Potrero View 2010: August

View Goes Over the Hill - Special 40th Anniversary Issue

a ugust 1970 View Covers assaults, Drugs & religion

By Judy Baston

“Mobile Drug Clinic for Hill

Rejected,” “Assault Wave Hits Elders,” “Community Tree Planting Program Gets Underway,” “St. Teresa Welcomes New Pastor,” and “Drug Figures

Meaningless.” With these stories The Potrero View’s first issue was born 40 years ago this month. In 1970, there was barely a glimmer of the building boom that would affect the neighborhood in ensuing years. A request in the View’s January 1972 classified advertisement column speaks to the area’s past affordability: “I want to live on the Hill. One bedroom to $100.” A May 1978 ad – “2 BR Victorian Flat, $385 per month” – would today belong in the “Read it and Weep” column.

Library reopening prompts increase in Business on 20th street Corridor

By Sarah Mcdonald

The 20th Street commercial strip has experienced an increase in traffic since the San Francisco Public Library’s Potrero Hill branch reopened last March. Businesses located on the street had suffered a sales decline as a result of several factors, including the loss of a popular deli in 2006, the closure of the library for renovations in 2008, street repairs that disrupted parking last summer, and the Great Recession.

The newly renovated library is drawing a larger crowd than before its closure, or at least a more active one. According to Michelle Jeffers, the library’s public relations officer, circulation has roughly tripled from 2008, with almost 18,500 items being borrowed monthly during the summer.

“It’s very good that the library is back open,” said Lester Zeidman, co-owner of The Good Life Grocery. According to Zeidman, although business isn’t as good as it once was,

he’s seen a modest sales increase since March. Sal Saleh, owner of Dave’s Food Store, and Kal Ghanma, at All States Best Food, agreed that the library’s re-opening has

see 20th street page 21

In its early years the View reflected the sense that Potrero Hill was a sleepy village on San Francisco’s east side. The Hill was, and still is, surrounded by freeways and belts of light industry, but, more to the point, the community was on the “other side of the tracks.”

In the 1970s, Hillers pointed to the big Pacific Gas and Electric Company gas tank – since removed – or the water tower as notable neighborhood landmarks. The De Haro Street house in which Karl Malden’s Streets of San Francisco character Mike Stone lived was a point of pride.

Ironically, the elements that for

many years kept the neighborhood a sleepy backwater – reasonable rents, empty lots, light industry, freeways –became major factors in making the Hill ground zero for massive changes, bringing development, congestion and spiraling home prices and rents. The View reflected this evolution, but also expressed an almost eerie sense of continuity.

During the View’s years of cutand-paste production, the volunteer staff would often be forced to turn to a box of previously used headlines because of frequent headliner machine breakdowns. The headline “New Threat to Open Space Meets Opposition” might have been used for a controversy 20 years ago about the construction of live-work spaces at 18th and Arkansas streets, but was originally deployed in 1985 in a story about Starr King Openspace on the Hill’s southern slope, near Parkview Heights. “No New Stadium, View Readers Say” could have been used for the 1987 effort against the Seventh and Townsend Ballpark proposal, or for a poll the paper had conducted five years before that.

The stories in the View’s early decades frequently reflected the active role Potrero Hill residents and their organizations played in civic

see 1970 page 17

Patri’s Masthead a Reminder of Potrero’s Labor History

By Peter Linenthal

In 1973, Potrero View publisher Ruth Passen decided that her newspaper needed what every paper had, a distinctive front page nameplate displaying the paper’s title. And she knew who to call, her old friend Giacomo Patri. Ruth and husband Joe knew a wide circle of artists that included Giacomo in North Beach in the 1960s. Rents there rose. The Patris and many of these artists found better deals in homes and apartments on then quiet Potrero Hill, the Patris at 21st

and Arkansas. It was one reason the Passens moved to the Hill in 1969. Patri was well known for his dynamic illustrations for labor movement booklets advocating racial integration in trade unions. Ruth and Joe Passen shared his commitment to social justice.

Giacomo Guiseppe Patri was born in a village north of Genoa in 1898. He emigrated to the United States with his father in 1916. At the California School of Fine Arts, now the San Francisco Art Institute, he studied with Spencer Macky, Ralph

see patri page 29

Serving the Potrero Hill, Dogpatch, Mission Bay and SOMA Neighborhoods Since 1970

Giacomo Patri at 77, courtesy of the Patri family.

The Polaroid photograph (top) of the building at Third and 19th streets ran above the fold on page one of the View’s first issue. The candy factory was long gone, and the building was being proposed as the site of a new clinic to serve the Hill, a plan that never came to pass. However in 1976 the Caleb G. Clark Potrero Hill Health Center opened at 1050 Wisconsin Street on the Hill’s southern slope. The Third Street Light Rail began rolling down Third in 2007. The old candy factory building sports For Lease signs to this day. More Then & Now photographs on pages 8 and 9.

puBLisher’s View 40th

Anniversary

By steven J. Moss

The View turns 40 this month, an age I thought ancient when I was in college, but now, as I look 50 in the face, seems young to me. Yet, in this age of technology, 40 is a lot of years. When the View was first published mimeographs were stateof-the-art reproduction technology. Dial telephones were au courant Talking, as opposed to texting, was the primary communication mode. Just six years ago the View was produced through the cut and paste method, using scissors and a glue stick, not an electronic icon.

Technology isn’t the only thing that’s changed. Ruth Passen, Lester Zeidman, Abigail Johnston, and other stalwarts knitted the View together over Goat Hill pizza and long discussions about politics, neighborhood issues, and proper grammar. The production process, filled with last minute changes, kibitzing, and the physical creation of layouts, hand-carried to the local printer, was almost as important as the product itself. Many of the paper’s volunteers had deep ties to the labor movement, and understood that the act of creation – whether the construction of a ship, or the teaching of a class – was an honorable one. Labor was love; the paper its child.

Today’s production process is quite different. I’ve never met many of the View’s writers. Assignments are handed-out over email or telephone. Layout is done using Adobe InDesign. The end result is electronically transferred to our still local printer. The focus is the product, not the making of it. When I hear about the paper’s glory days of late-night editing and in-thetrenches camaraderie, I get wistfully jealous. But then I get back to work doing what needs to be done to get a small profitless paper on the streets every 30 days while raising a family and earning a living. This stubborn dedication to publishing the View is perhaps the essential link in a 40 year chain.

Letters to the Editor

Other things remain the same. We continue to take our editing job seriously, with at least three sets of eyes examining every article. For four decades, un- or under-paid View staff have worried over what topics to cover, and how well we’ve done it. At 40 years old, there’s still the feeling that we’re making things up as we go. And we are. There was no guide to how to publish a neighborhood newspaper in 1970, and there’s still no guide today. An examination of the other dozen and half community newspapers issued in San Francisco suggest a range of possible content, including restaurant gossip, bad jokes, and reprinted columns from local politicians.

The View stands virtually alone among its publication peers in its willingness to regularly report on difficult community issues. This is dangerous territory, which can sometimes feel like telling secrets about family members. After all, chances are I or another contributor will bump into the subject of a less than laudatory article in the produce section of The Good Life Grocery, or while having coffee at Farley’s. It’d be easier, and maybe even better, to keep the paper’s focus narrow, to the sighting of a bird’s nest in a local park, or the tastiness of the goods at a neighborhood bakery. But the View was born from the activist’s soul of the 1960s, emerging from a desire to stir things up to make a better stew. Sometimes we use the wrong recipe, but our heart is in the right place: dedicated to serving the community reliable news about the neighborhood that no one else is covering.

The View has as much a familial tang as a journalistic one. Where else can we read about the people who’ve inhabited our hill, our neighborhood businesses, and the political skirmishes over land use, power plants, and parks? In what other publication can we see

Dear Editor,

I was glad to see the article “Property Owners Grapple with Rent Control Regulations” in last month’s View While Sarah Mcdonald presented a number of perspectives in a limited space, I didn’t find the article to be balanced. It’s my belief that small landlords are being relentlessly harmed by San Francisco’s punitive rent control laws. You could turn this article into a monthly column and would have no problem collecting examples of small landlords being brutalized by rent control statues. While tenant evictions garner media attention, where’s the press concerning tenants gaming the system for their own profit?

Here’s one story, which happens to be mine and my sweetheart’s, Monica Gillham. We own, and reside in, a four-unit building located near the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House. In the 1990s we were tenants in the property, which we purchased from our elderly landlord, who stayed on as our tenant. The building would otherwise have been bought by someone who would have likely done owner-moveins. We saved four groups of tenants their residences, for a while anyway.

Over the years we discovered that the building had major structural and code issues, although we’d purchased it on the basis of a certificate of final completion and occupancy (CFC) that was issued by the Department of Building Inspections (DBI) several months before we bought it. It turned out that two of the units were sufficiently non-code compliant, necessitating a major remodel, and were not safe for occupancy. We issued our tenants a notice that capital improvements needed to be made. Within eight days we were sued for a half-million dollars by one of the tenants for wrongful eviction – though we never indicated that he was being evicted - and mold – which didn’t exist. While most of lawsuit disappeared after the Tenderloin Housing Clinic discovered we were covered by three different insurance carriers, it still cost us more than $100,000. The tenant received nearly $50,000 in compensation to settle his false allegations. The lawsuit was caused by unfriendly landlord rent control statutes, and an incompetent DBI, which is immune from prosecution for their serious mistakes

Besides our loss of cash, our loss of monthly rental income, and facing $1 million in building retrofit expenses, we have also lost our stomach to be landlords. And we’re not alone. A review of apartment listings for Potrero Hill shows a vast number of short-term rentals. These are all units taken off the long-term market because of rent control statues.

Dan Redmond De Haro Street

Dear Editor,

Contrary to Judy West’s assertion

in last month’s View (“ Property Owners Grapple with Rent Control Regulations”), the real distortions to the housing market are Proposition 13 – $17 billion a year in tax subsidies – the mortgage interest tax deduction – $100 billion in subsidies to property owners annually – the property tax deduction – $25 billion a year – and the exclusion of capital gains on residential property sales - $15 billion a year. I’m deeply envious of this largesse, and would swap rent control for billions in subsidies in a heartbeat. Rent control is a rounding error.

Andreas Michlmayr 20th Street

Dear Editor,

rent Control trust Fund

Ms. Mcdonald’s article on rent control in last month’s View (“Property Owners Grapple with Rent Control Regulations”) was a fair review of the two opposing positions on rent regulation and how it affects the City. What wasn’t covered was the result of the Law of Unintended Consequences, which the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and Mr. Gullicksen ignore.

I can stand on my Potrero Hill corner and look a hundred yards down four streets, taking in 30 twoand three-unit buildings. I know my neighbors, and can count six vacant apartments on these streets. They serve as “a relative’s City crash pad,” “home office,” or just plain vacant, many for more than a decade. These vacancies translate into thousands of empty units throughout San Francisco; maybe hundreds on Potrero Hill alone. Rent control on owner-occupied buildings four-units and fewer has been an unmitigated disaster for the rental market.

I’ve owned my building for 23 years, had the same tenant for the last 13, and haven’t raised the rent the allowable amount. But it’s a chore to keep up with all the rules. I could easily turn the unit into a big home office and be done with the hassles. If “no increase-banking” is enacted – in which property owners aren’t allowed to raise rents based on allowable increases in previous years which weren’t implemented – I’d raise my tenant’s rent by 7.6 percent immediately to avoid losing the “bank.”

There has to be a compromise to protect tenants but still ease the burden on small landlords.

Edward Lortz 19th Street

Dear Editor,

“Lack of Transparency Dogs Community Trust Fund,” in the View’s July issue, described the Eastern Neighborhoods Public Benefits Trust Fund. As a recipient of fund monies, the Archives Project would like to thank the fund’s advisors, Joe Boss, Keith Goldstein, and Susan Eslick,

regina anavy, Judy baston, debbie Findling, larry Gonnick, lori higa, abigail Johnston, peter linenthal, catie Magee, david Matsuda, sarah Mcdonald, sara Moss, brittany riddick, Mauri schwartz, Thomas yuen and lester Zeidman

Short CutS

Yearbook

Daniel Webster Elementary School’s Parent-Teacher Association ( PTA) was awarded a $23,000 community challenge grant to pay for a tile mosaic mural on the school’s Missouri Street side. Josef Norris and Kid Serve Youth Murals will work with Webster students to create a two and a half-story mural entitled, “We Have a Right to the Tree of Life.”

The mural will be installed between October 2010 and January 2011, with a community day in which everyone will be welcome to lay tile. Including the tile grant, Webster’s PTA raised roughly $45,000 for the upcoming academic year, more than 10 times what it secured last year. Not bad for a PTA that’s only in its second year…In response to the threats of dramatic public school budget cuts Starr King Elementary School raised $70,000 to help pay for educational programs. All in, San Francisco’s public elementary schools collected more than $5 million for the upcoming academic year, though most of that was garnered by just two dozen PTAs. Some schools, particularly those located in predominately lowincome neighborhoods, raised barely enough to pay for colored pens and paper…In between caring for twoyear old Colin, 15-year Mississippi Street resident Brian Scully recently launched www.DVDyou.com, an online, do-it-yourself, DVD yearbook creation website. DVDyou allows users to upload their photographs, videos, and music, edit them online, and add titles, effects, captions, and other features. Schools, sports teams, PTAs, and others can produce a Hollywood-style DVDs for $9.99, which is shipped the next day. Check it out.

Camping (No)

The Department of Public Works posted a notice to vacate a homeless encampment located on 18th and Pennsylvania streets, alongside the freeway, last month. Meanwhile, there’s been an increase in the number of recreational vehicles parked on Illinois Street, the inhabitants of whom are not waiting for a ship to pick them up for their cruise to Cabo…In addition to what appears to be an increase in informal living situations, the recession is taking its toll on City programs that serve needy kids. A group of Hill residents is calling for restoration of youth-serving programs at the Potrero Hill Recreation Center on Arkansas Street. Over the past year center staff, who organized drop-in sports and other activities catering to families living in the Potrero Annex and Terrace complexes, have been transferred, laid-off, or retired. Meanwhile, at the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House Opportunities for Diversity, an educational initiative led by Sharon Johnson, will be eliminated at the end of summer. The program has provided homework help and school counseling, among other offerings, for the past six years. Kids from low-income families face

complex challenges and few opportunities for training specific to their needs. In these hard times we need to do what we can to make their lives better, not worse.

politics

None of the candidates vying to succeed Sophie Maxwell on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors secured the 1,000 signatures necessary

to waive the entire $500 fee to be placed on the November ballot. Steve Moss came close, submitting 955 qualifying signatures, followed by Chris Jackson, at 802, and, in a surprising show of strength, Marlene Tran, with 574. Other candidates that collected signatures included Lynette Sweet, 479, Malia Cohen, 338, Kristine Enea , 298, and Ashley Rhodes , 279. Dewitt Lacey, Eric Smith, Rodney Hampton Jr., Nyese Joshua, James Calloway, and Isaac Bowers submitted less than 125 signatures. No signatures were submitted by Tony Kelly. The candidates have until August 6 to replace invalid signatures to achieve the necessary 1,000.

progress

A group of south-of-Dogpatch residents are working to reclaim a former park located under a northbound

Highway 280 on-ramp on Indiana, between 25th and 23rd streets. The area just east of the property, which is owned by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), is steadily being transformed from vacant lots and empty warehouses to modern loft condominium buildings and restaurants. Community activists are working with Caltrans, the San Francisco Department of Public Works, and San Francisco Parks Trust to create a gathering and recreational space for their neighbors. Information can be found at http://www.indianastreetgardening.com... speaking of progress, Plow, the new family-friend ly restaurant on 18th and Texas streets, opens later this month, rather than in July, as reported in last month’s paper...Papito’s, our newest neighborhood taqueria, opened at the end of last month...Opps, last month the View listed the incorrect owners of Blowfish Sushi, Ritsu Tsuchida and Jason Teplitsky are the actual owners.

see Food

Martin Reed recently partnered with

Each month a diabetic support group meets for lunch at the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House. Photograph by Brittany Riddick.

remembering Vas arnautoff

By Judy Baston

For 20 years, many of them as feature editor, Vas Arnautoff brought his special blend of journalistic talent and insatiable curiosity to the stories that animated The Potrero View. Vas died at age 72 in 1998, seven months after he suffered a massive stroke. It’s hard to believe that it’s been a dozen years since he’s been gone, not only from the View’s pages and editorial board, but from the Hill as well. Many of us remember seeing his car, with the license plate “APHAYT,” pronounced “Arnaut” in Russian. As Vas would often remind us, an Arnaut was a fearsome Mongolian strongman, Vas’s knowledge was broad and deep. He was frequently quiet, but when he had something to say he’d speak articulately, his comments often peppered with quotations from poetry. “Writing for the View was an education,” he noted in an article he wrote for the paper’s 20th anniversary. “We learned about hops and wort from Fritz Maytag when the brewer brought Anchor Steam back to the Hill,” Vas wrote, “and we learned it was possible to fly a kite indoors when Rakesh Bahadur showed us his Kite World, Inc. We even learned how teddy bears get stuffed, which they do daily at Basic Brown Bear.” The present tense Vas used two decades ago as he recalled the subjects of his feature articles would now need to be changed to the past tense in many cases. Fritz Maytag recently

sold his brewery, and Basic Brown Bear has been gone for years.

Vas graduated with a degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley in 1947. He taught journalism for six years, and then worked on the waterfront as a longshoreman and active union member until he retired.

Throughout his life he was always a teacher, who took great delight in imparting his knowledge about the journalist’s craft. While he had an innate grasp of journalism’s fundamentals – who, when, why, what, where and how – Vas also had a talent for turning what might be considered a routine job or obscure craft into rich and vivid prose, and for drawing readers into a story.

Consider, for example, what Vas wrote after he spent time with the Third Street bridge-tender in 1988:

Frisco Jeans black, unlike its gaudier and younger siblings spanning the Golden Gate and the Bay, its steel structural elements are in plain view and unadorned…Yet for all its workaday unpretentiousness and its clumsy designation, the Francis “Lefty” O’Doul Strauss heel-trunion single leaf bascule bridge is as graceful in motion as are the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges in repose. On an average of four times a day it gently and quietly lifts its 139-foot piece of Third Street almost straight up to allow water craft to pass.”

Or after his 1989 visit to confectioner Joseph Schmidt, whose chocolates are no longer part of the neighborhood:

“If you’re one of those whose idea of a great chocolate is the nambypamby slab with almonds that drops out of a vending machine, these words are not for you. But if you have even an inkling about what a man means when he says, ‘chocolate is my obsession,’ read on.”

And in 1991, after the Oakland Hills firestorm, Vas shared this with the Hill:

“When ashes came drifting out of the sky onto Potrero Hill that afternoon of October 20, we all knew something dreadful was happening. But the grey droppings were too small, gathering like celestial dandruff on steps and yard furniture, too impersonal for us to react to them on more than a superficial level.

“It’s not much as bridges go. It squats over a narrow bay channel, less than six feet above the water at high tide. Painted in no-nonsense

“But then into this View staffer’s backyard on De Haro Street floated

Ruth Passen, Vas Arnautoff and Judy Baston help celebrate the View’s 20th birthday. see Vas page 18

Former Staffers on What Working at the View Meant to Them

By Brittany Riddick

“It was a personal victory to have been part of starting a newspaper, and watching other people carry on when I couldn’t. I see it as a great way to learn all kinds of stuff. Of course, you must have the tools and the desire of wanting to write and wanting to tell a story. This desire doesn’t happen overnight, but it can happen in a place like [the View]. It is a wonderful learning experience. Everybody gains something out of it. The newspaper gave me the opportunity to follow my love, which is writing. To me, this was the ultimate in the field of journalism. This

gave me a whole new outlet of people to reach and talk to about anything, and this was very exciting.”

“What it meant to me was an opportunity to have a particular role in this incredible community. I was able to re flect on the issues people thought were important, but also be able to bring to people’s attention, ways of looking at something that they may not have thought of already or information that they may not have necessarily known. Also, the Potrero View was a family. The way we worked together was really special. We brought to the View some of the values that had been part of that. Support for economic equality and labor unions. Opposition to racism. Belief that when people band together, they could make a difference,

instead of just doing things individually. It was a very special time.

“It is very important for a neighborhood to have a source of communication that people don’t necessarily have to go to, but is there for them and comes to them. The newspaper is there and they don’t have to go a website or wait for a discussion list. It’s really important for a community to have a source of communication or information on what’s going on that affects their community. Hearings, meetings, issues, and maybe ideas and suggestions, but what they can do to make a difference.”

“The View is a tangible asset of the community and its something that everyone reads and everybody looks forward to. The newspaper unites us all. We get to see all the changes that happen, all the news that goes on - information you wouldn’t get anywhere else. It’s just too small for larger papers to carry it, but it’s important for local people to understand what’s going on and the issues that might affect us in the long term. It’s a good way to have a permanent record of what goes on in the neighborhood. It’s been going strong for 40 years now, so it re flects on those changes that happened.”

abigail Johnston, Staff Member and Managing Editor, 1985 - 2005

“People I met while working on the View are among my closest friends today. They taught me much and are teaching me still to this day. I have plenty of reasons for cherishing my experiences on the paper, but nothing tops this one.”

Johnston stands in front of the View’s former office at 824B Carolina Street, adjacent to the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House.

ruth passen, Publisher and Editor 1970 - 2006

Lester Zeidman, Staff Member and Photographer 1980 - 2005

Judy Baston, Associate Editor 1980 - 2000

old headlines, revisited

By Brittany Riddick and Lisa Tehrani

The View has covered hundreds of stories over the last four decades, some of which would be unfathomable to modern readers, others that seem to persist. Helipads, rezoning, Muni cutbacks, new developments and crime have been covered repeatedly and remain pertinent today. Below is a sample of some of our favorite headlines over the years.

Muni Yard Plopped On Dogpatch, August 1973

The San Francisco Planning Commission approved the environmental impact report to develop a Muni car house and coach yard in Dogpatch. The City purchased the land for $1 million, and displaced three multi-unit residences, two of which housed the Dogpatch Community Development Association and Youth Council. Community members were angered by the paltry number of jobs that would be offered to local residents during the facilities’ construction.

Zoning Laws are Being Revised, December 1974

A 1974 planning effort to study City-wide residential zoning was a popular topic in Potrero Hill, where residents were asked their views on neighborhood issues. Hill residents wanted to preserve the Hill’s character, enforce strict design control

on new growth, limit development to certain areas, enforce parking requirements, and preserve mom and pop stores.

Caleb Clark Health Center Dedicated, February 1976

The grand opening of the Hill’s health center was feted by Mayor George Moscone. The clinic was named after Caleb “Jerry” Clark, who was dedicated to its opening prior to his death.

Porno Combat Zone offered to Southeast S.F. Industrial Area, June 1977

Supervisor Dianne Feinstein introduced a zoning ordinance that would encourage book stores and theaters that offered sexually explicit materials to be moved to a designated area below Potrero Hill and southward toward Hunters Point.

Maytag, the Suds Saver, To Bring Hops to the Hill, April 1978

Anchor Brewing Company moved to a larger facility on De Haro Street from 8th Street. Frtiz Maytag, kin to the Maytag appliance fortune, purchased the business with the intention of increasing production of the special brew, but not to the point of degrading quality.

Merchants Fear Zooming Rents, September 1980

Rent escalation was damaging

neighborhood businesses’ ability to thrive in Potrero Hill, among them the Potrero Auto and Gas station. The station had been opened for 18 months, but was threatened for closure because of a 125 percent rent increase. There were empty storefronts throughout the Hill, which many entrepreneurs blamed on the unre -

Hill, City planning director Dean Macris told the Potrero League of Activist Neighbors that he was concerned about Mission Bay’s size and purpose. The plan included 7,200 condominium units and a luxury hotel. Macris pointed-out that the project was probably “the largest undertaking of this nature in the United States.”

Good Life Issued Eviction Notice, December 1984

Attempts by The Good Life Grocery owners Kayren Hundibirgh and Lester Zeidman to negotiate a lease with the new owners of the building housing their popular store proved unsuccessful. Community support for the grocery coalesced into the formation of the Good Life Alliance, whose aim was to “put pressure on the owners to negotiate properly with Good Life.”

Potrero Hill Housing Project Tenants Organizing To Seek Repairs for Their Crumbling Apartments, March 1990

alistic prices demanded by property owners. The lack of rent control guidelines caused many business owners to close shop, eliminating their services to the community.

Mission Bay Plans Cause Concern, March 1983

In response to Southern Pacific’s proposal for 16 million square feet of office space to be developed between China Basin and Potrero

A tenant committee was formed at Potrero Annex-Terrace to address issues associated with housing arrangements and complaints. Many apartments suffered from leaking ceilings, pealing paint, and broken appliances.

Muni Cutbacks, Rerouting Give Residents Headaches, March 1991

Community members insisted that Muni routes weren’t providing see heaDLiNes page 30

“St. Teresa welcomes new pastor,” August 1970. Father Sammon was very involved with the View over the years.

hey! where did all the vac ant lots around the school go? where did those buildings come from? and why are they made out of tin?

this is too weird... I have to look at a newspaper...

ah, what a refereshing little nap! I think i’ll take a walk on the hill...

wha —?!! 2010? and what happened to the chronicle? it’s printed on a napkin!

ah, here are some groceries, on 20th street... that’s good to know... and the library is still there—but are those televisions? in a library? where are the books?

18th street is wall-to-wall restaurants! has everyone forgotten how to cook in the last 40 years?

and the cars... they look like overgrown station wagons! have people turned into giants while I was asleep?

who are you?

i’m wink van ripple, and I just woke up after 40 years! aren’t you relieved that so little has changed?

and here’s the real estate office... holy %$#&*$!!! look at those pri ces !!!

I... I feel dizzy... i’d better check myself into s.f. general, if it’s still there...

oh, it’s there!

the same sunny weather with a nip of fog, great views, the kansas steps through a miniature forest, the twists of vermont street, the fun and funky waterfront, the community gardens, softball at jackson...

and how did you find out that 40 years had gone by?

I picked up a copy of the view. see? 2010!

amazing, isn’t it? you mean, amazing how much can change, while so much remains the same?

no, amazing that the potrero view is still going strong as ever, while the chronicle is printed on a napkin!

amen to that, brother!

oh, and there are still lots of dogs!

but what is everone doing to those little boxes with their thumbs?>

Then and Now: A Few View Stories Told In Pictures

By Abigail Johnston and Peter Linenthal, authors of San Francisco’s Potrero Hill and Then and Now: Potrero Hilll

Lena Carmina opened the Little Red Door Thrift Shop at 1400 18th Street in the 1970s, where she warmly offered advice, gossip and welcomed newcomers to the neighborhood. Lena was the mother of Enola Maxwell, longtime director of the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House; grandmother of Supervisor Sophie Maxwell; and great-grandmother of Edward Hatter, the Nabe’s current director. Mary Price Flowers occupied the space in the 1980s. Christopher Ellison opened Christopher’s Books there in 1991. Now run by Tee Minot, Christopher’s offers an amazing variety of books in a small space and is known for its excellent recommendations.

The public housing built along Carolina Street south of 23rd Street during World War II was torn down in the 1960s, but rubble remained well into the 1970s. In the 1980s, a group of Potrero Hill activists saved the site from development by forming a land trust, out of which was born Starr King Openspace. Volunteers keep the unfenced, 3.5 acre parcel free of invasive plants and encourage the revival of native species that thrive on the Hill’s serpentinite soil. That’s Starr King Elementary School in the background.

Three generations of the Chiotras family ran this grocery store on Rhode Island Street from 1923 (perhaps earlier) until 1993. In 1981, customers and neighbors joined Pete Chiotras (front row, in apron) to protest the City’s insistence that he remove his neon sign. Good sense prevailed, and the sign (somewhat altered) remains today. The store, owned by Hill residents Ramzi Harb and Beth Bullard since 2006, is becoming known for its specialty sandwiches. (Then photo by Bob Hayes.)

Atchison’s Pharmacy opened on 20th Street shortly after World War I. For many years, it boasted a soda fountain and later, a tiny Post Office substation.

Cliff Wong, who came to work at the store in 1962, and his wife Bernice, bought the business from then-owner

Dave Bonelli in 1987. Much to the dismay of Hill residents, Atchison’s closed its doors in 1995, the victim of cost-cutting practices in the health insurance industry that forced many small, independent drug stores out of business. Khaled Ghanma (left) and Ned Ghanma opened All States Best Foods on the site in June 1998. (Then photo by Vas Arnautoff.)

In the 1951 photo, the Potrero Branch Library had just opened at 1616 20th Street. As part of the citywide Branch Library Improvement Program, the branch closed in 2008 for much-needed renovation and seismic retrofitting. It reopened in 2010 with a sleek exterior, an expanded second floor, an accessible program room, more computer terminals, more shelving for books, and City views to die for.

“The Little Red House” on De Haro Street was built in the 1880s by a wealthy gold rush pioneer. Anna Buck, a local activist, owned it throughout most of the View’s first 30 years. After her death in the late 1990s, neighbors sought to preserve the house, but developers won out. The house was demolished in 2001, and a row of apartment buildings - one of them redtook its place. The butterfly garden next door was spared. (Then photo by Stephen Fotter.)

Warm Water Cove in 1971, five years before a cozy two-acre park was created on the site at the end of 24th Street, east of Illinois Street. In recent years, the park (nicknamed Tire Beach, for reasons obvious when the tide is out) underwent a makeover. Graffiti was removed, pathways repaved, flowers planted, and a new picnic table installed. Today, the cove continues to attract fisherfolk from all over the city, as well as residents of Dogpatch, their children and their dogs.

In 1917, Daniel Webster Elementary School moved from a modest frame structure on Connecticut Street to an imposing new brick building on Missouri and 20th streets. Several generations of Hill children learned their ABCs there. In the early 1970s, the building was deemed seismically unsound, and was demolished in 1974. The transportable modules that replaced it, now venerable themselves, were given a colorful new paint job in 2009.

(1974 photo by Stephen Fotter.)

Now photographs by Peter Linenthal. Then photos from the files of the Potrero View or the Potrero Hill Archives Project.

What do you like about the View?

By Brittany Riddick

“I get the want advertisements, but I find a lot of other good things in it, especially when they announce the events.”

“I love it. I read it every month. It covers a lot of local stories that would never probably be covered by any other publication. I also like to see local events that are happening in the community and learn about other businesses and people. The best part about it is that it’s real local coverage.”

“I just like that we have one because most of the writers are volunteer. I appreciate that spirit of community involvement.”

“The articles are very nice and I always pick it up and read it. It’s nice to learn about the neighborhood and feel a little bit more connected to the neighborhood.”

“It’s good for everyone to have an understanding for what’s occurring in their neighborhood, whether it’s news or things that are happening to the local businesses. The crime beat is also important. It is a good source of information for the community.”

“I like reading about all the things that are going on in the neighborhood. I’ve lived here a long time, so it’s interesting what’s really changed. In some ways I miss the old neighborhood, but I am happy with the new one.”

“It’s good, very informative, and it’s free. It’s a good source of information and I can just pick it up. I don’t have to go to some website; I can just pick up something that’s physical.”

“I love it. I read it every month. It covers a lot of local stories that would never probably be covered by any other publication. I also like to see local events that are happening in the community and learn about other businesses and people. The best part about it is that it’s real local coverage.”

More photographs and quotes from community members will be on the View’s online Photo Gallery in mid-August: http://potreroview.net/gallery. phpnet/.

“I enjoy it because it’s local. It gives you a more in depth point of view than the Chronicle would in regards to the concerns of Potrero Hill. I read it every month.”

“It is nice that we have local news. It’s great that it exists.”

Potrero Hill’s Street Names Tell California’s History

By Lester Zeidman

It was a confusing moment in California history. In 1846, after decades of calm with little interference from Mexico, the native Californios became concerned about the steady influx of Americans, and the Mexican government’s neglect of the area. Mexican forces were thought to be preparing to expel all foreigners from Northern California. In Sonoma, Captain John C. Fremont singlehandedly declared a state of war on Mexico, and the Osos, the local insurgents of the day, jailed the alcalde – mayor – of Sonoma, Jose de los Santos Berreyesa and his two brothers. The Bear Flag Revolt was in full swing.

A distraught mother urged her husband, Jose de los Reyes Berreyesa, to travel to Sonoma to check on the welfare of their three sons. Berreyesa enlisted the help of his nephews, the twin brothers Francisco and Ramon de Haro, the eldest sons of Don Francisco de Haro, the first Mexican alcalde of what would soon become San Francisco. They traveled at night in a small boat. On the early morning of June 28, 1846, they landed near Point San Pedro, near San Rafael.

Upon learning of the boat’s arrival, Fremont dispatched his aide, the famed explorer Kit Carson, and two others to meet the small party. Carson started off on his horse, stopped, returned to Fremont and asked, “Captain, shall I take those men prisoners?” Fremont dismissed the question with a wave of his hand and replied, “I have got no room for prisoners.”

Jose de los Reyes Berreyesa was 62 years old. The de Haro twins were not yet twenty. The three were unarmed. Carson rode to a distance of roughly fifty yards, alighted from his horse, shot and killed all three men. The famed surveyor Jasper O’Farrell witnessed the sordid murder.

Barely two years earlier, in spite

of still being minors, Francisco and Ramon De Haro had received a land grant from the Mexican government for the pasturelands east of Mission Dolores. After their encounter with Carson, the owners of one square league of land now known as Potrero Hill were stripped of their clothing and left unburied on the shore of San Pablo Bay.

For a brief moment – barely 25 days – California was a new nation: the California Republic. But unbeknownst to Fremont, war had already broken out between the U.S. and Mexico along the Texas border. California’s fate would be determined by the conflict’s outcome.

Dr. John Townsend came overland to California in 1844. Like most travelers, he stopped at Sutter’s Fort. Townsend was born in Pennsylvania, and traveled extensively. He was educated in Tennessee; worked in Missouri, married in Ohio, and departed from Council Bluffs, Iowa to journey to California. He was part of the StephensTownsend-Murphy party, known for being the first to cross the Sierra Nevada with wagons by way of the Truckee River. They met an old Paiute Indian who guided them. They, in turn, named the river after him. Not that the Indian didn’t already have a name for the river, but the Truckee River name has won the test of time. Their trip was not without peril. They encountered snow, split-up and ultimately all made it safely to Sutter’s Fort. The doomed Donner Party traveled the same route two years

Ganim’s

later, using a few of the shelters that Townsend’s party had erected.

At the fort, Captain John Sutter enlisted Townsend’s help in forming a battalion to aid then Mexican Governor Manuel Micheltorena. They were to battle the parliamentary force of Pio Pico, who would soon replace Micheltorena. The Battle of Cahuenga, near what is now North Hollywood, quickly became the Capitulation of Cahuenga, as no battle ever took place. Pio Pico convinced Sutter’s landhungry American conscripts that Micheltorena couldn’t grant land to non-Mexicans. The Americans then proceeded to vote on which side they’d support, prompting the not very famous quote by Sutter, “This is not the time to vote, this is the time to fight!” Sutter, embarrassed and broke, returned to his fort with what was left of his battalion. O’Farrell accompanied Sutter and Townsend, serving as quartermaster.

Many records of early San Francisco were destroyed in the Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906. However, it’s well documented that after the death of his twin sons, Don Francisco de Haro became despondent. He had good days and bad ones, but there would be no recovery from his grief. De Haro had served as the first alcalde of Yerba Buena in 1839, was well-known and well-respected. The Bear Flag revolt had failed, and the United States had raised its flag at

Monterey and at Portsmouth Square. In 1847, the village of Yerba Buena became the town of San Francisco. De Haro knew that the land that had been granted to his sons was now at risk; the Americans weren’t granting land to anyone.

The Mexican–American War didn’t go well for Mexico. U.S. troops occupied Mexico City. The Mexican government was in such disarray there was no one of any authority to sign a treaty of surrender. On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall found gold in the spillway of the mill at Coloma. He dutifully reported the find to his employer, Sutter, and both vowed to keep the discovery secret. Just one week later, on February 2, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago was signed, ending the war with Mexico. The treaty recognized the annexation of Texas, and ceded all the lands west, including all of California, to the U.S. It took until August before Sutter’s secret reached Mexico City.

By 1848, Townsend had acquired property along California Street. Townsend was instrumental in establishing the first public school in San Francisco, and served as the City’s fourth alcalde under American rule. But the school didn’t last, and Townsend didn’t spend much time as an administrator. His term began in April, 1848 and ended the following September. He, along with everyone else, had headed for the hills to seek their fortune in gold.

Winter rains brought many gold searchers back to San Francisco, after which that great San Francisco tradition of land speculation moved into high gear. Lots that had been worthless during the summer were now commanding exorbitant prices. But the real gold rush hadn’t yet begun; it was still just a local affair. In the midst of a swirl of rumors, in De-

see streets page 26

Map detail, 1892

Thank You to the Numerous Contributors We’ve Had Over the Last Four Decades!

Kristin Abkemeier-Michael Accomazzo-Angelina Acev-Rick Ackerman-Clifford Agocs-Don Alger-Lysa Allman-Baldwin-Tomas Amigo-Adrienne

Ammen-Chris Ammen-John Anderson-Lenny Anderson-Vincent Anderson-Claudia Andrews-Luis Anguiano-Joyce Armstrong-Arden Arnautoff-Vas

Arnautoff-Noah Arroyo-Paula Eve Aspin-Stacey Bartlett-Judy Baston-Matt Baume-Bill Baumeister-Cayce Baxley-Kevin Bell-Sharie Berliant-Caroline Pollock Bilicki-Jennifer Bing-Dianne Bitte-Al Black-Joy Bonds-John Borg-Joe Boss-Robynne Boyd-Darlene Brasesco-Andrea de Brito-Deia de Brito-Michael Kennedy Brodhead-Gary Broerman-Michael Brungardt-Marc Buchalter-Ashley Bullitt-Jen Burke-Christian Butler-Keith Campbell Janet Carpinelli-Nancy Casey-Rose Cassano-Kelly Castagnaro-Curtis Cavin-Donna Cavin-Dick Christian-Paula Cizmar-Linda Clark-Pat Cleaver-Pat

Cleveland-Kelly Collins-Michael Condiff-Karen Connell-Skip Conrad-Peggy Conway-Dave Copeland-M.C. Cottam-Janet Cox-Manuela Dabbs-Mark

Dameron-Gary Darling-Jose David-Alex Davidonis-Kevin Davis-Bill Dawson-Jodie Dawson-Sherie DeGroff-Pat Devine-Dan & Sharon Dickmeyer

Roberta Dill-Michael Dingle-Sandhya Dirks-Carol Dondrea-Chris Donnelly-Larry Donohoe-Virginia Donohue-Dianne Downey-Cory Drefke-W.R.

Duffy-Lise Dumont-Louis Dunn-Jim Eagen-David Edwards-Joni Eisen-Elaine Elinson-Charles Elkind-Chuck Elkind-Rockie Elkind-Rokama Elkind

Sue Elkind-Cherry Elliot-Susan Ettinger-Dick Evans-Sally Evans-Vickie Fein-Cydney Feinstein-Debbie Findling-Joanne Firth-Peter Firth-Norene

Fischer-Allison Fish-Kerry Fleisher-Chris Folberg-Lonnie Ford-David Foster-Steve Fotter-Liz Fox-Nancy Fox-Kelly Franklin-Marcia Franklin-Lisa

Gershater Franks-Beth Freeman-Sandy Freitag-Bob Freund-Anthony Friedson-Tom Friend-Allison Fromme-John Gallagher-Dorothy Gambrell-Gerry

Ganley-Hallie Gardner-Trudy Gardner-Garcia Geeter-Bernie Gershater-Nina Gershater-Paul Gershater-Sharon Gill-Heather Tirado Gilligan-Birgitte

Gilliland-Jan Gloe-Melissa Glorieux-Vickie Golden-Ruth Goldhammer-Evan Goldin-Bryne Golec-Roger Golec-Larry Gonick-Eugenie Gooding-Donny

Gordon-Patrick Gorman-Arthur Gray-Dianne Grayson-LaVette Green-Jon Greenberg-Carol Grodjest-Gini Hagopian-Lise Hammond-Michelle HangeeBauer-Oney Harper-Laird Harrison-Bob Hatch-J. Hatch-Edward Hatter-Bob Hayes-Ted Heald-Allyse Heartwell-Cristi Hegranes-Gretchen Helsel-Emily

Ruth Henderson-Sandy Henderson-Rigoberto Hernandez-Sabrina Hernandez-Judy Hewitt-Bob Heyob-Valerie Heyob-Tamara Hicks-Lori Higa-Majorie Hill-Bruce Hilvitz-C.J. Hirschfield-Renee Hochman-Daedalus Howell-E. Samira Hoye-Kayren Hudiburgh-Nicole Hudley-Vern Huffman-Patrick Hurley

Karen Hurtado-Rachel Huysentruyt-Sonja Hyams-Matt Isaacs-Bruce Jackson-K. Jackson-Ezekiel James-Julia Jaurigui-Loretta Jimenez-Michael Joe

Dwight Johns-Jill Johns-Governor Johnson-Harry J. Johnson-Abigail Johnston-Gayle Justice-Margarete Karney-Jennifer Kaufman-Steve Kaufman

Julie Kavanagh-Edward Keegan-Betty Kelly-Bryan Kelly-Deni Kessler-E. Samira Kiebala-Adam Kimball-Mike King-Jennifer Knapp-Stumpp-Shella

Duffy Kreissman-Buzzy LaFave-Linda Lawrence-Luis Lebron-Eleanore Leeson-Tom Leeson-John Lemmon-Katherin Levin-Ida Lewis-Christina

Li-Helen Liana-Lymme Likens-Peter Linenthal-Diana Linn-C. Long-Ann Longknife-Robert Lopez-Edward Lortz-Marylouise Lovett-Rachel Lovett

Jim MacKenzie-Cathy Maeda-Catie Magee-Patrick Maguire-Kazuhiko Makita-Kristin Makita-Eileen Maloney-Winifred Mann-Meleah Mannix-Ginny

March-Stas Margaronis-Sarah Marloff-David Matsuda-Michael Mattis-Barton Mayhew-Donna McCarter-Patricia McConnel-Sarah K. Mcdonald

Todd McNaught-Denise Elizabeth-Robin Melancon-Dinya Elke Melbin-Kessler-Linda Merling-Ted Milikin-Freda Miller-Marci Mills-Eve Milton-Julie

Mitchell-Thomas Moore-Sara Moss-Steven Moss-Greg-Movsesyan-Charles Mueller-Brian P. Mulry-Bruce Muma-Anthony Myers-Barry Nathan-Barbara Nelson-Oona Nelson-Uyen Nguyen-Sergio Nibbi-Lee Nisbet-Rachel Norton-Sue O’Brien-Elaine O’Gara-Kathy Oettinger-Karen Ohmans-Casey

Ohta Peggy Ohta-Suzanne Olivier-Micky Ostler-Steve Parun-Joe Passen-Marc Passen-Natalie Passen-Ruth Passen-Teresa Passen-Giacomo PatriTamara Patri-Emily Payne-Robbi Peele-Carol Peterson-Janet Peterson-Darryl Phillips-Gina Poggi-Tim Posar-Stephanie Potter-Dean Poulos-Emily

Price Mary Price-Tom Price-Phyllis De Priest-Mary Purpura-Flavia Purpura-Pontoniere-Lucia Purpura-Pontoniere-Silvano Purpura-Pontoniere-Mia

Quagliarello-Lyn Rainey-Brittany Riddick-Kathleen Ramos-Homer Reed-Brenda Reineccius-Kelda Riley-Emily Roberson-Tiffany Roberts-Maribel Rodriguez-Greg Roensch-Fred Rogers-Dwayne Rooks-Reggie Rosales-Tonnie Rosales-Will Ross-Paul Rossman-John Rotelli-Jozie Rotelli-Dairne Ryan-Jerry Sager-Lorraine Sanders-Sally Sanders-Tony Sanford-Paul Sarvis-Shannon Schafer-Harry Scheid-Chris Schmuch-Bob Schoech-Margaret Schoech-Sandy Schoenfeld-Mauri Schwartz-Michael Scofield-Julia Segrove-Chuck Shackett-Gilbert Shelton-Suzanne K. Shields-Dick Shouse-Rose Marie Sicoli-Georgette Skellenger-Bill Slatkin-Carol Small-Kristen A. Smith-Doug Snow-Marcie Stack-Greg Stafford-Elias Stahl-Jennifer StammMike Stillman-Bernard Stowers-Jeannie Strieff-Rooney-Peter Stumpf-John Sullivan-Sally Sunderland-Lynn Susoeff-Carol Sutton-Don SymonsRenee Tan-Sally Taylor-Lisa Tehrani-Ben Terrall-Marcus Terry-Wendy Thieler-Tom Thompson-Gloria Thornton-Nadine Toren-Jerry Travis-James Tuoti-Denise Turquoise-Maya Ulloa-Charbonneau-Jim Van Buskirk-Sasha Vasilyuk-Maria Vermiglio-Carol Wagner-Mark Waish-Dale Walkonen-Mary Wasserman-Marianne Weathers-David Webb-Bill Wells-Danny Werner-Katie Werner-Randall West-Jo Wheeler-Rebecca Wilkowski-Emily Wilson-Idell Wilson-Trudy Wischer-Herman Wong-Allison Wood-Audrey Wood-Jeff Wood-Molly Wood-Neal Wood-Heather World-Julian Wurm-Thomas Yuen-Rebekah Zanditon-Lester Zeidman-AND ALL THE OTHERS WE’VE NOT LISTED, OUR APOLOGIES!

Susan is both your Potrero Hill neighbor and Realtor®. With her keen business sense and warm approach to client service, she is at once upscale and down to Earth. Kind of like Potrero Hill.

And with nearly 30 years of San Francisco real estate expertise in the city’s most exclusive neighborhoods, and of course her own home base of Potrero Hill, it’s no wonder she’s the first person so many San Franciscans turn to for guidance when they decide to buy or sell property. She’s been at the top of this game for years; when only the best of both worlds will do, call Susan Olk.

Susan Olk

CRS, CLHMS, DRE 00788097 415.550.8835

SusanOlk@ZephyrSF.com www.susanolk.com

My View

By David Matsuda (Doc)

Sixteen years ago my pregnant wife Kristi and I moved to Potrero Hill. The very next day Katie, our daughter and a fourth generation San Franciscan, was born. In our new neighborhood we discovered the View, and quickly felt embraced by the community. Through the View, our gateway to the Hill, we found a nanny, children’s activities, made lifelong friends and became community activists.

After we had our second child, Kimi, we bought a bigger house in the neighborhood, relying on a real estate agent we found in the View. Over time I was drawn into contributing to the community by volunteering for the paper. Over the years I’ve written about all manner of local events, including politics, homelessness,

and sports.

I’ve spent most of the past three years in the Middle East, where I’ve been deployed twice by the U.S. military. I spent my first tour on foot patrols in Iraq’s Sadr City and Sunni Triangle; and then was posted as cultural advisor to the U.S. military commander in Iraq. Throughout this period I wrote a series of monthly articles for the View, providing a perspective not found in the nation’s papers of record.

Back home now with family and friends, and what better way to open the time capsule imposed by service in a foreign land – and to rediscover our community, City, state and country –than by writing for the View. Happy 40th to our community newspaper!

David Matsuda, a contributor to the View for several years, recently signed off on his Going to War column, having returned from a tour of duty in Iraq.

how things have Changed!

A Statistical Comparision of Life on the Hill Over the Last 40 Years

By Thomas Yuen

Clockwise from top: Katie, Kimi, Kristi and David Matsuda, with their dog Prada, on the steps of their Potrero Hill home.

Kids on the Block

puBLisher’s from page 2

photographs of our children’s faces, smiling back at us as they celebrate a birthday or graduation? What makes the View special is that it’s rooted in a particular place, in which history intermingles comfortably with what’s next. In a world where time seems to be speeding up, and collective consciousness lasts as long as a movie trailer, every month the View declares that we are here, living our complex, rich, challenging lives, exquisitely curious about the world around us.

short Cuts from page 3

ABS Seafood at 699 Illinois Street to launch his new business, I Love Blue Sea, which buys and sells seafood verified as sustainable. Reed relies on third party standards, like those developed by Greenpeace and the Monterey Bay Aquarium, to determine sustainability. If he knows that illegal fishing is prevalent in certain species, he won’t traffic in it. And he insists that suppliers sell him only fish that can be traced — individually — through bills of lading and bar codes...Low-income Potrero Hill homeowners may be eliglible for a solar installation in exchange for sweat equity. Contact Leah Pimentel at Grid Alternatives for details: lpimentel@gridalternatives.org.

Clubbed

The Port of San Francisco has evicted

Jelly’s Dance Club from Pier 50 after a second fatal shooting in two years occurred at the venue last month. According to police, a gunman fired several shots as he chased a man around cars parked near the club on Terry Francois Boulevard. Lee Farley, a 39-year-old City of Richmond resident, was shot and died at San Francisco General Hospital

A lthough there were numerous witnesses, the shooter got away, and no one has stepped forward to provide police with information about the murder. Two years ago 34-year-old Clarence Corbin of Antioch was fatally shot outside Jelly’s while trying to break-up a fight. Police arrested a Richmond resident two days after the 2008 slaying, but didn’t press charges. Jelly’s has been a port tenant since 1993.

peakers Die

While the Potrero Power Plant continues to operate pending the months-late completion of the Trans Bay Cable, last month the City and County of San Francisco formally notified the California Energy Commission that it no longer intends to build the San Francisco Electric Reliability Project (SFERP). SFERP’s centerpiece was three 50 megawatt peaker plants, to be owned by the City, which would have replaced the existing plant. However, Trans Bay elbowed SFERP aside in lastminute policy debates. Presently, we have neither peakers nor the cable, but ongoing reliance on an antique power plant. Has someone’s pocket been picked?

Happy second birthday to Dogpatch’s own Sarah Rachel Grossblatt! Sarah loves the biscotti at Piccino and playing with the dogs at Esprit Park.

Maelys turns two on August 1st. You like to climb the hills and wear your sun hats in warm Potrero Hill. You make us laugh everyday. We love you! Maman et Papa.

Eleanor Tru Thomas, age five, graduated from the Pre-K program at the University Child Care Center at Mission Bay on July 9th. Congratulations to you, Els, and the rest of the Whale Class! Mama Jennifer & Daddy Sean are so proud of you!

Leila graduated from Crayon Box Preschool in late July equipped with a full Spanish vocabulary and a good handle on her ABCs. We are so proud of you, Leila! Besos, Mommy and Baba

CrIme& SAfety

Sponsored by Mainline Security

Potrero Hill Crime Statistics Demystified

By Regina Anavy

Have you witnessed a crime and decided it was too much trouble to report? Have you assumed that someone else would call the police about that person rifling through the recycling bins, the kid painting graffiti on a wall, or the gunshots you just heard? According to Al Casciato, San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) captain of investigations, “For every statistic that is in the crime reports, there is another crime that hasn’t been reported.” Casciato encouraged Potrero Hill residents to call when they see a crime. “It’s not a waste of time to report crimes,” he said. “The beat officers look at the reports, and then they go up the chain of command, and the managers and administrators look at them and allocate resources accordingly. Once you figure out what types of crimes are going on and can see the pattern, you can make plans to address the problem. It’s very important for us to have accurate statistics, so we can do a better job of protecting the public.”

For reporting purposes the View has defined its crime catchment as the 94107 zip code area contained within 16th Street and Cesar Chavez to the north and south, and the Bayshore Freeway and the bay

on the west and east. Crimes are categorized under broad headings, such as assaults and quality of life, which can be broken-down into more detailed labels. For example, assaults can include fights without weapons, aggravated assault, fights with weapons, assault and battery, and stabbing/cutting. Some assaults occur within the privacy of a home but were loud enough to trigger a call to the police.

Quality of life crimes include such things as public urination, trespassing, intoxicated person, suspicious homeless, noise nuisance, attempted suicide, vandalism, and prowler. Theft can include fraud, stolen vehicle and petty theft. Sexual offense covers indecent exposure, rape, and soliciting. A shooting doesn’t necessarily mean that someone’s been shot; hearing a gunshot can prompt a police report. Outcomes are reported along a continuum: arrest made, unable to find victim, unable to locate suspect, assignment handled, gone on arrival, or report made.

These data are tracked through CompStat, short for computer statistics, which was implemented by police chief George Gascón as a way of “significantly reducing violent crimes.” Compstat provides

a computerized statistical map to enable police to target their efforts, rather than relying on reactive policing. The emphasis is on “holding police managers directly accountable for combating the crime in their assigned area and providing them the authority to deploy their resources to achieve the desired results.” Police departments in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, New Orleans, Los Angeles and Newark have all experienced reduced crime rates as a result of implementing this crime control model.

Compstat is based on four principles: “accurate and timely intelligence, effective tactics, rapid deployment, and relentless followup and assessment.” CompStat meetings are held on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month, at the Scottish Rite Temple’s main auditorium on Sloat Blvd., at 10 a.m. The public is welcome to attend. At

the June 23 meeting Gascón stressed the importance of involving the community in combating crime. “We need to become partners with people who will be additional eyes and ears to assist us, and we need to make an aggressive effort to help people develop their own crime prevention programs. The neighborhood community advisory boards, for example, are representative of every constituency, and they provide a good line of communication to the police by holding regular meetings.”

According to Gascón, because of budget cuts no new police officers will graduate from the Police Academy in 2011. Police overtime has also been reduced, “so there will be fewer police on the street.” At the same time more individuals will be released from prison “because of issues with the crime lab” and prison crowding. “We can expect a spike in crime this summer,” he concluded.

Potrero Hill Crime StatiStiCS

June 15 – July 15

Assault / Battery: 6

Assault: 19

Fight No Weapons: 41

Burglary: 18

Robbery: 4

Theft: 33

Gunshots: 12

Vandalism: 12

Other Quality of

Source: Spot Crime, www.spotcrime.com and Crime Reports, www.crimereports.com

58

Bayview District Captain Greg Suhr takes notes on citizen concerns at a community meeting. These meetings are held at the Bayview Police Station on the first Tuesday of every month at 6 p.m. Photograph by Regina Anavy.

affairs. Because the Hill has been a persistent, determined, and even ornery community, the View was able to end many of its articles with “-30“; newspaper jargon for “the end.” These stories included the successful campaign against Mirant Corporation’s expansion of the Potrero Power Plant; The Good Life Grocery’s survival after being evicted from 18th Street; and the defeat of then-supervisor Dianne Feinstein’s proposal to create a “porno zone” near the Hill.

Often a View story helped spark decisive action to address a problem. The paper disclosed that toxic

substances existed under the former Synanon site on 23rd and Kansas streets, delaying the project so that the toxins could be removed. And that a local physician was distributing

prescriptions as if they were candy. While not prosecuted legally, the doctor quit his local practice and left the area.

The View’s first 30 years covered aspects of the Hill that are gone forever. Father Peter Sammon, whose arrival at St. Teresa’s Church was heralded in the View’s first issue, led the church for 32 years, until his death in 2002. When Atchison’s Pharmacy on 20th Street closed in December 1995, it reflected a national trend in which independent pharmacies shuttered their doors, unable to compete with drugstore chains. With Atchison’s went the contract Post Office at the back of the store. The physician’s office

that was located next to the pharmacy moved closer to the hospitals in which the doctors practiced, and a few years ago disbanded.

Back issues of the View contain the names of quite a few people who were part of the paper’s family but are now gone. Among those who have passed are Arden Arnautoff, Vas Arnautoff, Nina Gershater, Bernie Gershater, Bob Hayes, Marylouise Lovett, Winifred Mann, Peggy Ohta, Joe Passen and Molly Wood. They are missed. As the View celebrates its 40-year history, their contribution to the City’s oldest surviving neighborhood newspaper is remembered. -30-

Debbie, Lucky, Sara & Steve on sunny Potrero Hill.

View staff presented bound volumes of the paper to Potrero Branch librarian Martha Heverly (left) in 1992. From second left: Judy Baston, Vas Arnautoff, Ruth Passen and Abigail Johnston.

Forty t hings i Love a bout potrero h ill

By Debbie Findling, designed by Thomas Yuen

Vas from page 4

evidence that was less anonymous. It was a four by six inch pieced of charred paper with printing still readable on it, front and back, the ink having turned to gray on the charred paper’s black. It was a page from someone’s copy of The Great Gatsby, capriciously delivered as a message to this yard

“And the message that was suddenly and forcefully brought home to this staffer was that it was a human tragedy that was being played out in the East Bay, and the small gray bits of ash were not impersonal at all. They were fragments of people’s lives with no less an impact for being smaller than that page of The Great Gatsby.”

As former View staffers look back on the paper’s early years, we’re repeatedly struck by the paper’s lowtechnology production methods. In this sense, Vas was indeed old-fashioned. He was a proud member of the Lead Pencil Club, whose slogan was “a pothole on the information highway.” In his 20 years of dedication to the View, Vas always wrote his copy in pencil. I like to think, though, that if Vas had been around for the last dozen years, he’d eventually have made friends with the computer and the Internet, mostly because his insatiable curiosity about people and places might well have induced him to venture onto the information highway. At least in the slow lane.

co mm un it y CALENDAR

Through September 17

Art: Me and My iPhone

Gallery 323 presents Potrero Hill artist and filmmaker Lise Swenson’s collection of photographs and text images, which reflect Swenson’s year long pondering on what it means to be fifty. Wednesdays through Fridays 3 to 7 p.m., or by appointment. 323 Potrero Avenue. Information: 626.4333; 323gallery@att.net.

Through September 25

Art: Art at the Dump

Celebrate 20 years of Recology’s Artists in Residence program. Using materials from the waste stream and promoting the message of recycling and resource conservation, more than 80 artists have worked at Recology since 1990, producing sculpture, photography, painting, drawing, performance, videos, textiles and musical composition. Tuesday through Saturday, 12 to 6 p.m.; first Thursdays 12 to 8 p.m. Free. Intersection 5M, San Francisco Chronicle Building, 925 Mission Street. Information: www.theintersection.org.

August 2 & 3

Community: District 10

Candidate Forum

The Potrero Hill Democratic Club hosts two back-to-back District 10 supervisor candidate forums. See announcement on page 22 for a list of candidates. 6:30 p.m. Potrero Hill Neighborhood House, 953 De Haro Street. Information: www.PHDemClub.org.

August 3

Art: Reception for Zannah Noe Farley’s hosts a reception for its Artist of the Month, Zannah Noe. Noe’s works include lush vignettes of place and time from her travels to Norway, Berlin, and Spain. Her assemblages will also be displayed in Farley’s windows throughout August. 7 p.m. Free. 1315 18th Street. Information: www.velcrow.com.

The RAMP restaurant

August 6 to 22

Theater: Show and Tell Symmetry Theatre Company, a new Bay Area company dedicated to gender inequalities in theatrical union contracts, in conjunction with the Thick House, presents Show and Tell. Written by Anthony Clarvoe and directed by Laura Hope, the drama delves into the topics of contact, discovery and what it takes to survive in the wake of tragedy during a crime scene investigation. Thursday through Saturday 8 p.m.; Sunday 5:30 p.m.; special Saturday matinee August 7 at 3 p.m. Tickets:

sessions start at 10 a.m. Preregister, $35; register at the door, $40 Union Square, Powell at Geary. Information: www.cityofhope.org.

August 8

Performing Arts: San Francisco Theater Festival

With more than 50 theatre companies and solo artists, the San Francisco Theatre Festival showcases short performances on multiple stages, including children’s events, musicals, improv, hip-hop, Shakespeare, mimes, storytelling, solo performers, new circus acts, comedy and tragedy. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free. Yerba Buena Gardens Esplanade, 760 Howard Street. Information: www.ybgf.org.

August 11

Community: District 10 Candidate Forum

The San Francisco Young Democrats and Harvey Matthews Bayview Hunters Point Democratic Club hosts a District 10 supervisor candidate forum. Moderated by the Examiner’s political reporter, Melissa Griffin. 5:30 p.m. reception; 6:30 p.m. debate to start promptly. Location TBD. More information: www.sfyd.org and www.bvhpdemclub.org.

Music: Soul Delights

August 2010

leans music group Chelle! & Friends. 12:15 to 12:45 p.m. Free. Yerba Buena Gardens Children’s Garden, 760 Howard Street. Information: www. ybgf.org.

August 13 through

September 10

Art: What Cannot be Taken Away, Family and Prisons Project SOMArts presents a new show by Evan Bissel, an East Bay artist, in collaboration with Community Works. The exhibition focuses on social justice and the arts, with an in-depth look at how incarceration affects families and society. Opening show: August 13th from noon to 7 p.m. Gallery exhibition open Tuesday through Friday, beginning at noon. Free. 934 Brannan Street. Information: www.somarts.org.

August 14 & 15

Festival: Pistahan

Join the 16th annual celebration of Filipino-American culture. Music, dance, arts, crafts, cuisine and a special trade exposition will be on offer. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Yerba Buena Gardens Esplanade, 760 Howard Street. Information: www.pistahan.net.

August 17

$25 at the door. Thick House, 1695 18th Street. Information: www.symmetrytheatre.com.

August 7

Fundraiser: Yoga for Hope

Join hundreds of yoga enthusiasts in Union Square and practice your asanas in a benefit for the City of Hope, one of the nation’s leading cancer research and treatment centers. Led by renowned Bay Area instructors Stephanie Snyder and Darren Main, with music provided by DJ Eric Monkhouse. Participants who raise more than $50 will receive a gift bag from Yoga Journal. Registration begins at 9 a.m.; one-hour yoga

For Potrero Hill Residents

Please bring this in for a 20% discount on food

Monday-Friday at The RAMP restaurant! (excluding special offers)

Please join us for:

Music by the Bay: Live Salsa Saturday & Latin Sounds Sunday Music & Outdoor BBQ Weekends 5:00 - 8:30 pm

Taco Tuesdays: $2.00 Tacos & Beer Specials Tuesdays 5:00-7:00

Oyster Thursdays: $2.00 Fresh Shucked Oysters Thursdays 5:00-7:00

The RAMP

855 Terry Francois St

Where Mariposa St intersects with Illinois St on the water 1 block East of 3rd St & Mariposa St

The Sun, The Water, The Ramp! (415) 621-2378

theramp@comcast.net www.ramprestaurant.com

Listen to the Soul Delights go acoustic at Farley’s. Singers Charlie Owen, Kathy Kennedy, and Katie Guthorn, with Todd Swenson on guitar, will perform. 8 p.m. Free. Farley’s, 1315 18th Street.

August 12

Music: Captain Casual Blues Band

Captain Casual is local string-bender Andrew Goberman, supported by Peter Tucker on drums, Paul Olguin on bass, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The group features blues of all sorts, including gut bucket blues, rockin’ blues, swing blues, jump blues, country blues, uptown blues, downtown blues and Brill Building blues. Expect special guests, cool guitars and a lot of fun. 8 p.m. Free. Farley’s, 1315 18th Street.

Community: Storytelling at Farley’s

Susan Ford tell The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights. Ford will transport you back in time as she weaves the legend of the noble knights of the roundtable, their acts of chivalry, their love for their king and their fondness of women. Bring your stories, poetry, songs and music to share afterwards. 7 p.m. Free. 1315 18th Street. Information: Susan Ford, 407.4297; suford@earthlink.net.

August 19

Community: Potrero View’s 40th Anniversary Party

The RAMP restaurant

August 13

Community: Green Tech at ITT Tech

For Potrero Hill Residents

Celebrate the City’s oldest community newspaper! The evening includes complimentary dinner from one of the neighborhood’s finer establishments, drinks, entertainment, cake and giveaways. Please come! RSVP to party@potreroview.net. 6 p.m. Free. Potrero Hill Neighborhood House, 953 De Haro.

Please bring this in for a 20% discount on food

Check-out the newest innovations in green technology and sustainable design at this special event hosted by ITT Tech. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free. RSVP to Francis Reyes at 925.674.8254. ITT Technical Institute, 1440 Galaxy Way, Suite 400, Concord. Information: www.ittesi. com.

Monday-Friday at The RAMP restaurant! (excluding special offers)

August 24

Please join us for:

Community: Growing Healthy Food While Improving our Soil

Music by the Bay: Live Salsa Saturday & Latin Sounds Sunday

Music & Outdoor BBQ Weekends 5:00 - 8:30 pm

Taco Tuesdays: $2.00 Tacos & Beer Specials Tuesdays 5:00-7:00

Oyster Thursdays: $2.00 Fresh Shucked Oysters Thursdays 5:00-7:00

The RAMP

855 Terry Francois St

Where Mariposa St intersects with Illinois St on the water 1 block East of 3rd St & Mariposa St

Kids: Chelle! & Friends

The Sun, The Water, The Ramp! (415) 621-2378

theramp@comcast.net

Put on your dancin’ shoes and head over to Yerba Buena for a free children’s concert featuring the New Or-

www.ramprestaurant.com

Join a discussion of how to garden safely in urban areas and learn how to take soil samples for testing. You can sign up to be considered for free testing of your garden soil for heavy metals as part of an academic research project. 6 to 7 p.m. Free. Potrero Hill Neighborhood House, 953 De Haro. Information: email Jennifer Gorospe at sfgardeners@ gmail.com.

Tennessee Street resident Zannah Noe’s art is being exhibited at Farley’s this month. Above “Boathouse 29” Norway Series, 44 x 46 inches oil on canvas.

POTRERO BRANCH 1616 20th STREET 355.2822

Tuesday 10 am - 8 pm, Wednesday 12 noon - 8 pm

Thursday 10 am - 6 pm, Friday 1 pm - 6 pm

Saturday and Sunday 1 pm - 6 pm

Monday CLOSED

By Abby Bridge, Potrero Branch Librarian & Jasmin Springer, Mission Bay Branch Children’s Librarian

POtrerO HiLL

Adult Programs

Home Preparedness in Earthquake Country. Matt Springer, a University of California, San Francisco Department of Medicine professor, presents a slideshow about how to lessen the damage from an earthquake at home and work. August 4, 6:30 to 7:15 p.m.

Children’s Programs

Baby Rhyme and Play Time. For infants up to 18 months and their caregivers. Tuesdays, August 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31, 1:15 to 1:45 p.m.

Family Storytime, featuring stories, songs and rhymes. For children from birth to five years old and their caregivers. Thursdays, August 5, 12, 19 and 26, 10:30 to 11 a.m. and 11:15 to 11:45 a.m.

Fun Flicks: The Amazing Bone, Knuffle Bunny, Frederick, and Harry the Dirty Dog. Fun Flicks is offered every second Wednesday of the month, and includes short films based on children’s books and stories. For children ages five and older. Wednesday, August 11, 6:30 to 7:15 p.m.

What Pete Ate from A-Z… at the Museum! Maira Kalman’s exhibit features her lovable pooch Pete, who can’t help but eat everything in sight! First listen to some Pete books read aloud, then roll up your sleeves and use your imagination as you create Kalmanesque art pieces imagining what Pete eats when he visits the museum. For ages kindergarten to third grade. Program limited to 25 people; visit the library or call to make a reservation. August 14, 3 to 4 p.m.

All Potrero Branch Library programs are held in the second floor meeting room.

Potrero Library Campaign

The Potrero Neighborhood Library Campaign Committee meets monthly to discuss fundraising strategies and progress. If you’d like to join the committee, contact Mary Abler at Friends of the Library: 626.7512, extension 107; mary.abler@friendssfpl.org.

MiSSiOn BAY

The Mission Bay Library is located at 960 Fourth Street, at Berry, near AT&T Park. The library is open Tuesdays and Thursdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Wednesdays noon to 8 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Public transport to the library includes the N, T, 10, 30, 46, and 47. There’s unmetered one-hour street parking on Channel Street, a block away. Additional branch information: 355.2838; http://missionbaylibrary.blogspot.com.

Children’s Programs

Baby Rhyme Time and Play Time. Interactive music, rhymes, bounces, books, and more for infants to 24 months and their caregivers. Afterward, there will be toys and play time. Thursdays, August 5, 12, 19, 26, 10:15 a.m.

Toddler Tales and Play Time. Music, movement, rhymes, books and more for 18 to 36 months and their caregivers. Afterward, there will be toys and play time. Fridays, August 6, 13, 20, 27, 4:30 p.m.

Preschool Storytime. Stories, songs, rhymes and more for children ages three to five. Thursdays, August 5, 12, 19, 26, 4:30 p.m.

Children’s Crafts with Sophie. A variety of fun craft projects for children

Based on last year’s experience, Indiana Street residents feared that last month’s SuperHero Street Fair, drawing hundreds of crusaders, caped or otherwise, might bring evil, in the form of trash, to the neighborhood. However, event organizers made sure that there were plenty of trash cans, including compost and recycling receptacles with signs explaining what items should be disposed where. After the event there was some lingering street garbage, but not much. The world is safe again! Photograph by Emily Payne.

150 Pennsylvania Avenue (cross street Mariposa)

6:30am to 4:30pm

Monday – Friday fregosipaints.com | 415.431.6940

Proud

prompted more customer traffic, although Saleh believes parking congestion has become a bigger problem. Ghanma said some of his formally regular customers have returned. “The only reason they come to the neighborhood is because of the library,” he said.

Keith Goldstein, Potrero Hill Association of Merchants and Businesses (PHAMB) president, said he was happy to see the library back in business. “From what I’ve heard there’s more foot traffic, more life on the street,” he said. Michele HangeeBauer at San Francisco Natural Medicine said her business doesn’t depend on drop-ins, but she’s also noticed more pedestrian traffic.

Still, the street’s businesses continue to suffer due to the bad economy. Ling Chu of Billy’s Dry Cleaners said business is slow. “[It’s] just because of people not working,” she said. Thuy Jimerson, a receptionist at La Fleur, a salon at 20th and Arkansas, said business was good, but she hadn’t noticed any change since the library re-opened, though she had seen more people with strollers next to the library.

Most businesses along the corridor complained of a loss of customers after Klein’s Deli left the corner of Connecticut and 20th streets. The restaurant was briefly replaced by Jay’s Deli, which closed last year. The storefront has remained vacant since, which has troubled many community leaders. “If you own that spot...you have a responsibility to the neighborhood,” said Frank Gilson, a PHAMB executive board member.

Masoud Mostofi, who owns Chatz Roasting Company, a café on 18th Street, plans to open a sandwich shop at the former Klein’s location this fall. According to Mostofi, the eatery will serve coffee and breakfast in the morning, and hot and cold sandwiches and soup in the afternoon. He plans to open in mid-September, after repairs on the storefront are completed. He called the new location an exciting place, and said he was happy to be opening another business in Potrero Hill. “It’s a really good neighborhood,” he said.

Most 20th Street merchants agreed that they’d like to see another deli or cafe in the space. “I’d like to see anything that helps make 20th Street a viable commercial district,” said Zeidman.

We Wouldn’t Be Here Without Our Advertisers

The Fantasticks Still Thrill After 25 Years at SF Playhouse

By Lori Higa

The Fantasticks, by lyricist Tom Jones and composer Harvey Schmidt, is the longest running musical in history. Opening in 1960 at the Sullivan Street Playhouse in Greenwich Village, this timeless classic is still being performed today on Broadway, and now in an exhilarating revival at SF Playhouse. Located in the heart of the City’s theater district, SF Playhouse was co-founded by Bay Area theater stalwarts Bill English and Susi Damilano. The pair has produced a winning interpretation of the beloved musical that’s joyous and inspiring. While director English has added devastating climate change as a backdrop, the Playhouse’s Fantasticks is true to the original, brought to life by a vibrant cast of world-class performers, backed by an equally exceptional crew of music, lighting, costume and set designers.

The comic musical harkens back to more innocent times – before Twitter and Facebook – with a Romeo and Juliet-style love story of a boy and a girl brought together by their scheming single parents, without the tragic Shakespearean ending. Still, the plot isn’t all smiles and happy song, as the young lovers survive a painful breakup, and experience the harsh realities of life on their own, coming back together in the end, older and wiser.

The cast features Tarek Khan as the swashbuckling El Gallo; Jeremy Kahn as the boy; Sepideh Moafi as the girl; local stage veterans Louis Parnell and Joan Mankin as the parents; Ray Reinhardt as the Old Actor; and “deathographer” Yusef Lambert. These virtuoso vocal and stage talents resurrect the hits “Try to Remember” and “Soon it’s Gonna Rain,” among other Fantastick tunes. Musical director Robert Moreno turns in a bravado solo turn, performing the entire score on piano with breathtaking energy. Set and costume designer Nina Ball does a miraculous job creating a larger-than-life post-apocalyptic set in a cramped space, while Michael Oesch’s lighting underscores the rich emotionality of the fast-paced libretto. English’s direction is tight and creative, while choreography by Barbara Bernardo, like good seasoning, adds just the right amount of flavor to the show.

If you love Broadway musicals, this SF Playhouse production is a must-see. In addition to being an intimate alternative to its glitzy Union Square counterparts, SF Playhouse is a nonprofit dedicated to bringing quality theater at affordable prices.

The Fantasticks runs Tuesdays to Saturdays until September 4 at 533 Sutter Street. Tickets are $30 to $50. For information: 677.9696; sfplayhouse.org.

Tarek Khan and Sepideh Moafi as El Gallo and Luisa. Photograph courtesy of SF Playhouse, by Jessica Palopoli.

One indicator of the View’s evolution can be seen through the change in display ads over the years. Graphic design technology has sure come a long way since 1970! Some of our advertisers have been faithful supporters for decades, while others closed shop, and are sorely missed. We appreciate their years of dedication to the production the City’s oldest runnning community newspaper!

for their hard work and dedication to their community. The grant is making it possible for the Archives to work with the Main Library’s SF History Room on digitizing hundreds of historic Hill photos and oral histories, making a rich resource available to a wide audience.

Peter Linenthal Potrero Hill Archives Project

Dear

Editor,

Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

I’m writing to commend the View for casting sunlight on the Eastern Neighborhoods Public Benefits Trust Fund in last month’s issue (“Lack of Transparency Dogs Community Trust Fund”). Potrero Hill residents and dues-paying members of the Potrero Boosters Neighborhood Association deserve to be told the full story about any conflicts in how the fund is being managed. Hopefully the association approached the creation of the fund in a manner consistent with ethical practices.

I receive the Booster’s monthly newsletters that highlight the most mundane of permit applications. How did the newsletter fail to mention the sensitive negotiations with a developer on behalf of the community? How is this not worthy of disclosure?

According to the View’s story, a legal loophole has made the benefactors of the fund confidential. Only those doling out the money or those receiving funds benefit from this

secrecy.

Justin Hughes Pennsylvania Street

Dear Editor,

I’m writing about the slant and tone of “Lack of Transparency Dogs Community Trust Fund,” an article about the Eastern Neighborhoods Public Benefits Trust Fund (ENPBTF) in last month’s View. The only entity targeting the fund for “dogging” was the View itself, with a sensationalist and derogatory headline, and the kind of dark and negative conclusion that tends to discourage the public from being informed and participating in community life. I hope to set the record straight in an area discussed in the article in which I played a part.

The article reported that the 18th and Rhode Island Permaculture Garden manager only found out about the fund at a meeting. What occurred was far more intentional, dynamic and community-building. The garden’s teachers/designers/ managers made a presentation, which I helped arrange, at a monthly gathering of the Potrero Boosters Neighborhood Association. The day after the presentation, Keith Goldstein, a fund administrator, visited 18th and Rhode Island on his own initiative, and informed the garden team about the fund.

ENBPTF is mandated to help develop long-term benefits to the community, focusing on open space, education and the environment.

Potrero Hill Democratic Club presents District 10 Supervisor Candidate Forums

Monday & Tuesday, August 2 & 3

Potrero Hill Neighborhood House

953 De Haro Street

6:30 p.m. Meet and greet, refreshments

7:00 p.m. Forum begins

MONDAY AUGUST 2

TUESDAY AUGUST

Goldstein recognized that the 18th and Rhode Island Permaculture Garden had the potential to be a match: an educational demonstration site on a wide open, publicly accessible urban street corner in plain view of the neighborhood.

Eighteenth and Rhode Island had been managed on a shoestring by upcycling waste stream materials, utilizing volunteers and relying on small private donations. The Garden was awarded an ENPBTF grant to expand its operations and educational outreach. Its managers pledged to use monies entirely within the garden or to support similar projects within the eastern neighborhoods.

Everything about this ENBPTF grant was handled in a proactive, above-board, open, fair and appropriate manner.

David Glober Carolina Street

thank You

Dear Editor,

I wanted to thank all of my friends in the neighborhood for showering me with flowers and cards, and stopping by for special visits in the front yard, as I recuperate from my recent fall. All this wonderful support makes me want to work harder to improve Potrero Hill.

I broke my right femur, fractured my pelvis and punctured my hip socket. These were repaired with an eight inch rod, two bolts in the hip joint and a pin. With all this extra hardware in me, gone are the days of climbing ladders to paint houses or kicking up my heels dancing.

Keep up your friendly attitude, Potrero Hill. The Hill is a wonderful place to live.

Babette Drefke Kansas Street

Are you ready to sell your home

There is a strong demand for homes on Potrero hill.

Homes are selling quickly on Potrero Hill at high prices.

The reasons are simple: interest rates are at historic lows and there have been very few Potrero Hill homes on the market this year.

If you’re thinking about selling your home please call me at 710-9000. I’d be happy to provide a free report on the value of your home in today’s market.

Malia Cohen, Kristine Enea, Nyese Joshua, Steve Moss, Eric Smith, Lynette Sweet, Stephen Weber

Isaac Bowers, Chris Jackson, Espanola Jackson, Tony Kelly, DeWitt Lacy, Geoffea Morris, Diane Wesley Smith, Marlene Tran

Moderator: Keith Goldstein, President of Potrero Hill Association of Merchants & Businesses

Get a Job!

By Mauri Schwartz

ertheless, the question is often asked, and you need to be ready for it.

What NOT to say :

I don’t have any weaknesses. This is disingenuous, implying that you don’t take the question seriously.

The View asked Hill resident and career expert Mauri Schwartz, President / CEO of Career Insiders, www.CareerInsiders.com, to answer questions from job seekers. Submit your questions to editor@ potreroview.net.

Q: I’ve been preparing for an interview, but don’t know how to respond to a question that always seems to come up: “What’s your biggest weakness?”

A: This isn’t my favorite question. As far as I can tell, there are three reasons why it’s asked:

At some point it was placed 1. on a list of standard interview questions; interviewers think they’re supposed to ask it, even though they may not know how to evaluate responses.

It can be used to see how a can- 2. didate reacts: what s/he says. In this respect the content of the response is unimportant.

It may come from a sincere de - 3. sire to assess the candidate’s view of her/himself. However, given the competitive nature of interviewing, candidates must opt to present only positive traits.

It’s fascinating that many interviewers continue to ask this question, given that they themselves may dread having to answer it when they’re on the other side of the interview desk. Nev-

I’m a workaholic. This response is intended to convey that you’ll be dedicated to your job, which really isn’t a weakness. It’s on the right track, but not a good response because even if it’s true, it may convey that you have an intense, rigid personality. More likely, the interviewer will assume you’re just taking an easy way out of answering.

What to say:

Think of some aspect of your work style or skill set that you’ve developed over the years as your job has expanded in responsibility. Here are a two examples:

Personality trait – Early in my career, as an individual contributor, I prided myself on being an expert problem solver. I would focus on an issue, analyzing pros and cons, until I came up with the solution. As I’ve assumed leadership roles, I’ve learned that it’s better to delegate. This has increased self-confidence in team members, allowed them to work better as a team, and has resulted in more creative solutions.

Job skill – I was hired by my employer although I had no experience using Excel. I got the job because I had other skills, and the job market was hot. Still, I recognized this was a weakness I couldn’t afford if I wanted to succeed in my job. On my own initiative, I took classes and spent many hours developing expert Excel skills. It was difficult, but now I’m confident I can learn any new skill if I try hard enough.

Answers such as these allow you to respond sincerely and not point out a current weakness. They also give you another opportunity to convey positive traits.

Business Blooms for Potrero Hill Mosaic Artist

By Lori Higa

In the cluttered warren of rooms that’s the Archetile Mosaics studio, in a funky Victorian at the corner of 18th and Tennessee streets, artist Karen Thompson explained the origins of her collection of vintage vitreous tiles, displayed in glass jars on a crowded bookcase. “They were offered to me from the estate of a woman who made mosaics in the ‘50s,” said the artist, “and I snapped them up.”

Originally from Massachusetts, Thompson came to the City in 1977 to study art, ceramics and textiles at San Francisco State University. She and husband Tom moved to the Hill in 1983. After studio-hopping in Potrero Hill, Dogpatch and the Mission, she landed in her current location, where she’s been for five

years. Before launching her custom architectural mosaics and tile business in 1987, Thompson was a clothing designer with a line of women’s ready-to-wear art. She “stopped doing fashion after it wasn’t fun anymore. I started playing around with, and taught myself mosaics.”

At that time few artists were making mosaics, Thompson recalled.

“Now, there are mosaics being created by artists as well as commercial factory production internationally. Today there are even schools dedicated to instruction in mosaic arts as well as volumes of how-to and inspirational books and websites galore!”

Thompson’s work reflects fine detail and highly complex designs inspired by antique florilegium, classical architecture, mythology, religion and fantasy, combined with a “treasure chest” of materials, including travertine, Italian colored glass, beads and semiprecious stones, such as agate, lapis, and tiger’s eye. Thompson’s portfolio reveals many examples of astonishing old world craftsmanship and virtuosity. “As a mosaic

artist, Karen stands alone,” said Jeremy Ongania of Onga Stone & Tile, who lives on Rhode Island Street. Ongania worked with Thompson on installing several projects, including one at McEvoy Olive Oil Ranch.

“I’m not the type who normally gives compliments,” he said, “But what Karen does is amazing, beyond everything, in a category of her own.”

Dogpatchbased architect and interior designer Nestor Matthews, whose studio is on 23rd and Indiana streets, invited Thompson to create a series of niches for a client’s Napa home. “Karen brought a playfulness to the project which was site-specific and featured local flora and fauna,” Matthews related. “She researched the native plants and wildlife and incorporated snakes, bees, butterflies, yellow jackets, lizards and flowers into the work,” he said. “Karen is smart, creative and dedicated to making things work for her clients. I really appreciate the care she brings to a project.”

Not only is Thompson’s work “of the highest quality,” Ongania added, “but she is easy to work with, respects others and will do whatever it takes to make sure her clients are completely satisfied.”

Though most of Thompson’s commissions are high-end residential installations, from water fountains to kitchens, she’s installed a number of impressive large-scale public projects. For Nancy Oakes’ Boulevard restaurant in South Beach, Thompson created an alluring period environment featuring shimmering art nouveau motifs, from outdoor signage to windows and flooring, including a magnificent peacock embedded underfoot. Her work can also

see arChetiLe page 27

Thompson’s work at McEvoy Ranch in Petaluma. Photograph by Rebecca Ford.

Photograph by Kevin Moore.

Locally produced honey all the Buzz

By Lisa Tehrani

De Haro Street resident Jackie Cherry is an aspiring locavore –committed to eating locally and sustainably-grown foods – but her desire to be an urban beekeeper is rooted in her deep love of the earth and all its creatures. “I have a backyard vegetable garden, and became interested in honeybees after reading about Colony Collapse Disorder. Entire colonies are disappearing at an alarming rate, not just here in the U.S., but throughout Europe as well. Honeybees are responsible for

the pollination of about one-third of the U.S. crop species: almonds, apples, cucumbers, the list goes on and on. In essence, if we want to continue to eat fruits and vegetables and see the wildflowers blooming, we need to take care of the bees,” Cherry said.She got busy with bees after her spouse, Beth Freeman, brought home a small jar of individually-tended honey she received as a Christmas gift. “There was such a huge difference in the honey…and the stuff you buy at Safeway. It was the best honey I’ve ever tasted,” she explained. Cherry has tended her garden for 17 years, complete with tomatoes, cherries, figs, lemons and grapes. Despite its abundance, she figured it could accommodate a beehive or two.

“When I first said that I would like to have a beehive Beth said, ‘Oh no, we can’t do it,’” Cherry recalled. Freeman was initially concerned that beekeeping might pose risks to their then three-yearold daughter, Firefly. She also worried about how the neighbors would react.

Cherry started by hosting a hive that belonged to another beekeeper, but quickly learned that she preferred to be the primary caretaker. A newfound passion took over, but not without a learning curve. In 2009 when Cherry was hosting the other beekeeper’s hive, “I looked out the window and

Beekeeping 101: A healthy colony has between 40,000 and 60,000 bees in the spring and summer – the height of bee season. A modern beehive consists of several boxes called supers. In the supers are eight to 10 frames on which the bees build the wax comb. The bottom two or three supers are where the queen lays her eggs and the brood is reared. During a nectar flow, honey supers with empty frames or previously drawn honeycomb are placed on top of the brood boxes. As the season progresses and the frames are filled, the beekeeper adds more supers. It’s harvest time when the hexagonal cells, each filled with honey, are sealed with wax. Photograph by Elizabeth Freeman.

was amazing and beautiful and a part of nature I had never seen before. And there it was, right in the middle of the City. I had to make friends with the neighbors and explain that I’d be more careful. If a colony is strong, its natural desire is to procreate. The colony produces a new queen and sends out scouts to check the surrounding area for a temporary abode. Half the colony left and those bees decided to stop in a tree two houses down on Rhode Island Street.”

The beehive and what was left of the colony was returned to its owner. Cherry traveled to Santa Cruz to purchase her own bees. “It does not

pounds of surplus – more than the bees’ needed to survive – honey.

Cherry’s neighbors were initially worried about having beehives –which are legal – next door. She largely assuaged these concerns by applying proper bee management techniques. Bees need protection from the wind and the hot afternoon sun, and an ongoing supply of fresh water. Hives should be oriented so that the bees fly up and high over heads and patios, which can be done by placing the hive near fences, trees and tall shrubs.

Firefly, age 4, helps keep her family’s beehives.

Photograph by Jackie Cherry.

streets from page 11

cember, 1848, President James Polk, in his final state of the union address, held up a large chunk of gold from California and said, “The accounts of the abundance of gold in that territory are of such an extraordinary character as would scarcely command belief were they not corroborated by the authentic reports of officers in the public service…”

That pretty much did it, triggering the greatest mass migration of the nineteenth century. At the height of the Gold Rush, during the summer of 1849, an ad appeared in the newspaper, Alta California, inviting people to inspect the lands of South San Francisco. They were referring to Potrero Hill, not yet a part of San Francisco. The ad was placed by Townsend and a recent emigrant, Cornelius De Boom. They were ready to sell full blocks of Potrero Hill, and they laid out the streets, probably with O’Farrell’s help.

Even before California became a state, Potrero Hill emerged as an intersection of California and the United States. Streets running north and south on the Hill were named after states; east-west streets were California counties. El Dorado, Butte, Santa Clara, Napa, and Sierra crossed paths with Pennsylvania, Texas, Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin. Some say it was a land grab, to steal De Haro’s property. But more likely De Haro knew his hold on the land was tenu-

ous, and it was time to sell. O’Farrell and Townsend both knew De Haro, who had aged fast after the death of the twins. Townsend and De Boom put on a patriotic display of marketing genius. Merging the United States with the counties of California would surely attract homesick easterners with pockets full of gold to establish their homesteads with their newfound riches.

built on Pennsylvania Street. In 1849, there were no streets, except on paper; by 1850, that changed too.

Potrero Hill’s street names were a culmination of patriotism born at the height of the Gold Rush; a true monument of San Francisco history, later decimated by the Post Office.

But it didn’t work out the way it was planned. The lots didn’t sell; they were too far away from the City’s center. De Haro died in November 1849 and was buried at Mission Dolores. His family fought for years to maintain control of the land, but they lost that too. Squatters came and established their own rights to the land. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where De Haro’s heirs lost in 1866. Those who lived on Potrero Hill celebrated the victory by building bonfires at the top of the Hill, which could be seen all over San Francisco.

What survived were the street names. Industry was just establishing itself along the eastern shoreline, centered at Michigan, Illinois and Kentucky streets. St Teresa’s Church was built on Tennessee Street, and homes were constructed along Iowa Street. Later on, larger houses were

The Hill’s lower streets may have been named after the states through which Townsend traveled, with extra-wide Pennsylvania Street getting special treatment as his home state. However, some streets were not even states yet, including Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Utah. Wisconsin Street, over the top of the Hill, was admitted to the union in May, 1848. Iowa, Texas, Florida, Michigan, Arkansas, Missouri, in reverse order, were all recently admitted. But Townsend was never near Texas or Florida, and Florida Street didn’t even appear on maps until long after 1849. De Boom arrived from Venezuela, O’Farrell came to San Francisco from Ireland via Chile, and Francisco De Haro was born in Mexico and never traveled beyond California. For all anyone knows, Townsend, De Boom, De Haro, and O’Farrell drew cards in a late night poker game and filled out a grid. Some early maps show Delaware Street changing to De Haro Street after his death, a sign of respect towards the first alcalde. Delaware Street was then relegated to the watery depths east of Michigan Street.

The east-west county street names survived until 1895. New streets

were being developed and named all over the City as San Francisco’s borders expanded. The U.S. Post Office couldn’t keep track of all the streets; they implored the Board of Supervisors to simplify the street grids. The numbered streets that began downtown had curved around into the Mission area. But the street grid didn’t line up exactly, so a few county streets survived. Mariposa, Alameda, Marin and Amador continue to bear traffic today. On the maps, Sierra Street reached the Mission from the bay, but topography doomed it to a small stub between Texas and Missouri. Even little El Dorado Street survived until the Mission Bay project pushed it into oblivion.

Potrero Hill’s street names were a culmination of patriotism born at the height of the Gold Rush; a true monument of San Francisco history, later decimated by the Post Office. Perhaps now, with the invention of new-fangled computers, the Post Office could let us restore the Hill’s original county street names. California’s future was uncertain in 1849; it would be another year before being admitted into the Union. But Potrero Hill was the first new neighborhood in San Francisco, and the streets foretold the news that California and the United States would forever be intertwined. To restore Potrero Hill’s original street names could once again capture the excitement of the Gold Rush and stoke the imaginations of San Franciscans to newly appreciate our amazing history.

arChetiLe from page 24

Thompson’s breathtaking artistry graces Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma in a series of mosaic panels featuring the Virgin Mary, the Jesus child, angels and doves, done in a style reminiscent of Orthodox iconography. Another stunning Thompson creation is located in an outdoor garden at McEvoy Ranch in Petaluma: a large, circular patio “carpet” of Chinese pebbles. The mosaic is a modern interpretation of a traditional Chinese design, and incorporates Spanish roof tiles, filled in with a terra cotta-colored Indian slate. For local musicians Moonalice – formerly the Flying Other Brothers – Thompson created a wonderland of 1960s psychedelia tile work in their secluded Woodside recording studio, incorporating nods to renowned rock ‘n’ roll poster artist Rick Griffin’s signature “eyeball” art.

A “serious” gardener at home, which is a “tiny earthquake cottage”

at 19th and DeHaro streets, Thompson enjoys working with images from nature. She finds special inspiration in the antique botanical art prints known as florilegium. According to Thompson, these trace their roots back to the days before cameras and photography, when royalty and aristocracy inventoried their wealth by hiring artists to paint and draw all the plants and flowers in their gardens. Thompson pays homage to their subtle aesthetics with scientific accuracy, recreating her own florilegium in painstaking detail for custom mosaics. Thompson’s creativity extends to inventing new techniques, such as laminating beads into solid tile pieces that project a luminous, diaphanous quality.

Helping Thompson for the past 12 years is Mary Grae, who is leaving this month to return to college. In addition, Thompson’s husband works full-time by her side, providing support, “and doing a lot of stuff I don’t like to do,” she commented with a smile. Hailing from Rochester, NY, Tom has a degree in mechanical engineering from UC Berkeley. “He wears many hats at Archetile...from doing a lot of the pattern drafting, stone and glass cutting, running shipping, sanitation and maintenance departments, as well as installation work and being the on-site chef. Invaluable services all!”

Thompson’s next commission is for a garden in Carmel with a Lord of the Rings-inspired theme on which she’ll labor for the next six to eight months.

For more information: www.archetile.com; 355.1594.

sible it is to become afraid of them. I thought bees were prone to attack and they are not.” Cherry explained that most people don’t know the difference between a honeybee and a yellow jacket, which do tend to be aggressive and annoying.

Although beekeepers need to influence swarms and flight patterns, it’s bee poop that can be the biggest annoyance. Potrero Hill residents are used to the black grime that collects on window sills and porches from bus and highway exhaust. Organic as it might be, yellow specks of bee poop on cars and windows aren’t generally appreciated. A good beekeeper might be able to prevent a swarm, but even the most talented beekeeper can’t prevent their bees from pooping.

Cherry processes the honey in her kitchen, careful to keep the environment clean. The two-day task involves extracting the honey from the comb, straining and bottling. She uses a barrel-like contraption that spins the honey out of the comb, three frames at a time, with centrifugal force. In temperatures below 75 degrees it’s a challenge to work with the viscous honey, so she straps heating pads to the extractor to help it flow.

Potrero Hill produces “champagne honey,” a term used due to its light hue and mild, yet complex, flavor. With its countless backyard gardens, the Hill is rich in biodiversity, and has the best weather for beekeeping in San Francisco. “We didn’t realize that Potrero Hill honey is so highly sought after,” Cherry explained. According to Cherry, the bees collect nectar from whatever plants are in bloom, and can travel within a radius of up to three miles to forage. The De Haro Street bees have already had an impact on the local ecosystem: a nearby old avocado tree has begun producing fruit after years of dormancy.

In addition to being delicious, honey is known for its anti-inflammatory properties, and is a natural cough suppressant. Many people claim that local honey is great for allergies because it exposes your body to the local pollens, and helps build a natural resistance.

Just

ask Claudia.

Local honey is also helping the greater community. Using a $750 grant from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, an Episcopal

seminary in Berkeley, Cherry launched an effort to market her honey. The profit from honey sales goes to St. John’s Episcopal Church Julian Pantry, where Cherry serves as a deacon, to buy food from Potrero Hill-based San Francisco Food Bank. That successful endeavor led to two more grants from the Episcopal Church, which has enabled further growth. Julian Pantry beehives are now located in the Portola and Outer Richmond neighborhoods.

“I thought it was such a genius idea,” said Freeman. “We have a global food problem, half of it has to do with big ag [agriculture], chemicals and the environment, and the other half is sociopolitical. And the honey bees are in trouble,” Cherry added, “We need bees to grow food; we keep bees, they make honey, we sell honey to benefit the Julian Pantry so we can give healthy food to hungry people. It’s pure local honey,

to ensure that you get the best deal possible.

Claudia

ClaudiaSiegel@zephyrsf.com

people don’t think twice about giving $10 for a half pound jar.”

With three backyard hives in production, Cherry also makes her own private label, “Firefly’s Own Potrero Hill Honey,” which is available to friends and sold at M&M Market, also on De Haro Street. The market sells-out within days of receiving a new supply. “People just love it, they always ask about it and we’ve never had any complaints about it. They say it is the best honey they’ve ever had. We run out so quick,” said Frank Hernandez, M&M Market’s owner.

Cherry plans on producing honey well into the future. “I love it. I’ve also become a bee evangelist; a couple of my friends have backyard hives now, and some who don’t will! I like spreading the good news of the bees.”

For more information on local beekeeping opportunities, visit San Francisco Beekeeper’s Association: http://www.sfbee.org, San Francisco Urban Beekeeping Group, http:// www.meetup.com/SFbeeks/.

hoNeY from page 25

A preliminary mosaic design in Thompson’s studio. Photograph by Kevin Moore.

Fresh “Firefly’s Own” honey ready for sale. Photograph by Lisa Tehrani.

BAYVIEW POLICE STATION CAPTAIN’S COMM u NITY M EETING is held on the first Tuesday of each month in the Bayview Police Station Community Room at 201 Williams Street. Enter through the Newhall Street door. Next meeting: August 3rd, 6 p.m.

DOGPATCH N EIGHBORHOOD A SSOCIATION usually meets the second Tuesday of each odd-numbered month. Next meeting September 14, 7 to 9 p.m., 654 Minnesota Street. Voting membership is open to anyone living in or owning property or a business in Dogpatch. For more information or to join/pay online: mydogpatch.org.

MCK INLEY SQuARE COMM u NITY GROu P is a communication and discussion group regarding events and activities, clean up days, improvement and beautification, and other concerns, such as crime in the neighborhood. Next board meeting, including board elections: August 11th from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Downtown High School, 693 Vermont Street. Board meetings open to the public. Visit www.mckinleysquare.com for more information.

POTRERO BOOSTERS meets the last Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. (social time begins at 6:30 p.m.) in the wheelchair-accessible Game Room of the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House, 953 De Haro Street. For more information: www.potreroboosters.org or email president@ potreroboosters.org. Next meeting: August 31st.

POTRERO HILL ASSOCIATION OF MERCHANTS & BuSINESSES

meets the second Tuesday of each month at 10 a.m. at Goat Hill Pizza, corner of Connecticut and 18th streets. Visit www.potrerohill.biz or call 341.8949. Next meeting: August 10th, 10 a.m.

POTRERO H ILL DEMOCRATIC CLu B meets the first Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. at the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House, 953 De Haro Street. For more information: 648.6740, www. PHDemClub.org. Next meeting: August 3rd, 7 p.m.

POTRERO H ILL GARDEN CLu B usually meets the last Sunday of the month at 11 a.m. for a potluck lunch in a local home or garden. Discussions are held on organic, edible, or ornamental gardening appropriate for Potrero Hill’s microclimate. Call 648.1926 for details.

STARR K ING OPENSPACE The next Starr King Openspace Board of Directors Meeting is on Tuesday, August 17th, 6:30 p.m. at the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House, 953 De Haro Street. Board meetings are open to the public. While time will be set aside for public comment, the Board may reserve some agenda items for closed session discussion. The Starr King Openspace Volunteer Work Day is held on the 3rd Saturday of each month, excluding holidays. Meet your neighbors, get some fresh air, and come care for this unique oasis of nature in the heart of the big city. Next Volunteer Work Day: August 21st, 9 a.m. to noon. Meet on the Openspace along Carolina Street, across from Starr King Elementary School. For more information: www. starrkingopenspace.org; email the Board of Directors at starrkingboard@gmail.com; voice mail 415-6336-SKO (756).

Please Join Us

The Rebuild Potrero

Community Building Group and Project Team cordially Invite all Potrero Hill residents to join us and your neighbors for two fun-filled and informative community events

Community Garden Focus Group

Saturday, August 14, 2010 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

❀

Learn about different types of community gardens and share your ideas for the new gardens at Potrero Terrace & Annex. Snacks & beverages provided.

Breakfast All Day • Lunch • Catering

Monday thru Friday 9 am to 5 pm

Saturday 10 am to 2:30 pm

Community Work Day & Free Outdoor Movie Night

Saturday, August 21, 2010

2 p.m. ‘til the movie ends

2

pm: Work + fun activities for kids 6

pm: Dinner 8 – 9:30 pm: The Princess & The Frog Bring blankets for movie time!

Help build and install an irrigated raised-bed garden behind the Family Resource Center (85 Turner Terrace) and start prep work for a larger garden on Texas St.

Please contact us at (415) 321-4011 or email potrero@bridgehousing.com

Kites and music and Peace of mind, Oh my!

patri from front page

Stackpole and Gottardo Piazzoni. Patri worked as an illustrator for newspapers (including the Chronicle and the Western Worker), book publishers, and many Bay Area unions and political groups. His brochures, leaflets and posters included This Is the Story of One Man and As a Trade Unionist I Hereby Pledge. In 1939, he published what many consider his masterpiece, the wordless graphic novel White Collar Largely autobiographical, the central character is an illustrator whose family becomes homeless. Patri felt that the economic crises of the Great Depression, disillusionment with capitalism and the possibilities of labor union fellowship made the book necessary. Patri describes how the book began, “One day a friend handed me a paper proclaiming a solution to the all-pervasive social and economic problems. Naturally I became very excited. I wanted to be part of a movement that promised to solve our desperate situation...

Donation Based Yoga At Divine Essence

In April 2010, Potrero Hill’s Divine Essence Yoga, celebrated its first birthday and officially became a predominantly donation based studio. The founders of Divine Essence are Integral Yoga trained instructors and thus come from a lineage tradition that emphasizes selfless service (Karma Yoga). In keeping with their commitment to serve the community and make yoga more affordable, 95% of the classes are by donation.

Day Instructor Type of Class Times Fee

MondayTim Hatha 9:00amBy Donation

MondayAnneVinyasa Flow6:30pmBy Donation

TuesdayLauraHatha 9:00amBy Donation

TuesdayDanielHatha 6:45pmBy Donation

WednesdayPninaKripalu 9:00amBy Donation

WednesdayGinnyHamsa 6:30pmBy Donation

ThursdayMelanieHatha 9:00amBy Donation

ThursdayPninaYoga & Sound7:00pmSliding Scale $10-$15

FridayAnneYin Yoga9:00amBy Donation

SundayMarilynPre-Natal10:30amSliding Scale $10-$15

When the NRA appeared on the scene under the aegis of the New Deal, many white collar workers objected strenuously to any attempts to organize into labor unions. Hence, White Collar.” Engraving, printing, binding and distributing the book with help from his wife Stella and his young sons Piero and Remo took several years. A new edition of the book was published in 1975.

In the late 1940s, Patri served as chair of the art department and taught at the California Labor School, a school for workers underwritten by many trade unions, as well as the Crocker, Strauss, and Hallinan families. Artists Emmy Lou Packard and Jean Varda taught there as well. Patri said, “It was there that my contact with the working man developed my philosophy that the human organism is essentially a creative unit.” Trade skills

were taught, but the most popular classes were in the arts. It’s estimated that 40 percent of the students were African American. Red scare tactics of the McCarthy era closed the school in 1957. Undeterred, Patri opened his own school on Grove Street later that year, The Patri School of Art Fundamentals, which

was aimed at teaching adults who had no art training. Patri explained “As an artist I met so many people who said, ‘Ah, I wish I could draw, paint or sculpt.’...In our school, there is no competition among students. Each one competes only with himself, building on what he has done before, moving ahead at his own pace.’” Patri retired from teaching in 1968.

The Potrero View nameplate Giacomo Patri designed first appeared in the September 1973 issue. Ruth Passen recalls the everyone loved it from the start “... and the artist was from here!” Cleverly, the nameplate both names and becomes the view itself. View archivist Abby Johnston notes that the waves were a February 1978 addition. The nameplate’s assertive lettering is reminiscent of Parti’s powerful White Collar of 1939; Patri’s activism continues in the View’s engagement with economic and social issues today.

Kite-flying is just one of the many activities that people enjoy at Starr King Openspace during warm weather. From practicing Tai Chi to playing a musical instrument, residents take advantage of the relaxing setting and sweeping views offered by our very own natural oasis atop Potrero Hill. Photograph courtesy of Starr King Openspace.

An image from White Collar by Giacomo Patri, “A Novel in Linocuts,” Celestial Arts, 1975.

sufficient service to Potrero Hill. The few bus lines that traversed the neighborhood came infrequently, creating long waits to travel on crowded buses. The 19 Polk, 22 Fillmore, 53, and 48 were the only bus lines that travelled through parts of the Hill; the 53 stopped running at 7:15 p.m. because of a lack of ridership. Muni time tables claimed that these buses reach every stop within 15 to 20 minutes, but “many riders

Fr. Peter Sammon to Celebrate Golden Anniversary As a Priest, 27 Years as Pastor at St.Teresa’s, May 1997

Sammon was honored for his lifetime of service to San Francisco and Potrero Hill. The pastor had worked at a Bay Area high school and San Francisco State University as a counselor and chaplain before he became part of St.Theresa’s parish council in 1970. Sammon believed that turning the parish into a sanctuary was one of the most important things that had ever happened at the church. The church was involved

from working at the businesses. Out of the 35 units that were targeted for artists, an estimated 15 units were being used as office space. The association wanted “the owners to obey the law” and the City to “enforce the Planning and Building codes regarding Live Work City.”

Hill Development Stopped in its Tracks by Supes’ 8-3 Vote, May 2001

In an eight to three vote, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors turned down a controversial plan to subdivide a parcel at 19th and De Haro streets, where developers proposed to demolish “the little red house,” making room for eight market rate condominiums. Community members against the development called for protection of the historic structure and nearby birds and butterflies. While Supervisor Sophie Maxwell voted against the project due to an inability of the developers to reach a compromise, Supervisor Aaron Peskin advocated for a denial because the development was in violation of several General Plan policies.

Commission u nanimously Finds Mirant Power Plant Plan Illegal, April 2002

Francisco. The proposal to build a 540 megawatt power plant didn’t comply with the state’s McAteerPetris Act.

Potrero Hill Might Join the Ban on Formula Retail, August 2006

With the opening of Whole Foods Market, there was concern about the impact large retail chain stores would have on the neighborhood’s small businesses. The Potrero Boosters and Merchants associations considered advocating for a limit on formula retail. The proposed policy would control what types of businesses could be established, and would prohibit “formula (chain) retail” stores.

Helipad or No Helipad: That is Still the Question, November 2006

Neighborhoods surrounding San Francisco General Hospital debated for almost two decades whether a helipad should perch atop the City’s number one trauma center. The controversy was re-sparked in 2003 after the San Francisco Health Commission approved a feasibility study that found that a helipad was necessary to address weaknesses in the City’s emergency response system.

San Francisco’s Light Industry Endangered, May 2007

scoffed at the claim of such frequency and regularity.”

New Housing Developments Proposed for Potrero Hill, October 1991

Three new housing developments were closely examined by the Potrero League of Active Neighbors (PLAN). Two of the projects were fairly underway, but the third project was in its early stages and received much criticism from PLAN.

Ten Years Ago: St.Teresa’s Offers Sanctuary, April 1995

St.Teresa’s Church, the only Catholic church in San Francisco to declare itself a sanctuary, announced that “Gloria,” a refugee from El Salvador, would be sheltered by the parish. Father Peter Sammon, St. Teresa’s pastor, said that Gloria’s presence was to be “a reminder to each of us of our personal responsibility to work for peace and justice in the world.”

unanswered Questions

at Heated

Hill Ballpark Meeting, February 1996

The passing of Proposition B was the determining factor in whether the new Giant’s stadium would be located in China Basin. A large percentage of Hill residents were against the proposal, fearing that the new ballpark would increase traffic congestion in the neighborhood. Residents were also concerned about the potential glare from the stadium’s lights and possible commercial uses of the park when baseball wasn’t in season. However, some residents supported the ballpark, believing that its potential benefits outweighed the negative possibilities.

in helping people with moderate incomes, and guiding individuals through the process to become American citizens. Sammon firmly believed the church should serve a larger community than itself, and could do so by helping others in need. Sammon described Potrero Hill as “a neighborly neighborhood in San Francisco” where “there is a real sense of participation.”

Hill Housing Goes Through The Roof

As “New Money” Fuels Real Estate Boom: Many Forced to Look Outside of the Neighborhood, July 1999

The price of housing escalated in Potrero Hill to an all-time high; the affordable real estate prices that the Hill had been known for started to vanish. A two bedroom, one bathroom condominium priced at $386,000 in 1998, jumped to $400,000 in 1999. In 1997 average housing prices rose by 15.9 percent; 24.7 percent in 1998. The days of being able to rent an apartment for under $1,000 were gone, claimed Ford Reality.

Hill Group Blows Whistle On LiveWork to Office Conversions, November 2000

The Potrero Boosters Neighborhood Association wasn’t happy with the use of proposed live-work condominiums that were created by the City to offer artists low-cost housing. Many of theses condos were converted into office space illegally, the association claimed, and they wanted the City to take notice. Other violations included a lack of permits that allowed residential space to be turned into commercial, as well as the unavailability of wheelchair-accessible services, which discriminated against people with disabilities

The Bay Conservation and Development Commission decided in a 19 to zero vote to reject Mirant Corporation’s massive proposed power plant expansion in Southeast San

The Backstreet Business Advisory Board issued recommendations on how to support light industrial enterprises located in Potrero Hill, South of Market, the Central Waterfront and other neighborhoods.

“Goats May be Forced off the Hill” was published in the May 1984 issue. This photograph by Dana Edwards was published later that same year.

art and Music

ATTENTION ARTISTS Goat Hill Pizza is looking for local artists to show their work at the restaurant. Please call Alicia Wong at 415.641.1440 if you are interested.

Business services

GRAPHIC DESIGN/PROMOTION FOR YOUR BUSINESS Web sites new and updates. Ads, Logo/Identity, Display, Brochure, Sell Sheet, Flash Animations, more. On the Hill. www.jcarpinelli.com 415 2825516.

Community activities

SENIORS (60+) DON’T EAT ALONE Join us for daily lunch and add to your social life. Mon-Fri, hot nutritious meals--your first time with us you get a free lunch! Bingo, cards, birthday celebrations, special events, and other activities. For more information, call Dolores Maghari at 415.826.8080. PH Neighborhood House, 953 De Haro St.

AUGUST 14: FREE FINE ARTS+CRAFTS

SHOW TO BENEFIT GULF SEA TUR-

TLES 12-6 pm. Fun for all ages, food, music. Silent auction closes 5 pm. 10 Arkansas St @ 16th St. More info-www.SeaTurtles.org/ArtShow.

HOTTEST AND NEW ANTIQUES & COLLECTIBLES AT CANDLESTICK

PARK Sunday August 15th at Candlestick Park up to 400 booths - free parking. Hours 6am - 3pm. Admission 6am -8 am $15.00 8am - 3pm $5.00. Come find your

CLASSIFIED ADS

treasure. Future dates Sept 26, Oct 24, Nov 28, Dec. 19,2010. www.candlestickantiques.com, 510-217-8696.

education

HOME BUYING SEMINAR Learn how to buy a home in today’s market & get the best loan rate. 1st & 3rd Wed. each mo., 7-8:15pm on Potrero Hill. RSVP: Michelle 415.637.1898, Zephyr RE DRE #01224725.

WANTED: CARPOOL TO LOWELL

HIGH SCHOOL to start Aug. 2010 with new school year. Student is incoming 9th grader. We live near Potrero Hill and the Inner Mission. Call Sue 415-824-0217 if interested.

Garden services

LANDSCAPE DESIGN Growsgreen

Landscape Design offers a custom design for your garden. Award winning designs, featured HGTV designer. Porfolio: www. growsgreen.com, beth@growsgreen.com 415-336-9829.

home services

TOM’S PLUMBING Tom has been satisfying Potrero Hill customers for over 30 years. All plumbing needs handled promptly and efficiently at a very low cost. Keep it local and call Tom Keats: 415-8243538.

HANDYMAN EXTRAORDINAIRE! 20 years experience repair, remodeling. Elec, plumbing, light fix. Anything doors! Double-hung windows. Cabinetry, Decks, staircases MMcQuate@gmail.com. Mike,

WHAT CAN THE VIEW DO FOR YOU?

The best way to reach Dogpatch, Mission Bay, Potrero Hill and SOMA residents, with advertising opportunities that meet all budgets and needs

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Visit www.potreroview.net for rates and more information

(415) 308-2380.

housekeeping

CLEANING PROFESSIONAL. 25 years Experience. Apartments, homes, or offices. Roger Miller, 415-664-0513 or 7944411 9am-5pm.

rentals

SPACIOUS AND BEAUTIFUL Furnished guest garden apartment. Private. 1/2 blk. to restaurants. Non-smoking. 2 people only. 2 night minimum. 415-861-3208.

VACATION RETREAT FOR POTRERO

HILLIANS. Calistoga/St Helena area 3 bdrms 2 baths sleeps 6 (max). Lrg decks w/ views of stream woods & meadow. Frplace w/wood, 30 acres trails, all-year stream. Dogs OK. 3 night wkend=$500 Week=$900. Discount for repeat guests. Photos: spot02. googlepages.com. 415.647.3052.

ACTIVSPACE, FOR ART, HOBBY & BUSINESS. Rent from $395 a month utilities included. Private, Secure, Affordable, 24/7 access. Call Tama for further details 415355-1515.

SPECIAL OCCASION COMING UP? Host your celebration at Slovenian Hall! Great rates and convenient location on Potrero Hill, just off Hwy 101. Ideal for birthdays, graduation or wedding receptions. Capacity up to 250. Space also available for seminars, meetings or classes. Short or long term rentals available. Call 864-9629

Problems fixed! 25 years of industry experience. Personal IT consulting to small businesses or busy professionals. We can install and/or help shop for computer/network/printer or setup/ troubleshoot wireless networks. If you’re not technical, don’t worry - we are. Rob 415.935.3305 rob@sfcomputech.com.

HOW TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED AD:

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MAIL OR CALL IN YOUR AD View Wants Ads 2325 Third Street, Suite 344 San Francisco, CA 94107 415.626.8723 / office@potreroview.net

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