That’s the idea behind JustOneTree (JOT), a program of the San Francisco-based nonprofit Urban Resource Systems. With a goal of fostering community resilience through fruit tree production, JOT is partnering with neighborhood associations, nonprofits and City agencies to achieve sustainability in lemon production. Continue reading
Filed under quality of life
More nightclubs?
To hear tell, business would be booming and we’d all be dancing in the streets if it were not for “the purple building” and “that lady on Norfolk alley who keeps complaining.” Such is the state of denial the California Music and Culture Association (CMAC) lives in as they plot to foment another war between neighbors and nightclubs in South of Market.
The purple building represents the threat of new development adjacent to existing nightclubs and the Norfolk neighbor has been driving the club owners crazy because she keeps asking the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) to enforce the law. Continue reading
Filed under entertainment, meetings, planning, politics, quality of life
By JAMIE WHITAKER
www.rinconhillsf.org
“Recreation and Parks refuses to take the donation of a new park at 333 Harrison Street from Oz Erickson’s Emerald Fund because they refuse to maintain it at $30,000 or so per year. Did I mention that Rincon Hill’s existing buildings contribute about 20 times that amount just to the 2.5 cents per $100 of assessed value Open Space Special Revenue Fund set aside? Instead, SoMa neighborhoods like Rincon Hill are told that we have to form our own non-profits called Community Benefit Districts (CBDs) and tax ourselves a parcel tax in addition to our ad valorem property taxes to take care of any parks in our neighborhoods. When did San Francisco become a supporter of such blatant inequality between geographic regions of the City?” Read more →
Filed under community services, economics, politics, quality of life, social justice
Community Benefit Districts (CBDs) are spreading all over South of Market, spurred on by new residents who are horrified by the detritus of urban living and facilitated by the increasing proficiency of organizations like MJM Management Group to satisfy this newfound need. Continue reading
Filed under community services, quality of life
The term “SRO” freaks people out. They associate it with rundown hotels in the Tenderloin and the tawdry housing found along the Sixth Street corridor. A few years ago, when developers were trying to build projects that at the time were called “market-rate SRO housing,” they were fighting an uphill battle against public perceptions. They’ve found a new champion in Supervisor Scott Wiener and he has come up with new terminology that makes these tiny studio apartments seem less threatening. Continue reading
Filed under community services, open space, planning, politics, quality of life, social justice
Interesting New York Times piece on “hacker hostels,” informal housing establishments that put a new twist on the long tradition of communal housing for tech types by turning it into a commercial enterprise. Coming in the midst of the student housing, smaller minimum unit size and reduction in open space legislation, it makes you wonder if this isn’t what Supervisor Scott Wiener and Mayor Ed Lee have in mind … visit the New York Times to read more.
Filed under planning, politics, quality of life
By ADAM DAVIDSON
The New York Times
When I was about 6, my dad and I were sitting near Wall Street when I asked him why so many men were wearing suits and ties. It was the 1970s, and we lived in Greenwich Village, a place where you could see men wearing almost anything except a suit and tie. My dad, a theater actor, told me that the people on Wall Street cared about money, and as a result, they had to dress formally. I even remember feeling bad for these poor chumps. Read more
Filed under community services, planning, quality of life
Update: The Western SoMa Neighborhood Transportation Plan was approved unanimously by the full Transportation Authority on March 27.
Our friends at the Transportation Authority are preparing to take the Western SoMa Neighborhood Transportation Plan through the board approval process. The report recommends traffic calming and pedestrian improvements to the alleys of Minna, Natoma, and Ringold Streets and signalized mid-block crossings of Seventh and Eighth Streets. You can read the complete plan by following this link.
Filed under community services, meetings, open space, planning, quality of life
SmartSpace® Mission, a green infill projected located at 9th and Mission Streets, will provide 180 units of studios and suites.
Panoramic Interests of Berkeley has proposed an 11 story residential tower at 1321 Mission Street within a block of the new Twitter headquarters on Market Street. The 9th and Mission Street development will be discussed at the March 21 meeting of the SoMa Leadership Council. Continue reading
Filed under entertainment, meetings, planning, quality of life
Matthew Bajko, the Bay Area Reporter’s political correspondent, covers the SoMa Leadership Council’s upcoming entertainment summit in his latest column. “I have absolutely endorsed an entertainment zone for 11th Street,” said gay Entertainment Commissioner Glendon Hyde, also known as drag queen Anna Conda. “It is time to really be loud and proud about our culture and make sure it doesn’t disappear for condos.”
Jim Meko, chair
SoMa Leadership Council
Filed under entertainment, planning, politics, quality of life
soma leadership council 