Category Archives: Human Services

Central Market Safety Hub Open!

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MAYOR LEE CELEBRATES OPENING OF SFPD CENTRAL MARKET SAFETY HUB ON SIXTH STREET

Check out more photos from the event on our Facebook Page 

New Police Substation Major Central Market Safety Milestone with New Foot Beat Patrols, Coordinated Services to Continue Economic Revitalization of Central Market Neighborhood

Mayor Edwin M. Lee celebrated the opening of the San Francisco Police Department Central Market Safety Hub on Sixth Street. Increased beat officers and service providers will increase community outreach, stabilization and crime prevention to improve neighborhood safety and cleanliness. The Central Market Safety Hub is a key component of the Central Market Economic Strategy, a roadmap to guide the City’s efforts to create jobs, stabilize the community and transform the quality of life for the neighborhood’s residents, visitors, merchants, and nearby businesses.

“The opening of the SFPD Central Market Safety Hub marks another milestone in our continuing effort to revitalize and transform the Central Market neighborhood,” said Mayor Lee. “This new Safety Hub will improve the health and vibrancy of Sixth Street and the entire Central Market corridor – a corridor that has seen new companies, new small businesses, new cultural and arts institutions, new jobs and thousands of new housing units under construction. As we continue to make major strides in creating an eclectic cultural arts, small business, entertainment and innovation economy hub in Central Market, we are making good on our commitment to increase public safety, cleanliness and vibrancy in the neighborhood.”

“The activation of the Central Market Safety Hub on Sixth Street will allow police officers assigned to this area to remain in the Central Market area,” said SFPD Chief Gregory Suhr. “This Hub is in direct response to the public’s requests for more police presence along this corridor and will help in the City’s efforts to transform this neighborhood.”

“Since my first day in office, the Sixth Street substation has been one of my top priorities, from identifying funding for its completion after the dissolution of Redevelopment to working with SFPD leadership to ensure the original vision for the safety hub is implemented,” said Supervisor Jane Kim. “Captain Redmond is doing a tremendous job outreaching to the South of Market and Sixth Street community, and this energetic dedication positively reinforces the promise the City has made for years to the Sixth Street and Central Market community.”

The SFPD Central Market Safety Hub solidifies the City’s coordinated efforts to increase public safety and create a safe, clean, and vibrant neighborhood. An initial San Francisco Redevelopment Agency project, the Department of Public Works led the completion of construction of the SFPD Central Market Safety Hub.

SFPD will manage access to the building and will be available seven days a week, 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., and in addition will increase the Central Market foot beat from 16 to 24 officers.

In addition, the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs’ Community Ambassador Program, which has been a key to the revitalizing and stabilizing Central Market, has extended the hours of service for their 11 Community Ambassadors deployed between Fifth and 12th Streets along Market Street and Sixth Street between Market and Mission Streets. Community Ambassadors provide safe passage to employees, patrons and transit riders along the Central Market corridor between 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

As a part of the SFPD Central Market Safety Hub, the Department of Public Health through Project Homeless Connect’s Everyday Homeless Connect program will work directly with those seeking services, as well as with case managers and staff from partner agencies, to make connections to those often hard-to-access resources, services and goods that can provide additional or necessary ingredients for a successful move out of homelessness, transition into housing, or avoidance of housing loss.

Through the District Attorney’s Office, the Neighborhood Prosecutor assigned to the Southern Police Station will hold office hours once a week at the SFPD Central Market Safety Hub. The Neighborhood Prosecutor will focus on potential Neighborhood Court participants who are homeless and/or Sixth Street corridor residents.

The Adult Probation Department will link clients to on- and off-site services and resources, regularly visiting clients who are temporarily housed at the Baldwin House, located next to the Safety Hub. Department staff will be stationed once a week at the SFPD Central Market Safety Hub.

San Francisco residents, merchants and businesses were encouraged to stay engaged in the non-emergency service needs of the Central Market area by calling 311 to direct site specific services to the areas or individuals in need of service.

Central Market tech company Yammer donated six computers to the SFPD Central Market Safety Hub to support their efforts.

The SFPD Central Market Safety Hub and the programs and services offered through its site seek to fulfill the public safety objectives and goals outlined in the Central Market Economic Strategy developed to stabilize and revitalize Central Market and the adjacent neighborhoods, while supporting the neighborhood’s current residents and communities. The strategy will help to guide economic development investments and efforts by the City as well as its nonprofit and private-sector partners.

North of Market Tenderloin Community Benefit District – Focus On Neighborhood Identity and Cleanliness

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Community Benefit Districts (CBD) are an important resource throughout San Francisco.  Numerous commercial areas and mixed-use neighborhoods in the city have elected to form CBD’s, which places a special assessment on property owners to fund improvements within a designated area.  The CBD’s help to improve the quality of life within a targeted neighborhood by implementing a variety of services, which typically include cleanliness, safety and advocacy as well as district identity, marketing and special events.

Central Market is home to three incredibly active CBD’s each lead by an equally dedicated executive director.  Daniel Hurtado leads the Central Market CBD (CMCBD); the Civic Center CBD (CCCBD) is run by Donald Savoie, and at the helm of the North of Market Tenderloin CBD (NOM-TLCBD), is Dina Hilliard.

Each district works towards creating cleaner, safer and more vibrant communities while advocating for the needs of each neighborhood’s businesses, residents and visitors.  Based on the needs and unique characteristics of each neighborhood, the CBD’s have implemented innovative programs and services that help to improve and contribute to the revitalization of the community.

The Central Market CBD’s have successfully implemented highly visible clean and safe programs that are tailored to the needs of each neighborhood.  Additionally, they serve as advocates for the business community, collaborate with social service agencies to mitigate challenges around homelessness and crime and they are actively involved in the revitalization of Central Market.

This is the first of a three-part article featuring the benefit districts within Central Market.  The first focuses on the North of Market Tenderloin Community Benefit District.

North of Market Tenderloin Community Benefit District

The North of Market-Tenderloin Community Benefit District was established in 2005 and has a different history and perspective than most CBD’s.  It seeks above all to create a safer more vibrant and more beautiful Tenderloin by keeping its 29 blocks clean while developing programs that promote the identity of the neighborhood and provide employment opportunities to the lowest income individuals.

Cleanliness Efforts

In the North of Market and Tenderloin neighborhoods, the primary focus of the CBD is on cleanliness. The NOM-TLCBD provides a comprehensive cleaning program through a partnership with San Francisco Clean City.

Dina Hilliard, Executive Director of the North of Market Tenderloin CBD explains that 76% of the district’s budget goes towards beautification and cleaning programs.  The cleaning programs are the flagship efforts of the district’s efforts to beautify the historic Tenderloin neighborhood.

Throughout the neighborhood’s 29 blocks sidewalks and gutters are swept twice a day, Monday through Friday.  Properties throughout the area are cleaned twice a month, sidewalks are steam cleaned on a monthly basis and targeted “hot spots” receive regular steam cleaning.  Additionally, graffiti, needle and waste removal programs occur on a regular basis.

Collectively these efforts have resulted in over 17,000 bags of litter being swept off the sidewalks and out of gutters on an annual basis and 140 Tenderloin residents found temporary employment with SF Clean City. The neighborhood as a whole continues to become a more attractive place to live.

“Since implementing the program in 2006,” Hilliard says, “one of the most noticeable improvements is that the sidewalks are cleaner.”  She further explains, “When looking from one side of the street to the other, you can see the difference.”

Benefits of Collaboration

The beautification efforts were the first collaborative effort of the NOM-TLCBD, which brought together many community leaders. “It is the most significant initiative that the CBD has done,” says Hilliard.

Prior to the formation of the District there was a lot of strife between organizations and expectations about how services should be funded. Much of the opposition related to fear around gentrification, homelessness and expectations that the city should pay for services related to cleanliness.

As the District was forming, Hilliard explains that there was a need to do a great deal of outreach throughout the community.  “We conducted a lot of outreach, both printed and personal, to help educate property owners about the services the district would provide.”

These efforts helped to defray the opposition and build support for the formation of the benefit district.  Those who once opposed the district are now supportive of its efforts.

“There was a time when some of the groups opposing the CBD would never sit at the table together,” says Hilliard, “now some sit on the Board of Directors and are partners in all that’s being done.”

Neighborhood Identity

The Tenderloin has a rich culture of street art and murals paintings that depict characteristics of the neighborhood.  To help establish a stronger identity and create a sense of place, the CBD has commissioned local artists and organizations to paint murals in the neighborhood.  They help artists locate areas to paint and compensate them for their time and talent.  The murals portray a purposeful message and represent the voice of the neighborhood.

The installation of the murals has helped to deter crime.  There is a noticeable reduction in the amount of loitering, public intoxication and other nuisance activities in and around the location of the murals.

“This has been the greatest success of the program,” says Hilliard.

 ’Windows Into The Future’, located at Golden Gate and Jones, was created by Mona Caron. It tells the story of the Tenderloin’s past, present and utopic future.

‘FearHead’, by artists from 1AM Gallery, is located on Golden Gate between Jones and Taylor.  It depicts a three-headed monster, which feeds on the fearful emotions of the neighborhood.

The third mural commissioned by the CBD, ‘Humming With Life’, by Johanna Poethig, features a whimsical musical garden buzzing with hummingbirds.  It can be found on the wall of an office building at 101 Hyde.

“The installation of the murals has been a very powerful experience for the neighborhood,” says Hilliard, “everyone has a response – whether or not they like them, they have been a tool for creating conversation and bringing people together.”

Future Goals

One of the projects the CBD is focusing on for the remainder of the year is to increase access to public restrooms.  The project is very much in its early planning stages.  They have recently received a grant to build a public restroom and are partnering with numerous community agencies to determine how such a program would be successful.  Additionally, neighborhood groups have partnered to increase access to public restrooms. This effort has resulted in a twenty percent reduction in instances of public waste.  The CBD and its partners feel hopeful that the program will be successful.

Additionally, Hilliard would like to change perceptions about the neighborhood.   Many people don’t realize that the Tenderloin is a neighborhood of families with approximately 3,500 to 5,000 children living in the community.  Most people, when thinking about the neighborhood, do not realize this.

Many of the CBD’s goals around neighborhood identity strive to change the perception of the neighborhood and support efforts to make it a safer place for families to live. The CBD partners with community groups to provide programs, such as Safe Passages, to ensure the safety of children walking through the neighborhood and has installed banners with thought provoking images that encourage people to re-think the community.

A 12-year old girl living in the Tenderloin designed one of the banner images installed in the neighborhood. It portrays an image of a young child with a backpack. This image helps to promote the fact that there are children and families living in the area.

Dina Hilliard, Executive Director of the North of Market Tenderloin CBD, has lived in the neighborhood for 13 years.  Part of her passion for the job is that she gets to celebrate and promote her own neighborhood.  She enjoys being a cheerleader for the community.

The boundaries of the North of Market Tenderloin CBD are generally between Market and O’Farrell, and Mason and Larkin Streets. More information is available at www.nom-tlcbd.org.

 

 

 

Central Market Resources Workshop for Merchants and Non Profits

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FREE WORKSHOP

Tuesday July 10, 2012

 9-11am 

AQ Restaurant

1085 Mission Street

 (between 6th and 7th )

Are you a Merchant or Non-Profit in the Central Market area? Are you interested in becoming a part of the neighborhood? Or struggling and need assistance finding resources?

Hear about programs that are here to help you! This workshop will help identify resources including:

Site location services, leasing assistance, build-out assistance, the revolving loan program, other types of financing assistance, community benefit districts, and payroll and enterprise zone tax credit programs.

 

Northern California Community Loan Fund

Urban Solutions

Community Benefit Districts

Small Business Assistance Center

Office of Economic Workforce and Development

Revolving Loan Fund

Payroll Tax Exclusion

State and Local Enterprise Zone Tax Hiring Credits

Central Market Partnership

 RSVP preferred but not required ( [email protected] or 415-554-5185)

Download a flyer 71012resourcesflyer

A Better Market Street On The Horizon

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Revitalization efforts within Central Market are gaining momentum and show no signs of slowing down.  Twitter opened its doors earlier this month and officially moved into the neighborhood. At last week’s Central Market Partnership meeting at Canon Kip Senior Center District 6 Supervisor, Jane Kim welcomed Twitter and shared her hopes as to how the mini-blogging company can benefit the neighborhood. Kim envisions more street activity along Market Street and wants employees to support the local business community. Neighborhood tours for Twitter employees are currently being organized and will be provided as a way to introduce our new neighbors to the community.

The Strand Theater

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.)  is moving forward with its plans to redevelop The Strand and operate it as a 300-seat, experimental theater.  A.C.T. is working with Equity Community Builders, LLC to assist with the design and development of the property.  They are still in the design phase, have conducted an historical analysis of the site and plan to reconstruct it as a LEED Certified building.  Jason Seifer, A.C.T’s CFO announced plans to go for the Silver certification and will likely install energy efficient mechanical systems, use environmentally friendly paints and construction materials and to the extent possible, refurbish any existing materials from the building. There is a great deal of excitement around this project.  A.C.T. has a target open date of fall 2014.  Its initial design will go to the Planning Commission in August.

Episcopal Community Services Education and  Director of Employment Phil Clark also gave an overview of their services. As an amazing community support resource, it was fantastic of them to host our meeting and also to be able to talk about the services that they offer to the community.  Episcopal Community Services (ECS) has provided essential services to homeless San Franciscans since 1982. Serving more than 10,000 people last year, ECS, guided by its mission to “help homeless and very low-income people every day and every night obtain the housing, jobs, shelter, and essential services each person needs to prevent and end homelessness,” utilizes a holistic approach that addresses the multiple causes leading to homelessness.

Better Market Street

Taking place in conjunction with the Central Market revitalization efforts is Better Market Street, an urban design project that will reestablish Market Street as San Francisco’s premier cultural, civic and economic center. Neil Hrushowy, a planner and urban designer with the City’s Planning Department, attended the Central Market Partnership meeting to provide an overview of the project.

Market Street was originally designed to accommodate the most amount of people and uses.  At the time, city officials were criticized for making it so wide, but now their foresight can be appreciated.  During most weekdays, more than one-quarter of a million people use Market Street – either on foot, in cars, on bikes or by transit.  Determining how best to accommodate these uses is challenging.

Better Market Street examines the interaction between public transportation and vehicular transit, cyclists, and pedestrian activity while also considering public places as well as the economic and cultural uses along Market Street.  The design will identify ways to integrate these uses and redevelop the city’s central boulevard as a vibrant and accessible corridor.

Better Market Street looks at Market Street as a whole while examining its six different neighborhood segments:  Octavia to 12th Street, Civic Center, Central Market, the Retail Core, the Financial District and the Embarcadero.  Each neighborhood has its own unique character to integrate into the overall design.  The project provides an opportunity for those involved in the revitalization of Central Market to participate and provide input into the design process.

The Better Market Street visioning process and research phase continues through 2012. Members of the public are invited to attend upcoming outreach meetings that are scheduled for July.  Earlier visioning workshops were conducted last year; concepts participants identified as priorities include: placemaking, walking, cycling, economic vitality, public transit and incorporation of civic uses.

Better Market Street is developing urban design concepts and strategies around these initial areas of focus. Some currently being explored include:

  • Reconfiguring transit lanes and boarding areas to improve the speed and reliability of public transit.
  • Developing solutions such as a physically separate “Cycle Track” or shared lane to better accommodate cyclists.
  • Introducing a “Street Life Zone”, an area between the street and sidewalk that would provide facilities such as benches, trees, cafe tables and public art to facilitate public interaction.

Better Market Street is spearheaded by the Department of Public Works, the Planning Department, Metropolitan Transportation Agency (MTA), the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development and the County Transportation Authority.  Public meetings are scheduled for July 17th and July 21st.  For more information please visit www.bettermarketstreet.org.

 

 

 

 

Central Market Partnership April Meeting Recap: Focus on Development and Housing

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There is a lot of activity taking place along Central Market and the Central Market Partnership meetings are a good way to keep up with all that’s happening.  Our April meeting at ACT’s new Costume Shop Theater  featured presentations by Shorenstein representative Tom Hart on the development of Market Square and former D8 Supervisor and Director of HOPE (Housing Opportunities, Partnership and Engagement), Bevan Dufty on housing initiatives occurring throughout Central Market and San Francisco. Highlights of the presentations are as follows:

Market Square

The Market Square project located at 1355 Market Street spanning the entire block between 9th and 10th Streets will be the future home of Twitter, One Kings Lane and other businesses that will bring new employment opportunities to Central Market.

Hart circulated renderings of the project and provided an update on the progress of construction.  The building, originally constructed in 1937 is an historic, art-deco icon that once housed the Western Furniture Exchange and Merchandise Mart.  It is being renovated to include state-of-the-art modern offices and ground floor retail while maintaining its classic architecture.  Once complete, the building will house 890,000 square feet of Class A office space above 200,000 square feet of street-level retail and one level of underground parking. The office space is being constructed as “Adaptive Space”, which allows various uses such as tech and creative companies the flexibility to configure and customize the space to best meet their needs.

Shorenstein is also incorporating community and public spaces into the development.  There will be meeting space for community organizations and arts groups and a common plaza as well as open space to connect the neighborhood and help to rejuvenate the area.

Shorenstein is coordinating efforts with historic preservationists to preserve the building’s iconic art deco architecture. However, the buidlings mechanical components and internal systems such as electrical and lifesafety systems are being retrofitted and modernized. Where possible sustainable construction practices are being used – for instance wood timbers from the original roof structure are being repurposed in the building’s lobby.  Shorenstein is currently negotiating the top two floors and plans for the building to be 80% occupied by the end of the year.

HOPE

Bevin Dufty, former Supervisor and Director of HOPE (Housing Opportunity, Partnerships and Engagement) provided an enthusiastic update of HOPE’s accomplishments and initiatives since being appointed to the position in January.  To date, 100 families have been housed and the agency continues to explore creative and non-traditional ways to address homelessness.  Dufty is committed to the Central Market neighborhood and is actively partnering with neighborhood agencies that address homelessness and provide supportive housing.

Dufty raised many interesting points about homelessness.  Solutions are not one-size fits all.  There are a number of sub-cultures within the homeless community.  Each group has different needs that require specialized care and services.

One program he spoke of is “Wet Housing”, which provides supportive housing for homeless men and women struggling with chronic alcoholism and addiction.  This group tends to be one of the most prevalent users of public services.  Wet Housing provides an integrated array of clinical services and supportive housing that gives the most vulnerable populations the necessary skills to lead more productive lives.

According to Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC), a Wet Housing program based in Seattle, and a 2009 study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association this approach annually saves taxpayers nearly $4 million dollars.  This is one of many solutions Dufty is exploring through HOPE.

Veterans housing, artists’ resident housing and ongoing adult education are other initiatives Dufty discussed.  These services are needed in Central Market and in many other neighborhoods throughout San Francisco.

Tackling homelessness and providing people with the skills and opportunities to stay off the streets requires creativity and dedication as well as the ability to leverage scarce resources and work with diverse partners.  HOPE brings partners and resources together and strives to create the synergy that is needed to build stronger, more stable neighborhoods. These initiatives will all help in the revival of Central Market.

The next Central Market Partnership meeting is scheduled for June.  Please sign-up to receive periodic information and announcements about Central Market and the Central Market Partnership.