 | ||||||||||
Don't Miss Out on Downpayment Assistance!San Francisco offers downpayment assistance, making your new home at 5800 Third Street an even better value! Qualified first-time homebuyers can receive up to $100,000 on market-priced homes and up to $36,000 on Below Market Rate homes, with no interest and no payments until you sell your home in the future!* | ||||||||||
 |
| Junk car on Caltrain property, 2002 |
 |
| Palou at Dunshee, 2002 |
 |
| Palou Garden Site |
Many of us in the affected areas have received surveys about the closures. Please do your part and fill them out. The Postal Service public meetings to discuss the possible closure of Post Offices in your District have been set as follows:
Sometimes, publicly calling on city officials who've been slow to take action is the only way to get things done, but where's the public meeting? Where are the demonstrations? Where are the community and city leaders, taking to the streets, to denounce and rebuke the shooting and to rally the community to say that enough is enough? |
| Copra Crane at Islais Creek |
On September 20th between 4:30 AM and 5:00 AM, a burglary attempt was made at a business on the 5900 block of 3rd St., The owner and Officers responded to an alarm activation. The skylight at the premise had been broken, however nothing inside appeared to be disturbed. No suspects were found on the roof or inside the building. The owner informed Officers that the skylight was the same method of entry used a month prior in a burglary there in which multiple items were taken. (SFPD Case No. 110756759)
 |
| Visitiacion Valley & Bayview Food Deserts |
“Food desert” is a term commonly used to describe communities with little or no access to healthy food, including fresh fruits, vegetables, meats and diary products. Millions of Americans — mostly poor, many African-Americans — live in these areas. In fact, the United States Department of Agriculture reports that about 23.5 million Americans currently live in food deserts, including 6.5 million children. Typically, food deserts are defined by: 1) the lack or absence of large grocery stores and supermarkets that sell fresh produce and healthy food options; and 2) low-income populations living on tight budgets. These food deserts are also signified by high levels of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases in the community, which result from residents buying their food from corner stores that sell processed foods, and plentiful fast food options.
San Francisco has a fairly large food desert located in the Bayview, Hunters Point and Visitacion Valley neighborhoods – some of the poorest in San Francisco. In San Francisco, a staggering 150,000 people, 20% of the city’s population forsakes buying food in order to pay their bills. In Hunters Point, some 40,000 residents travel miles to the nearest grocery store. Most turn to nearby high-fat, high-sodium fast food. “The dollars spent by the fast-food industry far outnumber any resources that we as a city could spend on outreach and education.” San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar told CNN. “No amount of physical activity can undo the harms of unhealthy eating.” Other Bay Area food deserts include neighborhoods in Oakland and Richmond. And each is not unlike many cities in California. Eighty-five percent of the state's food deserts are found in urban areas.
The search for whoever shot a five-year-old girl is still going on while people in the neighborhood are demanding changes in and around the liquor store where the girl was hit by a stray bullet. Community organizers say the liquor store is a hub for criminal activity.
Two young men are believed to have fired at each other in front of the Torino Grocery Market on Third Street near Palou Avenue. Both men missed each other, but a stray bullet struck a five-year-old girl in the leg.
Police say they know the identity of one of the shooters and investigators are looking at numerous surveillance footage from around the area. One security tape is said to have shown the actual shooting.
Neighbors told ABC7 they've been warning authorities that crime around the liquor store is getting worse and worse.
One man, who was too scared to be identified, said he event old police he feared a child would be shot someday.
"There are so many children who walk up and down the corner," the man said. "I warned them."
The neighbor, and others, began asking police and the city attorney's office months ago to do something about the store.
"It's a problem," said supervisor Mahlia Cohen. "Our office has heard from many of the neighbors."
Cohen is now asking for a meeting with the owners of the market, saying she wants them to help get rid of the blight.
"We're talking about everything: Loitering, drug sales..." Cohen said. "We're talking about sleeping on the streets. We're talking about intoxication."
The liquor store owners did not want to comment, but former supervisor Sophie Maxwell says the city could close down the store if they don't cooperate.
Years ago, Maxwell introduced legislation that was modeled after Oakland's aggressive and highly successful city ordinance that allows officials to order liquor stores to clean up their act.
"The laws (include) being able to see inside and outside, being able to have light," Maxwell said. "Being able to monitor whether or not they've called the police because people are loitering outside."
Maxwell says city officials and police dropped the ball, and that little was done. But Maxwell says they have a good excuse to begin enforcing the law now that a little girl has been shot.
"I don't know how important it is who dropped the ball," Maxwell said. "The importance now is the ball needs to be picked up."
Oakland passed the ordinance a few years ago that gives city officials the power to hold liquor stores accountable. Today, city officials say they've identified 50 of the 250 liquor stores as potential problems.
ART 94124 Gallery is proud to present the 4th Annual ARTSFEST on FAIRFAX!
Zakiya Hooker
A 5-year-old girl was the unintended victim of shooting in San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood Tuesday afternoon, she has been hospitalized with injuries that are not life-threatening.Read more at the San Francisco Examiner
The girl, who San Francisco police did not publicly identify, was shot at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday while walking north on Third Street near Palou Avenue, the same intersection that was the scene of the controversial shooting death of Seattle parolee Kenneth Harding Jr. in July.
Police are asking for anyone with information in this incident to contact the Bayview Investigations team at 415-575-4444 or call the anonymous tip line at 415-822-8147
The woman who told San Francisco police that she had fatally stabbed a man after he broke into her Bayview home has been arrested on suspicion of murder, police said today.
Athena Wortham, 42, told police that she heard noises in her apartment on the 700 block of Kirkwood Avenue at about 4:47 a.m. Sunday, and that when she investigated she was confronted by a man who tried to choke her.
Wortham used a knife to stab the man, 40-year-old Anthony Payne of San Francisco, police said.
Investigators are looking into whether Wortham and Payne had a previous relationship, said police spokesman Officer Carlos Manfredi. Although she has been arrested, they are also still looking into whether she was acting in self-defense, he said.
"They're still determining whether or not she was a victim here," Manfredi said.
Read more about the history of the case at Marketwatch.comEduardo Mendoza and Denise Mendoza, parents of Justin Mendoza, obtained court approval of the settlement in the wrongful death suit (Case No. CGC-070461540) against Club Cocomo, K-Dubb Security, and the property owners for $1.75 million. Justin Mendoza, 21 years old at the time, was fatally shot on March 21, 2005, on Indiana Street near Club Cocomo after attending a "hip-hop" event.
"Nightclub violence is a serious problem in San Francisco. Police, politicians, citizens, and even the industry-friendly San Francisco Entertainment Commission are beginning to scrutinize, restrict licenses, and even close outfits like Club Cocomo. This precedent-setting settlement should serve as a wake-up call to the clubs that cater to and profit from the violence-prone club-goers without taking any responsibility for the consequences," said David C. Anderson of the Law Office of David C. Anderson, who represented the Mendoza family. "The history of violence not only inside the nightclub but out on Indiana Street should have resulted in its closure years ago. Unfortunately, no action was ever taken and the promising life of Justin was ended. The Mendoza family hopes this settlement will send a loud and clear message that enough is enough and that no family will have to suffer the loss of a loved one due to preventable violence."
Records from the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) indicated a long history of fighting, stabbings, and use of weapons inside and in front of Club Cocomo, along with nearly 100 complaints of noise disturbances going back to January 1, 2004.
"In addition, two SFPD Bayview District sergeants described the club as one of the 'hot spots' known to law enforcement as a magnet for gangs and others prone to violence, particularly on hip-hop nights," added Anderson.
Three people were arrested at a recycling center in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood after buying stolen copper and other metals from undercover police officers early Saturday morning, police said Monday.
The sting took place around 6 a.m. Saturday at a recycling center near the intersection of 20th and Indiana streets.
PG&E has documented more than 35 thefts of underground vault utility copper in the past six months, while The City's Department of Public Works has reported numerous stolen manhole covers and backflow preventers, according to police.
A woman fatally stabbed a San Francisco man after he allegedly broke into her Bayview home and tried to choke her, police said today.h/t Vivian Ho at vho@sfchronicle.com
The woman, whom police have not identified, heard noises in her home on the 700 block of Kirkwood Avenue at about 4:47 a.m. Sunday and encountered Anthony Payne, 40, who tried to choke her, police said.
She fought back and stabbed him with a knife, killing him, police said. Investigators have not released any more details on the incident.
The stabbing was one of several violent incidents in the city over the weekend.
Read more at SFGate...racial identity is still an important factor in the voting choices of ethnic communities, and continuing demographic trends could boost the Asian community's political power in years to come.
In District 10, which includes Bayview-Hunters Point, the Potrero and Visitacion Valley, Asian Americans now are the largest single ethnic group, with better than 38 percent of the population. And District 11, the Excelsior, Oceanview, Ingleside and Outer Mission, now has an Asian majority, with 51 percent of the residents.
