HVNA Meeting Recap: Proxy News, Beat Cops, and More

HVNA Meeting Recap: Proxy News, Beat Cops, and MorePhoto: Rose Garrett / Hoodline
Hoodline
Published on September 26, 2014
The always-active Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association had a particularly packed monthly meeting last night, including a few updates to stories we’ve been tracking.

Proxy’s progress

Proxy, the smorgasbord of vendor pop-ups and community spaces at Hayes and Octavia, is going through a formal notification process with its neighbors, founder Doug Burnham told the audience. This is per the suggestion of city planners, after Proxy's plans outgrew its existing scope.

Burnham hopes the two-block space will get the permitting required to host things like free outdoor movies, live concerts and events. Proxy’s goal, he explained, is to create a meeting space for the neighborhood. So the movies might be locally produced, and the music might involve tasteful partnerships with local artists, but Proxy won’t be featuring blockbuster movies or arena rock bands. And in recognition of noise issues, all events would end by 10pm. 

Design plans are still developing; one idea Burnham mentioned would be to have vendor structures ringing the space along the street with the movie/concert/gym area as more of an interior courtyard. Hoodline will keep you posted on the plan's progress. 

Hayes Valley beat cops

The San Francisco Police Department assigned two beat cops to the Hayes Valley area recently, and veteran officers Gordon Moore and Kate Bartel have begun patrolling the streets as of a couple weeks ago. Moore stopped by the HVNA meeting to explain more, including that he and Bartel are covering the neighborhood during 10 daytime hours 5 days per week, and are looking to hear from neighbors and local business owners about any issues. (He stressed that one should still call 911 with a real emergency). 

Moore added that he and Bartel have already been politely making some homeless people clean up after themselves and move along during daytime hours, as well as quietly threatening would-be drug dealers. We’ll have more about this new effort by the Northern Station in a separate story.

Public safety meeting with Mark Leno

If you found that last topic interesting, you might also want to attend the HVNA Public Safety Meeting at the Korean American Center (745 Buchanan Street) on Monday, October 6th at 7pm. Your state senator Mark Leno will be attending to talk about the role of the state in Hayes Valley and Western Addition public safety, and about related legislation he’s helped develop. 

Art fundraiser block party coming up

The HVNA is also putting together a block party to help showcase (and fundraise for) more than 65 local artists. It’ll include food, drinks, live music, dancing in the street, a silent auction, live paintings, special surprise guests, and more. The block party is scheduled for Saturday, October 11th from 6pm to 11pm on Rose between Market and Gough. Admission will be a $5 strongly requested donation. 

Ballot measures

The meeting also featured discussion and debate around a few ballot items for the November election, but we'll cover those elsewhere.

And finally, the next general HVNA meeting will be on October 24th at 7pm at its usual location, the Hayes Valley Playground Clubhouse at Hayes and Buchanan. If you're interested in learning about and discussing neighborhood issues in person, rather than just here on Hoodline, you should definitely stop by.