Upper Noe Neighbors 
September 16, 2026 at Upper Noe Recreation Center

Agenda
Social Media Update
Refuse Refuse
NeighborFest plans
Board of Supervisor President Rafael Mandelman
Parking meter proposal for Church St at 29th St
Community projects, (bulletin boards, etc.)
Door prizes compliments of Henry’s Hunan

Social Media Update
Follow us @uppernoenneighbors on Instagram and Facebook. Follow, like, and share our page. More  creative volunteers are needed a few hours a month to provide media. Call or text Judy at 415-407-2572.

Refuse Refuse
San Francisco resident Vince Yuen’s passion for picking up litter on his block has developed into a grassroots community cleanup campaign that partners with the Dept of Public Works and others to organize volunteer activities citywide. Our good neighbor, Hallie Magee, organizes Upper Noe Cleanups every second Saturday from 10:30 – noon. Meet on Day St at UN Rec Center. Afterwards, enjoy free coffee and bagels at Marth & Bros. This is a family-friendly activity. Grippers and bags are provided. Contact: refuserefusesf.org

 Upper Noe NeighborFest 2026
(Over 500 attended this event on September 26 from 11 to 2 on a beautiful day.)
We hosted the first Upper Noe Block Party in 2013 to celebrate the park and community. It has become an annual event with dozens of schools, businesses and institutions participating. This year, we updated the name to NeighborFest to better describe the scale of this party. This event promotes community/demonstrates unity, shows off Upper Noe Rec Center, and highlights businesses. It’s an opportunity to learn about what’s happening around us, meet neighbors, connect faces with names. Adrian West Band, Mobu Dancers and Rec & Park Zumba will perform. Volunteers are needed to make popcorn, pour lemonade, hand out pizza, and more. Set up is at 9 am – tables, chairs, canopies, decoration. Cleanup afterwards. Lots of free pizza, free gelato, cupcakes and more. Win prizes provided by Upper Noe merchants, dance, and have fun.

Parking Meter Proposal
For the past two years, we have looked at short-term parking solutions to help local businesses thrive. After considerable investigation and much public discussion, a proposal is offered to place five meters in front of the businesses on the east side of Church St north of 29th St.

On sept 14 2023 the office of small biz joined UNN for a tour of church street businesses and concluded that more short-term parking is needed to support commerce. From their direct experience and observation, OSB identified short-term parking as being in short supply. They also heard from biz owners who identified this as one of their major concerns. We lost dozens of spaces to daylighting spots. We’ve grown our commercial area but we have shrunk our meter count.

On oct 18 2023 UNN met with Hank Willson, policy manager for parking and curb management (MTA) about short-term parking solutions. Though we are the last neighborhood around us without Residential Parking Permits, he said that 2-hour parking (such as permits) doesn’t work well for turning over spaces in commercial zones. What works best are the unlimited meters that you can keep adding money to. That is the city standard now. Their studies show that these tend to consistently turn over within 4 hours.

The next step: get consensus. Most of the community at the meeting approved of this idea by show of hands. Our supervisor can approach MTA about this if it has merchant and community support. Get background info and view the location.

Rafael Mandelman
Our District 8 Supervisor and Board of Supervisors President has had his hands full with the budget and Charter Reform. His term ends this year. What news does he bring and what can he help us with in his remaining months?

• Ranil Bajoy is the District 8 Noe Valley lead and the lead for MTA and traffic calming.
• District 8 Public Safety Liaison David Burke has transitioned to SFPD’s Community Engagement Team. Due to budget cuts, the liaison position will not be filled. So, get to know your precinct captain, Gerry Newbeck, at Ingleside Station.
• Working on Charter reform propositions on upcoming ballots: – Mayor’s Props D, E and F give the mayor more authority over departments and can appoint and remove department heads and commissioners. Gets rid of ban on deputy mayors and moves us towards the idea that the mayor is the CEO of the city and needs more authority. Another measure deals with ballot access. We have low thresholds for putting measures on the ballot. The mayor can just put measures on the ballot. Only four supervisors are needed for putting measures on the ballot. Only 2% of voters’ signatures can put it on the ballot. The city administrator was an elected person working for ten years and their job was to make things work. We got rid of that in the 1990s. The city administrator is appointed under the mayor now. But the mayor and Mandelman both think it would be good to go back to the way things were again, to have someone working on the nonpolitical things. Currently, we don’t deliver capital projects on time. This person can work on those sorts of projects. This person will oversee and impose best practices around contracting around the city. This should allow for more coordination across departments. We have historically done well with these sorts of administrators. Proposition H is a parcel tax for MUNI, and we need this. Prop A is a hodgepodge of things that the supervisors proposed to fix the Charter. He recommends vote yes on all of them. H is a very progressive parcel tax would fill about half MUNI’s deficits. The Regional Transit Measure is a modest sales tax increase across 5 counties regionally. SF will use that increased funding to fill the other half of the MUNI deficit. 150M here, and the rest in that parcel tax. If these don’t pass, it will be very bad for BART and not great for MUNI. It’s a one cent tax.
• In response to concerns about an unelected administrator, Mandelman said that procurement isn’t really a political job. The 1930s charter with a big role for unelected bureaucrats was good in his opinion. Maybe this helps us do a little bit of this for the nonpolitical things. This will help with long-term projects. Also the mayor could not fund their job if they felt they weren’t helping. Is the solution to corruption structures replete with oversight? We don’t want city employees to find workarounds and take something for themselves.

Community Projects
We have about $8000 remaining in our Church Street Branding grant. What are our options?
Some ideas were mentioned:

• Purchase a replacement set of banners ($2700),
• Add a couple community bulletin boards (cost unknown).
• Planters and benches?
• Brand a streetcar or bus?
• Replace the It All Starts Here stickers that merchants currently display?

Community Bulletin Board – input
Some people think it would be helpful but depends on the location. On Church St between the gym and XO Cafe? Along the park’s retaining wall on Day Street? Use an awning to help with weather. People could post stuff from guitar lessons to dog walking, etc. It would be a sturdy one that’s a few thousand dollars. There is a little branding. It has to be on a public right of way, so we probably need a sidewalk encroachment permit. Create a committee to talk about the bulletin board.

Door prizes compliments of Henry’s Hunan – two $25 gift certificates 

The next UNN Meeting is Nov 18, 2026 at 7 pm
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