If so inclined, you can watch live online a meeting of the City Operations & Neighborhood Services Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, going on right now.
On the agenda are two issues of note: The scheduled eviction of the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council Recycling Center in favor of a community garden; and a vote on advancing a resolution that would urge MUNI to start the process of setting up a free-pass program for low-income youth.
The recycling center eviction has been particularly contentious, with some community groups eager to shut it down because of what they say is the center's role as a magnet for homeless people. The center has also been called obsolete in this era of curbside recycling.
A report on Examiner.com today asks whether today's hearing is HANC's last chance at a reprieve.
Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi said the Board of Supervisors does not have the power to directly reverse the eviction because it came through the Recreation and Parks Department (RPD), which is the city’s landlord for places like the Golden Gate Park, where the recycling center is located. That department is under the mayor’s authority, so only San Francisco’s new mayor, Edwin Lee, or the RPD Commission can reverse the decision. CONS or the Board of Supervisors can, however, put some amount of pressure on Mayor Lee by drafting a resolution urging him to reverse the eviction.
Whether the new mayor will actually reverse the eviction remains to be seen.