NEWS & EVENTS
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UPCOMING EVENTS
NEWS
Wednesday, February 1,2012
MAYOR LEE CELEBRATES GRANDOPENING OF DOTTIE’S TRUE BLUE CAFE ON SIXTH STREET IN CENTRAL MARKET
Mayor Edwin M. Lee today celebrated the relocation and expansion of Dottie’s True Blue Cafe to Sixth Street and made a commitment to merchants and residents that the City will continue focusing resources in the area even as Redevelopment funding is eliminated.
Mayor Lee announced that work on the Sixth Street police substation project will resume this week and committed additional Public Works cleaning services given the imminent end of a private, redevelopment-funded cleaning contract.
“The health and vibrancy of Sixth Street and the entire Central Market area, is benefiting from businesses like Dottie’s True Blue Cafe that are moving in,” said Mayor Lee. “While the loss of Redevelopment is a challenge, we will not let the momentum in the Central Market neighborhood be compromised. Public safety and street cleaning services will continue and we will strengthen critical community partnerships in the area and keep attracting great businesses here.”
Dottie’s True Blue Cafe is a popular family owned business that relocated
from Jones Street in the Tenderloin after outgrowing their space. Dottie’s
added 12 new jobs in addition to retaining 12 employees from the previous location.
“I feel great in the new location, and I am happy to be in the Central
Market neighborhood,”said Dottie’s Owner Kurt Abney. “It’s a great central
location and I am very excited to watch the change that is happening all around. There are a lotof people coming together to do something positive and the neighborhood has been very welcoming.”
Mayor Lee praised the new businesses in the area and stood by his commitment to complete a police substation on Sixth Street near Market.
In November 2011 Mayor Lee announced that the police department had signed a lease and that the project would be completed in 2012. DPW will assess the bids previously received and begin work this week with City staff and bring this project in at the same or lower cost.
Also in November, Mayor Lee announced a new Community Ambassador Program for Central Market, whose team is focused on safety in the neighborhood.
DPW will also enhance cleaning services in the area as when a Redevelopment contract to a private firm providing sidewalk cleaning and maintenance services on Sixth Street ends in February.
Will the proposed police substation ever come to 6th Street???
Read more and our SOMBA’s president Henry Karnilowicz is interviewed in the Chronicle’s article
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/29/BA1T1K46KA.DTL#
PAST EVENTS
Emergency Community Meeting Recap
by Jeremy of www.livesoma.com
To Read the entire article, visit www.livesoma.com/emergency-community-meeting-june-23rd
I have to start off by commending Supervisor Jane Kim and her entire staff for taking the time to organize last week’s Emergency Meeting about recent violent crime in the South of Market Community.
If you were in attendance at the meeting, you weren’t alone. Nearly 100 local residents and business owners from all over South of Market showed up at the Luggage Store (1007 Market St.) for what I can only describe as a positive step forward for our Neighborhood.
Supervisor Kim’s staff structured the meeting such that the large crowd would be broken into smaller groups to brainstorm ideas on how we can work together to strengthen the Sixth Street corridor. As usual, there is no clear cut solution to this huge problem, and the first step is exploring our options.
Solutions Will Need to Come From the Community
Naturally, a number of people in attendance were wondering why the San Francisco Police Department doesn’t take a larger role in the process of fixing this dilapidated street. Fortunately, there were two representatives from the SFPD on hand, including Captain Charlie Orkes.
I personally spoke with Captain Orkes for a good 15 – 20 minutes, and though he seemed to wish there was some sort of “easy button” he could push, he emphasized that the state of our local economy, and the fact that the SFPD has been cutting their resources across the board, means that a greater solution will inevitably have to come from elsewhere in the Community.
While they can enforce certain laws, he added that the criminals along Sixth Street get to know their routine very well, very fast. And without members of the neighborhood notifying them of issues as they arise, it’s difficult for the Police to be present because the criminals are generally aware of their surroundings.
Captain Orkes did mention that the SFPD will be out in full force along Sixth Street for the next 30 days as some sort of research experiment. But ultimately, without Community input, they’re facing an uphill battle in the war on Sixth Street.
Solutions Start as Ideas.
If a long term solution is ever to be implemented, who knows where the idea will come from? And while the group leaders began to list all of the thoughts their respective groups had come up with, it was apparent that many of the groups had some pretty good input.
More Police Presence
Obviously one of the more “common” ideas presented by the Community was a larger Police presence along the corridor. As mentioned earlier, this isn’t something that we should expect anytime soon.
While the folks at the head of the meeting were adamant to say that the new Sixth Street Police Substation IS happening, local residents should not expect it to remain open 24/7.
Captain Orkes mentioned toward the end of the meeting that in order to keep the substation open 24/7, it would require at least 24 officers to staff it. That’s just not feasible in our current state.
Paul Henderson from the SF District Attorney’s Office was on hand to mention that the Substation “will happen. It’s already started and has NOT been derailed” contrary to what you may have read in the local media. He went on to say that at this point, “it’s a matter of what it’s going to look like,” not if it’s going to happen..
We Need To Pay Attention to The Smaller Infractions
One of the major issues with Sixth Street is that drug dealers, prostitutes and other criminals know that they can get away with practically anything so long as they stay between Market and Folsom Streets. If the collective Community (SFPD included) started to crack down on petty crimes like public urination, graffiti, and even littering, it might give off the perception that the street is being cleaned up.
This concept reminds me of the book, The Tipping Point. There’s an entire chapter (Chapter 4: The Power of Context (Part One): Bernie Goetz and the Rise and Fall of New York) in that book where author, Malcom Gladwell discusses how broken windows, boarded up buildings and graffiti gives the local community a sort of reinforcement for negative behavior.
To illustrate the power of context, Gladwell takes on the strangely rapid decline in violent crime rates that occurred in the 1990s in New York City.
Although Gladwell acknowledges that a wide variety of complex factors and variables likely played a role in sparking the decline, he argues convincingly that it was a few small but influential changes in the environment of the city that allowed these factors to tip into a major reduction in crime. He cites the fact that a number of New York City agencies began to make decisions based on the Broken Windows theory, which held that minor, unchecked signs of deterioration in a neighborhood or community could, over time, result in major declines in the quality of living.
To reverse these trends, city authorities started focusing on seemingly small goals like painting over graffiti, cracking down on subway toll skippers, and dissuading public acts of degeneracy. Gladwell contends that these changes in the environment allowed the other factors, like the decline in crack cocaine use and the aging of the population, to gradually tip into a major decline in the crime rate in the city.
Perhaps the greater SOMA Community should organize some sort of Neighborhood Watch program that works to combat and enforce these issues along Sixth Street. It would be hard- especially at first- but after a while, maybe some of the people who choose to live like animals over there would start to perceive a higher value in the neighborhood.
Better Lighting and Security
When larger companies begin to occupy Mid-Market, they’ll probably incorporate better lighting and security in the area. Of course that would play some sort of role in helping to revive the street, but until then, who’s going to fund/implement this idea?
Organize a Monthly Community Meeting
You know that old concept of knowing thy neighbor? This is a great idea in that we could begin to assemble some sort of Strength-in-Number community that fights back to reclaim the street. As Supervisor Kim mentioned, “it’s very important that we all know each other.”
At the end of the meeting, she also added that people need to be dedicated to the cause. It’s easy to show up to the first meeting, but 100 people quickly turns to five or six if you don’t have a dedicated core to pass along the information.
Add a Volunteer Aspect to the Community Guide Program
In a cash-strapped City, funding the Community Guides along Sixth Street can be difficult. Perhaps we should start to gather volunteers who are enlisted to walk along the Corridor and keep an eye on what’s happening? In addition, they could work on paying attention to the smaller infractions (see above).
Use Tax Dollars to Build Housing/Provide Food/Create a Positive Program for Addicts
This is a good idea, compared to the ‘cutting a welfare check for addicts’ program that is currently in place. But the question becomes finding a responsible person or organization to implement this idea without taking advantage of the system.
More Collaboration Between Community Organizations
This seems like a no brainer to me. Our neighborhood is comprised of over a dozen organizations (mostly non-profit) that are dedicated to building a stronger Community. It only seems commonplace that we combined assets and somehow worked together to implement our respective ideas and strategies.
With that said, I give you a new user group that I just received notice of this morning.
Nicole from SFSafe has invited you to join the 6th and Market Community meeting group with this message:
This shall serve as our group page that will notify you of upcoming meetings for the community to address the shooting in 6th and market streets as well as the quality of life issues prevalent in the community.
Please feel free to post activities you may have that will benefit one another.
Thank you,
Here is the group’s description:
Members of the SOMA community interested in addressing quality of life issues within 6th and Market and beyond.
You can join this Community User Group by clicking here.
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While nothing specifically ‘happened’ at this Community Meeting, I like to hope that it was the first of many to come. There was a sense of desperation in the air that lead me to believe that people have finally started to grow tired of the situation along the Sixth Street Corridor. Perhaps we’ve reached some sort of ‘tipping point’ ourselves.
Only time will tell, but I will be sure to stay involved and keep you all posted on what’s going on. If you would like to get involved yourselves, I recommend you reach out to us, or perhaps email Supervisor Kim’s Office.
Here’s is our May Edition of the South of Market Business Association’s
Newsletter!!!
http://www.sfsomba.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/SOMBA-Newsletter_May-2011.pdf
The April 2011 Community Exchange
Thank you to everyone who attended the April 2011 Community Exchange at Don Ramon’s. So many new faces turned out to network and socialize on the cozy and cheerful upper balcony at Don Ramon’s Mexican restaurant on 11th Street. SOMA Business owners, employees and residents had a grand time mixing it up and making new contacts. Don Ramon’s not only allowed us to use their space for free, but also provided complimentary appetizers to accompany their amazing margaritas and sangria. We look forward to future events at Don Ramon’s and thank them for their hospitality. We also thank the very hard working SFPD Sergeant Tad Yamaguchi, and Paul Henderson from the Mayor’s Office for sharing details about neighborhood safety, security and the highly anticipated arrival of a new Police substation on 6th Street. Thanks everyone for making the April Exchange such a success and thank you Laura Kudritzki (SOMA photographer and SOMBA Board member) for capturing such wonderful images during the event.
SEE YOU NEXT TIME!
General Meeting: Central Subway plans for 4th Street and Smart meters - June 1 – 8:30AM
Subject: Save The Date for SF Small Business Week 2011 – May 16-21
This year’s 7th annual event promises to deliver on its theme, Partnering for Prosperity.
Here’s a rundown of this year’s events:
• Celebrate the Kick-Off of SF Small Business Week at Flavors of San Francisco
(May 16th from 5:00 to 8:00 PM at Cityview Room, Metreon)
*Tons of free food!
• Be seen at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Small Business Award Ceremony (May 17th at 3:30 PM at City Hall)
• Mingle at the MEGA Make Contact (May 17th from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at The LGBT Center)
• Learn something at the Small Business Conference (May 18th from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM at SF State Downtown Campus)
• Shop Your Neighborhood! (May 21st, All Day, All Over Town!)
• Mix it up at the Merchant Association Mixers (throughout the month of May)
Learn more online at www.sfsmallbusinessweek.com today!
PICS from SOMBA’s Holiday Community Exchange at Passion Cafe
Steve Barton of Passion Cafe hosted a special evening along with SOMBA members, local businesses and a room full of holiday cheer. 
PHOTOGRAPHY BY: Laura Kudritzki
