The online Election Runner voting results are available at:

https://vote.electionrunner.com/election/yqRL4/results

There was one additional paper ballot that added a write-in for vote Cathy Liu for the 6th Director seat.

Frank Tizedes was re-elected President with 42 votes. David Trump received a total of 28 votes for President, and was elected Secretary with 50 votes. All other candidates listed on the ballot were elected to the Board.

There were 8 write-in candidates for the 6th Director seat: Dennis Richards (4 votes), Karen Schwartz (2 votes) and Terrance Alan, David Troup, Kevin Riley, Frank Tizedes, Miles Cooper, Cathy Liu (all with 1 vote each).

Voter turnout was 52% (72 voters out of 138 eligible voters) compared to 2022 49% (55 voters out of 119 eligible voters).

This devastating fire destroyed the Victorian at 51 Camelita, displacing two neighbors who lost their home and all its contents on February 14, 2023. A Go Fund Me has been organized by Fiona Friedland to support our friend and neighbor Andra.

Hello, neighbors!

I got involved in DTNA over two years ago. As a long-time reader of the Duboce Triangle News, when I saw that a volunteer was needed for the Editor role I signed up in a heartbeat. I’d been a fan of this little slice of San Francisco since long before I ever moved here, and once I started calling Noe St. home, I couldn’t get enough history of this place. The News was, for me, a point of a geographical, social, and cultural connection. I was honored to join the decades-long effort to inform and organize neighbors.

When I first took on this role, we were in the early days of a years-long pandemic leading up to a major Presidential election. Everything felt impossibly large and abstract. I wanted to do something positive; to work with others toward constructive change.

It’s been an amazing learning experience. I’ve met more of my neighbors in 2 years than I did in the previous 8. I’ve gotten to know folks from various City departments, local businesses, and nonprofit organizations. I ’ve seen how much hard work goes into bringing a neighborhood together to address the issues that affect our lives. These days, it’s rare for me to take a walk in the neighborhood without running into at least one neighbor I know by name.

This may be my last issue at the helm, at least for the near-term, but it’s not the end. Though my life is calling me in other directions, I’ll continue to contribute articles on everything that captures my imagination about living in this magical place—its hidden gems, natural wonders, beautiful humans, and unique culture.

If you see me, say hi! I’ll continue to participate in our neighborhood events whenever I can. I hope you’ll join me.

Now that the skies have cleared, many of us in the neighborhood are assessing and repairing damage from this winter’s historic storms. It’s a great time to give thanks to our neighbors who volunteer during rainy weather to keep storm drains clear from leaves, litter, and other debris.

Known colloquially as “storm drain troopers” or “drain daddies,” the civic program pairs people with nearby drains, and issues the proper equipment to keep water from backing up onto neighborhood streets.

One perk of being a volunteer? Getting to give your drain its own name. In true San Francisco fashion, many of the monikers are clever and playful. Some favorites in our neighborhood include Drain O’er Me, Drain “The Rock” Johnson, Catherine the Grate, Only Happy When it Drains, Drainiac, and Leaf Me Alone.

If you’re eager to get in on this fun, there are still a few neighborhood drains looking for adoption! Learn more .

Thank you, Neighbors!

If you've ever lived or worked in the Duboce Triangle for any length of time, you most certainly know the legendary Courtney's Produce market at 14th and Castro. Chances are you met the store's husband-and-wife co-owners, Patrick and Lola Courtney. Chances are your devotion to the store's fresh-made sandwiches, fresh-squeezed juices, daily-delivered produce - and especially, its iconic peanut butter and jam treats - are key to the store's enduring operation for over five decades, earning it status as a "Legacy Business" in January 2020 with support from Supervisor Rafael Mandelman.

You may not know the sad news of Patrick's passing in November, 2022, We hope this account, drawn from a 2020 profile in the local newspaper Hoodline based on a timeline provided by Patrick's daughter Robin Courtney, can suitably hon- or our beloved neighbor.

Born in 1926 in County Kerry, Ireland, Patrick grew up in a very rural environment. "Everything they ate they grew as a family," his great-nephew Andrew Courtney told Hoodline. Patrick moved to New York

with his father in the1940s, where they worked for an Italian grocer.

Patrick came to San Francisco where he met his wife Lola in 1964. Together they founded Courtney's Produce in 1969 and moved the store to its current location in 1971. Andrew credits the people of the neighborhood for keeping Courtney's thriving: "With so many friendly and talented people around, it is easy to feel at home and happy here."

Andrew managed the store for Lola and Patrick in the mid 2010's before moving to San Diego and then to Ver- mont. Paul Xie, who has worked for Courtney's since

1992 and is the current store manager, agrees. "It's a fam- ily store," he told Hoodline. "We all work together."

As immediate neighbors and regular patrons of Courtney's since 1988, my family and I have had the privilege to know Patrick, Lola, Rob- in, Andrew and Paul well. I agree whole-heartedly with a message Robin sent me in July 2020 to assure me that her father was doing well after surgeries, even in the throes of the Pandemic: "He is a strong and beautiful per- son."

Indeed. This is certainly how I will remember Patrick Courtney.

McKinley is excited to return with a regular update to our community about everything going on at your neighborhood elementary school! McKinley has a new principal this year, John Collins, and we ’ve had a fantastic first half of the school year under his new leadership. As we come back from Winter Break, we have some important and fun events coming up in the second half of the year!

McKinley refreshed its mission statement this year to further deepen our school community ’s commitment to equity. The new mission statement is, “McKinley centers BIPOC voices to ensure an inclusive, trusting, and joyful learning community that eliminates inequitable patterns of student access and outcomes so that students reach their full potential.” The school celebrates Black Excellence month in a variety of ways, one of our favorites being the read aloud where parent volunteers read aloud stories that celebrate Black voices to students, a great example of our new mission statement in action. The district ’s African American Honor Roll celebration will also take place this month on February 16th.

The reading keeps on going with the beloved annual read-a-thon in February. Students collect pledges for reading every day for a month. This is the main fundraiser for our library, the literal heart of the McKinley building, and the figurative heart of our community. The funds raised go towards the purchase of engaging and thought-provoking books, as well supporting literacy programs at McKinley. Sponsoring one of your little neighbors is a great way to contribute to McKinley and encourage a lifelong love of reading!

Lastly, DogFest planning is already underway! Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 22nd with more information to come. If you ’re interested in volunteer opportunities for DogFest you can contact the PTA at pta@mckinleyschool.org.

One way of figuring out what we need to work on right now is to dream big about what a bright future would look like. DTNA ’s Vision 2030 started as immediate plans for activating the pandemic-era Noe Slow Street, but with that street now permanent, it has expanded to a vision of how it connects to the rest of the streets in the Triangle and beyond.

We know that whatever percentage of Triangle residents are still driving cars in 2030 (it ’s less than half of us now) those cars will be mostly electric, as California is phasing out gas-powered vehicles. We also know that even those of us who drive cars sometimes also ride an electric scooter, or an e-bike, or a bike bike, or we walk. Vision 2030 imagines the Triangle as a space where all those uses can happen seamlessly and safely together, at low speeds, quietly, and respectfully of both residents and the other modes of transportation. As a Spanish urban planner once remarked, “all the modes of transportation are equal. But the pedestrian is the most equal of all.”

But what about beyond the Triangle? Noe Street is not the only slow street in the city, and when we leave our houses our destinations are often in other neighborhoods, sometimes even in other cities (for example, I commute by bike and BART 35 miles each way to Lafayette every day of the week). How can we make our routes to the wider world as safe and seamless as the ones we are imagining for our local spaces?

It ’s only in the initial planning phases, but some bold visionaries have already started sketching out a city-wide map of bike and scooter routes that link the Slow Streets together. Right now the maps serve as rough guides, much like the celebrated Crosstown Trail that links parks and open spaces from the southeast to the northwest into one seamless hike. But the potential is there for more. Maybe not by 2030, but by 2050? We can all dream of a utopian future at least.

But the arc of history does not bend toward utopia on its own – it only bends that way because we get together in communities and make it happen – so join up with the folks working on this. SF Parks Alliance and “The People’s Slow Streets” has the most ambitious, one that would connect Duboce Triangle to every neighborhood in San Francisco, including the far-flung southern parts of the Excelsior and Bayview in a 100-mile network of slow streets. SFMTA is beginning a process to work on this as well, and has their own map. City processes can be slow and cumbersome, but if dedicated citizens keep pushing their elected officials and the bureaucrats whose salaries we pay to move in the right direction, things do eventually get done.

If you have any ideas for how the Triangle specifically can improve its contribution to the bike network (the main east/west corridor The Wiggle goes right through the heart of our neighborhood) and how DTNA can work to help connect our neighborhood to other neighborhoods by any means of transportation, contact us at dtna.org. And most importantly, get involved. Utopia is coming soon, to a neighborhood near you, but only if we work for it. Let ’s go!

Some bold visionaries have already started sketching  out a city-wide map of bike and scooter routes that can link the Slow Streets together.

The election of 2023 DTNA Board is three weeks away. Three current Board members are leaving their 2022 positions (Secretary and two Board Directors).

If you would like to pursue Duboce Triangle Vision 2030 which evolved from last summer's Slow Triangle workshops, now is the opportunity for you to join the Board and work with Hans and the Board in charting a course to make the multiple ideas that were generated a reality.

If you have an interest in joining the Board or would like more information, please email Bob Bush, 2023 Election Manager.

This week’s meetings:

Thursday, January 26th, 06:00PM to 07:30PM

Eureka Valley Neighborhood Association meeting

Supervisors Rafael Mandelman and Aaron Peskin, the new president of the Board of Supervisors, will be presenting their agendas for 2023 in-person. Read more.

Thursday, January 26th, 07:30PM to 09:00PM 

Castro Theater Coalition of Stakeholders Town Hall will be held following the EVNA meeting at the same in-person location as well as virtually.

See Land Use Blog (Kevin Riley)