2018 Summer Social is Here!

Our Summer Social and Annual Meeting on Saturday, August 18th at Kezar Bar & Restaurant from 1-4p.m. has the ultimate line up! Take this time to meet your neighbors and discuss important issues in the neighborhood, and get introduced to our new D5 Supervisor Vallie Brown, all while enjoying appetizers and libations!

We will also have special guest speaker SF Chronicle columnist Heather Knight. She works out of City Hall covering everything from politics to homelessness to family flight and the quirks of living in one of the most fascinating cities in the world. 

Finally, Mayor London Breed is trying to find time in her busy schedule to stop by our little gathering.

For the second year in a row we have many new members thanks to our community partnership with Lavation and we hope to see you there!

RSVP to cviasf@aol.com. $10 per person at the door. Your non-member guests are welcomed with RSVP.

Want to get active with our organization? Make sure to introduce yourselves to the Board members at the meeting. We have lots we want to do and never enough people!

Ho! Ho! Ho! Photos With Santa on Cole St December 3rd!

It's that time of year again to start thinking about - dare we say it - holiday cards!  Join CVIA for our annual Santa photo shoot! Avoid long lines and busy malls and places that require and advanced reservation... Plan to come to the Postal Chase for that classic holiday photo of your child (or your pet, or just wonderful you) with the jolly guy in the red suit.

Santa on Cole
Sunday, December 3rd
Postal Chase, 912 Cole St
11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

A professional photographer — CVIA member and Cole Valley resident Loic Nicolas — donates his time and talent to create a memorable photo for you. This is a fundraiser supporting the Clean Cole Street project, which pays to have Cole's commercial corridor sidewalks swept free of debris, leaves and trash on a daily basis.

Photo sitting fee is $20. Online orders start at $1 per photo and $15 for the photo file. See below for details.

Please pass it on to your neighbors! Santa and his CVIA elves would love to see you there!

       

Party Time: Summer Social is August 19th!

You won't want to miss this year’s Summer Social and Annual Meeting on Saturday, August 19th at Kezar Bar & Restaurant from 1-4p.m.! This is a time to meet your neighbors while enjoying appetizers and libations.

We will also have SF Chronicle columnist David Talbot as our special guest and speaker. He is also the author of several books, including "Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror, and Deliverance in the City of Love" a chronicle of the cultural history of San Francisco and from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. The "Season of the Witch" storyline takes place around Buena Vista Park and is available at Booksmith on Haight.

We have many new members thanks to our partnership with Lavation and we hope to see you there!

RSVP to cviasf@aol.com. $10 per person at the door.

Want to get active with our organization? Make sure to introduce yourselves to the Board members at the meeting. We have lots we want to do and never enough people!

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Funds Available for Sidewalk Landscaping!

Have you and your neighbors been wanting to beautify your little corner of the neighborhood? Friends of the Urban Forest has received funding from Supervisor Breed's office to do a sidewalk landscaping project in the Haight/Cole Valley area! That means you can do this project with zero start-up costs! Here's the scoop:

How Does It Work?
FUF is currently looking for "block captains" to help organize proposed area projects. The first step is to start talking with your neighbors and gather interest for sidewalk landscapes. Once you have a set of dedicated neighbors on board, FUF needs a list of contact information for at least 10 interested properties (on your block or your block plus another around the corner, for example). Once this list is provided, the next step is scheduling a community meeting.

What Are The Criteria?
FUF's criteria for choosing its project sites are:
1. Number of properties (around 10 is ideal);
2. Density of properties (logistically, it is better to have all properties on the same block, but there is some flexibility);
3. Potential concrete removal (all properties must want concrete removal for new garden area).

The deadline to submit your list of neighbors is June 15, 2017. Please submit to Madalyn@fuf.net.

Please visit Fuf.net/sidewalk for more information and check out some of FUF's sidewalk landscapes here.

CVIA Members Get Discount at Lavation Studio!

CVIA and Lavation Studio have teamed up to offer CVIA members an incredible discount.

The partnership supports CVIA's mission to champion neighborhood-serving businesses while offering CVIA members who are focused on a healthy lifestyle special pricing on single classes and monthly unlimited memberships. Lavation Studio provides indoor cycling classes and HIIT classes (High Intensity Interval Training) with San Francisco's top fitness instructors.

DETAILS:
Discount is 50% off for CVIA members in good standing.
Classes: Regularly $30 per class, $15 for CVIA members.
Monthly Unlimited Membership: Regularly $220/month, $110/month for CVIA members.
 

CVIA membership is $25 a year and includes a quarterly newsletter focusing on neighborhood issues  and email updates of important news and happenings. CVIA also has an annual "Summer Social" for its members. Members are invited to join the monthly board meetings and are encouraged to announce neighborhood concerns and successes. If you are not already a CVIA member and would like to take advantage of this member discount, visit our Membership page to join.

TO SIGN UP:
1. Go to lavationstudio.com and create a new account. If it is your first time on the site, a free class will be placed in your account.
2. Schedule your free class. (If you already have a Lavation account, skip to step 3.)
3. Bring proof of your CVIA membership with you to your first class (your new member letter, an email from CVIA, or a copy of the CVIA newsletter mailed to you).

Lavation Studio, located at 784 Stanyan St., is locally owned and operated by Jason and Erica Kajdasz and Mien Faville. The three partners also own MidLIne personal training and Pilates studio at 515 Frederick St.
 

Get to Know CleanPower SF & SFCUU!

CVIA is proud to present an educational evening of presentations about two very important city issues:

First, San Francisco’s upcoming switch to CleanPower SF, a new, green energy power program that will be rolling out soon, and second,  SF Coalition to Underground Utilities and their fight to get City Hall to finish undergrounding power lines in order to aid public safety, prevent power failures, and beautify San Francisco.

Get to Know CleanPower SF and SFCUU
Wednesday, August 3^rd
7:00 – 9:00 PM
The Waller Center
1525 Waller Street (at Belvedere)

If you are interested in learning more about CleanPower SF, and/or if you are tired of seeing our beautiful city skyline and streets streaked black with overhead power lines, this night is for you!

Please tell your neighbors and friends about this event and invite them along!

What's Up With Cole Valley Antiques?

You may have noticed some movement at the Cole Valley Antiques location at 90 Parnassus. What you probably don't know is that there were two antique businesses operating there! Cole Valley Antiques owner Angie Petit-Taylor has moved Cole Valley Antiques a few blocks away, into the new Past Perfect located at 854 Stanyan St at Frederick. Past Perfect recently moved from it's Marina location and is a popular collective of 10 merchants specializing in vintage, antique and modern fare. Jerry Emerson and his business Jerome's Antiques, specializing in antique furniture and fine decor, is staying put at 90 Parnassus. Lucky us to have so many antique options in our neighborhood!

Impact: Cole Street Merchants & Seismic Retrofits

THIS ARTICLE WILL BE CONTINUALLY UPDATED. The Mandatory Soft Story Retrofit Program (MSSP) was created in 2013 to ensure the safety and resilience of San Francisco's housing stock through the retrofit of older (before 1978), wood-framed, multi-family buildings (5 or more residential dwelling units) with a soft-story condition. A "soft story" is either a garage or an open-space storefront on the first floor of a building, which leads to greater potential for damage to the building as a whole in the event of an earthquake, unless seismic reinforcements have been made.

Here’s what we know about the businesses affected in Cole Valley – we’ll continue post information as we get updates:

Update March 12, 2016:

• Tantrum has closed due to the construction. Visit them in their temporary (we hope!) space at 248 Clement Street beginning April 1st.
• Padrecito's, Lavande, and Mane Attraction will stay open during construction, thanks to the owner of the building looking for alternative ways to do the work and keep the businesses open. Work is estimated to begin in January 2017.

Information as of March 1, 2016:

• Tantrum, the shop curated with “whimsy filled with kid-centric well-designed gifts for kid’s and grown-ups alike” needs to vacate their space in March  for 5-6 months. There’s more than seismic work that needs to be done there.
• Urban Mercantile, a “unique purveyors of sublime and refined goods and gifts” is scheduled to close in April for 3 months. Their annual January sale will run longer this year to reduce inventory to pack up.
• Vierra & Friends, a popular hair salon, may have a pop-up space outside the neighborhood, thanks to their landlord.
• A permit has been filed for the building La Boulagerie is in, but we don’t have information about when the work will be done.
• Padracito’s, Mane Attraction, and Lavande are in one building together and will hear soon what their fate is.
• Peet’s and MadKat’s building is on the list but we have no other information.
• Crepes on Cole is not affected because there are fewer than five residential units in their building.

Imagine what closing a small business means! Packing up the inventory; finding an alternative location and unpacking or storing the inventory; laying off employees for a short time with the hopes they’ll return – or paying them; losing money; losing customers… Yikes! Let’s hope we don’t lose our favorite Cole Valley business.

What can we do as a community to show our merchants? Support these businesses before they close and when they reopen. 

N Judah Sunset Tunnel Work Details

The Sunset Tunnel construction is scheduled to take place on 15 weekends between November 2014 and June 2015. So far we have worked on three weekends. The next tentative dates are the weekends of Jan. 23 and Jan. 30, 2015.

What to Expect during Weekend Construction:

• Crews will work continuously from approximately 8 p.m. on Friday until 5 a.m. on Monday.
• The majority of the work will take place inside the Sunset Tunnel and at the tunnel entrances.
• Noise can be heard in the surrounding areas, especially when the trucks move the gravels in and out of the portal. We will balance this work between the east and west portals to make it less disruptive for one neighborhood.
• Majority of gravel moving will take place from Friday night until Saturday afternoon at the west portal near Carl and Cole streets, and from late Saturday until Sunday afternoon at the east portal near Noe Street and Duboce Avenue.
• We will do our best to keep the noise down, but the work will be audible throughout the weekend.
• The streets near the tunnel entrances will remain open.
• To accommodate the tunnel work, parking restrictions will become effective from Friday 12 a.m. to Monday 5 a.m. on both sides of Duboce Avenue from Steiner to Scott Street, and on both sides of Carl Street from Clayton to Cole Street.

Bus substitution service:

• Bus shuttles will substitute for the N Judah rail service between Church & Duboce and Ocean Beach.
• Bus substitution will start at about 7 p.m. on Friday and will operate during regular service hours until Monday morning.
• The bus shuttles will follow the N Judah Line making regular stops except for the tunnel portion where buses will be operated on Haight Street.
• Regular N rail service will continue to provide service between Caltrain Depot and Church & Duboce.
• The N Judah stops at Church & Duboce will provide a transfer point between bus shuttles and trains for Muni customers.
• The weekend N Judah Owl bus service will not be affected.

Other Ongoing N Judah System Improvement Projects: 
Maximizing construction opportunities, the SFMTA has integrated multiple construction components under the Sunset Tunnel project in order to minimize the inconveniences for both N Judah riders and the community around the construction area.

The Transit Signal Priority (TSP) system upgrades are taking place at nine intersections sequentially along the N Judah Line. Currently a crew is working on Irving between 3rd and 9th avenues. On the January 9 weekend, crews will be installing signal loops between the tracks at the intersections of Irving and 7th Avenue and Irving and 8th Avenue. The work will start at approximately 7 p.m. Friday and will continue until Saturday night. We will schedule the work to avoid late night noise. 

The TSP system will use technology to reduce dwell time at traffic signals for Muni light rail vehicles by holding green lights longer.

The construction of two new wheelchair accessible platforms on Judah and 28th Avenuehas been ongoing. Crews are working to reconstruct the inbound stop Monday through Friday. The stop is currently out of service. Muni customers can board N Judah rail car at the temporary stop at 27th Avenue. The work requires closure of traffic lanes.

The new platform will include longer boarding islands and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant curb ramps, making Muni Metro system safer and easier to use for all customers.

Thank you for your understanding and patience while we work to improve your Muni system.

For the latest project updates and weekend construction dates, visit www.sfmta.com/sunsettunnel. Public can also self subscribe to project updates on the project home page.

For concerns or assistance, please contact: Tess Kavanagh, Project Manager, at 415.701.4212, via email at tess.kavanagh@sfmta.com or Jay Lu, Public Relations Officer, at 415.701.4387, via email at jay.lu@sfmta.com.

Santa on Cole December 7th!

It's that time of year again!  Avoid long lines and busy malls... Plan to come to the Postal Chase for that classic holiday photo of your child (or pet, or just wonderful you) with the guy in the red suit.

Santa on Cole
Sunday, December 7th
Postal Chase, 912 Cole St
11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

A professional photographer — CVIA member and Cole Valley resident Loic Nicolas — donates his time and talent to create a memorable photo for you. This is a fundraiser supporting the Clean Cole Street project.

Photo sitting fee is $20. Online orders start at $1 per photo and $15 for the photo file. See below for details.

Please pass it on to your neighbors!