SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — The Marina Green — 74 acres that so many people love and cherish.

“That openness is a treasure that we have today,” said Dan Clarke, a concerned neighbor.

But that could change with a new project called “The Marina Improvement and Remediation Project.”

It could mean expanding the harbor footprint along Marina Green.

According to project supporters, this is what the Marina looks like today.

A rendering of what the Marina horizon looks like today is pictured.

A rendering of what the Marina horizon looks like today is pictured.

And what it could look like if the project proposal got the green light.

A rendering of what a new design of the Marina horizon could look like is pictured.

A rendering of what a new design of the Marina horizon could look like is pictured.

Here’s the issue: right beside the Marina Green is Gashouse Cove, an area that requires serious cleanup.

Laura Thompson is with “Keep the Waterfront Open.”

“PG&E is providing $190 million to close up that gas toxins that are coming up through the Gashouse Cove which is over by Fort Mason. That is the intent of the settlement to clean up that gas plant and toxins up,” said Thompson.

Many community members are upset.

MORE: SF civic pride campaign kicks off, rallies residents to support city

They say the SF Recreation and Park Department isn’t doing the cleanup and instead are pushing forward a controversial plan.

“Instead RPD, to use that money to clean up a minimal amount of the toxins and instead build a brand new big boat harbor in front of the last remaining waterfront area in front of the Marina Green,” said Thompson.

Frustrated community members protested today at SF City Hall right before the Recreation and Park Commission meeting, saying they want to maintain the Marina Green and its open waterfront.

“It’s a beautiful unique spot within San Francisco. People from all over the community use this place. To put a boat parking lot in front of Marina Green–it serves so few people when so many can get the advantages of this spot,” said Erin Roach with “Keep The Waterfront Open.”

MORE: Here’s where in Fisherman’s Wharf the GGP Ferris wheel would be relocated if approved

Outside City Hall, demonstrators carried signs that said, “No new boat harbor” and “Marina Green for the people.”

Inside meeting chambers, Recreation and Park Commissioners heard the proposal and nearly five dozen public comments.

The majority of the neighbors say “no-way” and that the plan is a “no-go”

Some even gave a thumbs down sign during the project presentation.

“People don’t want a harbor in front of the Marina Green,” said one speaker during public comment.

MORE: What San Francisco and Oakland are doing to increase their tree canopy in most vulnerable areas

“It is outrageous that I have to be here to plead that you not build a new harbor in front of the Marina Green,” said another speaker.

As part of the proposed plan, more than 200 boats would be relocated and moored along Marina Green.

Neighbors say that would block bay views.

Proponents of the plan say the plan would make the waterfront at Gashouse Cove more accessible.

MORE: SF’s wave-activated organ plays sounds of the sea

“We are for going ahead with the EIR. It will give lots of people a lot of opportunity to get on the water in the future,” said one speaker during public comment.

In the end, the Recreation and Park Commission unanimously voted to move forward with an environmental review study.

According to the Department of Recreation and Parks, commissioners added an amendment that the work include a financial feasibility study of the Marina with the objective of minimizing the number of slips in the West Harbor and identifying opportunities to add additional slips in the East Harbor.

The Department released this statement late Thursday afternoon:

The Marina Improvement and Remediation Project is an opportunity to clean up environmental pollution at the SF Marina while increasing public access and expanding recreation both in water and on land. This joint project with the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department and PG&E is governed by a 2021 settlement agreement approved by the Board of Supervisors.

Today’s action by the Recreation and Park Commission authorizes us to proceed with planning and design for environmental review under CEQA. This work will include a financial feasibility study of the Marina with the objective of minimizing the number of slips in the West Harbor and identifying opportunities to add additional slips in the East Harbor. The environmental review process is expected to take 18-24 months and includes an Environmental Impact Report, which will be prepared by the Planning Department. Once the review is complete, we will bring a proposed project back to the Commission for approval with the adoption of CEQA findings; the project will consider both community feedback and the purpose of the settlement to ensure an environmentally and financially sustainable marina.

If you’re on the ABC7 News app, click here to watch live

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SAN FRANCISCO – A federal jury today convicted Harlan Kelly, the former General Manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (PUC) of charges that he accepted bribes and gifts from a local businessman in a scheme to provide confidential information about the city public bidding process and steer city contracts to that person’s businesses, announced First Assistant United States Attorney Patrick Robbins, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Robert K. Tripp, and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Special Agent in Charge Darren Lian. The verdict follows a two-week trial before United States Chief District Judge Richard Seeborg.

Kelly, 61, of San Francisco, was arrested on a criminal complaint in November 2020, and he was tried on charges contained in a May 31, 2022, superseding indictment that included charges of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and honest services wire fraud. The superseding indictment also included charges of false statements to a bank, conspiracy to make false statements to a bank, bank fraud, and bank fraud conspiracy, related to a scheme to defraud Quicken Loans in connection with a $1.3 million mortgage refinance loan obtained by Kelly.

Kelly was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, one count of honest services wire fraud, and all four counts related to the bank fraud scheme. The jury found Kelly not guilty of two honest services wire fraud counts.

The charges against, and prosecution of, Kelly grew out of a years-long investigation into bribery and public corruption in San Francisco city government, led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI, and IRS-CI. To date, 13 individuals have been charged in connection that larger set of investigations, including Mohammed Nuru, former director of the San Francisco Public Works department, and multiple city contractors and other facilitators of bribes and corruption.

The evidence at trial showed that Kelly, appointed in 2012 as General Manager of the San Francisco PUC, had access to confidential information about city contract bidding processes, and the ability to influence the awarding of some city contracts. Documents and testimony showed that Kelly had a close personal and professional relationship with San Francisco business owner and contractor Walter Wong, and that during the time Wong both conducted business with the city and sought additional lucrative contracts to supply the PUC with LED streetlights. While he was doing business with the city and seeking contracts, Wong provided numerous gifts, benefits, and bribes to Kelly. These bribes including discounted construction work on Kelly’s personal residence and a lavish international trip hosted by and in part paid for by Wong. Evidence showed that Wong paid travel and personal expenses for Kelly and his family during a March 2016 Kelly family vacation to Hong Kong, Macau, and China, and that Wong paid for hotel expenses and incidentals such as meals and luxury excursions. Wong has previously pleaded guilty to charges that he engaged in an honest services fraud conspiracy in connection with his interactions with Kelly and others.

The evidence at trial showed that as part of the bribery conspiracy, Kelly provided confidential information and documents about the details of bids submitted by other contractors, including proprietary pricing and cost information, and information and documents with internal notes about how city employees in the PUC were evaluating and rating the bidders. The evidence showed that Kelly delivered these documents to Wong and his associates in violation of Kelly’s fiduciary obligations to the city and its residents, and that the confidential information assisted Wong and his company in improving Wong’s chances to obtain the contract award.

Trial evidence also showed that Kelly defrauded Quicken Loans, a financial institution, in a $1.3 million dollar real estate mortgage loan provided to Kelly. The evidence at trial showed that Kelly worked with an associate, prominent city businessman and property manager Victor Makras, to mislead the bank. According to the evidence, in the application for the loan Kelly falsely represented that he had a $915,000 mortgage and concealed the true nature of his debts from Quicken. According to the trial evidence, these misrepresentations were material to the bank’s evaluation of the borrower and the loan. The outstanding debts that Kelly concealed from Quicken included a construction debt owed to the contractor, Walter Wong that amounted to about $89,000. Another debt concealed from the company was a $70,000 unsecured personal loan made by Makras to Kelly, a result of Makras directly paying Kelly’s credit card debt in order to conceal the fact that Kelly received this loan from Makras.

Co-defendant Makras, 64 of San Francisco, was also charged in the May 31, 2022 superseding indictment, and was convicted of making false statements to a bank and bank fraud at a separate trial in August 2022.

The federal jury today convicted Kelly of the following:

•    One count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1343, 1346, and 1349, which carries a maximum possible penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, or the greater of twice the gross gain or gross loss
•    One count of honest services wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1343 and 1346, which carries a maximum possible penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, or the greater of twice the gross gain or gross loss
•    One count of making false statements to a bank in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1014, which carries a maximum possible penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine
•    One count of conspiracy to make false statements to a bank in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, which carries a maximum possible penalty of 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000
•    One count of bank fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1344(1),(2), which carries a maximum possible penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine of $1,000,000, or not more than the greater of twice the gross gain or gross loss
•    One count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1344(1),(2) and 1349, which carries a maximum possible penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine of $1,000,000, or not more than the greater of twice the gross gain or gross loss

As part of any sentence, the court also may order the defendant to serve an additional period of supervised release to begin after any prison term, to pay additional penalties, and to pay restitution, if appropriate. However, any sentence will be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553. Defendant Kelly remains out of custody pending sentencing. No future date has yet been set.

The case is being prosecuted by the Corporate and Securities Fraud Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Ward and Kristina Green prosecuted the case at trial with the assistance of Tina Rosenbaum. The case is being investigated by the FBI and the IRS-CI.

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An open secret

The condition of the DHC buildings is no secret. HUD inspections are conducted annually and before move-ins and are required for all but the highest performing properties. The results of these inspections are sent to the DHC Board and to HUD.

The DHC consistently performed poorly in the 2019 inspections. Six developments received a rating of “fail” and five others were “almost failed” with scores between 60 and 71.

Henriquez is confident that this year’s results will improve.

“I think the results will be better in 2023,” she said. “We are educating and educating people and making them more accountable and we will see the difference in both improved productivity and the work done.”

Between February and April of this year, Outlier Media visited and interviewed residents of the Diggs Homes, Brewster Homes, the Villages at Parkside and dozens of single-family homes. Some were in good or fairly good condition. Others weren’t. As residents showed us their homes, reporters saw many dilapidated exteriors, boarded-up units, and even worse conditions inside the units.

There are around 3,300 public housing associations in the country. Because these agencies fund, manage and count the properties in their portfolios differently, it is difficult to come up with an “average” value against which to compare inspection results.

Still, based on descriptions provided by Outlier, conditions at DHC properties were a cause for concern for national expert Susan Popkin, director of the Urban Institute’s Housing Opportunities and Services Together initiative.

“What’s happening at the DHC sounds like poor property management,” Popkin said. “They are supposed to fix health and safety issues in a timely manner – like any other landlord.”

Popkin added that oversight is critical to an effective housing authority.

“They are enormously complex organisations. There are some very good housing managers and others who are not so good,” she said. “But if no one is keeping an eye on them, there can be problems.”

Henriquez has been at the helm of the DHC since 2019. The Board of Commissioners oversees their work and that of the Agency. Richard Hosey, Aaron Seybert, Penny Bailer, Achsah Williams and Keona Cowan are the current board members appointed by the mayor. Hosey, a developer who chairs the board, also serves on the boards of the Detroit Land Bank Authority and the Downtown Development Authority.

The board was presented with the latest inspection results from 2021, which showed that 13 out of 15 properties were defective. A memo on the board pack, compiled by DHC staff and acknowledging the poor performance, said: “The results were substandard.”

In its email response to Outlier, the board blamed many of the DHC’s problems on funding and understaffing, but not on its CEO.

“The board has full confidence in Sandra’s leadership,” it said.

HUD also has the power to intervene when public housing authorities are underperforming and may consider the authority “concerned”. They can then conclude a cooperation agreement with the municipality to improve real estate conditions.

In 2005, HUD placed DHC in receivership for nearly a decade due to poor ownership and mismanagement of funds.

HUD said it “takes its oversight responsibilities seriously” and is more engaged with local authorities in cases of “poor performance”.

“DHC failed to meet that criterion,” Michael Polsinelli, director of HUD’s Detroit field office, said via email to a spokesman.

is there a plan

The widespread acknowledgment of poor conditions on all DHC properties does not appear to provide incentives for further action by the city government.

“Lack of inspections is a concern,” Donald Rencher, the city’s group leader for housing, planning and development, said via email. “I believe DHC has been working on a capital plan for its public housing that will address many of the issues.”

Henriquez said the lack of money limited her ability to do much more than plug holes. The DHC is currently conducting a capital requirements analysis to determine exactly how much money it would need to refurbish its properties. However, she estimated the funding required would run into “hundreds of millions of dollars.”

DHC only has about $12 million a year available for capital improvements, Henriquez said.

Social housing agencies across the country are facing funding constraints as HUD cuts the amount of money it allocates to support public housing. But DHC has not taken advantage of HUD programs, which could fill funding gaps and improve conditions in its buildings.

HUD encourages public housing authorities to convert properties into a so-called “Rental Assistance Demonstration” (RAD). The tool allows public housing authorities to access various forms of financing such as loans or funds from partnerships with private investors, rather than relying solely on HUD grants, which can mean more money for property renovations. For example, the San Francisco Housing Authority has converted 29 projects with nearly 3,500 housing units to RAD.

RAD could play a big role in filling DHC’s funding gaps, but has yet to complete a single conversion. It will likely be years before the Commission completes the refurbishment of its weakest performing buildings.

Henriquez said that when she joined DHC, no action had been taken against RAD, although it had been an option for seven years. After the DHC was set back a year by COVID-19, Henriquez says it gives its approval to convert 308 Gardenview Estates public units it doesn’t own for such a project.

“We’re trying to make up for lost time,” she said.

Despite poor performance on RAD inspections and conversions, Mayor Mike Duggan has made the DHC an integral part of his affordable housing plan. The city plans to sell 12 multi-family homes to the DHC, which will spend $20 million on redevelopment for low-income residents.

Rencher said it’s important that DHC continue to make neighborhoods more affordable.

“DHC must have two strategies in developing and managing affordable housing,” Rencher said. “One for improving the stock of affordable housing and another for creating opportunities for new affordable housing units. DHC must do both to meet the needs of Detroit residents.”

Henriquez believes the company will be able to handle the additional management responsibilities.

“I agree that we haven’t learned to crawl yet. So why would you try to run it and add more to the portfolio?” she said. “I think by the time those units come on board and we’ve got all of that sorted out, we’ll be at a point where our property management skills will have improved significantly. It will make sense to add these to our portfolio.”

At her DHC-managed home on the west side of the city, Starreatha James thinks it’s possible the Commission is now beginning to tackle some of its long-standing problems. After Outlier provided the DHC with a list of issues and questions about James’ house, she said maintenance had been in touch and would be in soon to investigate and possibly fix the issues.

It might be too late. James’ family has reached the limit of what they are willing to endure. She says they are looking for a new place to live, even though it’s harder to afford a house on the open market.

“I don’t want to deal with the DHC anymore,” she said.

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Two weeks ago, I reported on the decision of the San Francisco Election Commission to not renew the term of John Arntz, by a 4-2 vote, who is completing his fourth 5-year stint as Director of the San Francisco Department of Elections. The one and only reason given by the Commissioners for not renewing his contract was that Arntz did not meet the diversity goals set forth in Mayor London Breed’s racial equity plan, and the Commission wanted to open the process to other candidates in order to fulfill those goals . John Arntz is a straight white male.

The outcry from San Francisco and across the nation was diluvian in nature. Conservative media had a field day poking fun at the Liberal bastion that is San Francisco, as the city by the bay seemed to be plumbing new depths of Woke identity politics. More telling though was the criticism emanating from Left-leaning circles in San Francisco and beyond.

Mayor London Breed herself, whose racial equity plan was cited as rationale for not reappointing the Director said that Arntz:

“Has served San Francisco with integrity, professionalism and has stayed completely independent. He’s remained impartial and has avoided getting caught up in the web of city politics, which is what we are seeing now as a result of this unnecessary vote. Rather than working on key issues to recover and rebuild our city, this is a good example of unfair politicization of a key part of our government that is working well for the voters of this city.”

California Liberal icon State Senator Scott Weiner (D-San Francisco) tweeted:

“When John Arntz took over as Director of Elections, the Department was a mess — remember ballot box tops floating in the bay? Arntz turned it around. It’s now one of our best run departments. Why on earth is the Elections Commission moving to dump this strong elections leader?”

The position of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors—the elected body responsible for funding the San Francisco Election Commission—was also critical of the racially motivated decision to sack Mr. Arntz.

District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin called the move to sack Arntz “Bananas.” More pointedly, Peskin went on to proclaim, “The remarks from Commissioners are ripe for a discrimination lawsuit.”

Yet, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors did not just offer critical commentary, they took it one step further. The San Francisco Elections Commission simply does not have a set budget. Chris Jerdonek, the President of the Commission was informed that the Mayor’s office and the Board of Supervisors would just not provide the estimated $50,000 necessary for the Election Commission to hire a firm to conduct a search for a new Elections Director. The Board of Supervisors was unanimous in their decision. This maneuver in and of itself did not sit well in some circles. Several government advocacy groups confronted the Board of Supervisors with accusations that withholding funds from the Commission was tantamount to interfering in their autonomy which was set in their charter when the Commission was created in 2002.

Jerdonek wrote in an email that not providing funding for a Director’s search would be “undermining” the Commission’s oversight mandate and prevent the Commission from hiring an Elections Director—a responsibility specifically enumerated in that charter.

Election Commissioner Cynthia Dai said:

“Having to beg for the money every five years — it certainly undermines our independence.”

The last time the Commission was funded for and employed a search firm for the Director’s position was in fact twenty years ago when John Arntz was first appointed.

Commissioners said the fact they don’t have funding “highlights a weakness” in the charter. Perhaps so, but arguably the fact that the Commission would relieve a highly qualified and respected public servant of his job simply because he does not check any of the diversity boxes would highlight that the body ought not have any autonomy in the first place.

There are those who have speculated that the real motivation behind the decision to not renew Arntz was based on his apparent recalcitrance to seek out and employ an open-source voting system for San Francisco elections. Open-source voting allows any member of the public to view the code used to ultimately tabulate ballots. And even if Arntz had been slow to embrace this technology for San Francisco, this appears as nothing more than a red herring in order to refocus the public’s view away from the Commission’s blatant race-based motivations.

In a meeting of the Commission on Monday, it became apparent that a combination of the public outcry backing reappointment of Arntz, the risk of a time consuming and costly discrimination lawsuit, and a lack of funding to conduct a search for a new director, has saved John Arntz from the chopping block. The Commission passed a resolution to consider in January renewing Arntz to a new 5-year term as Elections Director, effectively backtracking on an effort to replace him. Language coming from both the Election Commission meeting on Monday and then the Supervisors’ meeting on Tuesday reflected a need and desire to work together to satisfy funding needs of the Commission when they should arise in the future.

Election Commissioner Lucy Bernholz perhaps had the most insightful and meaningful comment at their meeting when she said at Monday’s meeting:

“It is incumbent upon this commission to rectify the damage done by the previous decision as quickly as possible. Not only have we inflicted damage on the department, we’ve made ourselves an unreliable, untrustworthy body, and until we fix that, all of the work we’ve done on other issues is out the window.”

John Arntz has indicated that he will accept a new five-year term as elections director when it is officially offered to him.

In reporting the actions and motivations behind the Election Commission’s shockingly embarrassing announcement recently, I had related my love for the literary tool known as alliteration. I then ascribed to the Commission and those of their ilk the alliterative moniker Loony Left—a term reserved for the most radical of Progressives. In spite of their apparently coerced policy reversal, the San Francisco Election Commission can without a doubt still be considered loony. Yet, their recognition of a looming legal liability and lack of largesse from the Board of Supervisors, has led to a brief encounter with logic and level-headedness. Time will tell just how long that lasts.

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The Racial and Social Justice Commission in South San Francisco last month approved an action plan to ensure ongoing oversight and accountability for racial and social justice, focus on eradicating racist practices in the criminal justice system, and targeting resources to reduce inequalities .

“The commission was created to bring community members together to set our priorities because we understand that there is a lot of racism, inequality and bias that has created injustice and pain,” said Councilor Buenaflor Nicolas, chairman of the commission. “We have created this Racial and Social Equality Commission to ensure that we continue our efforts and take concrete steps to achieve the desired outcome and to ensure that with this supplement we are committed to reform and justice in all aspects of life here . “In the south of the city.”

It consists of 14 members from the community leadership, city administration, education, social welfare, youth and public security.

One of the action steps that have already been implemented from the plan is that a behavioral medicine person accompanies the police in answering calls about mental health problems as part of the district’s pilot program.

It will offer an economic mobility program with support from the county for disenfranchised parishioners, working with JobTrain and the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center to provide vocational training and help for small businesses.

“We’re renting a space in the middle of the city to make sure it’s accessible, especially to the people who come from the underserved or vulnerable areas of our city, so that this can be the resource for them,” said Nicolas.

And there will be a pilot guaranteed income program, approved by the city council last month, that will provide $ 500 per month to more than 135 eligible families for 12 months.

An office of the Equity and Inclusion Officer has also been established, a special staff position in the City Manager’s Office that will institutionalize accountability, equity and oversee gender outcomes across South San Francisco.

“He or she will do a gap assessment and make sure all departments have the right training and procedures and actions to ensure that everything we do is trying to eradicate inequality in the city,” she said.

It is planned to transform the Youth Advisory Board into a Youth Commission in order to give young people between the ages of 13 and 21 the same rights and duties as the Commission on Race and Social Equality. Contributions from the Youth Commission will be asked for programs that are about to be launched, especially when it concerns the city’s youth, said Nicolas.

The action plan will continue to be reviewed and improved if necessary, she said.

Leading this commission and combating racial inequality is personal to Nicolas. She immigrated to the United States in 1988 with two young children. And she ran for office in 2018 to make a difference.

“As the first Filipina on the city council, it’s a very big responsibility that I have to show. I love this city. I love the country. I’m American, my children, my grandchildren are American now, ”she said. “For me it is very personal that we are on the right path for the future of this country.”

A final report and action plan will be presented to the city council for review and approval at the August 25, 2021 session.

The commission was established by the city council in 2020 to tackle racial injustice in public safety, barriers to economic and educational opportunities, and access to quality health care. It was inspired to be founded after the murder of George Floyd. Its four overarching goals and accompanying strategies are to create oversight and accountability on inequality issues, identify and eliminate racist practices and strategies in the criminal justice system, fill resource gaps for colored and other disenfranchised communities, and address equitable land use planning to reduce development Displacement of colored people and citizens from low-income communities.

Members of the commission are Edith Arias; Jeff Azzopardi, South San Francisco Police Chief; Gladys Balmas, San Mateo County Elderly and Adult Services Norm Faria, City Manager Mike Futrell; Cheska Ibasan, the youth council; Vanessa McGovern; Hermes Monzon; Pat Murray, member of the Board of Trustees, South San Francisco Unified School District; Vice Mayor Mark Nagales, Councilor Buenaflor Nicolas as Commission Chairman; Kayla Powers; Liliana Rivera from Change SSF; Bobby Vaughn; and Andrea Fernandez as a replacement. The two Management Fellows Tamiko Huey and Amy Ferguson will support the implementation of the action plan.

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Jon Jacobo, a rising political star in San Francisco and an influential affordable housing advocate, resigned from his building inspection commission seat late Friday and took a leave of absence from his nonprofit work after a woman accused him of raping her in a tweet and an extensive online post.

Sasha Perigo, a 26-year-old tenant rights advocate, said she had visited Jacobo at his apartment in the Mission one evening in early April when he forcibly groped and kissed her that night and raped her the following morning. Perigo said she told Jacobo “no” dozens of times during both encounters, and tried to push him off her and block his advances, but that he repeatedly ignored her pleas and persisted.

In a series of tweets on Friday night, Jacobo, 32, said, “My memory of these events is different than her memory. I believed then, as I do now, that our relationship was completely consensual.” He wrote that “every woman needs to be heard” and that he was “deeply saddened by the deep pain being experienced by Sasha Perigo, which she says I caused.”

Jacobo did not respond to requests seeking comment other than to refer reporters to his tweets.

(TW: sexual assault)

I’m heartbroken to share that the man who raped me in April is @Jon_Jacobo.

Prior to my rape, I considered Jon a great friend and a great person, which is why it’s so important for me to come forward.

Please RT and share widely!https://t.co/rKatrJkCuk

— Sasha Perigo (@sashaperigo) August 6, 2021

In the hours and days following the incident, Perigo said she began telling her friends and family that Jacobo had sexually assaulted her and went to San Francisco General Hospital to have a rape kit conducted. Perigo said she didn’t file a police report because of her fundamental opposition to law enforcement and her prior friendship with Jacobo.

But she said that when a friend told her in June about an unsettling experience with Jacobo, she felt compelled to detail her account publicly.

A hospital spokesperson declined to comment on the case, citing patient privacy laws. A spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department also would not comment beyond acknowledging that the special victims unit “is aware of the social media posting and is looking into the matter. Due to the sensitive nature of the allegation, we cannot comment further.”

“I chose to come forward to protect other women from being victimized,” Perigo said. “And to lift the weight of bearing this secret off of my shoulders.”

Jacobo’s response on Twitter included an announcement that he was resigning his position on the Building Inspection Commission and that he was taking a leave of absence from “work.” A Mission District native, Jacobo is a policy director with the South of Market nonprofit Tenants and Owners Development Corporation, known as TODCO.

I believe every woman needs to be heard. I believe every victim of trauma needs to be heard, and the process of speaking out is a part of healing and justice. And I am deeply saddened by the deep pain being experienced by Sasha Perigo, which she says I caused.

— Jon Jacobo (@Jon_Jacobo) August 7, 2021

Last year, he worked as a press secretary in the Latino community for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, and rose to greater prominence as the chair of the health committee on the San Francisco Latino Task Force, helping to lead coronavirus testing efforts in the Mission and drawing attention to racial disparities in infections and aid.

He said he was stepping away from his work “for the sake of the community, which I owe so much, and to avoid distraction from the important work of addressing and preventing the spread of COVID-19 which has been my mission this past year.”

His response came as the allegations spread quickly through the tight-knit affordable housing advocacy community and City Hall, where Jacobo had been widely expected to run for a Board of Supervisor seat in 2024, when District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen termed out.

“My thoughts go out to the victim for her courage and bravery for speaking out on this awful situation that no one should ever experience,” tweeted District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton prior to Jacobo’s resignation. “These are very serious allegations against a City Commissioner. My office is conferring with the City Attorney on legal options.”

My thoughts go out to @sashaperigo for her courage and bravery for speaking out on this awful situation no one should ever experience. I have asked @Jon_Jacobo to immediately resign from the DBI Commission, which he was already planning to do, or the BOS will take swift action. pic.twitter.com/rypsTXgZ4g

— Shamann Walton (@shamannwalton) August 7, 2021

The Chronicle interviewed Perigo Friday and spoke to two friends who Perigo told about the alleged assault in the ensuing hours and days. Reporters also reviewed contemporaneous journal entries in which Perigo described the alleged assault and her efforts to work through the emotional trauma it had caused, as well as text messages between Perigo and Jacobo and Perigo and her friends and other documentation that was consistent with her account.

Perigo publicly posted portions of these documents, including a part of her discharge paperwork from the hospital following the rape kit and a letter from the Police Department’s Special Victims Unit, in a Google Doc she shared online Friday titled “A Prominent San Francisco Politico Raped Me. He Can’t Have Any More Victims.”

Perigo told The Chronicle she met Jacobo in November 2019 when she was writing a column for the San Francisco Examiner focused on the housing crisis and interviewed TODCO head John Elberling.

Perigo, who does communications and organizing for Tenants Together, a statewide tenants rights organization in San Francisco, said she had admired Jacobo’s reputation in the housing advocacy world. That day, Perigo said, she and Jacobo struck up a conversation about Marin County and how affordable housing could be built on parking lots. Perigo, who grew up in Marin County, was passionate about trying to improve the enormous housing disparities in that area. She said she instantly felt a connection to Jacobo.

“It was really cool to meet Jon, who I had admired a lot, and to hear him talking about the issues I cared about so much,” Perigo said. “I looked up to him.”

Perigo said their initial connection turned into a friendship. The pair had sex in November 2020 once, and “sexted off and on for a while afterwards,” Perigo wrote in her online post. But Perigo said she broke it off in February, telling Jacobo that she preferred to be platonic friends.

Jon Jacobo at the Latino Task Force Resource Hub in San Francisco in November.

Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle 2020

Perigo said she had remained friends with Jacobo when, on April 3, he invited her to hang out. Perigo agreed, but she emphasized that she did not want to engage in anything sexual. They decided to meet at Jacobo’s apartment that night to talk and have some drinks, according to a text thread shared with The Chronicle.

“(Also I don’t think this was your expectation but just to be sure, I started seeing someone so I’m not looking to hook up!)” Perigo texted Jacobo around 10 p.m. Jacobo hit a heart button in response and texted back, “Thanks for the heads up! That’s important and sad news.” He followed up with a laughing emoji.

An Uber receipt provided to The Chronicle indicates Perigo arrived at Jacobo’s Van Ness apartment at 11:51 p.m. She also texted her friend Rebecca Peacock that night before she left, saying she was going to meet up with Jacobo but had established that their relationship was platonic.

Perigo said that after she arrived at Jacobo’s apartment they talked for hours, sharing personal stories, while having a few drinks. At around 4 a.m., Perigo said, she told Jacobo she was going to get an Uber home, but he offered to have her sleep over.

Perigo said she agreed to sleep in a bed with Jacobo and told him they could cuddle. But she said she reinforced that she did not want anything sexual to occur.

Almost immediately upon laying down, however, Perigo said Jacobo forcibly kissed her and put his hands inside her shirt and pants, forcibly groping her breasts and buttocks while she told him “no,” and that she was uncomfortable. She said she tried to push his hands away from her but that Jacobo persisted for around 45 minutes, ignoring her demands that he stop. She said she was so stunned by what was happening that she remained in the bed.

“I said ‘no’ dozens of times,” Perigo told The Chronicle. “I knew he was assaulting me, don’t get me wrong, but I didn’t want to rock the boat … and I didn’t want to think that about him.”

Perigo said she then brought up her boyfriend, and that she didn’t want to cheat on him. She said Jacobo finally stopped, but asked if he could masturbate. Perigo said she told Jacobo “no,” and that he would have to go into the bathroom, or she would leave. She said he didn’t and they both fell asleep.

In the morning, Perigo said, they woke up around 8:30 a.m. She said Jacobo again started forcibly kissing her and groping her breasts and buttocks as she told him “no” and tried to push him off her.

Perigo said she continued to tell Jacobo “no” while he pulled her pants off, forced oral sex on her and then raped her. Perigo said she froze in shock.

“A few minutes in, my emotions caught up with me, and I could no longer deny what was happening,” Perigo wrote in her online post. “I told him I was uncomfortable and that I wanted to stop. He ignored my request, and proceeded to finish inside of me. At no point had he asked if I wanted to use a condom.”

Perigo said she went to the bathroom and then came back and laid next to him. “I think I was looking for some warmth in that moment because I didn’t want it to be this moment where my friend was so vicious to me,” Perigo told The Chronicle. But she said Jacobo exclaimed, “That was fun!” and asked her if she wanted to go on vacation with him to Cabo San Lucas.

Perigo took an Uber back to her apartment at about 10 a.m. that morning, according to a receipt she provided The Chronicle. Once at home, she said she fell asleep for several hours. When she woke up, Perigo said she began telling her friends and family about what had happened, as well as writing about the incident in a journal.

“Jon Jacobo raped me this morning,” she wrote in a handwritten diary entry dated April 4 that she shared with The Chronicle. “I feel completely empty and very, very alone.”

At around 5 p.m. on April 4, Perigo texted a friend: “So I took my friend Jon up on an offer to hang out last night to get my mind off things and slept over, making very clear that I was just crashing there and was 0% interested in hooking up because I was seeing someone.”

“He raped me this morning,” Perigo wrote in the text thread she shared with The Chronicle, which she partially redacted.

“That’s disgusting,” the friend wrote back. “What the f***.”

As of early Saturday, The Chronicle had not been able to speak to the friend.

Peacock told The Chronicle that Perigo confided on April 4 that Jacobo had sexually assaulted her after she went to his apartment to hang out.

“She described this relentless experience of saying, ‘No, no, no. The things you’re trying to do with me, I’m not interested in it,’” Peacock said. “She got so overwhelmed with it all.”

On April 5 at around 3 p.m., Perigo texted Jacobo, confronting him about the alleged sexual assault, according to a text thread Perigo posted online and a more extensive version that she shared with The Chronicle.

“You ignored dozens of nos — you literally made eye contact with me and took my pants off AS I WAS TELLING YOU NO … I’m not sure what you think rape looks like, but it looks like this,” she wrote.

“Reading this hurt deeply, that you even feel this way is heartbreaking,” Jacobo texted back, adding that he had tried to call her.

Later that day, after consulting with Peacock and other friends, Perigo went to San Francisco General Hospital for a sexual assault examination, allowing medical personnel to take samples to analyze for DNA evidence, according to Perigo, Peacock and discharge paperwork that Perigo provided The Chronicle.

Perigo, who said she is a part-time student at Stanford finishing a degree in computer science, said she did not file an accompanying police report because her work in advocacy and tenants rights has given her a deep distrust of law enforcement as a path toward justice. She also said she had no interest in enduring a retraumatizing reporting process and a potential legal case.

“A lot of the work I met Jon through was also anti-police brutality work,” Perigo said. “I consider myself an abolitionist and support defunding the police.”

In the following weeks, Perigo experienced worsening depression and had trouble getting out of bed and going to work or any events where she might encounter Jacobo, according to Perigo, Peacock and Perigo’s journal entries.

Peacock said the change in her friend was noticeable. “It really debilitated her,” Peacock said. “She’s had a difficult time getting out of bed most mornings. It’s been really, really hard. I wish I could just snap her out of it.”

On April 15, Perigo agreed to meet Jacobo in person in Golden Gate Park the following day to discuss the incident, according to text messages she shared with The Chronicle and friends she later told about the meeting. Perigo said another friend accompanied her to the meeting, but Perigo declined to provide the friend’s identity, saying the friend had requested anonymity.

“The conversation seemed to go well,” Perigo wrote in her online post. “He cried his way through it, admitted wrongdoing, and told me he’d started therapy. We said our goodbyes and have not talked since.”

In his tweet on Friday, Jacobo wrote, “In April, we attempted a restorative process and I will continue to work to understand why and how she feels I caused her harm.”

On April 22, a San Francisco police sergeant with the Special Victims Unit wrote a letter to Perigo saying they had “developed a DNA Profile” from the swabs that were collected during her medical examination. “The DNA was entered into a national DNA Data Bank and may identify the involved suspect,” the sergeant wrote.

The sergeant said that as of that date, Perigo had not followed up with an investigator about the incident, but referred her to the Special Victims Unit address if she wanted to proceed.

At the time, Perigo said, she was still grappling with the emotional trauma from the incident. She said she was regularly going to therapy and unable to go to work. “In some ways it feels like Jon ripped apart and dismantled me as a person,” Perigo wrote in a journal entry dated April 23. “Who am I? How do I relate to the world? I’m floating.”

Then, shortly before her birthday in early June, Perigo said she told a younger friend that Jacobo had raped her. Perigo said the friend relayed that she, too, had a concerning experience with Jacobo. Perigo said she did not ask the woman for more details. Perigo referenced the conversation with the younger friend in her online post.

Perigo said she resolved to pull together her allegations about Jacobo and post them online to warn other women. Perigo said she wrote a draft of the public post in June, but was unable to fill out the details of the sexual assault because it was too traumatizing to relive.

In early August, Perigo completed the post, and she tweeted it out on Friday at 8:59 a.m.

“One of the reasons I kept this story to myself for so long is that I didn’t want to hurt Jon by coming forward. I cared about him deeply, and I’ll forever be heartbroken that someone I once admired could violate me in this way,” Perigo wrote. “But moving on means accepting that Jon isn’t the person I thought he was. I need to free myself from the burden of shielding him from consequences.”

Cynthia Dizikes and Matthias Gafni are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: cdizikes@sfchronicle.com, matthias.gafni@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @cdizikes @mgafni

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SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) – In light of arid weather conditions across California, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission on Thursday urged irrigation customers and city departments to voluntarily reduce their water use by 10 percent.

According to the agency, the SFPUC’s water reservoirs are currently filled to 76.8 percent of their maximum storage capacity – slightly less than the historical average of 81 percent at this time of year.

SFPUC’s water comes from a variety of sources, including Hetch Hetchy Reservoir near Yosemite and five other reservoirs in the Bay Area. It serves around 2.7 million customers across the Bay Area.

“This is the second dry year in a row for the state of California and we must do all we can to get the most out of our water supplies if this trend continues,” Mayor London Breed said in a statement. “San Francisco is a leader in water conservation thanks to our innovative water policy and strong management, but we need to look ahead. The steps we are now taking to use our water wisely will help us become more resilient and weather future dry years. “

According to SFPUC, Franciscans use an average of 42 gallons of water every day, one of the lowest rates in California.

Even so, the SFPUC’s request to its 1,600 irrigation customers, who rely on SFPUC to irrigate their landscapes to reduce their consumption by 10 percent, is to ensure that water in the agency’s reservoirs and aquifers will last during the prolonged dry spell.

“We are fortunate to have multiple sources of water supply, which makes our system more resilient in dry years,” said Michael Carlin, acting general manager of SFPUC. “However, we don’t know how long this dry weather will last. We also want to support our communities as we recover from the devastating effects of this pandemic. Because of this, we are calling for small changes for irrigation customers that can make a big difference in the expansion of our water supply. “

To further encourage customers to use water efficiently, the SFPUC offers free irrigation studies and landscape assessments on site. Grants; and a program that informs customers about possible leaks.

In addition, the agency offers indoor water conversation assistance, including free replacement of old toilets. Discounts for water-saving washing machines and other devices; and individual home and business consultations.

SFPUC customers who pay their bills online can also track their water usage daily or even hourly at www.myaccount.sfwater.org.

For more information about the programs and services offered by SFPUC, residents can visit www.sfpuc.org/savewater.

Copyright © 2021 Bay City News, Inc.

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The San Francisco Human Rights Commission (HRC) is accepting proposals for “The Dream Keeper Initiative” – formally known as the City Reallocation Fund – under which $120 million from the San Francisco Police Department and Sheriff’s Office budgets is being redirected to nonprofits that serve the Black community.

“We know that to actually see true lasting change we need to focus on helping entire families, from early education for kids, to job training and workforce support for their parents, and serve communities that have been systematically harmed by past policies,” said Mayor London Breed.

Half the cash, $60 million, will be spent over the next two years. “Whether the money will be spent this fiscal year or this calendar year will vary depending on when funds are released. They might run over fiscal and calendar years. For instance, grants starting before June 20, 2021 will mostly likely cross over into 2022,” said Sheryl Davis, San Francisco Human Rights Commission executive director.  

Roughly $15 million will be spent to promote community health and well-being, through restorative justice, food security, and Black home ownership programs. Another $7 million will be used to create a guaranteed income program.  Six and a half million dollars will be dedicated to tracking expenditure outcomes and impacts.  Six million dollars will go to Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD) training and development programs for youth and adults, supporting preparation program stipends, higher education financial incentives, and arts opportunities. 

Five million dollars will be spent to increase municipal employee diversity, by improving human resources infrastructure to expand Black participation in civil service jobs, particularly in underrepresented roles. Programs that support families and address youth academic and social-emotional learning needs within a cultural and racial equity context will receive $3.6 million, to pay for literacy and early education programs and family engagement, offering families resources, workshops, and access to services. 

Three million dollars will be spent to support Black-owned small businesses and entrepreneurs, with business development, technical assistance, and anti-displacement services. Art and cultural nonprofits in low-income and Black communities will be provided $2.1 million, to help Black-led and Black-serving creatives – theater companies, artists, and artist collaboratives – build the organizational capacity needed to compete for grants. Two million dollars will be spent to create culturally affirming spaces; commercial corridors in historical Black neighborhoods and incubation hubs for small businesses and community groups, where Black cultural events can be held. 

“We are working with several partners and academic institutions to do evaluations and case studies on this project,” Davis said.  She added that the community stressed the need to be able to pilot new ideas and learn from failures.

The first funding round, $687,500, will go to organizations that serve the Black trans community. OEWD will distribute another roughly $250,000 to organizations that assist Black-owned small businesses and entrepreneurship. 

African Americans who have been virtually meeting – including Black San Franciscans, municipal workers, those with historical ties to the City, and individuals who own, operate, or work at businesses in San Francisco – have proposed that funding be allocated to Black theater groups that stage productions that inspire and unite the Black community. Organized under African American Theatre Alliance for Independence, the African American Shakespeare Company, PUSH Dance company, AfroSolo Theater, Cultural Odyssey, and SF Recovery Theater want support for such productions as “Don’t Drop Dead On Stage: A Musician and Performing Artist Survival Guide,” conducted by composer, musician, and arts business specialist Idris Ackamoor; and “Mask Up: We Wear Masks to Save Our Lives,” an online feature by AfroSolo to be presented on Facebook and Instagram. 

The second round of grants will focus on programs which address public safety, provide mental health services, and support youth, seniors, and formerly incarcerated individuals.

“Shortly after that, there will be a call for proposals from organizations that promote home ownership, early education, and provide opportunities for family engagement. It is exciting to see organizations receive funding as folks come together and continue community meetings,” said Davis.

District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton, who serves as Board of Supervisors president, said he and Mayor Breed want Black-led organizations to dictate how resources are distributed from the City Reallocation Fund.

“I consider this to be our first step toward reparations. We are looking at this through a lens of equity. The funding is providing resources for people to thrive and see positive outcomes,” said Walton. “We have to work together to make sure the outcomes are real and are acknowledged.”  

Through online conversations, African Americans defined funding categories and a grant schedule. Meetings were held in June and July, and at least once weekly between September and November, hosted by the Human Rights Commission. Occasionally, San Francisco Police Department officers participated in the gatherings, as Black community members or to listen to concerns about law enforcement practices. 

Sergeant Michael Andraychak, SFPD public information officer, said recommendations from the Alternatives to Policing Steering Committee, a group formed by Mayor Breed last fall, were designed with community involvement in mind rather than from a law enforcement perspective. 

“The Department’s participation thus far involves providing historical background, interpreting police data, and public safety concerns. This group is very enthusiastic about creating a system that would address calls for services which had been traditionally handled by the police.  The approach is a holistic one, looking at socioeconomic issues, equity and inclusion, law reforms, housing, underserved communities, and systems of care already in place, among other challenges,” said Andraychak. 

Nancy Crowley, San Francisco Sheriff’s Office communications specialist and media spokesperson, said her agency is committed to the City’s Racial and Social Equity Action Plan, which mandates that municipal expenditures be driven by equitable outcomes and accountability. SFSO has developed its own plan, Sheriff’s Alliance for Equity, which calls for advancing equity by reducing racial and ethnic-based disparities in SFSO’s activities. 

Phelicia Jones, founder of Wealth and Disparities in the Black Community, a grassroots organization that advocates for police accountability and reform, wants more resources to be dedicated to the Black community. 

“One hundred and twenty million dollars spread out over two years, during a pandemic, is not going to create equity for all the disparities Black San Franciscans are suffering and have suffered in the past. The concerns that the Black community faces are long-term hardships. This is a work in progress,” said Jones. “They have known that Black folks have been concerned about these problems for decades. We want to see changes in how SFPD and SFSO do their jobs as soon as possible. A number of departments, including the Department of Public Health, Department of Children, Youth, and Their Families, and the Human Services Agency, have not done a good job of being equitable to the Black community. They have failed to provide adequate services for Black San Franciscans. Funding community organizations that can provide necessary services is appropriate.”  

Melissa Hernandez, a member of the No New SF Jail Coalition, roughly 25 San Franciscans who want less policing and closure of the San Francisco County Jail, wants grants to be directed to help people with criminal convictions find housing and jobs. 

“Right now, the jail is a hotbed for infection. The goal is to help people receive re-entry services that are meaningful and help them stay out,” said Hernandez.

“We borrowed against reserves to provide cash grants for shelter, food, and necessities for members of the Black trans community,” said Aria Sa’id, co-founder and executive director of The Transgender District, a nonprofit that serves the Tenderloin. “We are currently working to provide financial assistance, cultural programming, and funding for entrepreneurship and development among members of the Black trans community.”

The Human Rights Commission provided The Transgender District with funding in 2020. Over the next three years The Transgender District wants to establish a shower program, offer free laundry facilities, and create a wellness center on Sixth Street.

Participating in the HRC-hosted meetings helped Sa’id realize that the Black community is supportive of trans people. “It has been endearing and heartening to see Black women who do not identify as trans stand in solidarity with us. There have been so many people who have spoken out for us, offered financial support, and shown themselves to be allies and advocates. I was apprehensive at first. Going to the meetings has shown me that we are in this together,” said Sa’id. 

Tuquan Harrison, HRC LGBTQI+ advisor, who oversees implementation of policies and funding to support the City’s LGBTQI+ community, said The Transgender District was one of several Black trans-led and serving organizations that HRC supported. 

“The HRC also provided TGI Justice Project and several other organizations with funding, with about $200,000 going to support the Black transgender community and transgender communities of color in San Francisco. These organizations are doing so much to help people remain housed during the pandemic and disperse funds in an equitable manner that the City is learning from them,” said Harrison.

“They can’t fall back on “business as usual” practices,” said Geoffrey Grier, director of SF Recovery Theater, a grassroots organization of actors that stage productions that encourage salvation and hope. “There is the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Black community has been in a social pandemic. Individuals and neighborhoods are suffering because of racism and injustice. Changes need to come now.” 

Grier, who has trained SFPD officers in crisis intervention, said law enforcement agencies prefer to conduct in-house exercises. “To do a fair training, you need to have a neutral third party. The unwillingness to have outside and community input has worked to their detriment. After all these years, we find ourselves here, with George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other Black people killed by law enforcement officers,” said Grier.

Ebon Glenn, director of operations for the San Francisco African American Arts and Culture District (SFAAACD), is pleased that the Black community is brainstorming how to utilize resources, particularly as dedicated to the arts, which “…is self-expression. It’s a way to be able to be heard and in some instances, to have your statement be immortalized on a mural or through a poem that could be a historical document. The arts allow the expression of positivity, unity, and togetherness, that drafting of a positive narrative.” 

 SFAAACD, which has created murals and banners in Bayview, doesn’t intend to apply to the City Reallocation Fund. It receives monies from the Transient Occupancy Tax. Glenn, who participated in the HRC-hosted meetings, said he hopes arts organizations will create work that’s culturally competent, accurately represents the Black community’s history and ethos; intentional, and share significant Black social and historical events. 

“If you put the money in the hands of the right organizations, we could see those dollars go directly to work, funding artists to beautify our neighborhoods, nonprofits that organize youth talent shows, and more,” said Glenn. 

Edward Hatter, Potrero Hill Neighborhood House executive director, wants funds to be used to hire counselors and therapists of color to speak to low-income youth. 

“There has been violence, a lot of shootings during the pandemic. Almost all of the referrals have been to white counselors. Young people clam up when encouraged to talk to someone who doesn’t look like them and doesn’t have training in how to talk to them,” said Hatter.

The number of homicides in San Francisco has risen over the past two years, from 41 in 2019 to 47 in 2020, though in Bayview-Hunters Point the number declined from 14 to 13 over the period. According to the California Partnership for Safe Communities, a violence prevention organization that closely examined all 162 homicides in San Francisco from January 2017 to June 2020, the key to reducing street violence is to “focus on and invest” in a small number of “groups” that have committed the majority of homicides and shootings over the last 3.5 years. 

Hatter said that having many types of services in one location, as offered at Potrero Block X, in the Annex-Terrace housing complex, isn’t helping residents.

“Even during the pandemic, having all the services right where you live is contributing to that “8-block syndrome.” People are not being motivated to unlock themselves from a tight radius. This becomes crippling,” said Hatter. 

“On-site services are a safeguard against displacement, as they provide residents with access to services they need while reducing challenging barriers such as transportation, time and cost,” retorted Damon Harris, vice president of community development for Bridge Housing, which manages Potrero Block X. 

Delia Fitzpatrick, program liaison for Our Kids First, an afterschool program offered at Longfellow Elementary, Guadalupe Elementary, and Denman Middle schools, believes that mental health services for youth will help the Black community as a whole. 

“Strong personal connections help children of color throughout their lives. Counselors and social-emotional training is important, especially during the pandemic. The children can’t play, hug, and talk face to face with people outside their household right now,” said Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick said having online HRC meetings made it easier for her and other childcare professionals to join the larger conversation. “Before the pandemic, it was hard to get Downtown. I had to deal with parking, traffic, and public transportation issues. I needed so much time to get to a meeting, but I was also often needed onsite. With a virtual meeting, I can take time to be a part of the conversation and be visible,” said Fitzpatrick.

Felisia Thibodeaux, executive director of the Southwest Community Corporation, a nonprofit located at 446 Randolph Street which serves older adults and persons living with access and functional needs – concerns obtaining goods and services – in Lakeview-Ocean View, Merced Heights, and Ingleside said funding is needed for outreach to seniors who may be isolated.

“The Black community has been severely affected by racism. The time is now for funding to be directed to communities serving Black seniors and Black-led organizations in marginalized communities,” said Thibodeaux.

Southwest Community Corporation conducts wellness checks in person and by phone. “When we call, they say they are okay. When they open the door, we see what we couldn’t hear over the phone. Our seniors are disheveled and not eating well. They appreciate a conversation and additional resources, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, hygiene and cleaning supplies, and adult diapers. Since the pandemic began, we increased the number of seniors we serve from 40 to close to 200, based on community referrals,” said Thibodeaux.

“These funds will start to reverse the harm done to the Black community,” said Gina Fromer, chief executive officer of Children’s Council of San Francisco, a nonprofit that provides services to families and early childhood educators. “When we reinvest in early childhood education, better health outcomes, and systems that support Black children as they grow, the need for policing in our communities will start to go down.” 

Fromer, a sixth generation San Franciscan who grew up in Bayview, said there’s power in the conversations that the Black community is having.  “We’re able to speak our minds about where funding goes and what we need to accomplish. I’ve learned that if I can’t do something, another individual or organization will. Our collective impact of directing where the money goes and evaluating the changes it makes is bigger than the $120 million. The meetings, and our commitment to change, are restructuring, reestablishing, and reenergizing the City’s Black community,” said Fromer. 

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