Short Cuts
Little League
Henry Anderson, seven, a first grader at Starr King Elementary School’s Mandarin Immersion Program, is playing on San Francisco Little League’s (SFLL) Upper Farm team, the Brewers. His dad, Peter Petruzzi is the team’s assistant coach. Lifelong Potrero Hill resident, Jasper Liles, eight and a half years old, is playing on the Upper Farm Atlanta Braves. He’s joined on the team by former Potrero Hill resident Elon Goliger Mallimson, almost nine. Keith Scafe is playing in the Minors division for the St. Louis Cardinals. Last year he played in the Rookies division Oakland A’s – which won the SFLL Rookies American League Championship – with Potrero Hill buddy Vaughan Zerbe. His favorite positions are pitcher and short-stop. After playing on the Giants last year, Sara Moss, seven and three-quarters, is playing on the A’s, one of only four teams in the all-girl softball Farm division.
Hit and Run
Early one March morning a White Toyota Camry rounded the corner on 20th Street, sped down San Bruno Avenue, and hit a parked truck. The truck spun and slammed into another car that was parked eight feet away. That car then hit a sports utility vehicle (SUV). Both the car and the SUV were slammed with such force that their front wheels were knocked up on the curb. The Camry’s passengers, described as teenagers or young 20-somethings, quickly fled over the 18th Street footbridge overpass. No one appeared to be hurt, except, of course, the vehicles themselves.
Publisher’s Health
Former View publisher Ruth Passen is back on her feet after recovering from hip surgery. The long-time Democratic Party activist is still glowing from national election results, particularly since she did her share of get-out-the-vote activities in Nevada. One of the first things Passen did upon regaining some of her former stamina was attend a Potrero Hill Democratic Club meeting. Nothing like politics to keep one’s blood churning.
Daggett!
An idea floated by Judith Klain, Deputy Director of the San Francisco Public Health Department’s Project Homeless Connect, has Daggett Triangle developers shaking their heads. Klain’s proposal – to use the Daggett Street right-of-way near 7th and 16th streets to house a community garden for the homeless – wasn’t mentioned during five years of planning by Denver-based Cherokee Investment Partners for their 400-unit development project at 1000 16th Street. Real estate consultant Joe Boss, a Potrero Boosters and Dogpatch Neighborhood Association member – as well as Eastern Neighborhood Public Benefits Trust Fund trustee (see below) – said that the idea, which would provide the City’s homeless a place to cultivate fruits, vegetables, and medicinal herbs, was “swell, but came out of nowhere.” According to Cherokee Principal Partner Dan Murphy, the community should be consulted about how best to use the space, which Cherokee prefers to see developed as a park. “They should help decide whether it gets turned into a park or a garden or left as a street, and what amenities would then be appropriate. Then there would have to be a determination as to how such amenities were operated and maintained,” Murphy said.
Franklin Square
The Franklin Square playground is expected to open next month. There will definitely be a party, but a date for it has yet to be announced…The New York Street Café, at 18th and York streets, closed last month. The sandwich joint first opened in the early-1990s as the York Street Café before changing hands once or twice. Over the years the staff was notably friendly, and the food was solid. On to whatever’s next…Do you need office furniture for your nonprofit organization? Do you have old furniture that’s taking up space at your home or office? IREUSE, http://ireuse.com/, enables organizations and individuals to sell, donate, or obtain furniture and supplies, including rugs, art, whiteboards, desks, bookshelves, and filing cabinets.
Trust Fund
The Eastern Neighborhoods Public Benefits Trust Fund continues to spread its largess, including financing a spiffy new floor for the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House (Nabe). As far as can be gleaned from the tight-mouth trustees, who consist of Joe Boss, Susan Eslick, and Keith Goldstein, to date the Fund has dispersed monies to the Nabe, Potrero Residents Education Fund, Thick Description, and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to conduct a transportation study. Most recently, the Fund gifted GreenTrust SF-Central Waterfront $55,000. The View has always been troubled by the Trust Fund’s lack of transparency (see November, 2007 issue), but the Greentrust grant follows an August 2008 “Short Cuts” which retracted the paper’s allegation that Fund monies had been given to GreenTrust, a nonprofit for which Boss’ wife, Janet Carpinelli, serves as a board member. That, apparently, was then and this is now. A GreenTrust representative says that Boss recused himself from the Greentrust funding decision…
Bridge Makes Good
Last month Bridge Housing President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Carol Galante, was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing Programs at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Galante will be responsible for HUD’s financial support for the development and preservation of privately-owned rental housing, and will work on several new sustainable development initiatives. Bridge is leading the effort to redevelop the Potrero Annex and Terrace housing complexes. Bridge Executive Vice President Lydia Tan will serve as interim president while the board searches for a new CEO.
Singing Out Loud
Kenny Chesney returns to AT&T Park on July 18th. Last time the country music star came to town the ballpark’s sewage system backed-up, fights broke out at nearby Bay Area Rapid Transit stations, and Potrero Hill residents were kept up long past their bedtimes by the concert’s well-amplified sounds. Let’s hope Chesney’s visit passes more peacefully this time around.
Tax Credits
A notable provision of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, aka, the Economic Stimulus Package, is a 30 percent tax credit – up to $1,500 – for installing energy efficient doors and windows, insulation, and heating, ventilation, and air condition systems. The 30 percent credit, with no upper limit, is also available for solar panels and water heaters. The tax incentive is available from now until the end of 2010. If you still have money in your pocket, there’s no better time to replace those drafty windows…And apropos of the Stimulus Package, state and local agencies are in the whip-saw position of sporting significant budgets deficits for most of their programs, while gobs of money are being stuffed down the throats of others. One example: the California Department of Community Services, which provides energy assistance programs to low-income families, had a 2008 budget of $108.5 million. This year, federal dollars have ballooned it to $451.4 million. Vice President Joe Biden may be threatening to audit every case in which Stimulus funds are abused, but quadrupling modest-sized agencies’ budgets in a single year fairly begs for leakage…
Unedited View
A View reader sent an anonymous letter begging the paper to obtain the services of a proofreader. The unidentified correspondent accurately pointed out that in its March issue the View used “who’s” instead of “whose” in a front page headline; “have” instead of “has” in a page one article; and featured multiple questionable applications of hyphens throughout the paper. The View’s current proofreaders, who principally consist of the publisher and his wife, do their best to police the paper’s pages without compensation, usually on weekends, and find each post-publication mistake painful. The View would welcome similar volunteers who are willing to give their time in the service of a more perfect paper. Contact us at editor@potreroview.net.
