Hello, THD! I’m excited to share some updates and reflect on all the great things happening this past quarter. At the time that I’m writing, it feels like a whirlwind with all the elections and ballot measures going on right now. The Telegraph Hill Dwellers has so many events taking place. It’s exciting, but even I find it difficult to stay on top of all the emails. I suspect things will ease up a little bit in November.
In this, my second report, I am sharing updates on goals we laid out at the beginning of the fiscal year as well as giving my viewpoint on the health of the organization.
Overall, I am happy to report we are increasing our capacity to “work” by getting committees meeting regularly, seeing our membership grow, and advocating for the neighborhood—all very positive signs.
All of our committees (except one) have met in the past quarter—quite a testament to our members’ dedication! You can find more detailed updates in the committee reports in these pages; in general, there has been significant progress across the board.
I’m highlighting this activity because committees are so important to THD’s functioning as a healthy organization. If committees meet, it means work can be done at the committee level and with active member participation. If we don’t have committees meeting regularly, the work falls on the board, and it dramatically limits our ability to advocate for the neighborhood. It’s a simple numbers game.
Ironically, the one committee that hasn’t met yet is a committee that is one of our best and most active, Art & Culture! Historically this is one of our most important committees because it focuses on…the art and culture of North Beach. Today, this committee organizes Films with Friends, a very successful monthly movie night for the neighborhood. The work falls on the shoulders of a select few, but look for an email announcing our first Art & Culture committee meeting in November at which we’d love to get our readers involved.
Now for some good news on membership: We’re growing! Year-to-date, we’ve had a net increase of 12 members. While that is progress, candidly, we’re aiming for much more. We’ve added many new members this year, but the challenge is that we’ve had many members leave for various reasons, like their moving out of the neighborhood.
It’s all part of the cycle, but I encourage everyone to continue inviting friends and neighbors to join us so we can expand our community even further. One of the easiest ways to meet members is by attending our monthly happy hour at 5:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of every month at the Savoy Tivoli. Another easy option is to come to Caffe Trieste on the First Friday of every month for a meetup, also at 5:30 p.m. From there you can meet old friends, make new ones, or find a committee with which to get involved. One of the greatest pleasures I receive from being President of the Telegraph Hill Dwellers is meeting new neighbors. The more you show up, the more you get involved, the more you receive. That’s been my experience.
Now this isn’t to say that all things have been good news. One area for which I take responsibility: We have not yet created a digital format of the publication you are currently reading. As readers know well, The Semaphore is an incredible piece of work and a testament to the organization’s health and strengths. Neighborhood association publications were quite common in the past but have largely all disappeared because they take a tremendous amount of time and work. (Shoutout to our editors Cap Caplan and Judy Irving without whom The Semaphore would not exist!) We believe The Semaphore needs to take on a digital format (in addition to its paper one), so more members and neighbors can access this publication. Long story short, we need someone familiar with WordPress or other digital publication formats who can help us get this online. Is that you? If you might be able to help us, I would be very grateful if you could reach out to me for a chat at nick.ferris@thd.org. Thank you!
One of the areas I am always tremendously proud of is our neighborhood advocacy. We’ve been closely following several highrise building proposals that significantly change the waterfront. Projects like 955 Sansome and 875 Sansome are being monitored by our Planning & Zoning and Waterfront Committees. These are projects that deeply concern us, not least of all for the precedent they set: A gradual wall on the waterfront is the trend we are seeing. Please join our next P&Z or Waterfront committee meetings to learn more.
On the election front, THD has been educating voters on the myriad ballot initiatives this November. We co-hosted a ballot walkthrough on September 29th with Sunny Angulo and Nate Horrell of Supervisor Aaron Peskin’s Office alongside our friends from the Barbary Coast Neighborhood Association. It was an educational and engaging event held on Zoom, as we went through every ballot measure, giving members a forum to ask questions and learn how they’ll vote.
As always, I’m so grateful to serve as your President. Our board of directors is smart, dedicated, and fun, and I’m confident we’ll continue to have a productive and exciting year ahead. Thank you all for your ongoing support, and here’s to even more growth and engagement in the coming months!