See that? That’s what it looks like when a bunch of volunteers spend a few hours on a gorgeous Saturday making your daily life a little bit more beautiful.
In the case of the photo above, that means helping to build Vista Pointe Garden, the new mini-park at the eastern entrance to Bernal Heights Boulevard.
Meanwhile, as you can see below, elsewhere on the hill, a few generous volunteers stepped up to do some planting on the traffic island at Precita and Alabama:
Photos: Telstar Logistics
Last weekend I attended a very pleasant meeting of the Precita Valley Neighbors, a community group on Bernal’s opulent north slope. During the meeting, Sgt. Rachel Karp of the SFPD’s Ingelside Station dropped by to provide a neighborhood crime report.
Sgt. Karp noted a growing incidence of robberies and muggings near BART stations, transit stops, and popular pedestrian arteries. She said goons often target people who own iPhones, Blackberries, and Android devices. And how do they know who has one of those fancy gadgets? It’s easy! Goons just look for the person who’s walking down the street with their eyes on the screen and their head up their ass.
Now, Sgt. Karp didn’t put it quite that way. But that’s pretty much the message she wanted to convey. (For the record, her exact words were, “Get your head out of your device!”)
Anecdotally, Sgt. Karp says, starting at your iPhone to text or tweet while you walk down the street may increase your chances of becoming a crime victim tenfold. Here’s why:
Lesson learned?
Photos: Telstar Logistics
It’s true! We really do love you more than we are afraid! Enjoy the day.
Photo by Bernalwood’s own Troy Holden
J. Thoresen recently uploaded a photo of this not-so-little fella hard at work outside her home in Bernal Heights. Miss Thoresen generously called the critter a “dreamcatcher orb-weaver.” I call it one damn big bug.
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.
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.
This and that from other parts of Our Faire City…
Interactive Map of San Francisco’s Most Dangerous Streets for Bicyclists (The Bay Citizen)
Wretched NIMBY Upset Over Lovely Sidewalk Garden in the Castro (UptownAlmanac)
The former Delano’s Supermarket Could Become Either a “Fresh and Easy” or a “Grocery Outlet” (MissionMission)
Check Out these Views of San Francisco, As Seen From the Farralons (Burrito Justice)
City Hall Hearing Examines Crappy Service on MUNI 14 Mission Line (StreetsblogSF)
Thrillseekers Used to Ride on the Windmills in Golden Gate Park (Ocean Beach Bulletin)
Join a Shipwreck Hunt at Land’s End on Sunday (The Richmond Blog)
Photo: View from the Farralons, via Burrito Justice
If you happened to drive around Potrero Hill this morning, you might have noticed that the neighborhood is strewn with piles of trash and signs of civil unrest. And you may have simply shrugged your shoulders and said, “Oh, just another day in Potrero… and you know how *they* are.”
Truth is, however, they are filming a movie over there. It’s a Steven Soderbergh film called “Contagion” that stars Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, and Jude Law. IMDB says it’s “an action-thriller centered on the threat posed by a deadly disease and an international team of doctors contracted by the CDC to deal with the outbreak.”
That being the case, it’s just as well that they’re shooting in Potrero, rather than here, since we wouldn’t want our glamorous Bernalwood brand to be tarnished by that sort of fare. Obviously, Bernalwood is an ideal setting for romantic comedies about young women with small dogs, searing social commentaries about multiethnic attempts to decommodify the representation of the other via the experience of postindustrial bourgeois urbanism, and science fiction films about first contact with extraterrestrials.
If you or someone you know is a location scout, have your people call our people for additional ideas.
Photo: Telstar Logistics
Thanks to a hearty group of volunteers, Bernal Heights is getting a brand-new street park courtesy of an organization called The Friends of Bernal Gardens. The new mini-park, called Vista Pointe Garden, is located on Bernal Heights Boulevard between Carver and Bradford, on the east side of the hill. Construction is already well underway, but they need your help to get it done.
Project director Julian Wyler tells Bernalwood:
Public gardens are simply one of the ways we can balance the separateness of our lives with opportunities to connect with community. Moreover, they provide opportunities to replace a pedestrian landscape of disorder and alienation with harmonious spaces that instill neighborhood pride and natural beauty.
Public gardens also provide artful, iconic sanctuaries of momentary beauty and repose.
Doubtless, the scope of Vista Pointe Garden, which looks out upon panoramic views of San Francisco, is somewhat ambitious. It’s success is only possible because so many of our neighbors have contributed their time and energy as partners to our city grant.
Although the part that will impress most will be the beautiful flowers and plants, it‘s the high cost of the retaining wall materials, the new PUC water meter, the installation of the drip irrigation system, the crushed drain rock, base materials, professional supervision, SFPT fiscal management, etc. which make them possible.
While extensive planning and conservative grant budget projections for materials added up to $70,500, our grant only awarded us $61,000, which, even with the support of DPW, donating tools, grading, etc., has now left us a bit short of our goal.
Bottom line: Vista Pointe Garden needs another $7,600 to get the job done. If you would like to donate, please contact Julian at julian_wyler AT yahoo DOT com.
If you’re cash-poor but time-rich, you can also help volunteer to build Vista Pointe Garden. The next volunteer get-together will take place at the park this Saturday, February 12, from 10 am to 4 pm.
Photo: Friends of Bernal Gardens
Grace is a Bay Area native who currently lives in Beijing, China. During a recent return visit to San Francsico, she found herself fantasizing about planting roots in our humble corner of the world. Her musings are sweet, but even more, they provide an always-valuable reminder of how fortunate we are to enjoy the privilege of calling Bernalwood home:
Since I was a kid, I’ve envisioned myself settling down comfortably in a Victorian townhome in San Francisco– after traveling the world, winning an Oscar, and marrying Jonathan Taylor Thomas, of course.
Childhood dreams aside, the Bay Area is a truly unique place, full of diversity, life, and an amazing balance of cityscape and natural beauty. So it seems logical that over my entire life, I would develop such a deep, James Joyce-ian affinity for my hometown. And while some grow weary of returning to the place where they grew up once they’ve seen life in “the big city” or “the real world,” my love for the Bay Area grows with every visit back home.
This past stint back home made my childhood dream seem even sweeter. Driving through all the different districts of San Francisco, the East Bay, and down the Peninsula portion of I-280 made me long to forgo my world travels (and my Oscar, and Jonathan Taylor Thomas) and settle anywhere in the Bay forever. To finally feel “at home” in my favorite place in the world.
There’s been a lot of debate in the comments about Rhoda’s response to the anonymous neighbor who put an exasperated note on the windshield of her parked car regarding a perceived driveway encroachment. The debate has been spirited but commendably civil — especially given the intensity of the passions that parking problems can arouse.
Amid the to-and-fro, reader Rebecca turned to the DPT’s official rulebook to point out that “the reference that the City requires you to leave a foot from the curb cut is total BS. There are published and posted rules, and that ain’t one of them:”
A driveway begins at the curb cut, or the point at which the curb begins to slope downward toward street level. A vehicle parked within curb cuts can be cited and towed. Even partial encroachments into the driveway area can result in a tow.
Some driveways are marked with short red curb markings that indicate where vehicles should not park. Only red zones painted by the City with a DPT or MTA stencil are enforced. It is illegal for private parties to paint curbs or other markings on the street.
Residents can block their own driveways only if the building the driveway serves has two or one units and the vehicle’s license plate is registered to the building’s address. All other types of driveway parking can be cited.
So sayeth the Official Arbiters of Parking Legality. Hooray for facts! Hooray for Rebecca for bringing facts to the party!
Our beloved DPT even offers a handy print n’ bitch windshield flyer — with objective visual guidelines! — you can use to scold blatant driveway offenders.
(Thanks to someJuan for the pointer to the DPT flyer!)
Photo: The Stencil of Doom, by Telstar Logistics
The residents of Bernalwood take justifiable pride in the neighborly goodwill people here display toward one another. Yet if there is one topic that turns even the most affable local into a snarling and self-interested Hobbesian, it is street parking. In the struggle for automotive survival, woe be unto the miserable soul who might infringe upon another’s prerogative to park.
Rhoda is a Bernal Heights resident who found the anonymous note shown above affixed to the windshield of her tiny, Bernal-optimized Smart car last week. Rather than seethe about this privately, Rhoda chose instead to seethe to Bernalwood — and with her permission, we are quite happy to republish her response here.
I live on Newman St, and this morning I woke up to find this nasty letter taped to my car. The offended neighbor left it anonymously, with no contact info for me to respond to their complaint, so I thought I would send my response to our fabulous neighborhood blog, and should the blog masters deem it worthy, post it, so that perhaps next time that neighbor might leave contact info along with the offending letter, so that I might actually engage in dialogue directly with them. To my neighbor:
While I commend you for your commitment to the enforcement of the law, I would like to point out, that:
1. I was not in violation of the 1 foot rule – in fact I left approximately 16″. Shall I paint the inch marks on the curb for you so that in the future that’s more clear?
2. Not all of us have garages and driveways in which to park our vehicles, and in consideration of that fact, I purchased a Smart car so that I would not have to take up excessive, precious space on our street. The spot where I parked by your driveway is only big enough for my car, so I parked there, leaving extra space in other places on the street for our other neighbors who own large vehicles and don’t have garages – would an inconsiderate neighbor do that?
3. Laying on the horn of your car for 5 minutes in order to get someone to move their vehicle that you deem “too close to your driveway,” does not qualify as being considerate to your neighbors, especially when those neighbors are still sleeping – just sayin’.
That is all.
Rhoda
Well said.
Meanwhile, for a very neighborly set of guidelines from a local garage-owner who’s home is “bracketed by two Smart Car-sized spots,” don’t miss these thoughtful rules-of-the-road from Bernalwood reader CG.
Let’s catch up on things that are happening elsewhere in the City…
Interim Mayor Ed Lee is on Twitter (but he’s not very popular)
The Boathouse at Stow Lake will soon get an upgrade (City Insider)
Someone found a few hand grenades inside a house on Potrero Avenue (KCBS)
A new brewpub plans to open in The Mission, hopefully this spring (Mission Loc@l)
A documentary about bickering neighbors in the Lower Haight was shown at Sundance (Haighteration)
The City has a plan to preserve Modern architecture built between 1935 and 1970 (SocketSite)
A Richmond District police office charged with embezzlement and fraud (Richmond District Blog)
How to replace your bike’s handlebars with a Land Rover steering wheel (MissionMission)
Coyotes have been spotted around Park Presidion Boulevard (Richmond District Blog)
Photo: Stow Lake paddle boats, by Linda Waterfield
Bernalwood 