potrero view
Photo by Branca Nitzsche

Photo by Branca Nitzsche

Potrero Hill Democratic Club members listen to speakers discussing state budget measures at an endorsement meeting, April 2009.

January 2010

Civic Engagement a High Priority in Dogpatch and Potrero Hill

By Ben Terrall

Potrero Hill and Dogpatch are blessed with an abundance of neighborhood-based civic organizations that take on an impressive array of community responsibilities.  These include the Potrero Hill Democratic Club, Potrero Boosters Neighborhood Association, and Dogpatch Neighborhood Association.

Serving as Potrero Hill Democratic Club president has been “the most rewarding political thing I’ve ever done,” said artist and longtime Hill resident Joni Eisen.  Eisen revived the then-dormant club in 2006, recruiting new members by distributing a flyer that included an image of a donkey climbing from a grave under the words “The Potrero Democratic Club will rise again.”  The rejuvenated club quickly attracted 20 members.  In 2007 the club elected officers and, in Eisen’s words, “hit the ground running as a progressive club.”  The club now has 74 dues-paying members and more than 350 contacts on its email list.

One of Eisen’s political passions is campaign finance reform, a topic she approaches with the same enthusiasm she has for gardening. Though proud of the club, Eisen would like to see it do “more service work,” especially ecological projects, such as the Mission Creek cleanup day, which was held last April as part of Earth Day events.  A double handful of Potrero Democratic Club members participated in the cleanup, which was sponsored by Save the Bay and the Mission Bay Conservancy.  “Some of us dug up weeds as part of restoration of the creek bank. Others picked up trash, from the community garden west of the houseboats, all the way east to the ballpark,” Eisen recalled.  At a recent potluck dinner, the club collected 98 pounds of donations for the San Francisco Food Bank.

The club’s website, http://www.phdemclub.org/, features audio of many of its past events.  Eisen is especially proud of a March 2008 debate, when the club hosted all four Democratic candidates for the State Senate District 3 primary, with close to 100 people in attendance.   Last summer the club hosted a health care panel that drew praise from audience members.   Potrero Hill Democrats have long supported a single payer health care system, and the club endorsed State Senator Mark Leno’s single payer legislation for California, Senate Bill 810.

According to Eisen, the club’s central mission is, through such things as  public forums, to promote civic engagement by helping to create a more informed electorate. The club’s approach is the “opposite of the goals of the Republican Party, which are low voter turnout and ignorance, “ she quipped.   The club’s panels feature opposing positions to promote debate, and their forums have reached beyond Democratic Party circles to include Green Party activists Ross Mirkarimi and Barry Hermanson.  Most of all, said Eisen, “you have to have fun…politics can be fun.”  She argued that people feel better when they’re engaged and do something positive with their neighbors.  “Action is the antidote to anger,” she said.

The Potrero Hill Democratic Club meets the First Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. at the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House, 953 De Haro St. For more information, call 648.6740, www.PHDemClub.org. Next meeting: January 5th.

Potrero Boosters Neighborhood Association

Tony Kelly has served as the Potrero Boosters Neighborhood Association president since 2003, having moved to the Hill in 1994.  According to Kelly, Southeast San Francisco has more than its fair share of challenges, including two freeways, two power plants  - one of which, Hunters Point, was closed in 2006 –  a sewage treatment plant, and a City plan for a massive population increases .   “Eighty percent of this part of town has been rezoned in the past five years. We have eighty times the asthma rate of other parts of the City,” he said.

According to Kelly, the many architects in the neighborhood – including noted landscape architect Topher Delaney – have helped Booster members become conversant with the language of land use reports, enabling them to engage more effectively in development issues.  The Boosters were heavily involved in Eastern Neighborhoods development plans, which could form the basis for a tripling of the population in the 94107 zip code over the next three decades.   The group also tackles pollution, affordable housing, and transit issues.  Kelly pointed out that with the current City budget crisis, Potrero Hill could be losing public services at the same time that the population will be steadily increasing.  “Of course, with limited transit, these new neighbors are going to be driving, which is just what we shouldn’t be doing.”

The Potrero Boosters meets the last Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. (social time begins at 6:30 p.m.) in the wheelchair-accessible Game Room of the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House, 953 De Haro Street. For more information, visit www.potreroboosters.org or contact President Tony Kelly at 341.8040 or president@potreroboosters.org. Next meeting: January 26th.

Dogpatch Neighborhood Association

The Dogpatch Neighborhood Association (DNA) serves as a grassroots organization of citizens concerned about San Francisco’s historic Dogpatch neighborhood, generally bounded by Mariposa Street to the north, Tubbs Street (23rd) to the south, Highway 280 to the west, and SF Bay to the east.  According to Susan Eslick, DNA’s vice-president, the organization was launched in 1998 during an era of rapid development.  “We were a neighborhood City Hall never thought about.,” she said.  It took four years, and countless meetings, to obtain historic designation for the area.  Through DNA, “I had a direct experience of making a difference,” said Eslick, but “you have to be tenacious.”

Janet Carpinelli, a long-time community activist and graphic artist, is DNA’s president. Carpinelli and other DNA members worked on the redevelopment of the Esprit headquarters on Minnesota Street, which led to two redwoods being preserved as part of Esprit’s interior, as well as to the preservation of the original brick on the complexes’ Minnesota Street side.  According to Carpinelli, one of the group’s most important projects is their campaign to save the Bluepeter Building, at 555 Illinois Street, from demolition.  Jared Doumani, DNA’s treasurer, said that he “loves” the building, and given that “Mission Bay has a suburban business park feeling” already, the Bluepeter, which was built around 1940 for maritime use, would provide much-needed character to the neighborhood.

DNA has roughly 60 dues-paying members, with an additional 150 contacts signed up through mydogpatch.org, the group’s website.

DNA meets the second Tuesday evening of each odd numbered month at Sundance Coffee, 2295 Third Street. The next meeting is January 12 from 7 to 9 p.m.  Membership is open to individuals living and working in Dogpatch, with an anual fee of $20 for individuals, $30 per household or area business.

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