The other day I was remembering the 1950s -1960s in San Francisco

Coming from the East Bay to the City over the bay bridge the senses would fill with the sounds of fog horns and cable cars - the aroma of Hills brothers coffee and San Francisco Anchor beer- further down the highway was the sniff of Planters peanuts. The fog that is unique in the way it weaves through the hills and Golden Gate bridge. After WWII people from around the world moved in and many languages filled the air and all races of humanity - one could always find a corner store in any neighborhood - plus neighborhood libraries and schools -all education was free - museums, recreation centers and the zoo were also free. 

kamie in red scarf around her waist dancing

I left this very crowded city to watch my wonderful daughter perform with her group of dancers in Napa. There was parking and nice uncrowded streets. I have no plans to leave  San Francisco but knowing that there are 100,000 more people than a few years ago is rather distressing. The Mission area is burning - at least it seems every day another building burns so corporations - who could care less - are snatching up property to build expensive condos. This city cannot sustain nearly a million people when millions come here to work or come to  visit. One of the tenants where I live was hit twice by cars by people who don't understand the rules of the road in San Francisco are not like any where else.  It is far too expensive to have children so there are more dogs than children. When I first moved in this apartment on Diamond Heights Blvd - the park below was a ball field for children and dogs were not allowed - now it is a dog park and children are afraid of all the big dogs. Maybe I am just getting too old and grumpy for change! 

 Wonderful spring celebration at Walter Haas park in Diamond Heights. There is a closed in area for dogs. It is a hilly park and one can see all the way to the bay once the fog lifts. On this particular day we enjoyed great weather - sunny - breezy but not hot or too cold. A rare day for San Francisco.
Chrisie Phaeton in the center with the flowered hat playing with the Jug Band for the children during their Easter egg hunt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSC3P1mrbvk

Richard was at the Little Red Hen community garden on Duncan next to the Church and Police Academy. He said he was disappointed that more people did not participate or continue with their gardens. The Police academy was at one time an elementary school. Did you know that artichokes had beautiful flowers when in bloom and bees would swarm them by the droves?

The Diamond Heights Community Association is working with departments
of the city, SF CARD, The American Red Cross for disaster resilience.  The
Centers for Disease Control has extended a grant to equip St Aidan's Church
with emergency supplies.  St Aidan's Church is the center for food and
relief efforts in the neighborhood.  We are trying to get commitments from
Safeway, Walgreen's and others in the Diamond Heights Shopping Center to
reopen their doors as soon as possible after an event.  You may recall that
Safeway handed out free batteries and flashlights after the '89 quake.

March 2 2013         Diamond Heights neighborhood meeting.  4:00 PM

Muni is getting increased support around a regular maintenance schedule so more riders can rely on the system.  Service interruptions cost millions a year.  In the past there was little or no reform.  SF is encouraging more car sharing spots.  Impediments to this and improvements for those riding bikes are continually being explored.

The new budget this year gave the police academy the ability to have more classes, more officers and more staffing.

With the sequester we can expect the funding for HIV To be cut substantially.  There will be lower support for public works as well as cuts in staff for green areas and parks that depend on funds from the Federal government.

Christopher park is on track for improving playground.

Jane Warner park had benches were removed and the encampments discouraged.  One encampment had destroyed shrubs and left messes behind.  There are issues of disrespectful young people backpacking and fighting at Harvey milk plaza and illegal camping.  There is no campaign anywhere in the city of San Francisco.

Supervisor Weiner advised against feeding the homeless or giving them blankets as this encouraged homelessness.  If you see homeless people call 734-4233 and an outreach person will come and deal with the problem.

There was a discussion about a parcel tax for the city.  It needs to be a passed by 2/3 of the supervisors.  The parcel tax for every building regardless of how large or how small would be $79.00.  The money would go to helping city college.

There were issues concerning the assessor’s office and the treasury in dealing with backlogs and apartment conversions from tendency in common to condominiums.  The city wants to increase the lottery from two hundred to 2600.  Tenants who are disabled or seniors have a lifetime lease.

New buildings have a height limit of 40 to 50 feet tall and 30% affordable rents.

Capt. David Lazar, Director of the San Francisco Police Academy said there is less gun violence in SF than other cities.  He announced that more police will be on the streets and are being trained at the police academy as we speak. There is a plan to create a program ALERT that will be like NERT.

A neighbor was concerned about trigger happy police who kill dogs and don’t seem to know how to deal with animals who may not be aggressive but afraid.  Another neighbor was concerned about police having live ammunition that kill instead of hollow bullets and why the police would shoot to kill rather than shooting a leg or arm that would stop the perpetrator just as well. 

There have been many car thefts and break-ins around different parts of the city.  Neighbors are advised to report any damage or break-ins,  no matter how small because sometimes it is only one person doing all the damage.  So the police need to have a pattern to go by.

other news on Diamond Heights