If you've been on this site, you've already heard about the shady closed door sale of beloved our beloved community station, 90.3 fm KUSF. I'll resist waxing on about the importance of this old and established San Francisco fixture, and instead focus on what we can do. By the time you are done reading this, you could have done (almost) all of them.

As you also might have heard, Supervisor Mirkarimi was scheduled yesterday (2/1/11) to introduce his proposition to block the sale of KUSF to the Board of Supervisors. He asked for a continuance of one week- this is a good thing.

Supervisor Mirkarimi addressing the crowd yesterday, photo by Gina JustGina

This is one week where we can accomplish some serious community organizing. The nub and thrust of the whole thing is to make it blatantly and unavoidably clear that the loss of KUSF is unpopular. The board will resume on Tuesday, February 8th to vote. In the meantime, take every step you can to voice your opinion to the Board of Supervisors, like:

1. Call and Keep Calling- If you don't know your district, check this district map. Then check here for the contact information of your Supervisor here. If you call during normal business hours, your call will be answered by your Supervisor, or an aid. Calling after they close is also effective, jamming up the voicemail can do wonders. Tell them, firmly, that you urge them to stand with Sup. Mirkarimi to block the sale of 90.3, and restore broadcast programming of KUSF.

If you are not registered to vote, call anyway. If you are registered in one district, but live in another, call both supervisors. If your Supervisor is Ross Mirkarimi, call Mark Farrel of D2. It's adjacent, and he's one of the more conservative leaning Supe's.

If you are not a San Francisco resident, but live within the broadcast radius of KUSF, you can still call- call all of them.

2. Email, Email All of Them- emails can also be found on the Board of Supervisors website. A succinct sample would be:
"Dear Supervisor ________, I urge you to vote in favor of Mirkarimi's proposition on Tuesday, February 8th. KUSF is a valuable community asset, and I wholly oppose it's sale. -Best Regards,

______________

[address]"

Write a separate email to Carmen Chu and ask her to show some leadership. She (like Farrel) is a likely candidate for blocking a unanimous vote.

3. Send a Letter- basically, do exactly the same thing as the email, but with physical, tangible, letters. Snail Mail is so antiquated, that it gives what you have to say that much more impact.

4. Sign the Petition- go to the Save KUSF website and sign the petition. No matter how informal, petitions are taken very seriously by sitting boards in this city.

5. Rally- My instincts tell me there will likely be a rally at City Hall, probably in the afternoon, of February 8th. These are the kinds of protests that really work, because from where the Board is sitting, they can hear the commotion outside. Check with Save KUSF for updates about an upcoming rally.

5. Sign Up For Public Comment- this is one of the more grueling steps. It involves getting to the board meeting before it starts, signing up for Public Comment, and drooling quietly while the Supe's deconstruct the most mind numbing intricacy of legislation you can imagine for the duration of the meeting, and then presenting an argument (lawyer style). But, if lots of people show up and do this, it makes a serious impact.

I've done all this stuff before, and I swear to you, it works. Around this time in 2009 there was a conflict about whether or not American Apparel could open up shop on Valencia and 21st under a Conditional Use Authorization, and directly violate 2006's mandate against formula retail on the street. I'm not going to go into the debate here, but I was on the "protect small businesses from corporate competitors, protect residents from rent inflation, and no they do not qualify for Conditional Use, I read the terms" side of the fence. It was harder in that instance to gain support; partly out of irony that hipsters were protesting American Apparel, and partly because people didn't really understand what our problem was. We had to do a lot of outreach, talk to a lot of people, and explain the precedents being set. In this way, KUSF should be a much easier cause to support.

Almost every business, and a huge number of residents, along Valencia organized petitions in their shops, and hung posters. Letter writing parties were organized, and a massive facebook movement broke out urging people to email, call, write, whatever. We solicited the support of Supervisor Campos, and then-Supervisor Dufty- which they granted us! By the time the hearing took place at the Planning Commission, it seemed like everyone you knew or had seen around from the Mission showed up to watch and speak (and we sat through all the boring stuff.... really, really boring stuff). Half the people who went up presented petitions they'd organized, many handwritten, and all taken very seriously by the Commission.

In the end, they ruled in our favor. But before they did, they made it abundantly clear that they did so because of the communities reaction. It is a basic qualification for these boards to uphold the will of the people, and if you use your voice, they are contractually obliged to listen.

Roisin Isner, music editor, fecal face dot com

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