Short Cuts
Live Park
Despite intensive lobbying – including from Potrero Hill Parents Association (PHPA) members who want to maintain full services at Jackson Park – the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission voted to cut $11.4 million from the Recreation and Park Department’s budget. Under the Commission’s proposal, 55 recreation center staff will be laid-off, likely leading to public clubhouses being open only half-time. In response to the proposed reductions, some PHPA members are calling for Live Oak, a private kindergarten to eighth grade school located across the street from Jackson Park, to help pay to keep the facility open. The school, whose charges are heavy park users, doesn’t pay to use the space. However, families whose children attend the school – many of whom live on the Hill – volunteer at park programs. Someone – property owners, businesses, consumers – is going to have to pay more if cherished public services are going to survive the ongoing economic drought. As Kansas Street resident Dale Scott put it, “These are extraordinary times in which all members of the community need to step up and do more, lest the fabric of the community unravel.” Many of San Francisco’s parks, including Dolores Park and Franklin Square, have separate “friends of” committees that raise funds for their namesakes. Perhaps, as suggested by various PHPA members, it’s time to organize the same “friends” for Potrero’s precious open spaces. In the meantime, last month 78 recreation and park workers were handed pink slips, lowering Jackson Park staff to one half-time position.
New Eats
It appears that the space most recently occupied by Baraka, at Connecticut and 18th streets, will be taken over by the owners of the Mission District mainstay Sunflower Authentic Vietnamese. No word yet on a specific restaurant concept or opening date...Jocelyn Bulow, of Chez Papa, Chez Maman, and Chez Papa Resto fame, will open Pizza Nostra in the former Couleur Café space – 300 De Haro Street – this month. Resto’s executive chef, David Bazirgan, created the pizzeria’s menu – which will feature Neapolitan-style pizza and focaccia, along with pastas, small plates, and gelato – and Giovanni Aginolfi, a veteran Italian pizza chef, will man the stoves. Aginolfi, who’s from Naples, arrived roughly two months ago from Europe, where he worked most recently on the French Riviera. The restaurant will be open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and will feature a weekend brunch menu. Delivery may be available by the summer…Two local restaurant owners are collaborating to take over Bernal Heights’ Liberty Café following the death of its longtime owner, Cathie Guntli. Tony Hua, Dogpatch’s Hard Knox Café owner, who opened a new branch of that restaurant on Clement Street last summer, has reportedly teamed-up with Stuart Bai, Sally’s Restaurant Deli’s owner, to purchase Liberty Café. Hua was originally brought in to help with Liberty’s management while Grunti was ill. There are no immediate plans to change the notable restaurant’s recipes or menu, and current employees will likely stay on board.
Police Presence
Additional foot patrols and undercover drug strings appear to have reduced incidences of violence in the San Francisco Police Department’s Bayview District, which includes Dogpatch and Potrero Hill. Compared to last year, the number of homicides dropped by almost one-third, from 20 to 14, though nonfatal shootings were down by only two, from 47 to 49…Unfortunately, violence against outhouses remains largely unabated, with two portable toilets set ablaze at Potrero Hill construction sites last month. One portable potty, located at 17th and Kansas streets, went up in flames shortly after midnight on a weekday, while another, installed at 15th and Kansas, was set ablaze at 4:25 p.m. on a Sunday. To date 24 portable toilets have been attacked; most of the fires have occurred on Russian Hill. It seems someone is angry at shit, though taking it out on the only place construction workers can relieve themselves is odd behavior at best.
Busy Bees
Two colonies of beehives installed last spring at Islais Creek Landing are thriving. Bayview resident Tai Trang introduced the bees to the landing, with the hope that they’d help stabilize native bee populations thought to be adversely affected by a virus. The bees appear to be accomplishing their other objectives: pollinating native plants reintroduced to the landing by Friends of Islais Creek, and discouraging overnight camping.
Death
Mary Francis De Andrade, Goat Hill Pizza owner Philip De Andrade’s mother, died peacefully in Oakland last month. She was 94 years old. The day his mother passed Philip was supposed to have boarded a plane to join U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on a trip to the Vatican, but was called back due to Mary’s steep decline. The Pope may be head of the Catholic Church, but our moms are always the boss of us. Once in Rome none of the Speaker’s entourage were allowed to participate in her meeting with the Pope, greatly diminishing the shine that might otherwise been placed on the trip for Philip. The View extends its condolences to the de Andrade family.
Paper Money
Much appreciated $10 to $50 contributions have been drifting into the View in response to a call for reader donations to help keep the paper afloat during current hard times (see last month’s “Publisher’s View”). Please do see if you might be able to part with a small sum, and post it to 2325 Third Street, Suite 344, San Francisco 94107. In the meantime, you can also help out by patronizing our advertisers, who could use the business. And the paper is looking for a polite and patient Hill resident to help with advertising sales; see the classifieds for detail
