Judging from his blog, it seems that Twitter user @rallyp is relatively new to Bernal Heights. But judging from this lovely photo, I suspect he (and his dog) will fit right in.

A day in the life of San Francisco:
Early morning dog walk before sunrise in Bernal Heights.

Welcome!

PHOTO: Going West via @rallyp

While I’m glad to see that Bernal Heights “made the cut” in Asterisk Magazine’s
San Francisco meat map, our friends at the The Tender noticed something very wrong about it:

It’s kinda weird that SOMA and Mission are connected together but South Beach is shown as being separate from SOMA, the bigger question is, where in the bejesus is the Tenderloin?

Great question. Someone at Avedano’s would probably know.

The dead-tree San Francisco Examiner published a piece of La Lengua propaganda last weekend which shines a spotlight on rebel comandante Burrito Justice and his effort to establish La Lengua as an autonomous zone independent from both Bernal Heights and the Mission District.

Upon learning of the Examiner’s plan to glorify the La Lengua separatists, Bernalwood picked up our red hotline phone to begin immediate summit talks with comandante Burrito Justice. These were summit talks in the most literal sense; lacking a coherent agenda, we met at the summit of Bernal Hill for a candid exchange of views on such matters as the economic impact of rising energy input prices, current prospects for Middle East peace in light of recent quasi-democratic uprisings, the viral popularity of Justin Bieber, and preferred menu options at Taqueria Can-Cun.

But back to the Examiner. Here’s what they had to say about La Lengua, and the rebel leader who defined its autonomous identity:

Welcome to La Lengua, the Mission district-Bernal Heights microhood that needed a name. Yes, that’s right, it’s Spanish for “the Tongue,” a reference to the district’s shape, its preponderance of eateries serving tongue meat and the active imagination of the dude behind the Burrito Justice blog.

“It started off sort of tongue-in-cheek,” he said, recalling how the inside joke about the neighborhood’s nickname began circulating San Francisco’s lively blog scene about two years ago.

La Lengua is the area west of Bernal Heights Park and east of Noe Valley, the narrow stretch between Mission and Guerrero streets, bordered by 24th and 30th streets on the north and south, respectively.

The blogger, who asked that we only refer to him as JohnnyO in order to maintain his behind-the-scenes status, said he grew tired of people incorrectly calling his neighborhood Noe Valley, Bernal Heights or the Outer Mission. So he and his friends decided they’d give the area a new name.

“This is a grass-roots thing. I had no motive except that I live here, and I think that it needed a name,” JohnnyO said. But then, something happened — people in real life actually starting calling it La Lengua.

Read the whole piece, right here.

UPDATE: CBS 5 did a piece about Burrito Justice and the Rise of the La Lenguans during last night’s broadcast. Watch it right here.

PHOTO: Rebel leader Burrito Justice/JohnnyO, photographed by Telstar Logistics

Updated April 2011 Edition of the 38 Essential San Francisco Restaurants (Eater SF)

Recreating a Mission Mural Originally Painted by Ohlone Indians in 1791 (7×7)

Who’s Up and Who’s Down on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (SFist)

Parking or a Park at 17th and Folsom in the Mission? (Socketsite)

The View of San Francisco as Seen from the Farallon Islands (Burrito Justice)

Fantastic 1906 Earthquake Photos Released by SFMTA (Uptown Almanac)

A Muni Neck Tattoo?! (Muni Diaries)

PHOTO: Howard Street (today’s South Van Ness) after the earthquake, by SFMTA

There’s serious concern on the Bernalsafe mailing list about the San Francisco Police Department’s recent decision to transfer Sgt. James Miller from the Ingleside
Station (which covers Bernal Heights) to another part of the City. The transfer is ostensibly temporary, but there’s no sign that Sgt. Miller is coming back anytime soon.

By most accounts, Sgt. Miller’s intelligence and intimate familiarity with Bernal Heights have made him an invaluable resource for neighborhood crimestoppers. A letter-writing campaign is now underway to try to reverse the SFPD’s decision.

Here’s one such letter, written by Deb McDonald of the Andersen Street Safe Alliance (and republished here with her permission):

Dear Chief Godown,

I am one of a large group of committed citizens in Bernal Heights who follow the goings on at SFPD closely because we have serious ongoing public safety (crime) concerns here in this part of the city.

So when I heard this morning that Sgt. Jim Miller was being transferred from Ingleside to the Central Station I jumped into action along with hundreds of my neighbors.

Sgt. Miller is the best SFPD resource we have in Ingleside. He knows every inch of this district and he knows many of us personally. He is my first point of contact at SFPD whenever I have a serious concern about crime in my immediate area. He has consistently provided this community with solid support and direction in improving public safety.

We are just getting to know you as temporary Chief of Police. You could go a long way toward gaining our support in the future if you immediately reverse this bad decision and keep Sgt. Miller here in Ingleside where his knowledge of the community and his long standing relationships with us represent one of SFPD’s greatest assets.

We are waiting to hear from you about this. Please do the right thing. KEEP SGT. MILLER AT INGLESIDE!!!

Thank you.

On behalf of Anderson Street Safe Alliance

Deb McDonald

If you’d like to write as well, Chief Godown can be reached at jeffrey.godown@sfgov.org. Remember: Please remain courteous but clear in your correspondence with the Chief.

PHOTO: Telstar Logistics