Author: Todd_Lappin

Then and Now: Cortland at Nevada, 1931

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cortland.nevada.2016

Here’s fun comparison showing the view from Cortland Ave. looking east from Nevada St. That’s July 31, 1931 up above, and January 18, 2016 below.

The most surprising thing about the two photos is that (apart from the sepia-tone coloring and more modern cars) the streetscape from this location hasn’t changed a whole lot in the last 85 years. The buildings on all four corners of the Nevada intersection are still in place and mostly unchanged.

Look a little more closely, and there’s one charming detail from way-back-when: There’s a young girl near the northwest corner riding a scooter down the hill toward Bayshore. Without a helmet! <Insert horrified parental gasp>

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But in a more substantive way, the view from this angle is somewhat misleading. Yes, the view looks similar today when you look down the hill, but when you’re at the bottom of the hill looking up, the changes are far more dramatic.

Here’s what that looked like. This is the view from Cortland at Bayshore, looking up the hill toward Nevada. There’s no date on this photo, but the cars on Cortland tell us it’s from roughly the same era as the older photo above; circa mid-1920s or early 1930s:

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Different! That first left turn is Hilton Street, and the embankment behind it now supports the highway 101 overpass. But most noteworthy is the big row of greenhouses visible just up the hill on the north side of Cortland. And, of course, no houses!

IMAGES: 1931 view, via UC Berkeley Bancroft Library. 2016 view by Telstar Logistics. View from Bayshore courtesy of the Bernal Heights History Project. 

Thursday: Northeast Bernal Crime and Safety Meeting with SFPD Capt. McFadden

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As Bernalwood has previously reported, the residents of northeast Bernal are experiencing a particularly intense spike in crime. Meanwhile, the geography is such that our northeastern Bernalese neighbors live on the edge of two SFPD precincts, two supervisorial districts, and US101 (which is managed by Caltrans).  The net result is that their situation hasn’t gotten much attention from local officials.

To change that, an ad hoc group of local residents recently formed the Northeast Bernal Neighbors Alliance and scheduled a community meeting with SFPD Ingleside’s Capt. McFadden for Thursday evening, January 21,  to discuss what can be done.

Neighbor Ryan writes:

Northeast Bernal folk, as you’ve likely heard (and probably noticed), our neighborhood has become victim to a growing amount of crime. Car break-ins, burglaries, and now even violent crime are on the rise.

We’ve set up a community meeting and invited Capt. McFadden from SFPD Ingleside to learn about some new crime-fighting proposals for our neighborhood.

What: Crime & Safety Meeting
When: Thursday., January 21, 2016, 7pm
Where: Precita Center (Upstairs Classroom), 534 Precita Ave.

Hope to see you there!

The Northeast Bernal Neighbor’s Alliance is a new community group being formed to improve the quality of life and reduce crime in our neighborhood. Join us! Even if you can’t attend the meeting, please sign up here.

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IMAGE: Top, Bernal Heights crime heat map for the period from November 18, 2015 to January 18, 2016

Tuesday: Important Meeting to Advocate for the Defreewaytization of San Jose Avenue

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Remember that fabulously ambitious idea to rethink the speedway portion of San Jose Avenue through the Bernal Cut? The visionary set of ideas that focused on ways to reintegrate San Jose Boulevard into the Bernal-Glen streetscape?

That was some mind-expanding stuff, but it wasn’t just fantasy. Tomorrow, Tuesday, January 19 at 6:30 pm, there will be a community meeting with the SFMTA to discuss some down-to-earth proposals to re-unite Bernal Heights with our ancestral kin in Bernal-Glen. Mike Schiraldi from Bernal-Glen has been leading the charge to make this happen, and he explains why you should attend:

Tomorrow night is the MTA’s big community meeting for the SJA Road Diet. It’s very important to let them know how many San Franciscans share a vision of San Jose Avenue that’s less like a freeway and more like a boulevard.

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The “I ♥ SJB” refers to the San Jose Boulevard slideshow that brought you all to this mailing list. “Fund the study!” refers to one of the declared goals of the Glen Park Community Plan, created and endorsed by the SF Planning Department and the Glen Park Association in February 2012. It called for a study to be conducted by February 2017 to investigate the feasibility of reconnecting San Jose Avenue to the local street grid, adding a new J-Church stop, and, effectively, de-freeway-izing it. The problem is, we haven’t heard peep about the study in years. Let’s get it back on track!

Please come if you can make it; a single in-person appearance at an event like this is volumes more effective than, say, 50 snarky comments on NextDoor and Facebook. Here are the details:

Tuesday January 19th, 6:30-8:30pm
Glen Park School Auditorium
151 Lippard Avenue

There’s decent parking availability after school hours, and the address is also very transit-accessible.

Your Bernal Heights Crime Update for January 2016

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It’s a new year, with new data on local crime patterns. So for that, let’s go to Bernal’s valiant SFPD liaisons, Neighbors Edie and Sarah, who attended the most recent Ingleside Police District Monthly Community Meeting, held just before the holiday break. Over to you, Neighbor Edie…

Ingleside Police District Monthly Community Meeting
December 15, 2015

Captain’s Report by Captain Joseph McFadden: joseph.mcfadden@sfgov.org
(Notes taken by volunteer Edie Williams, who is entirely responsible for any errors)

  • SF SAFE and the SFPD have published a handy brochure on personal and property safety, preventing pick-pocketing and identity theft. There are copies in the Bernal Library and the Bernal Heights Community Center, or download one here.You can find more safety information from SF SAFE.

Recent Local Police Activity:

Bernal Heights has been seeing a lot of nefarious activity, due to the city’s attempt to push homeless residents away from the area of the Super Bowl, and thanks our easy access on and off the freeways at Bayshore / Cesar Chavez or Bayshore / Alemany.

Large encampments of homeless people are located at Highland Bridge and under the freeway at Cesar Chavez, with tents, bikes, and cardboard packaging (which police believe may have originally been packages stolen off neighbors’ porches.) There’s a SPFD lieutenant in charge of homelessness, and police are issuing citations for homelessness, but the courts are not putting them in the system, and there’s no place to put people in treatment if they were in the system–no treatment beds available, and way too many people waiting for them already.

Teens have been hanging out and partying in the area near the encampments, and in December there was a gang-related shooting on Holladay at Peralta. This may have been a setup, since the Norteño gang seems to be fighting even among themselves. What to do: The Captain asks that if you see any teen party or gang activity, call police dispatch immediately and ask for them to come check it out. If there’s no response, call the Ingleside station main number, (415) 404-4000, ask to speak to the PC-Platoon Commander, and tell them you’re still waiting for a police response.

Shooting of Mario Woods in the Bayview has generated a great deal of controversy, especially after the publication of video taken at the time of his death. The Captain believes that tasers would enable police to escalate force without killing the person involved, although tasers don’t always work, as they have to make contact with two points of skin to have impact. While the use of tasers is being discussed, the police have been issued shields for self protection.

Body cameras are coming, though not at the beginning of 2016. Police are currently developing protocols and policies for the circumstances police will wear the cameras, whether filming will include audio and visual or just visual, and how and where the data will be stored and used. They will then set up a pilot program in the BayView, Ingleside, Tenderloin, and the Mission. They must evaluate cameras, select a vendor, and then plan for ongoing future expenses for data storage and updating, etc.

The Ingleside has license plate readers on two patrol cars, which they’ve used to identify several stolen cars and arrest the drivers.

McLaren Park has seen a crowd of neighborhood motorcross bike riders ride through the park. There’s also a large group from Oakland that comes to SF and rides around the neighborhoods. Many are juveniles, they don’t wear helmets, and police believe it might be more dangerous to chase them and have them get hurt than not. Leaders in Viz Valley are identifying kids with bikes, and police will be notifying the families that if the kids are caught they’ll take away the bikes. What to do? Call the police if you see them start up, so the police can stop them before they’re out of control.

The “Wig bandit,” known for wandering through the upper Noe casing houses, was caught within a few hours once videos of him were on the news. Unfortunately, one resident chased him out of their house, but never called the police. He did report it on NextDoor, however. Please remember, Police are not monitoring NextDoor for calls for assistance. If you are the victim of or witness to a crime or potential crime, call the police directly before you post to social media. Contact phone numbers are below (and in the Bernalwood sidebar)

Videos are used frequently now as tools to help victims, witnesses, and the police. If you have installed a video camera, you can register it online with the SF District Attorney. The DA’s office will map the addresses into a database, so that when a crime is committed, the police can check the map, ask camera owners for a copy of their video, and possibly use the video as evidence in a trial. If you’re thinking of buying a video camera, the Captain recommends that you buy one that has a high enough resolution to convince a jury. Many cameras come with a 7-day loop, so have extra CDs and learn how to download the video.

Problems Neighbors Are Reporting:

Neighbors report groups are gathering and lighting bonfires behind Pacific Super off Alemany. Police will investigate.

If you notice daily repeat traffic problems, email a description of them to the Captain. He’ll set up enforcement campaigns.

Monthly meetings are held the third Thursday of the month in the Ingleside Police Station meeting room, then the following month at a changing neighborhood site. If you have any suggestions for meeting areas (with some parking) within the Ingleside community, please let the captain know.

Upcoming Meeting Dates:

  • January: Wednesday, Jan 20th, 7-8:30 pm, Upper Noe Rec Center, 295 Day St. at 30th.
  • February: Tuesday, February 16th, 7-8:30 pm, Ingleside Police Station, 1 Sgt. John V Young Lane
  • March: Date to be announced, Jewish Home of SF, 302 Silver Ave at Mission.

SPFD Ingleside Contacts:
Emergency, dial: 911
Non-Emergency: (415) 553-0123
Tip Line: (415) 575-4444
Precinct phone (415) 404-4000

Email: SFPDInglesideStation@sfgov.org
District Station Website

PHOTO: Telstar Logistics

Saturday Afternoon: Let Your Kids Frolic in the Junipero Serra School Playground

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JSerraYard

Casey Berkovitz, an organizer with the San Francisco Shared Schoolyard Project, invites one and all to the grand opening of the Junipero Serra Elementary School playground, weekend edition:

We’re organizing an event at Junipero Serra Elementary School (625 Holly Park Circle) on Saturday January 16th, from 11 am to 1 pm.

Our organization, the Shared Schoolyard Project, has worked to make the schoolyard there available to the public on weekends, and we are hosting an event to celebrate that and inform people in the neighborhood.

Join Supervisors David Campos and Mark Farrell and the San Francisco Shared Schoolyard Project at Junipero Serra Elementary School on Saturday, January 16th for an exciting kick-off event marking the schoolyard’s grand opening.

The community-driven event will feature a ribbon cutting ceremony, free lunch, and activities for the whole community. Activities will include painting a mandala with Little Artistas, books with the Bernal Heights branch library, and soccer and poetry with America SCORES! Find out more and RSVP right here.

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PHOTO: Junipero Serra Elementary School playground, courtesy of the Shared Schoolyard Project

Bernal Filmmakers Producing “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” Headed to Sundance Screenwriters Lab

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Bernal Heights filmmakers Joe Talbot and Jimmie Fails just got some more good news about The Last Black Man in San Francisco, the feature-length film they’re now producing after completing a successful crowdfunding campaign last year.

They’re going to Sundance!

Specifically, they’re going to the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, which is a huge deal in a pre-production sort of way.  Team LBMSF writes:

Our script was just accepted into the Sundance Screenwriters Lab!!!! This is HUGE. Over 5 days, we will workshop the script with industry mentors that Sundance has selected for us at the Sundance Resort in Utah. Past attendees include Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream), Wes Anderson (Bottle Rocket), Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station), Ben Zeitlen (Beasts of the Southern Wild) and many, many more. From there, we will go to the Sundance Film Festival and Joe will be joined by producers, Khaliah Neal, Carlton Evans, Michael Kontomanolis, and Natalie Teter to meet with other industry players as well as potential crew. (Between us, there are a couple DP’s we have our eyes on.) Beyond all those wonderful things, being selected for the Labs is one of the most coveted seals of approvals in the industry.

Big red carpet congrats!

To track the progress of The Last Black Man in San Francisco as it makes its way to the big screen, like the Facebook Page or sign up for their glamorous mailing list.

David Bowie Remembered During Renegade Bernal Hill Memorial Singalong

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Something beautiful, and lovely, and enchanted, and very Bernal happened last night. At the end of a day that many Bernalese spent mourning the death of David Bowie, a Bernal neighbor hit upon the genius idea to organize a tribute: A renegade David Bowie singalong and dance party on Bernal Hill.

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Bernalwood received a private communication about the idea from Neighbor Sam via the red phone late Monday afternoon:

Hey Bernalwood….wondering if you’ve heard of any memorial gathering in Bernal tonight for a little Starman sing-a-long? Was thinking top of the hill at sundown…

“Oh hell yes!” we said. By 5:30 pm Neighbor Sam had completed the arrangements. She’d procured two loudspeakers, wrangled a generator, and compiled an all-Bowie playlist. An 8 pm start-time was selected, and shortly before 6 pm, Bernalwood was authorized to begin transmitting an all-points invitation via our social media frequencies:

This was greeted almost instantly by an energetic cascade of Twitter retweets and Facebook reshares.

The result was that even though there had been just two hours of advance notice for Neighbor Sam’s renegade David Bowie memorial singalong, somewhere around 50 to 75 people come together on Bernal Hill to remember Bowie’s life and listen to his music.

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It was dark on our hill, but the air was  calm and clear, and the lights of San Francisco unfurled like a twinkling Ziggy Stardust galaxy below. Here’s a sampler of the scene; a video montage of three Bowie songs, as experienced by a very lucky group of neighbors on Bernal Hill last night:

The tribute lasted for about an hour and a half, and there were many smiles and hugs, and then it was over.

Immense thanks go out to Neighbor Sam, who provided the inspiration and the infrastructure to make this magical, musical Bernal Bowie memorial happen. Somewhere in space, we know David Bowie was smiling.

PHOTOS and VIDEO: Telstar Logistics

UPDATED: Toddler Injured During Despicable Daytime Robbery and Assault

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A little after 3 pm last Friday, Jan. 8, a 2 year-old child in a stroller was injured during an armed robbery on Cortland Avenue near Prospect. KCBS reports:

San Francisco police said the assault took place at around 3:18 p.m. on Friday near the intersection of Cortland and Prospect avenues in the city.

Investigators said the man drove up in a black sedan, exited the vehicle with a gun and approached the woman. He knocked over a stroller, injuring the 2-year-old who hit her head on the sidewalk.

He then ripped the woman’s purse from her neck, demanded money and then struck her on the arm with his handgun.

The suspect then grabbed a tablet from the child and fled from the scene in the sedan, police said.

Both the mother and daughter were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Bernalwood is relieved that mother and daughter are doing okay, and we will update this story as additional details become available.

UPDATE, 10:30 am: Neighbor Sarah provides additional detail from Captain McFadden of SFPD’s Ingleside Station:

This happened near the community garden walkway at Cortland and Prospect. A woman was walking with her 2-year-old in a stroller. A car pulled up, and a juvenile (approx 13/14 years old) jumped out to grab the woman’s bag. In the struggle, the stroller got knocked over. The juvenile also took the kid’s tablet, then jumped back in the car, which sped off eastward.

The police believe they have an idea of where the juvenile may live – they think it may be one of the nearby public housing developments. The 2-year-old is OK, though I’m sure the whole experience was very frightening.  As reported, this was in the daytime, too – so rather surprising.

Median Home Price in Bernal Now Stands at $1.3 Million

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New end-of-year data compiled by Paragon Real Estate Group confirms that San Francisco’s residential real estate market remains rather bonkers, with median home prices up by 11% citywide during 2015:

Despite anxiety about interest rates, financial markets, housing affordability, unending international crises, and possibly over-valued, high-tech unicorns, the Q4 2015 San Francisco median house sales price, at $1,250,000, is up about 11% from Q4 2014. That dovetails nicely with the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index for the Bay Area, which measures appreciation in a different way, but also calculated 11% annual appreciation (through October, its last report). The Q4 condo median sales price, at $1,125,000, is up 13% year over year, but that is influenced by the greater percentage of more recently built, and more expensive units in the sales mix.

One chart was particularly telling; it places today’s vertiginous home-price appreciation within the context of 30 years of vertiginous home-price appreciation. As it happens, 1984 is right around the time when San Francisco  implemented new land-use controls, just as the City’s population began to rebound after three decades of postwar slump:

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Anyway, closer to home, Paragon also provides detail about the Bernal Heights market, revealing that Bernal homes generally hover around the same level as the citywide median. Here in Bernal, the median price for a single-family home stands at around $1.3 million, with condos selling for about $1.1 million.

Paragon doesn’t provide specific data on the price of fixer-upper homes for Bernal Heights, but since Bernal’s prices now mirror citywide medians, this is also a depressing interesting datapoint: The median sale price for fixer-upper homes in San Francisco is now $950,000. (FWIW, this fixer in South Bernal sold in December for a bit less.)

It should come as no surprise to anyone who lives here, but Paragon reveals that homes in Bernal tend to be more compact than those in other parts of the city:

House_Size_by_Neighborhood2_Bar-Chart

But what’s surprising is that on a cost-per-square-foot basis, houses in Bernal go for prices that nestle somewhere between St. Francis Wood and Sea Cliff. Oh my:

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CHARTS: via Paragon Real Estate

Beloved, Bernal-Owned Dema Clothing Store Closing This Month

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About a year ago, Bernalwood created an ad-hoc spreadsheet to keep track of Bernal-owned businesses that are not in Bernal Heights. The basic idea was to create and eventually publish a list of Bernal-owned businesses around San Francisco, to help the Citizens of Bernalwood know where they can shop locally, even when they venture off-hill.

That spreadsheet remains a work in progress, but in the meantime, we’re sad to report that one Bernal-owned business will soon vanish from the list: Dema, the glamorous women’s clothing store on Valencia (near 21st) owned by Neighbor Dema Grim from Santa Marina, is closing at the end of the month.

Neighbor Dema tells Bernalwood:

Yes, my time has come. My customer base has slowly dwindled, and it’s just not financially feasible for me to keep the shop going. I opened in 1997— not much on Valencia then! Survived two recessions.

But this “new” SF baffles me. The new residents seem particularly lacking in style. My wonderful eclectic, arty customers have moved to the East Bay. And online shopping is de rigeur now. SO. I am closing the shop and moving to a studio in Dogpatch, in the Workshop building to be precise, where I’ll continue to work with my wholesale accounts and do custom clothing by appointment,

I’m super excited! I never wanted to be a retailer, really, and it’s taken so much time away from actually designing the clothes. And Dogpatch is full of people making things and doing groovy collaborations. So, yipee! if anyone wants to follow me they could sign up for my mailing list on my blog.

Good luck Neighbor Dema! And in the meantime, let’s expand that Bernal-Owned Business list: If you live in Bernal and own a business around San Francisco, feel free to add your information to this spreadsheet.

PHOTO: Neighbor Dema, in her native biome, among many frocks. 

Alex Nieto’s Family and Friends March from Bernal Hill to Bayview

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

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Just after sunset last night, family and activists rallying on behalf of Alex Nieto, the Bernal neighbor who was killed in a 2014 officer-involved shooting, organized a march that took them from the site on Bernal Hill where Nieto was killed to the Bayview District. Once in Bayview, the Nieto group joined with the family of Mario Woods, who was killed in an officer-involved shooting in December 2015.

KTVU covered the event:

The parents and friends of 28-year-old Alex Nieto paid tribute at the spot where he was shot by police almost two years ago.

“Right now, we just have to show unity and strength in numbers and just ask for the community to come out and support us– the family, but not just the family. Today it’s our family. Tomorrow it might be yours,” said Maria, a cousin of Nieto’s.

His parents led supporters on the march to the Bayview to join the family of Mario Woods, the 26-year-old shot and killed by police last month.

At 3rd and Palou streets, dozens attended a rally for Woods before marching to the police station where both groups converged and officers stood guard.

Woods’ mother, Gwendolyn, was emotional as she confronted officers. Tensions eased as supporters formed a circle.

The mothers of Woods and Nieto came together for a symbolic ritual. They joined hands, shared hot chocolate and broke bread.

The trial in the Nieto family’s wrongful death lawsuit against the City of San Francisco is set to begin on March 1.  The full text of the Medical Examiner’s report about Alex Nieto’s death is available here.

PHOTOS: Top, Alex Nieto memorial on Bernal Hill, January 6, 2015, by Causa Just Just Cause. Below, Gwendolyn Woods, mother of Mario Woods, with Elvira and Refugio Nieto, parents of Bernal neighbor Alex Nieto, by @justice4alex.

Rainbows Bombard Bernal During Brief Break in Winter Storms

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

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Blessed are the rains that have come to our lands this winter, for they are sorely needed. Yet during a brief break in the storms yesterday, the sun made a glorious appearance, which prompted Neighbor Valerie to issue a Rainbow Warning via the Twitters:

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Sure enough, within moments reports began streaming in to the Bernalwood Rainbow Situation Control Facility about a prismatic bombardment underway in Bernal Heights. From his vantage point on Bernal Hill, Tom Cook captured a pristine full-arc rainbow over the Mission:

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Jason witnessed a devastatingly euphoric rainbow strike on Cortland:

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Neighbor Valerie saw a rainbow pounding Bayshore with joy:

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Added Nationwide Celebrity Bonus: As the rain pitter-pattered on the roof this morning, your Bernalwood editor huddled over a cup of coffee to read the newspaper. This photo caught our eye on the front page of the National section of The New York Times:

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Oh hey! That’s Bernal Hill! The caption reads:

Dark clouds hovered over Bernal Heights on Tuesday as storms from the climate pattern known as El Niño began hitting the West Coast. Heavy rain, while welcome after five years of drought, increased fears of mudslides and flash floods in areas stripped bare by wildfires. Some forecasts called for nearly an inch of rain a day for the next 16 days in Northern California.

And also… more potential rainbows.

PHOTO: Top, Direct rainbow hit on Bernal Heights. Original photo by Greg McQuaid.

Do We Really Think a Wayward Drone Caused Last Night’s Power Outage?

/ Todd_Lappin / 11 Comments

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A Sunday evening power outage along Hampshire Street in northeast Bernal Heights may have been triggered by an errant drone. Or, the blackout may have had nothing whatsoever to do with a drone, but for some rather coincidental timing.

Neighbor Teresa reports:

Residents of Hampshire Street lost power at 5:04 tonight. 34 homes were affected. A few of the neighbors saw something kind of big hit the power pole at Hampshire and Peralta. There was a small explosion and all went dark.

Was it a plane? Was it a bird? Was it… a drone???

PG&E crews are searching the area around the power pole right now.
Looking for … THE DRONE!

Power was restored in about two hours. Thanks PGE! This is the best of you!

Neighbor Margo adds:

Power is out here in the Hampshire sector of Bernalwood. Apparently some guys flew their drone into the power lines on the pole at the corner of Peralta and Hampshire. The explosion was impressive enough that my husband Lynn thought it was right outside our house, which is a half-block away.

Some of the neighbors told me that a few guys came looking for the drone, but when they realized it had caused a power outage, they said were looking for their friend’s drone. The PG&E guy said that he hadn’t heard of this happening before. So it might be a first. Probably won’t be the last.

But wait, did this even happen at all? Was a drone to blame? We shouldn’t be so sure.

The title of SFGate’s story provides the first clue that this tale should be approached with skepticism: “Did wayward drone knock out power in Bernal Heights?”   That right there is a classic instance of Betteridge’s Law, the truism that any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word ‘no.’ (Please find lots more examples of Betteridge’s Law here.)

And then, of course, there are the actual facts: Apparently, no one actually saw a drone hit the power line, and no drone was recovered from the scene. From SFGate:

A witness, Scott Kurth, was working at his computer when he saw a flash of light and heard a loud pop on a power pole at the intersection of Peralta Avenue and Hampshire Street, in the northern corner of Bernal Heights. The power went out in 34 homes at 5:04 p.m, according to PG&E spokesman J.D. Guidi.

Kurth did not see the impact but said a few minutes later that a man in his 30s came running up and admitted he had lost control of a drone he was flying at a nearby playground.

“He was talking to us, and we were looking for the drone with flashlights,” Kurth said. When PG&E arrived, the drone pilot moved on, Kurth said.

After power was restored, the crew searched for the drone but could not find any evidence of it, Guidi said.

PHOTO: PG&E crew working on power outage on Hampshire last night, courtesy of Neighbor Teresa