Teachers do more with less

From New American Media,

California's public schools have experienced deep cuts in funding since 2007-2008. San Francisco Unified School District, a district that serves around 55,000 students, saw its general operating funds drop by 10 percent since 2008-2009, even though there was an increase of 400 students in district enrollment.

Visitacion Valley Middle School is feeling the pain. According to SFUSD, the school's annual budget increased from $2.5 million last year to $2.8 million this year. But average spending per student actually fell by $750 due to a projected 20 percent increase in student enrollment.

Located in the southeastern part of San Francisco, where housing is cheaper, Visitacion Valley serves largely low-income and immigrant -- primarily Asian -- students. More than 85 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced price meals.

Read more at New American Media

Speaking of Dining out in Bayview - Limón is OPEN!!

I just have to give a plug to our newest dining establishment, Limón, who are now open at 5800 Third St.  We've eaten at the new location a couple of times already, and the food it every bit as yummy as at their Rotisserie location in the Mission.  Take the T-Third to Carroll Ave and enjoy!

Michael Bauer loves his Frisco Fried...

Yes, there's a lot of Southern-style cooking going on around Third St. these days.  And, yes, they're all pretty darned good.  With Queen's Po'Boy on San Bruno Ave, the soon-to-be-opened Brown Sugar Kitchen, Frisco Fried, and Auntie April's, it doesn't seem necessary to go all the way up to Hard Knox Café in the Dogpatch anymore!

From SFGate's Inside Scoop:

Frisco Fried

Waiting for the chicken to be prepared at this 21-month old Bayview restaurant is pure joy. You know at the end of 20 minutes you’ll have juicy meat just out of the fryer. Every piece is cooked to order, so in the time between placing the order and digging into the four-piece dinner ($11.99) you can smell and anticipate what you’ll eat. It’s some of the best chicken I’ve had in San Francisco.

Each dinner comes with excellent corn bread and two sides; I’m partial to the macaroni and cheese and the greens that have just the right amount of vinegar to cut the delectable grease from the chicken.

Owned by Marcel Banks and his uncle, Gregory Banks, the restaurant also specializes in chicken and waffles ($7.99). I’m sure it’s good, but it’s a pairing I’ve never quite warmed to.

In season you can also get caramelized garlic butter crab, so I’ll look forward to trying that in a couple of weeks. Still, it will be hard to resist the chicken dinner, served in a dining room awash in Giants orange and other sports memorabilia.

5176 Third St. (at Thornton Avenue), S.F.; (415) 822-1517. friscofried.biz. Lunch and dinner daily.

Newcomb Model Block Streetscape Project Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony

Newcomb Model Block Streetscape Project Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

11:00 a.m.

Newcomb Avenue (between Newhall and Phelps)

You are cordially invited to join Mayor Edwin M. Lee, District 10 Supervisor Malia Cohen, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Public Works and the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency to celebrate the completion of the Newcomb Model Block Streetscape Improvement Project.

This project has transformed Newcomb Avenue into one of the most sustainable and green streets in San Francisco with a repeating series of green areas for community use, storm water management and neighborhood beautification. Permeable pavers, traffic calming, raised pedestrian crossings, new street trees and hundreds of new plants will all come together to renew a street that residents and San Franciscans can be truly proud of.

The improvements are part of DPW’s Great Streets Program, which aims to improve the safety and sustainability of the city’s corridors and maximize the use of public space.

The Model Block Program is a San Francisco Redevelopment Agency initiative for the Bayview Hunters Point Redevelopment Project Area that aims to build community and neighborhood stewardship through private and public realm enhancements.
To learn more information, visit www.sfredevelopment.org or www.sfdpw.org

The project is a partnership between the United States Environmental Protection Agency, San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, San Francisco Planning Department, San Francisco Department of Public Works, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, the Bayview Hunters Point Project Area Committee and the community. For more information contact Lila Hussain at 749-2431/email: lila.hussain@sfgov.org , 415.749.2431

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Bayview District Weekly Newsletter

Incidents of Interest:

On December 14th at 7:00 pm, officers responded to the 100 block of Atoll regarding a call of a theft of a firearm. They met with the victim who told them that her personal handgun had been stolen from her home several days ago and that she had just been able to get her 11 year old son to explain what happened. The officers talked to both parent and child and learned that the boy was looking out their apartment window while holding the box containing the firearm. During this time, a 12 year old subject that the victim’s son knew was a neighbor walked by the house and noticed the boy in the window. The subject asked to see what was in the box and the victim’s son complied, showing the other boy the gun. Suddenly the subject’s 17 year old brother, who was also a neighbor, came around the corner and snatched the handgun. He then ran off on foot.

The officers were familiar with both subjects and knew where they lived. They responded to their house but neither subject was home at the time. A search of the home was conducted with the permission of the boys’ father, but no gun was located. The officers searched the area and found both subjects walking about a block away. They were detained and transported to Bayview Station pending an investigation. The 17 year old admitted taking the gun, but stated that he in turn gave it to someone else who he identified to the officers. He was booked on theft charges at the Juvenile Justice Center. His 12 year old brother was released to the custody of his mother. An investigation into the whereabouts of the gun is ongoing. (SFPD Case No. 111000569)

Ghosts of MUNI

As the T-Third pulls into the station, silhouettes of former riders can be seen on the frost-laden glass 

Letters to Santa Campaign Needs Help

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – The U.S. Postal Service in San Francisco is calling on the community to help with its Letters to Santa campaign. It's a program that's been around for roughly 100 years, with many participants being children from in-need families.

Every year, the postal service is on the receive end of the letters from kids, addressed to Santa Claus and other seasonal characters. Postal service employees try to answer as many of those letters as possible – and now volunteers will have the chance to do the same this week.

"They pick out the letter and take it with them, they don't know who it's for, they just know…the age and gender of the child," said San Francisco postal spokesman James Wigdel, who explained that many who respond to letters also donate a toy. Some letter writers even request food and clothing.

"Last year we had about 600 letters come through the system," recalled Wigdel. "We got about 400 answered, so that was pretty good."

KCBS' Chris Filippi Reports:

Anyone who wants to participate in the Letters to Santa program is being directed to the postal handling facility, 1300 Evans Ave., San Francisco,

Eastside Recycled Water Project

The proposed Eastside Recycled Water Project would deliver high-quality recycled water to a variety of customers on the east side of San Francisco through a system of treatment, storage, pumping, and pipeline facilities. The goal of the Eastside Recycled Water Project is to save about 2 million gallons per day of drinking water that would otherwise be used for non-drinking purposes such as irrigation and toilet flushing. The development of recycled water allows the City to sustainably manage its water resources, and ensure a reliable water supply into the future.

Future recycled water workshops: January - July 2012
Jan 19, 2012: Workshop #1, 1155 Market St., 6PM - Learn about the possibilities for recycled water on the East Side
Mar 2012: Workshop #2 - Participate in an interactive roundtable to identify potential facility sites
May 2012: Workshop #3 - Review and Discuss feedback report on short list of potential facility sites
July 2012: Workshop #4 - round table includes the identification of preferred projects

'Occupied' Bayview Foreclosed Home Site of "Day of Action" Again

1479 Quesada Ave

Early last month, the home at 1479 Quesada Ave was the site of an "OccupySF" action in which the family that had owned and lived in the home for decades "reclaimed" it from the bank that had foreclosed on it.  At the time, I wrote,

"If you're going to stage an event like this, at least make sure that the people you're using as the poster-family have an otherwise spotless record - there are enough families like that out there, so use them instead!  If you don't, you've lost the 'hearts and minds' side of the battle before you even step onto the field."

At that time, one commenter wrote me, saying,

"Before doing negative posts on a 50 year resident of the Bayview who served her community for many years from her role in the Sheriffs department it would be good to visit her and talk to her directly. 

Further research in to the web of companies that targeted her and many other Bayview families will show what has been going unchecked for years in the Bayview.

Please update your story and don't fall for the banks version and blaming the victim."

Well again this week, this house was the stage for another Occupy SF "Day of Action".  Socket Site, a website devoted to San Francisco real estate, also got some heat after they referred to the foreclosure in this case as "just".  The site has provided some details on how the homeowner managed to refinance her loan again and again over the course of several years, leading up to the foreclosure proceedings that saw her lose the house.

A post on SFGate's blog site today uses the words "Piggy Bank" in how the homeowner used her home.  Homeowners across the country have absolutely been duped by banks - no question - but at what point does the homeowner have to take some responsibility for their actions when they have repeatedly returned to the trough looking for cash?  In this case, the way this looks is that homeowner was not a victim, but rather a more than willing participant. I'll say it again: using people as your poster-family for the foreclosure crisis who appear to have less than spotless records is going to lose you the hearts and minds of the very people you want to reach.

SFPD Bayview District Weekly Newsletter

On December 5th at 6:50 pm, officers responded to a call of a robbery that occurred on the MUNI T-Line in the area of 3rd and Key. Arriving officers located the 27 year old victim who told them that he was seated on the bus and was listening to music on his iPhone when he was approached by two suspects. The first punched him in the face several times and demanded his phone. The second suspect then punched the victim as well and one of them grabbed the phone away from him. The suspects got off the bus at 3rd and Key and fled on foot. The victim suffered an injury to his eye as a result of the incident for which he was treated at the scene by medics.

The officers were able to locate a witness to the incident who corroborated the victim’s story, adding that there were actually a total of four suspects who got off the bus together and fled. The officers obtained descriptions of all the suspects involved and searched the area but could not locate them that evening. The surveillance footage from the MUNI coach that may have captured the incident is still pending. This incident is under investigation. (SFPD Case No. 110975959)

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SFCEC Food and Toy Drive

The San Francisco Community Empowerment Center is collaborating with the SF Food Bank and SF Fire Department for a food and toy drive this year. 

If you have unexpired canned, dry, or nonperishable food, please donate them to the poor and needy during this holiday season.  Also please donate new toys or reasonably used toys that are still good condition for the poor and low income children in our community. You may drop them off in the bin at SFCEC, they will bring the food to the SF Food Bank and the toys to the SF Fire dept. Of course you can always donate to SFCEC or come in and volunteer for us to support their operation. Donations to SFCEC are tax deductible. You can earn community volunteer credits for school if you are a student. 

Thank you for your support and enjoy your holidays!
Drop off location: 2798 San Bruno Ave./Wayland, SF.

Sunnydale Project Receives Conditional Approval of LEED ND Gold Plan

Project Description: The Sunnydale community, originally built as a visionary housing solution for wartime ship builders, is now a dilapidated assembly of disconnected buildings. Its leftover spaces are difficult to police and difficult to access. The new Sunnydale will be redeveloped incrementally to create a network of streets that connect with the surrounding neighborhood; create a variety of housing types for a mix of incomes and provide carefully scaled park spaces and recreational opportunities lined with public facilities. Principles of sustainable “green” development for the neighborhood and greater community will be integral to this transformation.

Check out the plans here.

Vision: Redesign Sunnydale into a mix of uses typical of other San Francisco neighborhoods, including housing, services, community facilities, open space, and neighborhood-serving retail.

Project Requirements: To replace all existing public housing units with minimal displacement and to reintegrate the community to the greater neighborhood.

Conditionally Approved LEED ND Gold Plan: VMWP's Sunnydale HOPE SF Master Plan application for LEED ND Stage 1 certification has been submitted and approved by the US Green Building Certification Institute. It is the first United States project to receive conditional approval at the LEED Gold level, one of three major checkpoints on the path to certification as a LEED for Neighborhood Development project and one of the first three submitted in the world.

The LEED for Neighborhood Development Rating System integrates the principles of smart growth, urbanism and green building into the first national system for neighborhood design. LEED for Neighborhood Development is a collaboration among USGBC, Congress for the New Urbanism, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

LEED-ND certification provides independent, third-party verification that a development's location and design meet accepted high levels of environmentally responsible, sustainable development.

The Food Divide

From the SF Bay Guardian,

Under the weight of recession and double-digit unemployment, San Francisco's chronic food divide has grown deeper and wider. From regions of the city like Bayview, Excelsior, and other Southeast neighborhoods, to seniors surviving on marginal fixed incomes, to the city's swelling unemployed and underemployed who rely on food pantries, access to fresh food is a daily geographic and economic battle.

Roughly one in five San Franciscans each day has no reliable source of adequate sustenance and must scramble for food from soup kitchens, food pantries, or other "emergency" supplies that have become a structural part of the city's food system, according to the San Francisco Food Bank.

Read more at the SF Bay Guardian

Free Family Portraits for the Holidays

Get your FREE Family Portrait THIS Saturday, December 10!

Come celebrate FAMILY ARTS DAY!

FirstExposures in partnership with HELP PORTRAIT will be at the Bayview Opera House, 4705 Third St., this Saturday, December 10, from 11AM – 4PM. The two non-profits are offering families the opportunity to get a FREE professional family portrait. You will take home two 5x7 prints and a CD with your entire photo shoot!

Sign-up in advance is recommended (call BVOH at 415-824-0386) to avoid having to wait, but we will attempt to serve all families who walk in.

Watch HELP PORTRAIT Video

Bayview Koshland Fellows asked Santa to come, so come out to enjoy jumpers, music and free snacks for kids.

Jumpstart will be offering free arts activities. Arts activities by Jumpstart include making bird feeders, exploring snow, and making ornaments and wreaths.

Kids complete their ARTS PASSPORT, and then go to visit with Santa Claus, who has stockings to give away to kids as long as they last!

Invite your friends on Facebook!

EVENT: Butchertown Art & Wine Event

The Butchertown Neighborhood Association hosts
An Afternoon of Art, Wine, Music, and Food
Sunday, December 11
2-6PM
ART94124 Gallery
3900B Third St (@Fairfax)

Paintings by Richard Brown & Femininity Productions' Yolanda Bank
Jewelery by Sprout Studio & Bongo Beads' Barbara Cymrot
Clothing and Jewelery by Exclusively Elegant, Inc's Lisa Bank
Mosaics by Kim Larson
Photography by Bob Lake
Food by Lazzeri Ricotta
Music by the Butchertown Saxophone Quartet
With a special wine tasting by Bayview's own Gratta Wines