The election is tomorrow, and it’s going to be a big week.
So in this last moment of calm before the storm, let’s take a moment to savor this lovely photo of our rather rakish profile, as captured at Sunrise this morning by Christopher B. from his Noe Valley observation post at 28th Street and Noe.
Mmmmmmmmmm.
PHOTO: Special thanks to Christopher B.
Wow .Check out this amazing photo, captured from Bernal Hill Monday morning and shared on Reddit by @faunz.
This is an image of our futuristic urban future, as it shows the skeleton of the new Salesforce Tower poking through the dense blanket of fog that sometimes covers downtown San Francisco. So gorgeous. So Cloud City of Bespin.
Your Bernalwood editor also noticed the new tower standing proud through the clouds when I awoke on Monday, and it prompted a pre-caffeinated moment of wonder and awe. So I’m grateful to have that moment captured in a photo. It’s going to be amazing to see how our evolving skyline will look from Bernal Heights when Salesforce Tower is completed.
PHOTO: @faunz on Reddit
Neighbor Chris did some butterfly spotting atop Bernal Hill recently, and he shared the results of his spottery with Bernalwood:
An Anise Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio zelicaon) pauses and warms its wings in the eighty-degree mid-afternoon heat, against the Sutrito Tower fence.
(NOTE: For best results, try reading the above while wearing a pith helmet and whispering excitedly into a microphone.)
Here’s a close-up of our local specimen:
As for Papilla zelicaon, the Wikipedia sayeth:
Papilio zelicaon, the anise swallowtail, is a common swallowtail butterfly of western North America. Both the upper and lower sides of its wings are black, but the upper wing has a broad yellow stripe across it, which gives the butterfly an overall yellow appearance. There are striking blue spots on the rear edge of the rear wing, and the characteristic tails of the swallowtails. Its wingspan is 52–80 mm. Its body is somewhat shorter than the rather similar western tiger swallowtail, with which its range overlaps; it also lacks the black stripes, converging toward the tail, of the latter […]
The anise swallowtail is a butterfly of fairly open country, and is most likely to be seen on bare hills or mountains, in fields or at the roadside. It is often seen in towns, in gardens or vacant lots.
The usual range of the anise swallowtail extends from British Columbia and North Dakota at its northern extreme, south to the Baja California Peninsula and other parts of Mexico. It is occasionally reported from the southeastern United States, but its normal range does not extend east of New Mexico. In all the more northerly parts of the range, the chrysalis hibernates.
PHOTOS: Courtesy of Chris Frieber
Big *heart* to Chris Blagg for sharing this photo via Instagram.
This week Neighbor Rachel noticed that someone has been leaving dog food out for our coyote neighbor who lives around Bernal Hill.
We saw the coyote eating the dog food. It was on the southern side of the hill. I was in my car watching, and a runner came by and we both watched him eat. Argh!
Photo evidence:
Argh, indeed. That’s not good.
Please take a moment to re-read the comprehensive Guide to Sharing Bernal Hill With Our Coyote, where you find this admonition:
Please don’t feed the Bernal coyote. Feeding breaks down the barrier that keeps coyotes wild. If they become food-conditioned — which is different from “habituation” — big problems can develop, including approaching people, which increases the chances for negative incidents to occur. Feeding coyotes also encourages them to hang around yards, where people don’t want them.
To feed the coyote is to create additional risk for the coyote and increase the chances that our co-habitation of shared urban spaces will end badly. Please, please, do not feed the Bernal coyote.
PHOTOS: Photos, and photo annotations, courtesy of Neighbor Rachel
On Tuesday Supervisor David Campos announced his support for an effort to install a permanent, City-funded memorial to Alex Nieto on Bernal Hill. However, Bernal Heights neighborhood groups say they have not been informed about the proposal.
Alex Nieto was a 28 year-old Bernal neighbor who died in an officer-involved shooting in March 2014. The San Francisco District Attorney’s investigation of the incident determined Nieto had a history of clinical psychosis and behavioral problems, alleging that he pointed a pistol-shaped taser at police officers who approached him after receiving reports of an armed man acting erratically on Bernal Hill. During a subsequent wrongful death suit initated by the Nieto family, a jury ruled that the SFPD officers involved in the incident had not used excessive force. Friends of Alex Nieto maintain his death was a byproduct of gentrification.
Alex’s parents, Cortland Avenue residents Elvira and Refugio Nieto, appeared before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to request that the City establish a memorial to Alex Nieto on Bernal Hill. An event announcement posted on Facebook described the effort:
A resolution to establish a permanent memorial in honor of Alex Nieto, unlawfully killed by the San Francisco Police Department.
Supervisors John Avalos and David Campos will be sponsoring this noble resolution.
Press conference at the front steps of San Francisco City Hall at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 13, 2016. Board of Supervisors meeting to follow immediately. Bring your friends and family and arrive early for the lowrider caravan of justice and the danzante blessing.
WHY AN ALEX NIETO MEMORIAL?
In order to honor Alex Nieto, a permanent memorial will be established at Bernal Hill Park, the place where he was unlawfully killed by the SFPD.
Through no fault of his own, Alex Nieto, a 28 year old full-time student and security guard who had never been arrested in his life, was shot at fifty nine times and killed by SFPD officers. Even though there were many witnesses that claimed Alex had done nothing wrong and was just peacefully eating his burrito, the San Francisco District Attorney did not pursue criminal charges against officers. Then in a sham of a civil trial, the killers were released of liability by a mostly white jury that was comprised of no Latinos or African-Americans.
After Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Campos confirmed his intention to establish a City-sponsored memorial to Alex Nieto:
Bernalwood is unaware of any public meetings that have been or will be held in Bernal Heights to consider the idea of a permanent memorial on Bernal Hill. Bernalwood also reached out to leaders of several Bernal Heights neighborhood groups, and none were familiar with the proposal. One Bernal Heights community organizer said, “No, we weren’t consulted about this, but this is the kind of thing we normally expect to be notified about.”
According to the Justice For Alex’s group’s summary of Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting:
About a dozen supporters supported the Nietos by asking the Supervisors to recognize that harm had been done to the Nieto Family and the Latino community; that altars carried cultural significance to the Latino community; that the request for a permanent and protected altar and memorial was a most basic act of restoration; that Alex’s death was tied to gentrification policies of the City that allow newcomers to arrive in droves to the Mission without understanding the cultural differences and their privileges in the communities of color they come to displace and inhabit.
Justice For Alex says Supervisor Campos committed to support an ordinance that would mandate the installation of a permanent memorial to Alex Nieto on Bernal Hill. The group says the ordinance will be introduced by D11 Supervisor John Avalos at an upcoming Board of Supervisors meeting, within the next two weeks.
See all of Bernalwood’s previous coverage of Alex Nieto.
PHOTO: Top, ad hoc Alex Nieto memorial on Bernal Hill, September 14, 2016, by Telstar Logistics
The new poop emoji on the big North Bernal rock has generated a lot of laughs around Bernal Heights, and it looks like some neighbors are really getting into the spirit of it.
During his early morning walk today, Neighbor Rally captured this image of Neighbor Coyote paying tribute to the poop emoji from a strategic vantage point on Bernal Hill.
Turns out, the Bernal Coyote loves the poop emoji… just like us!
PHOTO: Neighbor Rally via Instagram
Just in time for this pre-election political season, those clever, creative elves who periodically decorate the big rock on the north side of Bernal Hill have tapped straight into the contemporary zeitgeist by transforming our famous rock into the internationally famous “poop emoji.”
The poop emoji, which was created in Japan before it was, er, warmly embraced in this country, occupies an essential place in modern digital communications. Having already migrated to t-shirts, sophisticated workwear, and plush pillows, on Bernal Hill the poop emoji now takes geological form, as the shape of our rock turns out to be a perfect fit for the beloved icon. Genius!
And now that you’ve seen it, you will never be able to unsee it.
PHOTO: Telstar Logistics
Fogust is here, which means Karl the Fog is gleefully having his way with us. So while the rest of America is complaining about the heat, we have the great luxury of complaining about the cold.
Jamie Kruse recently got a new GoPro, and he decided to experiment with it by shooting a sexy little timelapse video on Bernal Hill:
It’s frigid up on that hill. Next time I’m bringing something warm to drink and a little more patience 😉
Jamie suffered so you can watch from the warmth and comfort of wherever you happen to be. Enjoy:
Oh hey. Did your dog lose a ball on the southestern side of Bernal Hill? Because the Bernal Coyote found one — and had a lot of fun with it.
During one of his recent early-morning dog walks, Neighbor Rally filmed the Bernal Coyote mid-frolic, as the critter played with a ball. Just watch:
So cute! Just as a reminder: Please read these expert tips on how to co-exist sustainably with our Neighbor Coyote, to ensure we can enjoy his/her company for many moons to come.
VIDEO: Courtesy of Neighbor Rally
This stunning photo was shared a few minutes ago by Reddit user PicturesOfThings. It’s last night’s sunset, as seen from Bernal Hill.
Please join us in saying: Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
3D Bernal Hill, from the northeast. That’s 101 on the far left.
3D Bernal Hill, from the northwest
A few weeks ago, Neighbor John from Lundys Lane invited your Bernalwood editor to see his latest project: A 3D topographical map of Bernal Heights, made entirely from sheets of cardboard.
It’s so cool! So incredible! So WOW! Bernalwood asked Neighbor John to tell us more about how he did it:
I started the project to create a three dimensional piece of art for my living room. I was inspired by some abstract landscape brass reliefs, and I’d been searching for an inspiring idea. Then I saw a very detailed Bernal topographic map, and knew I had my subject.
I was able to get a version of the data for the topographic map. The original data had lines for every 5 feet of elevation, which was too detailed, so I removed every other line to create a elevations for every 10 feet. This took a bit of time, but it was super cool to engage with the detailed topography of Bernal, especially since I run or walk on the hill almost every morning.
The next step was to decide on a material to use for each elevation layer. Through this process I met almost-Bernal neighbor Alex at Pagoda Arts. He convinced me that architectural chipboard would be relatively easy to work with, and it came in the right thickness so that the total height of the piece would be between four and five inches — three dimensional, but still hangable on a wall.
I created a file that Alex could use for his laser cutter, and he cut forty-five layers for me. I then glued them together using high quality tacky glue.
The gluing process was laborious and tense. The layers are very detailed, so positioning them precisely was required, all with fast-drying glue. But it was amazing to watch Bernal Heights grow from the top of my work bench. At the end I could hardly wait to get the next layers on.
We live on a beautiful hill, and it’s fun to see it from this perspective.
Here are a few more pics:
View from southeast
Sutrito Tower site on Bernal Hill, viewed from the south
Funny thing about these photos, of course, is that it’s hard to tell that it’s a physical object. So here are a few more pics, with objects added to provide more depth and scale. Here’s a pair of glasses sitting on Cortland Avenue around Nevada Street:
And here’s a Sharpie pen, roughly following the path of Gates Street:
Amazing!
PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics
Sightings of the coyote who lives on Bernal Hill have become a routine occurrence, and with increasing frequency comes a growing sense of familiarity. No longer an exotic new arrival, many Bernal residents now regard the coyote as just another neighbor.
Neighbor Doug describes an experience with the coyote last week:
We came upon the coyote at the upper gate of Bernal Hill at 5:55 AM, and he followed us down past the lower gate almost to the big intersection on the east end of the hill (almost 15 minutes later). He tried playing with my dogs almost the whole way, frequently bounding up within 10 ft. of us. He REALLY wanted to play.
Neighbor Doug also shared this video of the encounter:
Bernalwood 
