Why did this chicken Precita Park on Saturday afternoon? I have no idea! But he crossed it with gusto, in glamorous Bernalwood style.
PHOTO: Telstar Logistics
Join a Meetup for Artists on Bernal Hill, Saturday
Neighbor Laurie is leading another meetup for visual artists on Bernal Hill tomorrow:
It’s been 5 months since I set up the SF Sketchers Meetup group, and we’re got another meetup coming up on the Hill this Saturday, July 28.
We had our very first meetup on Bernal Hill because I thought no-one would come, and I figured that if I was feeling lonely and miserable, at least it would be a short walk home.
Much to my surprise, a bunch of people turned up — and they’ve kept on coming. The meetup group currently has 223 members and the meter is ticking over steadily as new ones come in. Fortunately they don’t all come at once: for any given meetup 5-10 people will actually show — just about the ideal number because you can fit that many people around a cafe table to share sketchbooks at the end.
You can read more about this Saturday’s meetup or go see the sketches posted by the group for each of the 21 meetups we’ve had so far. I try to make sure that one event is scheduled each weekend (last weekend we had 3 events, but that’s unusual). This is not a class, but it’s easy to learn things from seeing what other people are doing. There is a wide range of artistic skill and experience; the only requirement is that people have figured out that they want to do this.
IMAGE: Watercolor by Neighbor Laurie
Your SFPD Crime Summary for July, 2012: Bike Bandits, Burglary Busts, and Be Careful in Crosswalks
Neighbor Sarah, who generously covers the Bernalwood Crime Beat, attended the SFPD’s Ingleside Station Chief’s Meeting last week. Here’s her detailed summary of the latest Bernal Heights crime news:
Edie and I attended the meeting last week. Apologies for the delay in getting these notes out — Edie typed them up right away, but it took me a while for me to make some additions.
Captain’s Report by Captain Daniel Mahoney: daniel.j.mahoney@sfgov.org
CRIME STATS
Police precinct captains meet regularly to discuss the current activities across the city.
- Aggravated Assaults 23 incidents / 14 arrests / down 21% from last month / up 10% y-t-d. As usual, the majority were domestic violence.
- Robberies 24 incidents / 5 arrests / down 20% from last month / down 22% y-t-d.
- Sexual Assaults One, a homeless boy. Case is still under investigation.
- Burglaries 26 incidents / 7 arrests / down 40% from last month / up 32% y-t-d. From March to June there were lots of bicycle burglaries (40-50 + a month). Generally, these consisted of the thieves opening garage doors and taking bikes inside. Police investigators have been buying stolen bikes on Craigslist; they seized 20 / 125 / 80 bikes from three separate houses or storage units. In the last three to four weeks, there’s been only one bike theft, off a car. It appears they’ve caught the main perps. Remember that you can register your bicycles here.
- Auto Theft 49 incidents / 3 arrests / down 23% from last month / up 41% y-t-d. The Captain checks the recoveries of stolen autos. Normally cars are stolen and recovered in the same districts. This month cars recovered in the Ingleside were from other districts, and cars stolen here were recovered in other districts. Only one car was stolen AND recovered within the district.
- Theft from Auto 33 incidents / 0 arrests / down 23% from last month / down 24% y-t-d. Remember to keep car in garage if possible. Don’t leave anything of value in auto.
THEMES AND INCIDENTS
Sunnydale: This past month there was a 72-hour period with 3 shootings and 2 homicides. No random crime; these were all target hits. Captain’s response: he “flooded the zone” – making the response high visibility and high reactivity to stop the violence temporarily. He brought in motorcycle police, gang task force, violence response team, housing task forces, community response networks, and other outside resources to keep community presence strong. Rev Amos Brown came in and talked to community; police put out flyers in English, Spanish, Chinese announcing a series of community meetings.
Anonymous tip line for the Ingleside: 404-4035. Call this number to leave information on something that has already happened or may happen in the future. If an incident is happening now, call 911 or the non-emergency number for police to respond.
Great burglary arrests: Many burglars have come from the southeast section of SF targeting homes with Asian symbols and decorations. They believe that Asians don’t trust banks and keep their money in the house, not in the bank. Criminals will knock to make sure the house is empty before trying to break in – so don’t keep quiet – make noise!!
- Portola District: came to burgle a house, the owner came home and they kept her hostage.
- Upper Noe: Captain spotted and called in the burglar and everyone showed up in minutes.
Bus inspection rides: Ingleside officers were top in the city this month, with 1216 bus inspections. MUNI crime has decreased dramatically. On the bus – don’t take your expensive electronics out and play with them while sitting near the door. They can easily be stolen.
Bayshore: There was an early morning stabbing on a bus on Bayshore. Great pictures were taken (MUNI video is excellent), an officer recognized the juvenile perp, and they were able to arrest him shortly.
Traffic: Pedestrian crosswalk violation activity (decoys cross the street and if motorists don’t stop, they’re talked to or ticketed). Areas they are targeting for traffic are San Jose, Alemany, Diamond Heights. They decide on areas to target based on number of accidents or community complaints. Pedestrian ops will be focused on Mission, Monterey, Diamond/Chenery, and Elk.
Graffiti: There’s been increased tagging on Alemany, and around Geneva and Mission. Look for tags that say “OKER”. If you see one, call the Ingleside station. If you see someone in the process of tagging OKER, call immediately!
Captain’s communications: The Captain puts a newsletter on the Ingleside website: Inglesidepolicestation.com You can also sign on for the RSS feed to get and email of crime incidents.
PHOTO: Telstar Logistics
Anonymous Note Seeks to Silence Neighborhood Blog
Here’s a novel twist: Instead of leaving scolding notes about careless parking behavior, someone posted a scolding note on the Bernal Heights Park bulletin board about careless blogging in our neighborhood.
Bernalwood is conflicted: Naturally, we will not tolerate any such oppressive attempts at disempowerment, especially when delivered in such a tacky font. Yet at the same time, we agree wholeheartedly.
PHOTO: @hernanp
Someone Went on a Mini-Rampage Last Night on Cortland
Neighbor Jean says:
I was walking our dog and 7am down Cortland this morning and started seeing all the garbage tossed out of the city garbage cans and random poop bags all around. Then I saw the broken, taped and cardboarded window at Liberty, and a big dump of garbage in front of the New Wheel. Kind of like someone went on a mini rampage last night.
Ew! I anyone has any information about this incident, please contact the SFPD’s Ingleside precinct tip line at (415) 575-4444.
UPDATE: Neighbor Jean follows up: “Looks like some random drunk guy did it all at 3am…they caught him on surveillance, so karma is a bitch, we hope!”
PHOTO: Telstar Logistics
It’s Official: Blackberry Season Underway in Bernal Heights
Bernalwood had been keeping the news to ourselves to suppress the competition, but the news is out now that @creativeholley posted the photo above from Bernal Hill. She says she’s “picking blackberries to make jam.” Yum!
Truth be told, Bernalwood’s cub reporter has been harvesting blackberries from our Private Reserve. The neighbors behind us have a blackberry bush, and its thorny tentacles reach over the back fence into our back yard. We do not complain.
PHOTOS: Top, @creativeholley. Below, Telstar Logistics
REMINDER: Win Free Tickets to the Noisette Festival
Just a quick reminder that deadlines are fast approaching for your opportunity to win a pair of tickets to the Noisette festival as part of Bernalwood’s air guitar photo contest.
So far, photo submissions have been sparse. Which is to say, non-existent. Frankly, I worry this may mean Bernal Heights is full of old farts who would rather sit at home watching DVD re-runs of Lawrence Welk than spend two minutes taking a goofy photo that could win free tickets to a glamorous music and food festival. And that would be shattering to our collective self-image. You know I’m right.
I’ve extended the deadline until Monday, July 30. Send your pics to win two free tix! Dammit!
PHOTO: Air Guitar… So What, by Mia Takahara
A Day in the Life of Bernal Sushi Sensei Tim Archuleta
The foodies over at EaterSF recently went for an all-day ride-along with Bernal’s most glamorous celebrity sushi chef, Tim Archuleta from Ichi Sushi:
7 a.m.: Archuleta arrives bright and early at Pier 45, so he can hand-pick the best fish for the day at ABS Seafood. He runs into Henry Ichinose, the owner, who gives him a walk-through, while talking price and ordering. Archuleta sees a gigantic, deep rose slab of ahi. “Ah. Fresca!” bubbles out of his mouth. “I’ll take a quarter of it,” he says. A man in full apron, boots, gloves, and a warm hat slices through the meaty, rose fish like butter.
7:15 a.m.: Next they move on to the local albacore. Tim unpacks it from ice and inspects it thoroughly. He opens up the gill flaps. “Fresca!” escapes him again. “Look at that red.” Henry explains that not everyone gets to personally select their fish, like Archuleta does. But since they’ve done business together for 15 years, he trusts him to treat his fish right.
7:30 a.m.: After Archuleta is done picking out his AAA grade uni, the old friends joke around—a lot about fish and business, and a few minutes about that one time years ago when someone got caught stealing a case of uni.
8 a.m.: Now that the early chef caught the fish (or something like that), he heads back home to nap.
Follow along for the rest of Chef Tim’s day, right here.
PHOTO: Tim Archuleta, by John Storey via SFGate
Junior Volunteers Spend Saturday Cleaning Up Bernal Hill
Last Saturday, an intrepid group of Bernalwood’s finest micro-citizens climbed Bernal Hill to take part in a volunteer clean-up effort. Neighbor Karen was on the scene, and she filed this report:
A boy name Nico wrote a letter to the Bernal Heights Rec Center recently, saying he worried about animals eating trash on Bernal Hill and “dieing.” So they pulled together a group of about 20 folks to clean and weed last Saturday. The weather was glorious! Such a good way to remind us not to take the hill for granted.
PHOTOS: Neighbor Karen
Bernal Writer Hosts Tasty Event for New Cookbook at Heartfelt, Tomorrow
Neighbor Juliana is a certified member of the Bernalwood Writer Corps, and she’s having an event at Heartfelt tomorrow to discuss her tasty new book, The Lazy Gourmet: Magnificent Meals Made Easy. She says:
I am very excited to be able to share with you, and hopefully my fellow Bernalwood readers, the news of this event that I’m doing at Heartfelt on July 21. I’m an SF native who moved to Bernal about 6 months ago, and of course I already love it and feel right at home.
My coauthor, Robin Donovan, and I will be at Heartfelt (436 Cortland) on Saturday, July 21st at 2pm. We’ll be talking about our cookbook, The Lazy Gourmet, and we’ll bring snacks, too. I’ve been wanting to do a Bernal event ever since my move and can’t wait to meet some more friendly neighbors.
PHOTO: Julliana Gallin (left) and Robin Donovan
Three Properties for Rent Right Now in Bernal Heights
Our real estate-obsessed friends at CurbedSF have taken a close look at three residential units currently available for rent in our fabulous neighborhood. They invite readers to “Join the Bikini Jogger and Bigfoot on the Hills of Bernal Heights:”
It’s quite clear that the San Francisco rental market is hot, hot, hot right now, so here at Curbed we’re going to bring you a bevy of rental properties each week for your perusal — one in each price range for budget, middle-of-the-road, and luxury. Today we look at the Bernal Heights, which is full of whimsy and was embroiled in such controversies as last winters’s bikini jogger phenomenon and this summer’s Bigfoot sighting.
There’s a “budget” apartment on Park Street, a mid-range apartment on Mission near Valencia, and a 3 bedroom house on Manchester. Complete details at CurbedSF.
PHOTO: Apartment for rent at 3207 Mission
Valiant 4-Year-Old Rescues Baby Snail From Compost Bin
Oh, babies. They just get into everything, don’t they? Case in point: This juvenile gastropod was spotted gliding along the outside of an illegally-left-by-the-curb green bin earlier this week.
Had it managed to gain ingress, it would no doubt have been pleased by the seemingly endless all-you-can-eat buffet… before facing certain death in the Bay Area’s industrial composting facility.
Luckily for this creature, it was airlifted to a nearby bush by one Ember, age 4, of Elsie Street. Crisis averted!
Globetrotting Bernal Heights Artist Receives Award from Uncle Sam
From his studio on Valencia Street in the La Lengua Autonomous Zone, artist Nikolas Weinstein and his team create beautiful, large-scale glass sculptures that pair nicely with buildings designed by some of the world’s leading architects.
Many of his pieces have been installed overseas; so many, in fact, that Nikolas Weinstein Studios has just received a glamorous Export Achievement Certificate from the US Commerce Department. Even better, a senior Commerce Department official will visit Bernal Heights next week to present the award in person. Star Sighting!
From the press release:
Nikolas Weinstein, who works out of a studio in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights, is locally known for his glass sculptures suspended from the ceiling at the Bar Agricole restaurant. Yet over 90% of his work is installed abroad. With a team of 10 people, Nikolas Weinstein Studios creates architectural-scale works for luxury hotels, commercial spaces, and private residences in places such as Hong Kong, Germany, Tokyo, and Shanghai. The studio recently completed sculptures for the lobby of Frank Gehry’s OPUS residential tower in Hong Kong, the new JW Marriott Hotel in New Delhi, and a private residence in Kuala Lumpur.
To achieve this international success, Nikolas Weinstein Studios works closely with the San Francisco office of the U.S. Commerce Department, as well as their colleagues posted in embassies around the world. This partnership has enabled the studio to enter new markets in India, Japan, and Hong Kong. In recognition of this successful collaboration U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce Francisco Sanchez will visit the studio on Monday, July 23rd to present an Export Achievement Certificate.
Congratulations to everyone at Nikolas Weinstein Studios, and thanks for making Bernalwood proud.
PHOTOS: Top, inside Nikolas Weinstein Studios, by Telstar Logistics. Below, completed NWS projects in Shanghai (above, photo by Michael Weber) and Kuala Lampur (below).
Bernalwood 