The Noe Valley Association is the Community Business District that collects money from a parcel tax on 24th Street from Church to Douglass, and uses that money in the district. A lot of what they do is basically "keep 24th Street clean". The people you see sweeping up 24th Street (and the side streets)? Paid for by the NVA.
Tree planting on 24th? Flower baskets? Fixing up the corner trash cans? That's the NVA. Here is a snippet from an email I got from Bob Roddick, the President of the NVA.
For several years the SF Water (Sewer) and SF Planning have been pushing for permeable sidewalks and more open spaces to lessen the burden on the sewer system and more importantly to lessen the annual flooding of our neighbors at Lower 24th Street. The more water that the earth absorbs the better the overall environment. The Noe Valley Association has opened the sidewalks more fully with each on the 137 new tree plantings and has encouraged the property owners within the Community Benefit District to open their sidewalks to more and more planting. See the fronts of Just For Fun and on either side of Southside of Noe at 24th Street and in front of Whole Foods with the open space wherever possible and the donated benches.
There are a lot of things that go on behind the scenes in making a neighborhood work. I didn't know much about the NVA until the plaza issue came up. Since I met Bob Roddick and Debra Niemann (the Executive Director) I have been really shocked at how much work they do, things that we just take for granted. They work hard and if they hear about a problem, they think "OK, how do we fix that", not "Bummer"
Benches? What benches?
The day after the Plaza Outreach Meeting, Debra Niemann was out there overseeing installation of a nice new bench on the sidewalk at Bernie's.
And yes, the NVA was involved in writing the grant application for the Noe Valley Plaza and securing funding for the trial.
Their board meetings are monthly, posted on their website. Get involved!
Posts
