buy our house in 1994.

Because of my mortgage, because of Californias’s tax system,

because my job and reputation reside in San Francisco, because I am 64 and my
husband is 78, I have no mobility.  I have invested my whole life’s efforts to establish
myself on this block in San Francisco and it breaks my heart that elected officials and
government bureaucrats have allowed the neighborhood to degrade into a situation
that is literally making me physically and mentally sick.  My art practice has suffered
since it is difficult to have a creative life when I am constantly fretting and writing
letters and making calls and losing sleep over the horrific conditions I need to navigate
day in and day out.
 
I want to remind you that some years ago Dennis Herrera forced through gang
injunctions that worked.  Many San Franciscans fought against the injunctions.  Not
surprisingly, the injunctions stopped murders immediately.  I know this because there
were murdered gang member memorials going up every week in my immediate area.
Right after the injunctions were instituted, the memorials stopped, cold.  I just heard
that Herrera relaxed the injunctions on gang members who have grown and matured
out of gangs.  Thanks to Herrera, many gang members lived long enough to benefit from
the injunctions. I bring this up because Herrera had to make tough decisions that
created a lot of controversy and made many people very angry.  It took real grit and to
do what was right. My hope that you people who have done too little too late can finally
grow the spine to do what is necessary to make our streets livable again
Dear City Officials,
 
I am writing to let you know that the Navigation Center is not monitoring tents, bicycles,
or residents that loiter on sidewalks in the area.  They never seem to know that tents
are set up on the premises unless I alert them and they are slow to remove them if they
remove at all.  I am enclosing photos I just took of tents and bikes locked in front.
 
I am emotionally drained from the constant threat of homeless encroaching on my
neighborhood.  My blood pressure is going through the roof. I am tired and weary of my
neighborhood resembling skid row.  I have endured gang shootings but the tents,
mentally unstable people, drug attics shooting up in their necks, garbage, passed out
people on the sidewalks, and heavy drinking in the street, is doing me in.
 
The inaction and misguided “compassion’ of wealthy liberals that allow our streets to
become slums is no less than economic injustice (I say this as someone that Facebook
labels as "very liberal"). Young techies and people with money have the kind of mobility
that allow them to move from the neighborhood but I don’t have those resources. 
 
Let me tell you a little about me.  My mother and father divorced when I was three.  My
mother worked her whole life as a waitress and I didn’t see my father again until I was
19.  I grew up with my grandmother who was married at 15 and never got a high school
education.  In fact, I was the first in my immediate family to get a college degree. I finally
received my MFA in art in my late thirties and established myself as an artist and
teacher in the city.  My husband and I were lucky enough to scrape money together to
buy our house in 1994. Because of my mortgage, because of Califonia’s tax system,
because my job and reputation reside in San Francisco, because I am 64 and my
husband is 78, I have no mobility.  I have invested my whole life’s efforts to establish
myself on this block in San Francisco and it breaks my heart that elected officials and
government bureaucrats have allowed the neighborhood to degrade into a situation
that is literally making me sick.  My art practice has suffered since it is difficult to have a
creative life when I am constantly fretting and writing letters and making calls and
losing sleep over the horrific conditions I need to navigate day in and day out.
 
I want to remind you that some years ago Dennis Herrera forced through gang
injunctions that worked.  Many San Franciscans fought against the injunctions.  Not
surprisingly, the injunctions stopped the murders immediately.  I know this because
there were memorials going up every week in my immediate area and then, right after
the injunctions, the memorials stopped, cold.  I just heard that Herrera relaxed the
injunctions on gang members who have grown and matured out of gangs.  Thanks to
Herrera, many gang members lived long enough to benefit from the injunctions. I bring
this up because Herrera had to make tough decisions that created a lot of controversy
and made many people very unhappy.  It took real grit and to do what was right. My
hope that you people who have done too little too late can finally grow the spine to do
what is necessary to make our streets livable again.  Tents need to be absolutely
prohibited on sidewalks, quality of life issues like drinking and passing out on the
streets have to be enforced, and I would also suggest that you take police out of patrol
cars and have them walk the neighborhoods so they can know who is in the
neighborhood and better deal with many of the above stated infractions.
 
Sincerely,
Francesca Pastine

--
http://francesca.pastineart.com
http://francescapastine.blogspot.com
Eleanor Harwood Gallery
Pentimenti Gallery
IN THE MAKE

Life is short
Art is long
Opportunity fleeting
Experience treacherous
Judgment difficult

Hippocrates 400 b.c.

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--
http://francesca.pastineart.com
http://francescapastine.blogspot.com
Eleanor Harwood Gallery
Pentimenti Gallery
IN THE MAKE

Life is short
Art is long
Opportunity fleeting
Experience treacherous
Judgment difficult

Hippocrates 400 b.c.