Valencia Street - Advocate James' Volunteer Safety Team
Started by James the Advocate (of the SF Cannabis Patients' Union) in 2019-2020 (officially?) in agreement with several local Residents, from several nearby hotels and homes.
He had been doing his own "traffic safety monitoring" for several years, as part of just "hanging out" around the 16th & Valencia Street area -- with numerous friends and local acquaintances, "rabble rousers" and activists; as a way of keeping everyone safe from thieves, bad drivers, hazardous bike & scooter riders and "cell phone drivers", which endanger us all.
Many residents, families, elders and restaurant staff have become used to James & Friends (and now, his volunteers) yelling "Heads Up" to warn of danger and often thank them all, for looking out for them. And for Free, no less! All Volunteer! Although we do accept donations!
In late 2019, James was starting to receive nearly $200 per month and realized that community Safety Patrols could become sustainable.
In 2020, James implemented a plan to create a business to administer, supervise and train volunteers; and help residents organize a non-profit to obtain grants and funds to compensate volunteers for their community service; and work on "quality of life" issues like nuisances that impact hundreds of tenants in hotels.
This year in 2022, he hopes he has the peace of mind and attention span to get donations or funding grants -- once his extremely noisy upstairs neighbor moves out and James can get back to normal. His neighbor's noise (and threats to anyone who complains) has been disturbing James' sleep and and entire life & health, for the past 3 years.
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Here's the history of how James came to
form this group -- from habits and traditions that he and his friends formed, a decade ago:
For the past 10 years or more (since 2009 or 2010), James and his longtime friends & local neighbors used to meet up every day in front of Muddy Waters to share local information, happenings and resources. Especially, for folks in the medical cannabis community, we would share information about community dinners, resources for food, shelter and medical needs, as well as leads on permanent housing.
We
had our wise lawyer elder and leaders of various political, social and
activism groups coming by nearly every day. We supported
demonstrations and protests of all kinds, including housing rights;
unions; occupy; and many others to uncover fraud and harm in housing,
shelters, SRO Hotels, mortgage and banking fraud, shelter and human services
and agencies.
While meeting, we would keep an eye out on the local residents, workers and tourists -- and another eye on the potential or known thieves, cell phone snatchers, tip jar robbers, as well as paying attention to the proliferation of distracted cell phone drivers, bike & scooter riders ... and pedestrians.
When we saw hazards or folks driving, riding or walking into a potential accident or collision, we would give a yelp for everyone to pay attention or stop moving as in "Heads Up!".
Later,
starting with James and a handful of concerned residents who showed up daily,
around 2019, into a group of six volunteers throughout 2020 and 2021. In late 2020, James was able to purchase new safety vests,
radios which helped increase our visibility & "professionalism" while monitoring traffic and
assisting pedestrians to cross the intersection safely.
Now, in 2022, we have 3 2 volunteers, still showing up, without
pay or stipends, because we care about our wild, diverse neighborhood.
In the past 5 years, we've stopped scores of potential
collisions between pedestrians, cars, bikes and scooters every week.
James and his volunteers have intervened rapidly to save about 5 or more
lives total. The other volunteers can tell you about lives they've
saved, when you see them on the corner.
James, for his self, recalls such events as like when one young mother let go of her baby carriage to greet a friend, and her high tech baby cart went rolling down a yellow handicap ramp backwards right into the street -- in the path of oncoming cars !
Cell devices not only distract one's attention, but it takes about 3 full seconds after looking away from one, until you are able to adjust your eyes and mind back into being able to perceive what's around you in reality.
It's like some hypnotic affect where you aren't able to snap back instantly. Instead there's a 3 second delay before you are even able to react to anything, in real time and real space. That's why drivers using them often look up and see you in their path as they are moving towards you, but don't stop instantaneously like normal. They have a blank stare as they are driving into you like they are paralyzed for several seconds.
Or when a distracted ride share
driver was rolling fast into a woman on a bike in the crosswalk, he did
not see her because he was staring on his cell phone -- and she was riding the bike in the crosswalk and did not see him. Driver was rolling right into her when James yelled and started to jump in between the oncoming car and her on the bike. She almost fell over but didn't and the car didn't hit her but it almost did. All it takes is one driver or biker or walker to be distracted for a second or two to cause an accident.
Those are just two examples of if James (or other volunteers) were not sounding alarm, there most likely would have been a serious tragedy.
Right before Covid and the Stay In Place orders happened in March of 2020, James and his group of about six volunteers were meeting early every morning, at the corner of 16th & Valencia Streets.
After the Stay In Place orders went into effect, we knew we had to keep meeting to prevent residents from becoming isolated. Every time they came out to do essential things, our group was there, to keep an eye on everyone and maintain live human contact - to keep everyone human, together, and realize they truly were not alone.
Although we had no funding; and figured out we didn't have enough foot traffic to ask for donations, we kept showing up to support each other and the neighborhood at large, in the hopes of better times ahead.
James tried to research and obtain funding over the past couple years but was not able to. He has now and has had -- a loud nuisance tenant living above him that totally impacted his sleep, resulting in a very bad case of long term sleep deprivation.
Every time he sat down in his tiny SRO Hotel room to research grant
sites; work on a non profit business plan for the safety team volunteer
group, he would hear "bang, bang, bang" on his ceiling from his "out of
control" upstairs neighbor.
That was really sad because
other people he knows, are getting grants for safety or community
ambassador type work, while James became more and more distracted and
depressed from lack of peace and sleep for over two years!! We've
seen James showing up late because he had to go back home for keys,
radio or other stuff he forgot. His ability to maintain focus, alertness and energy has severely diminished over the past two years.
Anyway, the nuisance that is negatively impacting James, is truly a larger Public Nuisance that not only impacts James and other tenants living around the Nuisance, but quite frankly, impacts the entire community who all hopes, goes away in the New Year.
James and his volunteers need to be alert; well rested and on the ball, to keep themselves and our residents, workers and tourists safe, while at the intersection of 16th & Valencia Street, in the Mission District of San Francisco.
Here are some miscellaneous photos of James' Volunteer Safety Team:
Volunteer Jorge (out of uniform) - 12/04/2020
Miscellaneous News Interview
An interview with another volunteer named "Chris" can be found on MissionLocal dot Org.
Link to MissionLocal dot Org Article:
Cooking at an SRO and creating the Pandemic Pedestrian Patrol
https://missionlocal.org/2021/06/cooking-at-an-sro-and-creating-the-pandemic-pedestrian-patrol/
12/29/20
- Volunteer Jorge in full uniform and radio munching pizza out in
front of K & H Liquors at 16th and Valencia Streets, in the Mission
District
We alert pedestrians and drivers whenever cars are blocking the crosswalk and yellow handicapped ramps because there is no parking available for anyone to access nearby stores and restaurants or the K & H Liquor Store, here at 501 Valencia Street, at the corner of 16th & Valencia Streets.
The SF Fire Department has stressed how important it is, to keep this intersection clear at all times.
Inconsiderate Drivers often block and ride in the crosswalk and up and down disabled ramps
-- which makes our elders and folks with wheelchairs, canes and carts, and baby carriages very
angry because they drive as if the pedestrians are "in their way", instead of the other way around. Bikes and cars in crosswalks are in the pedestrians' way and pose a hazard to all.
Also, inconsiderate Bike & Scooter Riders also
block the crosswalks and disabled ramps and do NOT care about safety and
the right-of-way of our residents, elders and disabled who are NOT safe
when bikes and scooters are in the crosswalks.
Once there was a 9-1-1 call to a residence at the end of Rondel Place (couple hundred feet from here) and neither paramedics nor police could get down the alley (between Pancho Villas & Bond Bar at Rondel Place) because the alley was filled with food delivery drivers parked half on and half off, the alley sidewalk.
That's how lives are lost. When Delivery Drivers illegally park, people can die.
That's how people die, when emergency responders can't get through traffic and hazardous drives who don't think about safety when they are running to make cash on food deliveries.
In the 1980's, Dominos Pizza was sued for tens of millions of dollars in wrongful death lawsuits because if driver were late (past 30 minutes) on deliveries the pizza was free. One law suit was for $79 Million Dollars. Their "free pizza" promotion, highly incentivized drivers to drive fast and reckless, due to corporate policies and pressures.
Today, it's Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Uber Eats and many others, who are driving fast, parking illegally and are "rushing" in the same way Domino's Pizza Drivers did -- and their bad driving, puts us all at risk. Our streets are cluttered with these cars, bike and scooter "gig workers".
Double parked on 15th, 16th, 17th, Valencia and other streets around us, they block traffic flow for all, especially emergency response personnel who often can't get down those streets without major delays.
Major Delays to saving lives and attending to fire alarms.
Today's generation of food delivery corporations seem unaware of the hazards of pushing folks to drive faster -- leads to accidents and loss of life, for corporate profits.
Ride share and food delivery drivers, by and large, are NOT professional. Most don't think twice about running a red light, parking double or half way onto sidewalks, even with No Parking Signs.
The bike delivery folks on the sidewalk are equally hazardous. One of my friends in a wheel chair with one leg -- was broadsided by a bicyclist on the sidewalk that toppled his wheelchair over and bruised up his partial limb and rib cage and arms from the accident.
Many disabled, elderly or traumatized or medicated residents and tourists will not even leave the curb to cross, when they see bikes or scooters in the crosswalk, partially blocking their path.
They are terrified for good reason.
Almost a majority of bikes and scooters approaching the intersection
are speeding, distracted or intent on running the lights or parking in
the crosswalk, without any regard or consideration of the pedestrians
whom they are blocking or to cars that have the right to turn right on
red, but can't -- because their right of way is blocked by a bike or
scooter in the crosswalk.
MissionLocal dot Org published an article about how he feeds people and talks a little bit about our Volunteer Group. He is such a nice guy!
Link to MissionLocal dot Org Article:
Cooking at an SRO and creating the Pandemic Pedestrian Patrol
https://missionlocal.org/2021/06/cooking-at-an-sro-and-creating-the-pandemic-pedestrian-patrol/He bought an elder lady (disabled resident who lives at an SRO Hotel a block away) -- a brand new cart with wheels, so she can get home with groceries -- without having to depend on others.
We often escort her across the crosswalks because many elders move slow and are scared of cars, bikes and scooters that tend to move fast and cut into crosswalks when they are just trying to walk home safely.
12/29/2020 - Safety Team Volunteer Chris appears very happy with his New Safety Jacket. He honestly enjoys volunteering!
Chris also helps other elders and disabled folks with their shopping and groceries. He is a Champion!
Chris has even purchased one elder resident a grocery cart so she can go shopping and take her groceries home to her SRO Hotel in the 400 Block of Valencia.
He just wants to help others in need. That's what
makes him so cool!
12/17/2020 -- Week before Christmas 2020 Here are two more volunteers.. This is Charlie (in the foreground) and Jorge (in the background) dressed up in full uniform.
They look pretty sharp !
More photos to come.
Months into the Pandemic and Stay in Place Orders, James used his Pandemic Relief checks to buy brand new Uniforms (Coats, vests), video cameras, flashlights and radios for his Community Safety Team Volunteers also called Pandemic Pedestrian Patrol.
As we go through our photo and video archives, we will post more stories, photos and videos here.
July 4th, 2021 - Picture of Volunteer Jorge (out of uniform) wearing a cool, patriotic outfit, to celebrate our 4th of July!
The front of his outfit.
July 4th, 2021 -- Back of Volunteer Jorge's Independence Day outfit.
Totally Awesome !
As we come across more pictures of these past few years, from our archives -- we'll post them here!
For now, Happy New Year 2022!
It's got to be better than the last one!
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