Diamond Heights Neighborhood, San Francisco CA

About Diamond Heights Neighborhood

Diamond Heights is a neighborhood in central San Francisco, California, roughly bordered by Diamond Heights Boulevard and Noe Valley to the north and east and Glen Canyon Park to the south and west. It is built on three hills: Red Rock Heights on the northwest, Gold Mine Hill in center, and Fairmount Heights (including Billy Goat Hill) on the southeast.

Diamond Heights was the first project of the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association, intended to use its redevelopment powers for land on the hills in the center of the city to be developed with, rather than against, the topography. Few existing residents needed to be relocated for the redevelopment program, which included housing for a range of incomes, churches, schools, parks, and a commercial center.

History of Diamond Heights Neighborhood

Diamond Heights was the first project of the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association, which aimed to use its redevelopment powers to develop land on the city's hills in harmony with the topography rather than against it. Few current people had to be relocated as part of the rehabilitation effort, which featured affordable housing, churches, schools, parks, and a commercial area.

This type of redevelopment was governed by the Community Redevelopment Law, which was enacted in 1951 as a codified version of the California Redevelopment Act, which was enacted in 1941.[6] Redevelopment in California came to an end on February 1, 2012, after the State Supreme Court ruled that the Legislature had the authority to terminate the program on December 29, 2011.

Demographics of Diamond Heights Neighborhood

Diamond Heights is a San Francisco neighborhood. Diamond Heights has a population of 3,745 people, with 52 percent males and 48 percent females with a median age of 43.

Families with children make up 23% of the population in this neighborhood, while single-female families make up 31%, single-male families make up 19%, and couples make up 50%. Diamond Heights has an average household size of 2.35 people and a family size of 2.97 people.

Transportation in Diamond Heights Neighborhood

Muni lines 35 Eureka, 48 Quintara, and 52 Excelsior serve public transportation in Diamond Heights. The 35, 48, and 52 all connect to the Muni Metro system; the 35 to Castro Street Station, the 48 to West Portal Station, and the 52 to Forest Hill Station. Additionally, at the Glen Park Station, the 35 and 52 connect to the Bay Area Rapid Transit system.

Politics in Diamond Heights Neighborhood

It's a sort of direct democracy that has a beneficial impact on our neighborhood.

Lifestyle in Diamond Heights Neighborhood

"People residing in the area in 1868 included carriage makers, stablers, bankers, civil service workers, painters, and men engaged in the building industries; in 1877, there were 25 trade unions in the city with a total membership of 3,500."

In the 1930s, some stores and businesses failed, men were unemployed, families were on relief, men were selling apples on street corners or doing whatever they could to save money and light, and rooms in homes were closed off to save heat and light.

Schools in Diamond Heights Neighborhood

"Sometime around the 1870s, two schools were built in the Upper Noe Valley—Fairmount. Both were small wooden shacks. One was the original Fairmount School at Randall and Chenery Streets. The other was the Clement School (now Kate Kennedy) at Noe and 30th Streets. In 1876, Father Breslin celebrated the first Mass in St. Paul Parish in a brick building on Noe Street between 28th and 29th Streets.

Real estate in Diamond Heights Neighborhood

Diamond Heights was described by San Francisco as "currently a predominantly open, blighted area, characterized by the following conditions: economic disuse; faulty planning; the subdividing and sale of lots of irregular form and shape and inadequate size for proper usefulness and development; the laying out of lots in disregard to the contours and other physical characteristics of the ground and surrounding conditions; the existence of inadequate streets, open swaths of land, and open swaths of land."

Diamond Heights Neighborhood Association members were taken aback. They had no idea they were living in a slum. They responded with a lawsuit challenging anyone's right to take their land, including the government's. On November 23, 1954, the California State Supreme Court upheld the Redevelopment Agency's position, and on December 6, 1954, the United States Supreme Court declined to consider the case. In the project area, there were 169 upgraded real estate properties. Fourty-nine properties were omitted from the plan, and 80 were required to undertake property changes in order to meet with Redevelopment Agency standards.