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July 2026 Community Meeting Summary

Upper Noe Neighbors Posted on by

Upper Noe Neighbors
July 15, 2026 Community Meeting Summary
30 in attendance

 Agenda:

State of the Park

Friends of Upper Noe Recreation Center (FUNRC) is back on its feet again after a devastating loss of funds and 501c3 status last year when the SF Parks Alliance collapsed. Events and improvements are in the works.

Since 2012, FUNRC has been co-chaired by Chris Faust and Mary Bishop. They have enjoyed looking after and advocating for the park, organizing Block Parties and Concerts in the Park, maintaining the website, sending newsletters to an ever-growing list of subscribers, and doing our best to build community. It is a small space that packs in a whole lot of diverse activities. Our goal has been to promote maintenance over reconstruction so that this facility remains open and a clean and inviting space for everyone. Your participation in FUNRC is welcome.
info@uppernoerecreationcenter.com

      Friends of Upper Noe Recreation Center is restored

  • $13,508 of FUNRC funds were misappropriated by SF Parks Alliance last year along with ~$2.75M total from 80 stewardship groups
  • $10,806 restored by SF Neighborhoods & Parks Fund (~80%)
  • FUNRC joined the SF Public Space Collective, which is fiscally sponsored by Cortina Impact of Berkeley
  • 501c3 status restored
  • FUNRC recently received a $5000 grant from Avenue Greenlight for Upper Noe NeighborFest
  • ~$3000 remains for audio upgrades from 2022 Add Backs

 

      Improvements

  • Regular maintenance keeps our park clean and attractive including weekly dog park maintenance
  • Children’s playground surface replaced
  • New dog park water fountain & furniture (Thank you Friends of Upper Noe Dog Owners Group)
  • Gate hinges replaced to make them less likely to fail
  • Large puddle at the main gate to the field finally fixed
  • New signs at park entrances deter smoking and drinking

 

      Events

  • Gardening Work Days – Upper Noe Gardening Group (UNGG) began in January meeting monthly and now quarterly. Next one on a Saturday in September (TBD) from 10 to noon.
  • Noe Valley Garden Tour in May included Native Plant Garden tours and birdhouse building for kids
  • One City Day in July – City-wide volunteer day. We cleaned and weeded along the sidewalks on the park perimeter
  • Upper Noe NeighborFest (formally called UN Blockparty) – September 26 from 11 am to 2 pm. Volunteers needed.

 

      Staff & Program Changes

  • Andy Kushner attended an addressed the audience
  • Upper Noe came under the Sports classification in January
  • Girls Sports office was located here
  • More girl’s and women’s programs city-wide
  • Summer Camp for the first time in years
  • Neil Cetrangolo – Area 5 manger
  • Andy Kushner – park section supervisor / acting Area 5 mgr – 13 yrs with RPD
  • Jerry Velasco – recreation supervisor
  • Emmanuel Blackwell – facilities coordinator
  • Kuzuri Jackson – assistant facilities coordinator

See   www.uppernoerecreationcenter.com  for more info and to learn how to get involved.

 

Friends of Slow Sanchez  (BR Demko)

Friends of Slow Sanchez (FSS) formed in 2020 and promotes community, safety, greening, and art along the Sanchez Slow Street corridor. They were instrumental in bringing the Next Generation Slow Sanchez features that are now installed. BR moved to the neighborhood at Duncan and Sanchez three years ago and recently took over at the helm of FSS.  We heard from her what is in the works and how neighbors can get involved.

  • BR remarked that FSS and UNN work together. They both partnered with the Garden Tour in May, are family oriented, and a way to meet folks.
  • FSS organizes events such as Saturday before Halloween, Dog Parade, Last Friday of the Month Happy Hours at Noe Café  (next one is July 31 from 5 to 7)
  • Switching fiscal sponsor from SFHAC to SF Beautiful
  • Trying to build volunteers, form groups, need lots of people to water pots / planters
  • Partnered with Friends of the Urban Forest last year
  • Exploring permitting vendors
  • Wellness event in October

Question: what about a street party dinner like they do in Italy? Close a block and lay out a long table.
Answer: FSS was already thinking about a Communal Potluck Dinner

Question: originally, some residents of Sanchez opposed a Slow Street. People had strong issues in the past. Is there still opposition?
Answer:  We must stay friendly to all. That message seems to resonate.

Comment: I walk Sanchez every day and have seen near misses with people not paying attention. Yelling at each other. People don’t know who has the right of way. It’s confusing. Could we have signs that cars should YIELD to pedestrians?
Answer: good idea.

BR followed up in the FSS Newsletter:

Good Vibes Make Great Streets!
A friendly reminder

Just a friendly reminder that we all have the opportunity to shape our community’s culture every time we walk, jog, wheel, or drive on Sanchez.

Say hello to a neighbor, share a smile, and be respectful of people using different modes of transportation. Keep an eye out for others, make eye contact at intersections, and remember that Slow Sanchez is a shared space where everyone is welcome.

Like they say on the airplane, please take a moment to familiarize yourself with these Slow Street “rules of the road” How To Use Slow Streets Fact Sheet  https://www.sfmta.com/reports/how-use-slow-streets-fact-sheet.

Stay safe (and neighborly) out there!

Learn more at https://www.slowsanchez.com/

Mission Safeway Development 

3350 Mission SafewayWe do not have much information about this but we like to be proactive and learn how our neighbors’ ambitions for and concerns about this project. What are our options for input?

Align Real Estate in partnership with Safeway recently announced a plan to develop the entire Safeway property at 3350 Mission Street. The project is in its early phase and construction appears to be years away. However, as this property borders our neighborhood, it is prudent that we stay current , investigate , be responsive to community input.

  • 6 Stories – 306,510 sq ft of housing
  • 379 Units:
    • 125 studios,
    • 90 junior one-bedrooms
    • 55 one-bedrooms
    • 61 two-bedrooms
    • 35 three-bedrooms
    • 76 for those making 50 to 80% of the median income ($57K to $91K for a single person or $73K to $117K for a family of 3)
  • Tenant parking for 167 bicycles and 154 cars
  • 137 store parking spaces


Tony noted that we are in the last salvo before a new plan. More will be coming out. Proposals always start big and then they negotiate down to what they actually wanted.

Rafael says that under current law, it doesn’t appear that discretionary review can happen or that the community will have any input.

A resident of the first block of 30th Street reports that none of the owners on that block want to sell. Also, that there is a buried creek under Safeway parking lot. Previous construction there caused flooding in 30th St basements. Is that being addressed?

Rafael feels that most Safeway projects will help neighborhoods, provide more customers, eliminate big parking lots that attract the wrong element, especially at night. The Marina is the exception because it sits on the waterfront. SF has nicely stepped-up building heights from the water back to the hills with very tall buildings only on the peaks. Renderings are great but that’s not what we see. It would change too much of the neighborhood. But state law takes precedence.

 

Supervisor Rafael Mandelman

Nearing the end of his second term as our District 8 Supervisor and Board of Supervisors President, he has had his hands full with the budget and Charter Reform. We are interested in how these things result in improvements in sidewalk and road repair, quality of life issues, housing, public safety, and a better San Francisco for everyone.

June was budget month. Cutting was needed. Government growth is flattening. Cutting contracts with non-profits. We are spending more to do less as costs rise each year, labor gets raises. $15.9B in 2024 ->16.9B in 2025 ->17.9B in 2026.

    • Ballot Measure Charter Reform.
      • Rafael supports all three mayoral props. He shepherded a fourth measure and 110 improvements on charter changes.
      • Cutting committees and boards that no longer serve any purpose (e.g. law libraries required to have a book binder; oversight committees for departments that no longer exist, such as Sanitation). Moving some out of the charter into administration so voters don’t need to weigh in to remove them when they no longer serve any purpose.
      • Making changes to administrative code. Propositions are usually written so that the changes are embedded forever, stifling updates.
      • Doing a little cleanup to get rid obsolete things in Charter.
      • Cleaning up the number of reports that are required by the language of laws that are passed. So much effort goes into writing them because they are required by law but no one reads them. We found 500. Eliminating 140 and consolidating others.
    • Trying to pass a measure to relieve an unforeseen excessive tax burden on Hardware stores that resulted from an earlier business tax reform measure.
    • District 9 problem with plazas at night. Horrible drug scenes. Rampant and flagrant. 24th and Mission getting better. 16th and Mission still a disaster. Tenderloin cleanup pushing people to other areas. Lady reports they are moving down to 26th and Valencia, getting worse in last 6 months. Dumping stuff in front of Salvation Army at night. Rafael thinks this is spill over from 24th and 16th St drug hubs that have gotten so big the population spills over.

  • Question about issues with DPW and MTA. Church Street not getting fixed as MTA and DPW squabble about responsibility and nothing gets done. Church Street should be beautiful. Getting things done takes forever. Rafael says the mayor put $70M in the budget for infrastructure, sidewalk and road repair. It’s not enough but it’s not nothing. We do not have set-asides for maintenance ,so repairs get whatever is left at the end of the budget process.
  • We spend tons on drug problems and homelessness. We need to prioritize recovery, overdosing, buying drugs. Dorsey proposes sober housing. We need lots more sober housing.

Community bulletin board

With $8000 left on our Ave Greenlight grant after installing lights and banners, let’s consider what else we can do to enhance Church Street. Bulleting boards, such as the ones on 24th Street seem like a good idea.  Below is a map with some suggested locations for installations.

Considerations:

  • Usage/Visibility
  • Jurisdiction – who has to approve?
  • Impacts (no covering murals or blocking access)
  • Cost implications
  • Other? What’s your thoughts? share with any board member or email hello@upppernoeneighbors.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

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