The Grow SF Report, Vol. 32: Board of Education Recall qualifies
The Board of Education Recall will be on the ballot February 15, 2022
What You Need To Know
Here’s what happened around the city for the week of October 17, 2021…
- Board of Education recall qualifies for ballot
- Grow SF PAC recall voter guide launched
- New Covid-19 vaccine booster guidelines
- Parking stays underpriced
- Homeless housing killed in Japantown
- Grubstake Diner will be allowed to build
Board of Education recall qualifies for ballot
The campaigns to recall Board of Education members Alison Collins, Gabriela López, and Faauuga Moliga have all qualified for the ballot!
This is the first local recall in over 40 years, and the first recall of Board of Education Commissioners ever. Voters are angry at the incompetence and mismanagement of the School Board and will be able to make their voices heard in the recall election now set for February 15, 2022.
Over 80,000 signatures were submitted to recall each Commissioner.
“This is also a new dawn for the children of San Francisco and our public education system,” said Siva Raj, one of the organizers of the recall. “After over a year of spiraling crisis and utter negligence from the members of the school board, we have a ray of hope for a better future for all our children.”
—SF Chronicle
Grow SF PAC Recall Voter Guide released
Grow SF’s associated PAC has just published the voter guide for the Board of Education Recall Election, scheduled for February 15, 2022.
From the Grow SF PAC voter guide:
Board of Education commissioners Alison Collins, Gabriela López, and Faauuga Moliga have undermined the public's trust in the public education system, failed to perform their jobs to a minimum standard of care, consistently failed to create a plan to reopen schools closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and engaged in bullying and other unprofessional behavior in order to silence the parents trying to hold them accountable.
We recommend that you vote Yes on all three recalls.
Read the full recall voter guide and share it with your friends via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or heck, even LinkedIn.
New Covid-19 vaccine booster guidelines
The FDA released updated guidelines for Covid-19 vaccine booster shots. In short:
Everyone may choose a booster from a different brand
All J&J recipients over 18 authorized for a booster
Elderly or high-risk Moderna and Pfizer recipients authorized for a booster
Consult this CDC webpage to determine if you are “high-risk”
If you received the Johnson & Johnson shot and did nota already use our tip to get your mix-’n-match booster, Grow SF strongly recommends you go get a booster shot of any available brand. Initial data indicate the most effective boosters for J&J recipients are the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines.
San Francisco’s Department of Public Health Adult Immunization & Travel Clinic (AITC) and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG) have been offering boosters to J&J recipients for a couple months already, but you should now be able to get a booster from any vaccination site in the city.
Parking stays underpriced
In a blow to environmentalism, the federal government abandoned a plan to charge for parking at several popular coastal sites in Marin and San Francisco.
The agency proposed to charge $3 per hour with a maximum of $10 per day to park at eight Golden Gate National Recreation Area sites starting as soon as next year. The sites included Rodeo Beach-Fort Cronkhite and Stinson Beach in Marin as well as Baker Beach, China Beach, Lands End Lookout, Navy Memorial and Sutro Heights in San Francisco.
[…[
Park officials said they proposed the fees as a way to address service demands caused by increased visitation, especially during the pandemic. The fees would have been used to pay for janitorial services, traffic control and repairs to roads, trails, parking lots and structures such as the Stinson Beach lifeguard tower. The pandemic has also resulted in the loss of revenue from the park’s leases with vendors.
— Marin Independent Journal
Grow SF is disappointed to see that even modest changes that would reduce carbon emissions and improve public lands are easily quashed even in our supposedly-green and progressive Bay Area.
After delays and opposition, homeless housing is killed in Japantown
Grow SF is incredibly disappointed with Supervisor Dean Preston, who led the opposition to a new homeless shelter in Japantown. Preston cynically used the racist legacy of WWII Japanese-American internment and redevelopment to ensure that homeless people will remain without shelter and out of sight of his constituents.
While city hall is trying to blame this on greedy developers, the truth is that the delays and organized NIMBYism (led by Preston) forced the owner of the building to give up and abandon negotiations.
In a letter last month, Supervisor Dean Preston, whose district includes Japantown, urged city officials to slow down its process for buying the Buchanan.
— SF Chronicle
Grubstake Diner will be allowed to build
The Board of Supervisors rejected an appeal that would have blocked redevelopment of the Grubstake Diner. Had that appeal been upheld, the Diner would have been forced to abandon plans for adding housing on top of its building and improving its facilities.
Grubstake owner Jimmy Consos insisted that the Grubstake can’t survive without the added revenue of real estate up top. “The project, as proposed, is what makes retaining the Grubstake and its features financially feasible,” he said. “Changing the project size and decreasing the housing will make it infeasible.”
“We knew the city needed housing, and the Grubstake needed new facilities,” he added. “It has always been my intent for the Grubstake to remain in the same location, with the same successful menu and ambiance, just with a new sustainable building and state-of-the-art cooking facilities.”
— Hoodline
It’s worth considering the sheer cost of NIMBYism and these discretionary permits. Not only did the full Board of Supervisors have to spend time on this project (when there are much more important issues to address), but both City Hall and Planning Department staff had to spend time analyzing and rejecting the challenge. All for a simple 8-story housing complex in the middle of a crippling housing shortage.
Fun in SF
Check out some of our favorite fun activities happening in SF right now:
Senator Wiener’s pumpkin carving contest
Join Senator Scott Wiener for his annual pumpkin carving contest on Saturday, October 30th from 12pm to 3pm at Noe Courts Park. Do dress up!
October is Filipino American History Month
There are a few events left in SOMA Pilipina’s celebration of Filipino History Month:
APAture: A celebration of Asian Pacific American (APA) art
October 23rd to November 14th
Join 35 local Asian Pacific American artists as they explore these questions through visual and literary art, performance, music, and film. The festival runs from October 23rd to November 14th with showcase events in visual arts, film, performing arts, music, and literary arts.
RSVP @ https://www.kearnystreet.org/apature
Many Styles: A Celebration of Filipino Martial Arts
Take a class in Filipino Martial Arts:
October 24: Gura Michelle Bautista teaches Kamatuuran Kali
October 31: Tuhon Karl Royer and Lakan Gerald Santos teach Senkotiros Arnis
Classes are $20 each. Register at kapwagardens.com
SOMCAN's Reclaiming Our Space Art Unveiling
Thursday, October 28, 2021
5:15pm to 8:00pm
In partnership with the Children’s Creative Museum, artist Mel Vera Cruz and Charlene Tan, SOMCAN will hold a ribbon-cutting and unveiling of the “S/Heroes in Our Windows II” mural and "Kumot ng Bata" (child’s blanket) weave design.
You must RSVP to attend.
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Topical Tweets
Yes, there is good stuff on Twitter. Here’s some of it:
Mayor Hidalgo of Paris shows us what a city that prioritizes people over cars actually looks like (and for only 10% of what SF spent on the mostly-unused Salesforce transit center).
Update: SF COVID-19 Vaccinations
The FDA has authorized boosters for the following populations:
All Johnson & Johnson recipients older than 18
Elderly and high-risk Moderna recipients
Elderly and high-risk Pfizer-BioNTech recipients
Consult this CDC webpage to determine if you are “high-risk”
Note: Recipients of one vaccine may choose a different vaccine for their booster. For example, if you got the Johnson & Johnson shot, you may choose J&J, Moderna, or Pfizer for your booster.
San Francisco’s Department of Public Health Adult Immunization & Travel Clinic (AITC) and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG) have been offering boosters to J&J recipients for months. Boosters are now available at any vaccination site.
Current stats
Vaccination Rate: 89% of SF residents over 12 have received at least 1 dose. 83% have been fully vaccinated.
Eligibility: All SF residents 12 and older are eligible to be vaccinated!