Safety, SF Pride, and Castro events focus of May merchants meeting

The Bay Area Reporter’s May 1 front-page story about safety in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood was the talk of this month’s meeting of the Castro Merchants Association, which met that morning. Gay Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman told the business owners that a public safety meeting is scheduled for July 10.

Also discussed was a Castro store’s new partnership with San Francisco Pride, which is coming up in June, and upcoming events.

Nate Bourg, a gay man who was elected as the association’s president April 3, https://www.ebar.com/story/153921/News/Castro%20merchants%20group%20elects%20new%20president began his first meeting in that capacity saying he wants to change perceptions of the LGBTQ neighborhood to increase investment in the Castro.

Several recent violent incidents in the area have resulted in some people fearing the Castro isn’t as safe as it could be. Bourg said he wants the neighborhood to be more welcoming and safe.

“I think one thing that’s a challenge – and I know there was an article in the B.A.R. this morning – is, we have to change the perception of the Castro [to] somewhere that is welcoming, that is safe, that is somewhere you want to come to spend your money,” Bourg said. “I’m thinking a lot about that in my new role. … There’s not as many people coming out and spending money right now. I think we have some safety problems … but I think we have a perception problem, more broadly than that.”

The article reported about how San Francisco police will be ramping up enforcement operations in the Castro after Mandelman, who represents the neighborhood as the District 8 supervisor, asked Mayor Daniel Lurie for more support after the recent violence.

Among those incidents, a man threatened staff and patrons at Blind Butcher with a knife April 27; a man was hit in the face and reportedly had a seizure at the intersection of Castro and Market streets on Easter Sunday; a Walgreens employee and an alleged thief were both arrested after an early morning fight at 18th and Castro streets; and a beloved bar doorman was beaten in front of the neighborhood’s iconic Castro Theatre.

Mandelman was at the merchants’ meeting and announced the Castro public safety meeting for early July.

The mayor is “very concerned about it, understanding things are much worse in the Mission and worse in the Castro, and he’s trying to address it,” Mandelman said, touting the “tangible increase in police presence” he lobbied for at a couple of all hands on deck meetings with the mayor’s staff.

“Hopefully, in the next month, we see help with that,” Mandelman said. “If we don’t, we’ll get everyone together in that room again and come up with some other strategy.”

District 8 public safety liaison Dave Burke, a straight ally, mentioned part of the article that reported that three other alleged violent crimes went unreported, and thus, cannot be investigated.

“I really want to continue making a pitch – please call the police and not only call the police, tell them you’d like to press charges, that you want to cooperate, that you want a report written,” Burke said.

Mandelman also called the merchants’ attention to the B.A.R.’s editorial in the same issue advocating for the continuation of two grants to the Castro Community Benefit District that may be cut amid an even more difficult budget season than usual, which was also noted in the public safety story.

Mandelman said that it’s “very important to maintain the street situation in the Castro” that the grants – constituting over a third of the CBD’s budget, and one of which allows it to take care of Jane Warner Plaza – get renewed.

On budget talks, he said, “my sense is that it is going challengingly" for Lurie.

Bourg quipped it sounded like everyone should pick up a copy of the paper.

Pride partnership
Hot Cookie co-owner Ryan Jones announced a partnership with the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Celebration Committee. As the B.A.R. also reported, San Francisco Pride has seen corporate sponsors pull out amid the new political environment accompanying President Donald Trump’s second term.

SF Pride Executive Director Suzanne Ford, a transgender woman, has attributed beverage and other companies’ backtracking as sponsors to the new anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion climate that is sweeping across corporate America. Almost immediately after returning to office in January, Trump and his administration have gone after what they term as "woke" DEI policies and programs at businesses, universities, and in the federal government.

Jones said proceeds from some of Hot Cookie’s sales will help out SF Pride.

“Given the challenges they are facing in the current political climate, [for] some of our products, a portion of those proceeds will go toward supporting Pride this year and in general,” Jones said.

Jones said he’s looking “for a donor who’d match those funds.”

Ford, who was at the merchants meeting, said that she is “going to create a small business Castro page separate from the corporate sponsor page” on SF Pride’s website where other shops can also contribute.

“If you end up contributing $500, we’ll be overjoyed,” she said. “We’ll put your logo, put it on that page. We should have been doing this with you for a long time.”

May events
The first Castro Night Market where people can buy open containers of alcohol and take them outside onto the footprint of the event will be held Friday, May 16, on 18th Street between Hartford and Collingwood streets, after the legislation for a Castro entertainment zone was approved by the Board of Supervisors and then signed by Lurie.

Initially, the zone will be utilized for monthly night markets and for the Castro Street Fair in October.

Mandelman said, “I’ve also heard proposals for other kinds of uses of the entertainment zone, and those will need to get fleshed out, presented to [the Office of Economic and Workforce Development], probably run by the merchants and the [Eureka Valley Neighborhood Association].”

The night market is sponsored by the Civic Joy Fund, which is in discussions to start sponsoring another event, a regular Castro neighborhood cleanup. (Civic Joy Fund sponsors neighborhood cleanup events in addition to night markets.)

The next iteration of that is Saturday, May 10, according to EVNA treasurer Rob LeVan, who said it will start in Jane Warner Plaza at 10 a.m. LeVan said it’s currently the second Saturday of the month but he’s hoping it can be every week in the future.

LeVan said the Hi Tops bar and restaurant will provide a free lunch for volunteers after the event and hopes merchants also chip in to provide “a free beer, a free pretzel … a free gym class,” or some other incentives.

Anyone interested in the clean up can email [email protected].

As the B.A.R. reported, there will be a merchant-sponsored party on Noe Street between Market and Beaver streets Saturday, May 3, from noon to 5 p.m.

Chris Carrington, co-founder of CG Events, said people can participate in a “flower power costume contest.” There will also be a petting zoo and a drag queen story hour.

Queer LifeSpace, a mental health nonprofit serving the LGBTQ community, is having its annual gala Friday, May 30, from 5:30 to 10 p.m., at the Swedish American Hall, 2174 Market Street, Executive Director Ryan MacCarrigan said. The event, “Pride Renaissance,” will be followed with an afterparty at The Academy, 2166 Market Street, featuring Juanita MORE!, who’s a longtime supporter of the agency.