Great meeting: Save these numbers

Me, giving my speech!

Deepest thanks to all who attended the meeting on Friday at PG! We had a fabulous turnout of passionate and informed agency partners, and a lot of great questions from neighbors and volunteers.

Thank you to Randy Quezada of the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, Larry Stringer of SF Public Works, Chris Balingit of Caltrans, SFPD Sgt Davin Cole,  Whit Bastian of the SF AIDS Foundation Needle Pick-up Crew, Claude Imbault of the San Francisco Parks Alliance, and Sophia Kittler, Senior Legislative Aide to District Supervisor Malia Cohen for all stepping up to speak about what their agencies are doing about these issues.

The team is going to discuss the best takeaways from the meeting so we can look into other ways to prevent damage to the gardens from homelessness.  Stay tuned.

In the meantime, below is the text of the handout I made, which Hilary passed out to everyone on the day. The key takeaway is don't be afraid to CALL 911 if you see illegal activities, before things get worse,  call 311 to get trash picked up and text the SF AIDS Foundation Needle Pick-up Crew if you see needles.

Help Us Keep This Garden Safe: Do Your Part
Damage to the gardens costs us many thousands of dollars each year, and encampments create an unsafe volunteering environment, as well as an unpleasant garden experience. We are volunteer run and cannot continue to bear this cost.


Please do your part to prevent the gardens being damaged: report illegal activities at Pennsylvania Garden and Pennsylvania Railroad Garden. Here’s how:


Illegal activities include:

• Damage to, of theft of, trees or plants
• Dumping, littering, graffiti
• Public urination/defecation. Dog feces
• Fires. Theft. Verbal or physical threats. Aggressive animals

Pennsylvania Garden:
Property is owned by Caltrans

• Report illegal activities/emergencies: Call CHP at 911
• Trash pickup: https://csr.dot.ca.gov/ or
• Caltrans Maintenance Dispatch: 650-358-4127

Pennsylvania Railroad Garden:
Property is owned by SF Public Works

• Report illegal activities: Call SFPD at 911
• Trash pick up etc.: Call 311 or use the 311 app.

Other useful numbers:
SFPD non-emergency: 415-553-0123
CHP non-emergency: 707-641-8300
SF Homeless Outreach Team: 415-355-7401
DPH/Crisis services - for acute mental health emergencies: 415-970-4000
SF Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing: 415-252-3232
SF AIDS Foundation Needle Pick-up Crew: 415-810-1337 - prefer text and pictures but calls welcome. 7am to 7pm, 7 days a week

This is important: Please join us

Hi Everyone,

You're invited to Pennsylvania Garden this Friday, October 19th at 6pm for a public meeting - BYO beverage!

Homeless issues have affected the gardens badly in the last 2 years, and our volunteer days are spend cleaning encampments vs gardening. We need to make a change.

Representatives of DPW, SFPA, Caltrans and SFPD will be in attendance and we're going to discuss what is the best thing to do when encampments how up, what NOT to do, and how to prevent the gardens being damaged.

I hope you'll join us - the future of the garden is in question, and we cannot continue without your support. Please email me at annie@psgsf.org if you have questions. A flyer is attached.

Annie

Volunteer Day: Clean & Green

Clean & Green Team!

Today I'd requested the help of SP DPW's Clean & Green Team to get rid of some debris at the garden. I didn't actually think it was that much stuff but it ended up being a LOT. Chris, Carrie, Aditi, Josh, Gina and Hilary joined me too, and we started at 9am - by the time everyone left at 1.30pm, a huge list of things was accomplished.

First up, the encampments. This has been a brutal week for encampments at PG and the entire back area was overrun, with almost all the plants there being trashed, or burned, and the tool box being broken into and ransacked.

Officer Foltz and Gina

On Friday, Chris witnessed the carnage, and told the thieves what he thought of it all in no uncertain terms. Shortly after, the police arrived and later on, Carrie filed a police report for us.

Meanwhile down at PRG, Gina and Aditi have been reporting the encampments there. It takes a team of committed neighbors to keep this place decent, and calling the police is the first step.

The Hasps of Doom

So, at PG we set about picking up all the trash and the dozens of needles. We cleaned out the tool box, and Chris put on new, very strong hasps, and a heavy strip of wood to hold them in, as well as fixing the somewhat loose back. We don't leave the expensive tools there, but it feels very safe now. And very tidy.

I called my contact at Caltrans to get the hole in the bottom fence fixed (yet again) and moaned to Charlie from SFPA, who was on site with the Clean & Green guys, about our situation. He was very sympathetic, and told me about a new program for cleaning up encampments that's being initiated now. Can't wait to hear more.

About 25 needles picked up...

While the Clean & Green Team removed the entire debris pile at the top of the garden, which looked like about 10 yards of stuff, as well as loads of trash, and loaded it into dump trucks, Carrie, Aditi, Hilary and Josh cut back the Brugmansia, Leonotis and Salvia canariensis. A ton of weeds got pulled too, especially from the garden edges by the off-ramp.

Inviting pathway

Next up the team spread wood chips on the lower path, which I have to say is looking really nice now.

Gina was at PRG picking up trash and let me know about the THREE encampments there. I called the police right away and a nice officer tried to roust them but no luck: SFPD's homeless team were called and they should visit today to sort this out... what with those encampments having been there for going on 2 months now though, and many 311 and police calls being made, I will be shocked if they move soon...

Signs are going up

Yesterday I went to the Southern Police Station and picked up some no trespassing signs (MPC 25 for those who need them), which give the police the authority to move trespassers and folks camping in the gardens along.

I also gathered up the "please pick up your dog poop" metal signs I'd ordered a while back, and delivered the whole lot to Gina who agreed to put them up. Thanks Gina!

While I was chatting to Gina we noted places where the boulders get moved and cars park on the garden at PRG - we need more boulders. About 12 very large ones that cannot be moved by hand.

We also noted two occupied encampments, and a guy who pulled over to pee in the bushes (we gave him a talking to...) so the signs are really needed right now. Gina, thank you for putting them up for us - and Aditi for coordinating with your power drill too!

See something? Do something!

App screen grab

Last night neighbors teamed up to tackle a couple of issues that seem to keep popping up at PRG, namely people parking on the decomposed granite area after actually moving some of the boulders, and the usual homeless encampments...

I got texts from Aditi and Gina separately, both commenting on the issues and wondering how to approach. We all fired off 311 requests using the handy-dandy app - you should totally get it - for the illegally parked car, and a note was left on the windshield.

My request was quickly marked "closed" on the app because the "officer could not validate" that it's illegal to park a car on top of a street park. Um, OK.  A call to 311 is in order.

App screen grab

Next Aditi and Gina met on site, and the police showed up again, and determined the encampment was empty. That means 311 can clean it out. We 311-ed the encampment, and my request was closed within minutes as a duplicate - frustrating, as I have been told the more people who 311, the better.

The police also said they cannot move people along because it's not illegal to be homeless. Thank goodness it's not illegal to be homeless. It is illegal to litter, smoke crack, destroy plants in street parks and set fires though. All of which the homeless encampments have been doing...

It's time to go to the Bayview station to get the no trespassing signs we need to allow enforcement. I just called to verify they have them so it's  a matter of getting there to pick some up. If anyone is nearby (I'm in Pacifica) please let me know!

As the illegally parked car was by now gone, Gina and her boyfriend then moved the boulders back into place (HOW?!) to prevent it happening again. Either Gina and co are superhuman (well, actually, Gina is pretty badass, so...) or we need bigger boulders. I do love boulder shopping (really) so that's an option to explore.

Volunteer Day - so much to do!

Lots flowering now!

Our May volunteer day was lovely - the sun was out but not too hot, and the weeds were ripe for pulling. A bit over-ripe actually, and going to seed, so all the more reason to pull them.

Matt, Sarah, Aditi and I showed up at 10, and as I expected, there was a homeless encampment (still) in the back of the garden since last week, despite my trying to get them moved before they destroy more plants.

I called Police Non-Emergency and asked them to come move the residents along (yes, I know - it's not a solution!) but the resident left before they showed up. When they did show up, they told us we were doing the right thing... and really nothing more can be done.

Recology Ryan

We moved all the belongings to the street, in bags and called 311 to get them. Ryan from Recology showed up in an hour and took everything away.

Next I repaired the brand new dog poop bag station, whose $300 top part had been bent so someone could steal the probably $5 of bags inside. Nice.

If it breaks again, dog people: what's the solution here? You use the garden daily - I think it's time for you to be involved in the handling of poop. Shall we have a special dog owner's meeting to discuss?

Wonderful Cardoon

Then we got to weeding. Aditi and Sarah headed down to tackle the insane weeds at PRG. Matt and I took on PG.

We weeded by the cherry plums, and planted a nice big Furcraea selloa var. marginata we've been growing on, and made a nice group of three. Well, the middle one was damaged by a homeless fire, but it's slowly starting to recover.

Then we moved down to the bottom pathway, and removed mountains of weeds from that area. The Romneya coulteri (Matilija Poppy) is absolutely going berserk and yeah - it's a native. so we want to keep it, but it needed a real haircut to give the plants nearby a chance to live.

Furcraea selloa var. marginata

Nate and his two kids showed up and let me know he's still faithfully reading the blog. Interested in stats, I looked up and saw that we have on average about 75 people visit the site each day, and 236 yesterday alone. Hi everyone! :) Not a bad readership for the blog.

Matt!

And at the end of the day Matt cut down some of the cactus that needs to be moved before the building next door is demolished. This is a very tricky job as they have 3-4" long spines that are very sharp. Good job Matt.

He also moved an Agave scabra from the cactus wall to the new Furcraea group  looks great.

Cuttings and weedings and ponderings

Yesterday I went to PG to do some weeding. On arrival I saw a deserted encampment down in the back area, and dolefully set about moving all the trash/bedding to the curb. I used the 311 app to schedule a pickup right away, as these can take time to be done.

Then I saw a man heading purposefully to the back of the garden - to the camp. He came back a few minutes later and asked if I had seen a backpack - I showed him where it was, and told him this is not a good place to camp... he had uprooted and broken up several of the yucca branches planted back there to make his camp, and as usual there will be piles of trash, used needles, vomit and crap to clean up...

I called police non-emergency - as is our policy - in order to underscore that this is not a place to camp, and went back to weeding, very sadly, thinking that there is no winner here, and feeling helpless, frustrated, unsafe, and annoyed.

Sorry - I wish it was all flowers and butterflies, but  unfortunately in the last year, this garden has become as impacted as the rest of the city by homeless issues, and the poor decisions of the governments of yesteryear...

On the plus side, I was happy to see Aditi, who dropped off two pots of cuttings she has been nurturing for several weeks. And they're rooted! I brought them home and I'll publish a post about how to root cuttings soon.

Another day, another encampment

Chris let me know another encampment was growing at PG, so Matt and I stet out to sort it out. On arrival the camp was empty so I removed everything and called in a 311 to get it picked up.

After that, we weeded. Two of the compost bins are FULL now - good thing we have a volunteer day coming up to help shift that! I weeded around the Agaves by the wrong way sign, and also the Agave bed opposite that where the lovely blue Echiums are flowering by the bench.

Brody gave us two Agaves, and I planted those in the new top bed as well.

Lastly, Matt finished installing the two dog poop stations. One at PG, one down the street at PRG. They look great! No excuses dog owners - you have got to pick up your dogs poop!

All clear!

After a flurry of activity over the last 24 hours, the latest encampment has been cleaned up.

I don't know if SF HOT or SFPD got the people to move, as we contacted both, but I do know the camp was vacant this morning. And I won't share the other photos of the mess that was left behind but it was pretty disgusting.

At any rate, as soon as Chris told me the camp was empty, I used the 311 app to notify them it was ready to clean. At the same time, our contact at SFPA, the lovely May, contacted DPW too.

And just a few hours later, Gary let me know that the camp was cleaned and gone.

Now, we know it will be back, but we have to make the garden a very unappealing place to be for homeless people otherwise we're going to end up with another used needle and feces covered mess. Putting pressure on government groups to help clean up also transmits the message that a real solution for homeless people (vs shuffling them around) is desperately needed.

Now let's get the fence at the bottom of the garden fixed! I've called some companies for a quote - around $900. But if enough people ask Caltrans they will fix it - submit a CSR here: https://csr.dot.ca.gov/

You've got to be kidding...

Aaaaand, today both Chris and Gary told me the encampment is back. Already.

SFPA got back to me on what to do for PG, which is an update to the previous information I posted:

1. SF HOT (Homeless Outreach Team) are available to offer homeless persons services and connect them with resources. They can be contacted at (415) 355-7445 - SFPA has called them today.
2. SFPD is the agency to contact for any enforcement requests such as asking persons to move or to prevent persons from returning. I called them today.
3. DPW crews can only clean up debris, trash, etc. They cannot move people or prevent them from returning.When the people are gone, we can get DPW to clean the trash/needles etc.

I have called  SFPA, SFPD and Caltrans, and submitted a new ticket to Caltrans at https://csr.dot.ca.gov/

Epic volunteer workday result!

Before and after!

This weekend's volunteer workday was planned to have two tasks: weed the pathways at PRG and a tutorial on how to propagate some Salvias. It didn't quite go as planned...

Since last workday, the homeless encampment at the garden had been growing and becoming more of a concern. I'd contacted 311, Caltrans, DPW, SFPA and others in an effort to clear the site without calling in the police or CHP. It didn't appear that much was happening from any agency as nobody responded that it would be taken care of.

Aditi, Marcus and Sharon

Feeling pretty annoyed by that, I decided we could clear it ourselves as long as it was vacant, and I prepared with extra gloves and trash bags.

On the day though, thank goodness, the camp was empty and in fact had been burned to the ground, which is really concerning as it was very close to a building and clearly burned hotly and for quite some time...

That's a lot of used needles...

Many plants nearby had been destroyed, or burned. Strewn with trash, 20+ used needles, used condoms, vomit and feces, the whole back area was truly disgusting. My brave volunteers dove right in and started cleaning, carefully putting needles in our sharps container and bagging up the waste with no complaints. YOU GUYS ROCK!

Not for trash

I also removed a huge bag of trash from inside one of the composters. Please don't throw trash in there folks!

In total we removed almost a dozen trash bags of waste and a couple of old Christmas trees and other burned wood to the street side. Using the 311 app I called in a pickup, and DPW picked it up a couple of hours later.

One of the Coprosmas

After that task was done, most of the team moved down to PRG and worked to clean weeds from the pathway. In the meantime, I gave Aditi a tutorial on propagating Salvias and sent her home with enough cuttings to keep her busy till next month! She'd donated two lovely Coprosmas to the garden, as well and we planted those right away - they look great.

Chris cleaning trash

Matt cut down some Yucca branches in preparation for planting in the back area as well, and worked on re-leveling the pathway a bit.

Huge thanks to everyone who came and helped: Chris, Aditi, Sharon, Marcus, Leslie, Matt, Sarah, Yannicka and Hilary made a huge difference to our neighborhood today. Thanks also to Louk who dropped off oranges and water for the crew - much appreciated neighbor!

More homeless issues...

In November we had a homeless encampment spring up in the back of the garden.  Since it was uninhabited the day I was there, I took it down.

At our last volunteer day, another encampment showed up - bigger than before. Will a lot of trash etc.

I called 311 and within hours someone came by to take a look. However, this is apparently not a DPW problem, as PG is on Caltrans land...

So, if you want to help sort this out, please follow these steps.

1. First post a CSR here https://csr.dot.ca.gov/ . You will receive a CSR number by email, automatically
2. Call Caltrans rep Dennis at (510) 286-6438 and tell him the CSR number 
3. Within 7-10 days they remove the encampment.
4. It will return! However, when you repeat the above process 3 times, the state posts the area meaning there's more protection.

For encampments at PRG, down the block, here's what to do:

1. Call 311 or use the 311 app (https://sf311.org/mobile ) to report the issue of an encampment at PG or PRG. I’ve already done this, but it’s not about me calling 10 times – a faster response comes from 10 people calling once each, according to the city.
2. Call 911 if you feel threatened at all.
3. Call Animal Care & Control at (415) 554-6364 if you see an animal in an encampment that is suffering, or behaving aggressively. 

  

Big cleanup and homeless update

The Clean & Green Team

Today we had the hardworking Clean & Green Team come to PG, led by Paul, as well as a DPW packer truck to take away all the green waste and compost it.

They managed to completely remove a pile about 20' long, 10' wide and almost 5' high - tough work on a sunny and pretty warm morning!

Thank you Julia, Marissa, May, Paul and the crew - and Chris for moving all the debris up to that spot in the first place!

Before

While the team worked to move the huge pile down to the front by the truck, Matt and I investigated the homeless encampment in the back of the garden. There was nobody home, and it looks like all belongings were gone too, so we spent a couple hours dismantling the encampment, picking up all the trash, and cleaning the area.

We also cut back a lot of fennel and filled the hole in the far bottom fence with a large blue Agave americana - better than barbed wire!

Spiky fence

Now, I don't think this is a permanent solution - halfway through the job a homeless person came down and asked if there was a hole there to go through, and I said no... but I expect it will be back. Agaves, yuccas and opuntias do a fearsome job repelling humans, but only when they get established, which is hard to do when they get ripped out or clambered over.

Hope these ones make it - the opuntias we planted many years ago are gamely trying to form the impenetrable hedge I know they can, but they're a quarter the size they should be, with many broken branches.

After!

A whole lot of the 1 gallon pots of Agaves and Aloes growing on in that back area had been trashed by the homeless encampment, and I threw a number out. Matt planted a dozen pups in the "pup farm" along the off ramp street edge. They'll grow on and recover there, in relative safety, until we can transplant them to their final spots.

Homeless concerns at PG

Hi friends,

Please read: need a bit of help here.

It's been a long time since we've seen homelessness at this level in San Francisco. City services are struggling to provide help to thousands of people affected by homelessness, and the often related issues of substance abuse and mental illness.

I recently met with various people to discuss this: Sophia Kittler, Legislative Aide in the office of Supervisor Cohen, Randy Quezada, who works in the office of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, Stephanie Muller of the Delancey Street Foundation and Eileen Loughran, Health Program Coordinator at San Francisco Department of Public Health, as well as various local community leaders.

We discussed ways to prevent encampments from growing in front of buildings, and in the gardens we have built, and the meeting was not a moment too soon – at our volunteer day last weekend we saw that an encampment had started at the back of Pennsylvania Garden.

There’s a real emotional push and pull between wanting to help people, or leave them in peace, and dealing with the needles, crack pipes, broken glass, feces, trash, fires, and verbal or other physical threats from encampments.

In order to protect the people who enjoy our gardens – visitors, volunteers and wildlife – I want to outline the steps needed to prevent this encampment growing out of control.

1. Call 311 or use the 311 app (https://sf311.org/mobile ) to report the issue of an encampment at PG or PRG. I’ve already done this, but it’s not about me calling 10 times – a faster response comes from 10 people calling once each, according to the city.
2. Call 911 if you feel threatened at all.
3. Call Animal Care & Control at (415) 554-6364 if you see an animal in an encampment that is suffering, or behaving aggressively. 

Can you take a minute to call 311 or use the 311 app today? Randy Quezada outlined the services offered to these encampments – they’re not going to get a police ticket they can’t pay, and his team has had success getting people off the street.

Thanks for helping – I hope we can resolve the issue for real one day soon.

Annie