Spring Roundup 2025

A Neighborhood at a Crossroads It’s been a busy fall, winter, and spring. With summer upon us, we thought it best to take a pause and share some updates, especially as we’ve been fielding many questions in our ongoing conversations with neighbors. Had you asked us in 2020 what our community work would look like five years down the road, … Read post

Advocacy in the Cracks: What Hayes Valley Reveals about the System

It starts small. A closed street here. A community board there. An event permit that seems innocuous on its face. But step by step, a pattern emerges and if you’re not paying attention, you might miss how fast the foundation shifts beneath your neighborhood. Over the past five years, we’ve engaged in what should have been straightforward advocacy: asking for … Read post

Summer Roundup 2024

With election day a few weeks away we wanted to share a few updates on initiatives that we’ve been busy advocating for which inevitably will drive our post election efforts. We believe it’s critical to share our discoveries and takeaways on issues that continue to shape our neighborhood — these matters impact both our quality of life and conditions to … Read post

New Year Message

As it’s a new year we want to provide a brief update on our current efforts/positions and outline our keystone advocacy focuses for 2024. We remain grateful for the opportunity to serve this community. While we are proud of our past 3 years efforts advocating for quality of life needs and equitable representation for Hayes Valley Proper residents and small … Read post

A Neighborhood Communications Committee Blocked Out

In June 2020 the encampment crisis was in full swing. Octavia Blvd and a number of locations around Hayes Valley were plagued with tents. There was a rat infestation occurring on and near Parcel R &S (Hayes Valley Art Works). We were in the beginning stages of COVID and concerns and nerves were on the rise. As mentioned in our … Read post

Founder Blocked from HVNA Meeting Again

Richard made numerous attempts to attend the HVNA Public Safety Meeting last night. He was blocked repeatedly. While this is not the first case of such problematic behavior by the HVNA this occurrence comes on the heels of a major fire that occurred last week on Octavia. Richard as a community leader and HVNA member was eager to attend as … Read post

End of Year Message

As we end 2022 we want to reflect on the collective efforts by our community members and partners. Entering our 3rd year at HVSafe we are invigorated and optimistic about our role as a young organization responsible for advocating for quality of life needs and interests for neighbors and small businesses. We view our partnership with you as one that … Read post

How a Neighborhood Communications Committee Was Shunned

At the start of the Pandemic the HVNA Communications Committee Chairs were functioning on an island on their own, shut out from the HVNA board, dis-included from information and we’re used as a scapegoat at community meetings when the public pointed to the lack of community outreach by the HVNA. Although we thought about writing this post for quite some … Read post

We Did Not Form a Coup

The year leading up to the 2020 HVNA (Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association) Election was a doozy in large part because past President (Gail Baugh) was still calling the shots while the new president (Craig Hamburg) stepped into the role.  2019 also marked the year of the District 5 supervisor campaign. The following contentious issues arose during the 2019 board year: … Read post

Thank You and Cheers to a New Year

As we close out this calendar year we want to take a moment to reflect on the many efforts by our community members and volunteers. As we enter our 2nd year at HVSafe, we can attest to having started a new organization as being a rewarding and inspiring endeavor. We are driven to go to bat for neighbors and small … Read post