Key leaders from the Visitacion Valley community, businesses, neighborhood associations and educational institutions met Wednesday, July 2 at Visitacion Valley Community Center to discuss expansion of a recently formed steering committee for community outreach on the forthcoming demolition of Geneva Towers.

"This is one of the best things that I've ever been involved in," said Art Agnos, HUD regional director and former mayor of San Francisco who was joined by HUD's John Phillips, who will constructing the new low rise housing on the site once the Towers are down. Agnos explained how HUD took over the Geneva Towers property from its previous owner because of deplorable conditions and that costs for the two buildings were averaging $500,000 a month when they officially closed on Aug. 31, 1995.

"It was a mistake for the Towers to ever become low income housing," said Agnos, who reminded those in attendance that the buildings were originally intended to be middle income housing in proximity to the airport. He also said that HUD would be levyed a hefty fine from the state because either method of destruction -- implosion or use of a wrecking ball -- would release pollutants into the air.

With a decision from the neighborhood needed by the end of August, objective of the new steering committee will be to increase community participation and expedite consensus on the best method for demolishing the twin 20-story buildings located at the corner of Sunnydale Avenue and Schwerin Street.

One goal of this initial meeting was to identify additional community leaders to participate in the next meeting to be held at VVCC in July. In spearheading this effort, the steering committee through Imtech Communication of Berkeley will assist HUD in implementing a multi-faceted community outreach program through formal community presentations, distribution of literature, neighborhood canvassing and telephone surveys.

Questionable Tactics Lead to
Discord at JKSH Meeting

by Gerry L. Galvan

Blatant attempts to discredit, minimize or even completely blot out John King's role at John King Senior Community (JKSC) was revealed to the Grapevine during a June 11 administrative meeting of John King Senior Housing (JKSH).

Confirmation came as the meeting proceeded at the King Center  on Leland Avenue when King himself expressed indignation about behavior and remarks of a number of personnel in two organizations pooling activities with JKSH.

Developments in the meeting found Mercy Charities Housing, together with Housing Conservation and Development Corporation (HCDC) repeatedly organized JKSH-related public and executive meetings without notifying King or his associates. To exacerbate the matter, both Mercy and HCDC, who had recently used JKSH as a party to a questionable letter to the editor in the Grapevine, didn't share provide any information from the meetings with King and company.

A specific example concerned a meeting held in a downtown office a week or two earlier where the name John King was discriminately missing from the agenda and other pertinent documents.
King, in no uncertain terms, demonstrated his displeasure over the seemingly ugly maneuver of his fellow workers and demanded that proper business procedure be observed in any and all activities related to John King Senior Housing.

At this juncture, Dara Kovel, Mercy's housing developer, asked King to point specifically to a particular individual or group having been responsible for the divisive maneuvers.

In addressing both Kovel and Darlene Williams of HCDC, King warned, "I will not tolerate your repeated maneuvers of stamping out my identity in the housing project at 500 Raymond Avenue. Time and time again your groups are heard expressing such sentiments as, ‘Why should neighborhood projects like the John King Senior Center be incorporated into and identified as John King prototype?'"

"I could have chosen from a long list of developers to do the job," explained King. "I picked you on the basis of recommendation from my friends at the Geneva Valley Development Corporation," he told Kovel. "I now realize that I made a mistake in taking you in."

King had the same message for Kenneth Collins, a realtor who in the distant past has played a minor role in the search for a possible JKSH site. Collins practically invited himself to be a regular fixture at the JKSH board meetings.

Dara Kovel denied any and all wrongdoing and tried to distance herself from the issue. She vigorously demanded to know from King who were responsible in the attempts to put him aside.

It now appears that Meea Wong, an HCDC employee whom Darlene Williams has obtrusively delegated to sit in the JKSH board, had been making disparaging remarks concerning the use of John King's name in the corporate structure of the housing project. Wong attempted to defend herself and justify any remarks she had publicly made on the corporate structure and identification. "You are taking this personally," she demurred while addressing her remarks to King. "I will not come to your future meetings any more because I can see you are nursing a personal grudge against me."

Wong then gathered her belongings and headed towards the door, with Williams, her superior following close behind. Both returned minutes later to present their conference input, and stayed for the rest of the meeting.

Before adjournment, the Van Meter Williams group was able to update those in attendance with new drawings of the proposed housing's architectural plan. One new plan now shows a permanent spot within the property allocated to a child care center. In this particular case, the immediate beneficiary would be Dr. Betty Hartman's Early Years Academy whose seemingly permanent attachment to the site has become subject of both speculation and emotional discussions during both JHSH administrative and board meetings.

Vacancies Remain on GVDC Board

by Gerry L. Galvan
A sticky issue with membership in the Geneva Valley Development Corporation's (GVDC) board of directors continues to stalemate as two lingering vacancies appear to remain unfilled much longer than necessary.

The problem has been exacerbated by resignation of a leading member who wanted to get out due to future "conflict of interest." Joel Tate, acting chair of the Visitacion Valley Task Force, got out for good.

"There are three possible vacancies, depending on the response to the letter," GVDC Executive Director Judith Sandoval told the board during its June 11 meeting. A series of campaign for membership letters have been repeatedly sent to neighborhood residents for quite some time now.
Another GVDC vacany has been the treasurer's slot which Bryan Sheppard recently resigned because of a time conflict with his job.

GVDC usually meets at the Village, 333 Schwerin St. Next GVDC board meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday, July 8, from 5:30 to 6:30 in the afternoon.
Guest speaker during the June 11 board meeting was Kathleen Cha of Imtech Communication who spoke at length on the timeline for demolition of Geneva Towers, along with problems, legality, and neighborhood rightful or wrongful "concern" and participation in the process.

It now appears that demolition of the twin 20-story Towers will begin in early 1998, nearly four years after HUD Regional Director Art Agnos first announced that the two buildings would be replaced with low-rise housing. At the time, HUD provided $110 million toward the demolition and redevelopment of the Geneva Towers.

Meanwhile, neighborhood observers have expressed concern over the snail-paced Towers redevelopment project. It appears the initiators, way up from the HUD echelon down to the local community leaders and developers have given excessive weight to community demands. These same observers have opined that someone, somehow, will be committing a federal offense along the line when the community dictates on a business operation. In this case, the redevelopment of Geneva Towers is a business proposition, regardless of the source of funding.

"There's nothing illegal in a neighborhood's concern for its being," said one observer, "but when it dictates on the operator's policy, timeline, mode of hiring and firing...then a federal law is being violated. A violation is punishable by law."

New Coordinator for Youth Media Program

 Victor Pedruco has joined the Youth Communication Apprenticeship Program staff, assuming duties of Coordinator while translating important news items into Chinese.

"I foresee a bright future for Visitacion Valley," said Pedruco, a local resident admitting disgust with excessive bad media attention given San Francisco's southeast communities in recent years. "There are a lot of good things happening here in the neighborhood."

Former VVES Student Leads
Hoover Graduating Class

Academic achievement proved successful for Tiffany Ng, a past student of Visitacion Valley Elementary School who recently graduated from Herbert Hoover Middle School as valedictorian of her class.

Slaying Victim was Popular Volunteer

Visitacion Valley residents were shocked to learn of a brutal triple-murder at a Campbell Avenue home June 9 which took the life of Linda Mendoza-Fabbiani who many friends and neighbors remember as a loyal part of the Visitacion Valley Community Center team.

A recipient of a special award for her volunteer efforts, Linda was well liked by those who worked with her and will be sadly missed. Two other victims at the scene were identified as Julia Garcia of Gilroy and her four-month-old daughter Evangelina. A suspect is currently in custody.

Group Continues Campaign
For More Valley Gardens

Members of Friends of Visitacion Valley Parks continue in their efforts to establish and maintain community gardens for Valley residents.

With just a single San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners (SLUG) garden available in the neighborhood, Friends members are optimistic about several plots of unused land throughout the Valley that could be used as community gardens by local residents.

These plots include several Reis Tracts currently owned by the San Francisco Water Department and are adjacent both east and west to Rutland Street between Leland and Tioga Avenues.

Friends members continue exploring ways to work with City departments and the Trust for Public Land to make City-owned properties in the  Valley available to the community. Participation is also sought with SLUG and other agencies to educate and involve community members in gardening and agriculture. They also want to work with existing schools and educational organizations, and other Visitacion Valley groups to involve all local students in both environmental and agricultural projects.

Computers Available for
Community Use at Beacon Center

Visitacion Valley Community Beacon Center, located at the Middle School, 450 Raymond Ave., Room 101, invites the community to use its computers any time from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., a good opportunity to practice typing, update a resume or learn computer skills. A job listing book is also available. Call 452-4907 for more information.