Dear Members, Merchants and Friends,

We hope that you have been enjoying our typically lovely October weather and the many activities that occur at this time of year. Of special note is the second annual RHN Trick or Treat with Polk Street Merchants on Saturday, October 28, 3 – 6 PM sponsored by our own Families with Children Committee in conjunction with the Polk Street Merchants. Meet at the Candy Store, 1507 Vallejo, at 3:00 or join anywhere along the route from Union to California Streets. Pumpkin decorating and games take place 3:30 – 6:00 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 1755 Clay. Trick or treating free to kids of all ages and pets!! If you plan to attend pumpkin decorating, please register to ensure enough pumpkins on hand.
(More details at colehardware.eventbrite.com.)

Please mark your calendars for RHN’s “RUSSIAN HILL SAFETY SUMMIT: Get involved with your personal safety” taking place on Wednesday, November 8, 6:00 – 7:30 PM at the Norwegian Seamen’s Church, 2454 Hyde Street.  A moderated panel will include Captain Paul Yep of Central Station and Captain John Jaimerena of Northern Station, Assistant DA Charles Bisesto, and plainclothes officers who work in our neighborhood. The focus will be on how we can support, collaborate with and augment local law enforcement efforts and improve our personal protection awareness and skills. Watch your inbox for additional details later this month.

Thank you to all Russian Hill residents who have reached out to us, as well as to public officials, regarding the recent and unfortunate number of tour buses getting stuck on our steep hills. RHN has joined in the outcry for immediate action. Click here to find a copy of our letter to Director of Transportation Ed Reiskin.

If you have been thinking how you might make a difference in our neighborhood, consider volunteering to serve on one of RHN’s committees. It is also a great way to meet your neighbors and make new friends. Committees include DZLU (Design, Zoning Land Use), Membership, Safety, Traffic & Transportation, Parks, Safety, Neighborhood Improvement, Safety, Families with Children, Communications & Marketing, Special Events and History.

As always, we welcome your suggestions, questions and especially your personal involvement.

Sincerely,
RHN Executive Committee

September Message from the Executive Committee

Dear Members, Merchants and Friends,

We began September with San Francisco’s hottest temperatures on record. Hope you were able to find ways to stay cool and join us in welcoming back the fog. This month is filled with many events you will not want to miss including Family Night at Helen Wills Park from 4:00 – 6:00 PM on September 22. (See all events on the Calendar below.)

RHN’s Executive Committee continues its collaborative leadership of our neighborhood organization in lieu of an interim president following Past President Emily Harrold’s move to the East Bay. On September 5, we met to discuss key issues and set important dates for the remainder of 2017 and into 2018. We also finalized, with extensive input from the Board and our DZLU Committee, RHN’s position statement on the proposed Medical Cannabis Dispensary on Polk Street near Filbert. This letter will be RHN’s response to inquiries on this topic until further notice. You can view the letter elsewhere in this eblast as well as on the RHN website.

We also reaffirmed RHN’s deep concern and involvement with safety issues in our neighborhood. To that end, we are encouraging all of you to attend the Police Commission Meeting on September 20th at 6:00 PM in the Wilsey Conference Room of Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill. Hosted by Central Station and Captain Paul Yep, the focus of the meeting will be on crime and the state of affairs surrounding the Lombard Crooked Street and Russian Hill in general. This will be an interactive meeting. RHN Past President Tina Moylan will be a panelist. This is an important opportunity to learn what is being done to address safety issues in our specific neighborhood. As we move through the remainder of 2017, we will be looking for additional ways to educate ourselves and you the membership, and to collaborate in identifying solutions with our local officials and police department.

For many of us, September is traditionally a month to get involved in new endeavors. If you want to make a difference at a very local level with important benefits to our special neighborhood, consider joining an RHN Committee (DZLU, Transportation, Families with Children, Social, Safety, Parks, Street Sweeps/Neighborhood Improvement, Communications and Marketing, Membership, History) or becoming a candidate for a Board position.

As always, we welcome your suggestions, questions and especially your personal involvement.

Sincerely,
RHN Executive Committee

Dear Members, Merchants and Friends,

Russian Hill Neighbors has been privileged since its founding in 1981 to be led by a stellar group of past presidents. Bittersweet for us, Emily Harrold, RHN president for the past year and a half, joins that illustrious group with the gratitude of the entire Board for her time, her grace, her enthusiasm, her devotion and her ability to recruit young new leadership to our organization. In July, Emily and her family moved to the East Bay. She promises to stay in touch! Thank you Emily!

Meanwhile, RHN continues its many activities under the guidance of an active and committed Executive Committee, Board of Directors and Committee Chairs. The Nominating Committee, led by past president Tina Moylan, is in the process of reorganizing the leadership team to complete the year until new officers are elected at the Spring Annual Meeting. The Board Retreat in July focused on leadership development and recruitment, an important emphasis for all volunteer organizations. If you would be interested in a leadership position yourself, please contact Tina – serving is a unique opportunity to make a difference on Russian Hill while being part of a wonderful group of people.

Speaking of new leaders, we welcome Monique Olivier to the Board as our new Secretary. Monique is a commercial real estate attorney by profession, married to Gonzalo and the mother of a three year old son. She has lived on Russian Hill for ten years, does ballet as a hobby and (in addition to English) is fluent in French, Spanish and Italian.

Also, long-time Board Adviser Jovanne Reilly is “shadowing” current Treasurer Ian Maddison and will take over that position next month. Jovanne served as editor of the RHN newsletter (then a print publication) for five years in the early 2000s. A sixteen year resident of Russian Hill, Jovanne and her husband James enjoy travel, local cultural offerings, an occasional Giants game and dining at the many restaurants in our neighborhood.

Over the past few weeks, we have received many comments and questions from members and non-members regarding the Medical Cannabis Dispensary (MCD) proposed for Polk Street at Filbert. As is our longstanding policy, RHN is doing due diligence on this issue and we thank you for your feedback. We have not taken an official position one way or the other on the proposal, but continue to follow its progress and encourage all interested parties to do so as well.

RHN committees regularly address a wide range of neighborhood issues including cleaner streets, appropriate land use, historic preservation, traffic, parking, local merchants, parks, support for families with children and neighborhood safety.  The latter, safety, is of particular and growing concern to our membership. Please be assured that we are working with our district Supervisors and Police Captains to inform and collaborate with them and other city agencies in identifying both problems and solutions. If you would like to serve on our Safety Committee, or help organize specific efforts under the aegis of RHN, please email one of the Executive Committee members. We welcome your input and involvement.

Meanwhile, don’t forget to join us for some fun! The RHN Book Club meets monthly and is a great way to meet others who live in the neighborhood. The Families with Children Committee will be organizing a back to school playground event in early September. Attend one of our periodic Cheers events or a Wine and Dine. Make a habit of going to our website at www.rhnsf.org to see what’s coming up and make sure RHN has your correct email address to receive our monthly eblasts with news and events.

Thank you for being part of our very special neighborhood!!

RHN Executive Committee

Dear Members, Merchants, and Friends:

Russian Hill Neighbors kicked off the summer with a major Street Sweep beautification event along Polk Street and fun Neighborhood Picnic at Hyde Street’s Teepee Park on Saturday, June 24. Thank you to Greg Polchow, Sarah Taber, and Joyce Kucharvy for leading the planning, and to all of the members who joined us! Please keep an eye on our Events Calendar for upcoming activities, including a Community Safety Forum, later this summer.

On a personal note, I am stepping down as President of Russian Hill Neighbors this week. It has been an incredible experience serving on the board since 2015 and as President for the past 14 months. The best part was getting to know so many of you, our resident and merchant members, as we addressed important issues in our community. My family and I are relocating and we will certainly miss the beautiful parks, vibrant Polk and Hyde Street shops, and friendly neighbors of Russian Hill. Thank you for your engagement and support during my tenure. It was a team effort!

The RHN membership is in very good hands with the current Board of Directors. Later this month, the Board will meet for its Annual Retreat and will discuss the leadership plan. If any of you are interested in joining the volunteer board, which entails participating in a dinner/meeting once per month, please be in touch. The board works hard for the community but certainly has fun doing it.

I wish you all the best. Enjoy the summer!

Warmest regards,

Emily Harrold
President

Dear Members, Merchants, and Neighbors:

As many of you may know, Russian Hill Neighbors’ Design, Zoning, and Land Use (DZLU) committee is one of the most active aspects of our organization. This team of volunteers partners with city agencies to ensure excellence in the design of the built environment Russian Hill, encourage preservation and restoration of significant structures, and works to understand how planning and building codes will affect our community. With all of the construction you see around our neighborhood, you can imagine it is no small feat to stay on top of these projects!

Since 2012, Richard Cardello has served as Chair of DZLU. An interior designer by day, he has dedicated hundreds of hours to closely analyzing building projects in Russian Hill and furthering RHN’s commitment to historic preservation. This spring Richard decided to step down as Chair of DZLU and we are incredibly grateful for all of his hard work and dedication over these past five years. Luckily for RHN, he will stay on as a member of the DZLU committee and as a Director on the RHN Board.

The Board of Russian Hill Neighbors is thrilled Bob Bluhm will take over for Richard as Chair of DZLU. Bob moved to Russian Hill in 2010 and lives on fabled Macondray Lane with his wife Claudia. Professionally he is an architect with a specialty in research labs (think big kitchens) and capital project management. He joined DZLU in 2011 and enjoys the group’s camaraderie and its wide range of backgrounds and expertise–and appreciates the challenges of maintaining what is so special about Russian Hill while embracing and managing change.

Thank you for your contribution to Russian Hill, Richard! And congratulations on your new position of DZLU Chair, Bob!

Please read about DZLU’s latest activities in the committee reports here and contact the committee with questions via email.

Warm regards,

Emily Harrold
President, Russian Hill Neighbors

Ps. Do you like the new format of our e-blast newsletter? A big thank you to Rachael Maddison Creative for the design. Please send any feedback here!

Dear Members, Merchants, and Friends:

At our April Board Meeting this week, RHN’s Safety Committee Chair, Tina Moylan, kindly invited SFPD Commander David Lazar to join us so we could congratulate him in person on his promotion from Captain of Central Station to Commander of the Community Engagement Division. We were thrilled he attended along with his wife, Julie, and their daughter. On behalf of the RHN membership, we thanked Commander Lazar for his incredible responsiveness to our community, for being a welcome fixture at Halloween trick-or-treating and other events, and for the steps he took to address crime in our area, including assigning a patrol car to the blocks around the crooked section of Lombard Street to deter car break-ins. We are glad we will continue to interact with Commander Lazar in his new role in the Community Engagement Division.

Tina Moylan had also arranged for Captain Paul Yep, the new head of Central Station, to stop by our Board Meeting. We were excited to meet Captain Yep and share a bit about RHN’s activities and the safety issues of concern to our members. He echoed Commander Lazar’s focus on the issue of car break-ins and he is eager to gather more input from our community. Welcome, Captain Yep!

I hope you received an email invitation from RHN for our Annual Members’ Meeting on Thursday evening, April 20 at the San Francisco Art Institute. We will host a lovely reception where you can meet your neighbors and near from non-profit and issue-related organizations in our area, as well as speakers including Captain Paul Yep. See more information further down in this e-blast about the Annual Meeting. The RHN Board looks forward to this event as an opportunity to share our activities with all of you and solicit your feedback for the year ahead. I hope to see you there!

Warm regards,
Emily Harrold
President
president@rhnsf.org

Dear Members, Merchants, and Neighbors;

We were thrilled to learn that Cole Hardware, the third-generation, family-owned hardware store with one of its locations at 2254 Polk Street in Russian Hill, was awarded Legacy Business status by the City and County of San Francisco in January of this year. This designation recognizes Cole for its value as a cultural asset in our city and as a signifiant contributor to the history and identity of our area. As so many of you who shop at Cole know, their diversity of products, support of our local community events and initiatives, and, most importantly, the friendly and welcoming approach of their staff, makes them a true gem. Congratulations, Cole!

I also recently became aware that Russian Hill Bookstore at 2230 Polk Street is applying for the same Legacy Business status. This is another treasure of our neighborhood, offering a welcoming atmosphere to browse vintage books, toys, gifts, and an incredible selection of notecards in a warm, community-focused atmosphere. To support their application to the city, Russian Hill Bookstore would appreciate letters from community members describing how the store has positively contributed to the fabric of our area and what we would lose without its presence. Letters should be addressed to the Office of Small Business, but please drop them off at Russian Hill Bookstore or email them to rssnhllb@pacbell.net so that the bookstore can compile everything in their application packet. Letters should be received by Friday, March 24. They are grateful for our support.

In other news, please mark your calendars for the Russian Hill Neighbors’ Annual Members Meeting on Thursday, April 20. This is a chance for you to hear about what our organization has been working on and our goals for the coming year. We are organizing this year’s meeting at the beautiful San Francisco Art Institute at 800 Chestnut Street, home of an extraordinary Diego Rivera mural from 1931. We will host a reception with food and drinks from 6-7pm and the meeting from 7pm on. District Attorney George Gascón is our keynote speaker and we are grateful for our Supervisors and SFPD leaders who are confirmed to attend and provide you with the latest city news and answer your questions. It is sure to be an informative night and chance to interact with your Russian Hill community. Please join us!

I look forward to seeing you around the neighborhood. Please be in touch with any questions or ideas on how RHN can support or get involved with a neighborhood initiative you care about.

Best,
Emily Harrold
President
president@rhnsf.org

Dear Members, Merchants, and Neighbors;

As many of you know, Russian Hill Neighbors has a long history of historic preservation. When our organization was formed in the 1980’s, we worked hard to ensure three notable areas of Russian Hill were added to the National Register of Historic Places: the Vallejo Crest, the 1000 Block of Green Street (the “Paris Block”), and Macondray Lane.

In keeping with our mission to preserve the character of Russian Hill, we are re-doubling our efforts on historic preservation in 2017. We now believe it is vital for historically and architecturally-significant buildings and landmark areas of Russian Hill to achieve San Francisco’s Landmark Designation as outlined in Article 10 of the SF Planning Code. This process allows for the collaborative identification and codification of the important character defining features of a neighborhood. This in turn ensures the appropriateness of proposed changes in these Landmark Districts through additional reviews by the Planning Department and the Historic Preservation Commission.

At our Russian Hill Neighbors’ Board Meeting on February 6, we established an Historic Preservation Fund to make it easier for members to earmark donations to fund this important work, which often includes hiring of experts for historic evaluations. We also committed to supporting neighbors, including the Lombard Hill Improvement Association, in their landmark and historic preservation projects.

Carol Ann Rogers, RHN’s Board Vice President and member of the Design Zoning Land Use Committee (DZLU), has worked successfully for more than 30 years on historic preservation in Russian Hill. She was instrumental in restoring the Vallejo Stairway Gardens, among other projects, and she is leading our efforts again. Please get in touch with Carol Ann via email if you would like to join us.

I hope to see you around our beautiful neighborhood this month!

Warm regards,

Emily Harrold
President
president@rhnsf.org

P.s. Please mark your calendars for our Annual Members Meeting on Thursday evening, April 20. More details to come!