Special Guest Speakers Include:

San Francisco Police Department • California Highway Patrol • Downtown High School • SF Municipal Transportation Agency • Community Updates• SAFE Neighborhood Crime Watch Program • San Francisco Recreation and Parks • Department of Public Works • Caltrans

Each year this meeting is attended by over 100+ neighbors and is organized locally by 30+ community volunteers interested in raising awareness on public safety and community wellness in the McKinley Square neighborhood.  

The meeting is hosted by longtime Potrero Hill resident Joyce Book.  Book coordinates the volunteer efforts, outreach, flyer's and facilitates the meeting providing 20+ guest speakers annually who participate in the event.  The goal of these meetings is simple--Raise awareness on the importance of public safety and protecting our open spaces in the immediate areas surrounding McKinley Square. 

9/20/10: Community Challenge Award Notification (CCG)

We're keeping our fingers crossed for the Vermont Street Neighborhood Association (VSNA) as they compete with 20+ San Francisco neighborhood groups for CCG funding.  This year VSNA have organized again and have a proposed plan to create a new community gathering space, native gardens and a children's play area at the base of Twisty Hill (e.g. Enclave along Vermont Street) below McKinley Square Park at 21st before Kansas and 22nd.  We'll post the results 9/20/10.

8/10/10: Vermont Street Neighborhood Association Applying for 50K Community Challenge Grant!

7/1/10 Community Updates:

1) Recent Update From Jennifer King, Vermont Street Neighborhood Association (VSNA), Project Lead, SAFE Group Co-Captain for 800-900 Vermont, Kansas and 22nd Streets

Hi All,

Last year I submitted an application to DPW and SF Parks Trust "Street Parks" Program to begin a process of beautifying the abandoned enclave on the 900 Vermont block. DPW and Caltrans were very supportive however funding for any project would be very difficult through them. Thankfully, McKinley Square Park Foundation has come aboard to help obtain funds through grants for a beautification project here.

The proposed project may include pushing back the fence line within the enclave and heightening it to help prevent trespassing from gangs and homeless in this area.  Leveling out the area for a small community garden of low maintenance native plants and possibly a small play area for young children or gathering space. This proposed plan is nowhere near set in stone. More community meetings would be held before this were to happen. However, none of it will happen without funding and that opportunity is now here with the support of DPW, Caltrans and McKinley Square Park Foundation.

We will need email or individual letters in support of a beautification project in order to get the grant funding.  Please send your emails of support to me (I will forward them) or to Joyce Book of McKinley Square Park Foundation: 

joyce@mckinleysquarepark.org 

This will be very important as it shows the level of interest the neighborhood (particularly those directly impacted by this small area) has in the beautification of this space. 

Thank You,

Jennifer King

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2) Letters of Support: Audrey Cole, President, Potrero Hill Boosters Association

July 11, 2010

To Whom It May Concern:

The Potrero Boosters Neighborhood Association has been working on community planning and open space issues on the Hill and in the City’s eastern neighborhoods for well over a decade. As such, we are strong supporters of the multiple neighborhood efforts to improve the unimproved DPW areas below McKinley Square Park at the base of Vermont Street and the surrounding areas.

It takes strong and organized efforts by community advocates to improve the many neglected open spaces in our part of town. It’s gratifying to see the emergence of the Vermont Street Neighborhood SAFE Group and a coordinated neighborhood effort in creating new gathering spaces, beautification and the introduction of native gardens, and we support the initiative shown by many local groups to plan for multiple small capital projects, which add together to make a major – and desperately needed –upgrade. Please give the neighborhood efforts of the Vermont Street Neighborhood SAFE Group your highest consideration. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

All best wishes, and looking forward,

Audrey Cole. President, Potrero Hill Boosters Association

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3) Project Overview Letter from McKinley Square Park Foundation to area groups and neighbors:

Hi Neighbors!

This year the McKinley Square Park Foundation is sponsoring the Vermont Street Neighborhood Association (VSNA) for a 50K grant under the Community Challenge Grant (CCG) program. CCG provides matching grants to local residents, businesses, non-profits and other community groups to make physical improvements to their neighborhoods. The CCG focuses on projects that directly engage residents and businesses in working together to create green spaces, gathering places, public art, and other neighborhood amenities. The program provides an important tool for enabling communities to take the lead in conducting small-scale improvements in their own communities. [Go here for more details: http://www.sfgsa.org/index.aspx?page=4264]

VSNA is represented by active neighbors living on the 800-900 blocks of Vermont Street, 800-900 Kansas and 22^nd Street areas.  The SAFE block Co-Captains and VSNA Project Leaders are Jennifer King and Henry Wimmer.  

The Vision of this project includes the landscaping and expansion in the unimproved DPW areas adjacent to McKinley Square Park located at the base of Vermont Street (e.g. “Enclave”).  The Hope is that the added beautification will encourage a greater demonstration of pride and beauty within our neighborhood. The Goal is to support beautification projects in our neighborhoods through community revitalization efforts that will include clean-up, green-up and fix-up. The Plan is to unite our neighbors, residents and businesses in this effort towards creating a healthier, open space.

Our submission date is 7/15/10. The VSNA beautification project is focused on (3) distinct areas: beautification, native gardens and new gathering space (e.g. “Enclave”)

Beginning late last year; the members of VSNA began meeting and discussing positive ways where they could begin to address the long standing public safety issues directly impacting their homes along the 800-900 Blocks of Vermont and Kansas Streets. In just (9) short months; we have experienced the rewards of their efforts and seen a dramatic improvement in both public safety and a visible reduction in crimes related to the space.

To date, their efforts have resulted in over 250K in capital improvements from our park partners at DPW and Caltrans!  In the past months, we have seen improvements like the addition of 20K in permanent lighting and enjoyed an Art Installation from the students of Downtown High School.

The submission of this grant will be the first of many funding efforts being sponsored by the McKinley Square Park Foundation towards beautification projects at McKinley and the surrounding areas.  Today we are reaching out to good neighbors like yourself who have expressed interests in supporting funding projects such as this one that ultimately, benefit our entire neighborhood.   

The first phase of this project will involve establishing a larger "foot print" into the Caltrans areas (“Enclave”) by extending the existing fence line westward towards 101 hwy by approximately 30ft X 100ft. 2).  This area will provide a new level pad with replenished soils, landscaping and creative stone pathways 3) adding native gardens and learning areas for all to experience and enjoy 3) introduction of colorful living (green) walls to shape and enclose the areas along the new fence line to create a sense of safety and definition 4) establish a new, dedicated children's play area 5) establish a new community gathering space.

The proposed beautification project provides for many additional amenities including new benches, boulders, additional bollard lighting, colorful street painting for the children’s play areas, dedicated gardening shed and much, much more!  This will be the first effort of many to come - a work in progress under the direction of DPW and these VSNA neighbors.

Please join the McKinley Square Park Foundation when demonstrating community wide support for this beautification project by sending me an email today.  Address your emails to “To Whom it May Concern” and email those directly to me before 7/14. If you have access to a scanner—please print, sign and scan your letter sending it as an attachment via email.  Either can be included with the CCG submissions packet. 

For more information about the VSNA, their beautification project and future volunteer opportunities-- please contact the project leaders directly. 

Vermont Street SAFE Block Captains

Jennifer King [jleeking9@gmail.com]

Henry Wimmer [hanksterw@gmail.com]

***CCG Award Notifications are 9/20/10. ***

Thank you for your continued support towards funding projects and McKinley Square!

Sincerely,

Joyce Book

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4) Letter of Support from Members of Vermont Street Neighborhood Association

7/11/2010

To Whom it May Concern, 

I am in support of a project to further beautify, make accessible, and create a usable family friendly public space of the lower enclave of McKinley Square Park at the 900 block of Vermont Street completing the link of the upper and lower parts of this public park space.

With the even the little bit of cleanup and temporary lighting, along with a public art installation, the transient foot traffic has lessened and the temptation for people to use it as a dumping ground for bags of garbage and a place for casual sex, has also  noticeably decreased. A continued focus on bringing the 900 Vermont street enclave to a safe and usable space is something that is sorely needed and one which I fully support.

Sincerely, 

Jesse Garcia

jessegxoxo@mac.com

Kansas Street Neighbor / Member, Vermont Street Neighborhood Group (VSNA)