Date: Thursday, December 12th – Time: 7-8:30PM.

Location: Ingleside Library Community Room – Address: 1298 Ocean Avenue.

SFPD/Taraval Station and SFSAFE representatives are expected to join us.

Meeting Notes by Patricia Ris (added to post 1/8/14)

Ridge Lane Neighbors Meeting/Thursday December 12th 2013

San Francisco Public Library Ingleside Branch/7-8:30PM

Furlishous Wyatt: fuslishous@sfsafge.org (415) 553-1980

Sandra Zuniga: sandra.zuniga@sfdpw.org (415) 695-2114

1/ SFPD

– The representatives from the Taraval TNT team explain the purpose of the TNT team. The team was established in the nineties to assist with the prevention of robberies, shootings and assassinations, due to narcotics sales and gang activity. The team consists of 2 sergeants and 9 officers in uniform and under cover.

– Officer Lau recommends to attend the OMI meetings to consolidate our efforts with Ridge Lane within the district. Meetings are held at 65 Beverly Street and are a forum for similar community based action plans. Go to: http://oceanview-neighbors.org/category/omi/

– From the point of view of the PD Ridge Lane is a dangerous place, especially in the dark. Our plans for better accessibility meet with approval and the recommendation to install lighting and create visibility, neighborhood cohesion (especially the parcels directly adjacent to RL), and surveillance cameras to protect against assault and robberies. For information about the crime rate in our district, please go to the SFPD/Taraval Station website, as per the suggestion of Furlishous Wyatt. Go to: http://www.taraval.org/?p=1209

The advice is to walk together, avoid walking in the dark and be alert to the surroundings. Another observation is that Ridge Lane offers criminals an easy escape route, where police officers in cars have difficulty continuing their pursuit.

Q: Do improvements to Ridge Lane make it safer?

Furlishous Wyatt from SF Safe: Yes, they do, but only if neighbors take ownership. Improvements decrease criminal activity, this is what othe improvement initiatives in the city have show. SFPD agrees: with lighting, cameras, call boxes and neighborhood watch.

Q: Are there call boxes elsewhere in the city?

FW: yes, and hard wired systems work best.

Q: Warren and Lynn report on their difficulties with their neighbor’s noise pollution, which has been going on for the past 5 years.

SFPD: Recommends looking into a civil suit and to continue reporting complaints to the PD. Eric Lau also recommends going to the Taraval Station in person to file a complaint with Sergeant Lum and to contact the city’s attorney’s office.

TNT team stresses to keep calling in reports on loitering, drug dealing, squatting and other irregular activities on Ridge Lane and other places in our area (see numbers above).

2/ DPW/Sandra Zuniga

– Good news: Supervisor Avalos has increased the budget for Ridge Lane improvements with $100.000, which brings the total up to $150.000

– PG&E and PUC need to be involved in the process of improvements, as well as the homeowners that are down the street from Ridge Lane. When we distribute flyers they need to be included as well.

The question rises again if crime will go up with easier accessibility?

– FW (SF SAFE): Safety increases with improvements. Recommends to consider the entire stretch of Ridge Lane, and not just one part of it.

Choose one same type of lighting and find a way around light ‘pollution’

(light shining into residents’ homes/bedrooms).

Essential elements for improvements:

–        Good paving

–        Good stairs

–        American Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance

(the survey will assist with this)

–        One ‘theme’ for the entire lane

Furlishous  needs the planned survey to proceed, but will walk RL in the daytime to get a better idea of the situation and needs for improvements. He will present our group with an overview of his findings and recommendations for optimal improvements, which will not reflect any numbers or money needed to accomplish them.

The users (us) will have to continue defining what it is that we want, so the discussion is ongoing and can only be completed when all of the elements are clear. Furlishous warns us that  his office is understaffed and that this process will take time.

We are very grateful for the presence of Furlishous  Waytt at this meeting, his commitment to our neighborhood initiative and his inspiring support for improving Ridge Lane. Thank you Furlishous and SFSAFE!

3/ PG&E and PUC

Mary Beth D’Alonzo will reports on the proceedings with PG&E and PUC. She’s talked with Doreen Martinez about the exposed pipes on the stretch between Caine and San Miguel Streets. Sandra Zuniga recommends to use 2014 funding for the pipe removal, and will facilitate contact with Mike Riodan (PUC).

4/ The January 2014 meeting will be held on Thursday January 9th at the SFPL/Ingleside Branch on Ocean Avenue and will be dedicated to planning our calendar for 2014.

Thursday, November 7th – Time: 7-8:30PM

Location: Ingleside Library Community Room – Address: 1298 Ocean Avenue, SF CA 94112, San Francisco

DPW representatives are expected to join us – Please mark your calendars!

Ridge Lane Neighbors Meeting /Thursday November 7th 2013

San Francisco Public Library Ingleside Branch/7-8:30PM

Meeting notes  (Patricia Ris 11/12/13)

This meeting was attended by: Robert Muehlbauer and Moneka Urbanske (57 Majestic), Michelle Sarky and Robert Sarky (434 San Miguel), Patricia Ris (24 Josiah), Sandra Zuniga (DWP), Barbara Vanderborght (14 Cain) Fayaz Rajani (85 Josiah) Warren Longmire (19 Cain), Lynn Yuan (1 Cain), Eric Maier (6 Majestic), Mary Beth D’Alonzo

1/ We will have our meetings on each second Thursday of the month and I’ll try to obtain this SFPL/Ingleside meeting room for this purpose.

2/ Our next meeting will be on December 12 2013

3/ Sandra Zuniga from DPW will forward contact information from SAFE to Patricia Ris, in order to invite a representative to our December 12th meeting. They offer free consultations about neighborhood improvements and safety concerns . It’s important to focus on what we don’t want to happen in this stage of our plan, according to Sandra. The meeting will focus on safety and how improvements to Ridge Lane might affect this either positively or negatively. We will also invite a representative from the Taraval Police station to discuss safety and loitering problems on and around Ridge Lane. Both representatives from SAFE and our PD can provide advice on stairway and landscaping design that enhances safety, as well as other similar, successful neighborhood efforts.

4/ Sandra advised to contact PUC (exposed pipes) and PG&E (lighting) for a meeting and possibly the walk through, after the meeting with SAFE and the SFPD.

5/ We welcomed Michelle and Robert Sarky to our meeting, who offered a wealth of information about Ridge Lane and it’s neighbors. Robert Sarky has lived on San Miguel all his life and spoke about the families who own(ed) adjacent properties, problems with loitering and the ongoing robberies. His concern is first and foremost that possible improvements to Ridge Lane also improve its safety. Everyone agreed with this purpose of personal safety and protection.

6/ Sandra handed out a brochure titled 2013 Summer Street Parks Workshop (also available on our website ridgelaneheigbors.org), which shows an example of a newly created Street Park and the work and decision making process involved. She has worked on as many as 80 street improvements and showed optimism toward our initiative and its potential success. The decision before us is to decide how to spend the $50.000 in available grant money. In order to make an informed decision about this Sandra will present us with a more precise estimate

of the cost of surveying Ridge Lane, from Howth to San Jose Avenues. Presently we know that the entire survey costs $50.000 and the stretch between Cain and San Miguel $15.000. We will postpone our vote on how to spend this money until we have more information.

7/ For the landscape design of Ridge Lane our group can make contact with local design schools and universities to save money (SFSU, CAAC).