https://www.castroartwalk.com/events/september2019
President’s Update September 2019
President's Update; September 2019
Building community has been one of EVNA’s primary goals since our founding in 1881. In the last two years, since I’ve assumed the post of president, we’ve been busy bringing people together around different interests and causes: whether its mayoral debates or movie nights, I’ve been happy to see our neighbors and members joining in the action. The Castro and Eureka Valley is (by a long shot) one of the most community focused and engaged neighborhoods in the city.
There have been plenty of activities to get engaged in over the summer and more planned for this fall. If you’ve got an interest, please reach out and help in any way you’re able, we’d love to have you.
The 2nd round of the Castro Welcome Pack has been assembled and delivered by an army of volunteers in August. We received a list of over 300 new names and addresses this past quarter of those moving into the neighborhood, and managed to pack and distribute welcome packets to most of those. A big thank you to all the board members and volunteers who gave their time and effort, especially to Barrie Simpson, who went above and beyond in making deliveries and getting the word out about EVNA.
As a follow on to the Welcome Packet was the Neighbors Mixer- we sent postcards to those on the Welcome Packet list, as well as sent an email out to member’s inviting everyone to the mixer on August 10th at the Spark Arts Gallery on 18th Street. This is such a cool space to meet up for tasty coffee and baked goods from Spike’s Coffee on 19th, check out the current art on display, and sit around the comfy living room furniture and catch up with each other for an hour or two. I have to say this is one of my favorite spaces and definitely my favorite EVNA event. We’ll have the next mixer in November sometime.
Looking forward on the calendar is the upcoming EVNA movie night on Saturday September 28 at 7pm! Mark your calendars and tell your neighbors. This is our second annual event sponsored by Vanguard Properties on Castro Street. The board is busy finishing up the planning and details. It will be held again on the Rikki Streicher Field at the EV Rec Center, corner of Diamond and 19th Street. The movie title will be announced as soon as we have it. This will be a great family event, free to all but donations welcome.
And most importantly, we are gearing up for elections at our November 25th public meeting. Nearly h
alf of the current board is up for election, and new board members are welcomed and encouraged to run. If you live in the EVNA footprint, are a dues paying member, and would like to throw your hat in the ring, please email me with a headshot and a brief statement about you and your aspirations as a leader in the community. Women, persons of color, people of all persuasions, ethnicities and orientations are welcomed and supported.
Please plan to join us at our next public meeting on September 25th in the upstairs meeting room at the EV Rec Center. Meeting starts at 7pm, doors open at 6:45pm. In the meantime, I look forward to seeing you around the neighborhood.
Neighbors Mixer- new and um…everyone else!
Next General Meeting is Here!
President’s Update: July 2019
Mark D McHale
What’s Shaking These Days in the Valley?
It’s summer, and school is out- and Karl is making the days chilly and windy this year! We’ve had a few of those perfect days though, you know, the ones where the breeze is warm and promising, the trees are sporting their new leaves, and the sidewalks are clear and clean… those days that remind my of why I moved here in the first place!
IMPORTANT REMINDER: Our general meeting location is changed this time to the upstairs multi-purpose room at the Eureka Valley Rec Center...100 Collingwood Street on Wednesday, July 24th, 2019, doors open at 6:45pm and meeting goes till 8:30pm.
We’ve got some good stuff to cover in the meeting- Our D-8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman will update us on the latest SF Budget which passed earlier this month, and includes extra funding for some issues that are very important to EVNA. You can get his latest newsletter by clicking here for a sneak peak. Find out if funds were approved for additional beds, mental illness and rehab services that have been on everyone’s list of high-priority demands this year.
As you know, we are featuring one new candidate for District Attorney each meeting. Last meeting, we heard from Lief Dautch, and this month we’ll hear from Suzy Loftus. Ms. Loftus will introduce herself and tell us a little about her career experience and her aspirations if elected to the post.
Hats off to our board members and volunteer crew for assembling this quarter’s Castro Welcome Packets for delivery to all our new neighbors moving into the Eureka Valley since April. The crew prepped almost 400 bags, and we’ve got teams signing up to make the deliveries. If you haven’t helped yet, just know this is absolutely fun. Welcoming new folks is central to our core values as a welcoming community. Deliveries are scheduled to go on from July 20th to August 10th...when we have a party to meet everyone face to face!
Our second new neighbor’s mixer is coming up and also being combined with our member’s mixer- save the date! Saturday, August 10, 2019 from 10:00am to 11:30am...located again at the Spark Arts Gallery at 4229 18th Street. Join us for coffee and pastries, see a cool art exhibit, and meet some old and new friends!
Elections for the Board are Coming up in November- we’ve got a great group, and we’ve got room for more good souls to share the fun and work with us- we keep EVNA running and relevant! Of particular interest are candidates who can bring new voices to the conversation: if you’re non-male, of any age but certainly between 21-50, and any non-white ethnicity, let’s talk. This year we’ll be focusing more on community events, and would appreciate skills in marketing, PR/Events, communications, advertising and social media.
Hope you’ll make it to the general meeting on Wednesday, July 24 starting at 7pm and going till 8:30pm. Doors open at 6:45, come early!
Eureka Valley Rec Center (100 Collingwood Street x 18th), Upstairs
In the meantime, I hope to see you around the neighborhood!
Welcome Pack Volunteers Meet Tomorrow!
Transit and the J-Church Improvement Project
Our Own Supervisor, Rafael Mandelman, is hard at work. He's launched the J Church Improvement Project and writes: Muni’s J Church line serves nearly 17,000 riders each weekday in Noe Valley, the Castro, the Mission, Glen Park and Mission Terrace. Our office has been working with the SFMTA to create a plan to better serve those riders, and starting in May we launched the J Church Improvement Project. The first step in the process is a Listening Tour, where the SFMTA is asking riders about their top concerns and what improvements you would like to see. The SFMTA will be putting together proposals over the summer to address these issues based on what we hear. Check out the upcoming schedule by visiting the J Church Improvement Project page, and visiting these upcoming neighborhood meetings:
- Mission Dolores Neighborhood Assn, 6/11, 6:30pm
- Upper Noe Neighbors, 7/17, 7pm
- Eureka Valley Neighborhood Association, 7/24, 7:00 pm
In addition, you can tell the SFMTA what improvements you would like to see on the J Church by emailing JChurchProject@sfmta.com.
A Small Step Forward to Help Some of Those Struggling on Our Streets
There's a glimmer of hope from the Board of Supervisors, who struck a deal to pass SB-1045 after all.
For all the hand-ringing and political posturing it took to arrive at even this meager solution to get the absolute worst cases of mentally ill off the street and into some modicum of care, it's no surprise why we can't seem to solve this huge problem given the huge amounts of energy, money and social cohesiveness it's been sucking from our community and city budget. This bill will purportedly apply only to 2-5 people across the entire city.
Thanks to our own D-8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, Carolyn Thomas and Jared Goldfine (Ford Street Action Group), and all our neighbors who got involved, showed up at City Hall, and made their support known to our Supervisor and the Board.
Read this write up in the Chronicle for more details.
EVNA Newsletter Help
Hello EVNA Members,
We are looking for someone, or a few someones, to help with our bi-monthly newsletter. The newsletter goes out to the membership every other month on the odd numbered months (Jan, Mar, May, etc) and takes a couple of hours to produce. If you have any tech skills that would be a plus. In 2019 we started to produce the newsletter on-line and got away from the bulky and costly paper version.
If you are interested please contact me at: robcox@evna.org.
Our next newsletter is July and we'll start putting it together at the beginning of the month.
Thanks,
rob
Castro Art Walk – June 2019
It’s Time to Speak up for Some of the Most Vulnerable Among Us…
EVNA Members- Call to Action
As president of EVNA, and as your neighbor, I'd like to ask you to be at this meeting at city hall tomorrow- will you show up to support SB-1045, The Conservatorship Law?
San Francisco needs to address the serious and inhumane crisis on our streets. Mental illness affects nearly 25% of individuals living outdoors.
We've seen it everywhere in our neighborhood- it's distressing, overwhelming, and at times terrifying to witness the extreme and out of control behavior of people who are obviously suffering from mental illness, whether organically or chemically induced. It's shameful that we've allow this to go on, and it's inhumane to leave them outside to survive in often brutal circumstances.
There's a time when, with care and transparency, we need to help these worst-case individuals by taking them into care, stabilizing their situation, and hopefully help them into services to improve their lives over time.
The SF Board of Supervisors is deliberating the merits of SB-1045 (The Conservatorship law) and is taking public input as to what citizens think would be in the best interests of our city, carefully weighing civil liberties and conservatorship.
The hearing is Monday 5/13 at City Hall, Room 250, beginning at 10am. The Eureka Valley Neighborhood Association is in support of applying SB-1045 Conservatorship to the most hardcore individuals, estimated to be 5-12 people in the entire city. They need us to speak for them- let's take this small step in the name of human kindness...