Activism

VICTORY: Future of Bernal’s Vintage Coke Sign Is Secured

/ Todd_Lappin / 12 Comments

Vintage Coke Sign

It took a year, an outcry, and a special piece of legislation to get the job done, but last Thursday the matter of Anonymous NIMBY vs. Bernal’s Vintage Coca-Cola Sign has been resolved, and the future of the sign is now secured.

Richard Modolo, the Bernal resident who owns the home at 601 Tompkins upon which the sign appears, sent Bernalwood this summary of last week’s Planning Commission meeting where the commissioners voted to allow the sign to remain:

I attended the Planning Commission meeting this afternoon and the Conditional Use Permit has has been approved. Next the Conditional Use permit will be recorded with the property deed, once that is completed I believe  the final step in the process is pulling a sign permit. We are getting near the finish line. I might add that there were several Bernal Hill residents who showed up in support of the sign. I am thankful to them and you for all of the support. I will continue to keep you informed along the way.

The vote came as a great relief, but in some ways it was not a surprise. Indeed, the Executive Summary of the case written by Planning Commision staff advocated for the preservation of the sign, and for all the right reasons:

The news of the Planning Commision vote was picked up by many of our City’s mainstream media outlets, including The Examiner and The Chronicle. Here’s an excerpt from the Chron’s coverage:

The vintage Coca-Cola sign whose presence bubbled into a citywide debate about preservation and historic art can stay right where it is, the Planning Commission decided Thursday.

A year ago, the 15-by-7-foot sign on the wall of a Bernal Heights home became the subject of controversy when a group of residents said it was corporate advertising in a residential area and promoted obesity by advertising a sugary drink.

Those for the mural, which was probably first painted in 1930, before being covered with asbestos siding in 1956 and rediscovered in 1991, said it was a relic from Bernal Heights’ working-class past.

All well and good, but both the Chron and the Ex made a factual error by asserting that there was some balance of opinion within Bernal Heights regarding the fate of the sign. That is false. There was no “group of neighbors” that opposed the sign; As far as we know, there was exactly ONE neighbor who opposed it, and that lone neighbor managed to set in motion the chain of events that backfired very completely, such that the sign can now remain in place in perpetuity with the official imprimatur of Our City’s Government. (Also, the sign dates from the early 1940s, not the 1930, but who’s counting?)

But, hey, whatever. Victory is still victory, and still sweet, no matter how absurd the entire controversy might have been. So now let us just quietly enjoy the knowledge that Bernal’s vintage Coke sign can grace the neighborhood for 70 more trouble-free years.

PHOTO: Top, Richard Modolo. Below, Telstar Logistics

“Occupy Bernal” Takes Fight to Wells Fargo

/ Todd_Lappin / 7 Comments

bernal will fight

Occupy Bernal has taken their fight beyond Bernal Heights by carrying their protest against home foreclosures directly to executives at Wells Fargo. The SF Bay Guardian catches us up:

Yesterday, three top Wells Fargo executives flew to San Francisco to meet with Alberto Del Rio, a Bernal Heights resident facing foreclosure.

Del Rio’s parents purchased their home in 1973. The home was refinanced multiple times, he says “for a better life” for his family. The most recent refinance, in 2007, was a result of lenders convincing Del Rio’s mother that refinancing would be an easy to pay for some of her retirement.

“It sounded really great because my mother had no monies for retirement. The loan officers told her pull out some cash and reinvest it so she could have a better retirement. They told her, ‘after two years, you’ll be able to refinance out of this,’” said Del Rio.

The loan she got was a pick-a-pay loan, one of the most notoriously predatory loans that banks offered in the years leading up to the 2008 crash.

After continued requests from Bernal resident Alberto Del Rio and support from that neighborhood’s foreclosure-focused branch of the Occupy movement, Del Rio was finally given the time of day- by top executives in the Wells Fargo home preservation department.

The executives, including Sharon Zuniga and Shawn Woods, who flew in from Wells Fargo’s headquarters in Texas, met with Del Rio Feb. 22 at the San Francisco offices of Consumer Credit Counseling Services for about an hour and a half.

Del Rio says they gave him three options: to move out of his home and convert it into rental units, allow a short sale on the house and accept $3,000 to move, or let foreclosure proceedings continue as planned.

“They flew a guy here all the way from Houston to try to bully him into giving up,” said Buck Bagot, an organizer with Occupy Bernal.

But the fact that they took the time to do that was a result of continued pressure from Del Rio and his supporters.

“It was a good thing,” said Del Rio.

PHOTO: Lily Rothrock

Support “Cycle for Survival” With Team Spector/Smith

/ Todd_Lappin

Bernal neighbor David Spector writes to tell us that his family is raising money to support cancer research:

The Spector/Smith family is riding this year in Cycle for Survival, an indoor relay style team cycling event that raises money for research into rare cancers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The event was started in 2007 by Jennifer Goodman Linn and her husband Dave. It has raised more than $9 million in support of lifesaving research on rare cancers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and in the past 5 years has funded 25 clinical trials and research studies.

Our family and friends have been touched by rare cancers over the past decade. In particular this year we are cycling for Mark Mindes (Sarcoma — and he’ll be riding in NY the same day!) Gracie Lawton (Hepatosarcoma) Wendy Friedlander (Rhabdomyosarcoma) Elias Dube (Neuroblastoma) and Bruce Rosenberg (Metastatic Mealnoma.) All are alive today thanks to research and clinical trials funded by events such as this one.

David invites anyone who’s interested to either join their team or donate to support their effort.

PHOTO: Team Spector/Smith

Meet the “Wild Old Women” of Occupy Bernal

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

Remember when that posse of self-described “wild old women” #occupied the Bank of America branch on Mission near Valencia not long ago? It was a clever stunt marred by only one agitprop oversight: No good photos of the occupiers were made available at the time. Doh!

Now, somewhat belatedly, Jasper Gregory published a webpage that introduces us to a few of the Wild Old Women, and (no surprise, perhaps) many of them came pre-steeped in social justice and progressive activism. For example:

Wild old woman, Ginny, 75, got involved in 1963 in the March on Washington. In seventies she helped the Gandhian Cesar Chavez labor movement.

Full gallery here.

PHOTOS: Jasper Gregory

“Wild Old Women” Occupy Bank of America on Mission

/ Todd_Lappin / 7 Comments

KCBS carries the story about yesterday’s geriatric #occupy protest at the Bank of America branch on Mission Street near Valencia:

It was a slow-moving Occupy Wall Street protest, but it was an effective one. A dozen senior citizens calling themselves “the wild old women” succeeded in closing a Bank of America branch in Bernal Heights Thursday.

The women, aged 69 to 82, who live at the senior home up Mission street from the Bernal Heights Bank of America branch, decided to hold their own protest by doing what they called a “run on the bank.”

Tita Caldwell, 80, who led the charge of women with walkers and wheelchairs, said that they’re demanding the bank lower fees, pay higher taxes, and stop foreclosing on, and evicting, homeowners.

The full story is right here.

PHOTO: KCBS

Occupy Bernal Seeks to Fight Foreclosure; Meeting Wednesday

/ Todd_Lappin / 15 Comments

Occupy Bernal? Apparently, it’s no longer just an absurdist punch line. Neighbor Annie writes:

Our wonderful neighbor “T” is getting his house foreclosed on by the Wells Fargo Bank for falling behind on payments on his unfair ballooning predatory mortgage loan. He’s a lovely, elderly, retired, single man. Sadly as of today, there are 59 other houses in Bernal Heights that are in default and/or foreclosure. So we’ve had a couple of meetings with a some experienced activists to help him save his home. This has evolved into the first OCCUPY BERNAL General Assembly on Dec. 21, Wednesday night, at the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center. Together we can find ways to help our neighbors, and by extension, ourselves.

Here’s a nice new web site with more info.

Bring some snacks/deserts if possible for the community building schmooze after the meeting.

PHOTO: Handbill poster at Precita Park, by Telstar Logistics

YIMBY Power: How Friends of the Lucky Horseshoe Bar Rallied to Sway the City’s Entertainment Commission

/ Todd_Lappin / 8 Comments

Lucky Horseshoe 007

Lucky Horseshoe 001

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Lucky Horseshoe 003

So, remember how Eric Embry, co-owner of the Lucky Horseshoe on Cortland, asked folks from Bernal Heights to attend a hearing at City Hall on Tuesday night, so that the Lucky Horseshoe might secure the coveted Entertainment Permit needed to host live music at the bar?

Well, a whole lot of people actually showed up at City Hall to express their support. And in the end, the Lucky Horseshow got their permit — which means live music will soon follow.

But the story doesn’t end there. Overall, the episode turned out to be a rather encouraging experience for many of those who decided to get involved. It showed that hard work can pay off, meaningful community can be created, and antagonism from a NIMBY minority doesn’t always carry the day — or spoil the fun.

Neighbor Clane attended the hearing on Tuesday night, and she filed this exclusive report:

Around 6 p.m. Tuesday night a few of us sat in Room 400 at City Hall to support Lucky Horseshoe’s bid for a live entertainment license. Through a long, tangled presentation by a group that had been successfully blocking entertainment — for twenty years — in SOMA, I worked on some crochet to stay occupied. I didn’t look up until one of the Commissioners announced Lucky Horseshoe. That’s when I noticed something great: The room was totally full.

A Commissioner began Lucky Horseshoe’s case by stating they’d received 845 letters of support of it, and only twelve against. A dozing commissioner straightened as the room exploded with applause.

Lisa Marie and Eric, Lucky Horseshoe’s owners and proprietors, both straight out of Super Cute Geek and Smartie Hotness Magazine, explained their case at the podium. The Commissioners asked a few questions and then invited public comment. A line went around the room as people of all ages, shapes, sizes, and colors stood up to speak.

The commission unanimously voted to approve the license, and the crowd went nicely and politely wild.

Afterward, back at Lucky Horseshoe, Lisa poured champagne for everyone who’d come to City Hall, and the outdated jukebox started up right away with the perfect outdated music I go to Lucky Horseshoe just to hear. Seriously, I go there for three reasons: good drinks from convivial bartenders, interesting conversation with random strangers, and the crappy jukebox.

Whenever I go into Lucky Horseshoe I end up talking to someone totally new and unexpected, because it’s practically a scientific fact: You can bond with almost anyone over “Benny and the Jets.” Those gathered at City Hall were no exception, from the elegant, elderly pool shark, to the mussed hipster, to my neighbor. There were OGs and hoodies, moms and hipsters, musicians of all kinds, and bingo-playing church ladies. There was a genteel pensioner and a lawyer in a trucker’s cap. It was awesome, grown-folk style.

A few things were really clear. The support was genuine and heartfelt, and Lisa Marie and Eric had worked hard for it. Since opening they’d differentiated themselves from Skip’s Tavern, but they’d welcomed old regulars and anyone who respected the business. They held community meetings and supported local causes and events, like the Library Mural Project and the Solstice Stroll.

They also thought a lot about why people might be concerned about live music and what issues it might entail. I don’t think you can fake this kind of thing — either the outreach Lisa Marie and Eric put into it, nor the unanimous approval and overwhelming support they received in return. For once I felt like I was at the really cool party. Gathering to make, experience, and reflect art, music, and culture is the life of the City itself.

Post Script: Eric said he and Lisa Marie were just beside themselves with all the support, and wanted to really, really, really thank everyone.

Indeed.

Last night, Bernalwood received an email from Eric, who writes

Thank you very much!!

Now we just have to do some soundproofing, install the sound system, and pass a couple inspections between now and our first show.  We’ll be on for Valentines day if not earlier, hopefully sometime in January!

PHOTOS: Top, Lisa-Marie and Eric. Below, friends of Lucky Horseshoe attending and testifying at the Entertainment Commission hearing. Fabulous photos courtesy of Adrian Mendoza.

Give a Toy, Get a Drink, at the Stray Bar

/ Todd_Lappin

Stray Bar

Karen from the Stray Bar on Cortland is doing her part to make this holiday merry for some less-fortunate kids this year. Play along, and she’ll give you something yummy to drink:

Stray Bar’s Destination North Pole & 3rd annual SFFD Toy Drive Party

Join us in helping to fill Santa’s Sleigh — bring an unwrapped toy for a deserving Bay Area child and help spread the holiday joy! Receive a complimentary glass of wine or pint of beer for each toy. Our holiday party is Friday December 9th. Get in the holiday spirit with DJ Santa (aka Flirty G), enjoy hors d’oeuvres, holiday cookies, and party with the Stray Bar elves all night!

Help us break last year’s record of 3 full bins of toys. We hope to overwhelm our friend’s at the local fire dept with a few car loads of toys.

We will continue to collect donated toys through December 20th — at which point we will deliver the toys to the SFFD station on Folsom Street.

We know that December is a busy month filled with parties & celebrations — consider stopping by for a pre-party drink or pass this message along to friends and neighbors who might be interested. We appreciate your assistance in helping us gather as many toys as possible!

PHOTO: Telstar Logistics

Angry Parents Rally at Paul Revere School

/ Todd_Lappin / 40 Comments

Vintage Coke Sign

There’s rebellion afoot at Paul Revere School on Tompkins, with a rally that was scheduled for 8 am this morning taking place to protest the policies of the school’s principal. The SF Appeal carries the story:

Parents at a school in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood are holding a rally Thursday to call for the removal of the school’s principal for what they say are unfair regulations.

The 20 or so parents at Paul Revere School, which teaches pre-kindergarten to eighth grade students, are taking issue with principal Sheila Sammon, who is in her second year at the school.

Sammon has allegedly instituted new rules such as issuing demerits for students taking bathroom trips, said Phillip Pierce, an organizer with Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, a group that advocates for low-income and immigrant families.

Any Paul Revere families care to weigh in on the controversy? Comment away.

PHOTO: Telstar Logistics

New Plantings in Precitaville, Courtesy of Your Neighbors

/ Todd_Lappin

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Planting in Precitaville

On Saturday morning, while you [may have been] out trying to pick up a few tipsy sailors where in town for Fleet Week, some of your neighbors in the Precitaville Administrative Zone were hard at work planting a new butterfly garden in the traffic bulb on the corner of Precita and Folsom. Led by the intrepid Demece Garepis of the Precita Valley Neighbors group, much earth was tilled and many plantings were lovingly placed in the ground. Beautiful!

On behalf of all the Citizens of Bernalwood, we say: Thank You!

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

Tonight! Buy Chicken John’s Book, Help Save His Space for ‘Odd and Unlikely Artworks’

/ Bronwyn Ximm / 27 Comments

On Cesar Chavez Street near Mission, there’s a prominent mural on a jaunty red building that shouts advice to all passers-by: “Fail…to WIN!”

That slogan is the subtitle of The Book of the IS, a new book written by the building’s owner, Chicken John Rinaldi.

I’ve read it, and I was genuinely inspired by its rallying cry to embrace the “Is” — that which “allows and accepts and laughs and courts” — and reject the “Un,” which “prevents and contains and moderates and disdains.”

The key to pulling off this trick? Don’t be afraid to fail. “The minute we’re as comfortable with failing,” Rinaldi writes, “as we are with winning — the moment we’re in it for the experience and not the victory lap — is the moment we’re free.”

A showman provocateur whose multifarious capers have increased the colorfulness of our city and Bernalwood in particular (anyone remember the Odeon Bar?), Chicken John’s most recent claim to fame is his (failed) mayoral campaign in 2007.

But for the past five years or so, he has quietly put on all manner of interesting artistic and cultural events ­— oracular Q&A salons, trapeze classes, puppet shows, mayoral debates, you name it — at 3359 Cesar Chavez Street, the aforementioned jaunty red building. Quietly as in, you know, lacking all the permits and stuff.

That space is now at a crossroads, and Chicken John needs help. He needs you to buy his awesome book, either online at bookoftheis.com or, preferably, in person tonight, Sept. 30, 7 p.m.-2 a.m., at a spectacular free event at 111 Minna and the surrounding block (the street will be closed to accommodate over 100 performers and god knows what kind of mayhem).

Did we mention that the book is an objet d’art? And that 550 of the 2,500 copies in existence sport handmade slip covers by renowned street artist Swoon as well as a smattering of local artists? You can even choose (for a slightly higher price) to have your book include a coupon worth one “anything,” redeemable directly from Chicken John. “It’s gonna kill me,” he says, “but I’m serious about it. I will do anything to save the warehouse.”

If he can raise the dough, Chicken John will be able to (a) keep his warehouse and (b) make an honest art space out of it via the nonprofit he created: the San Francisco Institute for Possibility. “We want to champion odd and unlikely artworks,” he says. “There is so much cool stuff that wants to happen there that I have to pass on because we are just not legal enough. Together, we can put the warehouse’s problems away and focus on doing shows, manufacturing culture, and battling the onslaught of mediocrity.”

Hear, hear! Help the man fail at failure.

PHOTO: Neil Berrett

Watch This Video to Help Leonard Flynn Elementary School

/ Todd_Lappin / 7 Comments

Here’s your big chance to be a mouse-potato AND help Bernal’s Leonard R. Flynn Elementary School… at the same time! Neighbor Teresa explains:

Local Bernal elementary school, Leonard R. Flynn Elementary School (just off Precita Park) is a finalist in the Coupon Cabin’s arts grant contest.

Our YouTube video has garnered almost 1,000 views and could use a boost from Bernal neighbors. Views, “likes,” and comments are 25% of the judging for the $5k, $10k, or $15k award to be used for art and music programming at this local gem of an elementary school.

We have until September 18 to rally around the video and win the award for our programs.

I’m not going to embed the video, just to make double-extra sure the school gets full credit for all the clicks and views. But you know what to do, dear neighbors. View this video. (It’s only a minute long.) Add it as a favorite. Share it on the Facebook. Tweet your peeps. Spam distant relatives in far-away states, and/or any Nigerian dictators you correspond with regularly. Let’s help bring home the bacon for the kids at Leonard Flynn.