March 2013

Rebuild Potrero Launches Needs Survey

LeeAndrea Morton

Under Rebuild Potrero, the existing Potrero Annex-Terrace complex would be replaced with 1,400 to 1,600 mixed income level housing units, as well as retail and 3.5 acres of open space, and a community center. The project is being led by Bridge Housing; KDG Enterprises, serves as Rebuild’s planning coordinator. Although construction plans are on hold, as Bridge tries to secure necessary financing, last fall Rebuild entered the first phase of its Potrero Human Capital Master Plan, now called the P.A.R.A.D.I.S.E. Plan. The planning effort is being funded by a $300,000 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Choice Neighborhood Planning grant. 

The P.A.R.A.D.I.S.E. Plan was given its name at last month’s Rebuild Potrero Community Building Group meeting, held at the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House. The acronym stands for Practical and Realistic and Desirable Ideas for Social Enrichment. It was selected by meeting participants from a list of nominated names, which included: “Build a Community,” “Potrero Thrive Plan,” “The Future Dream,” “Change,” “Potrero Dream Plan,” and other ideas that spoke of desired transformation on the Hill.

Community Building Group meetings are held the first Thursday of every other month, led by Emily Weinstein, Bridge Housing’s community relations manager. Hill residents and non-residents from multiple demographics were in attendance at the February gathering. Bridge Housing and Hill activists loaded the get-together with community-building activities, such as a shared meal, an assignment that asked participants to mark with a sticker when they joined the Rebuild Potrero effort on a jumbo-sized Rebuild Potrero timeline, and a question and answer period.

Uzuri Green, an Annex-Terrace resident who works for Bridge Housing, announced a new project, the Potrero Hill Mural Concept, in which open spaces on walls and buildings would become canvasses for large, colorful, community-specific murals, to be completed over the next year. “The project will enhance the skills that people already have, as well as get people to come together and work together to make the community the kind of community that everyone is more proud of than ever,” said Green.

The P.A.R.A.D.I.S.E. Plan consists of a five-phase process, extending from October 2012 to September 2014, during which programs will be designed to increase access to education, employment, technology, and health care, and reduce violence, for current and future Annex-Terrace residents. The phases include establishing an advisory committee, conducting a community assessment, hosting a community feedback period, shaping a Human Capital Master Plan — the P.A.R.A.D.I.S.E. Plan — and identifying next steps. “We need a community group that will put more time and energy into the plan and follow through,” Weinstein contended.

Bridge Housing and KDG Enterprises will receive input from advisory committee members, who were selected by Rebuild Potrero Community Group attendees to serve for roughly 20 months, from February 2013 to September 2014, with a monthly time commitment of five to seven hours. Committee members include Evelyn Daskalakis, Greg Ferrell, Hellen Hale, Jarekhye Covarubius, Jasmine Bedalman, Keith Goldstein, Kevin Williams, Mauli Shah, Monica Ferrey, Patricia Gutierrez, Tony Kelly, Urell Pease, and Yael Chanoff. Kelley D. Gulley and Marco Montenegro, from KDG Enterprises Incorporated, will coordinate the effort.

The processes’ second phase, conducting an assessment of the individual and community needs of Annex-Terrace residents, was launched last month. A needs assessment survey will be fielded by four part-time Hill residents. These workers, who will be paired with San Francisco State University (SFSU) public health graduate students, will canvass the Hill’s south side blocks. 

The SFSU students are conducting separate research examining family mental health issues. The interview pairs will include an English- and Spanish-English bilingual worker. Survey participants can also opt to meet at the public housing office, located at the corner of 25th and Connecticut Streets, when they schedule their one-hour survey appointment. Survey results will likely be available by May, followed by feedback from residents and the advisory committee over the summer. 

“I think that [the P.A.R.A.D.I.S.E. Plan] will bring more unity to the Hill as well as jobs and other resources that are very much needed in the community,” Green emphasized. “It will give people a sense of hope and people will become even more motivated to stand up for themselves and for their neighbors.”

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