Filipino Social Heritage District Awareness at the Parol Festival
December 8, 2009
San Francisco — On Saturday, December 12, 2009, the organizers of the Parol Lantern Festival are taking the festive and much awaited event to also promote issues and campaigns that are closer to the heart of Filipinos.
Foremost of these campaigns is the call to remind everyone to participate in the upcoming US Census in April, 2010. The Festival¹s theme Light the Way, Be Counted seeks to promote awareness to every Filipino in the US to get involve and be counted. In the past census, it was reported that Filipinos were among the undercounted ethnic groups.The Philippine Consulate of San Francisco is also actively promoting the ³Get-Out and Vote² call for the 2010 Philippine Election. The Consulate sees the Festival¹s overall theme of Light the Way, Be Counted as very timely and appropriate, most especially among Filipino expatriates and those with dual citizenship.
The other important campaign that has not entered yet the awareness of most Filipinos is the proposition to designate ³Filipino Social Heritage District² in San Francisco. This initiative is coming from the Filipino American Development Foundation, the San Francisco Planning Department and the Western SoMa Citizens Planning Task Force.
The proposed Filipino Social Heritage District highlights the long-standing cultural institutions in the neighborhood as they have served as places of worship, for community services, for arts expression, and as sites for cultural activities and events. The plan also proposes to perpetuate the Parol Lantern Festival as a tourist ritualistic path with permanent lanterns designed to complement the existing public street lights along the proposed path on Mission Street and Sixth Streets.
Among the proposed objectives of the Filipino Social Heritage District are 1) Classify historic landmark buildings based on their social value, 2) Encourage the development of affordable housing projects that support keeping existing affordable housing and supportive resources; 3) Develop housing policies that help keep existing house stock and creating new housing that is affordable and designed for flexibility by future users. 4) Using community benefit funds to support the retention of social heritage assets.
Through the Parol Festival and other community events such as Pasko sa SoMa Celebration, the FADF is inviting current and former residents of the South of Market, and others in the community fill up a survey and/or to join the FSHD Citizen¹s Advisory Committee in preparation to present the FSHD to the SF Board of Supervisors and the Mayor for approval this coming spring.
The Parol Lantern Festival is on Saturday, December 12, 2009, from 3 pm to 8 pm, at the Yerba Buena Lane, Jessie Square near St. Patrick¹s Church. For more information, contact MC Canlas at mccanlast@aol.com or (415) 574-8718, or contact parolsf@gmail.com , or visit www.bayanihancc.org.
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