LoHaMNA General Meeting March 13, 2017
Called to order at 732
- Introductions
- Lieutenant Mike Nelson (Northern Station)
Problem is pursuit policy and need to stay within realm of policy
Chasing all dirt bikes through city streets would create bigger danger for citizens
Get them at starting or ending points
Follow bikers on social media sites where they post their plans so try and act before or after the event
Identified several bikers and few arrests regarding different events
Solution is to get them when gassing up at beginning or when wrapping up
Citizen concern that going through stop signs/red lights and see them as a danger to me and my family so asking about the policy of not pursuing them
Response: they want to be chased so can go on faster and longer, but I agree with you 100% and frustrates me
Task force that investigating and looking at plans to address the situation, working on a better plan
We are very aware of the problem and concerned by the situation but constrained by the law
Question: what can neighbors do?
Answer: do NOT try and take photos, can be aggressive/violent, some gang members, do not try and get in their face, keep yourself and your family safe, recently surrounded Uber driver on freeway and attacked, call immediately and give us a description and direction of the location (posing imminent threat to public then 911 or if general concern than 553-0123)
Questions: are people in danger if take cell phone video
Answer: use caution, take photos from a distance, zoom, videos are helpful, but keep yourself safe
- Urban Solutions
Grant ($50K) from Sup London Breed for local business to negotiate better situation, address vacancies
Urban Solutions- the non-profit closed so we were able to recoup grant funds
Now will give grant money to legacy businesses for targeted projects of tenant improvement via Sup Breed’s office
Request that Sup Breed office and Office of Workforce Development come to speak next meeting
- Public Realm meeting
Wednesday, March 15 at John Muir Elementary, 6-730p, open house, food and childcare, MTA
- Lower Haight Art Grant
Jessica is main planner
$45K grant, can be broken into micro grants
Temporary installations to test impact of public realm (greening, celebrating LH identity and character)
Planning will help with the permitting process (eg Public Works, MTA, etc)
Idea has to involve neighborhood outreach (community stakeholders to ensure that community aware and supportive of project)
Question: lighting on Haight?
Answer: need to take into account neighbors
Question: stairs on Waller seem sterile, can we put a kiosk
Answer: can’t be a business but need to artwork
Question: what does temporary installation?
Answer: 1-12 months, parklet could be temporary, could be easily removed 1-3 days, the idea is to test things out, if it is a big success then can apply for more permanent permit with the city
Question: can it be an activity like closing Waller Street
Answer: perfect temporary use to activate the neighborhood
Question: can you take over empty storefront and turn it into community center for month?
Answer; temporary use permit change and need to adhere to codes for safety, ADA, etc so this is tricky
Question: can you give us some examples of what worked in Dogpatch?
Answer; Dogpatch worked with CCA to build benches and open spaces to create open gathering space, Civic Center is trying to create active used in parks, Market Prototyping festival, it is art but also design, the funding is from Ground Lit
Question: how are the decision made for the grant/permitting?
Answer: involved when public community input
Robert clarified that LoHaMNA not involved in decision making process so no conflict of interest
- Blue Bottle
James Freeman- creator of Blue Bottle
Excited to move into neighborhood: family, bikes, dogs, place to meet and hang out
Want to be clearer about how we plan
Question: I like Blue Bottle, I like the idea, but my concern is that your location will be “drive through” coffee
Answer: 24-28 seats in the plan, my plan is deliciousness, hospitality, and service (?) (quick cup of coffee and/or nice place to sit and enjoy coffee), will have community tables and two tops, outside seating (pending permit), would like to pursue bike route/valet bike parking so that people are not concerned about their bike getting stolen
Question: think you have the best coffee in town but destination coffee, not neighborhood coffee and your business model results in long lines so don’t see it filling neighborhood purpose
Answer: Ferry building is tourist destination so has long lines but not all our locations are tourist locations, have a desire/wish that people will like what we do so much that they want to wait, more than ¾ of people who come to our shops are regular (excluding Ferry Building), complimentary dog treats and dog ties
Question: What drove you to want to open in our neighborhood now if you have been in the neighborhood for so long? Why you waited so long for LH?
Answer: I like cafes that not on main street so that people have to discover them, if bigger shop that has infrastructure for restaurant then seems waste of our plans. Strategic and intuitive about
Question: How many BB around the world and how is this one different? What will hours be? How will you shift the model of BB to LH?
Answer: Want to make coffee when people want to drink coffee. I would love to have a coffee/wine but I haven’t figured out how to make that work. Plan for being open 7-8 or so but will be flexible if folks want coffee. All shops have differences based on the neighborhood and block that we are located. Want the café to be a stage for the people. Planning on kids books/book exchange
Question: I am guessing that more people will come from further away/double park for the coffee
Answer: Experience from Linden street which used to be dead end street, baristas will have conversations with customer
Question: What is your plan for outlets/WiFi?
Answer: we have never had WiFi in our shops except Palo Alto since not my personal taste, used to get more complaints, future is that Wifi is unavoidable, have a round community table in plans
Question: I work at Heath which used to have Blue Bottle and people develop relationships with baristas and hope that you can develop that here
Answer: when we started in 2002, we didn’t know a lot about coffee but our business is going to improve by how people feel after drinking our coffee, goal is that baristas will know people’s name
Question: which businesses do you like in LH and what is timeframe for move in?
Answer: Maven, Alembic, not open yet since it is a process to open with planning, community, neighborhood, planning dept review, anything that more than 11 locations that business owns is called formula retail so cannot open unless have the support of the community so if the neighborhood is opposed and planning dept sees significant opposition then will not be allowed
Question: This is not the whole neighborhood- what are your plans to outreach to whole neighborhood?
Answer: we have been walking the neighborhood on Saturdays talking to neighbors and businesses and getting input, recommendation of LoHaMNA carries a lot of weight
Comment: Looking at it as a neighborhood destination
Question: looking for more community engagement- not a lot of people here at the table/at this meeting, I would rec not going just on LoHaMNA’s rec
Answer; ¾ of our employees are full time, 80% elect public sponsored health care that we pay for at Kaiser, pay family care, average hourly slightly under $17/hour, almost landfill free in our SF cafes
Question: How do you think it would change the neighborhood for other formula retails?
Answer; case by case basis so will have to go through this same process
Question: how many units do you have in planning stage?
Answer: 2 in planning in Boston, 2 in Washington DC, have almost 30 in big cities (SF, LA NY, Tokyo), 6 in SF now
Question: Any stats on other locations and the impact of more cars in neighborhood?
Answer: Don’t have actually numbers
Question: are plans available online?
Answer: can send you a PDF and all posted on storefront and will be a link to download plans, or email me at: james@bluebottlecoffee.com
Adjourned at 847p