Potrero View 2023: May

Dogpatch Family’s Entire Belongings

from U-Haul

BY REBEKAH MOAN

At the end of March, Deanna Borbon and René Felbermayr packed a UHaul to move to Los Angeles with their two small children and left it parked on Texas Street between 19th and 20th streets. In the early hours the next night, thieves stole the vehicle, which contained all the family’s belongings, as well as the Volkswagen GTI that was attached.

Borbon was already in L.A. with the children, ages four and three months, staying at her mother’s house. Felbermayr notified the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD), which advised him to stick around for a few days in case the U-Haul reappeared. He stayed with his former business partners – Tamara Hicks and David Jablons, at Daily Driver – who lived three houses down.

After not hearing anything for a few days Felbermayr rejoined his family in L.A. Within 48 hours the police notified him that they’d found his car and he needed to get it out of police holding.

Stolen

“Some things are missing,” he was told when he asked if the car was drivable.

More than a few things were missing. The car was taken completely apart; all that was left of the Volkswagen GTI was the frame. The lights were gone, the doors were gone, the engine, transmission, wheels, seats, everything.

“I laugh because I can’t believe this happened,” Felbermayr said. “I’m from Austria and I’ve never heard of anything like this. It was just the body of the car.”

With no reason to transport what was left of the vehicle to L.A., he transferred the title to SFPD, which sent the remaining parts to a junkyard.

Days later, the U-Haul was found. Borbon was notified that it was parked on a Bayview street. She had 72 hours to evaluate it and retrieve her items or U-Haul would seize them. Borbon rented a van and drove from L.A. with her three-month-old and mother, Sofia Romero, hopes high. Those hopes were

STOLEN continues on page 9

Potrero Hill Artists’ Exhibition Returns after Brief Hiatus

BY REBEKAH MOAN

Amateur and professional artists alike will have a chance to showcase their work at the Annual Potrero Hill Artists’ Exhibition hosted by the Potrero branch library. First launched in 1955, this year’s show will feature roughly 50 pieces from artists associated with the neighborhood through work, worship, residency, or education.

Each piece is no more than 48 by 48 inches. If not wall-mounted it must be shelf-stable; it won’t wobble or fall if bumped by a library patron. The show is non-juried. Pieces are accepted “first come, first serve.”

“We have a couple of kids in elementary school and some longtime elders contributing pieces,” said Rachel Bradshaw, the library’s manager. “So far we have digital art pieces, watercolors, oil paintings, mixed media, collage work, and pieces of garments designed and sewed.”

On Saturday, May 20th, the library will hold an opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m., celebrating the 62nd show

The Oldest Homes on the Hill

instead of 68th because of a few missed years due to library renovations and the pandemic. Works will be on display until the end of July.

“I think the exhibition matters now more than ever because we experienced such a fracturing during the pandemic,” Bradshaw said. “There are harsher lines of division between people of different economic statuses, ethnicities, and abilities. The art show is open to all, and the library is an ADA-accessible building. Anyone of any age or income can come and have their art displayed. Libraries are the great American unifier. They are a public ‘third space’ that doesn’t require buying anything.”

Community spirit sparked the initial art exhibition. The library was under threat of closure in 1955. Librarian Phylis Taylor, along with internationally recognized American Realist painter Charles Griffin Farr, rallied local artists to hold a fundraiser to save it.

Dubbed “The Art Show” until 1993, early participating artists included

Dogpatch, Potrero Hill Beset with Unmaintained Right-of-Ways, Known as “Unaccepted Streets”

BY JESSICA ZIMMER

Residents of southeastern neighborhoods are frustrated by chronic municipal neglect of unaccepted streets, public right-of-ways also known as “dirt” or “paper” roads. These pathways may be narrow, have rough surfaces, and lack sidewalks or curbs.

Unaccepted streets were created in the 19th Century when San Francisco was first occupied by EuropeanAmericans. Property owners would submit building plans to the City, some of which were unrealistic. Streets that existed on paper were never built, due to an impeding hill or waterway. In some cases, roads were developed, but not to code. This collection of lands defaulted into becoming public right-of-ways.

In 1997, the City audited and graded about 30,000 streets. Roughly 2,000 were left behind, unaccepted, because they didn’t meet municipal standards, such as being 26 feet wide curb to curb. San Francisco Public Works took jurisdiction over these right-of-ways.

Unaccepted streets take a wide range of forms, including dead ends following an accepted street and rocky hillsides. Under state and local law, a property owner adjacent to an unaccepted street is responsible for maintaining it to the center of the right of way, according to Rachel Gordon, San Francisco Public

Works spokesperson. The City is prohibited from using general funds or state gas tax money to cover this obligation. Public Works doesn’t monitor upkeep efforts on unaccepted streets.

“We only are aware of specific instances in which maintenance is not done and we receive a service request complaint about it. Then we address those concerns on a case-by-case basis,” said Gordon.

Unaccepted streets may be beset with potholes, cracks, and trash. Unlimited parking is available on some, a boon or blight, depending on one’s perspective.

The City’s long list of unaccepted streets includes a segment of Bryant Street near Bayside Village, from roughly street addresses 367 to 0 and a portion of Delancey Street near the Bryant Street overpass, about at street address 0, as indicated in a 2023 Public Works map.

According to Katherine Doumani, Dogpatch Neighborhood Association (DNA) president, the lower portion of 20th Street at roughly the 800 block is the community’s most problematic unaccepted street. It’s well traveled by bicyclists and pedestrians, but isn’t adequately paved, with both street sides used for parking.

“The next would probably be Penn-

The historic Richards House in morning light. Constructed around 1865 by the Richards family on land bought from Captain Charles Adams, the residence is one of the earliest built on the Hill. "The Oldest Homes on the Hill" continues on page 5.

PHOTO: Odin Thien-An Marin

The Richards House

PUBLISHER’S VIEW

LONELY

SHORT CUTS

What I really meant was, “I’m lonely.”

Loneliness is a complicated feeling, the mole sauce of emotions; rich, dark, with many subtle flavors. “I’m lonely” has a million meanings: I’m tired of myself and need someone else to play with; my mind is stuck in an unpleasant internal traffic jam, horns honking, and needs a distraction; I’m unloved, or ignored, or an insignificant speck in an infinite indifferent universe. I need someone to touch me. I don’t know who I am.

Loneliness can creep up at any time, tapping you on the shoulder, blowing its soft, sickly-sweet, breath into your ear. Once it visits, if left unmolested, it can settle in, like a chill. It can be hard to chase away. Lots of things can make it worse: television, a single-serving pre-packaged meal, rain. Remedies can be scarce, or plentiful: friends, family, a smile from a stranger.

Money can be helpful, but it isn’t a cure. It enables us to be clean, pre -

sentable, and personable. It can buy distractions, and entry into places where friends might be made or encountered. Also, therapy. Mostly, though, being not lonely requires cultivation and a lifelong deployment of a myriad of complex strategies, many of which have to be self-taught, acquired through trial and error, revisited, revised, renewed. Making and keeping friends, even when they’ll inevitably annoy, disappoint or disappear. Getting and staying well married, or at least partnered. Belonging to something: a Mahjong, pickleball, or book club. Church, though not so much for the Jesus as the community. Volunteering.

Being alone doesn’t cause loneliness but can be the core seed of it. Humans didn’t evolve as or to be solo creatures. Yet by all accounts we’re lonelier than past decades, bowling alone has morphed into living alone, working alone, streaming alone, numbing alone. Young adults –especially those employed remotely – the unmarried and those without children seem to be especially forlorn.

Go out and play is pretty good advice. It works on a number of levels:

PUBLISHER'S VIEW continues on page 10

A dozen “smallish” privately owned buses went up in flames last month beneath Interstate 280 in Dogpatch. Firefighters extinguished the blaze in just under an hour. No injuries were reported.  “They look like they are abandoned buses,” that were stored on 23rd Street between Pennsylvania Avenue and Iowa Street, said San Francisco Fire Department spokesperson Captain Jonathan Baxter. “But who knows.” Twelve buses were damaged in the blaze, some fully consumed, others partially burned. Fire investigators are investigating the cause, including whether arson was a possibility.

Just Closed

Just For You Café, known for its pillowy beignets and bottomless cups of coffee, closed last month after 43 years in business. According to Reid Hannula, the café’s owner, the business has been “bleeding for years. We’ve made no money since COVID.” Just For You opened in 1980 on 18th Street, operating out of a shotgun space with two tables and a countertop seating about a dozen patrons. In 1990, Arienne Landry, a Louisiana native, took over the diner, adding Southern influences from her grandmother to the menu, like buttermilk fried chicken and “Creole crab cakes.” In 2002, Landry moved the business to Dogpatch. “When I went down there [the neighborhood was] pretty much tumbleweeds,” she said. “You could just pull in and park

anywhere.” Around that time, Landry introduced her sugar-dusted beignets. They were a hit and gave the business a boost. Debbie Findling, a longtime Just For You patron reminisced, “Twentytwo years ago, I waddled into Just For You; nine months pregnant and ready to pop. Our waiter said the delicious and mildly spicey huevos rancheros would do the trick. Sure enough, I gave birth to our daughter that evening. Just For You will always be in my heart.”

Naturally Retired

After 34 years of patient care practice in San Francisco, 25 years on 20th Street, San Francisco Natural Medicine will close on May 31, 2023, when the clinic’s lease expires. Carl HangeeBauer, ND, Lac , who turns 70 this year, is ready to retire.

Green Grows

$68 Subscription $132 Subscription-Benefactor Other contribution amount $ Please send my one-year subscription to: FULL NAME EMAIL ADDRESS STREET ADDRESS CITY STATE ZIP CODE Enclosed is my check. Please send, along with this form, to: The Potrero View, 1459 18th St., #214, S.F., CA 94107 I am sending my payment via PayPal to office@potreroview.net. I love the View and would be delighted to support it by being a subscriber. YES! www.potreroview.net/product/subscribe or complete the form below SUBSCRIBE MONDAY NIGHT ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT 5PM to 9PM EVERY DAY 11AM to 9PM (415) 641-1440

SHORT CUTS continues on page 10

PUBLISHER Steven J. Moss

ACCOUNTING MANAGER Catie Magee

MARKETING MANAGER Richard Romero

PRODUCTION MANAGER Helena Chiu

Bus Fires

San Francisco’s Sexually Transmitted Infection Rates Lower than Southern Cities

BY ERIC WELCH

While many cities have seen escalating numbers of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) over the past few years, San Francisco has experienced only modest increases. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data, in 2020 San Francisco was ranked third highest among major U.S. cities in reported STI rates per 100,000 residences. By 2021, the City had dropped to 15th, as public health efforts successfully muffled transmission while elsewhere STI rates rose rapidly.

Due to the extensive work involved in data collection there’s typically a year and a half lag in issuance of CDC data. However, statistics released by the San Francisco Department of Health (SFDH) in February 2023, indicate that the number of STI cases was somewhat higher in 2022 compared to 2021, though December 2022 was slightly lower than December 2021.

SFDH data also shows an uptick in the number of HIV tests between 2021 and 2022, with 3,488 checks in 2021 compared

STIs continues on page 10

Letters to the Editor

Editor,

As a local resident, taxpaying homeowner and San Franciscan since 1998, I laud the improvement of our city parks, including Jackson, and our commitment to park improvements. However, I and many others find it fiscally outrageous and imprudent that we’d dedicate more than $40 million to the renovation of a single four-acre park and facility, as beautiful as it may come to be.

As a counterpoint, the City of Sacramento in 2018 had a Parks and Recreation capital improvement budget of just more than $6 million and a 2017 to 2022 funding budget of just over $7 million. The total Sacramento Youth Parks and Community budget for 2022 was just over $57 million.

In 2012-2014 we were treated to an incredible but also incredibly expensive renovation of 14-acre Dolores Park, more than three times the size of Jackson Park, including building facilities at a cost of more than $20 million. In 2016 there was a $6 million+ renovation of two-acre Joe DiMaggio Park in North Beach.  Without question these were and are beautiful parks, but at what point do we say we can build and renovate at far more reasonable, well negotiated prices and/or spread our park and rec budgets across many more facilities at the same cost? At what point do we quell our egos about dollars spent in pursuit of a “beautiful park” amidst a diminishing budget where school teachers are underpaid, city services are unduly burdened and law enforcement professionals are understaffed. No amount of neighborhood civic pride should support that kind of trade-off in fiscal management if we’re in this for the long haul as a city of equal and deserving neighborhoods.

Robert Levy Minnesota Street

Green Benefit District | GreenBenefit.org

What upgrades would you like to see within the Green Benefit District?

How can we make our neighborhoods greener, safer and more welcoming?

The GBD will be forming its budget for the new fiscal year starting July 1. Send us your comments and ideas via our website, GreenBenefit.org, or by attending the GBD board meeting on May 17.

The Potrero Boosters Neighborhood Association | potreroboosters.org

The Potrero Boosters Neighborhood Association informs, empowers and represents the residents of the Potrero on issues impacting our community, in order to develop and maintain complete, vibrant neighborhoods. We’re continuing to meet via Zoom on the last Tuesday of each month. Go to www. potreroboosters.org to learn more about how to join us!

The Potrero Dogpatch Merchants Association | potrerodogpatch.com

The Potrero Dogpatch Merchants Association promotes and advocates for independent, locally owned businesses while actively supporting our neighborhood and our wonderful communities.

PREFund | prefund.org

Potrero Residents Education Fund (PREFund) brings families together to support education and build community. Learn more prefund.org

Starr King Open Space | StarrKingOpenSpace.org

The Starr King Open Space is looking for new board members. We will be hosting our annual election and public meeting on Monday, May 15th at 6:30pm at St. Teresa's. Everyone is welcome, if you would like to join the board please fill out a short application on our website.

Please join our monthly volunteer days on the second Saturday of the month from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. This month it is May 13th.

If you can, please donate to help keep Starr King Open Space open, accessible, and well-maintained for our neighbors.

For a $200 annual fee your organization can be listed in Getting Involved. Contact production@potreroview.net

The View has attempted to develop stories that examine what appear to be extraordinarily high rates of administrative expenses at the Recreation and Parks Department, poorly devised procurement processes, as well as requirements that design work be done in-house. These articles have proven to be beyond the paper’s capacity, due to insiders’ unwillingness to “spill the beans,” and a lack of municipal transparency. The View would welcome readers’ support to bolster its journalistic capabilities.

HANDY NUMBERS

Potrero Hill Community Connectors support neighbors in coordinating various local activities and outreach for seniors and people with disabilities

Upcoming Activities

May 4th

Potrero Hill Neighborhood House, 953 DeHaro Street 10:00 am: Drop-In Tech Support 11:00 am: Free Senior Chair Yoga Exercise Class 12:00 pm: Emergency Preparedness & Neighbor Social Contact: Kuzuri@sfcommunityliving.org, (415) 955-7239

COMMUNITY CONNECTOR NETWORKS ARE PROGRAMS OF Community Living Campaign, 1663 Mission St., Suite 525 San Francisco, CA 94103 415-821-1003, ccnetworks@sfcommunityliving.org www.sfcommunityliving.org www.facebook.com/CommunityLivingCampaign

ACTCM Struggles to Do Right by Remaining Students

BY REBEKAH MOAN

The American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ACTCM) was first established in 1980. In 2024 it’ll cease to exist. Acquired by the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in 2015, the CIIS Board of Trustees decided to close ACTCM in 2021 following an external audit.

“The decision to close was multifaceted; finances, leadership, changes in the field, among others, were also involved,” an ACTCM spokesperson said.

While the school will operate for roughly 14 months, it hopes to terminate its lease on its 450 Connecticut Street/455 Arkansas Street campus by this October. Yet the school wants to continue to hold in-person clinical courses at the campus through the fall 2023 semester, which ends in December, according to the registrar’s office. In other words, ACTCM wants to lease the campus but continue to use it for upwards of another 90-days, an optimistic goal.

ACTCM claims it’s engaging in a “teach-out,” working with students to complete their degrees even though the institution is closing its doors. Currently enrolled students can continue with ACTCM, and be awarded a degree, provided that they can finish by summer 2024. However, it’s unclear how or where the college will offer courses next year.

ACTCM hired a consultant with expertise in the field of Traditional Chinese Medicine education to help guide the teach-out process. The consultant is holding individual meetings with enrolled students to review their course of study and provide advice on the best path to degree completion, the spokesperson said. Students who choose to relocate to another college, such as the Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Sciences in Oakland or

Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine College in Berkeley, will be subject to those institution’s willingness to accept transfer credits.

All core faculty will continue to be employed by ACTCM for at least the next academic year, unless they choose to voluntarily depart, with no immediate changes to faculty or staff. Similarly, there’ll be no modifications to benefits if staff members remain with their current employment status, according to ACTCM.

ACTCM has a rental agreement with the property owner, the Archdiocese of San Francisco, that extends to September 30, 2024. The college is working with real estate broker Cushman & Wakefield to rent the 12,000-square-foot, two-level building. The property is best suited for a school, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

After ACTCM’s lease expires in 2024, the Archdiocese isn’t sure what’ll happen to the property. A spokesperson said they’re primarily focused on helping ACTCM secure a subtenant and haven’t thought much beyond that.

ACTCM has an illustrious history. In 1986, it became the first American college to award a Master of Science in Traditional Chinese Medicine. In 1991, it was accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. After merging with CIIS, ACTCM was able to establish the first professional doctorate in acupuncture and Chinese medicine that was both nationally and regionally approved.

“While the upcoming closure of ACTCM deeply saddens our community, we are confident that the medicine and amazing work of faculty, students, and alumni will continue to benefit our local and global community,” the ACTCM website states.

Activist Works to Improve Dogpatch

BY KAI ZHENG

Donovan Lacy has lived in lots of places. Hailing from Lexington, Kentucky, he found Montreal too cold, Florida too warm. San Francisco was just right. He can’t imagine residing anywhere else. And he’s mystified by growing rhetoric about the City’s decline.

“From my perspective, our neighborhoods feel more vibrant than ever,” he remarked.

Lacy has leaned into his Dogpatch community. He serves as vice president of the Dogpatch Neighborhood Association, is Potrero Boosters Neighborhood Association’s secretary and an elected board member of the Dogpatch & NW Potrero Hill Green Benefit District.

“What happens in your neighborhood affects everything,” he explained. “A healthy community makes you happier and healthier.”

Lacy’s civic engagement began with the City’s Slow Streets program. He led “MinneSLOWta,” a successful campaign to codify Minnesota Street, where he, his wife, and daughter call home, as a permanent slow street. Along the way he became aware of a plethora of improvement opportunities right outside his front door.

“We don’t have a library, we technically don’t have a school, we don’t even have an indoor community space,” he said.

The neighborhood also lacks a covered bus stop. When Lacy noticed one of his neighbors, a senior citizen, using

a fire hydrant as a makeshift seat while waiting for the bus, he built her – and the community – a bench to rest on.

“I think there’s a real opportunity for the City to work with us on things like this,” he said.

Lacy and other volunteers meet monthly to pick up trash. Boxed lunches are provided by University of California, San Francisco; trash pickers and bags by Public Works.

“The thing I’m always struck by when you reach out to the community is that there are a lot of people that want to help,” he remarked. “This neighborhood is an incredible mishmash of new and long-term residents.”

Through his nearly 15-year tenure in the area, Lacy has seen a once industrial neighborhood emerge as a diverse residential node. He acknowledges that the transition to working from home caused by the pandemic has shifted San Francisco’s culture, creating a greater reliance on local merchants, strengthening the neighborhood identities for which the City is known.

The Oldest Homes on the Hill

BY ODIN THIEN-AN MARIN

According to the California Environmental Quality Act, buildings constructed more than 50 years ago that have architectural or historical significance may be considered potential historic resources. However, while many Potrero Hill homes were built more than a century ago, most haven’t been deemed sufficiently worthy of meriting extra protections. Just four Hill residences have been granted historical status by the San Francisco Planning Department. That doesn’t mean that other structures in the neighborhood don’t deserve preservation. It’s a long, contentious, and expensive process to be ranked historical. Most owners prefer to be free to modify their properties to suit new realities.

“When we finally did find a home to buy and needed to sell our existing condo, we remembered how impressed we had been with Claudia and hired her to market our unit for us. She jumped right in, listened to our concerns, guided us through the often confusing process of real estate sales, handled the endless list of details, and best of all, represented us with class and professionalism.

We HIGHLY recommend Claudia to others who are interested in buying or selling a home. She is strong, tireless, knowledgeable, respectful and communicates really well. There are just not enough marvelous words that we can use to describe what a pleasant experience it was to work with her!”

- John and Angela B.

Claudia Siegel, Realtor® 415.816.2811 | ClaudiaSiegel.com | DRE 01440745

ClaudiaSiegel.com

 Palms and greenery obscure the estate at 1745 20th Street, one of the oldest in the neighborhood. Built in 1875 by dairy farmer Charles Dow, the property was transformed in the 1980s by Italian designer Larry Masnada. PHOTO: Odin Thien-An Marin

 Lemon trees landscape the garden outside the historic Adams House on the corner of 18th and Pennsylvania streets. The house was built in 1867 by Captain Charles Adams, two years after construction of the Richards House across the street.

PHOTO:

COMMUNITY |MAY

Now through 7/23 Sunday

Art: Ansel Adams in Our Time

For many of us Ansel Adams’ photographs are as familiar as corporate logos. The first time we saw them they were stunning, capturing the contrasting beauty of earth and sky in Yosemite and other places the photographer helped make famous. After a while, the magic filmed over, made murky by the flow of time that still images are largely unable to portray. In this exhibit curators attempted to reframe Adams’ art in the context of how he influenced other photographers and created a critical steppingstone in our collective understanding of place. It’s partially successful, with efforts to incorporate things outside the lens, such as Native Americans’ practices and presence on the land, fundamentally flawed. Worth seeing. De Young, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive. For more information: https://bit.ly/adams-in-our-time

Design: Subscription to Mischief:

Graffiti ‘Zines of the 1990s

Subscription to Mischief: Graffiti ‘Zines of the 1990s draws from the collections of Letterform Archive and of Greg Lamarche, creator of Skills Magazine, a seminal ’90s graffiti publication. This show will feature 40+ ‘zines, as well as letters, flick trade photos, and submissions which document various pieces, throwups, and handstyles by both prominent and lesser-known graffiti writers of the era. Preview May 4, from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Free. Letterform Archive, 2339 Third Street, 4R. For more information: https://bit.ly/ Zines1990s

Health: Senior Smiles and Wellness Health Fair Services for those aged 55+ include hearing, dental, oral cancer, and diabetes screenings, blood pressure and glucose testing, fall prevention, and nutrition counseling. 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Free. University of the Pacific, 155 Fifth Street. For more information: https://bit.ly/senior-smiles or email pr@pacific.edu

Art: MakeArt Family Day

Celebrate spring with guest artists and new projects in the redesigned MakeArt Gallery, filled with prompts and materials inspired by the local artists who created “Fight and Flight: Crafting a Bay Area Life.” Immerse yourself in a Crochet Jam from Ramekon O’Arwisters, celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month with Jojo Calligraphy, scribble up a storm with ArtBots. Plus, composer JG Everest offers a springtime Sound Garden in Minnesota Grove, a self-guided, dropin experience that uses layers of live performance and spatial sound design to activate natural spaces. Stop at the Museum, just a short walk away, to receive a Sound Garden MakeArt Kit with reflection prompts, a journal, and colored pencils to enhance creative memory-making in the Grove. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. $8 to $10. Museum of Craft and Design, 2569 Third Street. For more information: https://bit.ly/mcdmay2023

Music: Bryan Bielanski

Imagine Nirvana and the Beatles had a kid together who became an acoustic rock singer-songwriter; that’s Charlotte,

North Carolina-based Bryan Bielanski. Although inspired by rock greats like Tom Petty and REM, he has a distinct musical style and lyrics. 6 p.m. Simple Pleasures Café, 3434 Balboa Street. For more information: https://bit.ly/ BryanBielanski

5/8 Monday – 5/28 Sunday

Theater: Playground Festival of New Works

A showcase for the next generation of great playwrights, the PlayGround Festival of New Works has helped launch dozens of the Bay Area’s most promising early-career writers. This year’s event features more than a dozen new short and full-length plays, including premiere presentations, staged readings of full-length works, shorts by the Bay Area’s top high school dramatists, and an opening night panel discussion and party with PlayGround’s producers and playwrights. All events are simulcast; online content is admission-free (donations gratefully accepted). For more information and full schedule: https://bit.ly/PlayGround-New-Works

Printmaking: Graphic Arts Workshop

Open House

Meet fine art printmakers and see lithographs, etchings, letterpress printing and monoprints being made, with silk-screening and printmaking workshops for all levels. Learn more about this printmaking cooperative located in Dogpatch. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information: https:// graphicartsworkshop.org/ or contact Leslie Lowinger 415.664.5670

Retail: Inner Sunset Flea

Voted one of the Bay Area’s 10 best markets, the Inner Sunset Flea is a monthly, grassroots-organized event. Enjoy a full day of live music while exploring more than 30 resident, artisan, nonprofit, and local business vendors, as well as food, family activities, and more. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Admission is free. Irving street between Ninth and 10th avenues. For more information: https://isflea.com/

5/19 Friday – 5/20 Saturday

Dance: fault lines

Pateldanceworks offers the premiere of fault lines, a site-immersive performance exploring Asian-American identity and home seeking across the Pacific by way of the San Andreas fault, part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. 5/19, 6 p.m. 5/20, 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Free (donations accepted). Fort Funston Road. For more information: https://bit. ly/pateldanceworks

Music: D.F.H. Experience

The D. F. H. Experience is a trio of instrumentalists raised on Bay Area funk, jazz, and Latin grooves, influenced by soulful rhythm and blues from the south. Each trio member is an accomplished composer who, when combined, create a unique instrumentation blend. 12 p.m. Free. 1 Warriors Way. For more information: https://bit.ly/Lunch-Music

5/27 Saturday – 5/28 Sunday

Community: Carnaval Festival & Parade

The festival spans 17 blocks, with five main stages, 50 local performing artists, and 400 vendors. Enjoy food, dancing, sampling sites and entertainment. The Grand Parade, televised by CBS, boasts a 60-contingent lineup, with more than 3,000 artists representing the cultural heritages of Brazil, Mexico, Panama, Bolivia, Cuba, Peru, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Colombia, Trinidad & Tobago, Guatemala, El Salvador, and more. Free. Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Parade: Sunday 5/28. For more information: https://bit.ly/ carnavalSF23

Music: Armenian Cultural Celebration in the Park

Featuring The Golden Gate Park Band — in its 141st season in Golden Gate Park’s music concourse — Alfred Reed’s Armenian and Khachaturian’s Sabre dances. 1 to 2:45 p.m. Free. Spreckels Temple of Music (Golden Gate Park Bandshell), Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. For more information: https://bit.ly/GGP-Band

MAKE

The Starr King Open Space is looking for new board members.

Did you know that SKOS is completely owned and operated by the residents of Potrero Hill? We don’t receive any funding or support from any city or government agencies. SKOS is operated by an all volunteer Board of Directors. We are local neighbors putting in our time, labor and expertise to preserve this neighborhood resource.

Being a board member means attending monthly meetings, monthly volunteer work days and participating in the stewardship of the space, fundraising and connecting with neighbors and community orgs to advance the interests of the Starr King Open Space.

The election will take place on Monday, May 15th at 6:30 pm at St. Teresa’s. All are welcome.

St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church

1490 19th Street, San Francisco, CA 94107

If you are interested in joining, please fill out a very short application on our website: starrkingopenspace.org

Why I Choose to Raise My Family in San Francisco

have given our kids the foundation and perspectives we wanted.

Events like the Bring Your Own Big Wheel race, Potrero Hill Festival, Halloween and Piano on the Hill are amazing opportunities for the kids to hang out with their friends and us parents to connect with our neighbors. Just walking down 18th or 20th streets on a typical day usually ends up with us running into someone and stopping for a chat.

Supporting local businesses is a family affair. The kids love sauntering into Chiotras Grocery and being greeted by name as they pick out an after-school treat. We’ve had so many great experiences with neighborhood restaurants handling our kids with patience when they were younger and now respecting

them as burgeoning foodies as they learn to order for themselves.

We’ve enjoyed becoming involved with our neighborhood. Matt has served on the Starr King Open Space board for the last five years, working to maintain a neighborhood treasure. Two favorite aspects of my career in real estate is that it allows me to show off our City to recent transplants and to advise families on the many programs available to enable them to stay in San Francisco and build equity.

We try to show by example that San Francisco can be a wonderful place to raise kids. We look forward to our family’s next phases of tweens and teens learning to make their own way in a city that truly has something for everyone.

BY JOAN MEYER

When I moved to Potrero Hill in 2006 I was single. I didn’t know much about the neighborhood other than the Bottom of the Hill music venue. I certainly had no idea I’d still be here 17 years later living happily with my husband, Matt, and two children, Collin, 10, and Audrey, eight.

Matt and I were both raised on the Peninsula, where our parents still reside, but we knew that we wanted to raise our kids in the City. We wanted them to grow up in a diverse, exciting place with exposure to the arts, food, culture, community, as well as real

world issues, to enable them to have empathy, compassion, understanding and life skills you just don’t get in the suburbs.

What we didn’t know was how lucky we were to be in Potrero Hill when we had children. We were afforded all the benefits of living in a large city with the comfort of residing in a small-town community. Hanging out at McKinley and Jackson parks, attending Friends of Potrero Preschool and the Spanish Immersion Program at Daniel Webster Elementary and utilizing the incredible San Francisco Recreation and Park programs have introduced us to many other families in the neighborhood and

ARTISTS from front page

Henri Marie-Rose, John Connolly, Susie Coombs, and Jean Halbrok-Ryden. Gordon Woods, a sculptor who also directed the California School of Fine Arts, now known as the Academy of Art, built “standards,” or movable wooden boards to create more wall space to display artwork between the library bookshelves. Now the renovated library can show works without extra shelving.

Artists no longer donate pieces to fundraise for the library. Instead, the exhibition is a community celebration; the artwork is merely borrowed for a few months.

The family-friendly reception will include wine, non-alcoholic drinks, kid-friendly foods, and stations where children can make art they can take home. Josh Jay will serenade patrons on the classical guitar. In the background, a digital slideshow will depict old photographs of the exhibition, previous flyers, with most illustrations penned by Nell Jehu, and a video of the 1985 art show.

“We think this is the longestrunning annual art exhibition in San Francisco,” Bradshaw said. “Call me corny, but I think it’s cool to be a part of that history and for the library to be a part of that history for all 68 years.”

For more information, email potmgr@ sfpl.org, call the library, or come by and ask in person.

UNACCEPTED STREETS from front page

sylvania Avenue, from roughly addresses 0 to 184, north of Mariposa Street. It is a main bike route in and out of Dogpatch to 17th Street and Seventh Street,” said Doumani.

This section of Pennsylvania Avenue is poorly paved, with parking on both sides of the street.

Donovan Lacy, DNA vice president and co-chair of The Potrero Boosters and DNA joint Livable Streets Committee, is concerned that the southeastern neighborhoods have many more unaccepted streets than other parts of San Francisco.

“For too long, we’ve let these languish. For a city that has as much money as we do, it’s a concern. All City streets should be maintained to a certain level. These are not,” said Lacy.

It can take time and advocacy effort to get an unaccepted street accepted and maintained by Public Works, said Alice Rogers, president of South Beach|Rincon|Mission Bay Neighborhood Association (SBRMBNA). According to Rogers, South Beach is among San Francisco’s densest populated area, with a plethora of poorly maintained unaccepted streets.

“In Mission Bay, the issue is equally acute for the newly constructed roadways and parks. It can take more than a year for the redeveloped public amenities to be accepted and opened to the public for use,” said Rogers.

If a paper road isn’t sufficiently improved to become a standard street, community groups or developers can advocate for it to be utilized as a staircase, pedestrian pathway, or other purpose.

“These streets could become green spaces for public use,” said Tom Radulovich, director of planning and policy for the nonprofit Livable City. “That would enhance the quality of life in the City. Currently, there’s a big disincentive for property owners next to unaccepted streets to get involved. This is because they have to assume liability for improvements. Public Works will repave an unaccepted street and clean trash

off it one year and not the next. There seems to be no schedule. There could be a regular schedule and notifications for neighbors who want to help.”

“Neighbors who have concerns regarding illegal dumping can contact Public Works or call 311,” said Jennifer Friedenbach, San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness executive director. “Concerns about unhoused people… should contact the San Francisco Homeless Outreach Team of the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. They can connect folks with services and work on trash removal.”

“SFPA is available as a guide and fiscal sponsor to assist residents with applying for grants and figuring out solutions for unaccepted streets,” Kearstin Krehbiel, chief strategy officer for San Francisco Parks Alliance (SFPA), which acts as a fiscal sponsor for organizations that want to maintain or improve public spaces. “We’re here to imagine with residents what could be possible. Ideas include informal gardens, natural areas, walking paths, and vantage points.”

SFPA has worked with residents to improve unaccepted streets in Southof-Market, Bayview-Hunters Point, and Potrero Hill, among other neighborhoods. SFPA fiscally sponsors the De Haro Street Community Project, a group of neighbors improving the median that divides upper and lower De Haro Street on the 1300 block. This entire block of De Haro Street is unaccepted.

In 2022, the De Haro Street Community Project received a $150,000 Community Challenge Urban Watershed Stewardship Grant from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) to mitigate erosion and runoff on lower De Haro Street. The group has applied for a second grant to finish the project, monies from which could also help address concerns on upper De Haro Street.

“Upper De Haro Street is falling into the median and there is not a guardrail for cars,” said Katie Cariffe, a De Haro Street Community Project member.

Cariffe said neighbors would prefer to remove the pavement in the path and build a solid retaining wall to prevent traffic accidents. This would be expensive because mitigation would be needed to prevent naturally occurring asbestos in serpentine rocks from rising up in dust clouds. Asbestos has the potential to endanger residents and pedestrians.

The De Haro Street Community Project will use funds from the first SFPUC grant to build a living wall, as well as a gravel bioswale – a channel to concentrate and convey stormwater runoff – and infiltration planter; a water retention area filled with grasses to clean and detain runoff by allowing water to soak into the surrounding soil.

Residents can learn more about requirements for accepted streets and steps to get a street accepted at: https:// sfpublicworks.org/services/acceptance.

STOLEN from front page

dashed when she inspected the U-Haul. The thieves left two broken couches, a wrecked dresser, empty boxes, a USB drive containing photos, and one bag of baby toys.

“They took my wedding dress,” Borbon said. “They took everything I had. I feel so violated to have someone even steal the baby’s clothes.”

Nor was the U-Haul drivable. The

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PUBLISHER'S VIEW from page 2

get out of your head, leave your apartment, put yourself out there, don’t take yourself so seriously. But it has its limits. Sometimes, there’s no one to play with, or it’s icky outside, or you just don’t know how to be with other people, or they don’t know how to be with you. Then what do you do?

In some ways coping with, defeating, surrendering to loneliness is the central question of today’s harried, hurried, mean, inauthentic America. How to be solitary, or even with others, and not be lonely. How not to be seduced by remedies that’re more harmful than good, to ourselves and to others. How to guard against isolation turning to fear or anger, especially as (social) media’s strident, alienating whispers become fiercer. A challenge each of us must face. Together, alone.

SHORT CUTS from page 2

decorating the pink melaleuca tree with hanging ornaments and hosting ongoing neighborhood gatherings.” CGS, under the aegis of Greening Projects, a Citybased nonprofit that creates sustainable spaces, hopes to raise funds to add benches and “more grown-up seating” beyond the five large “Soma Stones” at the median’s southern end, which SFPW provided in 2017. It’s also applied for an Urban Watershed Stewardship Grant sponsored by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission . “If we receive the grant, we’d like to build infiltration gardens and bioswales, to pool and transport stormwater. Such hardscaping helps filter water runoff from the median before entering into the storm drains… is ecologically beneficial,” said Blum.

Space Retained

Hardware and telecommunications company Cisco renewed a seven-year, 247,000-square-foot, office lease at 500 Terry A Francois Boulevard. It’s by far the biggest San Francisco let so far this year, at a time when tech giants are shrinking offices and the City’s commercial vacancy rate has surged to a record 29 percent. Cisco laid off more than 4,000 workers last fall, but said it’d keep hiring and maintain a staff of around 83,300 people… Seven tenants are moving into Pier 70’s

Building 12: Standard Deviant Brewing, Breadbelly bakery, custom sneaker designer Studio Duskus, florist Marbled Mint, design studio  Prowl Studio, alternative motorcycle dealer  Scuderia, paper artist Zai Divecha and metalsmith and maker  Emi Grannis Each will open at different times throughout the next year. Building 12 was constructed 82 years ago as part of World War II shipbuilding. The football-field sized steel structure has undergone extensive restoration by Brookfield

STIs from page 3 to 3,859 in 2022, a 1.1 percent increase for the year. Fifty-five of those tested were HIV positive in 2022 compared to 39 positives in 2021, a 1.4 percent rise. The San Francisco Department of Health didn’t respond to interview requests.

According to Eric Rodriguez, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Innerbody, a health and wellness company, “the CDC has noticed a concerning

upward trend in the amounts of STD’s nationwide over the past eight years. At the tail end of the pandemic cities have been dealing with a multitude of issues that have contributed to their rising number of STD infections.”

Southern cities have experienced the greatest increases in STI rates, particularly in states with little healthcare spending. The national average for healthcare expenditures is $10,191

STIs continues on next page

San Francisco Board of Supervisors Board or Commission Vacancies: Participate on a Board or Commission!

The Assessment Appeals Board (AAB)

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO Community Outreach Public Notice Potrero

The AAB resolves legal and value assessment issues between the Assessor’s office and property owners. Hearings are quasi-judicial, conducted in a manner similar to a court setting, with evidence and testimony presented by the parties. The Board then evaluates the evidence and testimony and renders its decision. To be eligible for seat appointment, you must have a minimum of five years professional experience in California as either a: (1) public accountant; (2) real estate broker; (3) attorney; or (4) property appraiser accredited by a nationally recognized organization, or certified by either the Office of Real Estate Appraiser or the State Board of Equalization.

For a full list of current or upcoming Boards, Commissions and Task Forces, please visit https://sfbos. org/vacancy-boards-commissions-task-forces

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Department of Elections

The Choice is Yours! Go Paperless!

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For every election, the Department of Elections publishes a Voter Information Pamphlet & Sample Ballot. The Pamphlet provides non-partisan information about voting, candidates and measures. By law, we must mail you a Pamphlet unless you opt out. There are several reasons to opt out of paper Pamphlet delivery:

•You’ll save the taxpayer dollars we use for printing and mailing.

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If you are ready to make the switch to the digital Pamphlet, go to sfelections.org/voterportal or call us at 415554-4375.

Department of Child Support Services

Child support matters can be complicated, stressful, and confusing. The Department of Child Support Services helps parents understand the process so they know their rights and options for making and receiving support payments. We are available to assist you in person or by phone. Call us today at (866) 901-3212 for more information. Apply for services online or schedule an appointment at sf.gov/dcss to learn how we can help you.

The Office of the City Attorney

The San Francisco City Attorney’s Office recently launched a new consumer protection web portal and hotline, seeking reports of businesses that deceive or defraud consumers, as well as of property owners that maintain properties in substandard conditions or violate housing laws.

Members of the public who wish to report a consumer complaint should contact the Office through its hotline at (415) 554-3977 or its web portal at https://www.sfcityattorney.org/report-a-complaint/.

Our office will review the information you provide and may seek additional information from you. Please note, however, that we are not authorized to represent you as your lawyer or provide you with legal advice. Any actions we take are on behalf of the community as a whole.

Rent Board

IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR LANDLORDS

San Francisco landlords now need a license before imposing annual and banked rent increases on tenants subject to the City’s rent control laws. To obtain or renew a license, property owners must report certain information about their units into the San Francisco Housing Inventory Portal each year. Property owners can submit their Housing Inventory information to the Rent Board in a few ways, but are strongly encouraged to complete the process online at portal.sfrb.org. Once the system accepts the submission, a rent increase license will be automatically generated and readily available. Owners can also deliver a paper Housing Inventory form to 25 Van Ness Ave., Suite 320, San Francisco, CA 94102 or to rentboard.inventory@sfgov. org. Assistance is available by calling 311 or emailing rentboard.inventory@sfgov.org. Visit sf.gov/rentboard for more information.

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per person. The states with the highest STI rates – Mississippi, Tennessee, and South Carolina – are ranked among the lowest in healthcare spending in the country. In 2021 Memphis, Tennessee had the uppermost STI rate, 1,460 cases per 100,000 residents, significantly greater than San Francisco’s 1,002 cases per 100,000 residents that year.

The San Francisco “Department of Health has made it a priority to increase public awareness through education in its neighborhood clinics and hospitals,” said Rodriguez. “There has also been an increase in access to treatment and testing throughout the City…Although San Francisco does a pretty good job with reporting, there are some issues with the homeless population and the accuracy of documented infections, because they are not always seeking regular testing or treatment.”

SFDH recently issued a study that found ”doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxy-PEP) significantly reduces the acquisition of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis.” The report, which detailed the results of a random trial conducted by SFDH, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, and the University of Washington, focused on men having sex with men and transgender women. It recommended a 200 milligram dose of doxycycline taken between 24 and 72 hours after sex to prevent STIs.

According to the SFDH “this is the first biomedical tool to be shown effective and well-tolerated…community awareness is growing, and many SF providers are prescribing doxy-PEP frothier at risk patients.

STOLEN from page 9

thieves broke the ignition, the hood, and stole parts.

Between January and April 2023, there were 1,674 car thefts in San Francisco, a 6.4 percent decline from the same period last year when they were 1,788.

Hicks started a GoFundMe to help the family replenish their belongings, raising about $7,600, not enough to cover refurnishing their entire home. Borbon and Felbermayr decided to close the campaign, moved by the amount already received.

“We are thankful for the donations,” Borbon said. “It could have been nothing and we lost everything and that was it but instead the community was so nice to donate to us. We’ve read everything that’s come in and it’s very nice, very heartfelt, and overwhelming.”

Borbon and Felbermayr moved to San Francisco to work for Daily Driver in 2019.

Hicks and Jablons “welcomed us with open arms,” Borbon said. “They felt like family and it’s why it was so hard to move down to L.A. but we wanted to be closer to my family. One hundred million thanks to [Hicks and Jablons]. Because of them, we had a great experience at Daily Driver and they introduced us to Potrero Hill. We’re saddened we had to leave them and the community but they gave us a wonderful experience being in San Francisco.”

Hicks said, “It really seems hard to be living in SF right now, and many share that sentiment. The donations from friends, neighbors, and strangers restored much of the belief that the City is mostly filled with kind-hearted people.”

The Portfolio

Kansas Street resident, Jai Walthew, 13, graduates from Saint John School this month. "I am excited to attend Riordan High School" in the fall, he said.

CREATIVE YOUTHS! The View invites those under 18 to submit any creative work suitable for publication, including drawings, short stories (fewer than 150 words), photographs, comic strips, jokes, before the 20th of each month. Winning entries will receive a $20 prize. Please send submissions to editor@potreroview.net