Thank you Sarah for this in-depth article. The rest of the local media has largely ignored or glossed over these issues. Now's the time for all SF residents to fight in solidarity with D10 residents to ensure a positive, inclusive path (free of corporate meddling) leading up to elections.

So, the Navy left in 1974. That's over 35 years ago. Why is that responsible for black unemployment today? No one under 50 could ever have worked for the Navy, so why is the Navy leaving still an excuse for black unemployment?

It's the same in Richmond, by the way, The shipyards closed 50 years ago, but that event is still the excuse for black unemployment in Richmond.

Grow up! Stop putting the blame on everything except where it belongs: dropping out of school, drugs, gangs, "acting white", 80% of kids born to barely "educated" young women. THOSE are the sources of poverty in the black underclass.

Poor, immigrant Asian kids go to the same crappy schools as poor blacks but the Asians do well. But most Asian families put a premium on academic success.

I would also put to you that the reason blacks leave SF is to get away from the crime, gangs and drugs. They, like everyone else, want to raise their kids in a better environment. No one is forcing them to leave.

Note to D10 Candidates: D10 is more then just the Bayview Hunters Point and Potrero Hill....

This so-called forgotten district was where no white folks wanted to live when it was a Navy junkyard, and when white folks wanted to gentrify the Fillmore/WA. Well, now the white folks want that "glorious weather," "fantastic views," "commercial potential," and all those other white values, and reclaim what was previously considered a nuisance to SF. Hey, make up your mind!

If Eric Smith is so good for D-10. Let's see him prove it.

Let's see him make a rock solid public commitment to oppose Lennar Redevelopment contracts and projects in every single vote if he's elected, and to work diligently, without ever backing down, to eject Lennar from the City.

I am an African American male, resident of D10, and native San Franciscan and the controversy, and uproar over this election and the future of D10 should not be about race at all. D10 as a whole Potrero Hill, Dogpatch, Hunters Point, Bayview, Visitacion Valley is no longer a black neighborhood. Bayview/Hunters Point may still remain predominantly African American (for now) but preserving that should not be the responsibility of government, or public policy. If it is the will of people to be in a place then it is a matter of them doing their best to exercise that will.

When people want to complain about the desires of "white progressives" and want to continue to lean on the issues of black crime, black unemployment, and gentrification they are ultimately guilty of keying on just Bayview/HP/India Basin and trying to make an election for an entire district about public policy assuming responsibility for the failings of a community. Sure the Navy departure had a massive ripple effect as well as the industrial business exodus, but when we cut to the chase of people being forced out, we are not talking about people who have secured a future, home, and life only to have it be taken away by eminent domain, (as in past redevelopment pushes), what we really are talking about is those in public housing. And while not all are guilty of the same circumstance, many of those in jeopardy of losing traction, have long put themselves in that place, if only because they counted on the lack of any outside interest in the ongoings of BVHP.

Well that interest is front and center now and has been coming since 1993 when the light rail was first announced. It gained steam with a new baseball stadium, and a mission bay master plan, is working its way through Potrero Hill and Dogpatch is upon BVHP and with no plans of stopping till it finishes in Visitacion Valley. Yes the Navy leaving 35 years ago was a blow, with huge ripple effects, and was clearly a precipitating event, but it was the response of people, and lack of response of government that created BVHP (specifically) as you see it today. The loss of jobs, spiked unemployment without a doubt, which was detrimental to such an unincorporated part of the City, but what it gave way to was a generation that followed and got caught up in the wild wave of drugs, gangs, broken families, death, and economic failure to advance and overwhelming apathy about carving out a new means of survival based on achievement, instead of settling for just "getting over." And more importantly "getting over" on the dime of public subsistence and neighborhood enterprise while waiting for jobs, opportunity, to come to the BVHP.

It doesnt take much study to see an older generation of African Americans in the Bayview who worked hard, saved, bought homes, raised families, and then to see their children who fell victim to lack of achievement, which they have then passed on to the generation to follow. So while policy and events may have set that in motion, it ultimately comes down to a community for not finding a new way not to follow the path that it is currently on. And that is what this election is about, not just for BVHP but for all of D10. D10 moving forward represents the possibility for incorporation, it means changing the path of a community, with the possibility for residential, commercial, economic, environmental expansion/redevelopment. Of course none of that should be steam-rolled over the people but for too long BVHP especially has stood in its own way, asking "what about me" when for far too long there has been an attitude the city owes those who have lived under harsh conditions a fresh start when they themselves have made no efforts to create that start themselves.

This election is about voting for a new direction period. The old path is going to be smashed, because D10 is no longer going to remain that un-incorporated district, it is going to have an influx of people, and culture that will redefine who and what D10 is. History of course should not be forgotten, nor residents ignored, but neighborhoods are made not by street planning, but by neighbors fighting for a common place, ideal. Fight for that, vote for that.

I met Dr. Calloway a few years ago when he ran for a seat on the Board of Education.

Since my hours were cut at the Eddie Bauer store in Westfield Centre I would like to work on his campaign but am having trouble locating him.

I called the James Calloway listed in the phone book but his voice did not sound like
Dr. Callaway's.

Sarah, can you tell me Dr. Callaway's phone number or e-mail address ?

Thank you.

The white guilt this city's liberals impose on the need for token black leadership in
D - 10 is sick. Let's get a black person elected in D-2 or D-8 if they sleep better with a more diverse board. Give D-0 the most qualified candidate of whatever race - someone that won't rollover and let developers take the reigns and not pander to catch phrase progressive rigm1arole. You know what helps people that live in poverty - schools and jobs. Give D-10 a high school, apprenticeship programs, and long-term economic investment and fair banking practices and we might be able to get beyond the anti-community development recipe that has ripped out the potential of the black community that lived there.

The Navy might not be solely responsible for the lack of jobs in the Bayview - but no one wants cancer with there coffee either. Developing a small business in an area with a tough rep, little public transit, and no larger industrial or tech jobs to draw people with means into the area to spread their cash around and toxic waste is damn near impossible. What would draw people to spend money on Third St. How about a grocery store???

The city handed out money to restore Victorians in the1960s and 70s in Noe and the Castro. There is plenty of affordable housing in district 10 that needs a face-lift, and plenty of handymen that wouldn't mind the work. D-10 needs remedial investment, the gains of which will cost the city less in the long term. Financial planning 101 invest the cash - get the returns.

A supervisor with creative ideas, business development savvy, and community experience - who won't act as a puppet is what we need.

As a new resident of Silver Terrace, 1 block off 3rd Street, all I hope is that whoever gets voted in fast tracks as much gentrification as possible. The lowlifes and thugs have run this part of town for far too long. Time to get Giuliani on their asses.

Your comments were well thought out and rational. I am very interested in speaking with you in person or a live one-on-one interview.

Please contact me at the email address provided with any questions you may have to hamptondistrict@yahoo.com.

I am very much so passionate about this subject please, feel free to contact me also at 415-724-9252.

D10 must remove all toxic people, corporations, and leaders!

Thanks.

Rodney Hampton, Jr.