New BART campaign
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Philanthropist Al Baum dies
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ARTS
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Since 1971
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Serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities since 1971
Vol. 51 • No. 14 • April 8-14, 2021
Rick Gerharter
John Ferrannini
The Muni entrance at Harvey Milk Plaza, currently closed due to the pandemic, is the focus of an effort to renovate the public space.
Hundreds of people took part in the People’s March on Polk Street at California and Pine streets last June.
SF protest Pride march planned
Friends group hits reset on Milk plaza
by John Ferrannini
by John Ferrannini
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riends of Harvey Milk Plaza has commenced yet another online survey seeking community feedback about changes to the space’s design. The booster group also will conduct two town hall events later this month, its interim executive director said April 1. The announcements were made during the monthly Castro Merchants Association meeting, at which time Brian Springfield, the interim executive director of Friends of Harvey Milk Plaza, gave a presentation. The Friends group has been involved with plans to renovate the plaza for the last several years. The remodel proposal has been fiercely opposed by some in the community who have countered the goal of better honoring Milk can be achieved within the confines of the current design and at less cost than the estimated $10 million price tag for the fuller renovation proposal. Milk was the first openly gay man to be elected in San Francisco when he won a supervisors’ seat in 1977 and represented the Castro at City Hall. Several years after he was killed nearly a year into his first term, city officials named the aboveground entrance area into the LGBTQ neighborhood’s Muni station after the pioneering politician. While a bronze plaque and photomontage of Milk was installed at the plaza, neighborhood leaders have long felt more can be done to properly memorialize the area’s namesake. They embarked on an overhaul of the plaza and secured $1 million in state funding from gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) toward the remodel project. But earlier design proposals were shelved after being met with public criticism and tepid support from some city agencies that reviewed them. So the Friends group has basically hit reset on the project. Last summer, San Francisco’s planning department concluded that Harvey Milk Plaza is historically important and eligible for listing on the California Register of Historical Resources. It remains to be seen, however, if such listing for the public parklet above the Castro Muni Station will be sought either by the city or a community group. See page 8 >>
Rick Gerharter
2nd Castro rally in support of AAPIs
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iss GAPA Mocha Fapalatte was part of the entertainment during a rally against Asian American and Pacific Islander hate at Jane Warner Plaza in the Castro Saturday, April 3. The Prism Foundation (formerly the GAPA Foundation) sponsored
the event, which drew nearly 150 people, who heard speeches from community leaders. The GLBTQ+ Asian Pacific Alliance held a similar rally and march last month, following the Atlanta-area shootings that left six women of Asian descent dead.
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here may not be an official San Francisco Pride parade this year due to the pandemic, but that’s not stopping another group from moving forward with its second protest march. Meanwhile, Prides in Sonoma County, San Diego, and Portland are going ahead with some in-person events as the clock ticks for other LGBTQ civic celebration organizers to determine their 2021 plans. For the second year in a row the COVID pandemic has upturned the annual Pride season, with most events held between June and September. See page 7 >>
San Francisco supervisors back leather district sidewalk markers by Matthew S. Bajko
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plan to commemorate 50 locations tied to San Francisco’s leather and LGBTQ culture with sidewalk markers has been endorsed by the Board of Supervisors and will file for civic design review this week. The resolution in support was taken up on an expedited process this week due to pending deadlines and a streetscape improvement project underway that could incorporate the installation of the plaques. As the Bay Area Reporter first reported in September, the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District has proposed recognizing current and former businesses in the area by placing bronze plaques in the sidewalk near where they operated or currently are located. Such storied establishments as the Folsom Street Barracks, The Arena, Ramrod, The Brig, and the Club Baths of San Francisco would be memorialized with historical markers. Plaques would also be installed in front of existing businesses such as the SF Eagle, which now fronts the new Eagle Plaza public parklet honoring the leather community built out of a portion of 12th Street at Harrison, and The End Up nightclub at the corner of Sixth and Harrison streets. One would also be located at the former home of the B.A.R at 395 Ninth Street. The
Courtesy Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District
A rendering of one of the leather district plaques pays homage to the former locations of Folsom Street Barracks and Red Star Saloon at 1145-1147 Folsom Street.
weekly LGBTQ newspaper, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, called the location home from December 1988 until October 2013. Leather district leaders plan to file by Friday, April 9, to have the city’s arts commission review the designs for the plaques now that the supervisors voted 11-0 at their April 6 meeting to back the project. Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael
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Mandelman asked to be added as a co-sponsor. The district will also be seeking an estimated $120,000 to pay for the plaques from the community impact fees the developer L37 Partners will be required to pay for its 244-rental unit housing development in SOMA. The city’s planning commission recently approved the project to be built at Folsom and 11th streets adjacent to the gay nightclub Oasis. “Each one of these steps will determine whether it goes ahead and whether we can get the money or not,” Robert Goldfarb, chair of the leather district’s board, told the B.A.R. prior to the supervisors’ meeting. The approval processes will take anywhere from nine to 18 months, said Goldfarb. The leather district has been in close talks with the city’s Public Works Department and the office of District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney, who represents SOMA, about incorporating some of the plaques into Folsom Street’s sidewalks as part of the pedestrian safety improvements for one of the main corridors through the area. Its timeline for completion was delayed due to the COVID pandemic. “I have been in discussion with DPW about the Folsom Street project for approximately See page 6 >>