Last year, Ronaldo Cianciarulo distributed letters informing his neighbors about plans to expand the rear of his 825 De Haro Street residence, and invited them to his home to discuss the potential project. Twentieth Street residents, Mary Maglio and Diana Bowen, met with Cianciarulo, and expressed their concerns that the scheme would significantly block several…
San Francisco Fire Department’s Station 37 was built in 1914 at the corner of 22nd and Wisconsin streets, near the top of Potrero Hill. According to a local historian quoted in a 1996 The Potrero View article, the structure “went up without much fanfare,” since, in the years following the 1906 earthquake, “a lot of…
After some delays, the foundation is being laid at Project X, the next step in redevelopment of the Potrero Annex and Terrace housing complexes. Simultaneously, designs have been unveiled for the next stage of the massive renovation, giving a new glimpse into how Potrero Hill’s southeastern slope will ultimately be transformed. Over the next 10…
An ongoing San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency project on Potrero Avenue, between 21st and 25th streets, was designed to improve safety and speedup San Francisco Municipal Railway schedules. However, nearby residents are concerned that the effort has resulted in excessive loss of street parking on the 900 block of Potrero Avenue, and created impediments for…
For the past three years, Dr. Andrea Zorbas has worked at the San Francisco Stress and Anxiety Center located South-of-Market, providing psychological counseling for adults. According to Zorbas, her clients, who often come with “career-related” worries, “all have an undergraduate degree, and most have a postgraduate degree,” and largely work in the tech industry. Before…
Last fall, a U.S. News & World Report article detailed the increasingly competitive nature of the American college admissions process, with more high school graduates vying for a finite number of premium institutions. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, enrollment in post-secondary institutions increased from 25 percent in 1970 to 40 percent in…
Beginning this month, premier members of the Bakar Fitness and Recreation Center, located at the University of California, San Francisco’s Mission Bay campus, will have to pay for the privilege of parking near the facility. When the Center opened in 2005, three hours of free on-campus parking was included with premier membership. These members now…
Last spring, a Tel Aviv University study of anti-Semitism in 40 countries found that violent anti-Semitic attacks declined in the past few years, while non-violent incidents, such as vandalism and hate speech, increased. The United Kingdom experienced an 11 percent jump in non-violent events between 2015 and 2016; American college campuses were identified as a…
It’s been more than a year since the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) proposed a pilot in Dogpatch to test interventions that might make parking in the neighborhood easier. The agency has held regular meetings with residents, but consensus has yet to be reached on what approach to take. “Not a whole lot has…
The City and County of San Francisco is home to roughly 42,000 teenagers. This summer, as in season’s past, many of City’s young people are in the hunt for employment for their first time. Nationwide, the unemployment rate for people aged 16 to 19 is 13.7 percent, compared to 4.5 percent for the general population,…
Aperto, until April 30 located at 1434 18th Street, went out of business last month after 35 years of serving locally-sourced food for brunch, lunch and dinner. Jesse James opened the restaurant 1992. In 2002, he sold it to Chris Shepherd, who served as chef when the business launched. “My heart and soul has always…
San Francisco International High School has been located at 1050 York Street for six of its eight-year history. The campus previously housed Bryant Elementary School, now at 2641 25th Street. Thought the facility was renovated to better serve teenagers, SFIHS’ population has doubled, from roughly 200 to more than 400 students, squeezing space for academic…
The Good Samaritan Family Resource Center, on Potrero Avenue, has been a welcoming space for immigrants for 123 years. So, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents showed up one morning while preschool and English-as-a-Second Language classes were in session it sent shock waves through the community. It was January 26, one day after Donald…
Office parties, conferences, and donations to civic organizations are among the ways local politicians use campaign funds leftover after an election. The bulk of the remaining money, however, usually goes to paying political consultants. Laws regarding what politicians are allowed to do with excess funds vary depending on whether they win election or not, vacate…
Besides its good coffee, Piccino Coffee Bar’s essential charm is that within the converted horse stables of Dogpatch’s iconic Yellow Building it occupies an alcove separate from its parent establishment – the upscale trattoria at 1001 Minnesota Street, with an around-the-corner entrance facing 22nd Street – which makes the tiny café, with seating for about…
Facing a $400,000-plus budget deficit, the New Generation Health Center, located at 625 Potrero Avenue, had been slated to close last summer. The Center, founded and operated by the University of California, San Francisco more than 20 years ago, provides reproductive health services to mainly low-income young adults in a confidential environment. It’s significantly reliant…
What’s larger than the Bahamas, Cuba, Haiti, Belize, Aruba and Jamaica combined, but not as much fun to frequent on a sunny day? The answer is the City and County of San Francisco’s budget, which is larger than the combined budgets of those six nations. It’s also bigger than 13 states and, at $11,100 per…
Public comments on a draft environmental impact report for the University of California San Francisco’s proposed Child, Teen and Family Center, at 2130 Third Street, have included strong opposition to the facility’s design and location. The project, currently in the design phase, is slated to go before the University of California Regents this May for…
Low enrollment resulted in closure of Potrero Hill’s only comprehensive high school, International Studies Academy (ISA), which had been located at 655 De Haro Street, at the end of the last academic year. The campus had experienced declining registrations for several years. Once serving grades sixth through 12, a phase-out of middle school grades began…
Numerous items are caged behind glass doors at the Potrero Center Safeway, dissuading some would-be shoppers from patronizing the store. “My family has stopped shopping there,” commented J.R. Eppler, Potrero Boosters president. “Too many of the items, including infant formula, that we went specifically to Safeway for, are now behind lock and key.” Around 4…
In fiscal year (FY) 2016, the City and County of San Francisco’s budget increased by $650 million, to $9.6 billion. In FY 2017, expenditures will rise by another $135 million, to roughly $9.7 billion. The budget reflects approximately $35 million in San Francisco Board of Supervisor cuts from Mayor Edwin Lee’s proposed spending. The Board…
Daniel Webster and Starr King elementary schools started the 2016 school year with new principals and freshly renovated campuses. As reported in the October 2015 issue of the View, 10 percent of Webster’s student body left the school last year, reflecting parents’ lack of confidence in school leadership, as well as concerns about what…
San Francisco Police Department data indicate that there were 26,758 more serious felony crimes – murder, arson and motor vehicle theft – reported in 2015 than in 2010. All told, in 2015 there were 53,291 property offenses and 6,776 violent crimes. However, while felonies were up, arrests were down over the period. The arrest rate…
On September 6, 1991, Potrero Hill nightclub Bottom of the Hill hosted its first rock show, headlined by a now-forgotten band, the Bird Killers. Over the following quarter-century, the unassuming, out-of-the-way venue introduced alternative-rock fans to a multitude of names they’d never forget, including Oasis, Alanis Morissette, Marilyn Manson, Pavement, Modest Mouse, the White Stripes,…
It started as a simple home improvement project. For 35 years, Robert Hines had a driveway and a garage, but no curb cut. Pulling his automobile onto his property meant the car muffler would scrape against the pavement. When Hines finally got around to pulling a permit to construct the curb cut in 2013, he…