Support nihonmachiROOTS’ Japantown Redistricting Week of Action…let’s get on it

(a) We thank the RTF for recent changes that brought Hamilton Recreation Center, the Western Addition Library and Booker T. Washington Community Service Center back into D5.

(b) Westside Courts Public Housing shoulde be included with the working and middle income community in D5, not with the more affluent areas in D2 who share little in common and may have different political interests.

(c) Japantown community resources actively being used by the Japantown community and of historic significance should remain connected to Japantown.

(d) our maps consistently show our ability to keep the Wester Addition together while allowing for the needed growth in other districts.

(e) We are the people who live in the area speaking specifically about our neighborhood and how our community is shaped.

Thanks to the Task Force members for including Booker T. Washington Community Service Center, Hamilton Rec Center and the WA library in D5, we urge them to also include Westside Court and the few areas of Japan town that should remain in D5.

We advocate for the inclusion of  Westside Courts public housing, in D5, arguing that their community of interest lies much closer to D5 than D1 or D2.

Westside Courts shares a community of interest with the Western Addition, not the Richmond or Pacific Heights, because their shared history with the community, socioeconomic similarity, shared schools, community services recreation areas, health clinic, grocery stores are all in D5. The residents want to stay in the neighborhood and keep the Western Addition whole.

Placing Westside Courts residents in other districts weakens them politically when they are placed outside their communities of interest and forced to depend on dissimilar communities for cooperation and support.

We advocate for a D5 northern boundary at California between Buchanan and Octavia to capture two blocks where the last few Japantown community institutions are located in back together with the rest of D5.

St. Benedict’s and the Nichiren Buddhist Church on California between Buchanan and Octavia remain active houses of worship for the Japanese American community. They are presently located across the street from the proposed D5.

Chibi-Chan Preschool on the block between Pine and Bush/Pierce and Scott remains an active community institution within Japantown. An extension should be made to keep it in D5 while the surrounding areas go to add needed population to D2.

Placing Japantown community resources in districts D1 or D2 weakens D5 residents’ ability to have a voice in controlling the community resources and living areas that they rely on when they are placed under the control of communities who do not use these resources and may not share the interest or desire to maintain and support them.

We recommend bringing these remaining institutions into D5 while the surrounding areas go to add needed population to D2.This will help keep Japantown whole will relieving some of the population pressure on D2.

Our map keeps our communities of interest together, but we Recognize that the Task Force will need to balance the population of D1 and D2 to accommodate keeping the Western Addition portion of D5 together.

We recommend a map that achieves this by:

Moving the northern border to California, Pine and Sutter Street as shown on the map provided, to include only significant areas of community interest while the other areas go to D2.

Placing Anza Vista residents in D1 from Masonic to Divisadero.

Keep all of Sea Cliff above California Street in D2, based on socioeconomic commonality which differs from the working class, middle income family and individuals in D1 from their more affluent neighbors in D2.

Move the D2/D3 border in Russian Hill out to Jones and the D2/D5 border between Gough and Van Ness down to Ellis. We support Russian Hill residents desire to keep their D2/D3 mix and moving from Leavenworth to Jones gives population to D2 withiut putting all Russian Hill into one district.

Tell your personal story about how yourself and our community connections, Westside Courts’ kids going to community events at Ella Hill Hutch, the Japanese language program at Rosa Parks school, etc…

The Fillmore and Japantown areas share a long history of providing cultural homes for communities of color since the days when they were the center of community life for African American and Japanese American San Franciscans. A common history of racial persecution, geographic displacement and uniting our communities to resist discrimination, by building bridges with each other, to maintain community pride and unity continues to this day. Residents of both communities share a past history, but presently continue to share community resources, libraries, housing, schools, recreation centers, places of leisure and worship and development plans for the future that define them as a united community that intends to remain that way.

Previous versions of the Redistricting Task Force Map (RTF) created a District 5 (D5) northern boundary at Geary Boulevard, separating Japantown and Fillmore residents in the area from community member and resources and areas where strong historic ties exist and are presently active in keeping the community together, namely Japantown, Westside Courts Public Housing, Hamilton Recreation Center , Booker T. Washington Community Service Center and the Western Addition Public Library. Placing these residential and community resources in supervisorial districts (in this case, District 2 – D2) separate from the district community which created, maintains and actively utilizes these areas is inconsistent with the mission of the RTF and is a disservice to the residents of the Fillmore and Japantown communities. Geary runs through the united community. It does not divide two separate ones.

Together, Japantown and Fillmore residents and leaders have been consistent in our argument that these area should remain in D5; D1 or D2 is not an alternative for us or our neighbors when other, viable options exist that better serve the interest of keeping our community and other communities of shared interest together. This map (attached) reflect our most recent attempts to demonstrate the desired D5 boundaries, based on continued conversations with residents from neighborhoods in D5 and the surrounding districts.

We thank the Redistricting Task Force’s assistance in keeping our community together and hope the following helps explain our position and our map.

2012 Pine Street

2507 Pine Street, SF 94115

Japanese Community Youth Council – JCYC (2012 Pine Street) has become one of San Francisco’s most successful youth organizations. While still committed to children and youth from the Japanese American community, JCYC has evolved and grown into an organization, which annually serves over 8,000 young people from all socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds.

Through a continuum of services, JCYC programs can support children and youth from the time they start Chibi Chan Preschool (2507 Pine Street, SF 94115) until they are ready to move onto college. The organization strives to offer young people a comprehensive array of services to ensure that they have the resources and support necessary to grow into healthy, productive adults.

2501 Sutter Street

Nestled in between Sutter, Baker, Broderick, and Post Streets, the 136-unit housing project is one of the more isolated public housing units in San Francisco. In its isolation, however, the public housing residence has somewhat of a sense of self sufficiency as it has a computer lab, a day care facility, and a food bank for residents.

Built in 1943, residents live with outdated appliances; unpredictable plumbing, mechanical, and electrical systems; extensive rodent problems; and other issues that affect their health and quality of life. Although situated closer to Pacific Heights, these residents have always been in D5, identify with D5 and share socioeconomic concerns more similar to those in the Western Addition than in the immediate surrounding areas.

One review on Yelp! review gives some insight in why Western Addition resident are concerned with the prospect of the isolated Westside being lumped into another district and loosing it’s connection to its true community of interest in the greater Western Addition:

2016 Pine Street

1801 Octavia St

St. Francis Xavier Church was begun in 1913 by Fr. Albert Breton, who also founded Japanese Sisters of the Visitation and later became Bishop of Fukuoka,Japan. In 1929 the Japanese Catholic Community acquired the property on the southwest corner of Octavia and Pine where they eventually built a school. In 1939 the site of the present church was acquired and built. In 1942 when the United States Government ordered the Japanese to relocation centers, many parish members stored their furniture and personal belongings in the social hall for their newly built church. The pastor, Fr. William Stoecke, followed many of his parishioners to the camp at Topaz, Utah where he ministered to them throughout their detention. In 1945, when the west coast was reopened to the Japanese, Fr. Stoecke returned to San Francisco to help his people resettle.

Today this Japanese Mission continues to be a lifeline to the Catholic Church for many monolingual Japanese or those with limited second language capabilities.

People come not only from San Francisco, but from San Mateo County, the North and East Bay, and from as far away as Manteca in the Central Valley and there are plans to expand the opportunity for monolingual and bilingual liturgical services.

Ryan Kimura

Director of Programs and Community Relations

Japanese Cultural and Community Center

of Northern California

(415) 567-5505 x228 / (415) 567-4222 fax