In 2016 San Francisco hosted Super Bowl 50. Then Mayor Ed Lee ordered the San Francisco Police Department to move those living on the streets from places they might be seen by tourists. Many were told to go to 13th Street — Division Street — a place of perpetual half-darkness roofed by the Central Freeway. … Keep Reading
Criminal sentencing policies swing one way and then the other, but demand for entry into the Delancey Street residential training center for drug abusers, ex-convicts, and the unhoused remains the same, according to Dr. Mimi Silbert, the program’s president and chief executive office. Started in 1971 by Silbert and John Maher, the San Francisco center… Keep Reading
Shortly before the start of the pandemic, Smuin Contemporary Ballet and the Smuin Center for Dance relocated to 1830 17th Street, between Rhode Island and De Haro. The Ballet was founded in 1994 by Michael Smuin, former choreographer and co-artistic director of San Francisco Ballet; the Smuin Center for Dance was established two years ago… Keep Reading
California faces a conundrum. We want to radically reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), principally by replacing fossil fuels used in transportation and buildings with electricity generated by renewable energy. Yet, the state’s electricity prices are among the country’s highest and still rising. Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) customers pay roughly 80 percent more per kilowatt-hour… Keep Reading
United States Representative, District 11: Nancy Pelosi. Our hometown congressional hero is awesome, and remains if not at, close to, political peak power. That said, please Nancy, retire gracefully when you feel you’re slipping. State Controller: Former District 10 Supervisor Malia Cohen is a pretty good politician. She does not, however, have a reputation for… Keep Reading
Eastern medicine – which focuses on treating the person rather than the symptoms – has been practiced for more than 3,000 years, with medical texts that date to the Han Dynasty in China (206 BCE to 220 CE). Western medicine principally attempts to understand linear sequences of adverse events culminating in a pathology that’s tangible… Keep Reading
Passersby may have noticed two rows of identical bungalows huddled together on Tennessee and Minnesota streets near 22nd. These are Pelton Cottages – 1002, 1004, 1008, 1010, 1012, and 1014 Tennessee Street – and their backyard neighbors; 903, 905, 907, 909, 911, 913, and 915 Minnesota Street. San Francisco was once home to 26 of… Keep Reading
Now through 6/11 SaturdayArt: The Mail Art Club ExhibitionAt the beginning of the pandemic Creativity Explored artists mailed one another handmade postcards to stay connected, an experimental exchange of art and ideas initiated through a virtual class taught by Michael Napper. Over the past two years CE artists, teachers, staff and volunteers created and mailed… Keep Reading
There’s been a coffee shop at 301 Arkansas Street for the last 22 years. Not anymore. Masoud, who owned and operated Chatz since 2005, reluctantly had to close the business in April. Challenges caused by the pandemic, combined with nearby construction that disrupted parking, created traffic congestion, and drew unregulated food vendors selling to site… Keep Reading
Opened in October 2020, Crane Cove Park – located at 18th and Illinois streets – has quickly become a beloved neighborhood asset. But community members are concerned that the seven-acre regional park is being maltreated, with poor landscape maintenance and a lack of enforcement to keep dogs leashed. “The Port thinks this park is their… Keep Reading
Six new and two returning members were empaneled on the Dogpatch & NW Potrero Hill Green Benefit District’s board last month. The eight – representing more than half the 15 board seats – were chosen by property owners within the district, according to executive director Julie Christiansen. “Every year typically five seats are up for… Keep Reading
Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s undergrounding of two miles of new distribution lines in Potrero Hill has prompted concerns from residents about short-term parking shortages while the work is being done, a lack of construction competency, implications of the costly investment to future utility rates and a lack of transparency. Hill residents are also… Keep Reading
Sad to say, we’ve drifted into a world in which this editor of a half-century old neighborhood newspaper feels a twinge of fear when contemplating writing about redistricting municipal supervisorial districts. To characterize the debate over how best to right size district lines in the face of population changes as “heated” would be akin to… Keep Reading
Haney Wins District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney won last month’s special election for the District 17 State Assembly, trouncing David Campos, 63 percent to 27 percent, with fewer than 62,000 voters. Mayor London Breed will name a successor to fill Haney’s seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors until an election is held in… Keep Reading
After weeks of heated debate and threats of lawsuits the nine-member San Francisco Redistricting Task Force adopted a final draft map for supervisorial districts last month. Under the plan Bayview, Dogpatch and Potrero Hill will remain in District 10. The Tenderloin, formerly in District 6, will shift to District 5, alongside the Haight. Mission Bay… Keep Reading
As the pandemic hopefully wanes, Muni lines have been restored, altered, and temporarily or permanently abandoned. The 55 Dogpatch began service last January, replacing the 22 Fillmore, which’d shifted the eastern portion of its route as part of the 16th Street Improvement Project. More than 1,000 community members expressed opinions about their preferred route for… Keep Reading
Now through 5/13 FridayArt: Dennis Leon and the Art of Instruction This exhibit portrays Leon as a gifted artist and extraordinary teacher, displaying his recent work and that of 11 artists he taught during his 16 years as a California College of the Arts faculty member and Sculpture Department chair. Wednesday to Friday 11 a.m. to… Keep Reading
Amazon has paused development of a proposed 5.8-acre parcel delivery facility at 900 Seventh Street in response to municipal legislation passed earlier this year. The location is the site of a former waste maintenance facility, now empty, which Recology sold to Amazon in 2020. The land use law, authored by District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton,… Keep Reading
As the April 15 deadline for redistricting supervisorial districts approaches, many District 10 residents are adamant that Potrero Hill, Dogpatch, and Bayview should remain together. To separate them would be counter to historical ties between the communities, demographic patterns, and interests advocates insist. Yet, one proposed map, released last month, puts areas west of Kansas… Keep Reading
At the beginning of 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital broke ground on a $290 million, 175,000-square foot research and office facility, funded by the University of California. Construction of the Research and Academic Building (RAB) is expected to be completed this year, with occupancy by early-2023. RAB will… Keep Reading
In Mendocino County, 523 acres of rugged forest is studded with the ghostlike stumps of ancient redwoods harvested during a logging boom that eliminated 90 percent of the species on the West Coast. But about 200 acres were spared the saw, still dense with old-growth redwoods. The land was the hunting, fishing and ceremonial grounds… Keep Reading
Esprit Park Late last year the Eastern Neighborhoods Citizens Advisory Committee (ENCAC) approved $800,000 for Esprit Park improvements, which’ll be used to pay for material and labor cost increases largely related to the COVID-19 pandemic. “It really isn’t a case of one particular item. It’s that everything costs more across the board right now. We… Keep Reading
Potrero Annex-Terrace residents are concerned about periodic instances of high asbestos levels in the air caused by construction at 1801 25th Street and an associated lack of immediate notifications from Bridge Housing and the San Francisco Housing Authority (SFHA). Annex-Terrace is being slowly redeveloped under Potrero HOPE, launched in 2017. In 2021 the project… Keep Reading
Now through 4/30 SaturdayArt: TEXERETEXERE: The Shape of Loss Is a Tapestry, by Indira Allegra, is a living, interactive memorial to loss. A garden of hanging tapestries acts as a canvas for writing and images projected in the gallery space. The tapestries are updated in real time from TEXERE, a collaborative web platform developed in partnership… Keep Reading