Rapid robotics creates mechanical arms that undertake the uninteresting, unclean, and unsafe work a human would otherwise have to do, according to the company’s chief marketing officer, Kim Losey. Numerous manufacturing facilities have challenging labor environments, such as meat-packing facilities, where employees are subject to near-freezing temperatures. Robots can replace people in those jobs. “The…
A concerned neighbor has requested that the proposed permit for 945 Minnesota Street be withdrawn from the Historic Preservation Commission’s (HPC) calendar, asserting that it doesn’t comply with the San Francisco Planning Code (SFPC). “It is not allowable to use illegal construction at the adjacent property to justify building in the Required Rear Yard and…
Edward Hatter has been the executive director of the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House, also known as “the Nabe,” since 2004. He recalls applying for an internship at the Nabe in low-income housing development when his grandmother, Enola Maxwell, served as the nonprofit’s ED. “I remember seeing the announcement on her desk. Then I had to…
The designation “San Francisco” was first applied to the San Francisco Bay in the early-16th Century when Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo sailed into the inlet. Cabrillo named the bay, and the surrounding expanse, for Saint Francis of Assisi, a Catholic monk identified with poverty, charity, and humility. In 1775 Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de…
The federal 1949 Housing Act authorized demolition and reconstruction of urban neighborhoods that were considered slums. Under the legislation, “redevelopment” targeted low income and non-white neighborhoods. In the 1960s, with its old Victorian houses and mostly Black population, the Fillmore became the focus of San Francisco’s urban renewal. Jazz clubs were shuttered. Businesses torn down.…
The View canvassed its readers to identify individuals who volunteer their time to make a positive difference in their community, some of whom are described in this article. The paper welcomes nominations of others. Alice Rogers has served as South Beach | Rincon | Mission Bay Neighborhood Association (SBRMBNA) president since 2018, initially joining the…
Last month, Friends of Jackson Park held its first in-person meeting at the Jackson Clubhouse since 2019. Roughly 100 people attended, including District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton, District 11 Supervisor and San Francisco mayoral candidate Ahsha Safai, and mayoral candidate and Potrero Hill resident Daniel Lurie. The two-hour event focused on briefing community members on…
Earlier this year, Ericka Lacayo, a popular Potrero Kids preschool teacher, was diagnosed with Stage 2 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, an aggressive breast cancer. The cancer hasn’t metastasized, but requires aggressive treatment involving chemotherapy, surgery and radiation. Lacayo began her leave of absence from Potrero Kids last month, after raising $20,000 as part of a GoFundMe…
Next door to the Museum of Craft & Design, on Third Street, Dogpatch Boulders offers a 20,500 square feet climbing gym, with 17-foot-high walls. The facility is inside an adapted warehouse space, originally built for American Can Company in the 1950s. When it opened in 2013 it was the country’s largest bouldering center. Since then,…
A Missouri Street resident for 31 years, Matt Chanoff describes himself as inquisitive, happy, and optimistic. He trained as an economist at Johns Hopkins University in Washington D.C., and worked as an investor, consultant, and volunteer, engaging with startups, large corporations, academic institutions, and nonprofits. He leveraged those skills and experiences to co-author a book…
I’m a parent of two children living in Dogpatch. A decade ago, I got my doctorate at Stanford University, under the guidance of Professor Carol Dweck, focusing on “growth mindset,” the belief that abilities and talents can improve, as opposed to a “fixed mindset,” the conviction that abilities and talents are stable. At the time,…
Last August signs were erected on Wisconsin Street that indicated parking would be prohibited for four days, with a permit reference to Yerba Buena Engineering. Residents were irritated by disruption of their regular parking patterns, but it appeared to be for a good cause: installation of speed bumps. The first week came and went…
In 2008 Lucho Ramirez founded Cine+Mas SF, showcasing 15 independent films from the Spanish-speaking world. Today, the festival screens about 70 features a year, including eight short programs. Most of the movies are made in the United States with, on average, 10 Latin countries represented. Flicks from Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, and Chile are the…
Dogpatch is a fun place to wander around and explore, with its numerous parks, green spaces, and clearly identified slow streets and walking paths. One place worth visiting, the Museum of Craft & Design, is tucked into a large warehouse building near the Third and 20th streets Muni stop. It’s recent “Fight and Flight: Crafting…
Last month the awning at the former location of Dave’s Food Store on 20th and Connecticut streets sported new signage: Loard’s Ice Cream. The impending arrival of the parlor signaled the end of a dessert desert, of sorts. Potrero Hill’s last ice cream store, The Daily Scoop, on 18th Street, which opened in the mid-1970s,…
Dogpatch and Mission Bay are amongst the last neighborhoods to be settled in San Francisco. More than 50 percent of these communities’ housing stock was built in the 21st Century, compared to 12 percent citywide. Eighty-nine percent of Mission Bay’s residences were constructed over the past 23 years, on land that’d previously served as a…
Rising expenses, labor shortages, equipment failures, COVID hardships, and the impending sale of the 300 De Haro Street complex in which her bakery was located prompted Yasmin Points to close My Good Pie in 2022. “It was a desperate situation, with no place or time to take or sell equipment, and we were in deeper…
Last month, the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department (RPD) and Port of San Francisco assumed maintenance and operation responsibilities for 18 Mission Bay parks. The more than 24 acres of open space was previously managed by Parklab Open Space Management (POSM), which took over from MJM Management Group. RPD held a community celebration at…
The 2023 Day on the Green neighborhood celebration will be held on August 26 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Potrero Hill Recreation Center Park, 801 Arkansas Street. The free family-friendly event will feature complimentary barbeque, raffles, dances, entertainment, music, bounce houses, a youth zone, and field games. Participants are encouraged to bring…
Potrero Hill residents Kayren Hudiburgh and Lester Zeidman have long nurtured The Good Life Grocery, a natural foods store located at 1524 20th Street. Together, the duo weathered the COVID pandemic, 2008 recession, and different turns of fortune for close to five decades. Good Life Grocery’s Bernal Heights location, at 448 Cortland Avenue, opened in…
The View canvassed its readers to identify residents who volunteer to improve their community. Below we describe the efforts of some of these individuals; the paper welcomes nominations of others. Sue Bushnell, South Beach District 6 Democratic Club president, has been a San Franciscan for 54 years. Presently a Bryant Street resident, she’s previously lived…
Sirens and castaways, drag and modern dance, a shipwreck in a nightclub. We Build Houses Here, performed last May at Oasis, showcased each of these elements intermingling like tidal forces. “This hits so hard for me,” said Eric Garcia, who directed the immersive theatrical experience. “There is this thing that most (queer) artists go through…
Opening this fall, the Bertrand D. Hsu American & Chinese Bicultural Academy will offer “quality, rigorous, affordable and bicultural education” to kindergarten to eighth grade students. The school will be located at 450 Connecticut Street, a space first used as Saint Teresa of Avila Catholic Church’s elementary school that’s been home to the American College…
Starr King Elementary, located adjacent to Starr King Open Space, offers a Mandarin Dual Immersion (MI) program, two classes for each grade, and a General Education (GE) track. Roughly 360 students attend the school, with access to courses in music, dance, gardening, and art. Interviews with students and parents revealed a mix of feelings about…
According to The Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco’s (ICA SF) founding director, Ali Gass, the always-free, non-collecting museum was conceived amidst the depths of the pandemic and racial reckonings of 2020. “The vision was to offer extraordinary arts and culture that helps audiences navigate the cultural, social, and political cultural issues around us, in…