SHARP Celebrates 100 Years Serving Golden Gate Heights

By Jonathan Farrell

As members of the Sunset Heights Association of Responsible People (SHARP) celebrate the building of their new clubhouse on Ninth Avenue, they also reflect upon the organization's long-standing history in the community.

"SHARP is over a century old. It was founded after the 1906 earthquake," said Frank Noto, the association's president.

SHARP is among the oldest neighborhood groups in the City.

"It was once known as the Sunset Heights Improvement Club," said Vern Waight. "The association has had several different names and has gone through many evolutions over the years."

At 90 years of age, Waight admits it is not easy to remember everything. He has been a member of SHARP for more than 40 years.

Woody LaBounty of the Western Neighborhoods Project, confirmed Waight's recollection.

There was a Sunset Heights Improvement Club as far back as 1897, LaBounty said, "according to items found in the San Francisco Call and other newspapers of that time."

"I think the most important thing SHARP did was get 14th Avenue paved," said Waight.

But Noto disagrees.

"I think the most important accomplishment SHARP has done so far was when we served as fiscal agent for the building of a retaining wall along Seventh and Eighth avenues."

After the Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989, homes were in danger of being lost due to landslide damage caused by the quake.

"We were able to help save the homes on that block," Noto said.

Waight commented that the neighborhood organization began when most of the Sunset District was still undeveloped, a status that did not change much until after World War II.

In Terence Young's book "Building San Francisco Parks, 1850 - 1930," published in 2004, the areas west of downtown San Francisco were referred to as the "Outside Lands." Where the Sunset and Richmond districts stand today was once a vast area of "roughly 8,400 acres" of mostly sand dunes.

As San Francisco expanded, the need for more land pushed its boundaries toward the Outside Lands.

"Generally, there was a boom of neighborhood improvement club formations in the 1890s and early 1900s, noted LaBounty. "Many went fallow or inactive until the roaring 1920s, and then the 1960s brought another revitalization of community groups."

"Groups like SHARP are the backbone of San Francisco's neighborhoods," said Judith Berkowitz, president of the Coalition for S.F. Neighborhoods, the "umbrella" organization for neighborhood associations throughout the City.

"SHARP has always been an aware and educated group of people," Berkowitz said. "I appreciate their presence at meetings and the work they do in their neighborhood."

Membership in SHARP is open to everyone who lives in Golden Gate Heights and neighboring areas, located roughly within the boundaries of Lincoln Way and Taraval Street and Seventh Avenue and 19th Avenue. SHARP members meet regularly to discuss issues effecting the neighborhood and surrounding areas.

"They bring attention to important issues in the neighborhood, making residents very aware of change and whether or not that change will be a plus or a minus in its impact," Berkowitz said.

On June 24, SHARP co-sponsored a Town Hall Meeting to address the California budget. The fact that SHARP often expands its scope of concern to include county or state issues does not surprise Berkowitz, as State Sen. Leland Yee was invited to speak at the Town Hall Meeting, held at the Taraval Police Station.

"Neighborhood groups, like SHARP, are very important because in their meetings and work in their immediate neighborhoods they are able to bring to light issues that often go unnoticed," Berkowitz said.

"SHARP is a good example of how neighborhood groups are supposed to work," she said.

For more information about SHARP, visit its Web site at www.sharpsf.com, or call membership coordinator John Barry at (415) 564-0225.