Merchants

A Reader Recommendation for a Homegrown Internet Access Provider

/ Todd_Lappin / 4 Comments

Reader WJ wrote to Bernalwood recently with a gushing customer testimonial about Monkeybrains, a Mission-based high-speed Internet bandwidth provider that offers service in Bernal Heights. Since I continue to muddle along in a loveless marriage with Comcast, I was intrigued. Perhaps you will be too.

WJ says:

After a couple of years struggling with scheming and incompetent Comcast technicians, and then dealing with the total unreliability of my DSL service, a friend of mine from work told me about Monkeybrains, another high speed internet service for the Mission/Bernal Heights area.

It’s not actually too good to be true, I had it installed and the speed is incredible (at least, compared to DSL it’s incredible).  There’s a $250 setup fee for all of the hardware but they are running a pilot program now so internet access is free until June (when it will go up to around $35/month).

The guys who run the company are local — the tech who set me up lives on the other side of Bernal hill from me — and when installing my devices today he noticed that my neighbor also had one of their antennas on their roof, so it seems like word is getting around.

I thought you might be interested in posting their website since their pilot program specifically targets Bernal Heights.  I’ve been using the service for about three weeks now and it’s been absolutely flawless.

Bernalwood has been assured that no monkeys are actually harmed while providing this Internet service, so no need to feel guilty about that.

More importantly, I was interested to see that Monkeybrains has a five-star rating on Yelp, which is more than a little impressive given that a) Monkeybrains is an ISP, after all and b) Yelp is swarming with crankypants.

Any other user testimonials? Add ’em in the comments!

Photo: A Monkeybrains antenna in Bernal Heights, by WJ

Neighborhood Credit Union Seeks Donations to Stay Afloat

/ Todd_Lappin

Here at Bernalwood, we see it as part of our civic duty to pass along information about worthy neighborhood institutions that could use a little help. Most of the time, that means lending a hand to volunteer nonprofits or mom-and-pop businesses. But today we bring news of a struggling local institution that’s an unlikely candidate to pass around the hat: the Mission San Francisco Credit Union.

It seems the credit union, which is headquartered on our stretch of Mission Street near 29th, made some real estate loans that went bad. So now it needs donations — NOT deposits — to continue operation.

KGO-TV reports:

A financially troubled San Francisco credit union is trying to stay afloat by doing something very unusual — unheard of really. Mission S.F. has started a fundraising campaign with the goal of raising $200,000 and many in the community believe it is essential that this credit union survive.

Mission San Francisco Credit Union opened its doors in 1971. Roberto Hernandez is a board member who says the credit union approved small loans the big banks would never consider. […]

However, the nation’s economic downturn has hurt them and capital reserves are low.

“What we really need is donations, it’s not deposits, but donations that we could put straight into capital that would enable the credit union to continue as an independent financial institution,” said Margaret Libby from Mission S.F.

There’s a video segment about the credit union’s plight right here.

UPDATE 12 Feb, 2011: My former sensei, Lydia Chavez from Mission Loc@l, has additional insight on the situation, including the possibility that the credit union may be forced into a merger:

The federal TARP program stepped in to help failing banks, but has done nothing to assist the smaller credit unions that traditionally serve lower-income clients. Recently, they said, regulators had made it even more difficult for the credit union to overcome its current problems.

“Right now that’s what change is — we’re under a much tighter regulatory structure,” said [board treasurer Dave] De Graff. “In the past we were given more time.”

Mission SF’s total outstanding loans grew substantially over the last 10 years, while its membership numbers have fallen. In 2000 it had 2,782 members and outstanding loans of $3.8 million. By June of 2010 outstanding loans had risen to $5.7 million, but they peaked in September 2008 at $7.9. Membership had declined to 2,426 as of September 2010.

Although 10 percent of Mission SF’s second mortgages and 10 percent of its first mortgages could be considered troubled, De Graff said the bank’s portfolio of 129 car loans was doing well.

It’s unclear what will happen over the next few weeks. There were three assisted credit union mergers in 2008, 10 in 2009 and 10 in 2010, according to federal regulators.

 

The New York Times Touts Our Local Purveyor of Perfect Food for Pampered Pets

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

Avedano's MeatsYou eat local. You eat slowly. You buy organic food. If all that is good for you, isn’t it reasonable to assume the same is true for your pet as well?

In the food section of Wednesday’s New York Times, writer Samantha Storey described the latest bourgeois-foodie obsession: Home-cooked food for dogs and cats.

And buried farther down in the story was a local wrinkle involving Bernal’s own Avedano’s Holly Park Market:

Since the fall, the butcher shops Marlow & Daughters in Brooklyn and Avedano’s Holly Park Market in San Francisco have been selling pet food made from grass-fed meat raised on nearby pastures. Melanie Eisemann, an owner at Avedano’s, said the store’s custom mix of ground meats, organs, vegetables, garlic, eggs, parsley and yogurt sells for $3.25 a pound. Avedano’s also reports a robust trade in marrow bones, many of them bought as snacks for dogs.

Ms. Eisemann said customers say that they like knowing the source of their meat, whether it will ultimately be served on the table or on the floor. Entering the pet food market has also been a boon for the business, since Avedano’s, like Marlow & Daughters, is a whole-animal butcher where no part of the beast goes to waste.

Hat tip: Noe Valley SF. Photo: Telstar Logistics