Wednesday May 9 - 2012, 7:00pm @ First Congregational Church, 1300 Polk Street San Francisco
(Lower Polk Neighbors meets regularly 7:00 pm on the second wednesday of each month, at the First Congregational Church, 1300 Polk Street, at the corner of Polk and Bush Streets)
COMMUNITY UPDATES
New Report from Community Action Plan for Seismic Safety
Time is of the essence in preparing for earthquakes in San Francisco. A significant Bay Area earthquake two to
three times as strong as the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake is likely to occur within the next thirty years. And
after that earthquake, another earthquake will be looming on the horizon. San Francisco will suffer terribly from
these coming earthquakes, primarily due to the collapse or extensive damage to many buildings that were built
before building codes contained modern earthquake design requirements. The suffering will not be limited to loss
of life and injuries, but to dramatic losses of affordable housing, character defining buildings, business, tourism,
and much more. Demographics will shift. Resources will run out. Public confidence in government will be shaken,
as San Franciscans question why the codes and standards necessary to protect their homes and their community
were not in place. In even a moderate earthquake, San Francisco will be terribly impacted. These impacts have
been confirmed by the extensive studies performed under the Community Action Plan for Seismic Safety (CAPSS)
program.
Read CAPSS' recently published report by clicking the link below (please be patient this PDF report takes up to 50 seconds to open)
http://www.sfgsa.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=8119 New Report from San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association
This analysis only considers part of
the picture: whether housing will be safe to occupy considering
earthquake damage to structures. It does not consider other damage
or cascading consequences, such as damage to utilities or structural
damage from fires following the earthquake. The factors that
contribute to whether residents choose to stay or leave after a disaster
are complex, and the structural safety of residences is only one piece
of information, albeit an important one. This should be kept in mind
while reviewing the following figures, which only represent that one
piece.
The analysis makes clear that housing in every San Francisco
neighborhood would be damaged heavily by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake.
NEXT MEETING INFO: coming soon
(original and formal agendas can be found under "MEETING AGENDAS & NOTES")
Message from Captain Ann Mannix, Northern Police Station (415-614-3400). Non emergency dial: (415)553-0123. Tip Line dial: (415)392-2623.
LETTER TO LPN FROM AN ANONYMOUS & FRUSTRATED NEIGHBOR. We welcome communication pointing out problems in our neighborhood.
Neal Patel from the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition visited LPN in April bringing a presentation of the "CONNECT THE CITY" project (scroll down for link and more info).
An increasing number of cities in the US, Europe and Asia are looking for solutions to the ever increasing traffic congestion and pollution problem that cars are creating in urban areas.
Check out this video clip where CNN's Richard Quest explores Copenhagen as one of the world's "Future Cities" and tests out its bicycle-friendly streets.
However, as cycling becomes increasingly popular, bike congestion rather than car congestion makes it necessary to redesign the streets of Copenhagen to retain cycling as the standard for quick and convenient transportation.
Cell phone use can increase risk for malignant brain cancer and other tumors according to cancer epidemiologist Devra Davis.
From the SF County Transportation Authority website (http://www.sfcta.org/content/view/1011/448/) reporting the results of its recent
REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLAN AND SAN FRANCISCO TRANSPORTATION PLAN "CALL FOR PROJECTS".
LETTER TO LPN FROM AN ANONYMOUS & FRUSTRATED NEIGHBOR.
We have a new communication tool and you can now through yahoo groups get access to this LPN utility.
What is it and what is it good for?
It can be seen as an extension of our LPN website with the added function for members to be able to post information / files / pictures for other members to see and respond to. This can be helpful when a member has a presentation/response /issue that is more suitable to present in writing (versus verbally at a meeting) due to complexity, time restrains etc.
How does it work?
When a member post a message / upload a file / picture (a file can
f. ex. be a powerpoint presentation) all members will receive an automated e-mail with the forwarded new message or the information that a new file / picture is uploaded and available . Members can also go to the actual site and check for updates.
A link will always be available on our LPN website for easy access.
It's safe and trustable, hosted by yahoo and it's hassle-free to unsubscribe and leave this utility at any time. To learn more or join please visit:
GREAT SUCCESS. Nine kids from Tenderloin and Lower Polk schools will be able to go to summer camps thanks to LORI MARTENS' and CAROLYNN ABST's community work.
LPN's executive committee has been contacted by SAN FRANCISCO BEAUTIFUL (SFB) regarding a time sensitive matter that may have a profound negative visual impact on our neighborhood if action is not taken. Please see below to learn more about this issue.
San Francisco Beautiful (SFB) and the Planning Association for the Richmond (PAR) are urging community groups to officially join the fight and endorse the Appeal we have filed to require the City to conduct a responsible and transparent environmental analysis of alternatives prior to the installation of 726 utility boxes on our City sidewalks.
AT&T has proposed installing their "Lightspeed" Network Upgradewithout an appropriate environmental review to look at the cumulative impact of utility boxes on our sidewalks and in our neighborhoods. Because other telecommunications firms may follow, San Francisco Beautiful cautions against the precedent of ceding our sidewalks to AT&T. Thousands of boxes may further blight our sidewalks - if the current AT&T Categorical Exemption from environmental review is allowed to stand.
Please join us on Tuesday, April 26 at 4 PM at City Hall, Board of Supervisors Chambers, to voice your support for an Environmental Impact Report. At this time we are only asking the Board of Supervisors to require an Environmental Impact Report be produced for this project. How else can the City or any of us understand the true impacts of this massive project?
Contact your Supervisor and voice your concern!
See also Department of Public Works Order 175,566, which requires utility boxes to be installed on private property or underground when feasible.
Trudy attended, on short notice, a meeting at Supervisor Chiu's office on Monday, April 18 on the utility box issue and offers both insight and added knowledge in this letter addressed to LPN leaders.
I wasn't sure whether to send details of today's get-together back to you, or to the LPN group at large. I do plan to attend the LPN meeting in May, but I thought folks might want to know about the Board of Supervisors vote on the issue this coming Tuesday.
I believe this is a decision that will ultimately affect LPN. The subject is fairly well detailed at
www.sfbeautiful.org
but the gist of it is that AT&T wants to install 726 utility boxes on public sidewalks and standards, despite a Public Works requirement that utility boxes be installed underground or on private property (i.e., via a fee paid to a property owner) whenever feasible. For some reason, the SF Planning Department has decided to exempt AT&T from this requirement.
What SF Beautiful is asking for is an EIR to look at the impact of what they feel is a give-away to AT&T. And besides the utility boxes being ugly, SF Beautiful worries about what may result from establishing this sort of precedent.
So ... no health hazard issue as far as I know, just BLIGHT.
Anyone interested may wish to contact his / her supervisor or attend the hearing on Tuesday April 26 at 4PM before the Board of Supervisors.
Our April meeting
included a presentation by Neal Patel from the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. LPN association members were asked for input regarding a project named Connecting The City (100 miles of continuous crosstown bikeways). Learn more or volunteer by clicking here:
connectingthecity.org
Former LPN chair and current President of the Board of Supervisors David Chiu gave a presentation on district and city affairs including fiscal and budgetary issues and announced that he is running for Mayor in the upcoming November election.If you would like to contact David Chiu click on COMMUNITY RESOURCES for his full contact info.
We also had an Alice B. Toklas brownies fund raiser presentation by Carolynn Abst and Lori Martens. Contact LPN for more info on that upcoming project.
Want to join the Polk Street Community Court? Click here to volunteer or to learn more.
P.O. Box 641980 San Francisco, CA 94164-1980 | lowerpolkneighbors@xemaps.com | Contact LPN Chair, Ron Case at 351.3900 for enquiries
DEDICATED TO BUILDING A CLEANER, SAFER, MORE BEAUTIFUL LOWER POLK COMMUNITY
