The View canvassed its readers to identify individuals who volunteer their time to make a positive difference in their community, some of whom are described in this article. The paper welcomes nominations of others.
Alice Rogers has served as South Beach | Rincon | Mission Bay Neighborhood Association (SBRMBNA) president since 2018, initially joining the organization in 2010. Over the years she’s been the Association’s treasurer and vice president.
SBRMBNA was founded in 2008 by Katy Liddell, Gary Pegueros, and several other neighbors who’d been active in the San Francisco Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure (OCII)-led Citizens Advisory Committee for the South Beach and Rincon redevelopment areas.
Rogers has been a South Park resident since 1993. She previously lived in Sausalito for roughly 25 years. Rogers said her parents modeled community engagement when she was growing up in Sacramento. She’s always been involved in the neighborhoods where she’s lived, with a strong interest in urbanism; viewing the public realm, from parks to streets, as a commons for city dwellers, particularly those who live in multi-family housing without yards.
“It’s where people meet, gather, and cultivate relationships to build a feeling of community,” said Rogers.
Rogers added that in South Beach, Rincon, and Mission Bay, the Association is working to blur the line between private and public spaces. The group hopes to create window transparency at the sidewalk level and establish agreements with entities to use private space for community gatherings. Cloudflare, Inc., at 101 Townsend Street, hosts the monthly SBRMBNA in-person assemblies in one of its meeting rooms.
“What’s interesting (about) our neighborhood association is that it is based in three redevelopment areas, South Beach, Rincon, and Mission Bay, that share common infrastructure issues,” said Rogers. “(These) are building communities from the ground up. Our neighborhood association has worked diligently to have these areas recognized as new, emerging neighborhoods, not just paper planning areas…supported with the public realm amenities (that) older neighborhoods across the City enjoy.”
SBRMBNA is a dues optional, nonpolitical neighborhood association. Its mission is to distribute unbiased information about issues, proposals, and programs that affect the area’s quality of life. SBRMBNA also promotes social events.
“We do this by posting meeting notices, City initiative outreach programs, volunteer opportunities, social gatherings, and the like to our neighborhood association Google Group (of around) 300 members. (We hold) monthly hybrid meetings on issues of interest. Our postings are often telegraphed via property managers through homeowners’ associations,” said Rogers.
Over the years, SBRMBNA surveys have found that neighbors hold diverse perspectives on issues such as land use.
“We’re often divided evenly. The SBRMBNA rarely takes stands on development issues. Rather, we do our best to help those of like minds find each other. Then they can actively advocate for their interests,” said Rogers.
SBRMBNA supported construction of the Mission Bay Elementary School, the groundbreaking for which took place in 2022. The group has advocated for return of the Muni 12 line to serve the Rincon neighborhood east of Second Street and promoted activation of the Muni 22 line through Mission Bay.
“We are seeing the benefits of intense advocacy for a dedicated fund to provide municipal services around the Chase Center…to neutralize negative impacts from large crowds passing through our residential neighborhoods to attend events. Our neighborhood-led negotiations around the good neighbor policy for the Embarcadero SAFE Navigation Center has given us strong metrics and transparency,” said Rogers.
She added that the group rallied South Beach, Rincon, and Mission Bay residents to keep their neighborhoods in District 6 during the 2020-mandated redistricting of supervisorial boundaries.
Recently a new neighborhood group, Ideate SF, emerged in Rincon/The East Cut, founded by Seema Sri and Chris Chang. Rogers said SBRMBNA believes that as each of the three neighborhoods mature, they’ll best be served with their own association.
“We are eager to see a group emerge in Mission Bay. SBRMBNA will likely continue to have a role in advocating on overarching issues and encouraging working partnerships among neighborhood groups. (We’ve) done (that for years) with the Dogpatch Neighborhood Association and the Potrero Boosters,” said Rogers.
Gary Pegueros has been SBRMBNA Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT) coordinator since 2009, and NERT Advisory Board chair for San Francisco beginning in 2013. Pegueros also served as SBRMBNA secretary, which he helped found in 2008. A NERT functions like a Community Emergency Response Team, supporting emergency responders during a crisis. NERT volunteers perform tasks like checking evacuated homes and reporting unsafe areas, which enables professional emergency responders, including firefighters and EMTs, to focus on dangerous assignments.
Pegueros was born and raised in San Mateo. He’s intermittently lived in the City for more than 30 years, initially residing in Outer Richmond and later in Park Merced. He moved to South Beach roughly 20 years ago. Pegueros works as an administrative assistant and customer service representative for Global Allies LLC, a wholesale furniture company.
Pegueros took the San Francisco Fire Department’s NERT training when he first moved to South Beach. He wanted to meet his neighbors and create a sense of community, core NERT values.
“Our volunteers work together as a team to help our neighbors in need in the event of a disaster. It takes a village, so I would love for all my San Francisco neighbors to get NERT-trained,” said Pegueros.
More than 30,000 San Franciscans have been trained since NERT was established in 1990. The NERT email list reaches in excess of 9,000 volunteers. Offered for free throughout the year, NERT training involves completing six three-hour sessions taught by San Francisco firefighters.
Pegueros is proud that NERT volunteers came out in high numbers during the pandemic’s early phase to provide door-to-door information on COVID-19. They assisted at COVID testing and vaccination sites and helped with food distribution.
“The NERT classes are packed. This indicates our residents are anxious and ready to get trained,” said Pegueros. “(These are) older residents who find themselves with time on their hands and younger residents, maybe those who are new to San Francisco and are motivated to get prepared.”
