SF Public Works was out in full force cleaning up the streets Wednesday morning for the launch of the Fix-It program in the Inner Sunset. Mayor Ed Lee, District 5 Supervisor London Breed and Fix-It Team director Sandra Zuniga were also on hand for a short 9th Avenue neighborhood walk.
The Fix-It Team is the city’s new multi-agency collaboration focused on resolving quality-of-life issues in the city's neighborhoods. The program is scheduled to move through San Francisco on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis, starting with five pilot neighborhoods.
The Inner Sunset is the second of the neighborhoods to be addressed, but Mayor Lee said the plan was to continue beyond the five original pilot neighborhoods. “In the next three years we’re going to cover … over 100 neighborhoods,” he told the crowd, “to make sure they’re safe, they’re clean [and] to make sure the Fix-It Teams are there.”
“The streets already look way cleaner than they were yesterday,” said Andrea Jadwin of Inner Sunset Park Neighbors, a neighborhood organization. “I hope that this will be more than a one day event, and that six months from now, we’ll see the same improvements. I also want to offer the efforts of volunteers in the community, in whatever way the city agency needs, to make these things happen.”
Zuniga explained that Wednesday’s Public Works effort in the Inner Sunset would concentrate on “power-washing, sweeping the sidewalks, removing graffiti [and] conducting outreach” for people who might need services. She said these will be sustained efforts by the Fix-It Team, and not just a one-day clean up.
Zuniga noted the Fix-It team will be repainting crosswalks and curbs as well, but this work would have to be scheduled for a later time, due to the Muni trains and tracks on many streets.
Representatives from many of the agencies involved in the Fix-It Team were also present for the launch, including Public Works, the Department of Health, the Homeless Outreach Team, Rec and Park, and the Director of 311. Both Park and Taraval Station's police captains were also present.
“It is truly a team that we’re all putting together to make Fix-It,” said Mayor Lee, “to make safe and clean neighborhoods really happen all over the city.”
“Doing this work is an important part of protecting the community and making the community better,” added Supervisor Breed.
Lee recently signed a new city budget that he says concentrates on improving the city's neighborhoods. “We should be proud of a city that’s passing a $9.6 billion budget,” he said, “I think this budget will again reflect all the things that we want to do for the residents throughout the city— make it safer, make it cleaner and improve services within city government.”
“We know that we have challenges,” Supervisor Breed said, “but we can’t just criticize what’s not happening. We have to focus on solutions and make sure we’re investing the dollars on what needs to happen in order to get the job done, so that each and every resident can feel the difference.”
The next Fix-It Team event is a community walk with Zuniga, scheduled for August 10th at 6pm. It will meet at the corner of 9th Avenue and Lincoln Way.
