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| Funds Requested
for Proposed
Britton Street Housing In June the City and County of San Francisco submitted a request to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the release of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program funds under Title I of the Community Development Act of 1974, as amended, and under the HOME Investment Partnerships Program authorized by Title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act to undertake a project known as Britton Street Family Housing, for the purpose of its construction at 150 Britton St. The City has determined that the project will have no significant impact on the human environment. Therefore, an Environmental Impact Statement under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 is not required. This proposed project contains 92-units of mixed income, low density family housing, a community center and a 40-child day care center. It includes 46 units with project-based rental subsidies to make them affordable to very low income tenants, and 46 units which will be offered at below-market rents under the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. The project consists of 63 two-bedroom units, 21 three-bedroom units, and 8 four-bedroom units. Former Geneva Towers residents will have the first right to occupy 91 of the completed units. Plans for the 3.68 acre vacant site includes two private streets accessible from Sunnydale Avenue on the south. The project will be developed as a Planned Unit Development (PUD) consistent with the site's RH-I Residential, one family zoning and the City's Conditional Use Permit, issued on Dec. 19, 1996 as amended. Private parking will be on site at 1:1 ratio in carports, with 89 additional guest parking spaces on site. All units will have private outdoor open space either at ground level or on decks. Community facilities include a 1,312 square foot day care for 40 children with a 2,480 square foot outdoor play area and a 1,743 square foot community building. It will also be accessible to residents and the neighborhood directly off Sunnydale Avenue. Total cost of the project will be approximately
$17 million, of which approximately $850,800 will come from HUD, Community
Development Block Grant allocations to the City & County of San Francisco,
and $4,466,856 will come from the HOME Program.
Project sponsor is the Housing Conservation and Development Corporation (HCDC) and Meea Kang is the project manager. The Newly Formed Leland Avenue Merchants Association Invite You To An Important Meeting With Mayor Willie L. Brown, Jr., Supervisors Mabel Teng and Amos Brown Leland Avenue Community Meeting Day/Date: Thursday, July 23, 1998 Time: 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM Location: Visitacion Valley Community Center 50 Raymond Avenue Purpose: To hear about current efforts and future commitments for the revitalization of Leland Avenue In 1997, Mayor Brown directed the Mayor's Office of Community Development (MOCD) to assist the Visitacion Valley community and the merchants of Leland Avenue to develop a strategy to revitalize this important business corridor. Community leaders, along with MOCD and various city departments, have made significant progress on this project. Accomplishments to date as well as future commitments for the revitalization of Leland Avenue will be presented at this July 23rd meeting. Please join us for this important meeting! For more information, please contact Ms. Ann Williams at 467-7608 or 239-2877. Non-Public
Sector Joint Ventures
by Vincent Chao, Principal
As California is still 43rd in the nation in funding our public schools, educators have to work on forming partnerships with businesses, non-profit community-based agencies and private individuals to develop projects to enhance the learning of our students. Following are a few success stories of these joint ventures at Visitacion Valley Elementary School during the 1997-98 school year: *Nationwide Papers: Through the San Francisco School Volunteers, Inc., this corporation with a branch office in the Vis Valley neighborhood adopted our school seven years ago. In fact, one of their departed managers, Mr. Rene McClain attended our school and has fond memories of some of his teachers and education experiences there. Because the company is short of manpower, it has dropped the tutoring project and continues to sponsor our multicultural dance performance program and Thanksgiving Food Basket drive each year. *Double Rainbow Ice Cream: Ms. Gail Howell, manager of this 22 year-old gourmet ice cream manufacturing company, with about 100 cafes in the Bay Area and many more stores in the Los Angeles and Chicago areas and on the East Coast, has been a loyal supporter of our Citizenship Enhancement program for more than nine years. Winning classes are treated to this delicious ice cream each semester, compliment of Double Rainbow. Recently, it has expanded its sponsorship to all classes with perfect attendance and then, those with perfect punctuality. With such yummy rewards, these programs have been so successful that ice cream has been served to nearly a thousand children this past year. *Jamison & Cawdry Advertising Co.: Mr. David Jamison who grew up in this neighborhood has adopted our school after spending half a day there as principal-for-the-day, shadowing the school principal to get a feel of what it's like to lead an inner city public school, in 1995. He's been back to visit many times since, and has contributed to many of our projects, including putting up a billboard along Bayshore Boulevard displaying our students' art work to promote reading and other education and family values, a mural in the school playground to celebrate the diversity of our student population, a school yearbook, etc. A member of the S.F. Chamber of Commerce board of directors, Mr. Jamison has promised to take on another challenge next school year: help the school get donations of quality used computers for our classrooms that just got networked thanks to some state funding, from the private sector. A dozen of our students interested in graphic arts are invited to tour the offices of this advertising company located on the 14th floor of the St. Francis Hotel this Fall, and learn more about the advertising business and graphic arts. *J&H Marsh and McLennan: Junior Achievement helped coordinate one full day of classroom presentations by 14 of their staff members this Spring. Most of our students had the opportunity to learn more about business and entrepreneurship, thanks to this insurance brokerage firm, the world's largest one with 2,100 employees, and Junior Achievement. This program further enhances our Enterprise Community-funded school general store run by fourth and fifth-graders, with its profits used to purchase supplies for our after-school tutorial program. *AT&T and Bayac Americorps *Blue Shield: Thanks to a former president of our PTA, Mr. Carlos Ramirez who is an employee of this HMO, a lot of good quality used furniture and office equipment have been donated to the school over the years. *Private Donors: Some of these individuals prefer to remain anonymous, like the Dent family from Chevy Chase, Maryland who had paid for the subscription for the Scholastics Weekly Reader magazines for many years and contributed to the multicultural mural project, library books and computers for the classrooms. A neighbor has established an annual scholarship fund (the Cheryl Wendy Hackett Awards) to reward two students from needy homes who have performed well academically and/or made the most improvements. The local Presbyterian Church has also rewarded our two top scholars each year with scholarships. The Ridgeview Church will also be sending senior volunteers to help with our after-school program this Fall, thanks to Rev. Lee and the S.F. Volunteer Center. These partnerships, perhaps considered small by some folks, together help sustain and enhance quality education programs at "Little Vis" in these days of budget cuts. We are very grateful to all our partners for their generosity and interest in helping our youngsters. We are also thankful to the many city funded agencies like the Southeast Family clinic, Health Center #3, the Mayor's Office of Community Development, the Mayor's Office of Children, Youth and Their Families, the Rec and Park Dept., etc... for providing the additional support to our neighborhood school. Around the
Neighborhood:
by Gerry L. Galvan Some Visitacion Valley residents have been complaining about wayward motorists who shamelessly continue to park their vehicles on their private property, only to find authorities unable to tow it away. In one example involves a brown Capri on Leland Avenue near Sawyer Street which one witness said was parked on the sidewalk more than a year ago. After repeated written requests by one property owner to "please move this car away" failed, a report to the San Francisco police only added to the frustration when it was explained that the City doesn't tow away cars from private property. SUCCESSFUL TENURE
ANNUAL KING LUNCHEON
CHURCH PICNIC
BANK ROBBER CAPTURED
Hundreds of
Valley Residents
Following is a monitoring report on the Beacon/BESS ESL Program presented June 27 by a member of the Visitacion Valley Task Force. by Marjorie Ann Williams Even with our very busy work schedules, I was able to interview Marlene Tran, the present part-time coordinator of the ESL Program, about the status of the Beacon/BESS ESL Program briefly in May and more in length on June 21, 1998. The Beacon/BESS ESL Program was started in 1996 with funding from the S.F. Enterprise Community to expand the ESL program in Visitacion Valley. The Spring 1998 semester had five class levels but only four classes in June serving between 140-165 students and their children. The evening program at 66 Raymond Avenue is very busy. Students move tables to their rooms and look for chairs in which to sit when they come in later. There are some new students who come in almost every week. They ask for all kinds of help (filling out forms, counseling and class referrals, translations, service referrals and contacts, safety concerns, etc.). Therefore, even with a teaching assistant, it is hard to meet all their requests. A child-watch service is also provided to encourage parents and babysitting grandparents to attend class. There are between 5 and 18 youngsters of different ages in each session. Since there is a large population of non and limited-English speaking residents in Visitacion Valley, they need to learn English to be able to communicate with their neighbors at their work places and to get better jobs. Many of them also need to learn English to pass Citizenship exams. This class is held on Sunday mornings. Recently, an 80-year-old student shed tears of joy when she became an American citizen. All classes are open to residents who need to learn English as a second language. Before June 1998, there was a morning class at the Beacon Center at Visitacion Valley Middle School (VVMS) from 9-11 a.m. This class and the upper levels of an evening program (6:30-9 p.m.) at Visitacion Valley Community Center (VVCC) have more diverse ethnic groups (such as Spanish, Filipino, Vietnamese, and Cambodian) but the very low levels have mostly Chinese students. The majority of these adult students are more recent immigrants from China with very little English and transferable work skills. Many are shy and can hardly answer simple English questions. They just say, "Hi," smile and wave their hands to welcome people. Most work in minimum-paying jobs for long working hours. For this reason, some don't make it to class until a little after 6:30 p.m. The Literacy and Citizenship classes have a lot of retired seniors, but many of the younger female students in the other classes work in factories (garments and products) which don't need much English skills. Unfortunately, they get few opportunities to pick up English. The male students are also mostly low-paying blue collar workers in factories and different trade jobs. Again, they too don't have much English contacts all day except during the 2-1/2 hours of ESL class time at night. Last September, a Custodial/Janitorial class was started at VVCC to help students learn Vocational English skills. Both the ESL coordinator and the instructor, Pennie Lau, helped students with work contracts. As a result, a few students have been placed in a new line of work only after a few months there. Unfortunately, this class cannot continue in the summer because Enterprise funding has ended. Unlike the last two summers, there is no funding for the children's immersion program at VVMS either. I think the ESL program is successful because it has served hundreds of residents in the Valley who really need to learn English so that we all can better communicate with each other and make friends. The daily attendance has been so good that San Francisco City College has picked up instructional costs (except the newer, Enterprise-funded Custodial/Janitorial class) since 1997. When the enterprise funding ends in June 1998, all the supplemental services, such as the teaching assistant, child watch and part-time coordinator positions will also end, making the daily operation of such an off-site program very difficult for the few, already overworked instructors. Marlene said that after a few months of pleas with the CCSF Coordinator and the ESL Dean, there is a good chance that, at least, part of the present vocational education and even the teaching assistant positions may be restored for this fall. Task Force Meeting in July Visitacion Valley Task Force invites the neighborhood to attend its next regular meeting scheduled for Saturday, July 25 from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon at the Community Center, 50 Raymond Ave. Girls After
School Academy Has
The Girls After School Academy (GASA)
has an innovative turf free summer program open to female youth 8-19 in
San Francisco.
Agenda for Little Hollywood/Sanitary Fill Company/City Meeting 7 p.m. July 22, 1998 at Schlage Lock Company I. Introductions
Household Hazardous
Waste Collection Facility
The City and County of San Francisco is the legal operator of the San Francisco Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility located at 501 Tunnel Ave. Each quarter, the City publicizes information on paint and solvent emissions from the facility as well as other facility data shown below. Household Hazardous Waste Days
Small Business Drop Off Days
Total Waste Volumes
Next Meeting: The next Community/Norcal/City meeting is on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m., July 22, 1998 at Schlage Lock Company, 2401 Bayshore Blvd. in San Francisco. The public is welcome. Summaries of these quarterly meetings are published in the Visitacion Valley Grapevine and the S.F. Independent. Posted by Paul Fresina, San Francisco Solid Waste Management Program on July 10th, 1998. Phone 415-554-1662. Committee to Stop the Giveaway Barred from Turning in Petitions by Doug Comstock
In an unprecedented decision, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Raymond Williamson ruled June 19 that the Notice of Intent, a heretofore unabridged statement by petition proponents setting out the reasons for bringing the issue to the voters, must pass a test of correctness and that the content of the Notice, if not approved by the judiciary, may be a basis to void the entire endeavor. This new burden will discourage the initiative process because the proponents, who usually lack the funding to persuade elected officials to introduce their measures in the first place, must bear costs imposed by better funded opponents. Proponents of the petition to repeal D and F will appeal the decision. If Judge Williamson's ruling is upheld, proponents will be required to prove that their opinions pass a test of "Truthfulness" for which there are no guidelines and no legislated laws. This ruling, if it becomes a precedent,
effectively gives the judiciary "hands-on" control of the content of the
initial process.
Judge Again Throws Out English Only Test The State of California lost its second bid to force the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) to administer an achievement test in English to its limited English speaking students.State Superior Court Judge David Garcia denied the State's request to reconsider his May 22, 1998 ruling in favor of the SFUSD. His decision reaffirms the original ruling and strengthens SFUSD's counter-complaint which will be heard on July 16. SFUSD is now preparing to present facts to show that the Statewide Testing and Reporting Program (STAR) should be invalidated on the grounds that the test violates the State's own statutes. According to the California Education Code, content and performance standards must be in place before choosing a test to measure student achievement. The SFUSD will request a court order to prevent the test scores from being placed in students' permanent records. "The STAR test results are meaningless and should not be taken into account on anyone's permanent record," said Bill Rojas, San Francisco superintendent of schools. "The court already ruled that it was inappropriate to test limited English speaking students. Now we are going to prove that the test was also unfair to native English speaking students. How can districts be held accountable to standards which do not exist?" Don't Let Barbecue
Season
If you plan to fire up the barbecue this summer, keep food safety in mind, especially if children will be eating grilled food, recommends food safety experts consulted by Kids Safe. "Food-borne illnesses skyrocket during barbecue season," said Jayne Shapiro, founder and president of Kids Safe. "Cases of food poisoning peak between June and August, with the highest incidence occurring among children 4 years old and younger." It's up to people to prepare meals to properly handle and cook raw animal products and other foods that harbor harmful bacteria, the major cause of food poisoning. Symptoms of food-borne illness include stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches and fever. In healthy adults, symptoms usually last only a day or two. But infants and young children, as well as the elderly, pregnant women and people with impaired immune symptoms, can develop life-threatening complications. "Hamburger is particularly risky for carrying a strain of bacteria known as E. coli," explained Shapiro. " In January 1993, three children died and more than 400 people became ill after eating undercooked ground beef contaminated with the bacteria. Children who eat meat contaminated with E. coli are at particular risk of developing kidney failure and a condition known as Hemolytic Uraemic Syndrome, which can be fatal. "If you feed a child raw or undercooked ground meat, you may be signing that child's death certificate," she warned. "Even a tiny amount of this bacteria can contaminate a whole batch of ground beef. Treat raw meat, fish and poultry products as though they are contaminated, even though they may not be." A good rule of thumb is to keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. "The optimum temperature range for bacterial growth is 60 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit, so leave meat and other foods in the cooler or refrigerator until you're ready to grill or eat them," said Shapiro. Proper cooking will kill harmful bacteria. "Cook hamburgers and other ground meat until the center is no longer pink and the juices run clear. Never eat raw or undercooked ground meat, and discard raw or cooked meat that has been unrefrigerated for more than two hours." Avoid cross-contamination. When handling meat, keep juices from dripping on other foods and food containers. It's a good idea to shape burgers ahead of time rather than handling raw ground beef in the barbecue site. Never place cooked meat or any other food on the same plate with raw meat. Any containers, cutting boards or utensils used to prepare raw meat for the outdoor grill should be washed before being used again. In addition, always wash your hands in warm, soapy water before and after handling meat. Treat leftovers with caution. Immediately refrigerate or chill perishable foods. "If hot or cold items remain outside for more than an hour, discard them, said Shapiro. "Eating undercooked food just isn't worth the risk to your health." Neighborhood
Organizations and Residents
Two San Francisco neighborhood organizations and nine local residents have sued Caltrans over its failure to study the environmental impacts of the Central Freeway Project. In late May, Caltrans determined the project was exempt from environmental review under California law because it was an earthquake retrofit. It is this determination that is under challenge. The neighborhood organizations and the individuals have petitioned for a writ of mandate that would overturn the Caltrans determination and require the project to undergo review of environmental impacts under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). "We believe the exemption decision by Caltrans was wrong," said attorney Karl Morthole of Morthole & Zeppetello, the San Francisco environmental law firm representing the petitioners. "Caltrans has taken certain narrow provisions of the Street and Highway Code, which strictly cover only earthquake repairs, and tried to apply them to the Central Freeway Project, which goes well beyond freeway repairs. An environmental assessment conducted under federal law and finally issued last March was not sufficient, in the view of petitioners for at least three reasons. First, there was no consideration whatsoever on the impacts of a low-and moderate income residential project located between Valencia, McCoppin, Stevenson, and Duboce Streets. Second, the final federal report was not sufficiently responsive to comments of serious adverse impacts--dust, noise, safety, vibration and general neighborhood deterioration--due to huge traffic increases on Oak and Fell streets and elsewhere in the area, all the way to Golden Gate Park. Third, unlike California law, the federal law does not legally require that adverse impacts be mitigated to the extent feasible. "Our clients would like to have the project reviewed under the more demanding requirements of California law; this is why the suit has been brought," said Morthole. The lawsuit was filed in California Supreme Court and given the case number 996065 after being served by mail upon the Director of Caltrans, as required by CEQA. After service upon the Attorney General, preparation of the administrative record and certain other procedural requirements, their will be a hearing in the Writs and Receivers Department of the Superior Court to decide the issues raised in the suit. Weekly Program
Will Showcase
BayTV will premiere Moving Images, a
weekly program showcasing documentary films on Saturday, July 12 at 9:30
p.m. on Cable 35.
The weekly showcase will kick off with Berkeley in the '60s, a two-hour documentary about the turbulent decade when Berkeley was the center of racial activism in America. The Legend of Bop City by Carol Chamberland will air July 18, and Port Chicago Mutiny is scheduled for July 25. Hearing on the Fast Pass There will be a Fast Pass hearing on Tuesday, July 14 at 5 p.m. at 401 Van Ness Ave., Room 404 where the public is invited to consider approval of a new monthly Premium Pass for $45. This would allow unlimited trips on BART within San Francisco in addition to regular Fast Pass privileges on Muni. There has been some recent confusion about the status of the Muni Fast Pass on BART. Although there had been much discussion about a July 1 termination date, a Fast Pass can still be used on BART within San Francisco. Currently, the monthly Fast Pass price is still $35, and this fare structure will remain in effect until a new pass is approved. City-Wide Garage Sale for Brisbane Library Everyone is welcome to Brisbane's First Annual City_Wide Garage Sale to benefit the Friends of the Brisbane Library that will take place Saturday, July 11 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Residents of the city, the Brisbane Library, and many businesses located in the Crocker Industrial Park will be participating in the event. To help buyers locate various garage sale sites, a map and directory will be distributed the day of the sale at the entrance to the city and at the entry to the Crocker Industrial Park. This directory will list each participant's address and contain a brief description of their sale items. On July 11, the Brisbane Library at 250 Visitacion will be selling a wide selection of titles at exceptional savings with most books tagged at 25 cents for small paperbacks, and 50 cents for large paperbacks and hardcovers. Street Cut Coordination Legislation Introduced S.F. Supervisor Leslie Katz unveiled legislation June 18 mandating street cut coordination. This legislation, which replaces the current Public Works Code excavation permitting program, is intended to improve coordination of street work, enhance public access to information about street work and minimize the impact of construction on neighborhood residents and businesses. It will also allow the City to recover costs incurred to repave streets that are damaged by excavation, and provide the City with a full range of enforcement mechanisms for violations of the excavation permit process. "Disruption due to tearing up our streets affects every resident and business in the City," explained Katz. "As the Mayor promotes his Unclog the Streets campaign,it is timely that we institute a plan for excavation coordination." Under the new program, a Street Construction Coordination Center will be formed to improve coordination, and all utility and municipal excavators will have to submit 5-year plans to the Department of Public Works (DPW) identifying anticipated excavations. DPW will also be required to prepare a 5-year street repaving plan and notify excavators of pending repaving projects 120 days prior to undertaking such work. Improved coordination is expected to reduce uneven pavement and improve smoothness of driving on City streets. TREE PROTECTION LEGISLATION Katz also introduced legislation June 16 increasing protection of all trees maintained by DPW. By amending the Public Works Code, this legislation would expand public notice for proposed tree removals from 10 to 30 days. Notice will also be provided to neighbors on and across the block facing affected trees and interested organizations registered with the Department. Legislation also makes street removal permits requested by City agencies, commissions and departments subject to the same 30-day notice and appeal period and procedure that applies to DPW. It also urges the Post Commission to adopt similar notice and appeal procedures. S.F. Zoo Hosts Twilight ZooFari Guests will experience up-close encounters with animals, tour open house areas and enjoy continuous live entertainment when the San Francisco Zoo hosts Twilight ZooFari, an ultimate after-hours adventure on Saturday, July 25 from 6 to 9 p.m. Similar to the Zoo's annual Night Tour, a Members Only event, Twilight ZooFari is one of the Zoo's newest fund-raising events and is open to everyone on a ticketed basis. Featured highlights include behind-the-scenes visits with animals (including giraffes and rhinos), open house tours in the Zoo Hospital, Kitchen and Avian Conservation Center, special animal feedings, wildlife presentations and more. A special barbecue dinner may be purchased and will be served at the Rainbow Meadow from 6 to 8:30 p.m., and all food and beverage sites will be open from 6 to 9 p.m. DanceFari 98 will take place in the Lion House from 8:30 to 11 p.m. where guests can rock, roll and stroll with the Big Cats to music provided by DJ Black of Sound Proof. Twilight ZooFari tickets are $15 for adults (13 and over) and $5 for children. DanceFari 98 tickets are $20 per person. For more information, call 721-2623. State Reports on Median Income for 1996 Californians filed approximately 12.7 million 1996 state income tax returns with the Franchise Tax Board (FTB), reporting nearly $604 billion of adjusted gross income. Adjusted gross income is an income tax term that means gross income minus specific tax deductions. This is a 13.3 percent increase over 1995's reported $533 billion, according to FTB. Statewide, the median income on all returns was $25,336, an increase of 5 percent over 1995's median income amount. For joint returns, the statewide median income was $46,243, a 7.5 percent increase over the 1995 income amounts. Median income is the point where one-half of the tax returns are above and one-half are below the midpoint. Median income represents the income reported by a typical California individual or couple. Over the past 25 years, the Bay Area counties of Marin, Santa Clara, Contra Costa and San Mateo have consistently reported the highest median incomes. Marin County again had the highest median income for joint returns, reporting $72, 953, an 8.9 percent increase over 1995. Santa Clara County ranked second with $64, 762, while Contra Costa County ranked third with $63, 014 and San Mateo County ranked fourth with $61,943. Los Angeles County taxpayers filed 26.4 of all tax returns in California, reporting median incomes of $22,158 for all returns, and $40,620 for joint returns, ranking 35th and 26th respectively. The largest percentage gain in median income for all counties was 9.8 percent, reported by Monterey County, which also reported the largest gain for joint returns with a 18.6 percent increase. S.F. Recycling
Program Wins State
San Francisco's Recycling Program has received the California Resource Recovery Association's (CRRA) award for the best public education program in the state. The award, which was presented to the program at the statewide recycling organization's annual conference recently in San Diego, honored the many innovative aspects of San Francisco's public education efforts. The program's efforts resulted in more than five million promotional exposures about recycling last year, reaching each resident of San Francisco an average of more than six times. This included contacting 30,000 residents directly by phone, making more than 70 public presentations, and receiving coverage in more than 250 radio, television, and print stories and articles. Innovative aspects of the program's
school education efforts included the production and airing of animated
public service announcements on 12 television stations (the spots were
nominated for a regional Emmy award in the public service category); training
high school students to work in elementary schools to promote recycling;
and sending more than 3,000 students on recycling field trips.
Another innovative campaign involved partnering with local businesses, including Pasqua Coffee and Patrick's Office Supply to promote waste prevention and reuse messages to downtown office employees. "We're very pleased to receive recognition for our outreach programs," said Paul Horcher, director of the San Francisco Solid Waste Management Program. "Our outreach efforts have helped bring about the best year ever for curbside recycling." Survey Reveals
Experts Divided
Los Angeles - With shootings, stabbings and other serious assaults increasing in numbers and spreading from urban districts to suburbs and small towns, violence now rivals academics as the top concern for the nation's public schools. Experts consulted by Kids Safe are divided about the causes and cures for stopping the violence. Kids Safe, one of the nation's leading non-profit advocacy groups on child education, conducted a confidential survey of 25 experts in the aftermath of recent school shootings across the country. Experts ranged from police chiefs to psychologists, and while most were divided about the cause, all agreed that violence on school campuses is a serious problem and that students should have an anonymous place to warn officials of potential crimes by their peers. "The survey results are not surprising since Department of Education Officials recognized several years ago that violence and the threat of violence had become such a huge issue that the federal government would have to help schools create safe environments as a prerequisite to academic reform," said Jayne Murphy Shapiro, founder and president of Kids Safe. Professionals surveyed pointed to programs like the one unveiled by Los Angeles City Councilmember Laura Clark and the Los Angeles Unified School District called Stop Violent Crime in Our Schools which gives students an anonymous tipline to help spearhead potential violent situations before they occur. "The protective bubble around schools has been shattered, said Shapiro. "Even as school is ending for the year, violence is still a major concern for parents and children. Kids can't learn in any environment where there's anxiety because of the threat of violence." Note: In June a Stop Violent Crime in Our Schools campaign using We Tip's nationally recognized phone number (800) 78-CRIME was unveiled in Los Angeles which allows individuals who want to report information about public crimes, but are reluctant to be identified. We Tip documents anonymous crime leads from concerned citizens who would not otherwise contact anyone due to their fears and then forwards the information to the appropriate enforcement agency. More than 500 school districts throughout the nation have worked with We Tip to increase the safety of students. America's War Campaign on Exhibit "A grave injustice was done to both citizens and permanent resident aliens of Japanese ancestry by the eviction, forced removal and incarceration of civilians during World War II...The excluded individuals of Japanese ancestry suffered enormous damages, both material and intangible...For these fundamental violations of the basic civil liberties and constitutional rights of individuals of Japanese ancestry, the congress apologizes on behalf of the Nation." -Excerpt from the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 Commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, the San Francisco Public Library is presenting an exhibition and program series: A More Perfect Union; Japanese Americans and the U.S. Constitution through Aug. 6 at the Main Library. Originating from the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution, this exhibition and program series on the World War II eviction and incarceration of persons on Japanese ancestry, will offer Library patrons an informative look at hardships that Japanese Americans endured during World War II. A More Perfect Union has multiple program components that will examine and reflect upon the internment experience, the effort to redress and the present-day relevance of the internment's constitutional issues. Significant emphasis is given to children's programs for this series in an effort to create better understanding of the ramifications of the Japanese internment. City of San
Francisco Recognizes
Twenty city employees and 16 elementary and high school students from San Francisco schools have been recognized by the Solid Waste management Program for their achievements in the areas of waste reduction, recycling, and hazardous waste management. A special ceremony was held in the Green Room of 401 Van Ness to recognize eight students representing Lincoln high School, Lowell High School, Galileo High School, Lick-Wilmerding High School and Urban High School as Earth Corps 2000 members. These students served in seven elementary schools teaching their younger counterparts the importance of recycling. In addition, Argonne Elementary School, Jefferson Elementary School and individual teachers from Laurel School and Potrero Hill Middle School received Certificates of Achievement from Paul Horcher, director of the Solid Waste Management Program and Bill Lee, City Administrator. This is the seventh year recycling efforts are being rewarded in San Francisco schools. At a separate event, 20 City employees representing seven City departments were honored in the Main Library for their solid and hazardous waste reduction efforts. The City departments included the Department of Public Works, Recreation & Park, the Airport, the Port, Department of Human Services, Muni, Purchasing, Animal Care & Control, Medical Examiner's Office, San Francisco General Hospital, Community Mental Health, Office of Citizens Complaints and War Memorial. Awardees were acknowledged for measures taken to reduce paint waste generated by 75 percent and pesticide use by 50 percent. This event marked the fifth combined awards ceremony for hazardous and solid waste reduction efforts by City employees. Kitten Foster Care The San Francisco SPCA needs help from caring people in the community who can take in an orphaned young kitten for 2 to 4 weeks of foster care. S.F. SPCA will provide the food. Call 554-3084. Extra Copies Available of Grapevine's Implosion Edition Extra Copies of the June 1998 Visitacion Valley Grapevine chronicling the historic May 16 implosion of Geveva Towers are still available. By mail they are 75 cents each or two for $1 while the supply lasts. Send to: Grapevine, 50 Raymond Ave., San Francisco, CA 94134. |