Samuel Thomas is angry. During the public health crisis, the 10-Townsend – a bus line he and other Potrero Annex-Terrace residents relied on to go shopping, travel to medical appointments and get to work – stopped running. “I’m old and sick, I use a walker,” Thomas said. “A lot of us are sick, old. We…
In August, Jude Deckenbach, Friends of Jackson Park (FoJP) executive director, introduced the idea of renaming Jackson Playground at an online meeting of the Potrero Boosters, a neighborhood group consisting of Potrero Hill, Dogpatch, and Showplace Square residents. “We are in touch with Jude and have shared our park renaming policy,” said Tamara Aparton, San…
David Maron was named captain of the Bayview Station last February, after more than 25 years with the San Francisco Police Department. His appointment was made in the wake of a year of civic unrest demanding changes to policing and public safety nationwide. Maron was previously a lieutenant at Park Station on the Westside for…
According to data collected by Civic Hub – a San Francisco incubator for technology projects that improve quality of life – crime incidences have generally declined since 2018. Even before last March’s COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders, theft occurrences trended downward over the past three years. Almost one-half million reported crimes were committed in the City since…
Electric vehicle sales in the United States reached a record high last March, with 122,016 EVs sold. According to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, that month Americans purchased 75,959 hybrid-EVs, 33,370 battery EVs, and 12,687 plug-in hybrid-EVs. California accounted for almost half of national EV sales in 2021, most of which occurred in Los…
In response to pressure from Dogpatch residents, Amazon will make improvements to the area around 888 Tennessee Street, a two-story industrial building that the almost two trillion dollar company leases to serve as an UltraFastFresh site to deliver groceries. “It looks like we’ll be getting a new sidewalk on 20th Street between Minnesota and Tennessee…
“Accessible” and “customer-driven” aren’t necessarily what come to mind when you think of the retail wine experience. But San Francisco’s neighborhood wine bars—with hybrid retail and dining options—have evolved to become fun and educational gathering places, thanks to a new crop of sommelier founders. Sommeliers, co-founders and owners of DECANTsf, Simi Grewal and Cara Patricia…
Residents are concerned about potential impacts on community cohesion, economic activity, and transportation caused by University of California, San Francisco developments in Dogpatch. Some say UCSF is expanding far beyond its intended footprint when it first moved to Mission Bay. “UCSF made promises to not come south of Mariposa Street when it was granted…
The Play Bocce In Dogpatch league’s inaugural season began in June and runs until mid-August. The league’s eight teams consist of residents of Bayview, Potrero Hill, Mission Bay, and, of course, Dogpatch. Dogpatch resident Adam Gould created the league to bolster the number of neighborhood-based bocce teams. He also wanted to increase the amount of…
A 450-unit residential development proposed to replace a commercial building at 300 De Haro Street has attracted significant opposition. Potrero Hill residents are upset that the apartments would be microunits, as small as 220 square feet. They’re also concerned about the complex’s size: 120 feet high, with 11 stories. “This is not housing. It’s lodging…
Recall SF School Board has gathered more than 20,000 signatures to recall two San Francisco School Board members, board president Gabriela López and Alison Collins, and in excess of 18,500 signatures to withdraw board vice president Faauuga Moliga. “We are recalling the School Board because they have consistently failed to put students first,” said Autumn…
Mission Creek Senior Community’s residents are celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of their Fourth and Berry streets home. Mercy Housing owns and manages the 139 rental units, affordable for very low-income people aged 62 and up. San Francisco Public Library’s Mission Bay Branch, 960 Fourth Street, around the corner from the senior community’s residential entrance, 225…
Three months ago, San Francisco Unified School District’s Board of Education member Alison Collins was stripped of her leadership position in a five to two vote amidst calls for her resignation after a series of tweets she wrote in 2016 were unearthed. Before that, the Board triggered a nationwide backlash for proposing to rename 44…
The San Francisco Planning Department issued a 55-page response in April that calls for changes to a proposal Amazon submitted to develop a last-mile parcel delivery facility in Showplace Square. The planned 900 Seventh Street facility would be three stories and 650,000 square feet, according to the Preliminary Project Application (PPA) that Amazon submitted in…
The once iconic Potrero Hill mural at the corner of 17th and Connecticut streets is steadily fading, the wall on which it is painted in disrepair. “The cost to restore this mural would be at least $20,000, a number I estimated three years ago,” said Susan Cervantes, founder and director of Precita Eyes Muralists Association.…
Roughly $50,000 will be distributed to each of San Francisco’s 33 district merchant associations, including Potrero Dogpatch Merchants Association (PDMA) and Dogpatch Business Association (DBA), as part of a $1.7 million donation from Chris Larsen, founder of the blockchain company Ripple. The funding is being provided through the Avenue Greenlight initiative, a partnership between the…
Mission Creek Park P3 will transform a barren, nondescript strip of terrain into a lush, lively gateway to the Mission Bay South neighborhood. The new 1.65-acre park will serve to extend Mission Creek Park, located west of Fourth Street, and align it with China Basin Park, part of the Mission Rock development being constructed east…
In 1879, San Francisco opened its first public library on the second floor of Pacific Hall on Bush Street, which moved to City Hall in 1888. In 1918, a library station opened in the Daniel Webster School near 20th and Connecticut streets. Over time, with multiple reconstructions and expansions, this became the light-filled, seed-lending, Potrero…
The San Francisco Human Rights Commission (HRC) is accepting proposals for “The Dream Keeper Initiative” – formally known as the City Reallocation Fund – under which $120 million from the San Francisco Police Department and Sheriff’s Office budgets is being redirected to nonprofits that serve the Black community. “We know that to actually see true…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.…