Thanks to all who made the meeting July 30, hosted by St. John Elementary School. Below is our meeting summary. Our next meeting will be Wednesday, October 15, at the Glen Park branch of the public library. Hope to see you sooner at the August 16 Glen Park Night Market!
District 8 Supervisor (and Board President) Rafael Mandelman
The new Mayor is working well with the present Board of Supervisors, though Mandelman’s effort to streamline approval for contracts worth less than $230k was rebuffed. (Read more in this article in Mission Local.)
A fiscally responsible budget for the city was just signed though it did include some hard cuts to contracts with nonprofits that provide aid to San Franciscans.
A top priority for Mandelman continues to be mental health issues. He held two hearings in July, one to assess the state bill expanding conservatorship as applied in SF and the other to realize the recommendations for treatment beds in SF. He feels that SF has a dearth of locked facility beds to treat those in need. This is a bigger issue than just a city issue.
The Supervisor welcomes your feedback, suggestions and questions. Please email him via his staff: mandelmanstaff@sfgov.org or his aide for Glen Park Anh Ha (who got a shout-out from our very own Marian Dalere for his help getting a dangerous sidewalk on Chenery fixed) at Anh.v.Ha@sfgov.org. Click here to read the Supervisor’s latest newsletter, link to previous newsletters and to sign up for the newsletter.
Nik Kaestner, Senior Building Decarbonization Coordinator, SF Environment Department
Click here to see his informative slideshow about home electrification, timely because Bay Area appliance regulations will ban the sale or installation of natural gas water heaters in 2027 and gas furnaces in 2029. There are rebates available! See slideshow and website for details.
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Edward Wright, BART Director for BART District 9, which includes GP
The number of riders is back to pre-pandemic levels but the number of trips is not. Satisfaction with the system is up, with riders appreciating clean cars and stations. The trains are shorter to make up for fewer trips, and one side effect is to put more people in one train and therefore make them safer. Crime is down.
Still, BART (and other transit agencies) are facing huge deficits for lack of fares. Consequently they are hoping a state transit tax will pass, so they do not fall off a “fiscal cliff.”
BART is making cuts while maintaining drivers and police staff, trying to use money more wisely. For example, in addition to police, they have a different level of responder, one that can help people experiencing a mental health or drug induced crisis. These social workers are better trained to deal with such matters, and they free up time for the police to do the more dangerous work.
He’s on the record: Glen Park BART is his favorite station, so take that, 16th and 24th street stations! Having said that, he is prioritizing those two stations for improvements because they are the most rundown and in need of repair.
Not even one hour after the meeting ended, he wrote to us to say BART staff will be taking inventory of all the lights out at Glen Park station during that night’s overnight shift. [Added two days later: Wright says, “I’m happy to confirm that we’ll be doing a complete LED lighting replacement for Glen Park station, including the platform, concourse and plaza areas….they’re aiming to finish the project by the end of September.”]
He welcomes feedback, suggestions and comments. Email him at edward.wright@bart.gov.