December 2008Short CutsHill Death Thirty-five-year-old computer components salesman David Boyce and 30-year-old Academy of Art student Vicky Velarde were found dead in Boyce’s Missouri Street home last month. Police suspect that Boyce may have shot Velarde, his girlfriend, and then turned the gun on himself. Velarde was a Honduran native who immigrated to the United States with her family when she was 11. Two years ago she became a U.S. citizen, voting in the November election for the first time. Boyce, a Los Altos native, was the emcee and rap singer for the band P. Hill. What exactly happened and why may never be known, but police are investigating.
For the past half-decade Potrero Hillians have been treated to an opulent display of beautifully lit Christmas trees and associated ornaments outside Eugene Anthony at Home on Kansas and Mariposa streets. Take a good look this season: it’s the store’s last. The high end home furnishing retailer is closing its doors by New Years. Those with more than a few shekels in their pockets may be able to pick up exquisite sofas, chairs, and other furniture at discounted, though still noticeable, prices.
Last month the Board of Supervisors rejected a resolution by Mayor Gavin Newsom that would have provided the mayor with the authority to negotiate an agreement to retrofit half of the 40-year-old Potrero Power Plant, with the other half shutting down with the completion of the Trans Bay Cable. With the previous proposal for the City to develop its own generating facility near dead, there remains just one responsible way to fully shutter the existing polluting old dinosaur: increased energy efficiency, better management of the electricity grid, and small scale generation, such as solar.
Political wrangling continues over the Eastern Neighborhood Plan, one of the largest rezoning efforts in San Francisco’s history. The latest skirmish was prompted by a proposal from the Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition to remove “middle income housing” from the Mission Area Plan - meaning that households earning between $89,500 and $111,900 wouldn’t qualify for a City requirement that they be included as part of new residential development. Opponents of the change believe that middle income families – in this town a $100,000 salary buys you nothing – should be provided some assistance, particularly since little middle income housing is produced in San Francisco.
Construction Award The National Association of Remodeling Industry (NARI) recently honored Potrero Hill-based Podesta Construction, Inc. for its excellence in remodeling residential bathrooms, homes, and interiors. Podesta Construction is a full service general contracting company…The View is joining more than 70 alternative newspapers to urge its readers to spend at least $100 of their holiday money at locally owned stores. Money spent in businesses located in the community tends to stay in the area, increasing overall economic activity… Daniel Webster Elementary School’s playgrounds are now open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The views are grand, and there is a good combination of open pavement for scooters/learning to ride a bike and play equipment. Check it out!
Turn-out for the November election was notably high, particularly in Potrero Hill, where 76 percent of eligible voters participated, compared to 70 percent citywide, and 57 percent in Bayview…Blogger Nate Silver may have predicted Barack Obama’s victory in March, and George Stephanopoulos in April, but Arkansas Street resident Marjorie Mary-Rose knew that Obama would be elected president when she first saw him speak at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Eighty-one-year-old Mary-Rose, who’s lived on the Hill since 1952, was a life-long Republican until the first Bush’s presidential campaign, when she became a Ralph Nader supporter. During her 40 year teaching career, including at Daniel Webster Elementary School, she kept her political leanings, bred from growing-up in Orange County, California, on the down-low. Not anymore. Mary-Rose couldn’t be happier and prouder of her county. To celebrate the victory, she baked a black forest cake, named it an Obama cake, and brought it to the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House’s senior lunch. How sweet it is! |
This Month's StoriesResidential Areas Exempt from Parking Meter Plan, According to MTA Official City Hopes America’s Cup Runneth Over Starr King Elementary Leads SF Schools in Improved Test Scores Southside a Center for Metal Harvesting History Lives on Wisconsin Street San Francisco Breweries Chug Water Dogpatch Hosts Design Residency Project Monte Cristo Club Serves-Up Salty Fish UCSF - Mission Bay’s Scientist Dave Morgan Studies Segregation Foreclosure Crises Lingers in Bayview Black Population Continues to Dwindle Bayview Foreclosure Fighters Take a Stand Radio Africa & Kitchen Puts Down Roots in Bayview Downtown High School Teaches Environmental Lessons San Francisco Firefighters Distribute Toys, Just Not Through Chimneys Hill Resident Publishes Book About Apple’s Post-Jobs Future Henry Joseph Judnick 1927 ~ 2011 On-going FeaturesCrime & Safety Report: Potrero Hill Resident Works Cases at District Attorney’s Office
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