A MISSION NEIGHBORHOOD IN CRISIS AND A POLITICAL CLASS THAT COULD GIVE A DAMN
Nov 27, 2020, 1:46 PM
Dear Supervisor Hillary Ronen, et. al. These pictures are of my walk on Thanksgiving day to Bernal Heights; they were taken between Shotwell and Folsom Street with a shallow dip into Horace Ally. Once I crossed Cezar Chavez into the Precita area, I walked along the South Side of Precita Park to Harrison Street then up to Bernal Park. It was a stark picture of how you and the Mayor consider neighborhoods in terms of class and race. The south side of Cesar Chavez is pristine. No encampments, no outdoor sinks or porta potties that attract people living in streets and campers, and no trash. (Below the photos taken on Thanksgiving day, are photos that I took this morning, the day after Thanksgiving). I have been complaining for years that this neighborhood has been deteriorating. There is more trashnd now since January, more people squatting on our sidewalks. Your policies are the main reason for this crisis. I have begged you for years to do something about the overwhelming trash in this area. I have been complaining for years about groups of men drinking by the empty warehouse and lot on 26th and then passing out and leaving beer boxes and bottles on the sidewalks (which, by the way, the 1515 South Van Ness property has been a blighted block since 2016 because of your misguided anti-housing ideology). Then, in January, Jeff Kositsky stopped the HSH from responding to 311 calls that resulted in huge encampments that linger for months. You and Mayor Breed then set up porta-potties and outdoor sinks to encourage people to colonize our sidewalks. On top of all these endemic social problems, you then decide to exacerbate the existing squalor by adding as many as 60 people living in 40 tents at the 1515 South Van Ness Parking lot. These photos expose layer upon layer of bad policy decisions around the 1515 South Van Ness property. One bad policy decision is followed by another and on top of general neglect this area has become an unlivable nightmare. Worse, it has been unrelenting since 2016. The disastrous policy to put a safe sleeping site at 1515 South Van Ness is particularly unconscionable. My neighbors and I have clearly pointed out systemic problems in this community over the years but you chose to ignore us and the results are the photos below. These photos typify what our community of low-income, POC, and immigrant families have to navigate every day. There are a whole generation of children growing up in the Mission that think this is normal. Why are there no porta potties and sinks at Precita Park? Why are they not set up at Holly Park? Why have they not been set up by Alta and Lafayette parks? Clearly, your so-called progressive politics are a sham. You have over the years specifically exploited the Mission. Do you think just because we are a low-income community that we are ok with squalor? Like it's ok for us but not Bernal Heights? Like somehow, we don't deserve better than this? If the deplorable conditions reflected in these photos (that you are responsible for creating) are okay with you, then you really need to check your conscience. But, moreover, you do not have the moral character or leader skills to be a Supervisor. You either need to step up to your responsibility to our community or step down from your office. Sincerely, Francesca Pastine
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