Caltrain comes through and cleans up site in the Bayview

A few months ago, after a few calls to Caltrain about the situation under their tracks at the Quint St overpass, I called SFPD to ask that they work with Caltrain and DPW to help clean up the homeless encampments.

Back in February, I posted this video:

Since then, Caltrain has been working hard internally to get things fixed at the site.  I just received this in my mailbox today from Caltrain:

Here are some pictures of the cleanup at Quint Street overpass. Our crews completed this May 25th. There was no one from the city so we cleaned up the whole surrounding area. Crusader fence started to put up fences around Caltrain property the following day and are back there today. Over the weekend, someone dumped here again and also more homeless have moved under the north side of the bridge. Hopefully the fence work will be completed by mid-next week.

Thanks for the update, and thanks particularly for the clean-up efforts!  Let's hope that this is the start of a fruitful collaboration between Caltrain and the community in helping to ensure that all tax-paying San Franciscans have access to clean, safe neighborhoods.

Healthy Choice Fair – Mission Bay - UCSF Calendar

Healthy Choice Fair – Mission Bay - UCSF Calendar

Description:
Healthy Choice Fair – Mission Bay

June 1, 2011
11am – 2pm
Gene Friend Way Plaza

Shameless self-promotion!

From UCSF.edu,

Three members of the UCSF community will be awarded the 2011 Chancellor’s Award for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and/or Transgender (GLBT) Leadership on Monday, June 13.

The UCSF community is invited to the awards ceremony from noon to 1 p.m., in the School of Nursing, room N 225, on the Parnassus campus.

Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH, will present awards to three members of the campus community. They are Michael Reyes, MD, MPH, adjunct professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine; Chris Waddling, specialist in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics; and, Ilana Sherer, resident in the Department of Pediatrics.

Read more at UCSF.edu

San Francisco football star David Henderson shot in head

From SF Examiner,

Former Lincoln High School football standout David Henderson was in stable but critical condition Saturday afternoon at San Francisco General Hospital after he sustained a gunshot wound to the head Thursday in the Bayview neighborhood.

The coach for the semi-pro Pacifica Islanders — where Henderson had been playing in recent months — said the team is reeling from the incident.

“Football is no longer an issue right now,” said Tom Piccolotti, Islanders coach and general manager, whose team has the weekend off before finishing the regular season next week. “We’re more concerned about David and his family.”

Piccolotti said Henderson was on life support, surrounded by family at the hospital.

Read more at the San Francisco Examiner

School Closes In San Francisco’s Bayview Neighborhood

From KCBS,

On Friday, the Willie L. Brown Jr. College Preparatory Academy is closing its doors in the Bayview district of San Francisco. Once called 21st Century Academy, the school was part of an ambitious effort to address school performance. That didn’t work, but as the final bell rings, hope remains that a successful middle school can be built here.

Reaction from the students was mixed. Some students said they would miss the school because of the caring teachers while others said they were glad to see the school closing because it was so ‘horrible and raggedy.’

The facilities at Willie Brown Academy look worn – from the old green and white tile floors to small bathroom stalls for elementary children, which were used by kids in middle school.

Some students said they wanted to work harder like Malaysia Rodriguez, who has a better than B average.

“I learned a lot, but I wanted a challenge,” she said. “I think all the work is too easy.”

But others like Angelie Edwards struggled.

“I started being absent ever since my dad passed away because I’ve been having family problems,” she said.

Assistant Superintendent of the Bayview Zone, Dr. Patricia Gray, said scholastically there is lots of room for improvement.

“The school is closing because it is underperforming in the bottom five percent of schools in the entire state of California,” she said.

In part, Gray blames a revolving door of teachers for the school’s low performance.

“We know that it takes more because of all that’s going on out in the environment,” she said. “So we want to make sure we get the best and brightest and keep the best and brightest teachers. That’s very important.”

The district wants to tear this school down and build a state of the art middle school. A bond issue will be on the November ballot, and if it passes, a new middle school would open on this site in August of 2014.

College Track Seeks Volunteers and Instructors

College Track is a nonprofit college access after-school program in the Bayview. They help motivated students from under-resourced communities graduate from high school and gain admission to and graduate from college. Over 90% of their students will be the first ones in their families to earn a college degree. All of their students come from populations historically under-represented in higher education. They seek caring, committed, college-educated San Francisco community members who are passionate about youth and educational equity to support this work! They are actively recruiting for paid workers and volunteers.

SFPD Honors Martial Arts Instructor Who Helped Detain Muni Fare Evader

From SFAppeal,

A martial arts instructor was honored by the San Francisco Police Department today for his role in subduing a man who attacked an officer in the city's Portola neighborhood last month.

On April 13, Pedro Arrigoni was leaving AB Mixed Martial Arts Academy near the intersection of San Bruno and Paul avenues where he teaches jiu jitsu when he saw the man attacking the officer.

The man had been escorted off a San Francisco Municipal Railway bus by two officers who had been conducting a fare inspection and found the man did not have proof of payment, police Lt. Troy Dangerfield said.

The man tried to walk away from the officers, and when they pursued him, he turned around and punched one of them, knocking the officer to the ground, Dangerfield said.

Arrigoni saw the attack, approached the man from behind and put him in a choke hold, allowing police to take him into custody.

Arrigoni was honored at the Police Department's bimonthly CompStat meeting today with a certificate of appreciation from the department and gifts from the local office of the FBI.

Stephanie Douglas, special agent in charge of the FBI's San Francisco office, presented Arrigoni with an honorary badge and hat from the agency's jiu jitsu club.

She told Arrigoni, "Your incredibly selfless act shows who you really are."

Deputy Chief Kevin Cashman joked that Arrigoni should also be offered an application to join the police force, given his martial arts experience.

Dan McMenamin, Bay City News

UCSF Deepens Relationship with City Leaders

From UCSF,

As part of UCSF’s ongoing commitment to serving San Francisco, Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH, recently hosted a series of gatherings to give newly elected and returning members to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors an opportunity to hear firsthand the many ways in which UCSF affects the City and its residents.

“UCSF is the second-largest employer in San Francisco, after the City and County of San Francisco, with workforce numbers about 22,800,” Desmond-Hellmann told the crowd. “Our share of San Francisco’s employment is approximately 5.6 percent - more than the City’s entire financial service industry – and we generated about $4.9 million in direct revenues for the City and County of San Francisco’s general fund in 2009. So we have a major impact on the City.”

During a question-and-answer period, members of the audience, including faculty and staff, expressed concerns over City issues such as housing and education. Cohen, who represents District 10 which contains part of the Mission Bay medical center site, said she hopes UCSF will continue its relationship with the San Francisco Unified School District to open a school at Mission Bay.

"I'm committed to helping the Mission Bay hospital project along and am excited about all it has to offer," said Cohen. "It will inspire our young students to become young scientists who can say they got their start at Mission Bay."

Read more at UCSF

Sunday Streets looking for volunteers for June 12

Sunday Streets is seeking volunteers to help with the upcoming event in the Bayview.

Shifts are 3hrs each and volunteers are especially needed for the afternoon.

You may find more information by following the link below:
http://www.sundaystreetssf.com/volunteer

Fresh & Easy announces S.F. store opening dates

Those dates are:

June 22nd: 32nd Ave. and Clement St. in the Richmond.
August 24th: 3rd St. and Carroll Ave. in the Bayview.

According to the company, the openings will "create more than 50 jobs and we are currently accepting applications for positions at both stores."

(Entry-level positions start at $10 an hour, quarterly bonuses, 401(k) with company match, health care coverage included.)

According to the company,

For each new store opening, we invite neighbors to nominate a local, non-profit organization to receive a $1,000 donation. Based off the nominations from the neighborhood, store employees will select the winning charity. Charity nominations are currently being accepted for 32nd & Clement here. Nominations for 3rd & Carroll will being in July.

Read more at SF Gate

Silver Terrace Wellness Day: June 4th

The Southeast corner of San Francisco, home to some of the friendliest people in the city, is also home to some of the city’s most pressing health and wellness issues. Thankfully, there are a growing number of civic-minded neighbors and non-profit organizations that are trying to change that.

In response to the need for neighbors to get active and get outside, the Friends of Silver Terrace Playground, a new park and community group, is hosting its first Wellness Day on Saturday, June 4th Wellness Day at Silver Terrace Playground, which serves the Bayview, Portola, and Bernal Heights neighborhoods as their local playground, and the city at large as one of it's primary club sports venues.

Working with the Neighborhood Parks Council, Parks 94124 and Portola Family Connections, the event aims to address wellness issues facing this part of the city through sport and exercise, food and nutrition, and health and safety. It will present neighbors with a variety of ways to get healthy, including: basketball, volleyball, badminton, and soccer clinics, yoga, line dancing, walking, and more.

There will be gardening demonstrations by Quesada Gardens Initiative, Urban Sprouts and Flowercraft, vegetables donated by the SF Produce Market and Bi-Rite that will be given away by VeggieTable, plus local soil quality information. There will also be basic CPR instruction, health testing and information about asthma, COPD, diabetes, and HIV, plus other health, wellness, and safety information.

Area businesses have also graciously offered to chip in, with Recology providing healthy BBQ’d veggie burgers and vegetables, and AMR providing an ambulance for ‘junior paramedics’ to climb inside and to learn about our first responders.  We will also have a supervised dog play area, provided by Fog City Dogs, so that you can leave your dog in good hands while experiencing some of the events we have planned.

Sports Clinics:
10:30 - 1:00 Soccer (Sports Basement)
10:30 - 11:30 Volleyball (Samoan Community Development Center)
12:30 - 1:30 Basketball (Rec & Park Dept)
1:00 - 2:00 Badminton

Activities:
10:00 - 11:00 Yoga
10:30 & 12:30 Basic CPR
11:30 Hula
12:30 Line dancing

All Day:
Free Veggie give-away
Free lunch
Gardening demos
Ambulance rides

Silver Terrace Playground, located at the corner of Silver Ave and Bayshore Blvd and renovated in 2006 through the City Fields Foundation, was once an unsafe and unwelcoming place. The renovation has seen usage of the playground increase by over 5000 hours annually, and has created a safer place for everyone to enjoy.

Silver Terrace Playground Wellness Day Saturday, June 4, 2011 10AM – 2PM Silver Ave at Bayshore Blvd, just off Hwy-101

Wellness Day is being organized by the Friends of Silver Terrace Playground, Portola Family Connections, Parks94124, and the Neighborhood Parks Council, and is being put on entirely through volunteer effort and donations. To help, or for more information, contact: Chris Waddling at cawaddling@gmail.com or Victoria Bell at vbell@sfnpc.org or 415-621-3260. On the web at http://sfnpc.org/wellnessday/

Parents protest teacher layoffs at Bayview school

From the Bay Citizen,

A small group gathered Friday afternoon at an elementary school in San Francisco’s Bayview district to demand that parents be more involved in school district decisions like how many teachers are laid off at their children’s schools.

A total of 11 staff at Charles Drew Elementary School may lose their jobs next year: six certified teachers, four classroom aides, two employees in the child development center and one community relations officer, according to the United Educators of San Francisco, which represents more than 6,000 employees of the school district.

“It’s the hardest-hit elementary school in the city and nobody was given any notice about it and there was no input about it,” said Sid Breckenridge, with Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, who helped organize the protest.

Old Skool Cafe gives at-risk kids look at industry

From SFGate,

It's hard to tell if Old Skool Cafe is a catering company or a culinary academy, a swing dance club or a pop-up restaurant, a coffee roaster or a community garden.

First and foremost, it's an education for the at-risk kids who study and work there.

Old Skool is the brainchild of Teresa Goines, a former juvenile corrections officer. "I saw so many kids with great intentions of turning their lives around, but after getting locked up, they didn't have many options," she recalls. "Good luck finding work with a criminal record."

Read more at SFGate

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/19/DD0J1JFJM8.DTL&tsp=1

SF Produce Market Renovation Plans

Recently, discussion on the Better Bayview's Yahoo Group about plans to expand the SF Produce Market on Jerrold Ave got heated. Michael Janis, Director of the Produce Market, has invited concerned residents to tour the facility and discuss the upcoming renovation plans, which may result in the closure of Jerrold Ave through the facility.

The tour and meeting will be held Thursday, May 26, beginning at 8AM. The location to meet up for the tour is at the Bank of America parking lot at the corner of Jerrold and Toland.

For information on the plan, visit the SF Planning Department

Saturday, Silver Terrace Community Carnival

This Saturday, plan to attend the Community Carnival, put on by the Neighborhood Vision Project, at Thurgood Marhsall High School, 45 Conkling St.

High-speed rail route could rip up Interstate 280

From San Francisco Examiner,

The northernmost stretch of Interstate 280 could be demolished and turned into an Octavia Boulevard-like parkway under options being considered by the California High-Speed Rail Authority.

The freeway currently ends around Fourth and King streets, near AT&T Park. But documents obtained by The San Francisco Examiner show it could be removed north of 22nd Street to accommodate high-speed rail, which is expected to travel through the Peninsula along Caltrain’s route.

City officials proposed removing the freeway to avoid tunneling several roads beneath the tracks of the proposed rail system.

High-speed rail officials wanted to underground 16th Street, Seventh Street and Mission Bay Drive because they said it would be dangerous for cars to cross the rail tracks. But officials with The City and UC San Francisco said that would cause problems for Muni, be unwelcoming to pedestrians and effectively cut off Mission Bay from the rest of San Francisco.

Read more at the San Francisco Examiner

D.A. Gascón sets neighborhood courts in motion

From SFGate,

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón said Tuesday that he has assigned a prosecutor to establish his neighborhood-courts program at the Mission and Bayview police stations, expressing optimism that the new approach will cut costs and recidivism rates in those communities.

Gascón said he expects the prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Prozan, to handle 150 misdemeanor and infraction cases a month at each station.

The idea, Gascón said, is to refer people cited for misdemeanors, including theft, vandalism, trespassing, graffiti and minor drug crimes, to community service programs instead of prosecuting them and putting them on probation or in jail.

Under the program, Prozan will screen such cases looking for first-time offenders, or those no longer on probation or parole. If those eligible agree, they will not be charged but will have a neighborhood court hear their case.

Police officers have already started handing out cards to suspects, urging them to visit the local prosecutor to work out a deal.

"The neighborhood court, expected to meet weekly, could cut costs from $1,500 to prosecute a misdemeanor to about $300 per community-resolved case, Gascón said.

This is an attempt to deal with a broken system," the district attorney said at a news conference.

"We have a system today that, when it comes to low-level offenses, is not serving the community. It's not serving the offenders. ... The offenders are continuing to re-offend."

Gascon noted the current statewide recidivism rate for all crimes is 70 percent, and said his approach would avoid saddling people with criminal records that could hinder their progress.

"One thing we know is the status quo has not worked well," Gascón said.

Read more at SFGate

Upcoming Vis Valley Walking Tours

From Cynthia Cox of Vis Valley,

"If you're looking for something local to do a week from Saturday, May 28th (Memorial Day weekend), and would like to learn more about the past and present of Visitacion Valley -- how and when we got our name, tales of some of our most prominent/notorious residents, the background of some of our public buildings, etc. -- I hope you will join me for one, or both, walking tours I'm leading for City Guides.

"Part I starts at 10 am and focuses on the Valley's commerce, transportation, and planned development.  We go east into Little Hollywood and end at Silvestri's.

"Then Part II starts at 2 pm and goes west, concentrating on community life – including our Eichler housing, Julia Morgan church, greenways and more.  Since we go uphill to the middle school, this one is somewhat strenuous.

"Both walkss last @ 2 hours, and start in front of our current branch library at 45 Leland.  They are free, although donations to City Guides are much appreciated.

"Please let me know if you have any questions (and hold the good thought for good weather!).  I'll hope to see you a week from Saturday.

"For more info on the Vis Valley walks and all the other walks offered by City Guides throughout the year, go to www.sfcityguides.org"

Southside San Francisco Residents Debate How to Invest $1 Million in Mirant Mitigation Money

From Southside,

Bayview, Dogpatch, and Potrero Hill residents are debating how to spend $1 million provided as part of a settlement to close the Potrero Power Plant. The Asthma Task Force (ATF), which was created in 2001 in response to concerns that a city-wide asthma epidemic was emerging, is advocating that the funds be invested in a range of projects, including retrofitting 16 homes located adjacent to the 101 freeway in Visitacion Valley with air systems to filter pollution, outdoor activity and exercise programs – which have the support of former District 10 Supervisor Sophie Maxwell – community gardens, and asthma education programs. ATF consists of a mix of individuals representing community-based and environmental justice organizations, the health care profession, and persons who have asthma or are parents of children with asthma.

Read more at Southside

Hipsters Rejoice - Piccino Café Reopens in New Dogpatch Space

From SF Grubstreet,

News broke a year ago that Piccino Café was moving up the street into some bigger digs in a big yellow building at the corner of Missouri Minnesota and 22nd, and it has at last come to pass. The restaurant reopened yesterday, and they've now got a spanking-new coffee bar serving up Blue Bottle goodness, and by next week they should also have an adjacent wine store and wine bar from Edible S.F. columnist Wayne Garcia, who also happens to be the husband of Piccino co-owner Sheryl Rogat. See the pizza-centric menu here, as revised by new chef Rachel Silcocks, formerly of Nopa. Below, a few photos of the new space.

To see more pictures, visit SF Grubstreet

Final Wildflower Walk of 2011

Did you know that some 150 different plants grow in Starr King Open Space - and more than twenty of the 150 plants are the gorgeous wildflowers that make California's wild-lands such a special springtime treat?

  

The Land Stewardship Committee of the Board of Directors leads annual Wildflower Walks and invites you to take part in the 3rd and final walk of the 2011 season!

Don’t miss it: Sunday, May 15, starting at 11 a.m. and lasting approximately 1 hour. Meet on Carolina at Coral loop across from Starr King Elementary School.

All ages are welcome! (Kids really enjoy this, this, and they don't even realize it's a little bit educational because it's so much fun!)

Attached is a chart with photos and names of 20 wildflowers you an find on Starr King Open Space. If you’d like, bring one with you to the Wildflower Walk. Or, if you can’t join us on Sunday, do your own wildflower walk with the flier in-hand and see how many you can find!

For more information about Starr King Open Space, please visit: http://starrkingopenspace.org/

New Bayview Captain

Chief Greg Suhr will introduce the next Captain of thexBayview District at the June 7th Community Meeting! For this reason, we have moved the venue for the event to the Bayview Opera House. We hope to see you there! 

The next meeting is on
Tuesday June 7, 6:00 pm
BAYVIEW OPERA HOUSE
4715 3rd Street (cross street Newcomb)

Friends of Potrero Hill Nursery School Spring Jubilee

Friends of Potrero Hill Nursery School invites friends and families on the hill to come celebrate the season with us at our Spring Jubilee.

Saturday, May 14 3 - 6 pm
Jackson Park clubhouse
Located at corner of Arkansas & Mariposa (across fr Live Oak school)

We'll have a lemondade stand, lively music, henna art & kids crafts and an amazing silent auction and raffle with over 100 prizes! No need to rsvp, simply show up and meet the teachers and families of our beloved preschool. All donations are tax deductible and go toward our Scholarship Fund. See below for more information about the school.

We hope to see our neighbor friends there!

The Friends of Potrero Hill Nursery School has been a part of the San Francisco community since 1996. It is a nonprofit organization that welcomes students of varied economic backgrounds. Inspired by the Waldorf tradition, the teachers surround children with a loving, simple and wholesome environment. Days are spent singing, baking, taking nature walks, and engaging in creative play. The school is temporarily located outside the neighborhood until we build our new home at the I.M. Scott School in the Eastern Potrero Hill neighborhood of Dogpatch. Each year, the school's parent community joins together to raise funds to meet the operating expenses that school tuition does not cover, and to provide scholarship money for families in need.

2011/2012 SKOS Board of Directors SKOS

The Starr King Open Space Board of Directors is very pleased to announce the election of seven new directors: Jannella Stebner, Daniel Fineman, and Alexander Jones will serve three-year terms, Jennifer Serwer, Julie Schumate, and Christina Quiroz will serve two-year terms, and Kathyjean Boise and returning board members Christa Conforti and Webb Green will serve one-year terms. This will finally establish a staggered system so that in the future only three seats will come up for re-election each year. The current board will continue until we have a transition meeting in the upcoming month, at which point the new board will be installed. Congratulations and welcome to all of our new board members

A heartfelt thank you to everybody who ran for the board, and to all the
neighbors who showed up to vote: your engagement and passion is what sustains
Starr King Open Space.

For more information, please visit our website:
http://starrkingopenspace.org/

Newcomb Ave. Sustainable Streetscape Model Breaks Ground in Bayview

From SF Streetsblog,

Construction began on a model for sustainable streets in San Francisco today when Mayor Ed Lee and city officials broke ground on a block of Newcomb Avenue in the Bayview District, promising a much friendlier streetscape for residents and the environment.

“You see a vision right in front of your door,” Mayor Ed Lee told an audience of residents and agency officials who collaborated on the project. “A vision that’s going to bring about slowing the traffic, trees, permeable landscaping – all kinds of things that you see other neighborhoods get.”

The treatments in the Model Block project [pdf], such as greener sidewalks and bulbouts, over twenty trees, raised crosswalks, and chicaned street parking with permeable pavement, aims to treat stormwater as it falls, enhance the public realm, and create a safer street by calming motor traffic.

“This is one block of our many streets of San Francisco that altogether cover 25 percent of our city,” said Department of Works Director Ed Reiskin. “But they were designed more for people to drive through than to be on, and to cover up the environment rather than to work with its natural processes.”

The innovative practice of treating stormwater with streetscape plantings, known as greenstreet treatments, has been commonly used in Portland, Oregon. That city lacks more expensive infrastructure like San Francisco’s rainwater storage facilities and controlled combined sewage system, which are not always able to handle loads of rainwater that fall on the streets.

Read more at SF Streetsblog

Read more at SFGate

Read more at the EPA website

'Lisa' the big boring machine digging passage under San Francisco's Visitacion Valley

From SF Examiner,

A 160-ton tunnel-boring machine named Lisa will begin carving an underground path Monday for a new sewage pipe about 40 feet below Visitacion Valley.

Named after its owner’s wife, Lisa will cut a 12-foot-wide tunnel designed to relieve neighbors of persistent sewage backups during rainy seasons. The passageway will stretch about 4,000 feet from Bayshore Boulevard to Harney Way, near Candlestick Park.

The current pipe, which was built in 1913, is about half the diameter of the new one being laid. Utility workers say it isn’t big enough.

“It’s an old system,” said Manfred Wong, a senior project manager with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. “The water floods the streets, gets in garages ... sometimes toilets are backed up.”

Mayoral Question Time, Round The Second, Expected Tuesday

From SFAppeal,

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee will return to the Board of Supervisors' chambers on Tuesday for his second voter-mandated monthly mayoral appearance.


The appearances are required after nearly 60 percent of city voters passed Proposition C in November in response to often contentious relations between the former board and then-Mayor Gavin Newsom.
But Newsom was elected the state's lieutenant governor in the same election, and Lee was chosen as interim mayor.

According to the rules set up by the board, Lee made his first appearance last month and answered questions submitted the previous week by supervisors in odd-numbered districts.
Some supervisors had argued for more spontaneity to be allowed in the proceedings; Lee's appearance was anything but.

He read scripted answers to questions on topics such as the city's budget and pension reform, and joked to reporters afterward that he would try to be more compelling the next time.

District 10 Supervisor Malia Cohen asked what the city is doing to clean up and reuse the site left vacant by the Potrero Power Plant, which ceased operations earlier this year.

Dumpster Artists

From Eco-Artware-Notes,

While a growing number of craftsmen are working with other people’s discards, Recology, a California resource recovery company, actually pays artists to turn trash into art.

In 1990 Recology began a unique art and education program. The company selected artists to work full time for four months in a large, well-equipped studio next to its transfer station in San Francisco. The transfer station is located within a 46-acre property that includes several recycling facilities and the public disposal area (aka “the dump”). Most of San Francisco’s garbage  is temporarily stored at this site before moving on to a landfill elsewhere in California.

Read more...

New Art Space Opens in Dogpatch with Striking Exhibition from Rodney Ewing

From SF Weekly,

Two impressive collections dealing heavily with race, ritual, trauma, and injustice from Rodney Ewing make up the inaugural exhibit in Dogpatch Cafe & Art Gallery, according to a statement from Ewing and John Warner of the cafe and gallery. Saturday night is Ewing's opening reception.


The first series is called "Port Chicago," named for the infamous Bay Area facility, the Port Chicago Naval Magazine. Located on Suisun Bay between Martinez and Bay Point, it was where munitions were loaded in World War II. In July 1944 a shipment exploded, injuring and killing hundreds of mostly black enlisted men. The Navy blamed the men for the explosion and later imprisoned some 50 who refused to work because of unsafe conditions. The late Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American on the U.S. Supreme Court, defended the men, most of whom were released but not exonerated for decades.

Shipyard Trust for the Arts Invites You

Shipyard Trust for the Arts Invites You Quick Links www.bvoh.org   www.shipyardtrust.org  A Retrospective: Jacques Terzian, Founder of "The Point" Artist Colony On May 15, we will honor Jacques Terzian, 89, who founded the largest artist colony in the world at the Hunter's Point Shipyard in San Francisco.  The Bayview Opera House has installed a retrospective exhibit of Jacques' work and artwork of his friends, Stephen Namara and JoeSam.  There will be speeches and awards, refreshments, and an auction of Jacques' last 5 sculptures to benefit the Bayview Opera House's "Dare to Dream Youth Arts Program."  As part of the day's program, Shipyard Trust for the Arts (STAR) will also recognize those who worked hard years to keep artists and small businesses on the shipyard, including previous STAR Board Members Linda Hope, Scott Madison, Ian Green.  We will also acknowledge Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, whose support has been crucial to us many times in the past.    Some History: Jacques Terzian is an artist and businessman who in 1984 rented unused buildings at the decommissioned Shipyard to sublet them to artists at affordable prices. Then already in his 60's, he crawled under dilapidated buildings, replaced rusted water lines, tore out the crumbling asbestos and built partitions for art studios, assisted by his son David Terzian, who now runs the business.  As you know, the Hunters Point Shipyard art colony has grown to over 300 artists, along with a few musicians and small businesses Artists were threatened with eviction more than once, starting with the Navy's intention to homeport the USS Missouri here in 1987. Several artists and small business people formed a loose organization that organized resistance and garnered the support of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, among others, to keep the artists in their studios. Eventually, STAR (Shipyard Trust for the Arts) was founded in 1995 to secure the future of an arts district at the shipyard and replacement studio space for all artists who will be displaced by buildings torn down as part of the Hunters Point Shipyard Redevelopment Project. Please join us in honoring these people and how far we have have come over the past 30+ years.  The event will be attended by many past and present tenants of the Shipyard so it will be a good opportunity to visit with friends and acquaintances,as well as to pay tribute to Jacques. We hope you will join us. The event is free, but please RSVP online to terzian.eventbrite.com/ so the organizers will have an idea of numbers in attendance. EVENT DETAILS: Sunday, May 15, 2 - 5 pm Bayview Opera House 4705 Third Street (between Newcomb & Oakdale) San Francisco, CA  94124

Comments on the Navy's Community Involvement Plan

Last week IBNA submitted the attached comments on the Navy's Community Involvement Plan (CIP). The Navy has indicated that it will respond, but has not provided us with a date. The comments were put together for IBNA by Arc Ecology, which is serving as IBNA's Technical Advisor through the US Environmental Protection Agency's Technical Assistance Grant (EPA TAG) funds. Its contents do not necessarily reflect the policies, actions, or positions of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The India Basin Neighborhood Association does not speak for nor represent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Click here to access the entire CIP Comments document.

Community Carnival

Come to the Community Carnival
At Thurgood Marshall Academic High School (TMAHS)
45 Conkling St., San Francisco, CA 94124
Date: SATURDAY, MAY 21, 2011

Time: 11AM – 4PM
PRIZES! FOOD! GAMES! RAFFLES!

Come one, come all! Everyone is invited! Suitable for all ages!

Take MUNI lines: Bus 44: Get off @ Silver Ave. & Santa Fe Ave. Bus 8 AX & 9: Get off @ San Bruno Ave. & Felton St.

Parking is limited around the school



TMAHS, Neighborhood Vision Project, Community Youth Center of San Francisco, & Healing Circle for the Soul Support Group are hosting a nonviolence & drugs awareness carnival. There will be jumpers, fire spinning, live entertainment, a rock-climbing wall, arts & crafts, tables from organizations, face-painting, & more! Top raffle awards include a Nintendo Wii & an Xbox with Kinect!

Endorsed by: Supervisor Scott Wiener (D 8), Supervisor Malia Cohen (D 10), Geekosystems, Peace Development Fund--Mother Jones Fund, San Francisco Private Benefactors, Northwest Community Response Network, Visitation Valley Community Center, Thurgood Marshall Way Foundation, Mission High NVP Youth Leadership Council, Northern California Peace Alliance, San Francisco Freedom School, Healing Circle for the Soul Support Group

FOR QUESTIONS & MORE INFO: Neighborhood Vision Project – 1204 Mason Street Suite #1, San Francisco, CA 94108 – (415) 613-7247 http://www.neighborhoodvisionproject.org
ASUC Sponsored ADA Accessible

Meditation program mends troubled Visitacion Valley Middle School

From SF Examiner,

Every day before class, Visitacion Valley Middle School students pass an informal memorial known as the “R.I.P. wall,” a reminder of trouble that awaits them when the afternoon bell rings.

In 2004, two students discovered the partially decomposed body of a 19-year-old stabbing victim. Later that year, a gunman brazenly stormed into the school, threatened to kill a teacher and robbed two employees. In the 2009-10 school year, one-fifth of the students had one or both parents incarcerated.

“Everybody in this school was either related to somebody who has been shot, who did the shooting, or who saw a shooting,” said Jim Dierke, the school principal. “We had kids who couldn’t learn.”

In the spring of 2007, Dierke decided he would try a simple solution.

Read more at the San Francisco Examiner

Potrero Hill's big talent show and fund raising for low-income kids in Arts program

$25,000 Grants Available through the College Bound Brotherhood

After a wonderful Black & Proud to Be College Bound Conference this past March, the College Bound Brotherhood of the Kapor Foundation has announced the annual call for grant requests between now and June 15th, looking to provide $25,000 grants for up to 15 nonprofit organizations that work on college readiness with young black men in Bay Area. Click HERE for more information on how to apply.

Please help us to spread the word to organizations that serve our youth. Additionally, stay tuned for more information about the upcoming College Bound Graduation Celebration at the Oakland Museum on Wednesday, June 8th, which will recognize and celebrate African American young men who are graduating seniors heading to college in the fall.

To contact them with any questions, call 415-946-3024 or jdavis@mkf.org.

Community Meetings in May/June regarding a possible remodel for Sundial (Hilltop) park

Attention to All Community Members and Stakeholders,

 The Trust for Public Land has again lent their support to the Bayview Hunter's Point Community. Several years ago, The Trust for Public Land was instrumental in assisting the India Basin Community in revitalizing India Basin Shoreline Park. Through their support and community effort, India Basin Shoreline park has become a premiere park in our community located by the Shipyard on Evans/ Innes Avenue.

The Trust for Public Land has returned to our community to help once again. After being courted by the members of Parks 94124, the Trust for Public Land has committed again to this community in the form of grant writing and support. The Trust for Pubic land is writing a multi-million dollar grant to totally revitalize Sundial (Hilltop) Park. Hilltop Park which is fondly known as Sundial Park to the Hunter's Point Community is located in the heart of the hill and for nearly a decade the park has been missing a play structure and workable bathrooms. The lack of a play structure or any form of play equipment,  decaying skateboard park and the faded Sundial are just a few major things that need to be addressed in this grant process.

Bayview District Weekly Newsletter

Incidents of Interest

On April 27th at 11:25 AM, Officers Singh and Padmore were on the MUNI light rail platform at 3rd and Williams conducting fare inspections. Fare evasion on MUNI is a big problem so officers conduct this type of operation frequently at various stops. As people get off the bus, the officers ask for a transfer, pass, receipt, etc. In the very least, fare evaders become identified and cited. However, officers never really know what’s coming their way in any situation, therefore nothing is ever routine, as we are about to find out:

So anyway....there were the two officers, one in front and one at the rear of the light rail vehicle, waiting for the passengers to disembark the train as it comes to a stop. Officer Padmore began asking the passengers for proof of payment and all was going great until one particular subject got off the train. As soon as the officer asked for his receipt, the suspect did a 180 and got right back on, only to try to sneak back off through another door. Officer Singh noticed this, approached the suspect and asked him to have a seat on the bench as he explained the reason for the detention. Mid sentence, the suspect got up and began to walk away from the officer. Officer Singh grabbed him by the arm but the suspect pulled away and in taking off running, ran right into Officer Padmore who was coming to assist. The fight was on! In the struggle that ultimately led them all to the ground, the suspect’s jacket flew open and revealed the reason for all the resisting: The unmistakable handle of a handgun tucked into the suspect’s waistband. For any officer, this is pretty scary as suddenly the pressure to gain control over the suspect is cranked way up. These are Bayview cops though and we can all predict how this ends:

Fortunately, both officers were able to subdue the flailing suspect long enough for one of the officers to grab the weapon away and manage to hold on to it and maintain control of this guy until back up arrived (which here in the Bayview never takes long). The suspect was arrested and transported to Bayview Station along with the fully loaded .22 caliber revolver that the officers seized. He was booked for numerous charges. The weapon is being investigated for possible connection to any other crime.
(SFPD Case No.110340744)

DISTRICT 10 OFFICE HOURS with Supervisor Malia Cohen

Southeast Community Facility Commission
Neighborhood Office
1800 Oakdale Avenue - Main Entrance Lobby
(corner of Phelps St.)

May 6, 2011
4:00pm – 6:00pm

To schedule an appointment or for additional information please contact Eddie McCaffrey at (415) 692-3556 or supervisorcohen@gmail.com.

Executive Park residential development OKd in S.F.

From SFGate,

Called the little sibling of the larger development at Hunters Point Shipyard, a plan to build 1,600 new residential units in a triangular area tucked between Candlestick Park and Highway 101 was approved unanimously by the Planning Commission Thursday.

Developers and the city have been mulling proposals for the desolate area known as the Executive Park since the late 1970s. But no plan gained traction until last summer, when the city approved a huge development at the nearby former naval shipyard.

Read more at SFGate

Game on!

Common Checkered Skipper

From Starr King Open Space,

 The current SKOS Board is delighted to announce that we have 13 great candidates for the upcoming election on the 10th.  For more information on the candidates, go to our Annual Meeting & Elections page.

And, of course please come join us at the NABE, this Tuesday, May 10th.  We will open the doors early at 6:30 p.m. for an informal meet & greet with the candidates.  The Annual Meeting and Election will formally convene at 7 p.m., wrapping up at 9 p.m.

California Culinary Academy Settles Lawsuit With Students for Millions

From SF Weekly,

The lawyers wanted to prove Matt Foist was dumb. He recalls attorneys questioning him for hours about his decision to enroll in the California Culinary Academy, a for-profit school in Potrero Hill.

"At the end of the day I just had to shake my head and say, 'You're right. I'm a fool. You're absolutely right,'" Foist says. "They put the class catalog in front of me and said, 'It says right here you're not necessarily going to become an executive chef when you get out of the school.' I said, 'It does say that. But you guys sold it so well that I didn't think it was significant at the time.'"

The occasion was Allison Amador et al. v. California Culinary Academy, a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of former CCA students. San Rafael attorney Ray Gallo filed the suit after being inspired by the 2007 SF Weekly feature "Burnt Chefs" [Eliza Strickland, 6/6/2007], which showed how the school urged students to take on tens of thousands of dollars in government loans to pay for what many graduates considered substandard training. Students claimed in court they'd been defrauded. Next came depositions, and lawyers' questioning.

Historic Firehouse to Become New Dogpatch Restaurant, Someday

From GrubStreet.com,

Local tech entrepreneur Wayne de Geere (a Web 1.0 millionaire) recently purchased Firehouse Station #16, the 1925 structure at 20th and Tennessee in Dogpatch. The Scoop reports that he's looking to put a restaurant on the ground floor, with two residential units above, after some significant renovations of course. But yes, Dogpatch is hot, and any chefs who think they'll be in the market for a job in 2011 or later should be pricking up their ears.

Writes SFGate's Inside Scoop,

Firehouse Station #16 in the Dogpatch was built in 1925, but has been dark the last several years. Last week, the historic brick building at 909 Tennessee Street was purchased for $1.3 million.

The buyer is Wayne de Geere, a local tech entrepreneur guy who did quite well in the first dot-com boom.

But here’s where it gets interesting — at least for Inside Scoop and restaurant industry purposes. Reportedly, de Geere wants to install a restaurant on the ground floor and two residential units above.

You hear that, restaurateurs and chefs? Everyone says the Dogpatch is — or is going to be — the new hotness, and that brick building could be a very interesting space. The caveat is that it still needs to be rezoned and a 2010 appraisal said it needed “significant repairs for any type of use.”

D10 Supe Malia Cohen Appointed To Association of Bay Area Governments Executive Board

From SF Appeal

San Francisco Supervisor Malia Cohen Tuesday was appointed by her fellow supervisors to the Association of Bay Area Governments Executive Board.

With the appointment at Tuesday afternoon's board meeting, all 11 supervisors now serve on boards and commissions outside the Board of Supervisors, Board President David Chiu said.

Other government agencies whose boards are required to include San Francisco supervisors include the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District's Board of Directors and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

Cohen, who represents District 10 in the southeast part of the city, was one of four new supervisors who were elected last November.

SoMissPo Micro-neighborhood

This gets me wondering what other micro-neighborhood names are out there.

Reposted from CurbedSF,

An anonymous tipster hipped Mission Mission to San Francisco's newest microhood, at least according to the almighty Google. It's called Somisspo (SoMissPo?), and it's right smack dab in the middle of where SoMa and the Inner Mission meet a corner of Potrero Hill. (Need a visual reference? Think the San Francisco Design Center or "under all those freeways.") The microhood has been recognized for years by Yahoo!, Flickr, Redfin and even Yelp, but this is the first time we've seen it on an actual Google Map. Hell, even Curbed asked you, the readers, to name the area back in November of 2007. No idea who coined it or why, but congrats nonetheless. Now let's move onto solidifying more important microhoods: CIVIC VALLEY. Make it happen, Google!