San Francisco County Municipal Code Ch. 107B Castro Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer

(LGBTQ) CULTURAL DISTRICT

Sec. 107B.1. Findings. Sec. 107B.2. Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development Responsibilities; Cultural, History, Housing, and Economic Sustainability Strategy Report.

The Castro Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (“LGBTQ”) Cultural District (the “District”) is a living, breathing, geographic and cultural area with rich political, social, economic, and historical significance to the LGBTQ community. The neighborhood has been recognized worldwide for nearly half a century as a beacon of LGBTQ liberty and an enclave for LGBTQ people to find safety, acceptance, and chosen family. The Castro neighborhood has long drawn new residents and visitors from every corner of the globe who seek out the neighborhood because of its significance as a center of LGBTQ life. The Castro became a global focal point for the development of gay culture, community, and politics in the 1970s, marking a significant step forward in the multigenerational struggle for LGBTQ visibility, civil rights, and equality. This historical background inspires today’s struggles to keep the neighborhood’s heritage alive and to support community growth and long-term cultural development. The District embodies a diverse and layered fabric of historical and contemporary LGBTQ experiences, serving as a colorful and dynamic epicenter of queer culture for local residents; a destination for visitors from across the United States and around the world; and a globally recognized source of inspiration for resistance, freedom, and respect for LGBTQ people. The Castro has deep roots that are embedded in neighborhood sites, institutions, businesses, nonprofits, customs, events, and experiences that reflect local, national, and international LGBTQ communities. Two historic context statements—the 2016 Citywide Historic Context Statement for LGBTQ History in San Francisco and the 2017 Eureka Valley Historic Context Statement—identify many LGBTQ structures and sites of local, national, and international historic significance in the Castro area, while also recognizing the long history of the area going back over 2,500 years to the Yalamu tribe of Native Californians. A report by the United States National Park Service titled “LGBTQ America: A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer History” (2016) likewise identifies numerous LGBTQ historic sites of importance in the Castro neighborhood. The Castro has historically been a destination for LGBTQ youth from throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, the United States, and the world; they arrive with the hope of finding the love, acceptance, and even safety that has too often been denied in their communities of origin. These youth advance the social justice legacy of the LGBTQ community to promote safe and accessible spaces for all and to ensure the existence of critical social services and leadership development opportunities for youth, such as exists at the Lavender Youth and Recreation and Information Center (LYRIC), located in the Castro. The attraction of young people to the Castro is a forceful reminder that youth, in particular youth of color and transgender and gender nonconforming youth, are an important part of our community deserving of our support and respect. The Castro neighborhood has been a center of LGBTQ-owned and LGBTQ-friendly small businesses starting as early as the 1950s with Maurice Gerry’s beauty salon at 587 Castro Street and staking an unmistakable public claim in 1963 with the opening of the neighborhood’s first gay bar, The Missouri Mule, at 2348 Market Street. Such small businesses created public spaces, economic resources, employment opportunities, and cultural assets that enabled the LGBTQ population to grow, thrive, create community, and organize for positive social and political change. The San Francisco Legacy Business Registry, which recognizes businesses over 30 years old that have made a significant impact on neighborhood history or culture, as of 2025 lists twenty-five legacy businesses within or near the District’s boundaries, including the Castro Country Club, Cliff’s Variety, Moby Dick, Anchor Oyster Bar, Cove on Castro Cafe, Ruby’s Clay Studio and Gallery, For Your Eyes Only Optometry, Beck’s Motor Lodge, Rolo San Francisco, Cafe Du Nord, Underglass Custom Framing, Castro Village Wine Co., Courtney’s Produce, Scarpelli and Associates Physical Therapy, GLBT Historical Society, Castro Nail Salon, PO Plus, San Francisco Bay Times, La Méditerranée, Marcello’s Pizza, Thai House Express Restaurant, Academy of Ballet, Maitri Compassionate Care, Cruisin’ the Castro Walking Tours, and Yankee Clipper Travel. The Castro has been the focal point of San Francisco’s LGBTQ political activism since the 1970s, with the Castro Muni station, Harvey Milk Plaza, Jane Warner Plaza, Market Street, and Castro Street serving as gathering places for celebrations, marches, protests, and memorials, including both the candlelight vigil that took place after the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk in 1978 and the march in 1979 that resulted in the White Night Riot, which occurred after the assassin, Dan White, received a lenient sentence. Supervisor Harvey Milk, the owner of Castro Camera, began his political career on the proverbial soapbox at Castro and Market streets in 1973 and became the first openly gay elected official in California in 1978 and the first Supervisor to represent the Castro after the voters created a system of Supervisorial district elections. Terminal 1 at the San Francisco International Airport has been named for Harvey Milk in recognition of his historical importance and inspirational life. During his short time in office, he authored the City’s gay rights ordinance as well as the country’s first pooper-scooper law, which required dog owners to pick up after their pets. Following Milk’s assassination in November 1978, the LGBTQ community consolidated its power by renaming the San Francisco Gay Democratic Club to honor Harvey Milk, by working to elect further openly LGBTQ public officials, and by fighting back against anti-LGBTQ practices. Such activism

inance as well as the country’s first pooper-scooper law, which required dog owners to pick up after their pets. Following Milk’s assassination in November 1978, the LGBTQ community consolidated its power by renaming the San Francisco Gay Democratic Club to honor Harvey Milk, by working to elect further openly LGBTQ public officials, and by fighting back against anti-LGBTQ practices. Such activism in the Castro neighborhood helped advance respect for the LGBTQ community in San Francisco and beyond. The LGBTQ community banded together to find safety in the Castro, because elsewhere they faced violence at the hands of the police, the general public, and numerous hate groups, thus making preservation of LGBTQ culture in the Castro an important part of further lowering the levels of violence, homelessness, addiction, and other disparities that the LGBTQ population faces. The Castro is an international center for LGBTQ cinema, being home to the art-deco masterpiece Castro Theater, which annually hosts numerous LGBTQ film showings including events for Frameline and the Transgender Film Festival. The Frameline festival traces its roots to informal showings of gay super 8 films projected onto a bedsheet at the apartment of queer filmmaker and impresario Marc Huestis and others at 527 Castro Street in the mid-1970s. In addition, the Castro neighborhood is an internationally known center of LGBTQ street life and nightlife, including a large number of historic and long-running bars, nightclubs, restaurants, and retail establishments that provide the neighborhood a unique character. Together, this street life and nightlife scene have made the Castro a significant space for a diversity of gender and sexual minorities for

many decades even as neighborhood activists confronted racism by organizing movements including the “And Castro For All” campaign of the mid-2000s. The Castro also has been a neighborhood where different groups within the LGBTQ community have struggled for space, yet came together when faced with the necessity of unity during the AIDS crisis, when many cisgender and transgender women, including many lesbians, came forward to care for sick gay men. Although not historically a neighborhood strongly welcoming to transgender people, the Castro has seen trans activists work to create visibility, including the efforts of Veronika Fimbres and others who successfully fought to have the transgender flag flown at Harvey Milk Plaza. The Castro has embodied a commitment to creating a greater welcome for all by offering a public space for such events as the Castro Street Fair, San Francisco Pride, the Dyke March, and numerous other cultural events. Many forms of art have been cultivated in the Castro by the LGBTQ population, giving rise to notable artistic organizations such as the Names Project and its AIDS Memorial Quilt, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, which has found a permanent home near the Castro on Valencia Street, and the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band. The art form of drag has long flourished in the Castro neighborhood, home to many groundbreaking and celebrated drag shows such as Peaches Christ’s Midnight Mass and Cookie Dough’s Monster Show, as well as groups such as the Cockettes, which launched the career of disco superstar Sylvester. Books and literature by LGBTQ authors have long found a home in the Castro, the location of such establishments as the Walt Whitman Bookstore (1982–1987), A Different Light Books (1986–2011), and Dog Eared Books, as well as being the setting of much of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City series, and long-time home to the author. LGBTQ history has long been celebrated in the Castro, with the neighborhood providing the first home to the GLBT Historical Society archives (1985-1990), serving as the home for the GLBT Historical Society Museum since 2011, and projected as the future space for a full-scale, world-class museum of LGBTQ history and culture. The neighborhood brings together additional LGBTQ history resources and monuments such as the Rainbow Honor Walk and numerous other historical plaques; Pink Triangle Park; the annual pink triangle installation on Twin Peaks to fight against homophobia and intolerance; the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy, an elementary school with an LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum; and the Gilbert Baker rainbow flag at the corner of Castro and Market streets. Numerous activists and political organizations have formed in and operated out of the Castro, demonstrating the neighborhood’s importance as a territory for queer political activism and direct action over the decades since the early 1970s, including such pioneering and influential groups as the Butterfly Brigade, the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club, the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP/San Francisco and ACT UP/Golden Gate/Survive AIDS), Queer Nation, and Lesbians and Gays of African Descent for Democratic Action (LGADDA). Numerous LGBTQ-focused and LGBTQ-led nonprofit organizations have thrived in the Castro, including the Shanti Project, LYRIC, and the SF LGBTQ Speakers Bureau. In addition, the Castro has become home to a number of LGBTQ-welcoming religious and spiritual groups and institutions, including the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Night Ministry, the Metropolitan Community Church, Most Holy Redeemer, the Hartford Street Zen Center, and the Grand Central Faerie House among other Radical Faerie centers and houses. The neighborhood has fostered LGBTQ athletics, including gay softball leagues at Rikki Streicher Field and the world’s largest LGBTQ athletic organization, the Federation of Gay Games, which started in and still operates out of the Castro neighborhood. The Castro has been home at various times to numerous LGBTQ-focused and LGBTQ-owned newspapers, periodicals, and news sources, including the Castro Village Other (1972); Coming Up/San Francisco Bay Times (founded 1978); OUT/LOOK (1988–1992); Electric City TV (1991–1995); and Frontiers Newsmagazine (1994–2005). The Castro was one of the first neighborhoods in the world to bear the full brunt of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and was one of the first neighborhoods in the world to organize an effective and sex-positive response to the epidemic, thereby making it an internationally important site of homage and commemoration. The AIDS epidemic inspired activist responses in the Castro neighborhood in the 1980s and 1990s led by groups such as Citizens for Medical Justice, the AIDS Action Pledge, and ACT UP/San Francisco, while the federal government ignored the massive health crisis caused by HIV. The Castro has been home to numerous pioneering HIV/AIDS healthcare, social services, prevention, education, advocacy, and fundraising organizations. These groups helped elaborate the world-renowned San Francisco model of care that marshaled volunteer, nonprofit, foundation, and City resources to respond to the epidemic. The Castro’s beautiful and varied housing stock, including many Victorian homes, provided affordable housing from the 1950s into the 1970s, yet the neighborhood subsequently became a hotbed of real estate speculation and its residents have increasingly fought evictions and economic displacement. The neighborhood has supported many kinds of living situations, from large cooperative homes, to homes for LGBTQ-led families with children, to community-wide land investment by organizations such as the Queer Land Trust that work to fight displacement. The Castro neighborhood was one of the first places modern medical marijuana activism emerged in the United States, with Dennis Peron, the architect behind Propo

as supported many kinds of living situations, from large cooperative homes, to homes for LGBTQ-led families with children, to community-wide land investment by organizations such as the Queer Land Trust that work to fight displacement. The Castro neighborhood was one of the first places modern medical marijuana activism emerged in the United States, with Dennis Peron, the architect behind Proposition 64 that made medical marijuana legal in California, organizing and operating out of the Castro for many years and writing the introduction to Brownie Mary’s famous marijuana cookbook in the Castro, as well as hosting meetings of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club in his home to expand political force behind cannabis reform. The sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s found a place in the Castro, which became home to sex clubs, bathhouses, and other erotic gathering spaces for gay and bisexual men including the Jaguar adult bookstore (1971-2005); the Eros sex club, founded in 1992 as a groundbreaking business promoting safer sex and sex-positive education during the AIDS epidemic; and AutoErotica/Mercury Mail Order founded in 1996 to sell vintage gay erotica.

Community-based health organizations such as the Castro Country Club, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and its brick-and-mortar health centers Strut and Magnet, the SF Therapy Collective, API Wellness, the UCSF Alliance Health Project (formerly the AIDS Health Project), and Lyon-Martin Health Services provide specialized health services to the LGBTQ community in the Castro. The boundaries of the District extend into parts of the immediately adjacent Hayes Valley neighborhood. This extension recognizes the significance of the LGBTQ heritage of Hayes Valley and of existing LGBTQ cultural organizations in the area such as Openhouse and the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, two vital institutions that contribute to the neighborhood in which they’re located, and to the nearby Castro, and that provide critical services to the broader LGBTQ community. Although the Castro emerged as a gay neighborhood in the 1960s, the support it provided to LGBTQ people often was qualified by such limitations as socioeconomic status, race, age, and gender identity. Because Hayes Valley largely escaped the forces of gentrification into the 2000s, it offered less expensive housing and commercial spaces and retained a vibrant culture accessible to an LGBTQ population of lesser means and greater diversity. As a result, by the mid-1970s, a sizable contingent of gay people had moved into Hayes Valley, where they began developing local LGBTQ cultural practices and institutions. This visible presence occasionally produced tensions with other residents, yet gay people worked to negotiate a respectful place within the area’s diverse populations by forming personal ties with their neighbors and by contributing to the communal life of the neighborhood. As early as 1966–1967, Hayes Valley already was home to the short-lived Sirporium, a second-hand fundraising shop at 525 Hayes Street run by the Society for Individual Rights, San Francisco’s major gay-rights organization of the 1960s. The 1970s saw the opening of such establishments as Dottie’s Stardust Lounge, a gay bar at the corner of Hayes and Laguna Streets. A particularly striking example of LGBTQ community engagement in Hayes Valley was the Lily Street Fair, held on a four-block long alley in the neighborhood from 1981 to 1990, a period coinciding with some of the darkest years of the AIDS crisis. Part block party, part potluck, and part Easter parade, the fair was both a display of fabulous drag and a festive celebration of the community created by residents of the street and their friends. One of the organizers of the fair was the drag performer known as Lily Street, who was active in the San Francisco Imperial Court, a drag fundraising organization founded in San Francisco in 1965. She became the court’s Absolute Empress XXIII in 1988. Her Hayes Valley neighbor Simeon Traw, who performed at the fair, became Emperor XVIII A.N. in 1990. One of the longest lived and most significant sites for LGBTQ enterprise in Hayes Valley is 488 Hayes Street, where the gay bar David’s House and its adjacent restaurant, David’s Garden Café, opened in 1984. The bar became the Overpass in 1986, in turn becoming Marlena’s in 1990. For almost 25 years, Absolute Empress XXV Marlena held court there, providing a particular welcome for older gay men and for drag culture. Marlena’s was a bastion of the Imperial Court, hosting events that raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity. Hayes Valley also was home to an important institution of the local LGBTQ media during an era when print publications remained a primary means of information exchange and community building: The editorial and business offices of The Sentinel, one of San Francisco’s major weekly gay newspapers published from 1974 to 1995, were located at 500 Hayes Street for more than half of the periodical’s existence (1983–1992). The neighborhood likewise supported one of San Francisco’s renowned queer photographers: From 1990 to 2000, Daniel Nicoletta created his work in a studio at 320 Fell Street. He not only produced portraits of LGBTQ luminaries there, he also opened his doors for salons, fundraisers, and memorial services. Nicoletta’s work during this period notably portrayed activists, drag queens, the transgender and genderqueer community, punks, former prisoners, and others often marginalized by society and even by parts of the LGBTQ community. In addition to creating uniquely queer cultural and commercial institutions, LGBTQ inhabitants of Hayes Valley have actively joined forces with non-LGBTQ residents to sustain and develop the neighborhood as a home for those whose experience reflects intersectionalities and inequalities due to their social and economic standing and their race, sexual orientation, gender, and age. Notably, the former Oak Hill Neighborhood Association, and the larger and ongoing Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association (“HVNA”) included significant LGBTQ leadership since their formation. The HVNA took a groundbreaking position by stating a commitment to maintaining neighborhood diversity in its bylaws. LGBTQ people also had prominent roles in the campaign to demolish the Central Freeway after the 1989 earthquake and in the subsequent creation of Octavia Boulevard and Patricia’s Green, as well as in advocating development of at least 50% affordable housing on parcels cleared by the freeway removal. The boundaries of the District encompass only a portion of Hayes Valley, but this inclusion enables organizations throughout the neighborhood to participate in the benefits of the District. This Chapter 107B recognizes the historic importance of LGBTQ people’s contribution to Hayes Valley and honors the neighborhood’s contributions to LGBTQ culture that have likewise benefitted the adjacent Castro neighborhood, the City at large and society as a whole. The boundaries of the District also include 170 Valencia Street, home of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus

efits of the District. This Chapter 107B recognizes the historic importance of LGBTQ people’s contribution to Hayes Valley and honors the neighborhood’s contributions to LGBTQ culture that have likewise benefitted the adjacent Castro neighborhood, the City at large and society as a whole. The boundaries of the District also include 170 Valencia Street, home of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus (“SFGMC”) and the National LGBTQ Center for the Arts. SFGMC was founded in 1978 and sparked a nationwide and international LGBTQ choral movement after its first public performance at a vigil on the steps of City Hall following the assassinations of Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. Since then SFGMC has been embedded in the fabric of San Francisco. It has soothed souls in pain and lifted spirits in triumph, and has remained a steadfast beacon of hope. In January 2019, SFGMC announced the establishment of the National LGBTQ Center for the Arts. The Center will create space for LGBTQ artists, composers, librettists, and choreographers to produce, practice, and perform in state of the art facilities. Recording and broadcast studios will allow for filming and live streaming master classes, interviews, lectures, clinics, and symposia to be shared throughout the world. The boundaries of the District also include Duboce Triangle, a neighborhood adjacent in both proximity and history to the Castro.

Duboce Triangle lies roughly north and northeast of the heart of the Castro, bounded by Castro Street, Market Street and Waller Street. In the 2020 census, Duboce Triangle had the largest concentration of LGBTQ residents in the greater Bay Area. In the 1970s, when LGBTQ people were beginning to move to the Castro, Duboce Triangle also became a landing place for many members of the community. After the Summer of Love in 1967, gays and lesbians from the Haight moved to Eureka Valley, which included Duboce Triangle at the time – Duboce Triangle was not officially recognized as a distinct neighborhood until 1976. The gays and lesbians bought run-down Victorians in the neighborhood and painted them vibrant colors and created a community that endures to today. Before Harvey Milk set up his camera store in 1972 in the Castro, he lived in Duboce Triangle at 24 Henry Street. The neighborhood hosted its fair share of sex clubs, bathhouses, adult venues, bars, and LGBTQ businesses. The first lesbian biker bar, Scott’s Pit, was in Duboce Triangle from 1970 to 1984. Located at 10 Sanchez Street, the bar hosted women’s groups and political organizations including the Lesbian Mothers Union. Other historic LGBTQ businesses in the neighborhood include Naked Grape, Mind Shaft, Rear End, Purple Pickle, Missouri Mule, and Balcony. In 1987, Issan Dorsey, a teacher at the Hartford Street Zen Center, took in a homeless student dying of AIDS and started Maitri, an eight-bed hospice. Maitri moved to Duboce Triangle in 1997 and as of 2025 still provides healthcare to the LGBTQ community. LGBTQ businesses in Duboce Triangle as of 2025 include the Harvey Milk Community Center, Beaux, Lookout, The Academy, The Detour, Blackbird, Wooden Spoon, and Café Flore. The planned site of the GLBT History Museum will also be in Duboce Triangle at the intersection of 16th Street, Market Street, and Noe Street, often referred to as the heart of the Castro. Approximately 50% of the businesses in the Castro Merchants Association are within Duboce Triangle, and the footprint of events, like the Castro Art Walk include galleries and LGBTQ businesses in Duboce Triangle. The story of the Castro neighborhood and the adjacent areas included in the District continues to unfold. At the same time, San Francisco must recognize and honor the contributions of those who transformed the neighborhood in the past, laying the foundations for its current and future importance to LGBTQ culture. (Added by Ord. 160-19, File No. 190389, App. 7/12/2019, Eff. 8/12/2019; amended by Ord. 31-26, File No. 250391, App. 2/27/2026, Eff. 3/30/2026)

RESPONSIBILITIES; CULTURAL, HISTORY, HOUSING, AND ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY REPORT. (a) Cultural, History, Housing, and Economic Sustainability Strategy Report. (1) Preparation of Report. By no later than June 30, 2021, the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development (“MOHCD”) shall prepare and submit to the Board of Supervisors and the Mayor a Cultural, History, Housing, and Economic Sustainability Strategy Report (“CHHESS Report”) for the District. The CHHESS Report shall include a demographic and economic profile of the District, including past, current, and future trends; analyze and record the tangible and intangible elements of the District’s cultural heritage; identify areas of concern that could inhibit the preservation of the District’s unique culture; and propose as appropriate legislative, economic, and other solutions and strategies to support the District. (2) Assistance from City Departments. In preparing the CHHESS Report, MOHCD may request assistance from the Historic Preservation Commission and any other City department, office, or other part of City government, which shall upon request provide to MOHCD an assessment of relevant assets and needs in the District, recommendations on programs, policies, and funding sources that could benefit the District, and other recommendations that could serve the District to advance its goals. (3) Community Outreach and Engagement. In preparing the CHHESS Report, MOHCD shall facilitate a community outreach and engagement process with the District’s residents, businesses, workers, youth, and other individuals who regularly spend time in the District, in order to develop the strategies and plans that will preserve and enhance the culture of the District. (b) Board of Supervisors Consideration. Following receipt of the CHHESS Report from MOHCD, the Board of Supervisors may take any action by resolution that the Board deems appropriate regarding the report, including approving the report, modifying the report, rejecting the report, or requesting additional information or analysis from MOHCD or any other City department or agency. (c) Progress Reports. MOHCD shall provide a progress report on the strategies outlined in the CHHESS Report at least once every three years following enactment of a resolution approving or modifying the CHHESS Report. (d) Assistance from Community-Based Organization. Subject to the budgetary, fiscal, and civil service provisions of the Charter, MOHCD shall issue a competitive solicitation for a community-based organization to (1) assist MOHCD with planning, organizing, and facilitating the community outreach and engagement process under subsection (a)(3); (2) provide input and advice to MOHCD regarding the contents of the CHHESS Report and regarding strategies to support and preserve the unique culture and heritage of the District; (3) provide additional advice and assistance to MOHCD after the issuance of the CHHESS Report to implement the City’s strategies to support and preserve the culture of the District; (4) assist MOHCD with progress reports required under subsection (c); and (5) fulfill any other responsibilities that MOHCD determines would help the City to support the District. (Added by Ord. 160-19, File No. 190389, App. 7/12/2019, Eff. 8/12/2019) CHAPTER 107C:

AMERICAN INDIAN CULTURAL DISTRICT

Sec. 107C.1. Findings. Sec. 107C.2. Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development Responsibilities; Cultural, History, Housing, and Economic Sustainability Strategy Report.

The American Indian Cultural District (the “District”) is within a geographic region that is of great historical and cultural significance to the American Indian community. This corridor holds a unique concentration of historical events, cultural resources, and Native American-based programming, services, and gathering spaces that are historically and presently important to the American Indian community in the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco is the aboriginal home of the Ramaytush Ohlone Peoples. There are known and documented Ohlone cultural resources and sacred sites within the District, including the home of a once-thriving Ohlone village called “Chutchui,” which was located in the area currently known as Mission Dolores Park. Nearby within the District is Mission Dolores. Many American Indian community members see the Mission as a reminder of the painful history of the Mission Era, which lasted from 1769 to 1833. During this time, thousands of American Indians were forcibly removed from their homelands and moved into the missions. The missions were created to convert American Indians to Christianity and to give the Catholic Church authority over American Indians so European territory could be expanded in North America with fewer barriers. Historical documentation of missions reflects enslavement, forced religious practices, division of families, forced labor, rape and prostitution of men, women, and children, and cruel punishment including the use of irons and whips. The mission system decreased the populations of Native Americans in California in some areas by up to 90%. The average lifespan of a Native American in the mission system was ten years. The areas we now call Dolores Park and Mission Dolores hold a unique historical perspective to the American Indian community. First Nations people do not just see a park and a mission, they recognize an area that started as a thriving village site and transitioned to an area of great suffering, where California Native Americans suffered, died, and were buried for the purposes of European land expansion. Following the Mission Era, government policies stripped American Indian people of millions of acres of their land. The government also created boarding schools that forcibly separated American Indian children from their homelands, families, traditional language, tribes, and culture. Boarding schools that ran until the 1970’s were created to “civilize” American Indian children and assimilate them into American society by “killing the Indian to save the man.” To deepen the process of assimilation and land removal, policies were implemented to end government assistance to tribes and incentivize American Indians to move into urban areas. In 1952, the Bureau of Indian Affairs implemented an urban Indian relocation program to assimilate American Indians into “modern culture.” This program gave American Indians one-way tickets to urban areas. Major cities, including San Francisco, received a large influx of American Indians from all over the United States. American Indian people waited for days and weeks at local bus and train stations for government representatives to meet families and carry out the promise of stable employment and success in the urban cities. San Francisco was one of the largest relocation cities in the United States. As the urban American Indian population in San Francisco began to expand, the Mission District became a home base for the community. To create a remedy for the lack of adequate government support and resources, the community developed its own support systems. Support systems included social services, cultural retention efforts, employment and housing opportunities, education, political empowerment, and Native American-owned and supported businesses. The community also came together to develop cultural programming, language preservation programs, education courses, and annual events, and to establish community gathering spaces, such as an American Indian Cultural Center (AICC), and some of the first urban pow wows. These American Indian-based enterprises and the rich cultural history of the area are at the heart of the proposed District. The District was home to the first American Indian Center (AIC), which from the 1940’s to 1969 was located between Mission Street and Valencia Street. The fire that burned down the AIC in 1969 played a significant role in the Occupy Alcatraz Movement. Activists pushed to create a new American Indian Center and Native American school on Alcatraz Island, which remained open there until June of 1971. From 1969 through 1970, the AIC also held an office space at 16th and Guerrero Streets. From 1970 to 1988, the AIC was located at 225/229 Valencia Street. This site offered a wide variety of services, programing, and resources to the community. This site closed in 1988 due to a mishandling of funds. In the 1990’s, the Indian Center of All Nations (ICAN) was located at 16th and Mission Streets. ICAN closed in 1995 due to a lack of steady funding. The Centers over the years have been run by several different community members, but they all had the same goals of providing a community space, cultural retention, resources, events, and programing for American Indians in the San Francisco Bay Area. From 2005 to 2007, a group of community members began meeting with Members of the Board of Supervisors at City Hall and with the San Francisco Arts Commission, to advocate for program funding and a new community space. In 2012, Mayor Ed Lee attended the Dancing Feather Pow Wow and announced his intention to help find a new home and funding for an American Indian Center. As a response to Mayor Lee’s announcement, an American Indian Advisory Council formed in 2013. This Council met, and still meets every month, to discuss the future and vision of an American Indian Cultural Center. The San Francisco Arts Commission and local Native American-based funding initiatives provided funds t

ed his intention to help find a new home and funding for an American Indian Center. As a response to Mayor Lee’s announcement, an American Indian Advisory Council formed in 2013. This Council met, and still meets every month, to discuss the future and vision of an American Indian Cultural Center. The San Francisco Arts Commission and local Native American-based funding initiatives provided funds to help create the American Indian Cultural Center (AICC). The AICC is composed

of the American Indian Advisory Council, a functioning Board, Executive Director, a Program Director, and student interns. In 2019, the AICC was formally recognized as a virtual Cultural Center, operating to provide arts and cultural programs without a fixed location or gathering space. AICC is currently in the process of obtaining 501(c)(3) status. The buildings that housed the various American Indian Center locations and the surrounding areas hold great importance to the community and have provided a home for historically and politically significant events. The AIC was the meeting place for Bay Area American Indian organizations and home of the United Bay Indian Council, which brought together 30 clubs into one large Council. The American Indian Movement originally held an office in the AIC before moving to the International Indian Treaty Council on Mission Street. Across the street from the AIC, Al Smith owned a trading post where the Native American community came together to sell arts, crafts, and beadwork. Other meeting spots in the area included places such as Aunt Mary’s, a cafe across from the Roxie Theater on 16th Street where the Native American community would gather for breakfast, and the Rainbow Cattle Company, a popular Native American bar on Duboce and Valencia Streets. Muddy Waters and Modern Times were popular spots for artists, poetry nights, and speaking engagements, have also been located on Valencia Street. These gathering places reflect the history of a strong cultural connection to the area among Native American people. The District was also at the center of the Red Power/American Indian Movement and was home to famous Native activist, Richard Oakes. Oakes met within the District regularly with Adam Fortunate Eagle, Chairman of the United Bay Area Council of American Indian Affairs, to plan the 1969-1971 occupation of Alcatraz by “Indians of all Tribes.” This movement changed federal Indian termination policies, created a new era of self-determination, and brought attention to the needs of the American Indian community in San Francisco. On February 11, 1978, “The Longest Walk,” a five-month, cross-country march began in San Francisco on Alcatraz Island. The march concluded in Washington D.C. on July 15, 1978, and raised public awareness about the growing governmental threat to American Indian sovereignty. Although President Carter refused to meet with the marchers, Congress responded to the public pressure by declining to pass a proposed anti-treaty bill and passing the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, Public Law No. 95-341, 92 Stat. 469 (Aug. 11, 1978). The Redstone Building, also known as the Redstone Labor Temple (and formerly called The San Francisco Labor Temple), located at 2940 16th Street, was a hub of union organizing and work activities, historic labor communities, and various programs for over 50 years. American Indian programs that have been housed in this central space for community building include the International Indian Treaty Council, American Indian Film Institute, 500 Years Coalition, and the Big Mountain Support Group. American Indian events and services initiated in the District continue today, including San Francisco’s first Pow Wow, which initiated at 5051 Mission Street in 1975, and the AICC, which was established in 1968. As of 2019, the AICC is in the process of re-establishing its roots in the District with a Cultural Center to bring back a space for American Indian programming, events, and community services. Other examples of American Indian services that originated and still operate in the District include The Friendship House of American Indians, the Native American Health Center, and American Indian education programs. The Friendship House of Association of American Indians, located at 56 Julian Street, was established in 1963 as a drop-in center that helped Native people find affordable housing and employment and develop urban survival skills. As of 2019, Friendship House was under the leadership of Helen Devore Waukazoo, who relocated from the Navajo reservation to San Francisco in 1956. Friendship House is the oldest social service agency in the United States run by and for American Indians. Friendship House helps Native people recover from substance abuse, builds job training and education skills, and oversees several community-wide programs. Since Helen Devore Waukazoo became Executive Director in 1980, Friendship House has expanded to two locations including a four-story, 80-bed treatment facility in the District. The Native American Health Center (NAHC), founded in 1972, is located at 160 Capp Street between 16th and 17th Streets. NAHC was created as a direct result of the needs of American Indians following the Indian Relocation Act of 1956. NAHC expanded to two additional sites to help further meet the needs of Indian people throughout the Bay Area. One office is in Oakland, another site is in Richmond, and NAHC also operates eight school-based health centers. NAHC provides medical, dental and family services to Native Americans and the residents of the surrounding communities. This expansion reflects the needs of American Indians and their ongoing presence in the Bay Area. Native American education also has roots in the District. The State and Federal Indian Education Program, known in various iterations over the years as Titles IV and VII, was located in the San Francisco Unified School District bungalows at 1950 Mission Street. The Indian Education Program supports the unique educational and culturally related academic needs of American Indian/Alaskan Native students in the San Francisco Unified School District (the “School District”). In 2014, the Indian Education Program advocated to the School District to be given a permanent services center. Ultimately, through the advocacy of parents, youth, and the larger American Indian community, the School District provided a space for the Indian Educ

y related academic needs of American Indian/Alaskan Native students in the San Francisco Unified School District (the “School District”). In 2014, the Indian Education Program advocated to the School District to be given a permanent services center. Ultimately, through the advocacy of parents, youth, and the larger American Indian community, the School District provided a space for the Indian Education Program at Sanchez Elementary School on 16th Street. The Parent Advisory Committee formed to help determine the Indian Education Program’s goals and advise on the distribution of funds for the program services that will be provided. In the 2014-2015 school year, the California Department of Education reported over 270 American Indian/Alaskan Native students in San Francisco. The Department found that Native students disproportionately have the highest dropout rate in the School District as compared to students of other ethnicities. The Indian Education Program addresses these academic challenges, but these statistics also reflect the importance of cultural-based programming and a place for American Indian students to connect and be proud of. While the American Indian community has had its roots in the District from time immemorial, the community also recognizes the shared cultural and historical importance of the area to the Latino and other Indigenous communities. Since the enactment of the Relocation Act, countless programs, efforts, and support systems have been developed cross-culturally in these communities. In pre- colonial times, Northern Native and Southern Native communities co-existed with intricate trade routes and shared ceremonies. Similarly, in current times, many programs, gatherings and ceremonies take place together and co-exist in this District. American Indians, Latino community organizers, and Southern Native groups have come together to support the District as a small manifestation of justice and repatriation.

According to 2015 Census data, American Indians make up roughly 1.6% of the population in California (723,225 persons), and 0.5% of the population in San Francisco. There are over 500 tribal nations in the United States, and over 150 tribes in California, 109 of which are federally recognized. One in nine American Indians lives in a city, and 90% of the American Indian population in California resides in urban areas. The legacy of American Indians in the Bay Area is in jeopardy due to the increased cost of living, the lack of affordable housing, the lack of community-specific resources and political representation, and the lack of safe, reliable community space for youth, elders, cultural gatherings, and events. The District will honor American Indian culture and provide a recognized home base for the American Indian community to ensure that American Indian history and contributions will not be forgotten or overwritten. The District will not only benefit the American Indian community, but it will help foster cultural competency in the broader San Francisco community, serve as a model for the rest of California, and honor First Nations people and their longstanding history in San Francisco. (Added by Ord. 57-20, File No. 191183, App. 4/17/2020, Eff. 5/18/2020; amended by Ord. 268-20, File No. 201088, App. 12/23/2020, Eff. 1/23/2021)

RESPONSIBILITIES,· CULTURAL, HISTORY, HOUSING, AND ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY REPORT. (a) Cultural, History, Housing, and Economic Sustainability Strategy Report. (1) Preparation of Report. By no later than January 31, 2021, the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development (“MOHCD”) shall prepare and submit to the Board of Supervisors and the Mayor a Cultural, History, Housing, and Economic Sustainability Strategy Report (“CHHESS Report”) for the District. The CHHESS Report shall include a demographic and economic profile of the District, including past, current, and future trends; analyze and record the tangible and intangible elements of the District’s cultural heritage; identify areas of concern that could inhibit the preservation of the District’s unique culture; and propose as appropriate legislative, economic, and other solutions and strategies to support the District. (2) Assistance from City Departments. In preparing the CHHESS Report, MOHCD may request assistance from the Historic Preservation Commission and any other City department, office, or other agency of City government. Those agencies shall upon request provide to MOHCD an assessment of relevant assets and needs in the District, recommendations on programs, policies, and funding sources that could benefit the District, and other recommendations that could serve the District to advance its goals. (3) Community Outreach and Engagement. In preparing the CHHESS Report, MOHCD shall facilitate a community outreach and engagement process with the District’s residents, businesses, workers, and other individuals who regularly spend time in the District, in order to develop the strategies and plans that will preserve and enhance the culture of the District. (b) Board of Supervisors Consideration. Following receipt of the CHHESS Report from MOHCD, the Board of Supervisors may take any action by resolution that the Board deems appropriate regarding the report, including approving the report, modifying the report, rejecting the report, or requesting additional information or analysis from MOHCD or any other City department or agency. (c) Progress Reports. MOHCD shall provide a progress report on the strategies outlined in the CHHESS Report at least once every three years following enactment of a resolution approving or modifying the CHHESS Report. (d) Assistance from Community-Based Organization. Subject to the budgetary, fiscal, and civil service provisions of the Charter, MOHCD shall issue a competitive solicitation for a community-based organization to (1) assist MOHCD with planning, organizing, and facilitating the community outreach and engagement process under subsection (a)(3); (2) provide input and advice to MOHCD regarding the contents of the CHHESS Report and regarding strategies to support and preserve the unique culture and heritage of the District; (3) provide additional advice and assistance to MOHCD after the issuance of the CHHESS Report to implement the City’s strategies to support and preserve the culture of the District; (4) assist MOHCD with progress reports required under subsection (c); and (5) fulfill any other responsibilities that MOHCD determines would help the City to support the District. (Added by Ord. 57-20, File No. 191183, App. 4/17/2020, Eff. 5/18/2020)