Chronicle Columnist get FACTS wrong

SEPARATING FACT FROM FICTION
CW Nevius came out with a new article antagonizing  the efforts of the Kezar Gardens Ecology Center on Thursday.  Perhaps, if one were to read only the first and last lines of the piece, it could be considered accurate, but everything in between is highly questionable in terms of its precision.  We were lucky to get a tape recording of the interview between Nevius and Ed Dunn, recycling center director.
Tuesday morning, Chronicle photographer, Lea Suzuki, spent hours in the yard photographing recyclers and gardeners for the piece Nevius was writing this week.  She encouraged Nevius to come by as well to see the changes and talk to the energetic chief of staff, Ed Dunn.  And, to his credit, Nevius came by Tuesday afternoon and talked recycling center politics with Ed.  He let us tape him and did not hold back on his vehement opposition to the center, however, he seemed to be quite misinformed and uninterested in setting the record straight.
So, we waited to see what he would come up with.  What we got was an emotional article filled with inaccuracies and completely ignoring or failing to research many of the issues presented to him that day.  In response, we have put together a short video detailing the difference between his report and what actually transpired.  The major points we dispute in the video are:
1. The Native Plant garden was a "last ditch effort" to prevent an eviction
Greg Gaar began gardens at the site about a dozen years ago.  He has planted an acre of grounds in native plants surrounding the center and continues to develop and contribute to effective restoration projects all over the city including the Green Hairstreek Butterfly project on Golden Gate Heights.
2. The salaries are too high and no one wanted to show him the books.
Simple math demonstrated in the video refutes that along with an offer to look at the accounting that Nevius does not choose partake in.  The average salary with benefits for a staff member at HANC is approximately 36K and includes health care.
3.  Reference to the Golden Gate Master Plan as proof of non-conforming use.
Nevius was informed about the County General Plan that does allow for a public service that is hard to locate and cannot be located elsewhere to exist on parkland- he made no reference to this in his article.  Also, at this point, no other site on the west side of SF has been identified for HANC to relocate to.
4. Nobody wants us.  City Hall hates HANC.
In Feb 2011, the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution in favor of HANC recycling center, they demanded  that the City work in GOOD FAITH with the center on this issue.  There are also over 100 community gardeners as well as local recyclers that patronize the space everyday. Check out our other blogs detailing the visits of D5 Supe Christina Olague and Homeless Advocate Bevan Dufty, each having an extremely positive reaction to the site.
Take a few moments to see for yourself.  And take a gander at the Nevius article through the link below as well as HANC's 990, it's all public.  It's certainly not news that we have opponents in this struggle but we must be vigilant about reporting the facts to the best of our knowledge and holding this reporter to the same virtue.

Nevius Article
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/nevius/article/HANC-finally-at-the-end-of-the-line-isn-t-it-3684759.php#photo-3156836

HANC_990_2010

The butterfly is back!

ATOP A SMALL MOUNTAIN Head up the hill near 14th Avenue in the Sunset and you will wind your way into Golden Gate Heights and its surrounding and steep bluffs. An adorable neighborhood with pockets of native plants still present, some folks have taken it upon themselves to return more unused land back to its natural habitat. Before the Sunset and Richmond area of San Francisco were developed, they were miles of dunes and bluffs home to Coast Buckwheat, Seaside Daisies and other geographically specific plants, animals and insects. A GREEN BUTTERFLY ROAMS One of the inhabitants of this unique ecosystem is the Green Hairstreak Butterfly. A shimmering sage colored floater with white antennae and a flair for the camera, the Green Hairstreak Butterfly can only survive if she has her larval plant, the Coast Buckwheat to lay eggs on. The delicate joining of plant and insect is precious, original and historical. Through the work of Nature In the City, a local nonprofit, the corridor of native plants restored to the Golden Gates Heights area has proven its impact already. Many of the initial plants for the project were donated by the native plant nursery at Kezar. On our visit last Friday, we encountered three different green hairstreaks at the corner of 14th Avenue and Pacheco Street. BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME The extraordinary thing about ecological systems is how well they work. There is a certain simplicity in the earth’s natural systems, pairing plants with water and wind cycles and watching how they support a specific set of living creatures. There is also a satisfying sense of power, as a human, to restore an ecological system back to its more primal form. The result seems to be a good partnership between people and the planet, full of impact and inclusive of nature. THANKS MIKE BELCHER, BUTTERFLY GUY It was an absolute treat to explore and interact with the ever blossoming habitat restoration program for the Green Hairstreak Butterfly near Golden Gate Heights. We commend Mike Belcher for his dutiful stewardship of this program’s plots and for spending the morning showing us around hill. Today’s video gives you a look into this project and captures our own sighting of the Green Hairstreak Butterfly that day. Totally proud of his work, Mike was also missing the others who help bring this project to life and was sure to send along the following to highlight some of the major people involved in this unique and successful restoration project along with mention of another significant sighting at the 14th and Pacheco site the very next day. From Mike: “Hello Soumyaa, It sure was a special day, and it continued the next day when I returned to 14th and Pacheco and observed a female actually laying eggs on one of the coast buckwheats! This is the ultimate goal of the restoration project, to increase the habitat and population of the Green Hairstreak. As far as people to mention: First, Liam O’Brien the butterfly expert whose vision started the project. Nature in the City, the non-profit organization run by Peter Brastow with Melanie Trelles and Deidre Martin, who took this vision and made it a reality with the help of dedicated volunteers like Srah McConico (Steward of the site at 14th and Pacheco), Barbara Kobayashi, Matt Zlatnich and others. Also a big shout out to Ed Dunn and Greg Gaar from HANC for providing many of the native plants for the restoration projects. Thanks again and best of luck to you and HANC. “

A Spurious Argument

Kezar Gardens Community Work Day

New hope for HANC recycling

LET IT LIVE
Valentine's Day brought a lot of love for HANC recycling center this year. A press conference and four hour committee meeting at City Hall last Monday proved fruitful for supporters of the community recycling center in Golden Gate Park.

MIRKARIMI ASKS TOUGH QUESTIONS
District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi led the way in a candid questioning of the decision made by the Rec and Park Commission to evict HANC recycling on December 2, 2010. He cross examined the Dept. of Environment and Rec Park staff on the research they presented in December 2010 and its lack of thoroughness. There was also overwhelming support voiced from the public. Supervisors Eric Mar and John Avalos spoke about the center as an endearing place they both loved and a necessary part of San Francisco's zero waste initiative. Mirkarimi has since drafted a resolution that will be heard on Monday Feb. 28th, at a committee hearing.

LAST CHANCE FOR PUBLIC COMMENT
Feb. 28 will be the last time public comment on this issue will be allowed. If upheld, the entire Board of Supervisors will vote on the resolution March 1st. So, if you can't come out on the 28th, take a moment and send an email to your Supervisor about how the HANC recycling center has impacted your life or the life of someone you know.

Supervisor Mark Farrell: Mark.Ferrell@sfgov.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 544-7752
Supervisor David Campos: David.Campos@sfgov.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 554-5144
Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi: Ross.Mirkarimi@sfgov.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 554-7630
Supervisor Sean Elsbernd: Sean.Elsbernd@sfgov.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 554-6516
Supervisor Scott Wiener: Scott.Wiener@sfgov.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 554-6968
Supervisor Jane Kim: Jane.Kim@sfgov.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 554-7970
Supervisor Malia Cohen: Malia.Cohen@sfgov.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 554-7670
Supervisor Eric Mar: Eric.L.Mar@sfgov.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 554-7510
Supervisor David Chiu: David.Chiu@sfgov.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 554-7450
Supervisor John Avalos: John.Avalos@sfgov.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 554-6975
Supervisor Carmen Chu: Carmen.Chu@sfgov.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 554-7460

More information on this can be found at www.hanc-sf.org

Hobos in Park City

I'm taking a break from shooting to check out the goings on at Sundance Film Festival and connect with people about our film and the plight of the HANC recycling center. So far, we've made a few good connections!

The first film I saw in Park City was the midnight show: Hobo with a Shotgun. Rutger Hauer plays a traveling, recycling, hobo with a shopping cart and a heart of gold. When he picks up a shotgun a the pawn shop to help the poor people of scum town everyone's world turns upside down. The poor people of scum town are beholden to their evil, rich, rulers who use them as fodder for sick torture games and Rutger aims to change all that. I applaud the hobo-hero choice and the tackling of class in a simple horror film but the story and execution were incredibly and overly violent. Overall, an average film with a lot of good ideas that didn't quite bear fruit.

However, the short film that played before Hobo with a Shotgun, The Legend of Beaver Dam, was indeed horribly delightful. Masterfully edited, and richly playing on all the stereotypes of kids camping in the woods and a scary monster on the loose, Legend eventually breaks out into a musical at the height of its horror. This short was creative, fun and horrible all in the same chord and the audience practically leapt from their seats in voracious appreciation. Check this one out if it comes to your neck of the woods.

Beaver Dam Trailer

Me-rry Evicted!

The nonprofit HANC recycling center in Golden Gate Park got a 90 day eviction notice on December 3rd 2010. On December 9th, Ed Dunn, HANC director, adorned the mask of Mr. Grinch and handed out fliers at the annual x-mas tree lighting ceremony in Golden Gate Park.

Check out the fun little video we made about it.

Me-rry Evicted! from Laccolith Films on Vimeo.

Ed Dunn stands up for HANC recycling

HANC rallys support at Inner Sunset Farmers Market from Laccolith Films on Vimeo.

Recycling and Native Plant Center EVICTED?
For many months as HANC recycling and native plant center have been trying to meet with community leaders about the fate of its operation at 780 Frederick Street, those leaders have been making plans without them. In April 2010, a clandestine design was drawn by city officials to re-purpose the almost acre of land that has been occupied by the recycling and native plant center for 35 years. HANC leadership was not privy to these plans until November 2010 when they also learned an attack had been launched against them by their next door neighbors.

Green versus Green
The historic HANC recycling center, also propagator of thousands of San Francisco native plants, now faces eviction for a similar sounding garden resource center (just without the recycling).

GGP has no recycling plan
It is important to note that Golden Gate Park has no official recycling program thus far. There are some embarrassing looking dumpsters tucked into a few corners; you can find one next to the kid's carousel near Kezar Drive where I often walk. The park, itself, was built over the unique and natural landscape of sand dunes and native lakes, it is a mostly planted area comprised of man-made pools and knolls. Doesn't a native nursery and recycling facility seem like a much needed part of our Golden Gate Park?

CRV is your money
Some neighbors who support HANC's eviction believe the action will curb the problem of people going through their curbside blue bins and deter those types of people from frequenting their neighborhood. Some would rather give their deposit money to the garbage company instead of a poor person. However, the bottle bill has a statewide mandate that gives people the right to reclaim deposits on beverage containers. Curbside recycling is not the same system and cannot be a substitute for bottle buyback unless the bottle bill is revoked.

Call for Open Discussion
Before we let this happen, let's learn more. Let's have some open discussion around the real issues plaguing our community and find ways to solve them together. Let's bring in experts and do studies that help us understand how to best use our public land in a climate crisis and how to combat poverty without simply removing it from view. Let's do what Ed Dunn, director of HANC and son of its founder, does everyday and stand up for people who cannot stand up for themselves.

Support Community Recycling
Come out and be heard on Nov 30 at an Emergency Community Forum. Stand Up: December 2 at City Hall when the HANC recycling center comes up on the agenda. Write a letter and fill out the online postcard in support of community recycling in Golden Gate Park. Read Up: green vs. "green" in SF Bay Guardian. Listen Up: on the news at ABC 7.

Do Something. :)

Call for Open Discussion before shutting down 35 year old recycling center

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

FOR RECYCLING AND NATIVE PLANTS!

It has come to the attention of the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council (HANC) that the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department will attempt to evict the recycling center and native plant nursery from its 35-year home at Arguello and Frederick Streets near Kezar Stadium. They are apparently working with the Inner Sunset Park Neighbors behind closed doors for this eviction. This is the same group that sponsors the wildly popular Inner Sunset Farmers’ Market. HANC does not feel that it is right for one neighborhood organization not to directly contact another organization about possible grievances and work to resolve those differences or at least discuss them in an open and straightforward manner. This is especially true when the Recycling and Native Plant Garden Center is outside the boundaries of their organization.

Some facts about the Recycling Center:

·      Fiscally sponsors the Garden for the Environment at 7^{th Ave} and Lawton Streets

·      Provides 10 green jobs

·      Operates a native plant nursery that serves all of San Francisco

·      Is a California State certified redemption center for bottles and cans

·      Conducts classes in gardening for native plants

·      Gives monetary grants to neighborhood organizations

For more information go to our website www.hanc-sf.org and look for the recycling center pages.   Please write a letter expressing your support or use the template below.  

When you take action on behalf of the center, let us know by emailing a copy of your letter to garbagefilm@gmail.com.  We are also working on a survey to help start a conversation on this issue.  If you have a suggestion for a good survey question, include that in your email as well!  Thanks for your efforts!! 

click to open and print

click to open and print

SF recycling center shut down?

The HANC recycling center is under new threat of eviction. Holding a month to month lease to operate their facility on Golden Gate parkland, the efforts to evict the center gained momentum in the last few months. A recent homicide of a homeless man near Kezar Stadium led some city officials to point the finger at the HANC center located nearby.

This video has excerpts from that meeting which took place on September 9, 2010 at The Urban School on Page Street.


SF Recycling Center shut down? from Laccolith Films on Vimeo.
District 5 Supervisor, Ross Mirkarimi, attended the latest HANC meeting to discuss the future of the center. He stressed that until solid data is made available that measures the impact of the recycling center to the city, they will continue to face opposition on issues like noise, criminality and homelessness. Recycling centers, in general, are not currently part of San Francisco's ecological plan. But why not?

Some facts that are currently available via the Californians Against Waste website are as follows.

• Just over 80% of recycled beverage containers in California are returned directly by consumers for cash or donated to schools, churches and other non-profits.

• Roughly 14% of recycled beverage containers are collected via curbside recycling programs.

Curbside programs, like Sunset Scavenger in San Francisco, also known as Recology, do not return cash for containers and charge residents for their services. They also offer a handy form to report recycling theft from their curbside bins.

The HANC recycling center estimates about 15% of their customer base suffer from extreme poverty and may be collecting from those curbside bins.

In attendance at the meeting last week was Kevin Drew from the San Francisco Department of Environment, Greg Gaar, Founder of the Native Plant nursery at the recycling center and Quintin Mecke, Communications Director in Tom Ammiano's office. HANC board members and general members were also present including a representative from the newly erected Hayes Valley Farm and the center's director, Ed Dunn.

Plastic for Plastiki

Recently, the Plastiki boat, built in San Francisco, landed at its destination in Sydney, Australia stopping at a well known plastic island in the middle of the ocean along the way. Floating on two liter plastic bottles, David de Rothschild and his skilled crew tirelessly designed, built and tested their vessel on the shores of the Bay at Pier 31 before embarking.

13,000 plastic bottles were donated to his group, Adventure Ecology, by the Haight Ashbury Recycling center. Each bottle had to go through rigorous testing to assure its strength before it could eventually end up as a piece of the plastiki boat. This video shows Charlie from the center telling us about the HANC contribution and excerpts of Ed Dunn, Executive Director of HANC and David de Rothschild, Eco-Adventurer, discussing plastic and the environment at Pier 31. See the prototype of the boat in its early phases and get a feel for the excitement and massive effort involved to make this eco dream a reality.

From spectacular efforts like those of Adventure Ecology, along with diligent grass roots efforts like HANC's, there is a wide range of possibilites when it comes to saving the earth. Pluripotent moments like these are the precipice of the future as we all decide where we stand on the environment and what we are capable of doing about it. Congrats to Plastiki and HANC for collaborating on such a unique and successful project!

Native Plants & Endangered butterflies

It's natural to depend on others. Nature itself is the greatest example of teamwork one can find in the world. Take the butterflies for example, without certain and specific plants, some species will soon disappear from earth. It's almost as if some plants were created just to feed the butterflies. Many of the coastal scrub plants native to San Francisco do have this type of lofty mission in life- to sustain the butterflies so that they may fly free.

Part of the effort at the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council recycling center is a Native Plant nursery dedicated to re-propagating native plants in any available backyard, public park or unwanted space in the city. Led by Greg Gaar, the nursery is a thriving center for spurring a team oriented landscape. The San Bruno Elfin butterfly, for example, feeds on Stonecrop and emits a dew that ants use to protect them from danger. Hear Greg talk about this and other butterflies in our short video above. Stay tuned to the blog for more videos like these!

The Family Cut

Here is a video showing the diverse group of people that recycle at Haight Ashbury Recycling Center in San Francisco! A more polished and shorter version is on display at The Red Vic Theatre on Haight Street. This one is for everyone who took the time to take part-thanks!

Polishing up the HANC video petition for its premiere on the big screen meant cutting some recyclers out of the picture. We loved everyone's contribution so much we thought we should show the original 47-person-long video petition. Made at the recycling center on November 21, 2009 with the customers there that day, the video petition was a collaborative effort by our team, the center and the community members. The video, in its shortened form, plays nightly at the Red Vic Movie House on Haight Street.

SF Women's Film Festival

I will screen a trailer and take part in a panel of local documentary filmmakers on April 11 at 1pm. The event takes place in the Variety Screening Room in the Hobart Building at the corner of 2nd Street and Market. Tickets are $10. www.sfwff.org

Work-In-Progress Screenings coming up!

See us at El Rio on April 1st, 7pm with a collection of other short films as part of a fundraiser for the narrative short, Casting Shadows by Angela Park. El Rio is located at 3158 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94110-4560, (415) 282-3325.

The Family Cut

Polishing up the HANC video petition for its premiere on the big screen meant cutting some recyclers out of the picture. We loved everyone's contribution so much we thought we should show the original 47-person-long video petition. Made at the recycling center on November 21, 2009 with the customers there that day, the video petition was a collaborative effort by our team, the center and the community members. The video, in its shortened form, plays nightly at the Red Vic Movie House on Haight Street.