CVIA Blog
STORM IMPACT UPDATE
Bay Area storms continue to impact Mt. Sutro and weather service reports indicate that more storm activity is expected this week. High wind and rain events lead to dangerous conditions at Mt. Sutro, the public is advised to avoid Mt. Sutro at this time.
UCSF is monitoring the storm and impacts to Mt. Sutro, and we will provide updates as appropriate.
Storm impacts:
Tree removal: Starting today, January 3rd, trees will be removed rendered unsafe by storm conditions in the landslide area of Mt. Sutro on Koret Way.
Koret Parking Lot: The lot is closed until further notice, we expect this closure may be extended for a significant period while site and soil conditions are evaluated.
Medical Center Way: For safety reasons, Medical Center Way has been partially closed due to street flooding, the potential for landslides, and falling tree/branch hazards. The closure area is from north of Institute of Regenerative Medicine loading dock road to south of Surge/Woods Parking Lot. To access the Surge/Woods Parking Lot, access Medical Center Way via Clarendon. Medical Center Way will remain partially closed until further notice.
If there are any questions or concerns, please reach out to Jaclyn Drexler with UCSF Community Relations at Jaclyn.Drexler@ucsf.edu.
Reminder: November 9th Parnassus Research and Academic Building Community Meeting
Please join UCSF on Wednesday, November 9th from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. for a community meeting about the new Research and Academic Building at Parnassus Heights.
UCSF has brought on renowned design and architecture firms, Snøhetta and HGA, to create a space that will help scientists, clinicians and learners stay at the cutting edge of discovery, learning and care in state-of-the-art spaces that catalyze collaboration. The project will create newly opened vistas and a publicly accessible promenade to take advantage of San Francisco’s spectacular scenery.
This will be the first of multiple community meetings where neighbors will have the opportunity to meet the new Parnassus Research and Academic Building project team and provide initial feedback on the site and design plans.
WALLER STREET SKATE PARK REOPENS
Skateboarders and neighbors celebrated recent improvements to the Waller Street Skate Park on October 25, a project spearheaded by local skaters who helped shape its inclusive design that honors its street skateboarding roots.
The skateboarding area on the eastern edge of Golden Gate Park has been beloved since 2011, despite its cracked surface and markings leftover from days as a parking lot. The improvements unveiled this week aren’t just a makeover but a transformation of the area from informal gathering spot to officially sanctioned skate park. It's the first time in the nation that a city has transformed a decommissioned street into a permitted skate park.
The $218,000 makeover includes a high-quality asphalt repaving topped with acrylic overlay ideal for skating. The park kept its nontraditional spirit with elements meant to mimic the urban skate environment such as k-rails, granite blocks and curbs. A new landscape strip allows skaters to both sit and skate amid trees and shrubs. Many of the new elements were salvaged from San Francisco Public Works storage by DLX Skateshop—including granite ledges that once lured skaters to Market Street. Old defensive architecture elements that once attempted to stop skaters from grinding the edges and corners were removed.
A special thanks to the skate community that made this project possible, including Low Key San Francisco, DLX Skateshop, The Skatepark Project, San Francisco Skate Club, Mission Skateboards, FTC, Thrasher Magazine, and more!
Activities and Updates on JFK Promenade
We have been busy enhancing the JFK Promenade for park users! Come out to 8th Avenue at the JFK Promenade and take a coffee break at Golden Gate Park’s new lounge! New trees provide shade on sunny days and a variety of seating options, including benches and spinning chairs, allow you to rest and recharge. And new this week, get out and play with brand new cornhole boards and ping pong tables! Bring your own paddle, balls and bags to get some games in.
The Beer and Wine Garden will be flowing this Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. while our busking program will be in full rhythm this weekend. Additionally, we'll have live music through Music Mosey.
Padrecito is Closing
Good Day,I wanted to share that we will sadly be closing Padrecito with our last night of service this coming Tuesday night.
This isn’t a story of a landlord or anything of that nature as the new owner of the building has been wonderful. It’s is a story of the economics not working for Padrecito in this new restaurant climate. As opposed to letting our quality and integrity for service and products slip, we want to be sure we finish how we started with pride for our food, drinks, service and our team and that means closing now with those standards in place.
At this point there isn’t a plan for the space as I want to be sure to concentrate on our team and these last few days in this wonderful community and neighborhood.
I want to say thank you from the whole Padrecito family. We have been a part of so many of your moments and have watched and been a part of your family gatherings and your and our families growing before our eyes.
Cole Valley is wonderful and we are so honored to have been a part of it fabric for these past 10 years.
With love and admiration,
Nate
Santa on Cole is canceled
Need photos? Check out Sasha (https://sashaphotography.com/) who was to be the photographer.
news from Victorian Alliance
Throughout October: DISCOVER THE NEIGHBORHOODS in self-guided tours for 3 significant San Francisco neighborhoods: Pacific Heights, Haight Ashbury, and the Western Addition at Alamo Square. Discover and rediscover these neighborhoods as you walk about. Enjoy the feeling of “place.” Here’s the link for the Haight Ashbury tour.
news from San Francisco Heritage
Join SF Heritage at the Haight-Ashbury Street Fair
The 43rd Haight-Ashbury Street Fair is taking place on Sunday, October 16, 2022, from 11:00 AM -5:30 PM on Haight Street between Masonic and Stanyan. San Francisco Heritage will have a booth at this popular annual event, which showcases art, live music, and variety of local vendors. Look for giveaways and sign-ups for two free afternoon tours of our historic Doolan-Larson Residence, located at the iconic corner of Haight & Ashbury.
MCCLA Now in SF Heritage's 1506 Haight Street Gallery
San Francisco Heritage is excited to be hosting the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts (MCCLA) at our pop-up gallery at 1506 Haight Street in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 - October 15, 2022), as well as a special window display and celebration of Dia de los Muertos on November 1. Be sure to stop by the gallery to learn more about the history of the MCCLA and to celebrate Hispanic heritage and culture.
Please take our brief neighborhood survey
Greetings, Cole Valley and Haight Ashbury neighbors!
Please take 5 minutes to take our survey and let us know what issues are important to you. For 30 years, CVIA has worked to improve the Cole Valley and Haight Ashbury neighborhoods. Populations have changed and issues have changed. We need to know what you think so that we can prioritize our efforts. And please pass it on to other neighbors. The results will be published later on cviasf.org and in the CVIA News.
Thank you so much.
Cole Valley & Haight Ashbury Resident Survey
Regards,
CVIA Board
Cole Valley Fair - September 25 10 am to 5 pm
Looking forward to seeing you at the Fair on Sunday, September 25 from 10 AM to 5 PM.
Sunset Mercantile is organizing the fair this year and would love some local volunteers. Click here to volunteer
Club Deluxe will stay!
Dear Friends & Neighbors,
I’m writing to share some good news – after an all-day mediation on Monday, an agreement was reached between the owner of longtime Upper Haight establishment Club Deluxe and property owner Veritas Investments, allowing the jazz and blues club to remain in its home of more than 33 years.
Our community faced the potential of a tremendous loss with the closure of Club Deluxe. I am incredibly grateful that all parties came to the table to keep the doors open and we were able to hammer out a deal. It was true before, but even more so as we emerge from the pandemic – our arts and our artists are what make San Francisco, San Francisco. Long live Club Deluxe!
In early August, Club Deluxe notified patrons and musicians that the venue would soon be closing due ongoing disagreements about past and future rent. As with many venues citywide, Club Deluxe had experienced significant pandemic hardship, shutting down for a significant period in 2020 and periodically ever since, with waves of COVID variants disrupting their once bustling destination.
Our office then intervened, urging property owner Veritas and the Club Deluxe owner to restart lease negotiations that had derailed. Negotiations resumed in the days that followed. On Monday this week, we brought parties to the table for a City Hall mediation. Six-and-a-half hours later, a deal was struck.
The resolution was made possible in part by our groundbreaking law, passed in July 2021, to waive certain pandemic-related back rent for small businesses. For the period that a small business was fully shut down by COVID health orders, the law effectively waived back rent during that time. Despite a challenge by landlord lobbyists, the law was upheld by a Superior Court judge in April 2022.
In addition, with support from Supervisor Preston and SF Heritage, Club Deluxe is applying to be added to the city’s Legacy Business Registry, which recognizes long-term small businesses in San Francisco, and provides benefits to businesses and their landlords to encourage long-term stability. On Tuesday, our office submitted a letter formally nominating Club Deluxe to become a Legacy Business, and we look forward to guiding them through the process to be added to the Legacy Business registry.
Club Deluxe is a one of a kind live music venue in the heart of the Haight Ashbury. It’s a gathering spot, a place where people share community, and join together in what makes us human. I am proud that we could help forge a path to keep the music going.
Sincerely,
Dean Preston
Share your feedback with SFMTA and enter to win a $50 Clipper Card
Your Voice Is Needed!
Share your feedback with SFMTA and enter to win a $50 Clipper Card
SFMTA Public Participation and Language Access Survey
The SFMTA is reviewing how we conduct public outreach and engagement, collect and use feedback in agency decisions, and best meet the needs of all of our customers and community members. We want to hear directly from you on what’s working and where we can improve. Please take five minutes to complete this survey – available in multiple languages below - and enter to win a $50 Clipper Card.
Thank you for your time and participation. Please share with your networks!
CVIA Members’ Summer Social on August 27, 1-4 P.M.
The Summer Social and Annual General Meeting will be at Finnegan’s Wake with food catered from Say Cheese. Our special guest is District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman.
Please RSVP to cviasf@aol.com so that we will be sure to have enough food, wine and beer at the ready.
$10 per person at the door. Your guests are welcome too.
National Night Out on August 2, 5-7pm at Duboce Park
Hello Park District Residents,
Join us in Celebrating National Night Out (NNO) 2022!
On Tuesday, August 2nd, neighborhoods throughout San Francisco are being invited to join forces with thousands of communities nationwide for the 39th Annual National Night Out: “America’s Night Out Against Crime.” NNO, which is sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch and co-sponsored locally by the San Francisco Police Department and our prevention non-profit Safety Awareness for Everyone (SF SAFE), will involve over 16,400 communities from all 50 states, US territories, Canadian cities, and military bases around the world.
NNO is designed to: heighten crime prevention and community resilience awareness, generate support for, and participation in, local anticrime efforts, strengthen police-community partnerships, and to send the message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.
From 5-7PM on August 2nd, residents in neighborhoods throughout the Park District are asked to lock their doors, turn on outside lights, and to spend their time in community with neighbors, families, merchants, and public safety professionals from SF SAFE, SFPD, SFFD, SF Recreation and Parks, the Department of Emergency Management, Park Station’s Community/Police Advisory Board, and others at Duboce Park (50 Duboce Avenue).
Park Station Captain Jim Hart
CVIA Revised Bylaws
The CVIA board revised our bylaws to reflect the way we do business. We will ask for your approval at the Summer Social / General Membership Meeting on August 27. Important changes include
designation of membership categories where non-residents can become members but not serve on the board or vote
votes by the board can be taken via email
there can be up to 15 board members
Eat Local - join the CVIA in supporting our local restaurants!
Dear CVIA Members,
The Cole Valley Improvement Association wishes you and your family a very happy and healthy New Year. CVIA would like to thank each member for your continued support. In the spirit of gratitude and new possibilities, CVIA is asking all members to make a New Year’s resolution to support our local restaurants by ordering some delicious takeout. To show CVIA's commitment, we are sending all member households a $10 coupon to spend at local restaurants. Please note, this one-time, $10 coupon will expire on February 14, 2021. Please feel free to pass the coupon on if you can’t use it.
The coupon will be good for take-out purchased in-person at the participating restaurants* which include Bambinos, CreoLA, Crepes on Cole, Ice Cream Bar, Ino Vino, Kezar Bar & Restaurant, La Boulangerie de San Francisco, Padrecito, Reverie, Wooden Coffee and Zazie. CVIA will reimburse the restaurants for all coupons used.
If you post a photo of yourself to CVIA's Facebook page, CVIA will donate a $5 bonus to the restaurant. When you collect your food, post a selfie to our Facebook page including yourself, the coupon, and the restaurant. CVIA will then increase the value by $5 for a $15 reimbursement to the restaurant. We encourage you to also tag the restaurants where possible!
Like your own cooking but still want to support the local restaurants? Send us a tax-deductible donation and we’ll distribute the funds to the restaurants. You can easily donate via our website specifically for this cause or you can send a check to us (PO Box 170611, San Francisco, CA 94117) with an indication it’s for COVID restaurant help.
Our restaurants are suffering badly, now more than ever. The best way to support them is to continue to patronize them. We need to intentionally support our restaurants to help them survive the pandemic. One final request - please consider adding a generous tip if it's not already included in the bill. For many, this gratuity may be a lifeline.
If you have any questions about the program, please send them to board@cviasf.org.
730 Stanyan Developers hosting community meeting on August 20
Joint developers Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC) and Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC) are hosting a Community Meeting about the 730 Stanyan development for permanent affordable housing on August 20, 2020 at 6pm via Zoom.
The deadline for registration and submitting questions is this Friday, August 14, 2020 at 6pm.
Register to attend:
Go to www.730Stanyan.org.
Scroll down to Upcoming Events.
Register your name and email.
You will receive a confirmation to the email address you registered with and it will include a second link to register for the meeting on Zoom.
Click that link and enter your name, email address, mailing address, Zip code and preferred language.
Click Register and you will be provided with the Zoom meeting link to save in your calendar.
Those who do not have internet access can register by phone at 415-935-3135.
Submit questions prior to the event
The developers have requested that questions are submitted in advance of the Zoom meeting. Information about how to submit questions is provided once registered.