Serving the Potrero Hill, Dogpatch, Mission Bay, & SOMA neighborhoods since 1970

The Good Life Grocery Bags the Pandemic

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A year has passed since Mayor London Breed issued one of the nation’s earliest shelter-in-place orders. Much has changed since then. According to the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, less than half the City’s small businesses are open. Sheltering-in-place, with roughly 31,000 people unemployed, have drastically cut demand for such services as dining out and… Keep Reading

Foster Children Need Parents

Michele Foy, a pediatric nurse at the University of California, San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital, dreamed of becoming a foster parent since she was a child, but didn’t think it was feasible. She’s not a stay-at-home mom nor lives in a big suburban house. She and her husband, Sean, both work. They live in a… Keep Reading

Short Cuts

Bus Stop Housing Moves The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved construction of more than 500 housing units, at least half of them affordable, at the San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Agency’s Potrero Bus Yard.  As part of the five-year project a 100-year-old storage yard and trolley bus maintenance yard located on 4.4-acres at 2500… Keep Reading

Op-Ed: Farley’s Returns

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A year ago, Chris and I got up late, watched the news and contemplated what to do about Farley’s Oakland and San Francisco. We’d worked furiously to adjust to a “to go” model in the face of a pandemic that was fast approaching like an ominous storm. We went to work on March 16 and… Keep Reading

Central Waterfront Navigation Center May Reopen Soon

The Central Waterfront Navigation Center (CWNC), located at the east end of 25th Street, closed for the past year, may reopen soon as COVID-19 vaccinations become more widespread. Last month, Mayor London Breed announced the availability of vaccines to those experiencing homelessness or living in congregate care facilities, such as homeless shelters. When the facility… Keep Reading

Starr King Elementary Begins to Welcome Students Back to Campus

On April 12th, the San Francisco Unified School District will resume in-person instruction for students at facilities that’re in Phase 2a of the Return Safely Together Plan. Pupils and their families will have just six weeks of near normality before summer vacation.  For many Phase 2a students it’ll be the first time they or their… Keep Reading

Cruise Plans Electric Vehicle Recharging Stations in Dogpatch

The warehouses on Cesar Chavez Street by Pier 80 aren’t much of a travel magnet in their current state, serving as Penske rental truck storage facilities, but if autonomous vehicle company Cruise has its way, they’ll be the site of a high-capacity electric vehicle (EV) charging facility by 2022. Earlier this year Cruise announced its… Keep Reading

Action Auto Picks Up Trash

Action Auto Care has offered car repair services on 17th and Vermont streets for 20 years. Owned by Robert Kim, who has worked in the neighborhood for a quarter-century, previously at another shop, Action boasts more than 400 five-star reviews on Yelp. Described by commentators as “thoughtful,” “friendly,” and “honest,” Kim is often an unexpected… Keep Reading

San Francisco Modern Art Museum Reopens

Last month, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art welcomed visitors with a free admission day to celebrate its second reopening since a shelter-in-place mandate was imposed a year previously. The first reopening, in October, required masks and physical distancing, but only lasted until December, when case-numbers spiked. This attempt is more cautious, with reduced… Keep Reading

Community Calendar – April 2021

VirtualSpoken Word: Oral FloristOral Florist, by Rita Bullwinkel, is a sound library of authors, musicians, and artists reading texts encountered in their daily lives, presented as an interactive garden in which visitors click on a bud to watch a flower bloom as they listen to a recording. The petals were gathered from San Francisco flower shops… Keep Reading

Historic Gate House Gone

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I’ve worked to save the historic brick buildings at the Potrero Power Station on 23rd Street since 2018 when the site’s developer told me all these buildings would be demolished. Thankfully, plans changed. Station A, the largest historic building, will be saved and added to. I was told in January that the 100 year old… Keep Reading

Obituary: Ronald Maggi Dinslage

Ronald Maggi DinslageMarch 9, 1947 to February 26, 2021 Ronald grew up in Potrero Hill. He attended St. Teresa’s School and St. Ignatius College Preparatory, where he played baseball. Ron received a scholarship to the University of San Francisco, where he studied law and continued to play baseball. After graduating he was drafted by the San Francisco Giants,… Keep Reading

Breweries Need a Stiff Drink

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Decreased sales and increased costs are threatening the survival of San Francisco’s breweries. On Second Street, 21st Amendment’s recorded message indicates that the brewpub is temporarily closed. On Howard Street, ThirstyBear Organic Brewing’s website states, “ThirstyBear has gone back into Hibernation. Hopefully just a short winter nap!?”  Last year, Ferment Drink Repeat closed its doors… Keep Reading

Few San Franciscans License Their Dogs

Calculating the number of unlicensed dogs in San Francisco is a bit like estimating how many fish there are in a lake based on an afternoon of fishing. It’s a tricky business, said Virginia Donohue, executive director of San Francisco’s Animal Care and Control (ACC). “Nobody really knows how many there are; there’s not an… Keep Reading

Local Theaters Search for Spotlight

With live entertainment dormant over the past year, theater companies have shifted to offering shows online, a tactic that hasn’t generated significant revenues. As operating losses grow, ongoing uncertainties brought by the pandemic make it difficult to plan for whatever seasons lie ahead. PlayGround pivoted to the web at the start of the public health… Keep Reading

Publisher’s View: Convenience

“You got a mortgage without meeting with anyone in person,” my brother-in-law, Harvey, asked, incredulously.  “From a bank you’ve never been to?” It was the end of the 20th Century.  I was buying my first property, an exhausted two-flat building on Kansas Street.  I’d found a low-interest rate mortgage with HSBC by paging through the… Keep Reading

Short Cuts

Herrera Sues Last month, City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed a motion for a preliminary injunction against the San Francisco Unified School District to compel it to reopen public schools as allowed by public health officials. A hearing is set for March 22, 2021. The submission details the harms being visited on children as a result… Keep Reading

Rec Park to Pave Parts of Esprit Park

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After a contentious years-long debate over how best to renovate Esprit Park, the Dogpatch Neighborhood Association, supported by the Potrero Boosters, among others compromised on Plan W, selecting it from six redesign plans offered for the 1.8-acre open space. Plan W calls for two meadows, the south designated “family” – dog-free – the north an… Keep Reading

Gyms, Restaurants Grapple with an Uncertain Future, Some Gone Forever

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Struggling San Francisco businesses were allowed to partially reopen in late-January after nearly two months of being largely banned from operating, bringing a cautious optimism to fitness companies and restaurants plagued by more than a year of restrictions and associated lost income. Shortly after the state lifted a regional stay-at-home order implemented in early December, Mayor… Keep Reading

Salons Take a Haircut During Pandemic

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James Colgan was about to open his third James Colgan Hair Salon in Cow Hollow last March when the pandemic struck. A year later, he’s pared his business to just two chairs on 18th Street, a location above which he’s lived for the past 13 years. He was forced to close a 25-chair salon in… Keep Reading

Third Rail Offers Well-Priced Electric Bikes in Dogpatch

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Long-time Potrero Hill resident, Eugene Dickey, opened Third Rail Ebikes on Third and 24th streets last November. He’d first started mulling over the idea of launching a bicycle shop after experiencing firsthand the challenging nature of negotiating San Francisco’s steep slopes and confronting high price tags and poor customer service from existing electric bike vendors.… Keep Reading

Community Calendar: March 2021

VIRTUAL3/4 ThursdayHistory: Celeste-Marie Bernier, Judith Butler, and Isaac Julien in ConversationMcEvoy Foundation for the Arts and the San Francisco Public Library present a conversation between Celeste-Marie Bernier, Judith Butler, and artist Isaac Julien about the legacy of the influential women in the life of Frederick Douglass, 1818 to 1895. 12 to 1:30 p.m. Free. For more… Keep Reading

Schools May, or May Not, Open for In-Person Learning this Month

Last December, the San Francisco Unified School District notified families that it was preparing a phased reopening of in-person learning, starting on January 25th. Different schools and groups would be invited back to in-person learning in tiers, reflecting specific schools and grades, such as younger and Special Education students, with tier assignments subject to change.… Keep Reading

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