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.…
Since the public health crisis began last year demand for furry friends has exploded. Thousands of people have signed up to foster an animal at the San Francisco Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SF SPCA). Muttville Senior Dog Rescue and other animal rehoming agencies have been deluged with applicants. This outpouring of pet love…
Dogpatch, Mission Bay and Potrero Hill are served by two San Francisco Police Department districts. The Southern and Bayview districts are located east of Highway 101 and south of Mission Street, an area that experienced a 45 percent decline in reported rapes, and a 40 percent decrease in claims of human trafficking last year. Larceny…
Even before emergence of the novel coronavirus, San Francisco faced a hunger crisis, with one out of five residents at risk of being unable to afford a nutritious meal. Since March 16th, 2020—when shelter-in-place orders were first issued – that risk became a reality for many families. According to the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank’s Keely…
Every two months, an informal group of individuals, public servants, and community-based organization (CBO) representatives gather to discuss issues that impact Bayview-Hunters Point residents. The relationships developed through Bayview Alliance meetings helps participants address such challenges as fostering art, educational disparities, housing and food insecurity, economic and employment inequities, access to parks, environmental education, and…
Esprit Park will be renovated in the “second half of 2022,” closed to the public for “about a year” during construction, said San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department’s (Rec-Park) Alexis Ward at a December online community meeting, which drew 84 participants. The Department wants public input on which of six design options – ‘U’, ‘V’,…
In addition to hoverboards, unicycles, mopeds, and dog-pulled skateboards – as well as an occasional car or bike – San Franciscans will soon be sharing the roads with driverless robocars, zipping through traffic without the added weight of human passengers. Last October Cruise LLC received a permit to test up to five vehicles at a…
The site of the future Mission Bay School on Mission Bay South Block 14 is a quarter of an acre larger than indicated in the Mission Bay South Redevelopment Plan, which identifies “approximately” 2.2 acres for use as a public school. That .25-acre discrepancy is delaying transference of the 2.45-acre parcel from the University of…
Friends of Dogpatch Hub (FoDH), formed to establish a community center, wants to secure a long-term lease with the Port of San Francisco on the Kneass building, at 651 Illinois Street. Under its proposal the nonprofit would pay nominal rent but be responsible for repairing and restoring the edifice. FoDH would be able to sublease…
Plans to freshen up Esprit Park remain unsettled, with renovation unlikely to begin for at least another year. Enjoyed by people and dogs alike—as evidenced by the brown dirt patches and fenced off areas to allow grass to regrow— the almost two-acre green space in Dogpatch has been subject to competing visions over how it…
RescueSF wants to end homelessness in San Francisco, not in the next 10 years, but now. The coalition of neighborhood associations and concerned individuals plans to accomplish that goal by calling for a set of common solutions to be implemented throughout San Francisco, and the Bay Area. “In the past when we talked to district…
Asked how COVID-19 was affecting Potrero Annex-Terrace residents, Bee replied, “Not much, it’s always been hard here…” Life at Annex-Terrace wasn’t getting harder. It’s always been hard. Bee knew someone who had the virus, and worried about how it was transmitted. She planned to get tested at the Potrero Hill Health Center, Wisconsin Street and…
Last month, Mayor London Breed floated a two-year budget in which $120 million would be shifted from the San Francisco Police and Sheriff’s departments to programs intended to benefit African Americans. Under the initiative $40 million a year would be redirected from SFPD, $20 million annually from the Sheriff’s Department. “We are listening to the…
A 1/8 cent sales tax to fund Caltrain will appear on San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara county ballots this November. It took the San Francisco and Santa Clara Boards of Supervisors until just before an early August deadline to be included in the fall vote to reach an agreement to strip the measure…
The commercial real estate market in Potrero Hill and Mission Bay has so far been largely immune to COVID-19’s economic disruption. Vacancies remain low, office rents are rising, and tenants are signing leases for newly constructed retail storefronts. Life science spaces with research laboratories have a waitlist. “It seems almost impossible when you look at…
The public health crisis, combined with economic, political, and social turbulence, has prompted a rise in anxiety and other mental health disorders. Last spring, as the number of COVID-19 infections rose, so did demand for antidepressants. “Zoloft prescriptions climbed 12 percent year-over-year to 4.9 million in March, the most ever in the U.S.,” reported Bloomberg…
San Francisco has been sheltering in place for almost six months. The full or partial closure of the tourism, restaurant, and retail sectors prompted the City’s unemployment rate to jump from 2.3 percent in February to 12.6 percent in June, damaging people’s ability to afford food and rent. Elderly and disabled people, among others, have…
Last month, outdoor dining, curbside pickup, retail stores, and gym classes were greenlit to operate in public spaces, such as on sidewalks, parking lanes, parks, and Port of San Francisco lands. The Shared Spaces Program (SSP), which’ll run until the end of the year, was created by the City’s COVID-19 Economic Recovery Task Force, a…
Project Artaud, pronounced Ar-toe, is a live/work nonprofit that houses roughly 70 artists at 499 Alabama Street, in a building that spans an entire city block, from Mariposa to 17th, Alabama to Florida. Many of the residents are older than 65 – some in their 80s – elevating the need for adequate COVID-19-related health protocols. The…
In May the San Francisco Department of Public Health (DPH) released data that confirmed earlier results that the 94103-zip code, South-of-Market (SoMa), has the City’s greatest intensity of individuals testing positive for the novel coronavirus, approximately 46 per 10,000 residents. The 94124-zip code, Bayview-Hunters Point, has the second highest concentration, approximately 41 per 10,000 residents…
Construction of Crane Cove Park began in 2019, following years of neighborhood advocacy. Now, after missing its targeted spring inaugural, the Port of San Francisco hopes to partially open an unfinished park by this fall. Work at the site stopped in April, due to the City’s shelter-in-place order, resuming in May with a limited workforce.…
A group of Potrero Hill residents, with assistance from Hibiscus Studio, is creating a “Poppy Path” from Wisconsin and Coral streets to 23rd and Arkansas streets. The walkway will be lined with native plants – including poppies – as a means to create a beautiful and calming perambulation between Starr King Elementary School and the…