Behind the Scenes Archives - Hayes Valley San Francisco

A Neighborhood Communications Committee Blocked Out

January 27, 2026August 18, 2023

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 previous post the HVNA Communications Committee Chairs1 were functioning on an island on their own, shut out from the HVNA …

Founder Blocked from HVNA Meeting Again

August 3, 2024August 8, 2023

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 a means of being informed. He did register for the meeting a day prior so this fiasco of an outcome …

Clearing Confusion about our Traffic Calming Initiative

January 3, 2025March 16, 2022

Here’s our email to Bob Barnwell who continues to dismiss our public safety efforts in Hayes Valley while calling himself the Chair of the Hayes Valley Public Safety Committee when in fact he’s the chair of the HVNA (Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association) committee. Kinda confusing, we know (you can read more about this here). It’s not the first time we’ve been on the receiving end of having to explain ourselves, in fact last year he and the HVNA president were …

How a Neighborhood Communications Committee Was Shunned

August 31, 2023March 5, 2022

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 time, we held off because rehashing this era is extremely tough as it exemplifies how the HVNA board wronged members …

We Did Not Form a Coup

August 31, 2023January 27, 2022

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: Each one of the above topics was dominated by Gail. To state that there was a level of impropriety in …

The Genesis of HVSafe

September 8, 2023December 1, 2021

Once we decided to roll out this series we knew we had to kick things off with a brief reflection on the time and circumstances of when HVSafe officially began its efforts. Let’s set the stage shall we. Albeit the existing neighborhood organization (HVNA, Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association) has had a long standing presence in the neighborhood, many neighbors/small businesses have witnessed the paradigm shift that has taken place over the last few years with the organization’s core focuses and …

Founder Ejected from HVNA Meeting, Again

November 25, 2025November 30, 2021

We’re still reeling from the last reprimand by the HVNA and then last night Richard was ejected from the HVNA T&P meeting. Unreal. This time it’s even more brazen! Here’s the exchange that occurred on Zoom once Richard raised his Zoom hand to get in line to speak….and the result was: he was kicked out of the meeting. Following that you’ll find his removal captured along with his attempt to return to the meeting denied. These ejections are becoming a …

Founder Reprimanded by Jen Laska HVNA President

February 3, 2026November 16, 2021

As luck would have it while we’re beginning our series ‘behind the scenes‘ …one of our founders received the following email last week from the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association’s (HVNA) president Jen Laska. A bit of context here: earlier this month he attended one meeting and was censored heavily when asking particulars. Consequently at a later meeting on the same day he was removed from that meeting and placed in the waiting room. The following week he was emailed the …

Behind the Scenes Series

August 24, 2024November 5, 2021

We’re launching a ‘behind the scenes’ series on the humble beginnings of HVSafe, neighborhood politics and players in Hayes Valley who are setting out to shape policies and decisions which are impacting our community. Why are we doing this? When there are those trying to stop our right to advocate and vocalize our views we see a need to expose what we view as a detriment to fair community input and consensus making. Due to our experience of having been …

Statement re: the HVNA

August 31, 2023October 14, 2021

Setting the record straight Read next post: Behind the Scenes Series