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.

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