All my letters to Hillary Ronen, Et. Al., go unanswered. However, when two of my neighbors re-sent my letters, they were answered immediately!!! Here is a correspondence from Santiago, Hillary Ronen's assistant, to a friend who posted my letter. It is in regards to the current encampment at 26th and Shotwell. I have been alerting Ronen to the infractions going on with this encampment like covering up the fire hydrant, stealing pg&e signs to block street parking, and stealing people's trash bins. Note: another friend who got a phone response to this encampment was told by Santiago to "bug 311." As we all know, that is a failing strategy.
Here it is my third party correspondence with Santiago:
LETTER FROM SANTIAGO ON JANUARY 11 IN RESPONSE TO ENCAMPMENTS IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD Lerma, Santiago (BOS) 4:00 PM January 11
Dear Hi Aisling, (I blocked out neighbors name for her privacy) I hope you are well and thank you for the email. I have spoken with the Safe Sleep site and these folks sleeping on Shotwell are not from the safe sleep site, but the city did promise the neighbors we would keep the area clear. I will call HSOC and the homeless department and continue to push them to resolve this encampment right now. Also to be clear the Board of Supervisors does not determine the details or rules of the Health Order. This is the job of the Chief Health Officer and the Mayor. The Board may vote up or down on the Health Order but does not have the authority to decide what the Health Order says. Further there are not district by district rules on homelessness or obstructing the sidewalks, but certainly some districts do have more severe issues than others. There are several city departments charged with finding people housing, keeping them healthy and cleaning the street. I have engaged all of these departments to prioritize Shotwell and the surrounding areas. I will continue to press them until the site is resolved. Thank you. Santiago Lerma J.D. Legislative Aide Office of Supervisor Ronen District 9
Dear Santiago,
MY LETTER IN RESPONSE:
Dear Santiago,
In response to your letter to Aisling stating that the Shotwell and 26th encampment was not generated by the Safe Sleeping Area, I have actually talked with the occupants at the 26th and Shotwell encampment. The woman, I believe she is nick-named Shorty, in this encampment was kicked out of the Safe Sleeping area according to her and her friend, Rick. Her boyfriend, at the time I talked with them, was still in the SSA. Between her and her boyfriend, they have two dogs. The dogs may be the reason Shorty is not in the SSA. I am not sure if the boy friend is still there or not at this point.
The situation in front of our homes is unacceptable. The enormous and entrenched encampments that have persisted for years in our neighborhood present a clear and harm to us and our community. If there is an imbalance in how these encampments are distributed it is our representatives responsibility to remedy that. When it comes to these encampments, the city professes no agency in their creation or existence .Yet, in a two block radius, I count at least four encampments. So whose responsibility is it if not Hillary Ronen, the mayor, and Board of Supervisors? Whose policy is it that has created out-of-control and persistent encampments in our community since 2017? I can assure you, it is not the Health Department.
There are clear guidelines on the San Francisco government website for where encampments can be set up: https://sfdem.org/safe-sleeping-guidance. Can you please explain to me why this is not enforced, yet the 'recommendation' not to move encampments is (and 'recommendations' is a key word here)? Clearly, our supervisors, mayors, and city agencies have to balance the harm to communities with that of people who chose to use our public sidewalks as living spaces. Right now, the people in our community are treated as if we don't exist. Furthermore, our sidewalks are treated like they're the property of the Coalition for the Homeless to do with what they want. For our community, that means people can come into our neighborhoods and set up encampments anywhere they want and do anything on the sidewalks that they want with impunity.
Supervisor Ronen does have a responsibility to keep our neighborhood free of encampments considering they are a result of her anti-housing policies that left the 1515 South Van Ness property a blighted and empty lot that she has used as Navigation Centers and, recently, a Safe Sleeping Areas. (Please see my letters from 2017 to the present-- they are just a fraction of letters I've written over these years and I intend to put all of them up.)
I realize that Ronen and her office have black-listed me for speaking the truth without using Orweilian party-line speak. I apologize for being outspoken and harsh. This is not my true nature but I have been pushed to the brink and I am tired of years of failed policy that has negatively impacted my quality of life and health. I value my home, my neighborhood, and my community too much to sugar-coat the abuse this neighborhood has endured under David Campos and Hillary Ronen's failed tenures.
Sincerely,
Francesca Pastine
Ps: current encampments: South Van Ness and 26th; Shotwell and 26th; 25th and Shotwell; South Van Ness and 24th Street.
Encampment on 26th and Shotwell: It is now going on month 2 and counting that this encampment generated by the Safe Sleeping Area has been in front of our houses!
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