Yesterday I attended the celebration for both the affordable unit building Kapuso on Geneva and for SB 35, which state senator Scott Wiener authored and which made it possible.  This bill has been expanded in SB 423, which I hope doesn't mean that market-rate (exorbitant) will replace affordable.  

Finally!  Heather Knight really was at Manny's!  There were announcements in earlier months, and then the programs changed, affected I guess by her moving to the New York Times.  But last night's event was about her work at the New York Times--and at the SF Chronicle.

I thought her interview with Manny--and answers to the questions from attendees--were particularly interesting.  Manny is an excellent interviewer, and she seemed confident and genuine.  Even her voice sounded better.  

At one point, she told Manny, "You should be my agent," and he responded, "I have a day job."

She saiid she'd always thought she'd spend her whole writing life at the Chronicle like Carl Nolte and others.  But she got a call back in March, thanks to Connor Doherty, who when he found out that the NYTimes had an opening asked, "Have you read Heather Knight?"  They had, and they liked what she read.   She had thirteen interviews, and the people were very nice and more polite than the people at the SF Chronicle.  

Manny and others were concerned with how SF was coming across so negatively, and Heather said it was like the prettiest, most popular girl at school; people wanted something terrible to happen to her.  Manny made reference to Mean Girls and the most popular girl being hit by a bus.  (He wanted to know whether that reference was "a Millennium thing" that others wouldn't understand.  

More later!

 

 I'm glad I had the chance to participate in this "Invest in Transit Accessibility" event, but it was very sparsely attended--not as well as the June accessibility action at the broken elevator.

Carter Lavin's talk was really stimulating and original, beginning with "Disability is the only minority group that you can become a member of at any given moment in life." 

Shaya French also spoke, and so did Louis, who was the catalyst back in June.  I said what I intended to say.  The last person to speak (if we don't count the guy who told me he was running for mayor and didn't like my question, "Are you Lurie?") was Hillary Brown, who had a great red and white Muni scarf and "Ambassador" emblazoned on her back. She's with the BART Accessibility Task Force Advisory Group.  

I met Roger Rudick, who writes for Street Blog and covered the event in an informative way.  (I learned more from his write-up!)

https://sf.streetsblog.org/2023/09/27/transit-month-event-disability-access-is-for-everyone

 I'm about to leave to participate in this "Invest in Transit Accessibility" rally.  I'm wearing my SF Transit Rider tee shirt, but I'm bringing along CARA and Mothers Out Front.  (Couldn't find my OWL tee-shirt!) I'm using CARA for my note card on Mayor Breed's mid-May announcement that the city will invest $6 million to get the area of Powell from Market to Union Square to rise, and still we have an elevator that won't rise, not a very good symbol and very hard on people in wheelchairs and parents with kids in strollers.

Today I want to introduce myself as someone who's ridden Muni since 1966, when I was a student at SFState, going from an apartment in the Richmond to my classes five miles away and babysitting all over the city (for $1.00 an hour) and then as a mother with an infant and then a toddler.  Now in my old age I'm riding Muni for recreational and political activities all over the city, and it's working for me.  But I'm not in a wheelchair YET, and I want to emphasize that word YET.  Muni does well in getting riders in wheel chairs on and off their buses and streetcars, but once people get off at 5th and Market, they can't get down to Hallidie Plaza without an elevator, and this elevator hasn't worked for years. 

We've contacted departments, but no one has ever explained why this huge elevator has never been fixed.  

Then I'll talk about Mayor Breed and Supervisor Peskin's mid-May announcement that they would pour $6 million into the three-block stretch between Union Square and Market Street.  What about Hallidie Plaza itself?  It was a Winter Wonderland this past December.  What kind of wonderland is it for the people who can't get down to the plaza from Market Street?  There's a small, badly-ventilated elevator on 4th Street, but why not have this much larger, conveniently located elevator in working order?  Fix it, and we'd have a good symbol of San Francisco rising once again.  

Two Rallies Three Months Apart

Does Anyone Care?

I just sent this letter to SFNext:

The elevator at Hallidie Plaza that's been broken for years

Yahoo/Sent

• 

  Tina Martin <tina_martin@sbcglobal.net>

  To:sfnext@sfchronicle.com

  Sat, Sep 23 at 1:58 PM

  Dear SF Next,

  
  

  Could you come to a rally this Wednesday, September 27, 10-11 am, to urge the city and state to invest in transit accessibility and finally fix an elevator that's been broken for years?

  
  

  I'm attaching two flyers.  One was for an action taken by  Tenderloin residents, including Luis Castillo, who uses a wheelchair and discovered that the elevator at Market and 5th is broken and has been broken for years--hardly a symbol of raising downtown from its doom loop status.  The second is of a rally that will take place this Wednesday, September 27.

  
  

  After the rally, people in wheelchairs and others (possibly parents with kids in strollers) will walk from the non-functioning elevator to a small one on 4th Street, which can seem like a great distance to people with disabilities.  

  
  

  Please consider investigating why, in an area promised $6 million for refurbishing to help the downtown area rise, the city can't get a rising elevator.

  
  

  Tina Martin

  Member of Transit Justice & Voices for Public Transportation

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

 

Of course, what happens in Sacramento affects San Francisco, but since this is a blog specifically for SF vistas, I'll share these two photos of before our bus left SF for a rally to support AB 316, which was passed by the state legislators but which Governor Newsom doesn't appear inclined to sign. Supervisor Connie Chan came aboard to show her support of what we were doing and provide something sweet, Mochi donuts.  Here you see her with Kim Tavaglione, the Executive Director of the San Francisco Labor Council