The Castro Merchants Association voted to support a mural of the Progress Pride flag at Jane Warner Plaza. In other business, the members heard about October events, the November election, and an update on state legislation.
New mural proposed
Artist Harry Breaux told the merchants that he wants Jane Warner Plaza to be a second pillar of a grand neighborhood entrance alongside Harvey Milk Plaza — the spaces are across the street from each other at Castro and Market streets. Both public spaces are hoping for facelifts, with $25 million in funding for Milk plaza included in the Proposition B infrastructure bond measure on the November 5 ballot.
Meanwhile, city planners held a meeting in March to discuss Jane Warner Plaza, which is carved out of a side street adjacent to a gas station and built around the terminus for the city's trolley line featuring historic streetcars from around the globe. The space is a challenging one to transform from a roadway to an outdoor neighborhood amenity.
"I've been in the Castro since 1971," Breaux, 79, said. "The Castro is what allowed me to be a gay man. That is the gateway: Harvey Milk plaza on one side, Jane Warner Plaza on the other. That is the gateway."
Breaux is underwhelmed with plans currently in the conceptual stage to renovate Jane Warner Plaza. As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported, the San Francisco Transportation Authority approved a key report featuring potential future designs. So far, $100,000 has been spent — $25,000 by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency to look into how transit operations would change and $75,000 by San Francisco Public Works to look into how the plaza's design would change.
The first phase of the project proposal would cost $4-$5 million, according to Public Works, with a total cost of $6-$8 million. The plaza is named after Warner, a lesbian San Francisco patrol special police officer whose beat included the Castro. She died in 2010 after a yearlong battle with ovarian cancer. Warner also penned the B.A.R.'s Crime and Punishment column for many years, and a plaque in her honor can be found at the entrance to the plaza accessed from Castro Street, the text of which was written by B.A.R. assistant editor Matthew S. Bajko.
One proposal involves the city purchasing the land on which currently sits a Chevron gas station.
"There is nothing planned for the future, absolutely nothing, except for the hope they'll be able to buy the gas station and build a beautiful plaza," Breaux said.
So, he has a plan of his own.
"For about $3,500, I paint a primer; I paint the colors and I paint a UV protector and I turn it into a Progress Pride flag that the world can see on a webcam," he said. "That is all I'm asking for — is just the permission."
The colors would be painted on the ground at the plaza. It would also serve as a reminder of calls to see the Progress Pride flag be flown on the flagpole in Milk plaza, which partly led to the city landmarking it and the giant Pride flag flown on it over the summer to ensure it is never changed.
The Progress Pride flag is a variation of the rainbow flag that includes a chevron of black, brown, light blue, pink, and white stripes that specifically represent people of color and the trans community. It was designed by Daniel Quasar in 2018.
But the city's labyrinthine bureaucracy stands in the way of the beautification project, Breaux said.
"I'm told I have to go to the San Francisco Arts Commission — there's a $1,500 application fee and it takes six months to get approved," he said. "I don't know. Maybe this will just appear some day without all that. We'll see. But what I'm asking now is for the merchants to let me know if they think this is a good idea or not."
Breaux explained that if the usual process is followed, support from neighborhood groups such as the merchants, but also the Eureka Valley Neighborhood Association, will be helpful. (EVNA is scheduled to discuss the project at its virtual meeting Tuesday, October 8.)
"This can be done next week if I had the right pathways to bureaucracy," he said. "The Castro can make a statement, while we get Harvey Milk Plaza constructed."
With no pushback, zero no votes, and only one abstention, the merchants agreed.
Breaux said he wanted to "cut the shit, get the paint brushes out and do it."
October events
Merchants association President Terry Asten Bennett, a straight ally who co-owns Cliff's Variety at 479 Castro Street, told the members there's much to be excited about in October, including the Castro Art Walk Friday, October 4, and the 50th annual Castro Street Fair Sunday, October 6.
Asten Bennett reminded merchants that Castro Street and 18th Street from Collingwood to Noe streets will be shut down from 2 a.m. Sunday till after 6 p.m. that night. Later in the week, on October 10, there'll be a concert in Jane Warner Plaza from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. to commemorate Fleet Week.
On Friday, October 18, the neighborhood is launching the first in a series of night markets, as the B.A.R. previously reported.
"I am told from our vendor they have brought in some food trucks so it's not just all cold food," Asten Bennett said. "I'm a little disappointed only four Castro merchants have signed up to participate. There are 21 vendors but they have mostly signed up from outside."
On Sunday, October 20, is the Castro Stroll, which features art and live music. On Saturday, October 26, merchants will have the opportunity to activate their storefronts for Halloween with financial support from Civic Joy Fund, as they did last year.
"Tomorrow's [October 4] your last day to put in your plan," she said, encouraging merchants to turn in their ideas for activations to the Civic Joy Fund so they can be reimbursed. "It doesn't need to be an exact budget, but get it in. It doesn't have to be family-friendly for all ages, it just has to be Castro."
That night there'll be a DJ and drag performances in front of the Castro Theatre — currently closed for renovations — as there was last year.
The following afternoon at Noe Street the merchants will be holding a Halloween event including costume contests judged by Sister Roma of the drag nun philanthropic group Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Merchants are also encouraged to pass out candy.
"If you want to be a trick-or-treat location, we will be providing candy," Asten Bennett said. "Get people into your business."
Nonetheless, businesses should prepare for all kinds of sugar cravings.
"I do highly recommend you plan on fluffing up your candy beyond what we can give you," Asten Bennett said.
The merchants are also looking for donations for its annual holiday tree, to be lit in early December, Asten Bennett said.
"All of the red ornaments were stolen last year," she said, adding that the cost to replace the ornaments will be about $5,000.
Remember in November
Brian Springfield, a gay man who is executive director of Friends of Harvey Milk Plaza, came to talk up Prop B and pass out signs for business owners to put in their windows.
"It'll encourage others to vote yes on B," he said, though he acknowledged, "I know some of you might not like to put up political signs in your windows."
Prop B, a $360 million infrastructure bond measure, includes the aforementioned $25 million for renovations at Harvey Milk Plaza and $27 million for the relocation and expansion of services of San Francisco City Clinic in the city's South of Market neighborhood, as the B.A.R. has reported.
Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman touted the proposition, noting that "we really need to pass this." It needs 66.66% affirmative votes to pass. Mandelman said passing Prop B would be the best way to find the funds for the two projects.
Mandelman also mentioned Proposition M, which only needs 50% plus 1 to pass. The measure seeks to undo burdensome fees for small businesses. Mandelman said that if Prop M passes, he and Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin will seek to undo burdensome fees for small businesses.
"Forty-nine of the most annoying fees small businesses experience," he described. "Things like tables and chairs — but also weights and measures — would go away for most businesses. It should make life less annoying for a lot of small businesses."
Mandelman also joked about showing up to the meeting during the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah, a high holy day.
"I would not skip out on Jewish new year for anything but the Castro Merchants," he quipped.
Mandelman also touted his ongoing efforts to lift various restrictions on gay bathhouses in San Francisco. He led successful efforts in recent years to change zoning laws and restrictions from the 1980s, at the height of the AIDS epidemic. But as the B.A.R. reported earlier this week, there are still old restrictions in the police code that antedate the foregone restrictions — including a requirement there be a daily register of bathhouse patrons that at any time can be demanded to be seen by either police or a health department employee. It must include not only people's names and home addresses but also their hour of arrival, and which room or cubicle they were assigned.
Mandelman said that back in the heyday of San Francisco's now moribund bathhouse scene, "I think there was just an ignoring of those laws in the 1970s and 1980s in the gay bathhouses that happened."
In another San Francisco Police Department matter, Mandelman told attendees that if they're interested in the topic, they should weigh in on potential changes to the police station boundaries in San Francisco at a public meeting at the Koret Auditorium at the San Francisco Public Library main branch at 100 Larkin Street Tuesday, October 15, at 5:30 p.m. The potential changes would move the Castro down to Sanchez Street to Park Station. Currently, most of the LGBTQ neighborhood is in the Mission Station precinct. The current boundary between Park Station on the north and Mission Station on the south is Market Street, as the B.A.R. reported in a story about the potential changes.
He said the reason he's heard for the proposed change is that Park Station is underutilized and Mission Station is overextended.
Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) made a rare appearance at the meeting. Wiener, who lives in the Castro and previously represented the area on the Board of Supervisors, touted his legislative wins as chair of the Senate Budget Committee this session and urged a no vote on state Proposition 36, which would increase criminal penalties for certain drug and theft crimes.
"The Legislature passed a very robust set of public safety bills this year, working together with the governor and other folks to address organized retail theft, serial stealing, but also auto break-ins, that I've been trying to pass for seven years," he said.
One of those was nixing the so-called locked door loophole — that is, a requirement that there be proof doors were locked before prosecuting an auto break-in.
"We finally got rid of that, and the governor signed the bill," he said, referring to Senate Bill 905. "Just because you don't get it done the first time doesn't mean you stop trying."
Wiener said that the Legislature also passed a bill aggregating serial shoplifting of $950 or above to a felony.
"The bills that we passed already target retail theft and auto break-ins," he said, and are "much more effective for their needs than Prop 36. We did the work in the Legislature in a very focused way to address a focused situation around retail theft. Unfortunately, some right-wing DA's have decided they were still going to go to the ballot, which will send people to state prison for simple drug possession."
Never miss a story! Keep up to date on the latest news, arts, politics, entertainment, and nightlife.
Sign up for the Bay Area Reporter's free weekday email newsletter. You'll receive our newsletters and special offers from our community partners.
Support California's largest LGBTQ newsroom. Your one-time, monthly, or annual contribution advocates for LGBTQ communities. Amplify a trusted voice providing news, information, and cultural coverage to all members of our community, regardless of their ability to pay -- Donate today!