District 5 Newsletter - March 7, 2024
Friends and neighbors,
These past few weeks have been a flurry of celebrations in the district. I was honored to attend the capital campaign kick-off to rehabilitate Kinmon Gakuen , a Japanese language school and community center in the heart of Japantown. Kinmon Gakuen is a city landmark, a legacy business, and a cultural center that has served generations of Japanese Americans. I was honored to join Consul General Osumi, Assemblymember Ting, Supervisor Chan, Mayor Breed, city staff, and community leaders at the event. I’m proud of how our City and State governments have come together to invest in the renovation of this important community space.
The Legacy Business Program welcomed three more District 5 businesses nominated by our office to its registry: Everlasting Tattoo, a world-renowned custom tattoo studio; Progress Cleaners, a family-owned purveyor of laundry services in the Western Addition since 1975; and On the Bridge Restaurant , the cozy and colorful yōshoku-style Japanese restaurant that connects the Japan Center’s West Mall and Kinokuniya building.
I’d also like to welcome Jesus Guillen, Natalie Burdick, Madeline Howie, Nick Parker, and Andrew Seigner to the Market & Octavia Community Advisory Committee (MO-CAC). MO-CAC is a representative body that provides advice to the Planning Director, the Interagency Plan Implementation Committee, the Planning Commission, and the Board of Supervisors regarding implementation of the Market/Octavia Area Plan and the plan's community improvements. We were pleased to support their appointments and look forward to their work on the CAC.
In our continued support of the district’s neighborhood commercial corridors, I authored an ordinance to waive DPW banner fees so that small D5 neighborhood groups could afford to put banners in the neighborhood. The Ordinance passed unanimously. For many groups, the banner fees are cost-prohibitive - particularly for our local merchant and neighborhood groups - and too often the banners in our corridors are dominated by larger organizations and private entities. I look forward to seeing your banners color our district!
Stay in touch with the District 5 office by emailing us at PrestonStaff@sfgov.org, calling (415) 554-7630, or replying to this email.
In community,
Dean Preston, District 5 Supervisor
