourages other families to join in.

“We really wanted that feeling when they came in, the distraction. So they didn’t see the tables. They did not see the red buckets that the needles were put into. They just saw the fun interactions, ”said Vankeuren.

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The county’s new jungle theme is being introduced as coronavirus cases in South Bay are trending upwards and have been rising steadily since Halloween. On Monday, the rolling 7-day average was 176. For comparison: the number of cases at the beginning of October was in the lower range of 130.

“Our cases declined at the end of that delta rise in September. But now they are flattened and only rise very slightly. So we keep an eye on whether we are vaccinated because of this, ”says Fenstersheib.

Dr. Robert Wachter, chairman of UCSF’s medical department, said the unvaccinated not only prolong the pandemic, but also create a new normal.

“I think we’re in a strange place where we may see a version of our future,” said Wachter. “More people will be infected, more people will die than it should be. But I think where we have to accept reality, we probably won’t get that much better than we are now. “

In October, Santa Clara County made a joint announcement with several other Bay Area counties to relax interior mask orders if the following guidelines were followed:

• the county must be in the yellow level for three weeks
• According to the health officer, COVID hospital admissions are “low and stable”
• 80% of the total population of the district must be fully vaccinated, or
• It has been 8 weeks since the vaccine was approved for 5-11 year olds

In Santa Clara County, it is estimated that 55% of 5-11 year olds must be vaccinated in order for the county to meet the 80% vaccination threshold for the general population.

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“At this point, we are still reviewing these guidelines, especially with a winter season in mind that we may see a slight increase. So now is not the time to let our vigilance down. Let’s get through the holidays. Let’s see how we do in the next few months, ”said Fensterseib.

The post South Bay Vaccination Middle Will get Child-Pleasant Jungle Theme Makeover – CBS San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.