Greater West Portal Neighborhood Association

The recently formed Crime and Public Safety committee (CAPS) has coalesced around one goal and three key initiatives.  

The goal: Stop property crime now and prevent it from evolving into even more serious and violent activity.

We will achieve our goal by:

1. Making the neighborhood unappealing to criminals; 
2. Maximizing the impact of SFPD, and 
3. Identifying and implementing initiatives from other neighborhoods (across the nation) that work.  

Our first task is to work with SFSAFE to organize a Neighborhood Watch program, block-by-block within the greater West Portal neighborhood.  Stay tuned for future updates!

The highlights from our last meeting are listed here, but you can read the full DRAFT minutes if you want all the details here.

• Just two weeks after our annual membership letters went out, we’re already ahead of last years membership drive. Thanks so much to everyone who helped fold and stuff envelopes on Saturday February 13th. If your name isn’t on the meeting sign-in sheet yet it’s because we haven’t processed your payment – watch for it next month.
• The Traffic and Safety committee provided a detailed update on five (5) different locations and intersections where safety improvements are being made by MTA in response to GWPNA requests. This represents great work by the committee members who are doggedly tracking the various projects and holding MTA accountable for the improvements they have promised.
• The Crime and Public Safety committee has established a cadence for meetings and is working on a list of actions to help reduce crime in the neighborhood. They are engaged with SF Safe and the SF Police Department and plan to sponsor a Neighborhood Watch program in West Portal. Watch for more information soon.
• Supervisor Norman Yee sent his legislative aide Jarlene Choy to report on what’s happening across District 7 and at City Hall.
• The Economic Development Committee reported that the owners of the Noe Valley Bakery are interested in exploring opening a location in West Portal.
• Officer Shawn Imhoff gave an update on local crime stats and answered questions. He urged residents that when they call 911 or the non-emergency dispatch 553-0123 for any suspicious person or activity to give a good description (gender, race, clothing, height) and notice what color shoes a perpetrator is wearing as they are unlikely to ditch them while fleeing.
• Also, the SF Police Department declined to issue a permit to operate a pawn shop to the person who was planning on purchasing SF Gold Buyer from the current owners. The police cited a city law that bars one owner from operating more than one pawn shop in the City. The proposed owner’s spouse already owns one pawn shop in SF.

Crime Prevention and Safety in West Portal

• We will hear from SFPD Taraval Station’s Captain Denise Flaherty and Officer Shawn Imhoff.
• SF SAFE will also be in attendance. Many residents in Gr7eater West Portal and nearby communities have become concerned with the recent increase in crime, including a notable spike in auto-related crimes, so this meeting is an opportunity to discuss facts, questions, and ideas for how best to move forward. Whatever your view on what’s going on, your participation in person can make a big difference in shaping the best policy for our community!