Supervisor Katy Tang

Community Updates

Caltrans’ Sloat Boulevard Project Update

In April, Caldrons began repaving work on Sloat Boulevard, between Skyline

Boulevard and 19th Avenue, including upgrades to existing

curb ramps and pedestrian walkways, to ensure compliance with

the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Caltrans will also install four Pedestrian Hybrid Beacons, or

“HAWK” traffic beacons, on Sloat Boulevard, at 21st Avenue,

26th Avenue, Everglade Drive and 36th Avenue.

The signals are activated by pedestrians and turn solid red to signal motorists to

stop. This is followed by a blinking red light, which is treated as a stop sign.

Caltrans had initial plans to install a traffic signal at Sloat Boulevard and El Mirasol

Place, but revised the plan to include an additional HAWK beacon due to

neighborhood traffic and circulation concerns.

Caltrans will also install bulbouts to decrease crossing distances at four

locations on Sloat, at 21st Avenue, 26th Avenue, El Mirasol Place and 36th Avenue.

The size of the bulb-outs has been decreased due to community feedback,

which will preserve some parking while still providing enhanced pedestrian safety.

Based on public feedback, previous plans by the San Francisco Municipal

Transportation Agency (SFMTA) to relocate three of four bus zones

have been eliminated. Buses will continue to stop at their current locations, except at

El Mirasol Place-Middlefield Drive, where the eastbound bus zone will be

relocated from between the crosswalks at El Mirasol Place to just west of El

Mirasol Place. This is due to the installation of additional bulbouts, which can

no longer accommodate a bus stop.

Caltrans will also extend bicycle lanes on Sloat toward Skyline Boulevard, which will

remove on-street parking on some areas near the Taraval bridge crossing over Sunset

Boulevard.

For more information, please contact Robert Haus, Caldrans’ public information

branch chief, at (510) 286-5576 or Robert.Haus@dot.ca.gov. You can also find more

information at the websites at www.dot.ca.gov/d4/sloatresurfacing

or http://sfpublicworks.org/sloat.

Senior Tax Exemptions for SFUSD

The Quality Teacher Education Act (QTEA) of 2008 and the School Facilities

Special Tax of 2010 were passed by the voters of San Francisco to provide

critically-needed funds to the San Francisco Unified School District.

For the 2017-18 tax year, QTEA will levy a fee of $244.10 for each eligible parcel.

The School Facilities Special Tax will levy a fee of $36.78 for single-family dwellings,

condominiums and commercial properties, and $18.76 per unit for

apartments, flats and mixed-use dwellings. Both of these measures include an

exemption for seniors living on the property, provided they meet certain criteria.

In order for a parcel to be exempt from QTEA, the owner of the parcel must

occupy it as their primary residence and be 65 years of age or older as of

June 30, 2017. In order for a unit to be exempt from the School

Facilities Special Tax, the unit must be the primary residence of

an occupant (either owner or tenant) who will be 65 years or older

as of June 30, 2017.

To apply for this exemption, please complete an application form and

submit it by the deadline. Exemption applications must be submitted each year and

are not automatically renewed. No late application forms will be

accepted.

For more information and the application form, visit the website at

http://www.sfusd.edu/en/aboutsfusd/voter-initiatives/senior-citizen-exemption.

Organ Donation Awareness

Last month, I joined the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH),

San Francisco Health Service System (SFHSS), San Francisco Unified School

District (SFUSD) and Donor Network West, a federally designated

organ procurement organization, in spreading awareness about the importance of organ

donations. Out of the 119,000 people on the national transplant waiting list,

665 reside in San Francisco. Some 44 percent (291 patients) in San Francisco waiting for a

transplant are Asian, but there were only 77 Asian donors in all of California last year.

Every day in the U.S., 22 people die waiting for a transplant. These deaths

are preventable, and even though the waiting list for organs gets

longer every year, the number of donors and transplants does not

keep up with the growing need.

Living organ donors can also save a life by donating a portion

of their liver or one of their kidneys.

Charlie Paulson, who grew up in the Sunset District, is someone I know who is currently

waiting for a life-saving kidney transplant. He is the husband

to my legislative aide, Ashley Summers, and father to their

one-and-a-half-year-old daughter. Charlie is a student teacher at

A.P. Giannini Elementary School and will receive his teaching credential

this month. He may have to wait up to 10 years for a deceased

kidney donation, and meanwhile undergoes dialysis treatments.

A living donation is a powerful way to show humanity and save a life. People interested

in donating a kidney to Charlie can visit the website at

http://www.facebook.com/KidneyforCharlie and fill out the confidential

donor form at http://www.ucdonor.org, using his date of birth (7/15/82).

Anyone can become a potential organ or tissue donor regardless of age, ethnicity or

medical history. People can indicate that they would like to be an organ

donor as early as the age of 13 by filling out an online form at

the website at www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org or by indicating they would like

to become a donor during their driver’s license application or renewal process.

It is important for people to talk about organ donation with

their friends and families and to arm themselves with facts. San Francisco has taken the

lead by providing education to primary care physicians in our SFDPH

clinics and also by beginning to implement organ and tissue donation

education in our public high schools.

Katy Tang represents District 4 on the SF Board of Supervisors and can be

reached at (415) 554-7460 or Katy.Tang@sfgov.org.