Dogpatch and Potrero Hill Green Benefit District to Hold Elections

BY SARA POWELL

The Dogpatch and Northwest Potrero Hill Green Benefit District (GBD) holds board elections this month. There are five open seats, all for three-year terms. Three are set aside for Dogpatch property owners, one for a Dogpatch tenant, one for a green space advocate. None of the seats are in the GBD’s NW Potrero Hill section.

Five candidates are competing for the three Dogpatch property owner spots: Sean Harris, Donovan Lacy, Patrice Martin, Michael Spain, and Shawn Troedson. Richard Romero, the View’s marketing director, is running unopposed for the Dogpatch tenant seat; Susan Eslick is unchallenged for the green space advocate spot.

Polls will be open March 6 to 28. Dogpatch and NW Potrero Hill property owners who pay the GBD assessment will receive a ballot in the mail, which’ll include a code to vote online. Results will be announced April 3; the new board will convene on April 19. If past elections are any indication, voter turnout will likely be low.

The board comprises 15 people, with five up for election annually, in rotating three-year terms. To stagger terms, in early elections candidates with the most votes secured three-year tenures, those in the middle, two-years, and those with the least votes, a single-year. According to GBD Executive Director Julie Christensen, due to the exigencies of COVID some board members left the area, resulting in an election for nine seats in 2022. All terms are now three-years.

Though there are no open seats available this year to NW Potrero Hill residents, Christensen explained that Potrero Hill has a slightly larger board representation than the numbers would dictate. The Hill represents 13 percent of GBD assessments – which vary by land use, ranging from roughly $125 to $200 annually – so should only have two seats, but the Board changed the organization’s bylaws to allocate the area three. According to Christensen, having three Hill seats instead of two provides a balance, and a tie-breaking vote if Hill board members are divided over an issue.

Among the projects requiring board oversight is greening the 400 block of Vermont Street. In 2018, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) proposed changes to the roadway to slow traffic entering the freeway, including removal of one lane, as well as adding bike lanes and park- ing. Along with San Francisco Friends of the Urban Forest, the Dogpatch and Potrero Hill GBD received a $149,987 community challenge grant, and $10,000 from Spear Capital, the developers of 300 Kansas Street. The Dogpatch and NW Potrero GBD also added funds to support transforming the removed Vermont Street lane into a greenway.

According to Christensen, the Dogpatch and Potrero Hill GBD will develop a native plant garden, turning a dangerous and desolate area into a welcoming and environmentally sustainable green space.

Work is continuing at the 22nd St. Caltrain station to develop secure bike, scooter and motorcycle parking, expanded pickup and drop off areas, better lighting, and a closer and covered bus stop, along with landscaping and code-compliant fencing. The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) funded the project, in collaboration with Caltrain, SFMTA, and the San Francisco Department of Public Works.

The Dogpatch and NW Potrero Hill GBD board will convene on March 15, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. More information can be found at https://www.greenbenefit. org/boardcandidates23.

Data for Downtown High School, located on Vermont Street, wasn’t available.

Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10 percent of instructional days, or 18 days, whether excused or unexcused. Typical reasons for students to miss school include illness, mental health concerns, and personal matters that prompt a student to stay away from the classroom.

Chronic absenteeism is much higher than in previous years. SFUSD reported a 14 percent systemwide rate in 2021 and 2020. In 2019, chronic absenteeism rates were 18 percent for Daniel Webster, 11 percent for Starr King, roughly 10 percent for San Francisco International High School, and 12 percent districtwide.

In accordance with post-pandemic practices, SFUSD attempts to contact the student or their family after the first and second unexcused absences. An initial declaration of legal truant notice is sent to the student’s parent or caregiver after a third unexcused absence.

According to Siva Raj, cofounder of SF Guardians, a coalition of parents, teachers, and concerned residents that led a successful recall of SFUSD School Board members, the increase in absences is a legacy of the pandemic and extended school closures.

“Students who are struggling are the ones who are not showing up and that puts them even further behind. There’s a lot of research that tells us what interventions are promising. We urgently need to get those interventions in place and then double down on the ones that work,” said Raj.

PUBLISHER’S VIEW

SHORT CUTS

Infrastructure Privatized status quo relationship isn’t sustainable, even setting aside the bankruptcies and murders. PG&E no longer serves its primary function of reliably, affordably, and universally providing electricity. Nor does it meet the economic criteria to be gifted political protection as a monopoly, which requires downward sloping marginal costs. And it’s only going to get worse.

This somebody is Pacific Gas and Electric Company, which has done all the above, plus sparked wildfires that obliterated more than 23,000 homes. Why, a captive electricity user might ask, are we still exclusively relying on this 100-plus year old monopoly to provide us with one of our most essential commodities, electricity, while harnessing our hopes for a climate friendly future almost entirely to this for-profit’s ability to perform?

The simple answer is, because it’s difficult, and would require an awful lot of political courage, to do otherwise.

Breaking up is hard to do, especially when there’s a chance that the resulting divorce will make everyone worse off for a time. One almost might forgive a typically chin-thrusting governor for being timid. But, as with a toxic marriage, the

PG&E customers pay roughly 80 percent more per kilowatt-hour than the national average. Historically the utility’s high rates have been moderated by California’s temperate climate, resulting in lower overall energy bills than, for instance, the Northeast or Southwest. That’s no longer the case. In many parts of Northern California this winter has been freezing, with recent summers extremely hot. PG&E’s expensive power is coupled with unpredictable reliability. Even aside from weather-related outages, to manage wildfire risks last year the utility intermittently shut off electric service to more than five million people.

Those who can are fleeing the system, a trend that’s likely to accelerate

ENERGY continues on page 10

Mayor London Breed and District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton are pushing legislation to create an “infrastructure financing district” at the Potrero Power Station, a 2,600-unit waterfront project located just south of Pier 70. The district, known as an IFD, would allow the developer, Associate Capital, to raise $150 million to finish building streets, sidewalks, seawalls and underground utilities for the new waterfront neighborhood, which’ll include 800 affordable homes, seven acres of parks and a mix of commercial buildings. If the IFD legislation is approved, Associate Capital will be able to borrow against future tax revenues to help pay for public infrastructure. Site preparation for redevelopment of the former, notoriously dirty power plant — which closed in 2011, thanks to the efforts of citizen-activists Philip De Andrade and John Borg, among others, as well as then City Attorney Dennis Herrera — has been underway for several years. Associate Capital has already invested $70 million in prep work. While San Francisco has used IFDs for redevelopment projects taking place on public land — Treasure Island and Mission Rock are examples — the Potrero Power Station would be the first time the mechanism is applied to a private scheme.

Needle Drops

The American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ACTCM) Community Clinic will cease providing patient services this summer. The clinic closure stems from a California Institute of Integral Studies decision to shutter ACTCM. Currently enrolled students are completing their degrees

under a “teach-out” plan, with no new students admitted. The Clinic is an integral part of the College; the College’s end resulted in the Clinic’s termination…The City isn’t happy with Indiana Street benches built around street trees during COVID. The outdoor seating was constructed by Hire-Ability Vocational Services , a nonprofit that helps people with a mental health diagnosis find a job. But the San Francisco Department of Public Works believes they obstruct the sidewalk, traffic flows, and need two by fours that’re spaced apart to allow for more water to reach tree roots. DPW also wants a $1,400 encroachment application fee. The Good Life Grocery has faced similar travails associated with benches it built decades ago on 20th Street. Doesn’t the City have more pressing things to attend to?

Biomedicine Expands

Steven J. Moss ACCOUNTING MANAGER Catie Magee

Romero

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