This October, five Inner Sunset residents will be running for the ISPN board. Only ISPN members can vote. Become a member here. Members will be able to vote at the October 23rd Inner Sunset Town Hall and then online after that date.
In anticipation of the election, please review the five candidate statements from John Bouvier, Martha Ehrenfeld (returning), Chris Duderstadt (returning), Nima Afshar, and Larry Rosenfeld (returning).
John Bouvier
I am a 25+ year resident of our Inner Sunset neighborhood and I would like to become a member of the ISPN’s board of directors.
I am a huge supporter of creating community within our neighborhood. Joining people together to build a stronger “family” and more enjoyable home where we all live, play and work. One of those ways is through the Inner Sunset Sundays street events. I have been involved with ISS since our first one in 2009, enjoying the energy and fun generated by the great group of volunteers who build these events as well as the hundreds/thousands of fellow neighbors that come together to build “community”.
This is the project I would like to bring to the ISPN board as a member. Representing the group of community members that produce ISS as well as helping create other events that can bring together the IS in fun & creative ways.
I look forward to your support.
Martha Ehrenfeld
As a newer resident to the neighborhood, I am so appreciative of what others have done before me to make the Inner Sunset such a lovely place to live. I enjoy planning events and meeting neighbors at them. As an avid biker, I want to model good biking manners by stopping at lights and stop signs. I enjoy attending meetings with all our neighborhood partners and city officials to help us all work together to make our relationships stronger. I love to host dinner parties, play tennis and bridge. And I just rediscovered my love of dancing at the Contra Dance this month’s first Inner Sunset Sundays!
Chris Duderstadt
I’ve lived on 10th Ave near Irving since 1978. In this time I’ve reached a few conclusions. For me, community means friends and the Inner Sunset is full of wonderful people waiting the opportunity to become friends. Though we wish to be a community we are sorely lacking in the resources a community needs to thrive, namely community space. Roughly 28% of our area is public: Roads and sidewalks. Of this space 80% is given to autos. What’s left is crowded with parking meters, utility boxes, trashcans, and such.
Certainly the Inner Sunset is a commercial district where customers are encouraged to do their business and to move on. Better then half of our traffic is just circling the block looking for parking. Once parked, patrons are expected to guess their stay, and feed the meter according.
We’ve created a situation where hanging out in public space is considered “loitering.” I have strived to change this value to where we encourage “lingering.” I personally made and placed 27 public benches in the Inner Sunset to this end. I’m working with MTA/DPW to “activate” the 6,000 plus square feet pedestrians are gaining in broadened MUNI stops into space where our citizens will be encouraged to in linger.
If re-elected to the ISPN Board I plan to continue to do what I can to create the public spaces we need to get to know one another.
Nima Afshar
I am an academic physician at UCSF/VA hospital. I am married and have two children, a 6 year old girl and a 3yo boy. I was born in Iran, grew up in Michigan and L.A., and moved to S.F. in 2000, where I’ve been ever since except a hiatus from ’04-’07. Our family moved to the neighborhood in ’09 when we bought a home on Funston near Irving. I am very community-oriented and dream of a world in which everyone engaged in their street –> neighborhood –> city (or village) –> ……… world. I hope to help make our neighborhood more green (trees, landscaping), pedestrian/bike/MUNI-friendly, artful (murals, community art), and communal (e.g. The Big Lunch & other ISS events).
My specific ideas include adding parklets, planting trees (I led a neighborhood planting with FUF 4 years ago), creating murals, creating a new access point to Golden Gate Park between 9th and 19th Ave, traffic calming (I successfully petitioned for speed humps on my block: two will be installed soon), converting the Irving/16th Avenue old gas station into a community space, helping to create a CBD. I would enjoy working with all of you who have so much collective wisdom, good will, and community spirit.
Larry Rosenfeld
If re-elected to the ISPN Board of Directors, I look forward to continuing to maintain ISPN’s financial and membership record-keeping, maintaining not-for-profit status through annual reporting to IRS, CA-FTB and CA-Secretary of State, keeping our email distribution lists current, and continuing my role as Big Tent “administrator” and trouble-shooter. I also serve as our representative on the Community Police Advisory Board at Park Police Station, the City-wide CPAB, and the District 5 Neighborhood Action Committee.
Looking forward, I would like ISPN to improve and expand our Keep-it-Local program, expand our membership through campaigns to reward current members for reaching out to their neighbors who have not yet joined, and make sure that real estate agents and rental agencies with properties available in the Inner Sunset let their prospects know about ISPN and what we offer.
I also have a dream that we could interact with providers of commercial rental properties to influence the nature of new businesses moving into our neighborhood.