Short Cuts
Power
City Attorney and Dogpatch resident Dennis Herrera may have thrown the last stone that will topple the Potrero Power Plant. Under a proposed legal settlement – that needs to be endorsed by the Mayor and Board of Supervisors – Mirant Corporation will join the City in advocating that the 40-year-old natural gas and diesel-fired plant be shuttered by the end of 2010, and contributing $1 million to help pay for neighborhood public health initiatives, such as supporting an asthma clinic. In return, Mirant would receive expedited review for any future development projects at the site, and the City would withdraw its demand that five unoccupied brick structures owned by the company be fixed. Meanwhile, the California Independent System Operator’s (Cal-ISO) latest data indicates that San Francisco will have more than enough electricity supplies after the Trans Bay Cable is operational next spring without the Potrero Power Plant. Still, Cal-ISO has yet to signal that it’s ready to release the entire plant from its obligation to remain in service. Your help is needed to pry the state agency’s fingers off our local smoke stack. Cal-ISO is likely to make a decision on the plant’s future at its September 10 and 11 board meeting; encourage them do the right thing by acting on the plant closure advertisement that appears later in this issue…Three hundred mostly small businesses reduced their electricity use by more than five megawatts for two hours when they were asked to do so by Dogpatch-based nonprofit San Francisco Community Power last month. The businesses are participating in a “demand-response” program that pays them a few dollars to temporarily reduce their electricity use when electricity supplies are tight. Harnessing the power of small businesses kilowatt by kilowatt is another way to kill power plants; death by a thousand nicks.
Buses
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is changing a number of the bus routes that serve Potrero Hill, with some stops eliminated, and new lines being added. The 48 and 22 are being re-routed, and will no longer transverse the middle of the community. The 53 is being replaced by the 10, and the 12, 33, and the new 58 will all run through the neighborhood, with the 10 providing the first service from the top of the Hill to downtown. The 19 will still travel to the Civic Center Bay Area Rapid Transit station. Most of the changes appear to appeal to Hill residents, but some parents are concerned that increased bus traffic at the Connecticut and 20th street bus stop could pose risks to children visiting the library, as well as pedestrians on their way to nearby stores, delis, and cafes at the heavily used intersection. Likewise, with the 48 re-routed to run along the southern edge of Potrero Annex and Terrace to Third Street there will be no east-west connection to the top of the Hill, potentially disrupting transportation for families traveling from the Mission District to Starr King Elementary School’s Spanish immersion program, among others. The complete set of changes can be seen at http://www.sfmta.com/cms/mtep/ documents/ District10_8-26-08rev.pdf. If you don’t like what you see, tell Muni about it: the agency is sponsoring a community meeting at 1 p.m., September 3, at the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House…Speaking of the Mission, recently heard on that street, spoken by a tattered-at-the-edges hipster talking on a cell-phone: “How the hell can you be a Buddhist? I hate Buddhists!”
Businesses
For those standing in line for Goat Hill Pizza’s all-you-can-eat-Mondays at 5 p.m. sharp, it’s time to fall back: all-you-can-it-night now starts at 4 p.m. Just remember to skip lunch that day, so you have room for a multiple-slice dinner… La Fleur opened last month on 20th and Arkansas streets. Offering haircuts, eyelash extensions, nails, and waxing, the shop is the second business to chance the location in the wake of long-time hair salon Michael Gary moving on a couple of years ago…Sunflower Vietnamese Cooking also launched last month across the street from Goat Hill Pizza. The corner has been haunted by a string of short-lived restaurants since that lovely Greek restaurant - what was its name – departed in the 1990s. Let’s hope Sunflower lasts a good long time…Urbino, the highly anticipated Dogpatch restaurant tied to Chef Nate Appleman of A16 and SPQR fame, appears over before it began. Food blogs are blaming leasing issues and timing for the Italian restaurant’s apparently scotched plans. Appleman’s sudden departure from both existing restaurants – and San Francisco altogether – certainly play into the news. Appleman, who’d recently won acclaim as Food & Wine’s Best New Chef, and then picked up the national James Beard Foundation award for Rising Star, relocated to New York City in late July and will be soon be featured as a contestant on the Food Network’s The Next Iron Chef. Interior construction of the Urbino restaurant property, slated to open in the fall at Minnesota Street’s Homes on Esprit Park, had not yet begun. No word on what will fill the now-unclaimed space, or the Esprit Park unit that Appleman reportedly purchased for himself prior to changing coasts… Robin Brouilette apparently was evicted from her upscale haberdashery, next door to Farley’s, owing her landlord a fair sum. As reported in the View when the store first opened, it wasn’t the first time fancy clothes failed to pay the bills. San Francisco has lost 90,000 jobs – 15 percent of its workforce – since the 2001 dot.com bust. Meanwhile the Great Recession has emptied out 10 million square feet of office space in the City, enough to fill nine Bank of America buildings…While to a casual eye it doesn’t look like things have improved much, on Third Street in the Bayview, storefront vacancies are down 15 percent, and sales tax revenues are up 26 percent. Movement it is, but a shift from not much to a little more is a pale victory. Nothing plus nothing still equals nothing…”How’s business?” asked one merchant to another. “Not so good,” he replied, “Even the customers who don’t pay their bills aren’t buying.”
Water
Long-time Potrero Hill resident Edward Lortz caught the San Francisco Chronicle’s attention by pointing out a decade-old leak at Missouri and 19th streets. According to Lortz, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which manages the City’s water system, told him five years ago that the leak was coming from an underground spring, but a SFPUC worker told him several months ago that the problem was something else. Adding to the mystery, a SFPUC sawhorse was put over the leaking sidewalk last spring, ostensibly because work was being done to stanch the running water. But the trickle continues, along with the sawhorse. After hearing from the Chronicle about Lortz’s complaint, the agency sent a leak-detection crew to find out what’s going on.
Garbage
New garbage rates went into effect over the summer. The basic rate for a 32 gallon can is now $25.48 a month, while a 20 gallon receptacle is $19.62 a month. Blue recycling and green compost bins are free…Both Franklin Square and Potrero del Sol are on the Department of Recreation and Park’s list to receive new or refurbished bathrooms, outcomes that may be achieved before the next presidential election…According to Park and Rec communications director Lisa Seitz-Gruel, renovations at the Jackson Park Clubhouse are underway “to preserve the structural integrity of the building. We don’t have a date when that work will be completed,” but a timeline should be available by the time the September View goes to press.
Cool Cats
Nonprofit Toni’s Kitty Rescue, which provides care for feral cats, as well as abandoned, orphaned and surrendered kittens, has already served more animals this year than the total number rescued in 2008. The economy may be responsible: if you can’t afford cat food, you can’t afford a cat. Even in a typical year Toni’s works with more than 700 kittens. If you’d like to donate to the cause, contact Toni Sestak, 828.4153…Speaking of Good Samaritans, on an early Saturday evening last month Potrero Hill mom Tricia Lawrence left her purse, filled with identification, credit cards, and cash, hanging on the fence at McKinley Square. The following Sunday morning, before Lawrence was even aware it was missing, the purse was delivered to her home by neighborhood dentist Sam Thatcher…And a very happy 80th birthday to Dick Millet!
