Our Mission and Accomplishments Over the Years

Building Senior Power
· At the founding meeting of SAN, 250 multi-ethnic and multi-lingual seniors from senior centers, church groups, union retirees and nutrition sites vowed to improve the lives of San Francisco's Seniors.

· Over 1000 seniors and persons with disabilities have been trained in leadership and community organizing through Senior University.

Improving Transportation - MUNI, Taxis and Paratransit

· SAN's first campaign resulted in bus stop tow-away zone enforcement and dramatically increased fines for parking in tow-away zones.

· SAN saved bus transfers from extinction.

· Convinced MUNI to develop multi-lingual reserved seating signs. A senior video humorously trained thousands of students in bus etiquette.

· MUNI "Good Driver Award," in cooperation with transport workers union, rewarded senior-sensitive drivers and reprimanded bad drivers.

· Started city taxi task force to fight for better neighborhood service.

· Effectively advocated for over 75 monolingual Russian seniors who were being denied paratransit access. Improved the paratransit scrip and appeals processes.

Protecting Pedestrians

· Surveyed intersections citywide which led to the creation of the much-publicized Dangerous Dozen Intersection Campaign. Improvements (like no right turn on red and all-cross signals) have been made at all twelve intersections.

· Launched the Pedestrian Safety Task Force now run by the City.

Fighting Crime

· Forced Housing Authority to improve facility security in all 22 senior buildings.

· Hosted citywide community policing forums and lobbied for beat patrols. Dozens of crime prevention workshops performed in eleven languages!

· Improved 911 response time, which led to creation of the 911 Task Force and building of the state of the art emergency dispatch center and expanded staffing and improved working conditions.

Advocating for Senior Services

· "Keep the Heart in Senior Services" Campaign mobilized 1500 multilingual seniors to preserve services from budget cuts ('92-'94). SAN has led efforts to improve financing and quality of senior and disabled services annually.

Struggling for Quality Medicare and Universal Health Care
· Led the 1993 mobilization statewide for the Petris Bill, a proposal for a single payer universal health care plan in California.

· Collected more signatures than any other group in California to qualify Proposition 186 for the ballot, the Single Payer Initiative.

· Mobilized to successfully fight the Gingrich cutbacks of 1995, which would have devastated Medicare and Medi-Cal.

· Led the 1996-1999 mobilization for the California Patient Bill of Rights, resulting in the signing of over 23 pieces of legislation to protect managed care consumers.

· Launched the National Campaign to Protect, Improve and Expand Medicare with a multi-lingual town hall meeting of 700 people with Congresswomen Pelosi and Lee. The Campaign played a crucial role in stopping Medicare from becoming a privatized HMO voucher program.

Protect Tenant Rights and Build Senior Housing

· Created the Senior Housing Action Collaborative (SHAC) with the Housing Rights Committee to organize seniors for tenant rights and affordable housing.

· Gathered signatures to qualify Propositions H and N for the ballot (2000) to stop capital improvement pass-throughs and prevent evictions from tenancies-in-common.

· Launched the "Two Bits for Housing Campaign" to increase affordable housing development by 25% and to increase the senior housing development to 25%.

· Assisted in numerous campaigns to protect seniors from evictions and rent gouging and preserve neighborhoods from over-development.