Author: Todd_Lappin

Neighbor Laurie Wigham’s Original Watercolors on Display at Bernal Library

/ Todd_Lappin / 7 Comments

LibraryDisplay

Neighbor Laurie Wigham should need no interaction to in-the-know Bernalwood readers, because her terrific watercolors of scenes around Bernal Hill have brought a lot of smiles to our faces. Now some of  Neighbor Laurie’s watercolor are on display in the Bernal Heights Library.

I finally got through the Spring Break college tours and had a chance to put up those watercolors in the library. There wasn’t room for nearly as many as I would have liked to show, but you will recognize some of them.

Indeed we do!  For example:

The show is part of the ongoing series of displays in the library foyer by members of the Russellers watercolor group. Neighbor Laurie adds that the group is “open to all, and meets every other Friday downstairs in the library.”

Elsie Street Library Opens Mysterious Main Branch

/ Todd_Lappin / 9 Comments

STEUER-mainbranch1 Neighbor Sharon found a secret public library tucked away along a leafy portion of Elsie Street north of Cortland. She has no idea how or when it got there:

I’ve always thought of Bernal as “Brigadoon” — a small town atop a hill in a city where even San Francisco residents ask “where is that?” when we mention it.

So whether, like Brigadoon, the Elsie Street Library Main Branch has always been there, or just appeared on certain days, to certain people, I can’t say for sure.

I walk the street all the time. I’m always looking at the houses and the flowers, seeing the paint colors and street plantings. I can’t tell you for sure when the elves set up this library, but we’ve never seen it before. I love it!

PHOTO: Neighbor Sharon

Woman Found Dead in Minivan at Safeway Parking Lot

/ Todd_Lappin / 10 Comments

BernalSafeway.Hawk

A strange and upsetting story unfolded yesterday afternoon at the Taoist Safeway on Mission Street. A woman was found dead in her car in the Safeway parking lot.

Neighbor Valerie was on the scene, and she says foul play does not appear to have been a factor:

I went to Safeway around 1 pm. I was driving in. and there were a ton of SFPD and SFFD cars/trucks that had just pulled into the parking lot. They went over to an older minivan that was parked on the right side (next to the taqueria), and the paramedics appeared to be attending to someone.

When I was checking out, I could see that there were still several cops/cars hanging out near the van, but all the fire department trucks and the ambulance were gone.

I asked the cashier what was going on. She said someone had died in their car. Apparently the woman was known to the Safeway staff; she went in often to eat samples and then would go into her van to sleep for a few hours. It is possible that the deceased was there for a full day.

Eventually, someone decided to call the cops and found the unfortunate scene. As I was leaving, they had it blocked off with crime scene tape.

PHOTO: Bernal Safeway from Bernal Heights, by Thomas Hawk

Sunday: Artist Performance Will Focus on Alex Nieto Shooting

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

Alejandro-Alex-Nieto

Megan Lavelle emailed Bernalwood this week to invite our community to a performance dedicated to the officer-involved shooting of Bernal resident Alex Nieto. Megan writes:

I am the Assistant Curator for Manresa Gallery, a contemporary art gallery inside St. Ignatius Church on the USF campus. This Sunday, April 13th we will be hosting a performance by artist Amitis Motevalli titled “I Speak of Shards and Pebbles.” To quote the artist:

‘“I Speak of Shards and Pebbles” uses documented accounts of recent incidents of officer involved shootings in and around San Francisco. The artist investigates how victims become dehumanized in their media portrayal. In the tradition of Iranian folklore, Motevalli finds stories by community members and the deceased’s family to create a more human depiction so the state driven narrative is not the only one accessible.’

The performance on Sunday will focus on the recent police shooting of Alex Nieto on Bernal Hill and we are hoping Bernalwood would feature the event on the blog as a way for mourners to find another outlet for their grief.

Again, the event is this Sunday, April 13th, 2014 beginning at 2:15pm inside St. Ignatius Church at the corner of Fulton and Parker in San Francisco.

PHOTO: Alex Nieto via Amitis Motevalli

Bernal Artist Bernie Lubell Unveils Remarkable Wooden Machine That Does Almost Nothing

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

lubell2

lubell3

lubell1

Last night, Neigbor Lessley and I left the familiar environs of Bernal Heights to attend the glamorous opening party for Neighbor Bernie Lubell’s massive new solo art installation at Intersection for the Arts downtown.

As you may remember, when we last saw Neighbor Bernie’s new artwork, it was under construction in his garage on Crescent, and it looked like a medieval Rube Goldberg machine built from wood scavenged from a construction site. Very mysterious.

Last night at Intersection for the Arts, the true nature of his project was revealed. It’s called “Why Can’t the First Part of the Second Party  be the Second Part of the First Party?” and when fully assembled, it becomes a series of rope-driven pulleys, gears, and driveshafts fabricated entirely from lumber. The ropes are driven by human-powered pedal-bikes and treadmills, which generate lots of gear-spinning motion — but surprisingly little actual change.

This high effort/outcome ratio very much by design. “It’s a piece about people working together to get nothing to happen,” is how Neighbor Bernie described it last night. The wall text at Neighbor Bernie’s show explained that the piece…

… relies entirely on visitors’ active participation to bring it to life. The interconnected mechanisms provide various ways for participants to cooperate to get nothing to happen and several ways to monitor this nothing as it happens.

It’s extremely complicated, meticulously constructed, somewhat confusing, and completely awesome.

Neighbor Bernie’s exhibition will be at Intersection of the Arts (925 Mission) from now until June 7, so if you find yourself near Mission and Fifth, stop in to check it out. Bernalwood is told he will also give an artist’s talk there on May 10.

Congrats and nice work, Neighbor Bernie!

PHOTOS: Top, Bernie Lubell at his opening last night. All photos by Telstar Logistics

Clever Map Reveals Geography of Bernal Heights Coffee Shops

/ Todd_Lappin / 20 Comments

coffeeshopwalkscapes.annotate

Some clever data-visualization geeks at MIT have created a very cool new map that reveals the social geography of San Francisco coffee shops. A Bernalwood-enhanced look at our portion of the map reveals which parts of Bernal align most organically with each of our local coffee shops:

This map shows the location of every independent coffee shop in San Francisco and the walking-shed community associated with it.

Independent coffee shops are positive markers of a living community. They function as social spaces, urban offices, and places to see the world go by. Communities are often formed by having spaces in which people can have casual interactions, and local and walkable coffee shops create those conditions, not only in the coffee shop themselves, but on the sidewalks around them. We use maps to know where these coffee shop communities exist and where, by placing new coffee shops, we can help form them.

We applied two steps to generate the data displayed by the map. First, we used the Google Places API to locate all coffee shops in a given city. Second, for each point in the map we queried the walking route and distance to its nearest coffee shop using the Google Distance Matrix API.

In the final map the colored areas represent a region which is walkable to a specific coffee shop (within one kilometer or 0.7 miles). The intensity of color at each point indicates its distance from its corresponding coffee shop.

Cool! But not perfect. The map was created by algorithms, not humans. So it reveals the logic of physical proximity, not social preference (thought the two often and naturally overlap). Also, the data might be a little old, because the transformative Cafe St. Jorge on Mission near Cortland is not present.

Nevertheless… cool!  Here’s how all of San Francisco looks without the Bernal annotations:

SFcoffeeshops

Bernal Neighbor’s Essay Ponders Housing Prices, Public Policy, and the Future of San Francisco’s Middle Class

/ Todd_Lappin / 26 Comments

realestateneon

Neighbor Hina Shah is associate professor at the Golden Gate University School of Law. She rents in the La Lengua Autonomous Zone, on 29th at Mission — for the moment. Her housing situation has been stressful, and she wrote about that, and some possible solutions, in last Friday’s Chronicle:

The discussion about the housing crisis has focused exclusively on how the burgeoning tech industry is affecting low-income residents. However, middle-class, moderate-income families like mine are also being squeezed out of the city.

My family lives in a non-rent-controlled unit in the Mission-Bernal Heights district. My husband and I moved into our apartment 10 years ago, when we were still dating. Since then, we got married and had two children. When it was time for our daughter to go to elementary school, we chose our neighborhood public school. We occasionally considered buying a place but, with our incomes as nonprofit and public-sector workers, owning seemed like a financial stretch.

In January, however, our commitment to raising our children in the city was severely tested. We were notified that our rent would increase by $600 a month.

So what is to be done? Neighbor Hina proposes:

To ensure economic diversity in our communities, the city must embrace nonmarket solutions, such as:

Increase city-owned land that can be developed into subsidized housing for all income levels. Vienna offers an excellent model for how San Francisco could be a major player in social housing. In Vienna, the city controls 25 percent of the housing stock and indirectly controls another quarter of housing built and owned by limited-profit, private developers. Housing cannot be controlled solely by the private market, as irrational exuberance is once again overvaluing housing and pushing long-term residents out of the city. Here in San Francisco, the city must become a key player by owning and managing housing stock.

San Francisco’s Housing Trust Fund should be used to build affordable housing units, with a mix of diverse price points, limited equity units and rental units.

Induce tech giants such as Google to invest in community land trusts or other funds to help build more affordable housing. Google’s recent gift to fund free Muni passes for youth for two years is inconsequential. The public and the city officials who represent us should demand more from our tech neighbors.

Preserve and expand rent control: Units constructed after 1979 (like mine) are exempt from rent control. The state’s Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act exempts from rent control single-family homes and condominiums where the tenancy began on or after January 1996. The act also removed vacancy controls, allowing landlords to set new rents when a unit becomes vacant.

Change the Ellis Act to stop speculator evictions of rent-controlled tenants. Preserving and expanding rent control will need full public engagement and the city’s muscle, as it did in 1979 when the city passed emergency legislation to stem the tide of quadrupling rents in the Mission District.

There’s a lot to consider in all this, so discuss in the comments if you’re so inclined.

PHOTO: Telstar Logistics

Visiting British Tourist Gets the Full Bernal Love

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Nice work, people.

Last week, we asked all of you to extend a warm welcome to Tony Quarrington, a British tourist and San Franciscophile who is vacationing in Bernal Heights.

This week, Tony reports that he’s definitely experienced the Bernal love:

It started within minutes of leaving the cottage on our first morning back in the city.

As we crossed Cortland Avenue in Bernal Heights to indulge in a Progressive Grounds brunch, an elderly woman walking her dog launched a cheery “hello British people” in our direction. No sooner had we digested this unexpected salutation than she had moved on her way, satisfied, I hope, that she had made us feel immediately at home in the neighborhood.

And, less than a week later, that feeling has only grown progressively stronger.

I suspect that it has been partly fuelled by a request from the moderator of the Bernalwood website and associated Facebook page to make us feel welcome if we were spotted out and about.

If so, it has certainly worked!

But the reaction has still been remarkable. I feel like a minor celebrity every time I step out of the cottage.

But I think it has more do with the fact that the people in this neighborhood are just so nice and welcoming.

Yesterday, a woman leaned out of her car window as she pulled up at Cortland and Ellsworth and called out:

“Hey, are you the British guy?”

As I stood in my Grateful Dead t-shirt taking photographs of a sign explaining how to dispose of your dog poop, all I could muster in my surprise was:

“Is it that obvious?”.

But by this time she had moved away, though not without a friendly wave.

Perhaps she had recognized me from photographs.

Or rather assumed that the clichéd touristy garb and eccentric behavior had me clearly marked down as a crazy limey.

Either way, I was grateful (no pun intended).

Tony and his wife are here all this week as well, so… you know what to do.

Your Bernal Heights Real Estate Report: Average Home Price Nears $1.2 Million During a Year of Living Vertiginously

/ Todd_Lappin / 8 Comments

bernalhomesfeb14

It’s been a while since we’ve checked in on Bernal real estate data, so let’s check in on Bernal real estate data.

First, the realtors at Downing & Company have compiled one of their periodic round-ups of recent Bernal Heights home sales. They tell us the up-and-to-the-right trend continued in February, with average home sale prices in Bernal bumping up against $1.2 million:

With all the hype surrounding Bernal Heights these days its no surprise to see that home prices were up during February. Last month fifteen (15) homes traded hands at an average price of $1,193,459 – setting a new record high for this neighborhood. While the hype factor is interesting (Bernal Heights is a charming, cool ‘hood in our opinion) keep in mind home prices are up across the city due to a perfect storm of tech job growth, low mortgage interest rates, the low supply of homes for sale, and a ravenous pool of potential buyers. With the Spring home buying season kicking off this week we suspect the market will remain heated.

3 of the 15 homes that traded hands last month were sold as fixer uppers (334 Holladay Ave, 357 Franconia St, and 501 Crescent Ave). The home at 131 Cresecent Ave included an unwarranted studio unit with a private entrance. The sale of 228 Ellsworth St was a rehab flip (it was bought in May 2013 for $705,000).

Visit Downing’s website for a more detailed breakdown of the sales mix.

Meanwhile, Neighbor Michael — aka Michael Minson, Realtor — reports that the year-over-year gains in Bernal Heights property value have been vertiginous:

San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood experienced a 23.5% increase in estimated home value from Mar 2013 to Mar 2014.

The median estimated home value in Bernal Heights was $973K. The median home value in San Francisco was $870k.

Neighbor Michael also shared a link to these April 2014 Bernal Heights real estate statistics:

bernalstatsapr14

IMAGE: March 2014 Bernal homes sold, via Downing & Company

Baby Snake Greets Bernal Neighbor on Front Steps

/ Todd_Lappin / 10 Comments

kendallsnake3

Last night, Neighbor Kendall found a lurker on his front steps:

I came home from picking my daughter up from soccer around 6 pm and found this little baby on our front steps on the North Slope. We are aways away from any shrubbery so I’m not sure how she got here. But she climbed/slithered up several of our front steps. Some research indicates she’s a juvenile gopher snake. There’s no rattle. There must’ve been a hatching nearby. I wonder if other folks are seeing these little guys around? Super cute!

Let’s zoom and enhance for a closer look:

kendallsnake2

Yikes!

UPDATED: “Smart Car Tipping” Is a Thing, and It Happened in Bernal Heights Last Night

/ Todd_Lappin / 30 Comments

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

As you may know, “cow-tipping” is mostly at the stuff of rural legend. As Modern Farmer explains, “Cow tipping, at least as popularly imagined, does not exist. Drunk young men do not, on any regular basis, sneak into cow pastures and put a hard shoulder into a cow taking a standing snooze, thus tipping the poor animal over.”

That may be true. Yet here in Bernal, we have experienced a very real wave of Smart Car Tipping which has seen [probably drunk] young men sneaking onto quiet streets and putting a hard shoulder into parked Smart Cars, thus tipping the poor vehicles over.

Neighbor Dyche reports from the scene of a Smart Car Tipping incident last night:

The crack team at Bernalwood might already have heard this over the police scanner but, just in case: there has been a rash of Smart Car tippings in the neighborhood. The last count I heard was three. The first I heard of this phenomenon was a crash outside my front door followed by the sound of a vehicle racing away. I ran outside to find my neighbor’s Smart Car tipped on its side into the middle of the road. This occurred around 1:00 AM on the corner of Ogden and Anderson Streets. The car suffered what appears to be minor damage (including broken windows and side-view mirror. The Smart Car of my other neighbors remains, mercifully, untipped.

Please caution readers to look after their little buddies. If they can, maybe put them in the garage for a day or two.

Or the barn, if you have one. Meanwhile, KRON-TV reports on other incidents around Bernal and in the Portola:

smartcar

Witness Brandon Michael says he was smoking a cigarette when one of the incidents happened near Bowdoin and Sweeny at about 12:30 a.m. Monday.

“All of a sudden I just see eight hooded figures walk up to the car,” Michael says. “I thought it looked like they were up to no good. And then sure enough they walk up to this smart car right here, all huddle around it, and then lift it up and set it on its hind legs.”

Michael says he thinks the whole thing is kind of silly but clearly an act of vandalism.

Police say witnesses report seeing similar vandalism on smart cars at about the same time just on the other side of I-280. One smart car ended up on its side at Anderson and Ogden while another was left on its roof a few blocks away at Anderson and Courtland.

UPDATE: Neighbor Brandon shares these photos of the fourth Smart Carnage incident on Prospect at Coso in Bernal:

smarttip2

smarttip1

smartbottom

PHOTOS: Top, Neighbor Dyche. Below, KRON. Bottom, Neighbor Brandon

New Happy Hour at Holy Water Happens After the Kids Go to Bed

/ Todd_Lappin / 9 Comments

holywaterinterior

Happy Hour is lovely, but it’s not exactly convenient. During those precious early evening hours, you’re probably either still at work, or walking your dog, or wrangling your kids, or cooking dinner, or walking the dog while wrangling the kids while cooking dinner, or some combination of the above. The point being, there’s a lot of stuff going on during the time when most bars want you to be drinky for Happy Hour, which makes it hard to be drinky.

In recognition of these grim realities, Holy Water, the drinktastic new bar on Cortland, has hit upon a rather clever idea: shift Happy Hour forward a few hours, make it start at 11 pm, and call it 11th Hour.

Holy Water’s website brings the details:

Welcome to the 11th hour. Starting at 11pm nightly, Holy Water will be featuring a rare and unique selection of offerings. These will only be available after 11pm and won’t be on the regular menu. Offerings will rotate nightly depending on availability.

MAGNUM-IFICINT
We have sourced rare and unique beers only bottled in magnums. many of them specifically for Holy Water. We will start popping them only after 11pm and pour them off until they are gone. These won’t be your typical beers

FULL DISCLOSURE
We have been sourcing rare and exotic spirits/mixers/tinctures/etc. and this is our time to play around and experiment with them. Come down and help us try out new recipes and cocktails that won’t normally be offered before 11pm DISCLOSURE… we are experimenting here, so some things will be amazing, others not so much. customers won’t be obligated to pay for what they don’t enjoy.

BARTENDER’S CHOICE
This is your chance to stump the bartender, or try something new. Guests can pick 2 ingredients and the bartender will make you something amazing. Do you love honey and compari? tell the bartender and they will come up with a cocktail you will (hopefully) enjoy. Or just sit back and let them concoct something from their mental rolodex of drinks.

FLIGHT NIGHT
Sample a flight of single barrel selections from all of our sister bars Churchill, Bloodhound, Prize Fighter, Brass Tax. This ranges from bourbons to rums to beers.

Offerings change nightly. More selections are in the works and will be unveiled over time.

PHOTO: Holy Water