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City May Offer Svanemyr Family $15 Million in Fatal Holly Park Hit and Run Settlement

/ Todd_Lappin / 22 Comments

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The Examiner has an update on the tragic case of Christy Svanemyr, the woman who was killed in Holly Park after she was run over by a San Francisco Rec and Park department truck last September. The Examiner says Svanemyr family is pursuing a lawsuit against the City:

San Francisco may be required to pay $15.13 million to the family of the mother who was fatally run over by a municipal pickup truck at Holly Park last year. A Recreation and Park Department gardener, Thomas Burnoski, remains on trial charged with vehicular manslaughter in connection with the hit and run incident.

The pending settlement comes nearly a year after 35-year-old Daly City resident Christine Svanemyr was fatally run over while lying on the grass with her 11-month-old child and small dog in the Bernal Heights park. The child and dog were not injured.

The Recreation and Park Commission on July 17 recommended approval of the proposed $15.13 million settlement of the legal claim filed last year by the victim’s husband, Vegar Svanemyr, according to a Recreation and Park Department official. It would ultimately require approval by the Board of Supervisors.

The Examiner also reports that the felony vehicular manslaughter charges filed against Thomas Burnoski, the Rec and Park employee who was driving the truck that killed Christy Svanemyr, are also underway. A pretrial conference took place earlier this week, and Burnoski is scheduled to return to court on September 4.

PHOTO: Flowers at the site where Christy Svanemyr was killed, photographed on Saturday, Sept 7, 2013 by Telstar Logistics

Saturday: Celebrate Neighbor Aaron Zube’s New Paintings at Inclusions Gallery

/ Todd_Lappin / 6 Comments

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Last February, Bernal Neighbor and painter extraordinaire Aaron Zube told us he was working on a new collection of Bernal Heights paintings for an upcoming show at the fabulous Inclusions Gallery on Cortland. Now he writes to say the show is live, and there’s a celebrity-soaked opening reception happening this weekend. Oh, and you’re invited!

I just wanted to invite Bernalwood readers who may be interested to my show of Bernal Heights paintings at Inclusions Gallery. The opening reception is tomorrow from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and all are welcome. I’ll be showing work with Sarah Newton who does some terrific drawings & etchings. I’ve attached images of a couple of paintings that will be included in the show. The show runs until August 24th — hope you have a chance to stop by & take a look!

Here’s another super-sexy image of one of Neighbor Aaron’s dreamy painting, and the show announcement:

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IMAGES: Courtesy of Aaron Zube

Bernal Heights Home Fire Reveals Marijuana Grow Farm

/ Todd_Lappin / 12 Comments

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KCBS reports that an overnight fire in a Mayflower Street night revealed an unexpected surprise:

Firefighters battled a one-alarm fire in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood where they uncovered an illegal marijuana grow operation this morning, a fire dispatcher said.

A report of a fire in the 300 block of Mayflower Street came in around 3:50 a.m., the dispatcher said.

Apparently, an arrest was made after the secret was discovered:

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Bernal Neighbor’s Research Links Smarter Brain to Longer Life

/ Todd_Lappin / 9 Comments

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This story slipped between the cracks a few weeks ago, but fortunately it’s as timeless as life itself…

In early May, a team of UCSF researchers published published an article that identified a gene which enables both high cognitive functioning and unusual longevity. In other words, there’s a gene that that makes you smarter and live longer — and vice-versa. And science now knows this because the research was organized by none other Neighbor Dena from Banks Street!

Off-hill, she’s known as Dr. Dena Dubal MD,, Ph.D., and she leads the Dubal Lab on Aging and the Brain at UCSF. Here’s what the Chronicle had to say about her recent conclusions:

A gene variant that scientists already knew to be associated with longer life also seems to make people smarter, and may help offset the effects of normal cognitive decline in old age, according to a team of San Francisco researchers.

The findings, published [on May 8] in the journal Cell Reports, are encouraging news for the roughly 1 in 5 people who have the genetic trait, which is a variant of the klotho gene.

Beyond that, scientists hope the findings will help them develop tools for retaining, or even boosting, intelligence in people who have suffered cognitive losses, either from disease or through the normal course of aging.

“What we’ve discovered is a cognitive enhancer,” said Dr. Dena Dubal, an assistant professor of neurology at UCSF and lead author of the study, which was done with researchers from the Gladstone Institutes. “This may represent a new way to treat problems of cognition in the brain.”

You can read lots more about Neighbor Dena’s research, or, in this glamorous video, you can watch as she explains it herself:

Today: Opening Reception for Bernal Artist in City Hall Office of Supervisor Campos

/ Todd_Lappin

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Bernal artist Todd Berman has lots of fans around the neighborhood — including D9 Supervisor David Campos. Neighbor Todd’s art is now on display in Supervisor Campos’s office in City Hall, and from 4 to 7 pm today in Room 268, the Supervisor will host a glamorous opening party:

I am excited to announce that I will be hosting an art exhibit, titled City of Awesome, by local artist, Todd Berman, in my office at City Hall. Todd’s paintings celebrate San Francisco’s creativity, community and captures San Francisco’s unique character.

Please join us for an evening of appreciation of Todd’s art where he will share his City of Awesome project and his approach to community-informed art. The art is currently on display at my office through August 8, 2014.

We hope you can join us! For more information about Todd Berman or the exhibit, check out theartdontstop.com.

Special Bonus! Neighbor Todd also shared an in-progress photo of his new piece; a commission called “View of Precitaville” that shows the stylish southwest corner of Precita Park:

View of Precitaville - in progress detail

PHOTOS: via Todd Berman

Avedano’s Team Raising Funds for Artisanal Butcher’s Guild

/ Todd_Lappin / 6 Comments

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Audrey Daniel tells Bernalwood that the folks behind Avedano’s Meats on Cortland are doing a fundraising campaign to support the Butcher’s Guild, a trade association for artisanal butchers:

I would like to share some local news. A Barnraiser campaign (a new food crowd funding platform) has been launched by Tia Harrison, one of Avedano’s owners as well as co-owner of Sociale, and author Marissa Guggiana, author of “Primal Cuts, Cooking with America’s Best Butchers”. Tia and Marissa founded the Butcher’s Guild and are nationally developing education and a forum for independent butchers. Part of this is to encourage butchers to use whole animals from local farmers to “rebuild an industry and have a spirit of inclusion”

The campaign ends on July 10, and at the moment it’s about $1000 shy of it’s goal. There’s plenty more detail about the Butcher’s Guild on the campaign site.

]PHOTO: Telstar Logistics

“Graffiti Bandit” Eliminates Graffiti, Keeps West Bernal Sexy, Needs Your Help

/ Todd_Lappin / 11 Comments

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There’s an anti-graffiti warrior on patrol along Bernal’s western frontier, and Neighbor Jaime Ross with the North West Bernal Alliance tells Bernalwood he could use your support:

North West Bernal has a one-man graffiti abatement program.

His name is Joe (shown above), and until recently he wasn’t willing to let anyone know about him, for fear of reprisal from taggers. And he went out under cover of night. But now he has no choice but to go public. He needs your donations to continue the never-ending job of keeping our neighborhood free from graffiti.

Here’s the back story:

In 1989, the top concerns at the North West Bernal Alliance meetings were graffiti and safety.

All the buildings along the Mission St corridor, from Cesar Chavez were vandalized. The property owners didn’t seem to care, so Joe (a member of the NWBA) decided to go out and get rid of as much graffiti as he could. That’s how the NWBA Graffiti Abatement program started.

Joe worked hard at it, and after several weeks he painted out all the graffiti from Chavez to Randall. But new graffiti appeared almost daily. It was an enormous job just keeping that area clean.

It took almost 3 years to get to a place where he was able to remove graffiti quickly. Then he was ready to tackle Mission Street from Randall to the 280 overpass.

Some days it took 10 hours to clean that area, but he was determined to get rid of all of it.
Once that removal became routine, he moved on to Glen Park.

By 1997 he was covering about 25 miles a day working 6-8 hours a day. He had some help but still it was a huge undertaking.

Joe depended on sporadic donations from grateful merchants and a few grants from SF Beautiful. He’s getting some money from a Community Challenge Grant, formally the Beautification Fund, The Department of Public Works donates paint for city trash cans; telephone poles; traffic call boxes and postal furniture, but it doesn’t nearly cover the cost for all the other paint and supplies Joe needs, so he’s using his own money.

Joe’s daily route consists of 36 miles, and Mondays he covers an additional 7 miles for a total of 43 miles of graffiti abatement.

We’d be grateful for your support to keep our neighborhood free from graffiti with a tax deductible donation. We’ll be happy to send an acknowledgment letter on our letterhead for tax purposes.

Please go to our website and click “Donate” on the right

Or you can send a check to:
North West Bernal Alliance 
 PO BOX 40989
San Francisco, CA 94140-0989

PHOTOS: North West Bernal Alliance

The New York Times Loves Bernal Author James Nestor’s New Book, and You’re Invited to His Party on Friday

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

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Oh, by the way, did you catch that item  in Sunday’s New York Times Book Review? You know, the review of the brand-new book by Bernal Heights author (and anticool motorist) James Nestor?

Neighbor James’s book is called Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us About Ourselves, and here’s a taste of what the NYT had to say about it:

In the epilogue, “Ascents,” Nestor comes back up through the depths, rapidly enough to give the reader a version of the bends, but it serves as a beautiful construct allowing him to revisit “Deep’s” dramatis personae. It’s the finale of Nestor’s reportorial trip down to Hades and back again. Through his eyes and his stories, it’s a journey well worth taking.

BOO-YA!  To celebrate this, and the publication of the book, Neighbor James says, “there is a Book Release party, to which all Bernalwooders are invited.” That means you!

The party is on Friday, June 27 at the truly fabulous Ohio Design studio at 630 Treat (near 19th Street) in The Mission. Be there to give Neighbor James a much-deserved high-five:

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You’ll Be Shocked — Shocked! — by KRON4’s Investigation of Precita Park

/ Todd_Lappin / 107 Comments

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KRON-4 reporter Stanley Roberts investigated Precita Park in Bernal Heights recently. His reporting yielded conclusive proof that there are many off-leash dogs in Precita Park (despite what the sign says), and that visitors to Precita Park should watch out for poop. Journalism!

For more detail, lets go to KRON’s exclusive report. Over to you in Precita Park, Stanley:

PHOTO: Telstar Logistics

Star Sighting: Martha Stewart Dined at Ichi Sushi Last Night

/ Todd_Lappin / 8 Comments

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Perhaps you heard the rumors swirling around La Lengua last night?

Well, they’re true: Martha Stewart was in San Francisco yesterday, and she stopped in for dinner at Neighbor Tim and Erin Archuleta’s Ichi Sushi + Ni Bar in Bernal Heights.

Here’s the proof, via Twitter — with a cute little typo to provide a perfect touch of “I’m writing this while totally buzzing on Ichi” Marthenticity:

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PHOTO: Top, via Wikipedia

Stuff the Online Ballot Box to Help Suite Foods Grow Sweeter

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

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Sivan Wilensky, founder of the dangerously tasty Suite Foods Belgian wafflery in 331 Cortland, invites all of Bernal to help stuff the online ballot box [like, now], because Suite Foods Baking is a finalist to receive a business development grant from the Whole Foods supermarket chain:

We were selected as a finalist to receive a local foodmaker grant from Whole Foods. The winner of the grant will be decided by voting on the Redwood City Whole Foods FB page. We’re going up against some impressive-looking businesses so I’m hoping you can help us gather support from the Bernal community. Here’s the page where the voting is happening, and I believe the deadline is Wednesday. The grant amount will be equal to 5% of the store sales on July 2nd.

Here’s the process:

1. You need a Facebook acct,
2. You need to “like” the Whole Foods Redwood City page
3. Then you vote.

PHOTO: by Suite Foods

 

3rd Cousin, Formerly Kinfolk, Launches Restaurant Kickstarter Campaign

/ Todd_Lappin / 28 Comments

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There’s yet another Kickstarter campaign underway for a new Cortland restaurant going in to the old Pizza Express space. Formerly known as Kinfolk, the new restaurant will be called 3rd Cousin, and chef (and founder) Greg Lutes brings the details:

Since you have been following Kinfolk on Bernalwood, I’m sending you a link to my Kickstarter campaign. In addition to a new permanent home, Kinfolk is being renamed 3rd Cousin. With the new name, comes lots of community involvement and support, including Windows from A.G. River, local wines from Brian Harrington, video by Steve Sisler and a new logo designed by Bernal Heights own beloved artist, Toby Klayman. I’m very excited to finally be putting down permanent roots in the neighborhood and look forward to continued service to the residents of Bernal Heights and surrounding areas.

Here’s the summary, from the Kickstarter campaign page:

My goal is to provide a Michelin quality, fine-dining experience in a relaxed and welcoming family atmosphere. As a chef, my greatest joy is interacting with my customers throughout the meal service, sharing their experiences of the culinary partnership we have created.

I started Kinfolk out of desire to share my passion for creative organic food, and I continue to refine my unique take on New American/Californian cuisine. The concept has really taken off, and people really came out and supported me — and they continue to support me by dining with me and keeping the dream alive.

After 6 months of cooking from the heart — bringing folks together and creating community one plate at a time — I’ve been fortunate enough to find a permanent home for my pop-up Kinfolk, at 919 Cortland Avenue, just a few doors away from where I am currently cooking 903 Cortland. With the move and the new space we decided to give it a new name: 3rd Cousin.

You can back Chef Greg’s Kickststarter effort here.