Business Last month, Dr. Frank Gilson, a local chiropractor, replaced Keith Goldstein as president of Potrero Dogpatch Merchant’s Association (PDMA). Goldstein sold his company, Everest Waterproofing and Restoration, in 2016. He’d taken over PDMA leadership from Philip De Andrade, owner of Goat Hill Pizza, and run it for a dozen years, during which membership…
Elect! The race to succeed Fiona Ma on the state’s troubled tax board got easier for District 10 Supervisor Malia Cohen, after former assemblyman Rich Gordon dropped out last month. Gordon was troubled by a damning Department of Finance audit that led Governor Jerry Brown to call for an investigation of the board. The audit,…
District 10 in Play Last month, Shamann Walton, a City native and San Francisco Board of Education president, announced his candidacy for District 10 Supervisor in the November 2018 election. “I’ve spent my entire career fighting to improve our southeastern neighborhoods, and I’m running for District 10 Supervisor to make sure City Hall addresses the…
Looped Last month, the California Supreme Court removed the last legal barrier to a long-planned Muni streetcar ring in Dogpatch, rejecting an appeal by the Committee for Re-Evaluation of the T-Line Loop, which wanted the tracks redirected. The loop will run along 18th, 19th, and Illinois streets, and provide a link to the Central Subway,…
Next Neighbor Former Potrero Hill resident, Edward Lortz, who recently left the Hill after 30 years, is advocating that long-time community members be allowed to remain on social media site Nextdoor even if they live elsewhere. “I have historical knowledge and opinions about Potrero Hill…,” said Lortz. “At least 100 people here know I’ve gone,…
Theater Hits the Road The 10th Street building that theater company, Thrillpeddlers, has occupied since 2004 has been sold, forcing the troupe to vacate the premises by the end of this month. For the past 17 years Thrillpeddlers has performed an annual “Shocktoberfest,” and has had significant success with revivals of many 1970s Cockettes musicals,…
According to The New York Time’s Top Stories – a blog-like screed that can be found on the Internet – U.S. Representative “Nanci” Pelosi has a campaign email address that’s registered with Goat Hill Pizza, “which has made numerous donations to the Democratic Party.” The blog, or perhaps more aptly, blech, identified the email address as…
Homeless Kansas Street resident Sherri Franklin, who leads Muttville Senior Dog Rescue, located on Alabama Street, is one of 10 individuals nominated to be CNN’s Hero of the Year. On December 11, at 2 p.m. West Coast time, she’ll appear live on the network in New York City with Anderson Cooper, Kelly Ripa and…
Homeless Potrero Hill residents Jennine Jacob and Stacey Randecker Bartlett, along with other San Franciscans angry about encampments in their neighborhoods, pitched tents last month in Civic Center Plaza. The protest followed an incident in which Jacob took her three-year-old son to Franklin Square playground and found a homeless man sleeping in the sandbox; at…
Corovan Lawsuit Save The Hill and Grow Potrero Responsibly have filed a lawsuit challenging the environmental review conducted on the development of 395, primarily market rate, residential units on approximately 3.5 acres at 901 16th and 1200 17th streets. According to the community groups, the City improperly relied on an “outdated” 2008 environmental study from…
Crushed High-technology motorcycle helmet maker Skully’s, a startup located on Third Street, has crashed. The business ceased operations in July, quickly followed by a lawsuit alleging that the company’s cofounders, brothers Marcus and Mitchell Weller, spent thousands of the company’s dollars on a strip club, sports car, groceries, paintings, and rent for their Marina apartment…Restaurateur…
Shot San Franciscan Rayshawn Larue, 48, was gunned down last month on Potrero Hill’s South Slope. Larue was shot and killed while standing between two cars parked along Dakota Street, a half-block from 23rd Street in the Potrero Terrace public housing complex. Neighbors rushed to help the victim; others called 911. Paramedics and police got…
Church Windows At a Planning Commission hearing held on June 2, the St. Gregory’s of Nyssa Episcopal Church, located on the 500 block of De Haro Street, won the holy war it has been waging against The Murphy Trust since January. The church had raised concerns about how a planned condominium project would affect the…
Mac How much macaroni and cheese can Potrero Hill eat? We’re about to find out. After just five months, Dat Spot, on 18th Street, closed and, last month, reopened as Mac Daddy. The cheesy move followed Jocelyn Bulow’s shuttering of Chez Papa Bistrot, shifting Chez Maman into its former space. Mac Daddy’s chef, Brandon Peacock,…
Political Visits President Barack Obama made a fundraising visit to the Arkansas Street home of Steve Phillips, former president of the San Francisco Board of Education, and his wife, the philanthropist and heiress Susan Sandler. Preschoolers waited on the sidewalk to see the commander in chief go by, as did nearby residents. “We were really…
Green Spent on Green Last month, the newly created Green Benefit District (GBD) spent roughly $34,400 to repair and clean seven green spaces in Dogpatch and northwest Potrero Hill: Benches Garden & Park, Minnesota Grove, I.M. Scott Sidewalk Gardens, Fallen Bridges Mini-Park, Potrero Gateway Loop, Progress Park, and Woods Yard. The funds were used to…
Pier 70 Restored The high-end home furnishing retailer Restoration Hardware will move into Pier 70 next year, the sprawling redevelopment project that’s transforming 66 acres of waterfront land east of Dogpatch with 1,000 units of housing, offices and waterfront parks. The Corte Madera-based furniture company, which has a cult-like following in the interior decorating business,…
Family House The Nancy and Stephen Grand Family House opens next month in Mission Bay. For more than thirty years, Family House has served as a home away from home for families of children with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses, providing physical comfort and emotional support, free from financial concerns. The Family House is a…
For this month’s shortcuts section, we’ve highlighted select Development and Planning Projects that are underway for 2016. Showplace Square/Potrero Area Plan The Showplace Square/Potrero Area Plan was put together in order to ensure that development projects in and near Showplace Square and SoMa don’t change the design PDR-character of the area or negatively affect Potrero…
Shooting Last month, a gun detection system recorded multiple gunshots fired somewhere between Watchman Way and Missouri Street. San Francisco Police Department officers responded to the scene, and found a man suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest. He was taken to San Francisco General Hospital. One suspect was detained. Calm Down Residents of…
Real Estate In September, 1740 20th Street, a roughly 3,000 square feet, three bedroom, two bath home, sold for $9.5 million. Zillow had estimated the property’s value at about $3 million, itself a hefty sum. It’s assumed that the buyer paid cash; otherwise they’d be facing something like a $35,000 a month mortgage payment, which,…
The Center Won’t Hold By well before Thanksgiving, Mission Bay Development, with support from the California Department of Transportation, plans to rip-out the driveway in front of Center Hardware & Supply Co., Inc., eliminating access to the front parking lot, to install a new sidewalk. Center already faces rumors that it’s going to close permanently. …
Death The San Francisco Police Department is investigating the death of 23-year-old Melanie Olivieri as a possible homicide. Olivieri’s body was found at her home on the 1300 block of Utah Street, one block south of San Francisco General Hospital, last month. Police called the death “suspicious.” New Captain Pour Guys – industry veterans Joey…
Shooting San Francisco police are investigating the fatal shooting of a 33-year-old man in the Potrero Annex-Terrace housing complex. Prince Johnson, a City resident, was found suffering from a gunshot wound to the shoulder in late-June on the 1000 block of Connecticut Street, near 25th Street, said police spokeswoman Grace Gatpandan. He was taken to…
Commercial Crime Last month four businesses in Dogpatch and Potrero Hill – Invention Hub, Poquito’s, Papito’s, and Chat’s Roasting Company – were burglarized, in Chat’s case for the seventh time in the last eighteen months…In the meantime, in the face of chronic automobile break-ins and thefts, the San Francisco Police Department posted sentries at the…