Next Meeting – January 31
Potrero Hill Neighborhood House
953 DeHaro Street (at Southern Heights)

6:45 pm Social
7:00 pm Business Meeting
Introductions / Welcome to New Members
Police Report
7:25 pm Neighborhood Issues
“Interim Controls” from the Planning Dept.
Potrero Hill Playground Survey
Potrero HIll Schools Update
8:05 pm Break
8:15 pm Daggett Triangle development update

President’s Message

Public Hearing ALERTS
Depending on your point of view, next week has given us in the neighborhood a number of, shall we say, opportunities to join the public discourse, or if you prefer, cases where we better speak up at City Hall or we’re gonna get ripped off. It all depends on how you look at it.

ALERT #1
The Entertainment Commission
Monday, January 30, 5 pm, City Hall Room 400
Remember the Rolling Stones concert last November, heard loud and clear whether you were at SBC Park or not? Remember how the Entertainment Commission promised that the volume problems would be fixed by Tuesday, and they weren’t? The Entertainment Commission is finally holding a special hearing about their handling of the concert’s sound permits Monday at 5 p.m. in Room 400, City Hall. We’re told that “representatives from the Giants, the Police Department and the City Attorney’s office will be there to discuss the issue and what steps have been taken to ensure noise levels don’t exceed permitted levels in the future.”

It’s really important to show up in person at hearings like this, live bodies are more forceful than cards and letters; and the entertainment commission has already gained a reputation for ignoring neighborhood concerns.

ALERT #2
SF Refuse Ratepayer Advocate
Wednesday, February 1, 1-4.30 pm, City Hall Room 408
Garbage collection rates that Norcal (Sunset Scavenger) charges to residents of San Francisco must be approved by the City. The rate application is reviewed and analyzed by City staff and consultants, and a series of public workshops and hearings are held.

Currently, Norcal is requesting a 38% increase in garbage rates over five years.

Public input during this process is extremely important.
The Refuse Ratepayer Advocate position was created in order to ensure that San Francisco ratepayers are fairly represented during the rate application process to answer your questions as a ratepayer and to coordinate presentation of our concerns at public workshops and hearings. The Advocate’s role is to analyze the rate application and relevant reports, disseminate information to ratepayers, assist the City in public outreach, and represent ratepayers at public meetings.

Based on earlier public review, Norcal has already reduced the proposed rate increase slightly – by about 2% to 3% over the 5-yr period depending on the alternative considered. The proposed rate increase went down during the first year by about 4% to 5%, so the increase is somewhat more gradual. Keep up the pressure!

The final public workshop to discuss the rate application is set for Wednesday, February 1, from 1 to 4.30 pm in Room 408 of City Hall. If you want a copy of the final rate application, please contact Linda@SFRefuseRatepayerAdvocate.com.

ALERT #3
Fake ‘Interim Controls’ at the Planning Commission
Thursday, February 16, 1.30 pm, City Hall Room 400
The Planning Department’s efforts to implement community-based planning in the Eastern Neighborhoods, including Showplace Square/Lower Potrero Hill and the Central Waterfront, have been stalled in an Environmental Impact Report process for nearly two years now. Interim controls for the areas prepared by Supervisor Sophie Maxwell’s office have expired, so new interim controls are necessary while the re-zoning process is completed.

However, the Planning Department staff has proposed a dangerously vague and ill-considered set of interim controls, and the Planning Commission is set to consider them on February 16 without any interest in community input or response. If you read the proposed controls, it’s easy to see why some developers and their friends at Planning would prefer to rush them through. We’ll discuss the proposed controls more at Tuesday’s Boosters meeting, and we’ll work on bringing more public pressure on the Planning Department to complete community-based planning with the community.

Congratulations to Daniel Webster and Starr King Schools, Shame on the SFUSD for closing Maxwell
After another year of clumsy outreach efforts and ignorant planning, the SF Unified School District chose once again to close schools on the eastern side of the City. In a stunning example of neighborhood organization and local pride, Potrero Hill parents – many without kids old enough to be in school – banded together to save Daniel Webster Elementary and Starr King Elementary Schools from the proposed closure/merger list. Their campaign attracted city-wide attention, and special notices from the Board of Education. Congratulations to them for their truly special effort!

(In a different vote, the Board of Education responded to neighborhood public pressure with head-slapping ignorance: after hearing numerous complaints about the wisdom of merging Enola Maxwell Middle School with the International Studies Academy High School, the Board decided to move ISA to Maxwell . . . and close Maxwell Middle School at the end of this year, with no public process or community input whatsoever.)

The Potrero Hill parents behind the saving of the elementary schools are already planning next steps for supporting neighborhood public schools. Those steps are likely to include:

• A victory party for current and future Webster and Starr King staff and families, Potrero residents and merchants
• Volunteers in the classroom (these teachers work long hours and could use help so more of their time is spent on the students)
• Program research and development

To join the Potrero Hill Parents’ Association efforts to improve our neighborhood schools, contact them through their website, www.savewebster.com.

Congratulations to the Green Trust
Dogpatch Neighborhood Association, working closely with some good-citizen developers, the Neighborhood Parks Council, and city agencies, launched the GreenTrust earlier this month. They are hosting a “post-launch” organizing/dinner meeting at 6:30 PM on Thursday, February 9, at 2255 Third Street. The focus of the meeting will be to name a temporary steering committee, and chart out their next steps. Congratulations to them for starting a new and important planning process. Get involved with them if you can, and soon you can check out their new web site (designed by Booster Ralph Wilson), www.greentrustsf.org.

Next Meeting – November 29

6:45 pm Social
7:00 pm Business Meeting Introductions / Welcome to New Members Police Report
7:20 pm Supervisor Sophie Maxwell Q &A (rescheduled from October)
7:55 pm Break 8:05 pm Martin Building Co. – 3rd and 19th Streets Discussion and vote on development

And Later Next Week …
Sunday, December 4, 3–6 pm, Axis Cafe, 1201 8th Street The Potrero Boosters Holiday Party — free food and drink from Axis Cafe’s chefs, homemade eggnog, a warm fireplace and an outdoor patio.

Welcome to Albert Pardini, new SFPD Captain at Bayview Station
From the new captain’s email of November 10:

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and tell you that I was very pleased to be chosen as the new captain of Bayview Station. I started my twentyfourth year in the department today and I look forward toworking with the community to make the area a safer place to live and work. During the last twenty-three years, I have spent eighteen years at district police stations (Central, Southern, Taraval, Mission, Northern, and Tenderloin), two years as an investigator in the departments Internal Affairs division and most recently, three years in the Administration Bureau as the commanding officer of the Planning Division.

Captain Pardini begins his tenure on Saturday November 26. We look forward to working with him!

Potrero Hill Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT)
The goal of the SFFire Department’s NERT program is to help the residents of San Francisco be self sufficient in a major disaster situation. Neighbors receive free training in basic hands-on disaster skills that will help them as members of an emergency response team, or as aleader directing untrained volunteers during an emergency, allowing them to act independently or as an adjunct to City emergency services.

Thanks to Lynn Jacklevich, Potrero Hill’s NERT coordinator, the next course of free NERT classes begin Saturday, January 28 at St. Teresa’s Church at 19th and Connecticut.

NERT Training – SATURDAYS from 9am - 4pm
January 28, February 4, February 11
To enroll, go to www.sfgov.org/site/sfnert_form.asp?id=18563 or call 970-2024, and provide your name, phone number, location and start date of class. Enrollment is limited.

Martin Building Co. project – 3rd and 19th Streets
At this month’s Booster meeting we’ll be discussing and perhaps voting on whether to support the Martin Building Company’s proposal for 3rd and 19th Streets.

Booster member Susan Eslick writes:

Many of you are familiar with the proposed project for 2225-55 Third St. from Martin Building Co.; they have presented at many of our meetings over the past 18 months; made numerous revisions, heard our concerns and made more revisions. I like this project. I think this project and the Esprit project are examples of really good, innovative and interesting design that our community should demand from developers.

Here are some of the project details:
• 50′ height on Third and 65′ on Illinois,
• Approx. 182 units of studio, 1, 2, & 3 bedroom rental
• Approx. 1-1 parking,
• 20K square feet of Third St. ground floor neighborhood serving retail, with a subsidized grocery store serving good produce and food products
• Preservation of 2 historic on site warehouses in combination with new modern architecture, on site open space for residents, street independent entrances on Illinois Street, 3 pedestrian entrances along Third St., walk pass through from Third St. to Illinois
• On site daycare for both tenants and neighbors, push for city car share program, new green public pocket plazas along Illinois St, GreenTrust open space project linked to project.

Martin Building Co. is a local company based in SF since 1989, specializing in historic preservation and adaptive reuse. You can see examples of their work at 410, 418, 424 Jessie St., 54 Mint St. and the four buildings surrounding the Old Mint. For additional information contact: Michael Yarne, Martin Building Co. 415.348.4620.

Help shut down the Potrero Power Plant!
At the Boosters, we’ve been working for years to shut down the dirty and obsolete Mirant power plant. Here’s one of our best chances to do so.

Mirant’s Potrero plant uses water from San Francisco Bay for cooling; their permit to do so is up for review, and the “responsible” agency, the Regional Water Quality Control Board, has delayed permit review for six yearsand proposes further delays.

A long-overdue permit review can help protect the Bay, require dry cooling of the plant in the future, and gain added assurance that the plant will shut down in the near future. Please spread the word and attend the City’s public meeting on Mirant’s Bay discharge permit.

6:30 pm, Wednesday, November 30, 2005
SF City Hall, Room 201

Protect the Bay and Potrero Hill!

City Planning
BLDG PERMIT APPLICATION #2005.04049078: Demolition & #2005.04049074, New Construction: 791 SAN BRUNO/20th Sts. Propose to demolish existing structures and build a 3-story over 2 car garage single family home that will be 39 ft high, have a 6 ft front setback, a 33 ft rear yard and use 10 feet of street right of way asaside yard in an RH-2 , 40-X zone. Contact: Jon Purvis, Planner, ph: 558-6345.

BLDG PERMIT APPLICATION #2005.10195963: 2490 3rd/20th Sts. Change of Use from “Personal Service” to “Bar”. No parking. In a NC2, 50–X zone. Contact: Edgar Oropeza, Planner, ph: 558-6409.

BLDG PERMIT APPLICATION #20055.09082345: 624 De Haro/18th Sts. Proposed 42 sq. ft. garage in front of existing 2-story single family house in a RH-2, 40-X zone. Contact: J. Banales, Planner; ph: 558-6339.

BLDG PERMIT APPLICATION #2003.12313217: 909 Wisconsin/ Madera Sts. Legalize the reconfigur-ation of existing illegal 4 units, including the front & rear stairs in an RH-2, 40-X zone. A variance is required for front stairs. Contact: Mat Snyder,Planner; ph: 575-6891.

BLDG PERMIT APPLICATION #9926483: 721 San Bruno Ave/20th St. Proposed front alteration vertical and rear addition to existing 2 story over base-ment single family house. Bldg height 35 ft 6 in, 33 ft rear yard, & one parking space in an RH-2, 40-X zone. Contact: Mat Snyder, Planner; ph: 575-6891.

Notice of availability of Preliminary Mitigated NEGATIVE DECLARATION, Case #2004.0724E, 184 Hooper St/7th, 8th, Channel, Carolina Sts: Project proposes to convert 9,000 sq ft warehouse to school use & construct a new 2-story, 22,000 sq ft warehouse style bldg & parking for 12 cars in an MC-2, 50-X zone. Contact: Leigh Kienker, Environmental Review Planner, ph: 558-5970.

Next Meeting – September 27
6:45 pm Social
7:00 pm Business Meeting
Introductions / Welcome to New Members
Police Report
7:30 pm Neighborhood Issues
Enola D. Maxwell Middle School
Potrero Hill Neighborhood House
7:50 pm Break
8:00 pm City Attorney Dennis Herrera

October is Potrero Hill Month

Sunday, October 2, 11 am, 18th and Tennessee Streets
Free History Tour of Dogpatch and Potrero Point

Saturday, October 8, 3-5 pm, Potrero Branch Library, 20th and Connecticut Streets
Booksigning for Images of America: San Francisco’s Potrero Hill with the Potrero Hill Archives Project

Saturday, October 15, 9 am - 5 pm, Southern Heights between Carolina and Rhode Island Streets
15th Annual Potrero Hill Festival (pancake breakfast at the Neighborhood House from 9-11 am)

Saturday, October 22, 6 pm, Enola D, Maxwell Middle School
6th Annual Potrero Hill History Night, sponsored by the Potrero Hill Association of Merchants and Businesses and the Potrero Boosters

Congratulations and Thanks to the Potrero Hill Archives Project for ‘Images of America: San Francisco’s Potrero Hill’
The Potrero Hill Archives Project has worked for more than 20 years gathering photos, artifacts, and oral histories of Potrero Hill’s past. Lester Zeidman, writing in The Potrero View, picks up the story from there:

“When Dogpatch became a Historical District, the editors of Arcadia Publishing, which specializes in local and regional histories of communities around the United States, started looking for authors to do a book about Potrero Hill. Their search came to fruition with Peter Linenthal, director of the Potrero Hill Archives Project, and Abigail Johnston, managing editor of The Potrero View.

“Now after two years of painstaking research and photo gathering, Peter and Abby have debuted the first chronological photo history of Potrero Hill.

“Images of America: San Francisco’s Potrero Hill contains amazing details and beautiful, rarely seen photographs all displayed proudly in a handsome paperback edition. The book begins in Ohlone Indian times and traces events on the Hill through historical photos, little known facts, old family photos from longtime residents and current day photos of remnants of our past.

“You can find your copy of San Francisco’s Potrero Hill at Christopher’s Books, The Good Life Grocery, Potrero Mail ‘N More, Chatz, Farley’s, and Center Hardware. In celebration of this fine new book, , the authors will be feted at the Potrero Branch Library on Saturday, October 8, 3-5 pm. There will be books available for purchase and the authors will be on hand for signing and more anecdotes.”

New Street Trees for the Neighborhood - Free and Cheap!
Booster member Susan Eslick writes:
FRIENDS of the URBAN FOREST currently has some special funding they need to use this year which will bring 54 new trees free of charge to Dogpatch and Potrero Hill, and after the first 54 the price is just $75 per tree. (The price is normally $150 through them, and over $300 if you plant on your own.)

This is just an amazing opportunity for our neighborhood!!
Tell your friends and neighbors and sign up soon!

The $75 includes the price of the tree, the concrete cutting and hauling away, auguring/loosening up the soil for easy digging, all the planting supplies and tools needed, experienced staff and volunteers to help the neighbors plant on planting day, processing of permits, and two follow-up visits by Friends of the Forest after planting (a 2-month survey and an 18-month tree care).

The deadline for signing up is October 12th so call now. It takes some time to prepare on their end for the planting, and they cannot start preparing until we have at least 25 neighbors signed up (25 different properties).

The two required forms to fill out can be downloaded and printed from: www.fuf.net/tree_plantings/forms.html

Or, call or e-mail Liam Supple at the Friend of Urban Forest office and tell him you want a tree. His number is 561-6890, x100 (liam@fuf.net). He is the one who will actually be consulting with people who are in the planting about species, and the one running the planting day on November 12th.

Neighbors for the Nabe
The Potrero Hill Neighborhood House is a multi-generational community center in continuous operation for nearly a century. It serves those in need from the cradle to the grave, with an emphasis on youth and education. (We’ll hear more at our meeting on Tuesday about the Nabe’s current programs for youth and seniors.)

The Neighbors for the NABE campaign is a grassroots community fundraising initiative to help close a funding gap caused by 2005 city budget cuts. For more information, visit http://nabe.potrerohillsf.com.

City Planning
BLDG PERMIT APPLICATION #9926483: 721 SAN BRUNO AVE/ 20th Sts. Proposed vertical and rear addition to a single family house in an RH-2, 40-X zone, resulting in a 35’-6” high bldg with no parking and a 33 ft rear yard. City Hall. Contact: Mat Snyder, Planner, ph: 575-6891.

BLDG PERMIT APPLICATION #2003.02147582: 700 VERMONT/ 19th Sts. Propose to legalize a 2nd unit on the 2nd floor and convert the ground floor into a 3rd unit in an existing building, resulting in a 3-unit bldg with100% lot coverage & one parking space in an RH-2, 40-X zone. Contact: Ben Fu, Planner, ph: 558-6613.

ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW DOCUMENT available Case #2004.0027E: 900 MINNESOTA/20th & 22nd Sts. The project is a 142 unit, 6,300 sq ft office, 2,100 sq ft cafe, 168 car underground garage PUD in the Dogpatch Historic District, ESPRIT hdqtrs bldg. in an M-2 and RH-3, 50-X zone. A copy of the DEIR is available at the Planning Dept offices, 1660 Mission St, 5th floor. A Public Hearing is scheduled by the Planning Commission on October 20th after 1:30pm Rm 400 City Hall. Comments will be accepted till October 25th addressed to Paul Maltzer, Environmental Review Officer, Planning Dept., 1660 Mission St. Suite 5, SF 94103. Contacts: Joy Navarette, Planner, ph: 558-5975 and Winslow Hastie. Planner, ph: 557-37381.

RECEIVING ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW, Case #2004.0946E: 1717 17th/Carolina Sts. The proposed PUD plans to demolish 3 exist’g buildings & construct 41 residential units,10,830 sq ft Production/ Distribution/Repair space, 61 off-street parking spaces on a triangu-lar 25,469 sq ft lot in an M-1, 40-X zone. The project site is located within ther Eastern Neighborhoods Community Planning area and the Showplace Square Interim Controls, but exempt because the Environmental Application was filed prior to 23 Nov. ‘04. Project is across the street from Jackson Playground and JAMBA JUICE Headquarters. Contact: Tammy Chan, EIR Reviewer, ph: 558-5982.