NEWSLETTER FEB. 6TH, 2013

NEWSLETTER FEB. 6TH, 2013

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Twenty people completed interactive-art-surveys on “Urban Renewal” at the Western Addition Sunday Streets

Nearly 200 people stopped by and viewed the 4X10 foot vinyl banner of photos from before and after “Urban Renewal” this past Sunday Streets, September 10th, 2012.  Sunday Streets is a series of events put on by the City of San Francisco to encourage health, community and fun.  Below are the responses from random tourists, City residents and locals who participated.  The cultural awareness survey is aimed at rekindling a movement to educate people about “Urban Renewal.”  The project was put together by local artists and sponsored by the Fillmore Neighborhood Association.  Three hundred dollars for the banner was paid for through a grant by the Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development.

1) What does Urban Renewal mean to you? 

Hopefully improvement, but more community input is needed not just bureaucrats making decisions.

2) What is something that can change to prevent Urban Renewal from happening again?

Residents getting involved.

3) What City or State did you grow up in?

Nova Scotia

4) Total number of years lived in the Fillmore / Western Addition? 

Six years (In the 1990’s)

SURVEY RESPONDENT # 2

1) What does Urban Renewal mean to you? 

Driving out the minority community and everyone else who is poor or not rich.  Destroying whole neighborhoods.

2) What is something that can change to prevent Urban Renewal from happening again?

Alerting everyone to keep from people buying into it and cooperating or investing in it.

3) What City or State did you grow up in?

Mostly Washington State, but also New Jersey, Texas, Illinois, South Dakota, Germany and California.   Many friends in Western addition displaced. 

4) Total number of years lived in the Fillmore / Western Addition? 

Haight Ashbury 9 years and Ocean view 37 years.

SURVEY RESPONDENT # 3

1) What does Urban Renewal mean to you? 

“Urban Renewal” is a relative term but I think it tends to mean making an area “nicer” and moving crime/poverty out, but at the expense of local citizens and history.  

2) What is something that can change to prevent Urban Renewal from happening again?

Increased events like “Sunday Streets” and keeping neighborhood open and accessible for everyone in the greater community.  People will fight to protect what they know and love.  

3) What City or State did you grow up in? 

Massachusetts

4) Total number of years lived in the Fillmore / Western Addition? 

I live in Cole Valley

SURVEY RESPONDENT # 4

1) What does Urban Renewal mean to you? 

I full-out support what you are doing!

2) What is something that can change to prevent Urban Renewal from happening again?

Blank

3) What City or State did you grow up in?

Seattle, WA

4) Total number of years lived in the Fillmore / Western Addition? 

Zero

SURVEY RESPONDENT # 5

1) What does Urban Renewal mean to you? 

Gentrification, displacement + moving $ from small local family businesses to large national or trans-national ones

2) What is something that can change to prevent Urban Renewal from happening again?

Consciousness, education, consumer voting + political participation.  

3) What City or State did you grow up in?

Little rock, AR

4) Total number of years lived in the Fillmore / Western Addition? 

Seventeen years

SURVEY RESPONDENT # 6

1) What does Urban Renewal mean to you? 

Displacing low-income people predominantly people of color. 

2) What is something that can change to prevent Urban Renewal from happening again?

Zoning laws, regulations on franchises, etc.   

3) What City or State did you grow up in?

Maryland

4) Total number of years lived in the Fillmore / Western Addition? 

Twenty-four years

SURVEY RESPONDENT # 7

1) What does Urban Renewal mean to you? 

Revitalization, new energy, protecting history + culture

2) What is something that can change to prevent Urban Renewal from happening again?

Blank

3) What City or State did you grow up in?

Lakewood, Colorado

4) Total number of years lived in the Fillmore / Western Addition? 

Zero

SURVEY RESPONDENT # 8

1) What does Urban Renewal mean to you? 

Improvements but not always.

2) What is something that can change to prevent Urban Renewal from happening again?

Put it on the voter ballot.

3) What City or State did you grow up in?

S.F.

4) Total number of years lived in the Fillmore / Western Addition? 

Zero - Sunset

SURVEY RESPONDENT # 9

1) What does Urban Renewal mean to you? 

When post war white America started leaving cities for suburbs, government and business began a systematic policy to streamline auto transportation at the expense of poorer neighborhoods.   

2) What is something that can change to prevent Urban Renewal from happening again?

Blank

3) What City or State did you grow up in?

Rochester, NY

4) Total number of years lived in the Fillmore / Western Addition? 

Lived 10 years @ Page + Fillmore

SURVEY RESPONDENT # 10

1) What does Urban Renewal mean to you? 

Blank

2) What is something that can change to prevent Urban Renewal from happening again?

Blank

3) What City or State did you grow up in?

Georgia

4) Total number of years lived in the Fillmore / Western Addition? 

Blank

SURVEY RESPONDENT # 11

1) What does Urban Renewal mean to you? 

Gentrification

2) What is something that can change to prevent Urban Renewal from happening again?

Let the Community be part of the decision making.   

3) What City or State did you grow up in?

Los Angeles

4) Total number of years lived in the Fillmore / Western Addition? 

Zero

SURVEY RESPONDENT # 12

1) What does Urban Renewal mean to you? 

It means prospectors w/ money see an opportunity to purchase property at a low price(usually from poor people + people of color) and resell to the highest bidder.   

2) What is something that can change to prevent Urban Renewal from happening again?

Make tough regulations about who can buy and why.   

3) What City or State did you grow up in?

Seattle, WA

4) Total number of years lived in the Fillmore / Western Addition? 

Zero

SURVEY RESPONDENT # 13

1) What does Urban Renewal mean to you? 

Gentrification – Newer, sometimes nicer neighborhoods but pushing out original residents, new comers love the culture of original resident, but push the people out that have the cultures.   

2) What is something that can change to prevent Urban Renewal from happening again?

Informing the original residents about keeping their homes + the value.  Offering businesses incentives to local folks in the area for so long.   

3) What City or State did you grow up in?

S.F., Oakland, LA and CA

4) Total number of years lived in the Fillmore / Western Addition? 

Mother, Aunt, Uncle grew up in Western Addition. 

SURVEY RESPONDENT # 14

1) What does Urban Renewal mean to you? 

Wide spread change, Gentrification.  

2) What is something that can change to prevent Urban Renewal from happening again?

Landlords should not be allowed to let properties deteriorate.   

3) What City or State did you grow up in?

Illinois

4) Total number of years lived in the Fillmore / Western Addition? 

Zero

SURVEY RESPONDENT # 15

1) What does Urban Renewal mean to you? 

At its best – ensuring vibrancy of our urban cores; at worst it destroys our heritage.   

2) What is something that can change to prevent Urban Renewal from happening again?

Involvement + collaboration across all the interest groups. 

3) What City or State did you grow up in?

New York

4) Total number of years lived in the Fillmore / Western Addition? 

Twenty years. 

SURVEY RESPONDENT # 16

1) What does Urban Renewal mean to you? 

Hopefully it helps people live a better life not just for the rich.    

2) What is something that can change to prevent Urban Renewal from happening again?

Let people make a living wage and can afford to live well and buy property.  

3) What City or State did you grow up in?

San Francisco, CA

4) Total number of years lived in the Fillmore / Western Addition? 

None

SURVEY RESPONDENT # 17

1) What does Urban Renewal mean to you? 

Loss of home + Jobs.  Loss of community.  History and culture.  

2) What is something that can change to prevent Urban Renewal from happening again?

Voting, being a aware of community.   

3) What City or State did you grow up in?

San Francisco

4) Total number of years lived in the Fillmore / Western Addition? 

Native

SURVEY RESPONDENT # 18

1) What does Urban Renewal mean to you? 

Forced modification of a place to fit a different vision of what it should be regardless of past culture / community.   

2) What is something that can change to prevent Urban Renewal from happening again?

Sharing community spaces, encouraging interaction & respect of communities and places, and historical value.   

3) What City or State did you grow up in?

Illinois.  

4) Total number of years lived in the Fillmore / Western Addition? 

Live in Cole Valley for 9 years.

 

 

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Report: Impact of Discplacement on Fillmore Residents

Fillmore Neighborhood Association

Report on Impact of Displacement on Fillmore Residents - 2011

The out-migration, displacement and gentrification of communities from San Francisco is a phenomenon that has long-lasting and multifaceted impacts on the wellbeing of

residents who were forced to move.

Economic

·         Research has shown that displaced families endure a number of economic hardships.

·         The initial costs of relocating and setting up a new household.

·         Employment rates for urban residents displaced from their neighborhoods tend to remain the same (Goetz 2002, Levy and Kaye 2004).

·         Transportation costs increase in order to commute to an old school or place of employment (Goetz 2002).

·         More nuanced impacts, such as the loss of investments made in a home or job, as well as a decreased sense of “entrepreneurial spirit,” have also been found among displaced residents (Feldman 2003).

Social

·         The social impacts of displacement for involuntarily moved families are varied, and include lower levels of interaction with neighbors (Levy 2002 – HOPE VI tracking study and Goetz 2002).

·         The destruction of myriad social support networks that existed in the original neighborhood (Fullilove 2004). Additionally, when displacement is proportionately imposed onto a particular segment of the population by public policies such as Urban Renewal.

·         Feelings of distrust and disappointment towards city government are profound and have been entrenched over time (Fullilove 2004).

 

Health

·         Research on the health impacts of displacement have shown that relocation often interrupts access to healthcare, which can result in increased rates of morbidity

·         (Goetz2002).

·         The psychological costs of displacement are also significant, and include disorientation, loneliness, and alienation that result from a loss in place identity and familiarity (Fullilove 1996).

Community

·         More nuanced investigations of displacement have revealed an experience of fragmentation.

·         This fragmentation has manifested itself politically by diluting the political power of a voter blocs.

·         Culturally - by creating an environment in which people no longer feel like they are part of the same “family,” thus enabling violence and feelings of distrust to fester within a neighborhood (Fullilove 2004).

·         While it is not possible to undo all of the costs of displacement mentioned above, it is possible and imperative to reverse the decline of population in SF both in terms of existing public housing slots, and new affordable housing units.

·         Public housing is one of the few affordable ways for low-income residents to stay in San Francisco, and it is also important to remember that the expansion and improvement of affordable housing for existing residents.

Children

·         According to survey findings among displaced families, children are less likely to play with and have friends in their new neighborhood.

·         Receive less attention from school teachers than they did in their old neighborhoods (Goetz 2002).

Supervisor London Breed Inauguration - Jan 2013

Supervisor London Breed Inauguration - Jan 2013

RECAP: Workshop Wednesdays" at the Fillmore Mini Park from NOV-DEC 2012

RECAP: Workshop Wednesdays" at the Fillmore Mini Park from NOV-DEC 2012