In our interconnected and device-laden world, cybersecurity has become a hot topic, especially after recent data breaches at the Sony and Target corporations. According to a study sponsored by Hewlett-Packard, cybercrime cost the average American firm $15 million in 2014, a 19 percent jump from the year prior. Average per company losses could top $40… Keep Reading
Multiple farmers markets dot San Francisco throughout the week. From the epic Saturday morning Ferry Building Plaza, to sleepier Fort Mason, it’s possible to find nearly any kind of fruit or vegetable, as well as arrays of cheeses, chocolates, and cakes, in these perennial souks. San Francisco has long been a leader in the food… Keep Reading
Potrero Hill and Dogpatch are home to a number of “Landmark Trees,” so designated for their size, historical value, or beauty by the City. These include the Acer rubrum, “red maple,” at 862 Kansas Street; the Callistemon citrinus, “lemon bottlebrush,” on the east side of the 400 block of Arkansas Street; the Carpinus betulus ‘Fastigiata,’… Keep Reading
For the past four months the View has published experts from Gold, a serialized tale of politics, capitalism, and corruption in San Francisco. In this issue the first three chapters are reprinted, along with the fourth installment, enabling readers to catchup as the story continues to unfold. One “I told you John, I’m not selling,” said… Keep Reading
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,… Keep Reading
Last month, the San Francisco Planning Commission held a hearing on the draft environmental impact report (DEIR) for a proposed development at the Corovan site, located at the bottom of Potrero Hill’s North Slope. A DEIR evaluates a project’s potential impact on such things as traffic, dislodging or releasing hazardous substances, and the historic relevance… Keep Reading
A series of fires emanating from a homeless encampment located on a strip of California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)-owned property in between Highway 101 and San Bruno Avenue has sparked neighborhood groups to fight for safety, and inclusive solutions to homelessness. A fire that broke out in September catalyzed concerned residents. “People got really upset.… Keep Reading
The Good Life Grocery, located on 20th Street, is facing fines of up to $3,100 a month for not complying with the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act. The law, adopted in 1986, was intended to “…make redemption and recycling convenient to consumers… the legislature hereby urges cities and counties…to act favorably on… Keep Reading
It started as an idea between three longtime friends who liked to brew beer at home. What if we quit our day jobs, and made beer for a living? After more than two years of planning, securing real estate, finding investors and installing large scale brewing equipment, Eric Tisch, Jon Verna, and Ed Gobbo opened… Keep Reading
Over the past decade and a half former Alabama Street resident Kieron Sinnette experienced all the elements of a rags-to-riches-to-rags story. Sinnette, an immigrant from Trinidad, arrived in San Francisco in 2001, less than a month after 9/11. He was an 18 year-old high school graduate, gay, homeless and unemployed. After securing assistance from Larkin… Keep Reading
After a quarter of a century as director of community relations at the University of California, San Francisco, Barbara Bagot-Lopez retires this month. She hopes to use her free time to reconnect with her neighborhood, Bernal Heights, and rededicate herself to her activist roots. “Hitting 25 years was like ZING!” laughed Bagot-Lopez. “Wow, 25 years.… Keep Reading
Gardening is often praised for the beauty it creates, as well as the benefits it provides the gardener in terms of mental clarity and stress relief. Mission Creek resident Maria Suarez, 75, is a great-grandmother who takes recreational gardening seriously, using the pastime to achieve personal tranquility and to give her neighbors an eyeful. Suarez’s… Keep Reading
My 11 a.m. was at a rundown house in the Excelsior, not far from Highway 280. No one answered the door. I called the potential customer, who showed up about 15 minutes later in a late-1960’s beat up panel van. He was in his early 60s, with dirty fingers, wearing a filthy jumpsuit, big, smeared,… Keep Reading
Three women, Mary and Alice Goodwin and Elizabeth Hammersley, started the Boys and Girls Clubs of America in the state of Connecticut in 1860. They wanted to give kids a place to go who otherwise might not have one. More than 150 years later, the Boys and Girls Clubs in San Francisco alone serves more… Keep Reading
Longtime Potrero Hill resident Judy Baston’s passionate commitment to Jewish genealogy earned her the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies, awarded at the Association’s annual conference in Jerusalem last summer. Baston was born in Oakland to parents who encouraged her to pursue a professional career. Her father suggested that she… Keep Reading
The electronic rock band Fifty Foot Hose emerged from San Francisco’s iconic 1960s music scene. Its music, including its sole album, Cauldron, issued in 1967, was influenced by a mixture of jazz, rhythm and blues, rock, and electronic music. The latter genre’s current popularity was sparked by pioneers such as Cork Marcheschi, a Bay Area… Keep Reading
Trippy slammed his laptop shut and hurled it against the wall. The two cats didn’t move. Mischief, the asthmatic Siamese, opened his one good eye before falling back asleep. Hemingway, the fat Tabby, didn’t flinch. She’d been on the losing end of another backyard brawl, a two-inch gash on her forehead still oozing. Always a… Keep Reading
PROGRAMS FOR ADULTS Write Your Own Will: Stuart Bronstein, estate planning and probate lawyer in San Francisco for more than 30 years, helps participants create a fully functional will. Bring a blue ink non-erasable pen. Class size is limited, sign up in advance by calling 415.355.2822. Wednesday, November 4, 6 to 7:30 p.m. Choosing a… Keep Reading
Crime & Safety Report — Sponsored by Mainline Security A front page article in last month’s View cited government statistics that indicate that less than half of all murders committed in San Francisco are solved. But according to Bayview Station Captain Raj Vaswani – partially supported by other public sector data – violent crime cases… Keep Reading
Nationwide, the country’s homicide closure rate stands at just 64 percent, down nearly 30 percent from 50 years ago, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation data. Based on information gathered by the Department of Justice and police and sheriff’s departments, San Francisco had the ninth highest closure rates in a roster of 14 Bay Area… Keep Reading
A state law that took effect this year could provide a method to funnel money to Southside neighborhoods to finance such things as parks, transportation, affordable housing, childcare facilities, and libraries. Senate Bill 628 allows local governments to create “enhanced infrastructure financing districts,” or EIFDs, and issue bonds if a super-majority of voters in the… Keep Reading
Two months into the 2015 school year Potrero Hill’s public schools are completing or commencing campus renovations and modernizations. Some schools have introduced new courses, one is piloting a revamped curriculum, while another is grappling with significant enrollment declines. Daniel Webster Elementary has moved temporarily to the Enola Maxwell/International Studies Academy campus, as its 20th… Keep Reading
Housing is today’s top conversational topic at upper middle class dinner parties in San Francisco. It’s displaced jockeying over whose been to the best, most recently opened, restaurant; discussions over whether a $50 bottle of wine is really worth it; and debates about yet another Bush versus Clinton presidential race: would it be a deeply… Keep Reading
Editor, Apropos of “Drought Impacts,” in the August issue, Paul McDonald should simply submerge his entire hose in the tub, make sure all the air is out of it and that it’s totally filled with water. Then, while underwater cap one end of the hose. Take the capped end down to the tree; the… Keep Reading
City Hall asserts it’s protecting neighborhoods from short-term residential rentals to tourists, like those offered by Airbnb. It claims it’s protecting the availability and affordability of scarce housing. I wholeheartedly disagree. City Hall passed legislation that’s so weak that every independent analysis reached the same conclusion: the current law is unworkable and unenforceable. These tourist… Keep Reading