Just as the historic streetcars are slated to resume service after being suspended during the COVID pandemic, a city plan to stop Muni s F Line service to the Castro for up to four years is eliciting strong negative reactions in the neighborhood.
The streetcars which traverse from Fisherman s Wharf to the Castro have been replaced by bus service for much of the health crisis. They are scheduled to restart service May 15 along with the resumption of some subway service on the K and N lines.
But as part of the multi-agency Better Market Street project, the F Line is slated to be substituted by bus service again for the duration of phase I construction, which is anticipated to take approximately two to four years, Coma Te, public affairs officer for San Francisco Public Works and the head of communication and outreach for Better Market Street, confirmed to the Bay Area Reporter April 12.
Mission Station s new captain is spending at least some of her first weeks on the job reconnecting with the communities she serves in central San Francisco. It s been absolutely fantastic, Captain Rachel Moran told the Bay Area Reporter. It s great reconnecting with staff at the station and going out to talk with the community from a captain s perspective. It s good for your soul great, but busy, let me tell you.
As the B.A.R. reported last month, Moran, who d been an officer at Mission Station for about a decade until being transferred to the special victims unit for a year and a half, returned to become the first woman to lead the station February 20. In addition to the Mission district, the station serves part of the Castro and Noe Valley.
Neighborhood merchants are reeling from the effects of lockdowns such as an ongoing spate of window-breaking and other vandalism even while the Castro joins the rest of San Francisco in moving into the less restrictive red tier of COVID-19 reopenings.
That and updates from gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman and bisexual Assistant District Attorney Matt Donahue, his office s liaison to the neighborhood, were the focus of the virtual Thursday meeting of the Castro Merchants.
Dave Karraker, a gay man who is a spokesperson for, and board member of, Castro Merchants, told the B.A.R. late last week that the association is launching the Castro Window Recovery Initiative.
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While the COVID-19 vaccine rollout remains uneven in California, it s a relief that most people over the age of 65 can now make an appointment — that is if sites have the vaccine and are open.