Contents

District 3 Update

Legislation

See You in theDistrict

Community Calendar& Announcements

NeighborhoodOffice Hours

See you in theDistrict!

I look forward toseeing many of you atmy 2014 office hoursat our neighborhoodcafes that add somuch to the characterof District 3. Pleaseemail my aide Amy

Supervisor David Chiu December2013 NewsletterFriend­

As 2013 comes to a close, I want to take a moment to thank all ofyou in our neighborhoods and throughout the City who have closelyworked with me on so many diverse issues. After years ofnegotiations and advocacy, this was the year that we resolved themega CPMC hospital projects, crafted unanimous CEQA reform,launched a successful participatory budgeting pilot, and had thevoters decide the 8 Washington project. I’m proud San Franciscobecame the first city in the country to give workers the right torequest flexible working arrangements, as we passed our FamilyFriendly Workplace Ordinance that will ease the burden of workingfamilies struggling to balance caretaking responsibilities withdemanding jobs.

As I reflect on the state of our city, while our unemploymentnumbers have thankfully dropped, we all know that San Francisco,always an expensive city, is in the midst of an affordability crisis,as evidenced by skyrocketing evictions, high rents and oureveryday cost of living. This year, I championed legislation to giverelief to long­time residents facing Ellis Act evictions, to protecttenants while TICs are converted to condos, to make it easier fortenants apply for hardship waivers from the Rent Board, and toprovide pro bono legal help to those facing evictions. But our work

Chan atamy.chan@sfgov.org ifyou plan to come by,since office hoursoccasionally need tobe rescheduled.

Friday, January 10,1:30­2:30 p.m.ChinatownSF Chinatown Library,1135 Powell Street Saturday, January 11,3 p.m. ­ 4 p.m.North BeachCaffe Trieste, 601Vallejo Street Saturday, January 18,11 a.m. ­ noonMiddle Polk Crepe House, 1755Polk Street Friday, January 24,1:30 ­ 2:30 p.m.Chinatown SF Chinatown Library,1135 Powell Street

Upcoming 2013CommunityCalendar

December 24­25, 7­3p.m.GLIDE ChristmasMealsGLIDE, 330 Ellis St.

Tuesday, December31San Francisco NewYear’s Eve Fireworks2014Embarcadero fromMission to Folsom

Wednesday, January 1Happy New Year!

Wednesday January 8,7 p.m.Lower Polk NeighborsMonthly MeetingFirst CongregationalChurch, 1300 PolkStreet

is not done. In this newsletter, you can read more about ourongoing work on the Ellis Act and our push to legalize tens ofthousand of in­law units. Our work will not stop until the crisisends.

I want to take a moment to thank my amazing team of City Hallstaff ­ Amy Chan, Catherine Rauschuber and Judson True. TheSF Bay Guardian credited our “bustling office of top aides thathave done most of the heavy legislative lifting this year,” and I amimmensely proud of their work.

On a personal note, the most important thing that happened to mein 2013 was on Sunday, October 20th, when Candace and I madewedding vows to each other. We’ll be spending our first Christmastogether this week, and I could not be a luckier man.

I hope that you and your loved ones enjoy a joyful and restfulholiday season, and wish all of you the very best for 2014.

Yours,

David Chiu

A holiday moment in City Hall

District 3 Update

Lower Polk Neighborhood Wins AwardCongratulations to Lower Polk for winning the “ComebackNeighborhood of the Year” award from the NeighborhoodEmpowerment Network (NEN). NEN is a coalition of city agenciesand community organizations that sponsor yearly awards torecognize the work of San Francisco residents and organizationsthat are working to make our local communities better. Theincredible efforts this year by Lower Polk Neighbors, where I gotmy start in neighborhood activism, as well as other Polk Streetvolunteers included ArtWalks, Fern Alley events, farmers’ markets,new trees on Polk, a green wall on Cedar Alley, the beginning of aCommunity Benefits District effort, work with CPMC on the newhospital project, the closure of a problem liquor store and much

Saturday, January 11,9:30­12 p.m.Russian Hill NeighborsNeighborhood SweepFL!PP, 1400 Green St.

Saturday, January 11,10­12 p.m.Fay Park VolunteerWork DayFay Park, 2366Leavenworth St.

Tuesday, January 14,2:00 ­ 5:00 p.m.SF Arts CommissionCommunity Arts,Education, and GrantsCommittee MeetingSan Francisco ArtsCommission25 Van Ness Ave. Ste.70

Saturday, January 18,9:45 a.m.Middle PolkNeighborhoood CleanUp It’s a Grind, 1800 PolkStreet

Monday, January 20,6:30 p.m.Middle PolkNeighborhooodAssociation MonthlyMeetingIt’s a Grind, 1800 PolkStreet

Tuesday, January 28,3:00 ­ 7:00 p.m.Earthquake RetrofitFairBill Graham CivicAuditorium, 99 GroveStreet

***If we missed yourevent or meeting,please send futureevents by the first ofeach month tojudson.true@sfgov.organd we’ll include asmany as we can.We’re also looking torevamp the newsletter

more. Please come celebrate at this year’s NEN awards ceremonyon Friday, January 24 at City Hall!

Chinatown Food Drive and Holiday DonationsAs we celebrate the holiday season with our friends and families,it’s important to remember to give back to those who are most inneed in our community. I’m so grateful that there are incredibleorganizations all across the district that brighten up the holidays forthe many low­income seniors and families that would otherwise nothave the means to celebrate.

In particular, I want to thank the Chinese Newcomers ServiceCenter and its partners for hosting their annual Community Foodand Toy Drive in Portsmouth Square in Chinatown and HansSchiller Plaza Park in Visitacion Valley. With the help of 300volunteers and donations from community sponsors, 5,000 low­income residents were provided non­perishable food and toys forthe holidays. It’s this spirit of giving that makes me so proud to bea San Franciscan!

Legislation

Fighting Ellis Act AbusesAs part of a coalition effort of City and State elected officialsworking to curb the abuse of the Ellis Act and to protect tenantsfrom eviction, last week I joined with Mayor Ed Lee and some ofmy colleagues to introduce a resolution outlining the issue and ourplan of action. As reported by the Chronicle, KCBS and KALW,amond other outlets, Ellis Act evictions contribute to the growingaffordability crisis in San Francisco. Long­time residents in mydistrict like the Lee Family near Chinatown and Theresa Flandrichof North Beach are being pushed out of their homes because ofunaffordable market rate rents.

a bit in 2014, so sendus any ideas of whatyou’d like to see in it.

Also last week, my legislation to provide housing help to tenantswho are facing imminent eviction from the Ellis Act was passed bythe Board of Supervisors. The legislation gives tenants who haveoccupied their apartments for 10 years or more and who get anEllis Act eviction notice priority in applying for our City’s affordablehousing sites.

Tackling In­Law Units to Promote AffordabilityLast month, I joined a diverse coalition of tenants, property owners,housing organizations and City departments in introducinglegislation that would allow existing in­law units that were builtwithout permits to apply for legal status with the City. In­law unitsare typically units added onto existing housing by converting attics,basements and garages into new places to live. The estimated40,000 such units serve as a vital source of affordable housing forthe San Francisco’s lower income families, students, seniors andimmigrants. My legislation would create a voluntary program forhomeowners to apply for one additional unit to become legalizedand waive various planning restrictions if it meets health and safetybuilding code requirements. The goals are to bring tens ofthousands of housing units into the legal affordable housing stock,to protect tenants who have lived without tenant protections inunits that may not be safe, and to help homeowners make a long­term investment in affordable housing. The legislation will helppreserve affordable housing currently at risk of elimination andreactivate vacant units that are kept off the housing marketbecause of enforcement or fear of enforcement penalties. I lookforward to working with my colleagues on the Board to move thislegislation forward.

Reducing Plastic Water Bottle WasteOn the last Board meeting of the year, I announced a first­in­the­nation legislative proposal to phase out the sale and distribution ofplastic bottled water on municipal property, to promote the healthy,inexpensive, and environmentally responsible alternative of tapwater. It would apply to events, permitted vendors, and lessees onSan Francisco property, as well as City departments. As we allknow, the environmental impact of our yearly consumption ofbillions of plastic water bottles is enormous. Given that SanFranciscans can access clean and inexpensive Hetch Hetchywater out of our taps, we need to wean ourselves off our recentaddiction to plastic water bottles, driven by mass marketing in thelast few decades. Along with what is being asked of others, mylegislation would require City government to take action to increaseaccess to water in public places. I believe this proposal is acommon­sense approach to begin tackling the enormous problemof excess plastic in our waste stream ­ tens of millions of plasticwater bottles in San Francisco alone. Our proposal gives adequatetime to expand alternatives to selling disposable plastic waterbottles; while there are already several cost effective alternativesto plastic bottled water available, such alternatives will only keepgrowing. I recently debated the bottled water industry about myproposal on the KQED Forum show. The Board of Supervisors willlikely hold its first hearing on the proposal in late January.

Free Public Wi­Fi on Market Street Last week, I joined Mayor Lee and our new head of the Departmentof Technology, Marc Touitou, to celebrate the opening of a longoverdue free municipal Wi­Fi network along the stretch of MarketStreet from the Ferry Building to the Castro. Anyone with a Wi­Fienabled device can now connect to the internet for free. This new

service is a reminder that San Francisco owns 130 miles of fiber­optic cable ­ and I have consistently pushed to expand thatnetwork and increase public access to it, including with myproposed legislation that would encourage such expansion everytime we dig up our city streets. By providing free Wi­Fi down thebusiest stretch of our City’s busiest street, we have taken animportant step towards making San Francisco a truly connectedcity.

PAID FOR BY SUPERVISOR DAVID CHIU

Phone: (415) 554­7450 • Fax: (415) 554­7454 • chiustaff@sfgov.orgSupervisor David Chiu

1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett PlRoom 244

San Francisco CA 94102 United States