Internet Service Provider Monkeybrains Born in Potrero Hill
When the Internet was young, Rudy Rucker and Alex Menendez liked to meet for coffee at Farley’s, on 18th Street. There, the aspiring technology entrepreneurs laid the groundwork for Monkeybrains, the Internet service provider (ISP) Rucker founded in 1998. Menendez joined a year later as co-owner. Monkeybrains is now the largest independent ISP based in…
Psychedelics Emerging into the Mainstream
Over the last 20 years psychedelics – lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin mushrooms, 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA), among others – have shifted from underground and counter-culture club drugs to medicines that are increasingly taken seriously by scientists. A 2006 John Hopkins University study determined that “magic mushrooms” can create lasting “personal meaning and spiritual significance.” A steady…
Arteries of the Americas
San Francisco art galleries are offering by-appointment viewing of exhibitions originally scheduled to open last spring. Seven Rivers – which was supposed to start accepting visitors in March at Euqinom Gallery on Alabama Street – is an expansive journey in experimental landscape pictures from Idaho photographer Ansley West Rivers. In 2013, West Rivers set out…
Sexual Abuse Alleged at Lowell High School
Earlier this summer, Lowell High School (LHS) posted a statement on Instagram. “The Lowell Community Equity Committee (CEC) is disturbed by the recent reports of sexual violence and verbal abuse allegations by students and teachers on campus. The acts described in the allegations are reprehensible. We want to uplift the voices of the courageous students…
16th Street Knits Neighborhoods
The stretch of 16th Street along Potrero Hill’s northern edge is being transformed from a desolate thoroughfare into a revitalized intertidal pool of three growing neighborhoods: South-of-Market to the north, the Hill to the south, and Mission Bay to the east. Change was sparked by the 2015 opening of Potrero1010, a two-building, mixed-use complex at…
Despite Complaints Mission Bay Affordable Housing Complex Generally Well-Liked
Affordable housing complex, 626 Mission Bay Boulevard North, sports a gleaming S-shaped facade, the curves a counterpoint to the nearby Chase Center. With bright white shiny chrome stylings, the building matches with other structures sprouting up in newly upscale and futuristic-looking Mission Bay. Yet according to some reports, the polished exterior masks incompetent and mean-spirited…
The Power Station Moves to Construction Phase
Last spring, Mayor London Breed signed legislation approving construction of The Power Station, a 29-acre mixed-use complex located along 23rd Street. The development will have approximately 2,400 residences, six acres of publicly accessible parks and recreational areas, and 1.2 to 1.9 million square feet of office, lab, and retail space. It’ll also open access to…
Islais Creek Planning Process Continues at a Trickle
More than a year after planning efforts began, municipal officials and advocates have determined that the Islais Creek Adaption Strategy should include a comprehensive vision for how the watershed can best serve nearby residents, workers and businesses, as well as address ways to manage increasing flood risks. Bayview and the Southern Waterfront are especially vulnerable…
The Armchair Art Show
When the Bay Area shelter-in-place mandate went into effect in mid-March in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, galleries in the DoReMi arts district shuttered. New exhibitions were postponed; current shows extended indefinitely. Galleries initially invited visitors to view exhibits by appointment, but most have since transitioned to online-only viewing spaces. Online observation generally consists of…
Recommendations for College Student Hopefuls in the Face of COVID-19
Is it presently possible to take SAT or ACT tests? The College Board cancelled June SAT test dates. Students who have credit/no credit report cards or want to attend a “select” university should plan to take the SAT and/or ACT this fall, if possible. Though most colleges are test optional for the Class of 2021,…
Opening of Mission Bay School Delayed
San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) staff have confirmed that pre-construction activity for a proposed Mission Bay elementary school will be deferred until 2022, with construction commencing the following spring. The campus’ estimated opening has been pushed from 2023 to 2025. Lot 14, a 2.2-acre parcel along Owens Street just off the traffic circle at…
Mission Bay Biotech Companies Join the Fight Against COVID-19
During the first quarter of 2020 Mission Bay biotechnology companies and nonprofits pivoted from researching a wide variety of illnesses to focusing principally on creating COVID-19 diagnostic tests, medical interventions, and vaccines. Some of these entities now face supply chain delays and shutdowns. They’re working to source the live animals and chemicals needed for their…
Potrero Hill Democratic Club Struggles to Reach Voters
Like many others, shelter-in-place orders and likely lingering constraints on large gatherings in the face of public health risks has forced the Potrero Hill Democratic Club (PHDC) to reorient its political organizing efforts. PHDC meetings can draw up to 50 people to the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House for presentations on such issues as how to…
Long-term Dogpatch Business Owner and Community Activist Prepares to be Evicted
John Borg, who has occupied a 20th and Illinois streets building for almost 30 years, will soon move from Dogpatch unless he can find a new space for his sustainable schwag enterprise. Borg runs Eco Imprints, Inc., a City and County of San Francisco green-certified product enterprise that’s part of Green America’s Green Business Network.…
The Human Touch
In her 1975 essay “The Laugh of the Medusa,” French theorist Helen Cixous coined the term Écriture féminine: writing by women for women as a means of self-examination. By writing about pleasure and taking pleasure in writing, Cixous posited that composing could constitute an act of feminine liberation. So, too, it might be with visual…
Smuin Pushes the Boundaries of Ballet
During normal times, not an hour goes by without a small crowd gathering outside the Smuin Ballet Studio at the corner of 17th and De Haro streets. Bus riders, children on their way home from school, and shoppers with bags full of groceries stop to marvel at every mesmerizing arabesque, grand jeté, and pirouette through…
Taxes Deferred, Social Services Available, as Response to COVID-19 Takes Hold
The March 16, 2020 San Francisco Department of Public Health order for people to shelter in place until April 7 triggered a fundamental change in life on the Southside. Individuals were told not to leave their homes except for “essential” functions, including to purchase groceries, gasoline and medical services. People are allowed outside to exercise,…
Crime Trends Largely Static through the First Quarter of the Year
One-quarter of San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) incident reports in Potrero Hill and Dogpatch so far this year have involved vehicle larceny. Other robberies, including bike theft and stolen packages, made up 11 percent of SFPD reports in the neighborhoods. Eight percent involved motor vehicle thefts, with seven percent associated with burglaries. The percent distribution…
Navigation Centers Heading Towards Full Capacity
The Embarcadero Shelter Access for Everyone (SAFE) Navigation Center, located at Seawall Lot 330, opened last December. By February, 130 beds at the facility were taken, 100 percent occupancy for the startup phase. Plans to ramp up to 200 beds by the end of the year were put on hold when the San Francisco Department…
Starr King Elementary School Writes with 826 Valencia Mission Bay
One of 826 Valencia Mission Bay’s first year goals was to work with third-grade classrooms at schools in Bayview and Potrero Hill, providing weekly writing support. Since last August, 826 staff and volunteers have worked with Herman Shepard, Starr King Elementary School teacher, to design whimsical and weird, Common Core-aligned writing lessons. From personal narratives…
ONLINE UPDATE: RWANDAN LEADERS FORGO PAY IN SOLIDARITY WITH SHELTER-IN-PLACE SUFFERING
Like many other nations, Rwanda enforced a shelter-in-place order from mid-March to the end of April. Half-way through the social shutdown, as increasing numbers of people lost their livelihoods, a communique was issued: “In the context of the fight against COVID-19, and in solidarity with the most affected Rwandans, the Government of Rwanda has decided,…
ONLINE UPDATE: CORONAVIRUS INFORMATION FOR FAMILIES
HELPFUL LINKS AT THE END OF THIS STORY. Starting Tuesday, March 17, the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) will provide free breakfast, lunch, fresh fruit and vegetables, milk, and shelf-stable meals to all children ages 18 and younger. A child needs to be present to pick-up food; no registration, identification, nor proof of school…
Neighborhood Organizations Advocate for Residents; Local Businesses
A handful of civic organizations track land use changes in Dogpatch and Potrero Hill, and advocate on behalf of residents at City Hall. Among the most prominent of these are the Potrero Boosters, Potrero Dogpatch Merchants Association (PDMA), and Dogpatch Neighborhood Association (DNA). The Boosters focus on issues that impact Hill residents. “What makes the…
Orlando: A Photography
Virginia Woolf’s 1928 novel Orlando: A Biography, tells the story of a poet born in Elizabethan England who lives for three centuries. Along the way the main character, Orlando, meets several key figures in English literature and mysteriously changes sex from male to female, making the novel both a history of English letters and an…