Infrastructure

Mysterious Paint Blobs Befuddle Observant Pedestrians

/ Todd_Lappin / 18 Comments

Neighbor Leander discovered a Bernal Heights mystery recently:

My son and I walked all over south Bernal and noticed something odd: Every single storm drain has blobs of paint that look like balloons rising from the grating. The blobs are multicolored — red, blue and yellow — and most have long drips of white paint that look like balloon strings.

It was really strange. The first one, we thought someone had illegally dumped some paint down the drain. But they appear on literally every single drain we investigated.

Is it a strange art project? Some kind of construction signage, like the spray paint street hieroglyphics?

Or, another obvious possibility: Coded communications used by sewer-dwelling space aliens. Any other theories? Informed speculations?

UPDATE: Bernalwood readers are not only glamorous; they’re also wickedly well-informed. In the comments, we learn that these dots are markers used for San Francisco’s  mosquito abatement program. Wendy McNaughton created the illustrated answer:

PHOTOS: Neighbor Leander

Ski Bernalwood: Snow Report and New Upgrades

/ Todd_Lappin / 47 Comments

Hello Skiers and Snowboarders!

Thanks to all of you who bought a 2012 Ski Bernalwood season pass. As you know, your 2012 Ski Bernalwood season pass allows you to take unlimited advantage of Ski Bernalwood’s extensive lift and trail network anytime during normal operating hours. Thanks for helping to make Ski Bernalwood San Francisco’s premier wintersports resort destination.

We’ve made several exciting improvements for the 2012 season:

NEW TRAILS:

On the north face, we’ve opened up more advanced terrain for more adrenaline-powered ski and snowboarding excitement. The new run is called Stoney Grotto, and it’s accessible from either of Ski Bernalwood’s high-speed chairlifts via the eastern side of the Sutrito Summit Lodge complex.

NEW TERRAIN PARK:

On the southeastern slope, we’ve created Haunted House, a new terrain park equipped with epic tabletop jumps, steep jibs, and a full half-pipe.  Stow your tray table, fasten your seatbelt, and bring your seat to the full upright position, because there will be some Very. Big. Air. happening at the new Haunted House park.

NEW DINING OPTIONS:

We’re proud to welcome several new food vendors to the Sutrito Summit Lodge, to satisfy your hunger during an exciting day on the slopes. Inside, look for the new Pasta Bar operated by Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack, as well as hearty, seasonal fare offered at the Bernal Supper Club Cafe. In a hurry? Grab some tasty pastries from the Sandbox Bakery cart, located on the South Patio. Apres ski, have a cocktail with bartenders from the Royal Cuckoo as they mix it up for you and your pals.

NEW DOGGIE DAY CARE AND FITNESS CLASSES:


You asked for it, and we got it! Last year, dozens of Ski Bernalwood passholders asked us to provide a safe place to drop-off their doggies before heading out to the slopes. This year, FitBernalFit will offer doggie day care during our regular lift-operation hours, with Iditerod Fitness Classes offered for your dog daily at 11 am and 2 pm. The FitBernalFit drop-off area is located at the base of the Vista Pointe Lift.

SNOW REPORT
So many exciting new things. But let’s not forget the most exciting news of all: As you may have heard, Winter 2012 is getting off to a historically dry start in Lake Tahoe. As our friends at Squaw Valley put it last week:

Tahoe is really not looking good, humans. It literally hasn’t snowed yet this winter. I know that we all need to hold onto the hopeful idea that one big storm could change everything, but that one big storm is not on the horizon. There is nothing in the two week forecast, again. We are looking at nothing until at least mid-January…or later. I want to be optimistic, but we have to look at the numbers.

Fortunately, we have no such problems here in Bernal Heights. After the epic snowfall last week, followed by the bluebird skies last weekend, conditions at Ski Bernalwood have never been better. We’ve got at 48″ base with powder or packed powder on 100 percent of our trails, and the forecast calls for continued sun and fun throughout the week.

Come on out to ride with us at Ski Bernalwood, enjoy steep verticals, and don’t forget your sunscreen!

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

… In Which I Am Revealed to Be Only Marginally Prepared for a Very Big Earthquake

/ Todd_Lappin / 10 Comments

A few months ago, I volunteered myself, my daughter, and my home to serve as on-camera crash-test dummies for a series of earthquake-preparedness videos produced by Totally Unprepared, a public-awareness organization which describes itself as…

… what happens when you put forward-thinking state agencies, earthquake geeks, social media nerds, a web analytics genius, a professional filmmaker, a hot firefighter or two, and a bunch of unsuspecting Californians in a blender and hit frappe.

During their visit to our home, Totally Unprepared pretty much put us through a blender and hit frappe. But that’s what we’d signed up for, to foster better earthquake preparedness in California — and the Dominion of Bernalwood.

The videos have been now released as a series of installments optimized for Web-length attention spans, and they feature both me and Bernalwood’s brave Cub Reporter. In the first episode, our home is given a thorough inspection, and we are subjected to a somewhat terrifying jostle in an earthquake simulator — which the Cub Reporter endured with true native-Californian aplomb:

In the second installment, we hone our duck-and-cover technique in various awkward and uncomfortable places throughout our home:

The third episode reveals (somewhat embarrassingly) that I had neglected to properly secure the bookcase that sits next to the Cub Reporter’s cute little Hello Kitty bed. DOH!

Thus, with my humiliation complete, I now encourage you to find out more about how to prepare for the Big One.

ABC7 News Team Makes Bernal Heights Sinkhole Disappear

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

Dan Noyes is the Chief Investigative Reporter at ABC7News, and he’s probably feeling pretty good about himself right now. That’s because he decided to unleash his investigative kung-fu on a nasty Bernal Heights sinkhole, and he made it go away.

No, we’re not talking about that expanding sinkhole on Ellert that has recently been under repair. This is a different one: There was another sinkhole on Holladay and Costa, and it was making the neighbors on the east side of Bernal rather unhappy. Luckily, the ABC7News uFixIt crew swooped in to embrace the cause:

We have the story of a sink hole that’s been sinking for years and people in the neighborhood are fed up with the inaction over getting it repaired, but when the ABC7News I-Team showed up things got rolling.

People who live near the sink hole tell us the ongoing patch job is a quick fix that’s not safe and it’s a waste of tax dollars. They wanted the sink hole in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights fixed the right way, once and for all, so they contacted uFixIt for help.

Voila!

In other news, a baby was born in Bernal Heights, and ABC7News UFixIt Team made it happen. Elsewhere, Little Timmy on Tompkins Avenue used to walk only with the aid of leg braces, but thanks to the ABC7News UFixIt Team, Timmy just finished in the top 10 during last weekend’s New York City Marathon. And when the sun rose this morning, bringing light where formerly there was only darkness, did you think that was just a coincidence? Ha! As if! Please send your cards and thank-you notes to the ABC7News UFixIt Team.

Reporting live from Bernal Heights, this is Bernalwood Action News.

Bernalwood Action News

The Sights and Sounds of Pavement Progress on Precita

/ Todd_Lappin / 10 Comments

There was some big excitement happening on Precita Avenue this morning, as I awoke to the thrilling spectacle of an asphalt scraper-flume thingy doing its asphalt-launching trick right outside my home.

At long last and after many months, it seems the Precita sewer replacement and repaving project is finally nearing completion.

The asphalt scraper-flume thingy is a real monster. Properly speaking, it’s called an asphalt milling machine. It’s a giant beast on tank-like tracks that looks as if it should be operated by Jawas, and it makes a throaty roaring sound that says “Your Tax Dollars at Work!”

All motorists, cyclists, and skateboarders who regularly traverse the Precitaville Administrative Region are excited for our namesake roadway receive its final layer of fresh asphalt. Smooth at last! Smooth at last! Yay, infrastructure!

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

Great Bernal Sinkhole of 2011 Becomes Much Much Greater

/ Todd_Lappin / 14 Comments

Sure, it was a funny little joke at first. A pothole on Ellert near the intersection of Bennington opened a few weeks ago, and a neighborhood wag dubbed it “The Great Bernal Sinkhole of 2011.”

Well, there’s actually some truth to that, because since we first reported the story in early October, the hole has gotten bigger, and bigger, and BIGGER. As a neighbor posted recently on the bernalsafe mailing list:

There’s a small sinkhole which opened up a few weeks ago on Ellert just off Bennington. DPW seems to know about it, as they keep coming and patching it, but it always re-opens in a day or two.

Indeed, the fissure that started as a cute little pothole has now blossomed into a crater so massive it requires five heavy steel plates to cover. Adding to the spectacle, neighbors report that repair efforts only take place at night, beginning in the early evening and continuing until about 11 pm. It’s great fun if you’re a fan of  compressed-air tools and diesel machines; not so much if you’re trying to get some sleep.

Yet still the hole keeps getting bigger. On the bright side, Bernal Heights may soon have its very own express tunnel to China, which would offer numerous exciting opportunities for the expansion of commerce and local service industries — assuming it doesn’t engulf several of the surrounding homes first.

PHOTO: Telstar Logistics

Gulp! Why You Should Be Nervous About a PG&E Gas Pipeline with History of Big Trouble That Runs Through Bernal Heights

/ Todd_Lappin / 21 Comments

Did you happen to catch this anxiety-generating bit of news last week regarding the safety of PG&E’s gas pipelines?  From the San Jose Mercury News:

More than a year after the San Bruno natural gas explosion, PG&E still lacks “a large percentage” of the information it needs to accurately assess its pipeline risks and hasn’t taken needed steps to inform the public about its gas lines, according to the National Transportation Safety Commission’s final report on the 2010 disaster released Monday.

The 153-page report went further than earlier NTSB statements by including a strong warning about PG&E’s limited understanding of what other dangers may lurk underground.

Noting that PG&E uses data in a computerized system to gauge the risk posed by its pipelines, the agency said it fears the system contains “a large percentage of assumed, unknown or erroneous information for the Line 132” — the one that erupted in San Bruno — “and likely its other transmission pipelines as well.”

In addition, the report — the board’s final statement on the San Bruno catastrophe and largely a repetition of previously released documents — scolded PG&E for its continued failure to sufficiently educate the public about its gas lines and the hazards they pose.

In other words, PG&E basically has no idea WTF is going on with its pipelines. Why is that an issue for Bernalwood? Because one of PG&E’s worrisome “other transmission pipelines” runs right through Bernal Heights:

The PG&E pipeline that caused in the San Bruno explosion, Line 132, does not run through Bernal Heights. Instead, Bernal is traversed by another pipeline, called Line 109.

The flow of gas within Line 109 runs south to north. As you can see, the line comes in from Alemany and then heads north via Folsom, with an odd dead-end spur that shoots east along Tompkins Ave. At the top of Bernal Hill it traces Bernal Heights Boulevard, before heading down Alabama to Precita and north via York.

According to a must-read article in the San Francisco Chronicle, Line 109 has a long list of safety concerns and many of the same vulnerabilities as Line 132.

Experts point to the totality of Line 109 problems as warning signs that the older, untested lines in PG&E’s system are fraught with potential risks.

In the case of Bernal Heights, these concerns are not at all theoretical. Line 109 has caused big big BIG problems here before, most notably in 1963, when a segment the intersection of Nevada and Cresent exploded. Part of it looked like this:

And like this:

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

A Pacific Gas and Electric Co. gas pipeline running up the Peninsula into San Francisco has a long history of cracked and poorly constructed welds and even exploded once – but it’s not the one that blew up in San Bruno last year.

The pipeline is known as Line 109, and it failed disastrously in 1963 in the Bernal Heights neighborhood in San Francisco. The blast injured nine firefighters and led to the heart-attack death of a battalion chief. […]

Line 109’s problems first came to everyone’s attention almost 50 years ago.

On Jan. 2, 1963, the transmission pipe sprang a leak under Alemany Boulevard in San Francisco. About 1,000 homes were evacuated as firefighters rushed in to help.

Before PG&E crews turned off the line, gas spread to a nearby home, which exploded. Two of the nine injured firefighters were critically hurt, and Battalion Chief Frank Lamey, 63, died of a heart attack.

One of those critically injured was Anthony Marelich Jr. In an interview last week, he said PG&E had left the line active during the evacuation to avoid cutting off thousands of other customers and believed the gas was safely venting into the atmosphere.

Instead, it was filling a house on Nevada Street. Marelich said he had been standing with several firefighters when the home blew up and a wall “landed on top of me.”

“It was instantaneous,” said Marelich, now 73. His face was crushed, and doctors gave him almost no chance to survive.

He was forced to retire the next year, having lost several teeth and his sense of smell. Surgeons had to wire his jaw back on.

“Safety, right now, is in the limelight because of San Bruno,” Marelich said, adding that he thinks PG&E should have paid a steep price for the 1963 blast, “but they never showed any blame for it.”

“What happened to me and what happened to those people down in San Bruno, it should never have happened,” Marelich said.

Put another way, here’s a question we all should ask: In light of the NTSB’s staggering revelations about PG&E’s incompetent management of its gas pipeline network, what are the company and City officials doing to make sure it doesn’t happen in Bernal Heights… again?

IMAGES: Pipeline maps, PG&E; 1963 photos, San Francisco Chronicle

Help Our Senior Seismologist Create a Custom Calendar of Local Landmarks

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

Julian Lozos is Bernalwood’s Senior Seismologist. When he’s not providing up-to-the-minute insight about local earthquakes or extolling the virtues of our beloved chert, he also dabbles in illustration. Julian’s latest project is a Kickstarter effort to create an illustrated calendar of anthropomorphized San Francisco landmarks.

Whaaaa? Let’s let Julian explain:

The gist of this project is San Francisco and anthropomorphism. These are my interpretations of what many of San Francisco’s major landmarks would look like (and act like) if they were humans. Anthropomorphism as an artistic and literary device goes waaay back, so why not extend it to some of the structures and icons whose personalities contribute so much to the character of the larger City?

Thanks to Burrito Justice for coining the term and then letting me run with it.

Why San Francisco, then?

Because I’m madly and hopelessly in love with the place, and I know I’m not the only one. Even those who are not so infatuated as I am have to admit it’s a pretty darn picturesque city.

Ok, wording aside, what is this project?

It’s a 2012 calendar featuring drawings of personified landmarks in their setting within the cityscape. It’s kind of a send-up of those calendars of pretty pictures of famous landmarks that you see in every gift shop in any city: that kind of scenery, but replacing the actual landmark with a human character based on that landmark. Since this is a San Francisco calendar specifically, in addition to including all the standard US holidays, it will also have key dates in the City’s history included in the day grid itself.

The final print size will be 8.5×11 inch pages – 11×17 once it’s unfolded. The prints will be in full color on glossy paper, with a glossy cardstock cover. They’ll be bound with a staple and have a hole punched in the top for ease in hanging. They will not be individually shrink-wrapped, because that’s not green at all, and this is San Francisco.

Lots more detail, and explanation about how to participate here (and don’t miss Julian’s video at the top).

Oh, and what about Bernal Heights? Julian has Bernal covered — only there’s no anthropomorphism involved. Fans of caninemorphism will the thrilled, however, because Julian represents Bernal as a dog with Sutrito Tower markings… naturally:

ILLUSTRATIONS: Julian Lozos

Nomenclature Update: Introducing “Sutrito Tower”

/ Todd_Lappin / 39 Comments

Bernal Hill Radio Tower, September 2011 - 04

Bernal Hill Radio Tower, West Side, September 2011 - 03

Bernal Hill Radio Tower, West Side, September 2011 - 10

There was another fashion shoot on Bernal Hill last week, only this time, the subject wasn’t a glamorous supermodel. Instead, photographer Rusty turned his camera toward the familiar microwave tower that sits atop the hill, to deftly capture its jaunty good looks.

This also provides a perfect opportunity to revisit a discussion that began back in June, regarding what to call the distinctive structure:

It occurred to me recently that Bernal’s iconic microwave tower really needs a name. Calling it “Microwave Tower” is pretty lame.

I don’t have any specific ideas per se, but I would generally propose that — like its bigger cousin Sutro Tower — the name should be simple and vaguely honorific.

Thus challenged, the Bernalwood Ad Hoc Nomenclature Committee met in open session a few weeks later, and the group quickly reached consensus around one naming candidate put forward by Reader Joe Thomas.

And so, ladies and gentlemen, it is with great solemnity that the Nomenclature Committee has dubbed that thing atop Bernal Hill “Sutrito Tower.” (Pro Tip: It’s pronounced Su-TREE-to; rhymes with “burrito.”)  A diminutive name, Sutrito provides loving recognition of our tower’s ambitious desire to be something more someday, and this photo should make the logic of the choice rather obvious:

Little Wannabe

So now it’s official. Please update your maps and guide books to reflect the new name, and let it be known as Sutrito Tower from this day forward.

PHOTOS: Top, Sutrito Tower, by rustymerin. Below, Sutro Tower with Sutrito Tower, by Telstar Logistics

That Odd Bend in Precita Avenue, Explained

/ Todd_Lappin / 50 Comments

The machinations of the San Francisco Department of Public Works are obscure and mysterious, but after a long hiatus, work has resumed on Precita Avene’s sexxxy sewer replacement and street repaving project. The action is now happening just west of the sharp bend that redirects Precita on the stretch between Shotwell and Mission Streets.

But wait… why does that bend exist at all? The hook to the left certainly seems arbitrary, given the flatness of the terrain.  So what’s up with that? And why is the entire length of Precita so ziggity-zaggedy?

Happily, this question was answered — and answered well! — by Burrito Justice, the leader of the La Lengua separatist movement. When he is not fomenting geo-cultural secession from the Dominion of Bernalwood, Burrito Justice is also a bit of a map geek, and his work in this area is impressive (as we shall soon see).

Precita is a very old street by San Francisco standards, because it was first laid down sometime during the early 1850s, just a few years after the 1849 Gold Rush that transformed San Francisco from a podunk outpost into a burgeoning city. The street ran alongside a freshwater stream called Precita Creek that flowed from springs near Twin Peaks down to the wetlands that occupied present-day Bayshore.

Here’s some revealing cartography from 1876:

During the 1880s, Precita Creek was replaced by an underground sewer pipe that runs under today’s Cesar Chavez Boulevard (which is now being replaced). But before all that, Precita Avenue shadowed the banks of its eponymous waterway so closely that the road meandered in tandem with the creek.

You can see that clearly in this 1859 Assessor’s Map (click to enlarge):

Other things to notice on the map: Army Street (today’s Cesar Chavez) didn’t exist yet. Also, 26th Street was called Navy Street. Also also, the little green/park on Coso just off Precita was originally a gravel pit. But most revealing of all, perhaps, is the fact that there was another street on the northern side of Precita Creek that also shadowed the stream.

That parallel road was called Serpentine, and as Burrito Justice explains:

Serpentine followed the old stone wall marking the northern border of Jose Bernal’s giant plat of land.

Serpentine Ave. endured even after Precita Creek was paved over to create Army Street, as you can see in this map from 1905:

In later decades, of course, Serpentine Ave. disappeared as the land beneath it was opened up to development. Yet the weird bend in Precita Avenue survives, hinting at all the geography and topography that once defined the area. Meanwhile, one teeny-tiny stretch of Serpentine Ave. still exists, and it even parallels the bend on Precita.

And where is that?

Now called Capp Street, the last remnant of Serpentine, which used to run alongside Precita Creek, now juts out at that weird angle right alongside our own Palace Steak House:

SPECIAL THANKS: Burrito Justice

Bricks Make Big Comeback on Winfield Street

/ Todd_Lappin / 25 Comments

looking down, winfield street

We all know that infrastructure is sexy. Sometimes, however, it can also be rather sweet.

The photo above shows the new roadbed on Winfield Street; It represents a tasty victory in a hard-fought battle to preserve a subtle link to Bernal Heights history. The image was captured by Neighbor Art Siegel, who also owns the feet that appear in the pic. Art writes:

It must have been 7 or 8 years ago that the city announced it had to replace our sewer on Winfield and would replace the bricks with concrete.

As there are only a few brick streets left in San Francisco, the neighbors responded with the “Save Bernal Bricks” campaign, and the city relented.

Here’s what it looked like when workers began tearing up the old brick:

bernal bricks

And here’s a photo I took on September 5, that gives an overall sense of how Winfield’s bricks are coming back together:

See what I mean? A new sewer pipe AND a fresh brick road surface. Sexxy and sweet.

Photos, Art Siegel and Telstar Logistics