How to Find Bernal Heights While Orbiting in Outer Space

May 1, 2015May 1, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

This week, astronaut Scott Kelly flattered all of us in the City and County of San Francisco by tweeting a realtime photo while he passed overhead in the International Space Station:

#SanFrancisco. I almost felt like I was with you as we flew overhead a few minutes ago. #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/G00DP8uIJO

— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) April 27, 2015

It’s a lovely image, but astute astrocartographers may notice that the right edge of the photo stops just short of Bernal Heights. We’re not in the shot. Grrrrrr.

Nevertheless, according to every magazine your Bernalwood editor read as a child, we all will have the opportunity to orbit Earth from the safety and comfort of a fabulous space station, someday.

And when that day comes, you should know how to look down from the lofty heights of outer space and quickly find the soils of your terrestrial homeland here in Bernal Heights.

Locating Bernal Heights from outer space is actually pretty easy. The trick is to know what local landmarks to look for.

Bernal Heights sits roughly at the intersection of two imaginary, perpendicular lines that extend from Islais Creek Channel to the east of Bernal Heights and Aquatic Park to the north. Both of these have a distinctive, easy-to-spot profile when viewed from above, so just find the intersection where the lines come together and then… hey, you have located your home, Earth creature:

Ready to practice? Here’s another view from the ISS.

Let’s zoom and enhance:

Final image; Challenge level, with no gridlines.

Did you find our glamorous Bernal territories?

Great! You now have The Right Stuff. Just strap on your guitar, and you’re ready for orbit:

PHOTO: Top, San Francisco as seen by Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti in January 2015.

Two Homes Tell a Brain-Melting Story About Bernal Heights Real Estate

May 1, 2015May 1, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 11 Comments

Our real estate-obsessed friends at the CurbedSF blog posted two stories this week that provide a snapshot portrait of the current (OMFG) state of the Bernal residential home market.

Coming just after this week’s (OMFG) update on the state of the Bernal residential rental market, the basic story in the residential home sales market is probably easy to anticipate. But let’s go through the motions anyway, if only in the spirit of science and inquiry.

Snapshot One is a remodeled shoebox on Peralta just south of Cortland that was just flipped for a staggering $400K (?!?!?!) above its asking price and doubled in value over the course of a year. Here’s a split view of the home before and after the remodel:

CurbedSF says:

The little house at 853 Peralta Street sits a mere stone’s throw away from the 101 freeway. It isn’t at the heart of trendy Bernal Heights, but that didn’t stop flippers from fixing up the once-simple house and selling it for $1.75 million. That price is more than double what the flippers paid last April, when they bought the home for $830,000. At that time, the home had the original fixtures from its 1977 construction, including a kitchen squished into one corner, a brick fireplace in another, and a red plank back deck. The house was given a makeover that left it with an open plan, a new kitchen, and a freshly landscaped backyard.

CurbedSF has a cool slider widget-thingy that lets you view lots of before/after shots of this house, so click through to play along.

Snapshot Two is a funny little house on Prospect near Coso:

CurbedSF sayeth:

There’s something off-kilter about the little blue cottage at 22 Prospect Avenue, on the north slope of Bernal Heights. And it’s not just the wide-set windows, whose lower-than-usual placement gives the facade a somewhat downcast expression. Inside, the two-bed, one-bath home reveals itself to be an oddball cross between a woodsy cabin and some sort of loft. The rafters are exposed, and more than a few walls look as though knotty wood panels (or possibly laminate?) have been rigged up below the ceiling. There’s a pair of stainless-steel sinks in the bathroom, and one bedroom has a weirdly institutional vibe, with streaky carpet tile and a ceiling that wouldn’t look out of place in an office or classroom.

The home—which clocks in at 1,314 square feet, per property records—is listed for $789K, a modest $600 per square for what the brokerbabble acknowledges is a fixer.

What our friends at CurbedSF were really trying to say (though perhaps they didn’t know it) is that this Bernal Heights house is a classic Bernal Heights-style home — only it now comes with a price tag inflated by several years limited housing inventory. Here’s an interior view:

Anyone care to guess what the sale price for 22 Prospect will be? And what it will look like 18 months from now?

Bernal History Gets the Celebrity Treatment in The SF Chronicle

April 30, 2015April 30, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 4 Comments

In case you missed it, there was a fun article in the fashionable Home and Garden section of last Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle celebrating Bernal Heights, and the local tribe of enthusiasts from the Bernal Heights History Project who bring our neighborhood’s past into the present.

Chronicle writer Charlene Prince Birkleland begins by introducing us to Neighbor Michael Nolan, the spiritual guru of the Elsie Street Glee Club:

Michael Nolan’s home on a rolling block in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights is filled with the past. Black-and-white photos from his youth hang on the walls and family keepsakes sit on shelves, but they’re mixed in with neighborhood artifacts, like railroad tools from the late 1800s found buried in Nolan’s backyard.

A passionate genealogist and the convenor of his family reunions, Nolan is now focused on building a different kind of family tree: the genealogy of his house.

Nolan, 73, is one of many Bernal Heights residents hooked on recording the history of their homes and the neighborhood. Some homeowners might conduct this type of research during a renovation, to replicate the design features original to the property. But these self-made historians want to connect the present with the past, when neighbors were close friends and felt a strong sense of community.

“We’re pretty tight on this block,” said Nolan, who helps organize annual block parties and regular potluck dinners. “We try to support one another in times of celebration and need. It’s not easy to do. … People lead very busy lives. We do what we can on this little piece of earth.”

Bernal Heights lies between highways 101 and 280 near San Francisco’s Mission District. More than 24,000 residents live in this colorful community filled with coffee shops, restaurants and views from every hilltop. The area contained few homes until the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, when many were drawn to build on its stable bedrock. Now a dozen earthquake shacks, which were used as temporary housing after the 1906 quake, sit near modern, contemporary homes interspersed with updated Victorians and smaller, old cottages built in the late 1800s.

Later in the piece, we meet Neighbor Vicky Walker, high priestess of the Bernal Heights History Project, who was thrilled to learn that her home came with a spookiness pre-installed:

Walker lives on Ellsworth Street just a few blocks from Nolan […] and she’s equally immersed in learning about her home. Walker has traced the name of every owner of the Ellsworth Street residence, which was built in 1927. Her first bit of data came in 2003 on the day she moved into the home. Her husband, Wade Walker, was unloading the moving van when a neighbor came by and shared an unexpected gruesome detail: The property was the site of a 1976 husband-wife murder-suicide.

Vicky Walker was fascinated. “I’m kind of a gore hound, and I’m interested in ghosts and crimes and stuff,” she says. She later visited the library where she researched The San Francisco Chronicle archives and located stories about the crime. She learned that the wife, Lovera “Jodie” Satava, was fond of cats, just like Walker. “I’d be talking out loud to Jodie and saying, ‘I hope you like the cats.’ It’s like having ghosts you can talk to.”

Read the whole article right here.

PHOTO: Above, Vicky Walker and Michael Nolan at Pinhole Coffee last February, via Michael Nolan. Below, Holly Park Meat Market at 231 Cortland Ave, current site of Pinhole Coffee, date unknown.

Rents in Bernal Heights Up 24% Since Last Year

April 29, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 17 Comments

San Francisco’s population is growing rapidly, but we haven’t built nearly enough new housing to keep pace with our City’s growing popularity. The result is predictable to anyone with a basic grasp of supply and demand: Renting a place to live in San Francisco has become nose-bleedingly expensive.

But what about Bernal Heights? For insight on our hyperlocal rental market, the data geeks at Zillow offered to crunch some numbers for us. Bottom line: The rent is too damn high! Median rents in Bernal are even higher than in San Francisco overall, having climbed by 24% in the last year alone. Oof. Zillow’s Tali Wee sent us this summary:

Renting in Bernal Heights is more expensive than the median rent in the San Francisco metro. Currently, the median rent price per month in Bernal Heights is $4,326. For comparison, San Francisco rents are still steep at $3,088, but significantly less than Bernal Heights.

These local prices increased 2.1 percent since last month alone and a whopping 23.6 percent in the last year. If you’re a renter in Bernal Heights, you’ve likely experienced major hikes in your rent throughout the past few years. If you’re looking for a rental in Bernal Heights, anticipate prices to remain expensive throughout the year.

Also in Bernal Heights, home values appreciated 13.8 percent since last year. If renters are planning to buy, it’s becoming more and more difficult to save a down payment because rents are so expensive. Plus, purchasing a home becomes out of reach as values appreciate and prices rise; the median home value in Bernal Heights is $1,127,500. These values are forecasted to grow another 5.1 percent throughout 2015.

Right now, renters pay about $3.25 per square foot, about three times the national rate ($1.10). Across the country, renters are applying an average of 30 percent of their monthly incomes on rent, and an astronomical 44 percent in San Francisco.

Renters thinking about buying in Bernal Heights can breakeven on the upfront costs in approximately 1.3 years. Zillow’s breakeven horizon shows the length of time it would take for the costs of renting to exceed the total costs of buying the same property. So, renters who adore the Bernal Heights community and who plan to stay longer than 1.3 years are financially better off buying then renting – especially as home values appreciate, which increases returns on their investments.

This Lovely Bernal Dog Needs a New Home

April 29, 2015April 30, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 14 Comments

UPDATE: Neighbor Ben says Elf is on track to have a new home in Bernal Heights. *Whew!* The original post follows…

Neighbor Ben hopes to find a loving Bernal home for a sweet doggie named Elf. He explains:

Hi Bernalers.

Our sweet Bernese Mountain Dog, Elf, needs a new home and we’re hoping to find someone in Bernal to re-home her. Our 1yr old daughter has developed a very bad allergic reaction to dog dander/saliva and despite our army of air filters and efforts to segregate her from Elf, her symptoms have not improved. We’re in a state of constant vigilance trying to keep the baby from touching the dog or crawling through an area where Elf has slept… and the stress is overwhelming, and it’s not an ideal situation for Elf either. So, we’re hoping to find Elf a great home in Bernal – so that Elf stays somewhere familiar… and so that we can (ideally) take her for an occasional walk.

Elf is a sweet, gentle, 7-yr old Bernese Mountain Dog. She’s in great physical shape – no hip problems – and no other health issues. She’s on the small side for a Bernese at 70lbs. When you meet her, you’ll think she’s just a young pup because she’s full of energy, enthusiasm, and curiosity. After an initial burst of energy when you come home or someone new arrives, she quiets down and then likes to laze around the house. She’s a big fan of walks to Bernal Hill and, if you’ve got a good pocket full of treats, has amazing recall. She’s very well potty trained, doesn’t mind a stay in the crate for a few hours, is great with kids, and generally is an all around awesome dog. Her one downside is that she love to engulf socks!.. especially little kid socks. So, you’ve got to keep socks out of reach.

If you’re interested, please email xxxxxxx and let’s arrange a walk on the hill or a weekend visit for you to get to know her to see if it’s the right fit.

Scooter-Sharing Scheme Is a Brilliant Idea, Executed Not So Thoughtfully

April 28, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 42 Comments

Your Bernalwood editor has been on the receiving end of a steady stream of grumblings about Scoot Networks, the scooter-sharing startup with sharing locations in Bernal Heights. We wrote about Scoot for the first time last August, but since then the company has expanded its reach in Bernal — and the grumblings have expanded with it.

Here’s one from Neighbor Adele:

Are you thinking of offering any more coverage on the ‘Scoot’ fleet taking up street parking issue? I am actually a daily bicycle commuter so I’m not the worlds biggest parking advocate, but I actually get a serious sense of unease and frustration seeing branded scooters from a private fleet blanketing my street (Folsom near Bessie). They are all over, and to be clear, they are taking up all manner of spots. It just feels like another part of the Airbnb-ification of the neighborhood. I don’t see this precedent from car sharing companies. Obviously public entities have a major role in PLANNING the extension of the much more innocuous bicycle shares into new locations. Is it too much to ask for some planning to go into the extension of private, for-profit transit systems into our residential neighborhood?

Like Neighbor Adele, your Bernalwood editor does not require street parking, so I have no personal reason to begrudge Scoot’s presence.

Unlike Neighbor Adele, your Bernalwood editor doesn’t really mind if private companies use public space once in a while. Private companies have contracted to use public space to do all sorts of things since pretty much forever, and so long as these arrangements are properly authorized and generally serve the public interest, then I think that’s fair play.

Yet it’s easy to understand why many Bernal neighbors are frustrated by all those red scooters. Scoot Networks does not have designated parking spaces for its vehicles, and the Bernalese who use Scoot often park their shared scooters in ways that squander precious street parking space. In theory, five or six scooters can easily park in the space occupied by one car, but in practice, when five or six Scoots park haphazardly in spaces that would be a better fit for larger vehicles, neighbors end up with far fewer places to park.

Mostly, it seems that Scoot might work better with dedicated, designated scooter parking spaces. Here on glamorous Precita Avenue, for example, there are lots of odd sidewalk bulbs and short curbs between driveways where cars simply won’t fit. Those would be excellent for designated scooter-only parking. Instead, however, Scoots often park randomly, and often in the most inefficient ways possible.

That seems like a loss for everyone. It obviously stinks for neighbors who end up with fewer places to park close to home. It probably stinks for Scoot customers, who don’t have a designated place to go find their rides. It can’t do much to help Scoot’s brand, because although the company gets good marks from customers, the current parking scheme encourages neighbors to develop the kind of festering resentment that only street-parking issues can generate. And most of all, it doesn’t help rally support for the larger cause of ridesharing, which is a very positive urban transportation alternative in our tech-enabled age.

Bummer for all of us. Scoot is a good thing, but there must be a more elegant way to integrate it into the fabric of the neighborhood.

PHOTOS: Scoots parking badly in Bernal Heights, by Telstar Logistics

Thursday: Benefit at Little Nepal on Cortland to Assist Earthquake Victims

April 28, 2015April 27, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 4 Comments

There aren’t many Nepalese restaurants on this side of the pond, but we’ve got one on Cortland, and Little Nepal is hosting a special dinner on Thursday, April 30 to help victims of the massive earthquake that struck Nepal last weekend:

Our hearts are heavy with the news of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked Nepal on Saturday, April 25, killing more than 2,500 people in the country and dozens more in surrounding nations. The earthquake also triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest, killing at least 17 people. With poor infrastructure in a densely populated area, Nepal needs our help more than ever.

Please join us in dining to help rebuild and provide aid on Thursday, April 30.

Little Nepal (925 Cortland Avenue) has graciously agreed to create a donation-only select menu for this evening only. We spoke with the Owner and Executive Chef, Prem Tamang, and he is from the district of Kavrepalanchok, Nepal. All of the cash-only donation proceeds will go directly to his hometown. The restaurant is open from 5 – 10 p.m. Come anytime! Upon your arrival, please let the host / server know that you are here for the donation-only meal. Please note that this will exclude beverages and other items off the special menu.

Please spread the word and extend this invite to your network. Together, we can eat delicious Nepalese Cuisine while making a difference.

Prem, Chasa and Sebastien

PHOTO: Courtesy of Little Nepal. Hat tip: Eater SF

Bernal Filmmakers Raising Funds to Produce “The Last Black Man in San Francisco”

April 27, 2015April 26, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

Think back to last September, and you may recall that filmmaker and Bernal neighbor Joe Talbot took home the coveted Best of Bernal award at the 2014 Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema festival for the impressive concept-teaser video he produced for his film, “The Last Black Man in San Francisco.”

Well, after that, Neighbor Joe and his co-producer and star actor Jimmie Fails got lots and lots of media attention, and last weekend they launched a Kickstarter campaign to produce a feature-length version of their film:

The Last Black Man in San Francisco is a feature-length narrative film currently in pre-production that is inspired by the real life of Jimmie Fails, a third-generation San Franciscan, who dreams of buying back his old family home in the Fillmore.

But this film isn’t just about tough economic times and changing political landscapes in San Francisco. It’s a story about two inseparable misfits who are searching for home in a city they can no longer call their own.

Joe Talbot (writer/director) grew up running around the Mission District with a camera around his neck and a gang of misfits in tow. His cobbled-together crews of friends, family and other various undesirables wreaked constant havoc on the neighborhood, pushing wheelchairs down busy streets for tracking shots and alarming random passerby with fake blood make-up.

When Jimmie moved to the nearby Army St. housing projects as a pre-teen, he was promptly dragged into Joe’s film-making fold. The two boys soon began collaborating on just about everything, including Joe’s SFIFF winning short, Last Stop Livermore. […]

During many late-night walks through the roller-coaster hills of Bernal Heights, Jimmie spun tales of his often stranger-than-fiction childhood — like the time he and his father made a beat-up BMW their home (until his dad’s crack buddy stole it).

These conversations around Jimmie’s struggle to regain his roots in his native city became the basis for LBM. But it’s about more than buying back a piece of property — inspired by the bond Joe and Jimmie formed as teens over feeling like misfits in their respective worlds, this film seeks to tell an ageless story about two friends trying to find their place in the world.

It will come as no surprise to anyone who saw this team’s original concept-teaser, but the video created to support the Last Black Man in San Francisco Kickstarter campaign is an enticing piece of work unto itself:

Let’s help make this happen — and support a rising Bernal talent along the way. You can donate to the Last Black Man in San Francisco Kickstarter campaign right here.

IMAGES: Last Black Man in San Francisco

Tuesday: Special Spring Wine Dinner at Blue Plate

April 27, 2015April 26, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: We, the Citizens of Bernalwood, are fortunate to have Blue Plate at our metaphorical doorstep. Blue Plate was delicious and cozy and local before delicious and cozy and local were cool, and apart from being one of the most consistently fabulous restaurants in the city, co-owner Jeff Trenam tells us Blue Plate is hosting a special event tomorrow night… and you’re invited:

We are hosting a Scribe Viticultural Society Spring Allocation pick-up dinner on Tuesday, April 28th. It’s open to the public and we will be pairing their new wines with some new menu items. Everything will be available á la carte. Adam and Andrew from Scribe should be here too.

BLUE PLATE
Scribe Spring Wine Dinner

WHO: Blue Plate and Scribe Winery
WHEN: Tuesday April 28, 2014
WHERE: Blue Plate, 3218 Mission Street (at Valencia)  San Francisco, CA 94110

WHAT: Adam and Andrew Mariani from Scribe Winery will be at Blue Plate to chat with guests. Scribe Viticultural Society members will get to pick up their spring allocations and Chef de Cuisine, Sean Thomas will serve an á la carte menu with suggested SCRIBE pairings.

RESERVATIONS: www.blueplatesf.com or call 415-282-6777

PHOTO: Blue Plate’s iconic neon sign by Erik Wilson

There Are Many Bernal Artists to See at the Shipyard Open Studios This Weekend

April 24, 2015April 23, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 4 Comments

This weekend, Saturday and Sunday, April 25 & 26, the artist colony at the former Hunter’s Point Naval Shipyard is having their Spring 2015 Open Studios event. Over 140 artists will be showing their work at the shipyard this year, and an impressive number of those artists are your Bernal Heights neighbors.

With special thanks to the folks from the Shipyard Artists for pulling all this together for us, here’s the 411 on the badass Bernal Heights artists to look out for this weekend:

Kathleen Finney
Mixed Media

Kathleen Finney lives in Bernal Heights. She is a third generation San Franciscan, who lives and works in the City. She studied at California College of the Arts, San Francisco Art Institute and UC Berkeley Extension. Her work is exhibited nationally and internationally.

Her process is a building up and tearing down of form and line that is secured by deep muted blues, intense black & translucent white; punctuated with rich jewel tones. While her work conjures a type of mysterious landscape, they can also be considered aerial observations; incorporating geometric complexities with spontaneous mark-making.

With the use of diverse media, Kathleen Finney conveys a sense of complex history and illusive memory, without giving way to any specific narrative. This intuitive approach to the surface, while unsettled & mysterious, enables a continuation of an unending visual journey and intellectual examination.

Bob Armstrong
Acrylic painting, Carving, Mixed Media

Bob Armstrong lives in Bernal Heights. Bob paints the beauty in the textural richness which he sees: in beehives and honeycombs, in aged lacquer boxes, in the charred bark of tree trunks, and in aboriginal marks. The patterns and geometry of nature provide the structure for these paintings, and color is their lure.

He has fallen in love with wood, and the carving that it invites. It is the inspiration for his carved paintings that explore the textural variety of nature. Some of his works are influenced by Japanese art and by the California Arts and Crafts movement, with their shared insistence on grace and compositional beauty.

Linda Larson
Oil painting, murals

Linda Larson lives in Bernal Heights. She is a painter and muralist, working on the Clarendon Elementary School Mural Project. In recent work, Linda has been inspired by her surroundings, new and familiar. The desolation of the abandoned shipyard at Hunters Point, where she has her studio, marks a striking contrast with the spontaneous bursts of natural beauty. Wild flowers and vegetation battle through the concrete. Linda is inspired by the tenacity of nature itself. She paint with oil on panel, applying paint in thin transparent glazes using many traditional oil painting techniques. LInda use brushes but also cotton buds, tissue, sandpaper and fingers to remove as well as apply paint. Each painting emerges through many layers, every transition representing a new perspective. These detailed pieces speak of her unique impression of the world she sees around her.

Alan Mazzetti
Acrylic painting

Alan Mazzetti lives in Bernal Heights. He takes an iconic approach to his paintings – abstracted, minimal shapes evoke rather than describe the subject. Color and texture suggest narrative and emotion. Common to both the abstracts and the landscapes is a theme of Transition: He likes to imply a sense of journey – of movement through time and space that utimately arrives at an unexpected destination. This journey is implied in the selection and treatment of the subject as well as the process of creating the painting. Transitions occur between natural and constructed elements, between curved and linear shapes, between structured and intuitive mark-making. His personal experience of the subject becomes universal, culminating in a new way of seeing the subject for both himself and the viewer.

Carrie Ann Plank
Encaustic, Mixed Media, Printmaking

Carrie Ann Plank lives in Bernal Heights. Her work revolves around researching web based information systems and pulling from these sources to find images that can be divorce from the original context and reassemble based on her own criteria- based on shape, form, complexity or other determiners. The compositional elements are selected based not on the intended usage but purely on shape and design. The prints usually began with an organic shape derived from her own sketches from life or photography.

Plank is an artist working in the mediums of printmaking and painting. She exhibits nationally and internationally. Plank’s work is included in many private and public collections including the Fine Art Archives of the Library of Congress, the Guanlan Print Art Museum in China, and the Iraq National Library in Baghdad. Recent and upcoming noteworthy shows include American representation at the International Print Art Triennial in Sophia, Bulgaria, the Liu Haisu Museum of Fine Art in Shanghai, China, and the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts Museum in Guangzhou, China. Recent residencies include Druckwerk in Basel, Switzerland, Mullowney Printing in San Francisco, and the Venice Printmaking Studio in Venice, Italy. Additionally, Plank is the Director of the Printmaking MFA & BFA Programs at the Academy of Art University.

Jon Wessel
Collage, Mixed Media, Painting

Jon Wessel lives in Bernal Heights. Jon’s work is influenced and inspired by the contemporary urban landscape (street art, billboards, graffiti abatement) as well as more traditional painting styles rooted in Abstract Expressionism. His medium incorporates found flyers and posters with acrylics and graphite. Although nonrepresentational, his work addresses issues of notoriety, time and revisionism.

Jane Woolverton
Ceramics, Mixed Media, Painting, Sculpture

Jane Wolverton lives in Bernal Heights. Her fiber sculptures are made from recycled plastic six-pack holders. After finding a bag of them in her studio, she decided to either make something with them or get rid of them. She began experimenting and It was an exciting time. After painting each holder, Jane tied them together and hung them up on a rod. This piece was in black and white and the shadows created against the white wall were wonderful and fascinating. Next, Jane used colors, tying the holders together and making two or three different and separate panels. When hung on rods against a white wall this created a different feeling as the colors fused together.

In all her art pieces using recycled plastic holders, she has endeavored to create a transformation, allowing the material properties to evolve into a different understanding.

Lost Bernal Dog Navigates to Familiar Mission District Bar

April 23, 2015April 23, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 11 Comments

If you were tuned in to Bernalwood’s social media channels yesterday, you may have seen the appeal to help find Luna, a Bernal Heights dog who escaped from a caregiver’s yard in the Panhandle while her owner was out of town traveling. A frantic search effort was undertaken, and there were reports that Luna had been seen along the Embarcadero and in the Mission.

Happily, Luna was found late yesterday afternoon after wandering in to a familiar watering hole. Cassie tells Bernalwood:

Thanks so much for posting about the dog. Luna was found yesterday evening at a bar in the Mission called The Sycamore that her owners frequent. Smart pup. She was reunited with her owner last night. We can’t believe it and are so relieved.

Clever drinky doggy indeed. Whew!

PHOTO: Luna, once lost, now found

Tonight: Earth Day Party and Benefit at Succulence

April 23, 2015April 23, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

Let’s take a moment to marvel at the shrewd foresight of Succulence, the plant and lifestyle-decor store at 402 Cortland opened by Ken and Amy Shelf after they rather gracefully transitioned from running Four Star Video.

Today, Succulence specializes in selling lovely, low-water succulents and mysterious air plants that seem to survive on little more than sunlight and unicorn vapor. Which is to say, Succulence made drought-tolerant gardening look sexy long before it was cool (and state-mandated).

Now, to celebrate Earth Day, Ken says Succulence will host a special celebration at the store tonight… and you’re a guest of honor. Ken says:

We are having an Earth Day party at Succulence on April 23 from 6-9 pm. The entire day will also be a benefit for the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center – 10% of all proceeds will be donated to them.

We are having a special night at the shop. We will be serving free drinks and food (mojitos, pork sliders from Cathead’s BBQ , pastries from Little Bee Bakery, cheese & crackers) and providing live entertainment with three bands playing (including mine at 8:30pm).

It is a free event to thank everyone for the patronage of our business.

Here is a link to our invite and email. Please come if you are free! I’d love to get a chance to drink a toast to our marvelous planet together.

PHOTO: Courtesy of Succulence

Ellis Eviction Halted on Ellsworth, But Cesar Chavez Residents Remain on Notice

April 22, 2015April 22, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 17 Comments

According to the the San Francisco Rent Board, the number of Ellis Act evictions in San Francisco declined by almost 50% last year. However, the number of for-cause evictions rose by 7%.

Here’s the data from the Rent Board’s 2015 Annual Eviction Report (PDF):

The report also provides this citywide summary:

During the period from March 1,2014 through February 28, 2015, a total of 2,120 eviction notices were filed with the Department. This figure includes 145 notices given due to failure to pay rent, which are not required to be filed with the Department. The number of notices filed with the Department this year represents a 7% increase from last year’s total filings of 1,977. The largest percentage increase was in eviction notices for illegal use of a rental unit, which increased from 42 to 91 notices. Owner/relative move-in eviction notices increased from 273 to 343 notices. Breach of rental agreement notices increased from 607 to 738 notices. Unapproved subtenant eviction notices increased from 17 to 20 notices, and nuisance eviction notices increased from 349 to 401 notices.

Closer to home, Beyond Chron tells the story of some Bernal Heights neighbors on Ellsworth (near Cortland) who were able to successfully resist an attempted Ellis Act eviction :

New owners of 261-261A Ellsworth Street purchased the property in February 6, 2015. Ten days later they served the long-term tenants, including 82 year old Alberto Lopez, with Ellis Act notices of termination.

On March 31, 2015, the Tenants’ attorney, Raquel Fox of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, provided formal notice of entitlement to an extension of the notice period based on Alberto Lopez and his wife’s senior ages. On April 19, 2015, the Landlords’ lawyer told Fox that the new landlords were rescinding the Ellis Act. The communication included a copy of the Request for Rescission of Ellis Act Notices. On April 20, 2015, the Tenants executed the Declaration of Tenants Continued Occupancy.

The quickness of the Lopez victory means it will not join the ranks of other high-profile Ellis Act evictions. But it sends another message that Mayor Lee’s tripling of Ellis eviction defense funding has had a huge impact. These tenant legal victories show that Ellis cases are not a slam dunk, and help slow the current rising tide of such actions.

On Bernal’s north side, Mission Local reports on a large-scale Ellis eviction effort targeting residents of the 12-unit building at 3301 Cesar Chavez (at South Van Ness).

At 3301 Cesar Chavez, tenants in the 12-unit building near South Van Ness received Ellis Act eviction notices in February. “I’ve lived through six different owners of this building,” said Doña Margarita, a senior who has rented in the building for 52 years. “Because of my age, I can’t just live anywhere.”

Beyond Chron reports that the building at 3301 Cesar Chavez is owned by Robert Imhoff, a property-owner with a rather long history of eviction attempts.

Hovering over all of this is the fact that San Francisco added more than 11,000 new residents in 2014 alone, as the City’s population has soared to new all-time highs. San Francisco’s unemployment rate stands at a 15 year low, but we’ve been running a chronic housing deficit since the 1990s. Oh, and San Francisco rents are currently the highest in the nation.

How can we reduce evictions and improve affordability in the long term? More housing please!

PHOTO: 261 Ellsworth via Google Maps.