District 11 Supervisor Calls For Hearing On City's Investment In Ocean View-Merced Heights-Ingleside

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To address historical disparities that have hobbled the Ocean View, Merced Heights and Ingleside neighborhoods, District 11 Supervisor Ahsha Safai organized a hearing intended to scrutinize city government services for the neighborhoods.

The neighborhoods, which are collectively known as OMI, greater Ingleside or Lakeview, have historically been home to San Francisco’s African-American community. Demographics, however, have shifted. Between 1980 and 2010, the African-American population in the area declined from 61 to 13 percent.

The hearing will review the activities of several city departments in the neighborhood over a seven-year period, from 2013 to 2020.

“For a long time this part of my district has been neglected by city leadership and departments,” Supervisor Safai said in a statement.

“Transparency and a real focused effort on the remaining Black community in the OMI is long overdue,” OMI Cultural Participation Project Executive Director Maurice Rivers told The Ingleside Light. “There is a wall of distrust between the Black community here and San Francisco City Hall, because years of broken promises and lip service have hardened people’s hearts.”

The hearing was introduced at the Oct. 6, 2020 Board of Supervisors meeting, and a hearing date will be scheduled for the near future.

“Black community economic and community development goals have always been tied to our civil rights, and for good reason: people will bypass quality in Black neighborhoods, simply because it’s the Black neighborhood.” Rivers said. “The OMI has witnessed a demographic shift in the last 30 years, but the Black community refuses to give up or be ignored. This is our time to reclaim what has been lost, and what we so richly deserve.”

Ingleside is split into both District 7 and 11.