Gpn Fall 2006

Fall 2006

GLEN PARK NEWS Volume 24, No. 3

Official Newspaper of the Glen Park Association www.glenparkassociation.com

Published Quarterly

Dufty Faces Challenge in Fall District 8 Election

Two Bagatelos boys and a neighbor, mid-1940s.

Photo courtesy of the Bagatelos family

Glen Park History - Through the Eyes of One Family Glen Park has seen tremendous changes since it first began to be built up after the 1906 earthquake and fire. But there are threads by of continuity. One is the Elizabeth Bagatelos family. DurWeise ing the early months of World War II, in 1942, Peter and Vaneta Bagatelos bought the house at 732 Chenery St., above what was until recently Sweet Sueʼs bakery (and where an architectʼs office will open this fall).

Sixty-four years later their granddaughter, Karen, a gastroenterol-

ogy nurse practitioner at U.C. San Francisco, still lives in the home her CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

Over the next four years, Glen Park residents, merchants and visitors will continue to face a number of critical issues—traffic by congestion, crime, dirty Rachel Gordon streets and housing affordability among them—that usually land in the lap of the neighborhoodʼs representative on the Board of Supervisors. On Nov. 7, voters will decide who that representative will be. Incumbent Bevan Dufty, a solid moderate whose trademark during his tenure has been a focus on constituent services, faces two challengers: Alix Rosenthal, a deputy city attorney in Oakland who served on San Franciscoʼs Elections Commission and has the backing of some of the cityʼs more left-leaning elected officials and interest groups, and Starchild, a Libertarian and perennial candidate in local politics who has never won election. Among the neighborhoods in District 8 are Glen Park, Diamond Heights, Noe Valley and the Castro. Dufty, 51 and a close ally of Mayor Gavin Newsom, beat out community activist Eileen Hansen, the favored candidate of the left in a runoff race four years ago. Under city law, Dufty can serve one more four-year term before term limits kick in. Prior to his election, he ran then-Mayor Willie Brownʼs Office of Neighborhood Services and served as an aide to Susan Leal when she was on the Board of Supervisors. Dufty has the backing of Newsom, the police and firefighters unions, Res-

Glen Park Association Meeting Notice Tuesday, October 10, 2006, 7:00 p.m.

St. John’s School, 925 Chenery St. District 8 Candidates, BART Station Planning

cue Muni, the building and construction trades association and most of the other supervisors, including Tom Ammiano, Sean Elsbernd and Aaron Peskin. Rosenthal, 33, represents Duftyʼs stiffest challenge. She has secured the endorsements of Supervisor Chris Daly, BART director Tom Radulovich, the San Francisco Tenants Union and San Francisco Tomorrow, and has positioned herself to run to the left of Dufty. Her live-in boyfriend is Bay Guardian City Editor Steve Jones. She is an avid participant of the Burning Man festival, and is active in the alternative arts scene here. She has faulted Dufty for spending too much time on fixing potholes and dealing with other everyday annoyances and not enough time writing laws that have broader implications citywide. Dufty disagrees with that assessment and said he has managed to tackle both demands. The upcoming election will be the first time “instant runoffʼʼ voting will be used in District 8. Under the system, also known as ranked-choice voting, voters rank their top three candidates in order of preference. If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round of tabulation, the candidate with the least support is eliminated, and the second CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

WHAT”S INSIDE

Food, fabulous food. That should be the new motto for Glen Park. Preparations are under way for four new restaurants in the heart of the village. To find out whatʼs in the works, check out our story on Page 5. Thereʼs also an update on the new market, which can be found on Page 16.

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From the Editors The audience is seated, the lights are dimmed and the curtain is about to rise on Glen Parkʼs newest show: The Renaissance of Glen Park Village. Anticipation is running high. Over the next several months, four new eateries are scheduled to open—with influences from Italy, France, Japan and Hong Kong—enhancing the international flavor of the neighborhood. They will join the neighborhoodʼs popular mainstays that already provide us with good old-fashioned diner fare, creative crepes, upscale California cuisine and a variety of take-out choices. Emma Smith introduces the new restaurants on Page 5. At the same time, the long-awaited Canyon Market on Diamond Street is getting ready to open its doors. Itʼs been a long haul for the storeʼs owners, Richard and Janet Tarlov, who had to maneuver through the cumbersome City approval process and work with neighboring mer-

Glen Park News

2912 Diamond St. #407 San Francisco, CA 94131 (415) 908-6728 [email protected]

Editor-in-Chief Deputy Editor Photo Editor Design Editor Copy Editor Advertising

Elizabeth Weise Rachel Gordon Liz Mangelsdorf Mary Mottola Denis Wade Nora Dowley

Reporters

Dolan Eargle Ashley Hathaway Stina Kieffer Scott Kirsner Lucretia Levinger Miriam Moss Joanna Pearlstein Emma Smith Bonnee Waldstein

Columnists

Vince Beaudet Paul Chignell Jean Conner Sharon Dezurick Bevan Dufty Mary Janssen Carol Maerzke Michael Rice Michael Walsh

Photographers

Ellen Rosenthal Michael Waldstein

chants and residents, a handful of whom tried to stop the project. However, many more are eager to see a full-service grocery close to home. Ashley Hathawayʼs update on this ongoing story is on Page 16. We wish all the new businesses good luck and hope the buzz they generate will help the existing restaurants and shops prosper. And while a vibrant commercial district often improves a neighborhood, it also can bring added problems: increased traffic congestion, more litter, a bigger parking crunch. The Glen Park News will continue to keep close watch over the expected changes in our neighborhood—the good and the bad. Another issue we are following closely is crime in our neighborhood. In our summer issue, we reported on growing concerns that our streets are becoming increasingly dangerous. Over the summer there were a number of serious incidents, as reported in the daily e-mail crime report compiled by Capt. Paul Chignell, commander of the Ingleside police station. Those interested in being added to the distribution list should contact Chignell at [email protected]. CONTINUED ON PAGE 17

Fall 2006

Glen Park Association News I have been spending time in a neighborhood full of older, well-maintained single family-homes. The nearby commercial by area has a transit stop, Michael with a long escalator to Rice the train platform. In about 15 minutes, the train takes you to a busy downtown full of tourists. In the other direction, the train takes you to suburbs with growing pains of traffic and sprawl. This community has been waiting for years for a branch library to re-open in a new space. There was a battle over a vacant commercial site next to the subway station, now developed with condos above retail space. Parking is a perennial issue. The permit parking zones around the subway station keep growing. Nearby are wooded parks, but neighbors complain that low budgets have cut into maintenance. Compared to other parts of the city, crime and homelessness are not major problems, but not unknown. A basic row house is $700,000 or more. Active neighborhood organizations volunteer to clean up school grounds, debate about tear-downs replaced by larger new homes, and argue over

The mission of the Glen Park Association is to promote the collective interests of all persons living in Glen Park, to inform and educate about neighborhood and citywide issues, to promote sociability and friendships and to support beneficial neighborhood projects.

GPA Board of Directors and Officers for 2006 President

Michael Rice 337-9894 [email protected] Vice-President Jeff Britt 908-6728 [email protected] Treasurer Dennis Mullen 239-8337 Recording Secretary Kim Watts 902-4767 Corresponding Secretary Tiffany Farr 215-2320 Membership Secretary Heather World [email protected] Health & Environment Michael Ames [email protected] Neighborhood Improvement John Walmsley 452-0277 Glen Park News Elizabeth Weise 908-6728 [email protected] Public Safety Kincy Clark [email protected] Recreation & Park Richard Craib 648-0862 Traffic, Parking & Transportation Armando Fox [email protected] Zoning & Planning D. Valentine [email protected] Program Volunteer needed

the expansion of institutions, such as private schools. The public schools are well-attended, but are falling behind on repair of roofs, windows and bathrooms. Neighborhood-oriented E-mail sites cover these topics constantly. Local politicians are promising to fix the schools, not raise taxes, ensure adequate emergency services, help keep families in the city, and balance the city budget. And, by the way, a new mayor also promises to turn all these issues around. Is this Glen Park and San Francisco? Do some of the details not quite fit? In fact, this is Washington, DC, in Upper Northwest along the Metro Red Line. I have been working in the Ward 3 City Council primary for my brother, Bill Rice, who is running in a field of eight candidates. (Disclosure: Obviously Bill is the best candidate, but sadly, he didnʼt win in the Sept. 12 primary.) As I knocked on doors, called voters, read local weeklies, and listened to people in Ward 3, the themes of land use, traffic and transit, public services, and working as a community struck me as amazingly common to Washington and San Francisco. Itʼs perhaps heartening to know that the challenges we face here are not unique to the City. OTHER NOTES: Back here in Glen Park, the recent changes in parking controls on Bosworth Street west of Diamond Street, with new meters and parking limits on the north side, opens up spaces. The turnover will serve residents and customers of our “downtown.” The Association worked with the Glen Park Merchants Association to study these ideas, bring them to the Association members, and support the changes as they moved through the City approval process. Change is CONTINUED ON PAGE 17

Glen Park News The Glen Park News is published quarterly by the Glen Park Association. Signed articles are the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Glen Park Association. To advertise in the Glen Park News call 9086728 or e-mail advertising@ glenparkassociation.org.

Fall 2006

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Letters to the Editor Hello I am writing about my little residential street called Congo Street in Glen Park where it lies between Monterey Boulevard and Bosworth Street. In the last years, this street has turned into a nightmare for near head-on collisions as drivers have discovered they can use it as a shortcut to get to and from Monterey and Bosworth...only Congo street is not wide enough to accommodate this traffic and was never meant to be utilized so heavily. In fact there is a hairpin turn that goes up and then downhill right before Congo ends in Bosworth (between intersecting streets Stillings and Martha Ave). Cars come screaming around that bend all the time and itʼs a miracle thereʼs not some bad accident - or has there already been? I wouldnʼt be surprised at all since visibility around that turn is nil and the road fits only one car at a time once neighbors park near it. I live at 420 Congo St. I see cars swerving to avoid each other all the time! One must skillfully maneuver because once cars are parked on either side of this street there is space for only one car to pass in one direction. On my way to and from my home, I have had cars just barely squeeze by my car and

Correction In the article, “Recreation Areas at Glen Park Get a “B” (Summer 2006 issue), it was erroneously printed that the survey was done by volunteers of the Neighborhood Parks Councilʼs Parkscan program. It was actually an internal study by the Recreation and Park Department.

I have had several narrow brushes with drivers who are not up for this test of skill on a narrow hillside road. I hear brakes squealing outside my house all the time during rush hours as speeding drivers meet cars head-on and are forced to suddenly yield. Congo St. was not meant to serve as the “Congo Highway.” This street is being entirely mis-utilized now and it is dangerous for us residents. What can be done? Honestly, the street would fare better as a one-way street considering how narrow it is. Also speed bumps would be a very good addition, especially on that hairpin turn where drivers are taking considerable risks in driving too fast and often swinging into the center of the road as if they donʼt understand itʼs two-way and very narrow. Please help - Iʼd prefer that nobody gets seriously injured. Iʼd prefer not to see a head-on collision occur right outside my living room window - so far that is getting likelier every day. Congo St. desperately needs traffic calming. Sincerely, Shawn Bolan Congo St. Dear Editor, Dolan Eargle, in the article “St. John the Evangelist----“ said, “The church bought property on Chenery Street at Burnside, cleared some existing buildings and established its new school.” However, at first the church didnʼt own the property that was “cleared” and it should have been stated that in order to build the elementary school, the powers-that-were sent a cadre of some rather pushy real estate agents to all the homes in order to induce the owners to sell their property. Some people sold

eagerly; others hesitated; some flat-out refused. I have often wondered if the people who sold “for the children” got any of the profit when St. Johnʼs turned around and sold part of the playground. Others learned that, had they lived some place else, their home would be worth much more and therefore one should accept the price offered. I know this to be true. Three of the original homes remain on the periphery of the school property; my husband and I own one of them. Joan Seiwald Burnside Street

Glen Park News

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Fall 2006

Notes From District Eight Glen Park has shown that all it takes is one person to make a difference, whether itʼs to beautify the neighborhood, slow down speeding cars or building a market. About a year ago, Glen Park resident Martin Forrest sent me an e-mail about graffiti in the neighborhood following an aggressive rash of acid-etching of windows. I connected Martin with Merle Goldstone (641-2625 or merle.golds [email protected]) of the Department of Public Works. From that pairing sprang a graffiti watch. Between five by and 15 volunteers Supervisor show up on the secBevan ond Saturday of each Dufty month to remove tags on Chenery Street from Glen Park Canyon to Diamond Street, and along Diamond Street from Bosworth Street to Chenery Street. “I think itʼs helped raise awareness of the need to address this and other types of vandalism in the community. It has also been a great way to meet great people in the community, Martin said. “Iʼve spoken at the Glen Park Association, Glen Park Garden Club and Glen Park Merchants Association meetings. Every interaction has been positive and made me feel so much more a part of the community.” Martin and his partner, Brad Kuhns, are moving to New York City for career opportunities. Weʼre hopeful that someone will come forward to step into the role of neighborhood coordinator. DPW provides supplies and helps ensure that City departments respond when taggings are on City property. The coordinatorʼs main responsibilities are to: organize monthly graffiti paint-outs; store and distribute supplies (they all fit in a 3-foot by 2-foot by 4-foot space);

recruit volunteers; promote anti-graffiti measures; and partner with other Glen Park organizations. Aside from creating a cleaner Glen Park village, this effort is visible and encouraging when others see tags removed immediately. Martin added, “Brad and I have really enjoyed the people weʼve met in the neighborhood and have felt a deep sense of satisfaction from the work that the group has accomplished.” Martin has made a big difference and Iʼm interested in keeping this ongoing. I encourage anyone interested to contact me. Another issue in which my office has been involved is “traffic calmingʼʼ around Glen Park Elementary School. Dr. Ari Green and his wife, Kathy, have lived across from the school for almost five years and their family has grown to include two small children. But they and other neighbors in the 100 block of Lippard Street, near Brompton Street, have seen more cars and trucks—seeking a shortcut from I-280 to Bosworth Street—speeding down their narrow street. The neighbors petitioned the cityʼs traffic calming program to evaluate the need for changes in the street that will lower rates of speed and thereby discourage some of the traffic that seeks to avoid Diamond Street from I-280. There was a lively meeting at Glen Park School on Aug. 28 with Dan Provence and Bridget Smith of the Municipal Transportation Agency and San Francisco Police Department Sgt. Jennifer Jackson of Ingleside Station. Some neighbors, who have lived on the block for more than 40 years, told the crowd how the problem has worsened over time. We heard their concerns and are acting. Immediate commitments from the City include posting 15-mph signs, as required in school areas. I also am CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

Fall 2006

District 8 Notes

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working with Norcal/Sunset Scavengers to stop the practice of garbage trucks from barreling down Lippard at 4 a.m. DPT is investigating the possibility of installing speed humps, “curb-out bulbs” (extending curbs at intersections to narrow the road and create more safety for pedestrians) and other measures, with a follow-up meeting soon. If you and your neighbors think your street is a candidate for traffic calming, please contact Rachelle McManus of my office (5546986 or [email protected]). Ari has been an effective catalyst to get the Cityʼs attention and make his block safer. He is another great example of how much someone can accomplish when persistence is blended with a warm manner and the help of his neighbors. And finally, a new era for the Glen Park village is about to begin with Canyon Marketʼs forthcoming opening and the completion of the second of three elements of the Glen Park Marketplace. Enormous credit first goes to the neighbors who years ago stopped a Walgreens from replacing the former market that burned down on the Diamond Street site. But I canʼt offer enough praise and thanks to the developer, Kieran Buckley, who stepped in when the Marketplace project was in peril. His faith and vision is enabling something wonderful to happen. Small businesses will be revitalized and the market will anchor the village. Kieran ensured that Richard and Janet Tarlov achieved their dream that Canyon Market reflect their amazing experience and expertise with food and produce. Chris Foley also has been integral keeping the project on track, but Kieran was the right person at the right time to make this project happen—all the while listening to concerns, softening the buildingʼs design and overcoming myriad obstacles, from rain to transformers. I am proud to have worked closely with Martin, Ari and Kieran for the betterment of Glen Park. Keep those calls and e-mails coming my way. I can be contacted at 554-5646 or 554-6968, or at [email protected]. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors meets every Tuesday, 2 pm, at City Hall. For more information, go to sfgov.org.

Supervisor Bevan Dufty is the District 8 representative at City Hall for Glen Park and surrounding neighborhoods.

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Glen Park News

More Restaurants Added to Glen Parkʼs Menu A Glen Park resident commented recently that “downtown” Glen Park was beginning to look like a Bruce Springsteen song, all sad by shuttered storefronts. So Emma the buzz was audible from Smith Glen Canyon to Mission Street when the Chronicle story hit September 6 about a fistful of new local eateries slated to open soon. No longer will Chenery Park be our only “real” restaurant! According to the story, the late Red Rock, at the corner of Diamond and Chenery, will morph into Le Pʼtit Laurent, a classic, comfortable French bistro serving Gallic staples like steak frites and cassoulet. Owner Laurent Legendre has hired chef Eliseo Soto,

formerly of Plouf, and hopes to open in October. Locals lamenting the dearth of sushi in the neighborhood will be pleased to hear about a new venture from Ric Lopez, owner of furniture store Modernpast. Lopez is working on a hip, contemporary Japanese joint at 678 Chenery. Still unnamed, the restaurantʼs kitchen will be manned by chef Gerardo Torres, formerly of Blowfish and Mak Sake. Good pizza makes us just as happy as good sushi, and itʼs coming to the former Sunset Pizza location (2842 Diamond) in the form of an Italian family restaurant called Angelina. Chef Sharon Ardiana, who enthuses that Glen Park has always been her dream neighborhood, wants to create the “experience

of being in a warm, cozy kitchen” with family, as inspired by her own upbringing. On the menu are thick, square-cut Sicilian pizza, thin and crispy Neopolitan pizza and other rustic Italian comfort foods. Ardiana plans to open in early December. Glen Park architect Gregory Mottola, principal at Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, is leading the design team for the restaurant. Lastly, the second in a mini-chain of Hong King-style dessert shops is moving into a prime location at 2810 Diamond, where Dr. Video used to hold court. The sweetly-named Eggettes plans to open its doors in late September. They will serve eggettes, a waffle-like treat, as well as other sweet and savory snacks and tapioca drinks.

Frustration Accelerates Over Traffic Mess Near School As the 284 students of Glen Park Elementary School began the new school year, their parents faced the same old problem: how to drop off and pick up their kids safely from the by huge edifice sandwiched Bonnee in between two narrow Waldstein residential streets. Likewise, residents of those streets, Lippard and Brompton (between Bosworth and Joost) faced, yet again, impassable roadways. And this is coupled with the year-round stream of irate drivers trying to make their way to and from Highway 280, getting madder by the minute as they become entangled in the complex one-way traffic patterns. Residents got to vent their ongoing frustration at a meeting held at the school on August 28. They complained of buses and cars pulling up on the sidewalks at arrival and dismissal times, 8:40 a.m. and 2:40 p.m. (Note to readers: use alternate route); inadequate signage to alert drivers of schoolchildren crossing; children darting across the street in the middle of blocks that have no marked crossings; the danger posed by the steep ascent of the streets, which hides these kids—six children have been hit by cars in the past seven years; drivers speeding on and off I-280, still in “highway mentality;” and

Traffic in front of Glen Park Elementary School.

the lack of traffic law enforcement. It was pointed out that the bridge which spans Bosworth and leads to the school was intended as a student crossing from school buses that would be staged along either side of Bosworth at arrival and dismissal times. Whether it ever worked that way or not, now the buses join the cars on the sidewalks. Among recipients of this tide of frustration were Supervisor Bevan Dufty, San Francisco Police Sgt. Jennifer Jackson, and Bridget Smith and Dan Provence of the Municipal Transportation Agency. The MTA is responsible, under Prop K, for implementing traffic-calming projects with funds from a half-cent sales tax. Traffic calming uses measures intended to force drivers to maintain a steady, lower speed instead of speeding up racing to the next stop sign. The MTA is encouraging the least restrictive solutions as first steps, so as not to unnecessarily impede the flow of traffic.

Photo by Liz Mangelsdorf

Brompton and Lippard avenues are considered alleys where 15 mph is the norm, so speed-limit signs could be posted. A suggestion for speed bumps was not well received by some who feared the noise they create as cars go over them. Curb bulbs at the corners force cars to take turns more slowly but at $200,000 are very costly. Changing the direction of the traffic flow on any of the surrounding streets would require a petition signed by half the residents of the street. Many people agreed that other traffic issues in Glen Park cause drivers to circumvent problem areas by using Brompton and Lippard avenues. The meeting ended with agreement that speed bumps could be a start. Ballots with pros and cons will be sent to those affected; if 50 percent plus one vote favorably, a public hearing would be held. Funds could be allocated from the recently awarded $3 million federal grant for transportation hub improvement.

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Fall 2006

College Terrace — Architectural Mystery Tour: One in a Series of Remarkable Things About Glen Park On a stroll up Mission Street, at the supported by two portly columns, extreme northeast corner of Glen Park topped by Doric, Corinthian or plain just north of St. John the Evangelist capitals. Most of the upper eaves (corChurch at Bosworth, nices) are lightly ornamented. Three I was startled as I or four have over time undergone a by glanced up College portico or column removal or have Dolan Terrace, a narrow, been scaled back. There are no trees, Eargle one-block-long cul-de- only a handful of potted shrubs. There sac. In the 1890s, when is no turn-around for your auto. And Mission Road (El Camino Real) was there is no number 13. a muddy mess, the church had estabEarly maps of this area show only lished a roadhouse a large tract laid out here. Travelers There are no trees, in the College Hill bound for the wilds Homesteade (sic) for of the Peninsula only a handful of J. Resing in 1907, found accommodasuperseding the tions and dining potted shrubs. There roadhouse. “When for themselves and do you suppose their horses. I was is no turn-around for they were built?” I curious to see what asked a librarian at had replaced it. your auto. And there the S.F. Library HisLittle did I expect tory Room. He had, to be embarking is no number 13. by chance, grown up on an architectural on Marsily, the next mystery tour. street south. He suggested consulting What arrested my attention is records of the Spring Valley Water this entire streetʼs somewhat ponder- Co., then the cityʼs water supplier. ous architecture. The block is lined The 1906 earthquake had destroyed with 24 homes on both sides, almost most of the Cityʼs records, but those identical, some dark, some bright, of Spring Valley had been housed each only 25 feet wide. No Victorian away from the great fire. Dates and lightness here. Jutting out from each exact locations of all San Franciscoʼs home toward the narrow street and water hookups are recorded from each other is (or was) a heavy portico, about 1902. The last building south

A view down College Terrace.

Photo by Michael Waldstein

A typical College Terrace house.

Photo by Michael Waldstein

of Bosworth before the overpass, now on St. Maryʼs Avenue by architect a YMCA, was a Spring Valley build- John Shea is described as Classical ing. Revival/Italian Renaissance. But College Terrace water was hooked these homes donʼt fit that style. This up all on one date, March 29, 1913, for block is unique. Mr. J. H. Kurse, no doubt the owner at A few days later I went up the that time of all its 26 tracts. A resident deserted street to make some notes, told me that though maybe to encounter the entire street It has a central someone knowlis owned by each edgeable. I chanced occupant, it is conEuropean feel, as to see a young man trolled in common, dressed in formal privately, with no though one were black, carrying a City services—street musical instrument, cleaning, signage, looking down hurrying out of parking control, one of the homes. etc. Changes are some back street I asked if he knew made only by comof the history of the mon consent. in Budapest. street; he replied The extraordithat he did know nary nature of this place urged me some but, leaving me a telephone to investigate its architectural back- number to call, hurried off to an ground. It has a central European appointment. feel, as though one were looking My call the next day put me in down some back street in Budapest; touch the C. F. Andrade family. Mrs. nevertheless, I suspected that the Andrade, by yet another chance, architect must have had something knew quite a bit about the street. She else in mind. A dozen library books is a strong advocate of the history of on architecture in San Francisco CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 show nothing specific. The church

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Dedication ceremony for the West Portal Tunnel, 1917. Photo courtesy of Ken and Kathy Hoegger.

West of Twin Peaks History Showcased in New Book “I wanted to celebrate some of the neighborhoods that are often left out of guidebooks and off of city maps,” explains Jacqueline by Proctor, author of a Emma recent installment in the Smith popular series “Images of America” from Arcadia Press. (To date, there are 32 titles for San Francisco alone; a Glen Park book is in the works.) San Franciscoʼs West of Twin Peaks relates the surprisingly fascinating history of Mount Davidson and nine adjoining neighborhoods (including Miraloma Park, Sunnyside and Westwood Park). Although her writing is professional, Proctor wasnʼt just a scribe for hire; previously, she was also the woman partially responsible for making sure the highest point in San Francisco will remain forever as it is today—a wild, open space free to all residents at any time of day, a big swath of windswept moor and dusky rainforest within the city. Proctor moved to Miraloma Park

in 1980, and her son was born in 1983. “We took him up on the mountain all the time,” she remembers. “It was like our backyard and made our tiny house seem much bigger.” Around 1991, the City was sued by several organizations, including the ACLU, protesting the presence of the cross on the hillʼs peak, which they considered a violation of separation of church and state. Concerned more about the preservation of Mount Davidson Park than the cross itself, Proctor followed the case closely. When the City lost the lawsuit, it was ordered to either destroy the cross or sell the land beneath it—most likely to developers, who would proceed to build houses and apartments all the way to the top. Aghast, Proctor started the Friends of Mount Davidson Conservancy with an aim to maintain the park and bar all development on its slopes. What happened next was a feat of bureaucratic derring-do. The City had decided to sell off six acres of land on

the mountain. Proctorʼs group managed to convince the City to reduce the area of land sold to 0.39 acres, and to make it a narrow strip, unfit for building and useless to developers. Additionally, they shoehorned a conservation easement into the deed, stating that it must remain public open space in perpetuity. Fascinated with what she had learned about the cityʼs history, Proctor began delving further. Last year, she took an early retirement with the idea of turning her research into a book. When she learned about Arcadiaʼs series of historical picture books, she pitched her project to them. Flipping through Proctorʼs book is mesmerizing. Among the photos are images of a treeless Mount Davidson (then called Blue Mountain) in 1852, the circa 1890s streetcar that ran along Monterey Boulevard all the way to San Mateo, and a major mudslide in 1942 that sent houses on the 700 block of Foerster sliding across the street. The text describes various legendary landowners of the West of Twin Peaks areas, including Adolph Sutro, Leland Stanford and Behrend Joost, and how President Franklin Roosevelt pressed the telegraph key to light up the giant concrete cross in 1934.

Glen Park News

Although Joost developed Sunnyside around the turn of the century, much of the land was built up in the 1920s and 30s, following the tenets of the City Beautiful urban planning movement: curvilinear streets, parklike boulevards, front lawns and back parking alleys. “They needed to compete with the suburban developments going up on the Peninsula” and other places, explained Proctor. Indeed, many of these neighborhoods have a peaceful feel absent in older parts of San Francisco. Being in the city yet away from the bustle is what continues to attract people to the slopes of the hill. Proctorʼs original title was Mount Davidson, but the publishers objected, insisting no one knew what that was. “Even most San Franciscans havenʼt heard of Mount Davidson,” Proctor laughs. Her book aims to change that. To see excerpts and photos from the book, go towww.mtdavidson.org. The book is sold at Bird and Beckett and The Bookshop West Portal. An easy ascent from Myra Way at Dalewood brings walkers to Mt. Davidsonʼs 938-foot peak, with rewarding views of the city.

Above: On February 6, 1942, the hillside above the 700 block of Foerster Street gave way, displacing houses and killing one person. Photo courtesy of Kathy Rawlins. Below: Cover of San Francisco’s West of Twin Peaks by Jacqueline Proctor.

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Bagatelos

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family first bought on a shoestring so many years ago. Karen, her brother Peter, Uncle John and family friend Pete Kyriopoulos, who grew up in the neighborhood, gathered in the apartmentʼs gracious dining room to tell the Glen Park News stories about the old days. Peter and Vaneta had immigrated from Longa, Greece. Vaneta arrived at Ellis Island in 1914 at the age of 16 with $12. They married and came to San Francisco. In 1941 the couple was living in a rented two-bedroom apartment on Shotwell Street with their five sons—Anthony, George, Jim, Gus and John. Seven People, Two Bedrooms John, born in 1939, says his mother wanted a house with more bedrooms to fit her brood. “She kept telling dad, ʻWe have to have a bigger place to live.ʼ She dragged him over here.” The realtor told her they needed a $500 down payment to buy the house, which cost $6,000. After much family discussion, Peter relented. But at the last minute the realtor told them they couldnʼt close escrow without another $100, John, a retired teacher, remembers. That was a lot of money and there wasnʼt anyone in their family who could come up with that kind of cash: “At that time my dad had a wagon and a horse and he was peddling produce. So mother tells my father to borrow the money off of Joe—the produce man at the market on the Embarcadero—because ʻHe does business with you every day—he knows you; he knows youʼre good for it.ʼ” Joe came through with the money and the family closed on the house with $600 down. With the United States at war, the three eldest brothers joined up, went off to fight, and sent their pay home to their parents. “They paid off the house in four years,” John says. Families in the neighborhood today sometimes complain about the small rooms and tight floor plans of their houses. But after the war, the oldest son, Anthony, married Emily. Their first child, also named Peter, was born in 1949. So then it was not just Peter and Vaneta plus their five strapping sons, but also a wife and new baby—all in

Fall 2006

an apartment with four bedrooms, one bathroom and a grand total of 2,500 square feet. It didnʼt seem anything out of the ordinary, recalls that baby, Peter, who is now a lawyer with children of his own. The grandparents had the front bedroom, uncles George and Jim shared the second bedroom. Young Peter, his mom and dad lived in the corner bedroom and uncles Gus and John lived in the back bedroom. “Somehow they worked out the bathroom schedule,” Peter says. It never felt cramped. “There was really a lot of room for everyone to have their own space and to spread out,” he says. It was the same over at Pete Kyriopoulosʼs house. He was born in 1934 at 111 Cuvier St. at Murray Street, just off San Jose Avenue. His father ran a small café in the space thatʼs now Higher Grounds. Pete says when he was a kid their street was called ʻcoo-veehr,ʼ but now, he says, they pronounce it coo-vee-ay. His family lived there from 1938 to 1952. Pete lived with his five brothers and their mother in a one-bedroom house. “My mom converted the dining room into a bedroom and we lived off the porch,” he remembers. They were happy to be there. Chickens, Rabbits and Potatoes The Bagatelos family was as self-sufficient as possible in the middle of the city. Young Peterʼs grandmother spent her day taking care of her family. The wash was done in the backyard with hot water heated on the stove, and an old-fashioned machine and a ringer. Realtors today show the steep backyards of Glen Park and suggest cantilevered decks and elaborate garden systems with irrigation. The Bagatelos clan saw dirt and thought food. Their backyard consists of a thin strip of land next to the house, then a tall wall with another thin strip of dirt at the top. Peterʼs grandfather built a ladder along one wall and planted vegetables on the top strip. The boys had to haul a garden hose 15 feet up the ladder to water the vegetables. “I remember going out to dig up potatoes and then taking them to my grandmother to cook for dinner,” Peter says. Fertilizer came from the CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

Fall 2006

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Photo from the Bagatelos family archives, date and location unknown.

Bagatelos

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back end of a horse: “My grandfather would go out and collect the droppings in the street and use them for the garden.” His grandfather also had a shack in the upper garden where he raised rabbits for meat and chickens for eggs. If they didnʼt grow it, they found it. The Greeks, Peter says, are famous for picking wild greens. “During the war, when the Axis was trying to starve them to death, they picked greens in the woods and survived.”

His grandmother Vaneta, who lived to be 99, ate wild greens every week of her life. He remembers going with her into Glen Canyon where she taught him which greens to pick for their dinners. “I remember climbing well up into the canyon to get them. Weʼd pick bags and bags,” he says. They included dandelions and greens he knows only by their Greek names, prides, chehous and horta.

Food was central to family life. Peter remembers his grandmother buying smelt from the fish monger who came by the house. “Sheʼd dip them in oil, then flour, then theyʼd tie three of them together and serve them with lemon. The family sat down at a giant rectangular table every night for dinner. His grandmother would make pastisios, spanakopita (Greek lasagna of phyllo dough, spinach and cheese), tyropitas (phyllo dough puffs filled with cheese) and Greek macaroni with butter, garlic and mizithra cheese. Sheʼd pick tender young grape leaves from a relativeʼs yard, boil them and then stuff them with rice and lamb to make dolmades, served with avolemeno, or egg-andlemon sauce. There was no such thing as central heating. On cold San Francisco mornings, the whole family would gather in the kitchen, where Peterʼs Grandmother would fire up the stove when she got up at 5:30 a.m. “Sheʼd close the door to the kitchen so that it would heat up and weʼd all flock there to get warm.”

Horse-drawn Carts In the 1940s and 1950s there was no Safeway at the top of the hill, John says. Instead, the shops came to the housewives at home during the day. “In my earliest memories, when I was 31⁄2 or 4, I remember little trucks going up and down the street—the earliest ones were horse-drawn carts—with fruit and vegetables. The people could come out and buy them straight from the cart from the vendors,” John remembers. The ice man would come once a week and lug ice for the iceboxes up the stairs with huge metal tongs. The fish monger came in a truck with ice in the back: “Heʼd have fresh fish and people would come out of the houses and select a fish for dinner.” The village was very active, full of stores. In the space below their apartment, the Bagatelosʼ first ran a soda fountain called The Park Fountain, and around 1950 converted it to a grocery story. Pete Kyriopoulosʼ fatherʼs small café served simple food—hamburgers, fries and coffee. Pete remembers that his father was ahead of his time because he used oil instead of the usual lard to make his fries. “He changed the oil every day; thatʼs what gave them the good taste,” he says. John and Pete remember the layout of the neighborhood of 60 years ago like it was yesterday. They interrupt each other to describe the stores and shops that lined the streets. The Red Rock bar was a butcher shop. Across the street from the café was a little market, and on the other corner a Bank of America. Where the BART station is now there was a soda fountain, restaurant and the public library. At the corner of Chenery and Diamond there was a five-and-dime store. Tygersʼ corner used to be a drug store and next door there was a movie house, which is now a beauty parlor. “We had everything here,” Pete remembers. The neighborhood was a mix of ethnicities, Pete and John remember. They knew all the other Greek families in the neighborhood, but played with everyone. “There were Germans and Italians. We were a mix.” It was a working-class neighborhood and the fathers were either in the trades or worked in small shops. “There were lots of electricians, plumbers and carpenters,” John remembers. Later, the neighborhood got a little more avant-garde. At one point in the 1970s a man rented the familyʼs apartment and started the Chenery Street

Glen Park News

Theater. “He cut a hole in the bedroom wall and had a projector that projected old movies onto the wall of the back room. Heʼd set up chairs and sell drinks and popcorn and you could see a double feature for $4.” When he moved out he fixed the holes in the walls and put it all back, John says. Moving on By the mid 1950s the family was coming up in the world. In 1952 Peter and his mom, Emily, and dad, Anthony, were able to move into their own apartment on Ocean Avenue. Their second son Michael was born in 1956 and Karen in 1961. In the late 1950s Peter and Vaneta moved to a house in San Bruno. But the Chenery Street property stayed in the family as a rental unit. Uncle George kept the grocery store going and then it was rented to a man who had an appliance-repair business. “They fixed pinball machines,” John remembers. When Vaneta died, Michael and Karen bought the building from her estate. When the repair business left, a bakery rented the downstairs and it stayed a bakery until just this summer, when the owners of Sweet Sueʼs decided to move to a larger space. The Bagatelos sons all did well for themselves. Anthony used the GI Bill to go back to school, first to City College and then to Stanford for undergraduate and medical school. George owned a series of small businesses and the downstairs grocery store, Jim was in the produce business and now owns a horse ranch in Northern California. Gus lives in Sacramento, where he has a successful commercial glass business. John, the youngest at 70, retired as a teacher in the San Francisco public school system four years ago. When grandson Peter, took his own children to Greece in 1975, he reminded them that their grandparents came over from tiny mountain villages with no radio and no newspapers. They didnʼt know anything about the outside world. They got to Athens, then took a ship to New York and then made their way to San Francisco—all without knowing the language. “It was harder for people to get here than to the moon,” Peter told his children. And despite the odds, they survived and thrived, 10 people living in a medium-sized apartment in Glen Park that some today would consider suitable only for a family of four. “Itʼs a testament to their strength and determination,” Peter says.

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Fall 2006

Check It Out at the Library! On Sept. 1 the City and the contractor met to go over the final “punch list” in preparation for the City of San Francisco taking ownership of the library space in the Glen Park Marketplace. As you by probably remember, Sharon the library is entering Dezurick into a condominium arrangement. The contract has been let to finish the interior of the library. Work is scheduled to start the week of Sept. 18 or Sept. 25. As long as there are no change orders, the contractor has 225 days to complete the work. When the work is complete, the current branch will close as we move the collection, unpack the materials we have sent into storage, and make preparations to open the new branch. Of course, there will be a BIG party when—or soon after—we open the new branch. If all goes well we will be moving and opening sometime between May and July 2007. Meanwhile, back at the current branch, summer reading club is over. Story times continue every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. with a really young crowd, and reserves continue to pile in. Carol Small, the childrenʼs librarian from Noe Valley, is making sure we have additional programming, and the book budget is still stupendously generous ($55,000 for English adult materials) and a teen budget, childrenʼs budget and money for Spanish and Chinese materials, too. San Francisco Public Library has joined the American Library Associationʼs “Every Child Ready to Read.” The campaign promotes “six early literacy skills that children must master in order to learn to read.” The skills are: • Print Motivation—enjoying books. • Vocabulary—learning more words. • Phonological Awareness— making the distinctions between different sounds. Singing and rhyming especially help with this skill. • Letter Knowledge—knowing

the shapes and sounds of different letters and knowing that letters come in upper (capitals) and lower case. • Print Awareness—asking questions about the story and pictures and pointing out words. • Narrative skills—being able to talk about an experience or a story. In order to support this effort, the library has expanded and updated its booklists intended for babies, toddlers and preschoolers. Ask at the branch for these updated lists and for our recommendations for older children. I want to thank Bonnie Willdorf for all her work co-chairing the Glen Park Capital Campaign. Bonnie was instrumental in securing Lick Wilmerding High Schoolʼs theater and library for our “In the Shadow of the Stars” screening and has been a stalwart supporter of the library. Bonnieʼs husband, Barry, has leukemia that will require a bone marrow transplant. I wish for the best possible outcome for this serious health situation. Jess Taclas has agreed to join Tiffany Farr in co-chairing the Glen Park Capital Campaign. I thank everyone for the generous support the library has received from the neighborhood, and shamelessly remind those who intend to give, but havenʼt gotten around to it, that there is still time. Call Marion Chatfield-Taylor of the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library at 6267512 x103 for further information. Glen Park Branch 653 Chenery Street San Francisco, CA 94131 (415) 337-4740 Hours Tuesday 10 – 6 Wednesday 12 – 8 Thursday 1 – 7 Friday 1 – 6 Saturday 1 – 6 Sharon Dezurick is the Glen Park branch librarian.

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On Patrol in Glen Park Since Iʼve started writing this column, Iʼve heard from a number of readers on a variety of issues. Many of the questions by concern the violence Officer plaguing our city, Michael traffic enforcement Walsh and pedestrian safety, police department staffing (including response times), and the predictable political response about which we read in the daily papers. Iʼll try to respond briefly to the questions that I think most directly affect Glen Park, remembering that we are not an island unto ourselves. In response to citizensʼ concerns and requests for improved traffic safety, Ingleside Stationʼs Capt. Paul Chignell challenged his officers to provide increased traffic enforcement throughout the district. Officers more than doubled their traffic stops, resulting in more citations, by far, than any other district in the city. Areas of particular enforcement in Glen Park include Bosworth and Diamond, Bosworth and Arlington, Bosworth and Lippard (do we see a pattern here?), Diamond and Surrey, Diamond and Sussex, and the whole length of Chenery from 30th Street to Elk. Run a red light or a stop sign, violate a pedestrianʼs right-of-way in the crosswalk, make an illegal turn, or drive recklessly and you stand a good chance of getting pulled over. These violations are most often cited by traffic safety experts as the leading causes of injury accidents. Since mid-2005, when officers were asked to concentrate on traffic enforcement, injury accidents in the Ingleside Police District are down no less than 20 percent. This is a significant development. “I called to complain about my neighborʼs contractor and you guys took two hours to show up! What gives?” This is a common refrain. A neighbor encroaches on anotherʼs property while doing construction or leaves trash; someone works on their car in the driveway; somebody else might play their music too loud while gardening. The police are called on all types of civil disputes over which we have no jurisdiction but to which we must respond. Obviously, these are not high-priority calls and they are handled only after emergency calls. With the department already 300 officers down, and directed enforcement siphoning officers to more violent neighborhoods, response times can be quite lengthy.

You can try to handle these disputes yourself, but oftentimes tempers run high. What was civil in nature can quickly become criminal. Also, many people have conducted Internet searches to discover the names of their neighbors, only to be embarrassed to find that databases are often wrong and theyʼve accused the wrong person. I am shown online as owning another house on my street into which Iʼve never set foot, but the Internet insisted itʼs mine, as did the complainant conducting the search who had an issue with the resident of the house. To help resolve conflicts, I suggest you call the Community Boards at 920-3820. The staff there can help you accurately identify the neighbor, make the contact and schedule mediation between you and your neighbor to resolve your issues. The political football du jour being knocked around by our Board of Supervisors is increased foot patrols for more police visibility. I wrote in an earlier column that staffing precludes Capt. Chignell from dedicating officers to foot beats due to a shortage of officers, but I continually get inquiries as to why Glen Park doesnʼt have a foot beat officer. This is a citywide issue in every police district. Foot patrols provide limited coverage and no emergency response capabilities outside their own beat, while increasing the workload and response times of the sector-car officers who make up for this luxury. Glen Park is fortunate that the Police Academy is just up the hill on Diamond Heights. Many officers from other districts, as well as ours, stop to purchase coffee in the morning on their way to training and frequent the many restaurants in the village for lunch. This provides increased visibility during those times at no staffing cost to the district. Until we have appropriate staffing levels to responsibly afford foot patrols, Iʼll put my faith in the staff deployment abilities of one 35-year police veteran rather than the 11 politicians on the Board of Supervisors.

SFPD Officer Mike Walsh, a Glen Park resident, is assigned to the Ingleside Police Station. He can be contacted by e-mail at mwalsh4719 @sbcglobal.net.

Glen Park News

Special Help for Cityʼs Seniors and the Disabled in Disasters In the event of a major disaster such as an earthquake, seniors and people with disabilities will be most vulnerable, especially if they donʼt have a support network by Lucretia close by. The San Levinger Francisco Department & Bonnee of Public Health has a Waldstein program to track those citizens who voluntarily place themselves on a confidential list. Itʼs called the Disaster Registry and it

Traffic Enforcement During the month of August, officers of the Ingleside Police Station wrote 835 moving traffic violations. This compares with 477 written by in August 2005. So far Capt. Paul this year the Ingleside Chignell officers have written 6,822 moving violations, the highest number in the city by 1,700, and 86 percent more than the same period last year. The large number of traffic citations is the result of an effort by the officers in repsonse to community complaints about speeding, failing to yield to pedestrians and red light violations. We are very proud of the officers and their supervisors. Captain Paul Chignell is Commanding Officer at Ingleside Police Station.

will be located in the S.F. Fire Department battalion station for our area, at 26th and Church Streets. After the emergency response plan is activated and immediate casualties and damage are addressed, Glen Park NERT will gain access to the list and proceed to check on the welfare of the people on it. The list is updated annually. Residents can register by completing the Registration Form and the Vulnerability Checklist. These forms are available for copying from the 72 Hours Binder at the Glen Park branch library; or they may be downloaded from www.sanfranciscoems.org/ drp.php. The forms and instructions may require some assistance to understand and complete. For help, leave a message at 355-2632 or send an e-mail to [email protected]. If you are already in the Registry and wish to remain on it or to update information, call 355-2600 and press 3. General preparedness information is available on the Web at www.sfgov.org/sffdnert (click on Tips for Seniors), and at www.72hours.org (click on the Seniors & Disabled icon).

Lucretia Levinger is one of the founding members of the Friends of Glen Canyon Park. Bonnee Waldstein is a 20-yearresident of the neighborhood.

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Fall 2006

In Glen Canyon Park Good news! The Significant Natural Resources Areas Management Plan was approved at the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission meeting on August 21. Now it will be sent for environmental review. The Natural Areas Management Plan has been in the works since 1995. At that time, 11 years ago, Glen Canyon Park was given by the highest rating for a Jean natural area. The enviConner ronmental review will add another 18 months before the plan can take effect. A copy of the plan is available at the Glen Park Library. The whole plan is thicker than the Manhattan telephone directory. You will probably want to look up only the section that deals with Glen Canyon. The plan designates trail improvements and placement, erosion control, maintenance of the creek with improvement in the water quality along with protection of wildlife and habitat. It determines which areas will be managed extensively and which areas will have little or almost no maintenance. It will protect the natural resources in the Canyon while making the Canyon more accessible. Compromises and concessions in the plan have been made over the years but it is a good plan and will guide the work in the Natural Areas for the next 20 years. Changes in the Canyon will

be slow. It will depend on the money available. It will also depend on volunteers for much of the weed removal, plant propagation and planting. Other news is that this Spring the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Departmentʼs Natural Areas and Volunteer Programs was awarded the Acts of Caring Award for one of the top volunteer programs in the country. The award was given by the National Association of Counties in Washington, D.C. Representatives from the Natural Areas Volunteer Program and the S.F. Recreation and Park Commission were there to receive the award on behalf of the park. A local award ceremony held in McLaren Lodge in Golden Gate Park was attended by volunteers from various natural areas. Richard Craib, Barbara Alvarez and I represented Friends of Glen Canyon Park volunteers. Once upon a time a plant called Tinkers Penny (Hypericium anagalloides) grew in Glen Canyon Park, the only place it could be found in San Francisco. Then no one saw it for many years; botanists thought it was gone forever from our city. Then, this summer, the rare native Tinkers Penny was once again found growing in Glen Canyon. More good news! Sunday, November 5, David Armstrong will once again lead a bird walk in Glen Canyon. There will be a pancake brunch at the Silvertree school picnic tables afterwards. See you there.

“Morning on a Trail in Glen Canyon,” ©2003 by Richard Craib of Friends of Glen Canyon Park, from a photographic series, The Nature of Glen Canyon Park, featuring native plants, birds, ancient geologic outcrops, and one of the two last freeflowing streams in San Francisco. To learn more, call 648-0862.

College Terrace

Terrace, either. On another walk in the 100 block of Parnassus in Cole Valley, I chanced by a single row of nine homes with nearly the same architecture. Although in the same patterns as College Terrace—portico, thick columns, sparsely decorated eaves, most with flat roofs—these were much larger, all in perfect unaltered condition, but more airy in feeling, owing no doubt to the much wider street and the “heritage” trees in front of all. The challenge to identify the style was mounting. Finally, I resorted to Google; there I found what I was looking for. It is called Classical/Colonial Revival and comes to us from an unexpected quarter—arrivals from colonial New England to San Francisco in the 1880s. The style was adopted and adapted, especially after the 1906

earthquake, by architects in “reaction to overblown Victorian confections.” That didnʼt prevent prolific decoration being applied to Colonial Revival also. According to Ian Berke, this style features flat decorated cornices, prominent porticos and columns, pilasters (columns up against the house), clapboard siding, and sometimes plaster garlands. So College Terrace isnʼt that unique—you can find several dozen of the style scattered around, mostly in Cole Valley and the Inner Sunset. The unusual sight that catches the eye here is their small size, all the same, packed into a narrow dead-end street. In order to squeeze in as many rowhouses as possible, early 20th-centuty homes in San Francisco were built with two (sometimes three) vertical sections called bays—one for entranceway, one for window or possible garage below.

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College Terrace, which she studied to enable her family to restore its home to its original appearance. Several changes on the street had been made in the 1970s; most were tasteful, but not within the original style. To her knowledge, the streetʼs architecture was possibly Edwardian, since Edward VII (1901–1910) followed Victoria and none of these is at all Victorian. I found two more identical homes nearby on St. Maryʼs Avenue. Books on that era reveal that “Edwardian “ is usually characterized in San Francisco by the description “classical exuberance.” Think Palace of Fine Arts, City Hall, Palace of the Legion of Honor, and in art by Tiffany, Art Nouveau, and Arts and Crafts. None of those here in College

Look for Queen Anne or Italianate Victorians in Glen Park with the same basic vertical structure. Itʼs the flat roofline and large, flat porticos, more than adornments, that define Classical Revival. The little no-outlet street of College Terrace remains like nothing else in San Francisco. Remember, this too is part of Glen Park. Check it out. Records on maps reviewed by Dolan Eargle are in the Assessor/Recorder Office on the first floor of City Hall. Books, maps and records are in the Main Libraryʼs San Francisco History Room (sixth floor). Comments on the architectural style can be found in an excellent survey of San Francisco architecture on the Web by Ian Berke, at www.ianberke.com/architecturestyle2.

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Digging the Dirt: News from the Garden Club While I was gone this summer, my garden turned into a jungle. All the tender care I had by given it before I left was Carol Maerzke quite noticeable upon my return. After some cutting back and weeding there were a few places to add some colorful red and orange impatiens. These cheerful plants can be grown year-round if they are protected from frost and not drowned by heavy rain. Pinch their tips to keep them bushy. We really can make it feel like fall here in Glen Park. There is no need to go out into the country or travel east. Chrysanthemums, coleus, abutilon (flowering maple), nandina (heavenly bamboo), or Japanese maples combined with impatiens and pansies will help you achieve that goal. Were you aware that the Garden Conservancy is active in our neighborhood? Two wonderful gardens in Glen Park, owned by Jeff Britt and Mary Betlach, were opened in the spring to the public to help raise funds to support projects like the preservation of Alcatraz Island and other gardens in the Bay Area that would otherwise be lost after their owners were no longer able to care for them. Jeff and Mary have chosen to donate part of the earnings from the

Open Garden event to the Glen Park Garden Club. It is possible to grow citrus here in Glen Park. The Meyer lemon can be grown in the ground but I have had very good luck growing one in a large wooden pot. This tree can be recognized by the fact that it is doing something interesting all the time. Flowers, green fruit and delicious yellow fruit can be found on the tree all at once. The ripe fruit has a much sweeter taste and is excellent for lemonade, desserts, fish, or as a low-calorie salad dressing. It is important to use citrus fertilizer to keep the leaves green, especially if it is in a pot. It is time to visit one of our local nurseries or look through your favorite garden catalog and choose a gift of spring-blooming bulbs for your garden. Keep tulips in the refrigerator for six weeks, away from apples, before planting with bone meal and fresh soil. One of my favorite sayings by an unknown author is: “When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden — and shopping.” Carol Maerzke is a member of the Glen Park Garden Club.

Glen Park News

A Safer Glen Park Begins in Your Home (Identities have been changed for privacy reasons) Carrie Diamond and Charles Bosworth consider themselves lucky to be living in quiet Glen Park, along with their twin sons, Miguel and Mateo. But the recent shooting by on Addison Street and Bonnee various reports of mugWaldstein gings, robberies and burglaries have made them wonder what they could do to make their family safer. So they contacted SF SAFE (Safety Awareness for Everyone) and arranged for a free home security evaluation. SAFE is a nonprofit crime-prevention and educational organization under contract with the City, and is in its 30th year. Itʼs consultants conduct surveys of residences and businesses and make presentations to organizations. It also facilitates the formation of neighborhood watch groups. For starters, security consultant Rob MacKenzie gave Carrie and Charles an overview of how thieves operate in a residential area. Most burglaries are committed opportunistically by unforced entry through the front, sides or rear of the residence, often in daylight when people are out. Thieves learn the “ins and outs” of a block and develop methodologies for gaining entry. Forced entry is often accomplished by prying wood so that the door lock or jamb breaks. Itʼs less common to break glass because of the noise factor but small panes may be broken. Burglar alarms are a good backup communication device but do not prevent a break-in. The most effective deterrent is “target hardening”—physically making improvements in home security. Some ways to stop a thief: Doors: Keep a light on through

the night (unless you have a door with glass), or use a photocell. Make sure your doorbell works! If you donʼt hear it a burglar will think youʼre not home. The door should be solid. The jamb might break before the door or lock does. It should have a strike plate with four three-inch-long screws into the stud, to prevent prying. Fill in any deteriorated spots with wood cement. Have a deadbolt. Use a door viewer (peephole) and look first even if youʼre expecting someone. The back door should be fire-rated, that is, metal on either side of a wood core. It should have security features built in, as modifications could nullify the fire rating. Windows: Lock windows all the way or a knife could be slipped through. Donʼt assume that window wells or other hidden windows are safe. Burglars scope these out and will get to them through the middle of a block, a fire escape, through other houses or over fences. Drop a dowel or rod in the window spacer to prevent it from opening enough to pry. Make sure windows are aligned so they lock properly. If utility meters are in a window, make sure that cars, bikes, etc. are not visible through it. Keys: Donʼt label keys except in code, or keep them in a locked cabinet. Garage: Test the door for a tight fit. If thereʼs any give, it could be forced up. Yards and construction areas: Ladders and scaffolding are wellloved by thieves, as are any tools left out that can be used to force entry. Even trash bins can be stacked up for climbing in. MacKenzie observed that it might be unnerving for residents to realize their security vulnerabilities. But Carrie and Charles were very grateful for all his valuable advice and are now checking off their to-do list.

Beyond Your Home, Your Block Neighborhood Watch is a component of SF SAFE. Most people are aware of this program because of the signs posted around the city. However, this is a detail that residents may or may not agree to have on their block. More important is the formation and ongoing functioning of a group of neighbors who agree to be each otherʼs eyes and ears. It begins with a core group of half a dozen or so neighbors whose houses are visible to each other. They call SAFE and a crime prevention specialist makes a presentation to the group, helps assess and prioritize concerns, and plans a strategy for addressing them. Tools such a block maps, e-mail lists and phone trees are developed for quick communication. A resident who witnesses a suspicious activity or person can alert the group so that the incident is not isolated; it is known by others who might witness it at another time, thus raising awareness and providing more evidence to pass on to authorities. SF SAFE can be reached at 553-1984 or www.sfsafe.org.

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District 8 Race

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choice on those ballots moves up to the top with those votes being instantly recounted. This continues until one candidate has the 50 percent-plus majority needed to win. The system eliminates the potential need for a December runoff. The Glen Park News asked Rosenthal and Dufty a series of questions regarding their vision for and relationship with Glen Park. Some answers were edited for space considerations.

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Glen Park News: What do you think are the biggest issues facing Glen Park, in the short term and the long term? Bevan Dufty: How to retain the charm and livability of the Glen Park village by ensuring calmer traffic, greener and cleaner streets, pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly paths of travel, and a more efficient transit hub at the Glen Park BART station. Second, to ensure that the Glen Park neighborhood is safe and feels safer. Alix Rosenthal: Glen Parkʼs most pressing issues are parking, congestion and traffic safety. Three constituencies conflict on parking: residents who want ample and free parking near their homes, merchants and their customers who want short-term metered parking near the commercial center, and commuters who travel to work by way of the Glen Park BART station. GPN: What are your plans to address the issues you outlined? BD: Iʼve already secured $3.4 million in federal funds for the Glen Park neighborhood plan and am working closely with the community and Muni on improvements that make Glen Park more livable and enjoyable. In terms of public safety, Iʼve held numerous SAFE block-watch and communitywide meetings involving Diamond Heights and Glen Park. We have made great strides and Iʼm encouraged that there continues to be large attendance at our meetings. AR: The 2003 Glen Park Community Plan went a long way toward finding solutions to managing parking, traffic safety and congestion in Glen Park. For example, the Plan suggests eliminating minimum residential parking requirements (which I strongly support), and makes very specific recommendations for parking spaces. It includes a blueprint for pedestrian safety measures, such as improved crossings, widened sidewalks and bulb-outs, and improved access for the disabled in specific loca-

Fall 2006

tions. But producing the plan was only the first step; Glen Park needs a supervisor who will shepherd the communityʼs solutions through to completion. GPN: How would you describe Glen Park? BD: Itʼs a village, a transit hub, a peaceful neighborhood and a beautiful oasis in Glen Canyon Park. It has access to all the city has to offer but itʼs very much a neighborhood in the sense of close relationships with neighbors and with long-time local merchants. AR: Often quirky, definitely cozy, Glen Park has a small-town feel to it, with a diverse mix of residents. When youʼre shopping among its mom and pop shops, or hiking in the lush Glen Canyon, itʼs easy to forget youʼre in the center of a major metropolitan area. Because of its attractiveness, its feeling of relative seclusion, and its proximity to transportation hubs, it has become a very popular place to live (leading to high housing prices). GPN: Do you spend time in the neighborhood, eating at the restaurants, shopping at the stores, using the parks? BD: Iʼm frequently at Chenery Park; itʼs my good-luck restaurant. Iʼve warned Joe and John to expect to see me Tuesdays (at family night) once my daughter, Sidney, arrives in October. I love the Glen Park Family Fun Days organized by Miriam Moss. I have breakfast meetings at Tygerʼs, and [enjoy] burritos from La Corneta and a pastry treat from Destinations Bakery. Itʼs always fun to visit Glen Park Elementary and St. Johnʼs Elementary (Sister Lillian watches over me). AR: Yes. I walk my dog in Glen Park occasionally, I love the funky Bird & Beckett [bookstore], and I like to pretend Iʼm eating healthy by ordering the turkey sausage at Tygerʼs. GPN: Have you ever lived in Glen Park? What neighborhood do you live in now? BD: Not yet, but after the election Iʼm looking for a two-unit building to share with Rebecca Goldfader, my co-parent, and our child. Right now I live near Buena Vista Park. AR: I have not lived in Glen Park, but have always lived in District 8. I have lived in Ashbury Heights for seven years. For more information on the candidatesʼ plans and positions, visit their Web sites: www.bevandufty.com and www.votealix.com.

Fall 2006

Page 15

Glen Park News

Glen Park News

Page 16

Merchants Forum The Glen Park Merchants Association comprises merchants and businesses in and around the Glen Park neighborhood. Meetings are scheduled regularly and are open to members of the organization or by by invitation. A Web site is Mary Janssen currently being developed and will provide a schedule of meeting dates as well as feature Glen Park businesses. All local businesses are welcome and encouraged to join the GPMA. Halloween is just around the corner and participating merchants will have treats for the kids again this year. Donʼt forget to stop in and say boo! Look for signs announcing the “Holiday Eveningʼʼ in Glen Park. Last yearʼs event was a great success for both merchants and shoppers. Plans are being made to repeat the event again this year. Merchants will stay open late one evening in November to kick off the holiday season to help you start procuring your holiday gifts. The GPMA received tremendous

amount of positive response to our billboard at the intersection of Diamond and Bosworth streets last holiday season. We love showcasing our local businesses as well as kicking off the holiday spirit in our village. “Look up” for our billboard again this year starting in November. We are thrilled about all the new businesses opening in the next few months and hope you are just as excited to watch our neighborhood grow. Finally, and most importantly, we extend our sincere thanks and appreciation to you, our valued customers, for making us a part of your life. Mary Janssen owns the More to Life upholstery business and is a representative of the Glen Park Merchants Association. Watch for the GPMAʼs new Web site at www.glenpark merchantassociation.com. For information about joining, send an e-mail to info@glenparkmerchantassocia tion.com.

Canyon Market is Hiring and Will Open Soon If you need a job, you might be able to get one at the Canyon Market. If you need a gallon of milk, youʼll have to go elsewhere for a few more weeks. It looks as though the Canyon Marketʼs grand opening is in our future, and store owner Richard Tarby lov said, “We are hoping Ashley to complete all construcHathaway tion and permits by the 30th of September.” In early September the hiring process was under way and potential employees were being interviewed. Some positions had been filled but Tarlov was still looking for stockers, deli servers, coffee bar people, a wine assistant, stewards and a dishwasher. When looking at the seemingly permanent construction zone on Diamond Street, it may not appear that many changes have taken place over the past three months. However, the project is definitely in the final phases of construction. For example, the floor has been installed and Tarlov boasts, “Itʼs an engineered concrete, stained a lovely amber!” As to an official opening date, Tarlov assured the Glen Park News: “There will be a grand opening, but no date is

set yet. No promotions or anything have been scheduled, but all of our vendors are being really supportive and will help out for our opening events with samples, discounts, and demonstrations.” Richard Tarlov can be reached at [email protected].

Fall 2006

Glen Park Advisory Board Wins Some, Loses Some Glen Parkʼs Jadine Low will be retiring this fall after more than 30 years with the Recreation and Park Department, most of it in Glen Park. Several of the parents by who bring their children Miriam to the Tiny Tot class she Moss teaches were themselves tots in her classes all those years ago. We wish her well in her new endeavors. Her replacement has not been chosen. The Wednesday and Friday Tiny Tot class will be led by Allison, who worked at Glen Park part-time a few years ago. She was transferred to Douglas Playground, then moved to Hamilton Rec. Center. Bart will hold the Thursday Mom & Toddler class. If you cannot find information posted about who is responsible for what programs at Glen Park, please call the Supervisor of the Rec. Directors at Glen Park, Gil Rocha. He can be reached at 337-4747. The new playground equipment that appeared -- unbolted down -- in the Glen Park playground is from the Upper Noe playground, which is currently closed for renovation. It is indoor equipment from their site. In July the Glen Park Advisory Board had a walk-through with Marianne Bertuccelli, the Recreation and Park Departmentʼs supervisor of Neighborhood Service Area 5, and Joe Figone, who is the new gardening supervisor for Glen Park, to discuss the state of our park. We identified many issues that needed attention. Because of this we

Destination Bakery donated the batter and volunteers flipped about 800 hotcakes at a sidewalk pancake breakfast benefit for Bird & Beckett Books & Records in July. Some 300 neighbors lined up on Diamond Street and enjoyed their breakfast at tables across the street from the shop. Photo by Carol Schlesinger.

got 20 work orders submitted for repairs or improvements. We will keep a close eye on how and when these matters get completed. Currently we are still trying to get decorative railings for the “plaza area” behind the tennis courts, where the picnic tables are. This September we are working with the Latchkey Program to create a small mural in the playground area to reflect a recreation theme. We are starting with a clean surface and have an artist who is a former art teacher with the public schools directing this project. We asked that the whole building be painted but we were turned down in spite of the fact that our building hasnʼt been painted in over 40 years! Rec and Park has denied us the use of the gardener for our Saturday cleanups because, they say, not enough people show up. A few of us are continuing to do this on our own so that the flower gardens and wine barrels of flowers remain in good shape. Please join us at our next meeting, which will be on Wednesday, Oct. 18 at 6:30 in the Rec Center. For further information or answers to your questions, you can contact me at [email protected].

GPA Gets Action on Traffic Calming Armando Fox, chair of the GPA Traffic, Parking and Transportation Committee, was addressing the summer Glen Park Association quarterly meeting when a resident made a request. Could Fox tell someone at the Department of Public Works that the crosswalk markings at Chenery and Diamond were almost totally worn away, endangering pedestrians? Fox could, and did. The meeting was Tuesday night. By the end of the week new striping was in place. When the GPA speaks, the City listens. We all know that the City isnʼt always this speedy. But if you have ideas, suggestions or issues, refer to the GPA roster of officers and committee chairs on page 2 and contact the appropriate person. Better yet, come to the next quarterly meeting on October 10.

Fall 2006

Page 17

From the Editors CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

John Lombardo and Gwen Cooke at their new restaurant. Photo by Ellen Rosenthal

Dining Spot Adds Life to Mission Terrace A homey, eclectic new restaurant, just a few minutes from central Glen Park, is perking up formerly by quiet San Jose Avenue, Emma and giving everyone in Smith the surrounding neighborhoods a welcome new option for lunch, dinner and cappuccino breaks. Husband-wife team John Lombardo and Gwen Cooke opened Lombardoʼs Fine Foods just six months ago on the ground floor of the building they live in. Previously, the couple ran a catering business and John had worked as a chef for 20 years (including a stint as sous-chef at San Mateoʼs Viognier, under chef Gary Danko). But the dream of his own restaurant was calling, and when the badminton supply store/café in their building closed and the owner approached John about buying some of his equipment, John and Gwen decided to lease the location. John and Gwen have two daughters, Sophia, almost four, and Catalina, 18 months. They used to live in a rent-controlled apartment in Glen Park. When the time came to buy their own home, they discovered Mission Terrace, just a short walk away. “This is a neighborhood in transition,” says Gwen. “There are lots of young families moving in, and it has a nice feel to it, with the Balboa park and pool within walking distance.” Still, she comments, “We felt there was a noticeable lack of good coffee, not to mention restaurants.” With Lombardoʼs, John and Gwen hope to become a part of the neighborhood and encourage community spirit. “Having people come in who feel part of the neighborhood,

and knowing weʼre making some kind of positive impact on it, is a really good feeling,” she adds. The café is child-friendly, with a basket of toys and a baby changing station, and more casual than dress-up fancy, but itʼs clear the food is center stage here. John puts an emphasis on home cooking with impeccable ingredients: Hot-pressed panini sandwiches, “hippie granola,” house-made biscotti and ginger lemonade jump out from the menu. On the day I dropped by in early August, savory bread pudding, old-fashioned meatloaf and marinated beet salad were just a few of the items in the refrigerated display case. Gwen suggested the home-smoked chicken, and served it with dressed greens as a main-course salad. The meat was smoky and moist (John said brining is his secret). One of the most exciting features of the café is its monthly Supper Club. Although on most nights Lombardoʼs closes at 9 p.m., several evenings a month John and his team serve up a prix-fixe, reservation-only dinner extravaganza. The club has already been written about in the Chronicle and is starting to attract locals, so John suggests reserving early. Thereʼs an email sign up list at the door if you want to hear about future evenings. Food and wine pairings and a small-plates menu are coming as well, and by our press time, John hopes their beer and wine license will be in place. They also offer the space for parties and meetings. Lombardoʼs Fine Foods is at 1818 San Jose Ave., on the J-Church line, one block from Balboa Park. The secret shortcut from Glen Park is to take Monterey

Street robberies continue to be a problem. Among those reported over the summer were: a robbery at 10:57 a.m. on June 20 in the 700 block of Chenery Street; a robbery at 11:40 p.m. on July 13 at Brompton and Chenery; an attempted robbery at 9:45 p.m. on Aug. 6 in the 600 block of Chenery; and a robbery at 10 p.m. on Aug. 20 in the 2900 block of Diamond Street. On Sept. 8, there was a series of three attempted knife-point robberies between 8:26 p.m. and 9:05 p.m., at Duncan and Sanchez streets in Noe Valley, at 30th and Church streets at the border of Noe Valley and Glen Park; and at Joost and Monterey Boulevard, less than a block from the Glen Park BART station. In the incident near BART, the assailants stabbed the victim in the stomach. District 8 Supervisor Bevan Dufty and Police Capt. Paul Chignell of Ingleside Station have held public meetings to address the issue of crime and safety, and neighbors have been making a greater effort to look out for another and to work more closely with police on reporting illegal activity. We live in a wonderful neighborhood and hope that in the next issue of the Glen Park News the story will be that the streets are safer.

Association News CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

always noticed. As the market, library, and other businesses grow in the village, we will keep an eye on how transportation – pedestrian routes, parking, and transit – works. Also, I now have in my garage about 10 boxes of Glen Park Association records, formerly stored at the Glen Park Recreation Center. That space is no longer available. I would like to work with a couple of volunteers to sort through the correspondence, City documents, photographs, financial records, and various versions of the Glen Park News, dating back to the 1970ʼs. There is great material here to be organized and shared with community. Please e-mail me at president@glenparkasso ciation.org if you can help. Michael Rice is president of the Glen Park Association. to Baden down to San Jose. For information or reservations, call 337-9741 or visit www. lombardosfinefoods.com. Open Tuesday - Friday, 11 -9, Saturday, 9 -9, Sunday 9 - 3, closed Monday.

Glen Park News

Classifieds End Homework Hassles Family time’s better spent! www.mystudybuddy.org Jane Radcliffe 415-586-4577. Charlie the Phone Guy Residence/Business/home office phone wiring. FAX/ Modem/DSL. Dead jacks made live! Remodel Planning. Free estimates. On-time appointments. 20 years experience. 6418654, [email protected]. August Moon Massage Jana Hutcheson. Swedish, Shiatsu, LomiLomi, Deep Tissue, Sports Massage. Office space on Diamond Street and house calls available. Gift certificates. $70/hour. Author of Healing Alternatives. Call 415-647-7517 for appt. today. LOW VOLTAGE! SYSTEMS Telephone/Voicemail systems, Intercom and door entry systems, Video security systems, Home entertainment, Cabling and jacks for telephones, Cat 5/6 computer, audio, video. Business and Residential, Humane rates. Lic #796389. [email protected], 468-9400.

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Glen Park News

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Purchasing a Pooch Part 1: Where is My Dog? Iʼve lived in Glen Park for a year now and Iʼve discovered many wonderful aspects of the neighborhood. One very appealing trait of this tucked-away little by ʻhood is its eclectic dog Ashley population. Since I am Hathaway absolutely “gaga” over all types of dogs, this adds to my growing love for the community here. I walk in Glen Canyon Park several times a week, and thoroughly enjoy seeing all the dogs happily romping around there. I donʼt think Iʼve ever seen the same breed of dog twice. I also feel a bit strange walking there without a dog—like Iʼm not quite hip to it or something. I grew up in a small Southern California suburb and we always had a dog in the family throughout my childhood. So, naturally I decided to get a dog of my own about 15 years ago—but I still donʼt have one! Since moving to San Francisco in the early 1990s Iʼve lived in one apartment after another, always with roommates (until I moved in with my boyfriend, whoʼs now my husband) and almost never with any sort of back yard. Even though I yearned for a dog, I always felt that my living situation wasnʼt ideal for one—not to mention that my 20-something carefree lifestyle didnʼt leave much room for the care and financial responsibility that comes with owning a dog. Even though year after year I desperately wanted to purchase a pooch, I knew the responsible thing to do was wait until I lived in a house with a yard, and had the time to devote to a loving four-legged creature. But now that I finally live in a wonderful house a half block from Glen Canyon Park and am a 40-something responsible adult, I still donʼt have a dog! So, where is my dog? Well, I thought it was “gestating” inside the tummy of a beautiful yellow lab named Lady Gweneviere. However, I recently received an e-mail from the breeder who reluctantly told me she “doesnʼt think Gwen is pregnant.” Gwen was “late” to begin with, meaning that she didnʼt come into “season” when expected. Between the time it has taken her to be “ready” for breeding up until the news that she may

not even be carrying pups, I thought Iʼd already have our 8-week old bundle of puppy joy at home with us! My husband and I decided on a lab and my first idea (since I was going to be the primary caretaker and pooper scooper) was to adopt a dog from “Guide Dogs For The Blind” in San Rafael. I soon discovered that the dogs up for adoption there—the ones who are not quite suitable to become sight dogs for anything from allergies to training difficulties—are extremely hard to come by. I then looked into “Golden Gate Labrador Retriever Rescue, Inc.,” which is a great organization, but I suddenly realized I wanted a PUPPY… a cute little puppy of my own, from scratch. After a few more weeks of research I finally found a reputable lab breeder and settled on the female that I hope will eventually have our puppy. I had no idea that this poochpurchasing process would be so involved. I suppose I might be making it more involved, but after hearing horror stories from friends who have nightmare dogs (and reading the book Marley and Me by John Grogan) I felt I wanted to get a purebred lab from a responsible breeder to hopefully up my chances of getting a “good” dog. So, here I wait like an over-anxious grandmother waiting for a first grandchild to be born. Itʼs completely out of my control now; however, I do have another choice to make. If our dear olʼ Lady Gwen is not pregnant, and if we want to bring a puppy home sometime soon, then we will need to choose from a different litter. The breeder informed me that the next litter due is from a lady lab named Ashley. A dog who has my name! Is this a sign? Just pure coincidence? Or, is it some kind of dog karma? It would be nice to consult Mother Nature on this, but sheʼs always out doing other things—and hopefully very busy working with Gwen! Next: PART 2: THE STUFF OF PUPPIES, BLISS & PISS Ashley (the person, not the dog!) can be reached at [email protected]

Fall 2006

Real Estate in Glen Park by Vince Beaudet

Real estate prices in Glen Park are holding firm, but sales volume is down. Consistent with the trends we saw in Glen Park earlier this year, sales from May 15 through Sept. 5 have decreased compared with the same period in 2005. However, selling prices are remaining firm—almost all the sales listed below were higher than the list price—with no “crash” expected!

NUMBER OF PROPERTIES SOLD, MAY 16-SEPT. 5: 2006 Single-family homes: Condoʼs/TICʼs 2-4 units

19 1 2

2005 24 3 4

MEDIAN PRICE

Single-family homes Condoʼs/TICʼs 2-4 Units

2006

2005

$890,000 $750,000 $1,247,000

$1,032,000 $685,000 $1,035,000

ADDRESSES AND SELLING PRICES OF PROPERTIES SOLD: Single-family homes: 424 Arlington 277 Arlington 486 Arlington 210 Beacon 138 Chenery 111 Conrad 527 Congo 112 Chenery 120 Farnum 129 Laidley 37 Mizpah 56 Mizpah 119 Mateo 121 Mateo 221 Randall 261 Sussex 311 Surrey 1730 Sanchez 43 Whitney

$778,000 $750,000 $815,000 $2 million $958,000 $975,000 $859,000 $1.05 million $880,000 $1.01 million $869,000 $905,000 $965,000 $1.065 million $779,000 $845,000 $912,000 $890,000 $814,000

Condos 418 Arlington #1

$750,000

2-4 Units 181-183 Laidley 275-277 Randall

$1.1 million $1.394 million

Realtor Vince Beaudet works for Herth Real Estate. He can be reached at 8615222 x333 or [email protected].

Fall 2006

Page 19

Glen Park News

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Glen Park News

Page 20

We Left and Came Back: A Family Tries Marin But Finds Happiness in Glen Park At the end of last summer my husband and I joined the exodus of families leaving San Francisco. After living in the Inner Sunset for 11 years, we decided to move to a community that offered a better place for us to raise our kids: a place with by better public schools, a Stina place where you didnʼt Kieffer worry about finding glass in a sandbox or tripping over a drunk passed out in the street. After many foggy, dreary summers, we also were looking for happier summer weather. And we wanted to find a slightly more spacious house, with a backyard right off the kitchen. A little about us. We have two daughters who at the time of our move were 3 and 1. I am currently a stayat-home mom and my husband, at the time of the move, was working for a company based in New York City. His company had no office in the Bay Area, so he worked from home; fortunately we

didnʼt have a commute to factor into our move. We debated the merits of a number of potential new communities, wanting a place close enough to the city that we would still be able to see our friends and take advantage of all the cultural things we enjoyed, but away from the summertime cold and fog. My husband, an avid surfer, wanted to be relatively close to the ocean. The public schools had to be good. We wanted to be within walking distance of a grocery store and a coffee shop. We whittled down our choices and after some (albeit limited) exploring decided on an affluent community in southern Marin. It met most of our criteria, although golly, it seemed pretty homogenous and wealthy. But we thought the proximity to the city would satisfy our needs for diversity. After spending several afternoons in this community, we were smitten with the meandering streets and hidden staircases weaving up and down the hillsides, the rambling old houses,

Our family… caring for yours

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all the trees, the schoolsʼ outstanding reputations. There was the small but charming “downtown” featuring several coffee shops, a bookstore, even an art house movie theater. And it was so quiet! On a date one evening before we moved, my husband and I went to this town for dinner; as we walked back to our car we could see a zillion stars in the crystalline, fragrant night air. To play it safe, we decided to rent for a year to try our new community out before buying another house. We found an old hillside house with an incredible view; we could walk to a coffee shop and a small grocery story in about two

Fall 2006

minutes from our new place. We got a spot in a terrific preschool for our 3 year old. We closed escrow, packed up and headed north in October. The first few weeks were wonderful. We enjoyed the significantly warmer days, exploring the town with the kids, checking out parks, getting our daughter started in her warm and loving new preschool. As with any sort of change, the reality of what we were losing started sinking in after those initial halcyon weeks. The first thing we really missed was the close proximity to our friends. Although the drive was only about 25 CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

Fall 2006

Page 21

Glen Park News

Back From Marin

around in luxury European SUVs. I minutes between our old and new neigh- couldnʼt believe it when I saw these borhoods, the bridge was there, acting as people actually eyeing my car during another, perhaps psychological, barrier. drop-off and pickup times! But it wasnʼt There were no more “just dropping by” just about cars: it became clear to me visits that had been such an important that there was an overriding sense of and pleasurable part of our life in San entitlement across the board in this comFrancisco. We decided to be patient munity. I could see it in the way parents until the time that we would make new spoke with the highly qualified teachers friends. at the preschool, when customers spoke In the meantime, we tried schedul- with workers at the salon where I had ing more visits with the old ones. Any- my hair cut, and at the coffee shops, and one with young kids knows, though, that the way people spoke to each other at scheduling activities with others (espe- the playgrounds. cially those with small children) can be At a Marin fair last summer, as I difficult when navigating things like watched my kids touch some sheep and twice-a-day nap schedules. Building pat a deer, I observed another toddler in time for a trek across the bay added running around the “petting zoo” pen, another wrinkle, deterring us from head- aggressively whacking the animals and ing back over to San Francisco as much pulling their fur while his mom and as we wanted. As the fall wore on, we dad watched adoringly, doing nothstarted to feel very isolated. OK, we ing to show him how to gently touch told ourselves, we an animal. As were just need to find some As with any sort washing our hands Marin friends. As the later, I heard the dad weather got cooler, I of change, the reality say to the mom, “I began to really miss think Junior is really the hum and energy of what we were losing going to love to see of the city, too. all those farm animals The problem started sinking in come to our house for was, though, that that second birthday.” looking forward, we after those initial In this affluent comjust couldnʼt seem munity, I learned to see ourselves in halcyon days. that “pin the tail on this new community. the donkey” wasnʼt Naturally it would seem that we would enough of a party pleaser—parents meet other parents through our daugh- actually brought in real donkeys! For terʼs preschool and at the playground, 2 year olds! but we had a hard time connecting with As time went on, we started paying parents there. There was some sort of more attention to the older kids in the unseen barrier between us and the community. We thought about what it other parents we met. Itʼs difficult to would be like for our kids to grow up explain, other than most of the parents with peers like these. They hung out we met didnʼt seem very open to con- in packs around the village square on necting with us. It was often hard to the weekends and were generally welleven make eye contact, and exchanging mannered, good kids. But what was a smile ended up more a chore than a life was like for them—what would pleasure. it be like to grow up in such affluThis was profoundly different ence? Such homogeneity? Did they than our experience in San Francisco, ever feel the kind of isolation that we where chatting with other parents who did? We thought about our own kids, were perfect strangers felt perfectly how they were growing up so fast and comfortable. I have one fond memory how much we loved seeing their quirky of encountering two other moms in a sides emerge. We wondered if those coffee shop in Noe Valley. The three quirky bits would be squashed in this of us—strangers to each other—had place; would they be free to be who they young babies and as we chatted over were here? Would there be tremendous coffee we nursed our kids together. I peer pressure to conform to this culture just couldnʼt see this happening in our we couldnʼt relate to? Would our kids new town. (I never saw a mom nursing resent us for not giving them all of the in public there, for that matter.) material trappings I sensed the many It even came down to haircuts and of their peers would have? How were cars, of all things. I had short hair and these kids going to learn about how all the other moms I encountered had most of the world really lives? long hair. I drove an 8-year old Honda CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE and the majority of other moms tooled

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Renée Gonsalves & Peggy McIntyre The Glen Park Real Estate Team

In today’s market, expertise and reputation count. Peggy and Renee bring over 32 years of combined real estate experience and always look after our clients’ best interest first. We don’t just sell homes, we sell your neighborhood. If you’re thinking of making a move, call us! We would be happy to give you a free evaluation of your home’s value, share our effective marketing strategies and answer your real estate questions. We assisted Glen Park buyers/sellers in the following homes:

353 Arlington St 319 Bosworth St 1313 Bosworth St 357-359 Chenery St 948 Chenery St 1749 Dolores St 5122 Diamond St 25 Elk St 49 Elk St 123 Laidley St

128 Laidley St 554 Laidley St 51 Lippard St 130 Monterey Bl 249 Randall St 253 Randall St #2 10 Roanoke St 16 Roanoke St 114 Rousseau St 267 Surrey St

201 Sussex St 1713 Sanchez St 166 Stillings St 21 Whitney St 35 Whitney St 61 Whitney St 126 Whitney St 159-161 Whitney St 218 Whitney St 53 Wilder St #304

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Renee Cell: 415.260-5805 [email protected] www.ReneeSFhomes.com

Glen Park News

Page 22

Back From Marin

Glen Park Recreation Center

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As the weeks and months wore on, there were times that I felt as self-conscious as a teenager. Iʼd made several cross-country moves before, as well as a long stint in France—and Iʼd never had this awkward feeling of being such an “outsider”. It wasnʼt just my hair or my car; I just couldnʼt seem to find a way to connect with or even relate to my new neighbors. In December my husbandʼs company decided to open an office in Foster City, and asked him to take charge of the companyʼs West Coast operations. He suddenly faced a significant daily commute, one that made him very resentful and frustrated. Our time together as a family was cut short, and we decided that enough was enough! Forget the great schools and great weather—we had utterly lost our way. We decided to move back to San Francisco, this time to a sunnier neighborhood. I had been following news of the public schools, too, and it seemed like there were more than just one or two great public elementary schools to choose from. We started looking for a house in January. At one of the first open houses we went to, I chatted casually with a Realtor, and told her about our situation. She emphatically nodded in understanding, and told me that she had seen a few other families in our situation—they had tried out the suburbs but decided to come back. I was surprised to hear this, but since then Iʼve heard of other families who have done the same thing. In May we moved to our new house that sits on the border of Glen Park and Noe Valley. The new house doesnʼt have quite the expansive space or indoor/outdoor connection we dreamed of finding in the suburbs, but itʼs got character and charm and plenty of everything we really need. Weʼre nearing the end of our first summer here, and although there have been some foggy days, itʼs nothing like the Sunset; thereʼs been plenty of sunshine, too. We are back to our old habits of drop-in visits with our friends, and last-minute expeditions to the zoo. At my daughtersʼ new preschool, my heart soars to see lots of different kinds of parents and children: Hispanic, black, South Asian, white. There are some kids at our daughtersʼ school with two moms. There appear to be some affluent families and some who are not so affluent there. We are pleased that our family will be meeting and befriending many different kinds of folks. My mother gave me some good

Fall 2006

Fall Schedule (Begins 9/18/06) Monday Senior Club Adult tennis Latchkey Girls Volleyball Adult Basketball

10AM – 1PM 10:30AM – 1PM 2PM – 6PM 4PM – 5:30PM 6PM – 8PM

Bridge and Card Games 1st & 3rd Mondays Advanced Tennis Class Homework, Snacks, Arts & Crafts - Fee $94.50 For Girls 6th to 8th grade Half/Full Court Basketball Games

Tuesday Adult Volleyball Adult Tennis Latchkey Youth Basketball Adult Tennis Badminton Teen Club

10AM – 1PM 10:30AM – 1PM 2PM – 6PM 4PM – 6PM 6:30PM - 8:30PM 6:45 - 9:45PM 7:30 – 9PM

Open drop-in games Class for Beginners

Wednesday Badminton Tiny Tot Class Adult Tennis U.N. Seniorʼs Latchkey Girls Volleyball

9:30 – 12N 10AM- 12N 10:30 – 1PM 10AM –3PM 2PM – 6PM 3 - 5:30PM

Open drop-in games Ages 2-5: Activities and Games - Fee $30 Class for Advanced Players Bingo, table games and social activities

Thursday Adult Volleyball Mom & Toddler Latchkey Youth Basketball Adult Basketball Womenʼs Volleyball Adult Tennis Teen Club

10AM – 1PM 10AM – 12N 2PM – 6PM 4PM - 6PM 6PM-8PM 7PM-9PM 6:30PM-8:30PM 7:30-9:00PM

Open drop-in games Arts/ Crafts, Music, Storytelling - Fee $30

Friday Tiny Tot Class Latchkey Youth Tennis Youth Basketball Youth basketball Cub Scouts Boy Scouts

10AM – 12N 2PM- 6PM 3:15- 4:45PM 4:30-6:30PM 7PM-9PM 7PM-9PM 7PM-9PM

Arts/Crafts, Music, Storytelling - Fee $30

Saturday Youth Basketball Youth Basketball Teen Club

11AM-1PM 12N-3PM 2PM-4:30PM

Skills and Conditioning Camp League Play for away games Meeting and Activities

Skills and Conditioning Camp Class for Beginners Open drop-in games Teen Meeting and Activities

Volleyball for Girls 3rd-5th gr. at St Maryʼs

Skills and Conditioning Camp Half/Full court games Citywide League(Call 831-6311) Oct.-Dec Class for Advanced Players. Meeting and Activities

Class for Beginners Practice for Citywide League Games for Citywide League Meets twice a month Meets twice a month

Closed on Sundays advice during the bleak time we were in Marin and feeling so isolated. “The best thing for your kids is for you, as their parents, to be happy. If you are happy, you will be available to your kids and have the energy to make your situation work for your family, wherever you are.” We know that our move back to San

Francisco will introduce some new and significant challenges for us; the biggest one facing us now is finding and getting into a good public elementary school in the next year. But we are happy now— close to our friends and living in one of the most interesting, beautiful cities in the world. Itʼs easy to get out and do the city things we missed so much while

in Marin. And because weʼre happier now, we have a lot more energy to work on the issues ahead of us. Yes, weʼre dealing with some of the problems we wanted to leave before: less than perfect playgrounds, higher crime rates, etc. But after trying the alternative for eight months, we know that San Francisco is a much better fit for us.

Fall 2006

Page 23

Glen Park Online To help Glen Park residents connect and to strengthen the neighborhood, the Glen Park Association is opening its news and information e-mail list to all Glen Park residents. Previously it was open only to GPA members. The low-traffic, moderated mail-

ing list that offers up-to-the-minute news, updates on traffic and City policies that affect our area and general information you wonʼt want to miss. To subscribe, send an e-mail to glenparkassociation-subscribe@ yahoogroups.com.

Graffiti Team Needs A New Coordinator Glen Parkʼs graffiti abatement coordinator is moving away, leaving a need for a new volunteer who can spend a few hours a month coordinating with City officials, neighborhood groups and the volunteers who are working to keep graffiti under control in Glen Park. Supervisor Bevan Dufty describes the coordinatorʼs activities in his column on Page 4. Volunteers should email [email protected], or contact Dufty.

Most of the clean-up volunteers spend an hour or two, one Saturday a month cleaning street signs near their homes; they occasionally erase new tags as they appear. Using supplies provided by the City, they clean public, rather than private, property. Theyʼve made a big difference along Chenery and Diamond streets, a task that overwhelmed City agencies as graffiti proliferated. More monthly volunteers could clean more areas of the neighborhood.

San Francisco Services Abandoned Cars

553-9817

Building Inspection Info

558-6088

Bus Shelters (repair/clean)

882-4949

District 8 Supervisor Bevan Dufty

554-6968

Garbage (oversized item pickup)

330-1300

Graffiti Hotline

28-CLEAN

Mobile Assistant Patrol (MAP)

431-7400

(Homeless Outreach/Transportation) Mobile Crisis Team

355-8300

(Mental Health) Muni Information

673-6864

Muni Complaint/Compliment

923-6164

Parking Enforcement

553-1200

Police (non emergency)

553-0123

Potholes

695-2100

Rent Stabilization Board

252-4600

Street Construction Complaints

554-7222

Street Lighting

554-0730

Tree Problems

695-2165

Towed Cars

553-1235

Mayorʼs Office of Neighborhood Services

www.sfgov.org/mons

Glen Park News

Glen Park News

Page 24

Fall 2006

Community Calendar Glen Park Association

Glen Park Branch Library

Friends of Glen Canyon Park

Glen Park NERT

Glen Park Advisory Board

Yoga Classes

Quarterly meetings are held on the second Tuesday in January, April, July and October at 7:30 pm. Everyone is welcome, members and non-members alike. Next meeting: Tue. Oct. 10, 7:30 pm., Meetings and Plant Restoration Work Parties: Third Saturday of each month, 9 am–noon. Next dates: Oct. 21, Nov. 18, Dec. 16, Jan. 20. Meet behind the Recreation Center. Tools, gloves and instruction are provided. Weekly Work Parties: Every Wednesday, 9 am–noon. For the current weekʼs meeting place contact Richard Craib, 648-0862. Bird Walk: Sunday, Nov. 5, 9 am: Let David Armstrong introduce you to the birds in the canyon on another of his fascinating, free walks. Pancakes in the Park: Sunday, Nov. 5, 10:30 am, following the Bird Walk. A pancake breakfast with bacon, orange juice, coffee and tea at the Silvertree picnic tables. Please RSVP to Richard Craib at 648-0862. $5 suggested donation for the pancake breakfast. To join Friends of Glen Canyon Park or learn more about their activities, please contact Richard Craib at 648-0862 or Jean Conner at 584-8576. The Advisory Board works hand in hand with the Recreation and Park Department to make our park the best in the city. Everyone concerned with issues concerning Glen Canyon Park is urged to attend their meetings and participate in their activities. The Advisory Board welcomes neighborhood input: contact Miriam Moss at [email protected]. Next Meeting: Wed., Oct., 18 at 6: 30 pm in the Rec Center auditorium.

SFPD Community Forums

Third Tuesday of each month, 7 pm: All residents are encouraged to participate in the informative monthly Community Relations Forum at SFPDʼs Ingleside Police Station, hosted by Capt. Paul Chignell. There are refreshments, guest speakers, and the opportunity to ask questions and air your concerns. Drop in and get acquainted with some of the dedicated people whose job is keeping our neighborhood safe. The main station number is 404-4000, or send e-mail to [email protected]. Next dates: Sept.19, Oct. 17, Nov. 21.

As our neighborhood librarians prepare for the move to their new quarters in the Marketplace building, they are still conducting regular activities. Stop by the library for information about story times and other events. Our Neighborhood Emergency Response Team is an essential element of disaster preparedness. Free training is given all year, in various locations. Youʼll learn to be self-sufficient in a disaster, and learn basic skills to help your neighbors. In a major disaster, Glen Park NERT volunteers meet at the Glen Park Recreation Center. You can register for the training at www.sfgov.org/sffdnert. Fall Schedule: Oct. 6 and Oct. 18: 2-day intensive class at the State Building, 350 McAllister St., Milton Marks Conference Auditorium (Civic Center BART). Oct. 19 and 26 and Nov. 2, 9 am–4 pm, with lunch breaks (no lunch), Federal Reserve Bank, 101 Market St. (Embarcadero BART). Bring a Stateissued ID for entry. Oct. 2, 9, 16, 30 and Nov. 6, Mondays, 6:30 pm–9:30 pm, Golden Gate Yacht Club, Lyon Street north of Marina Boulevard. After three years at the Glen Park Rec Center auditorium, low attendance caused Christine Trost to end her evening Yoga classes there. She still teaches in Glen Park on Tuesdays at 6:30 pm, at Kiki Yo, 605B Chenery St. Contact her at 846-8481 or [email protected]. On Wednesdays, 12:15–1:30 pm, Donna Rubin holds Vinyasa Yoga classes at Kiki Yo. All levels are welcome. Vinyasa Yoga utilizes a series of poses linking breath with movement, to enhance endurance and flexibility. Donnaʼs classes are free; donations are welcomed. For soon-to-be-moms and parents, Kiki Yo is introducing a series of new classes for the Fall Season. Pre-Natal Yoga, “Mommy and Me” and “KIKI for Kids” classes are all starting in September. Visit kiki-yo.com or call 587-5454.

Bird & Beckett

Bird & Beckett Books & Records, 2788 Diamond St., presents free community literary and musical events (donations are encouraged to help the

artists and keep our neighborhood bookstore open). Book club meetings and jazz sessions are listed at www.birdbeckett.com, or call 586-3733 for more information. Coming Events: Every Friday, 5:30–8 pm: Jazz in the Bookshop: First & third Fridays each month: The Seabop Ensemble, under the direction of bassist Don Prell, with various lineups including Chuck Peterson, Jim Grantham, Jerry Logas, saxes; Al Molina, Frank Phipps, horns; Scott Foster, guitar; Chris Bjorkbom, drums. Second Friday: The Jimmy Ryan/ Rick Elmore Quartet with Scott Foster, guitar; Bishu Chatterjee, bass; Art Lewis, drums. Fourth Friday: Henry Irvin Quartet with vocalist Dorothy Lefkovits and rotating musicians including Barbara Hunter, soprano sax and flute; Bishop Norman Williams, sax, and drummers Jimmy Ryan and Rhoyale Baibe Foston Friday, Sept. 22, 5:30–8 pm:: The John Calloway Quartet (jazz) plays; the Henry Irvin Quartet returns Sept. 29 (the 5th Friday this month. First Sunday, 4:30 pm: Sunday Jazz: Henry Irvin Quartet with Dorothy Lefkovits. In October only, theyʼll play on the second Sunday, Oct. 8. First and third Mondays, 7:30 pm: Open mic poetry series with featured readers, hosted by Jerry Ferraz. Scottish poet Leonard Irving says Bird & Beckett is the best poetry venue in town! Second Tuesday, 7:30 pm: The Eminent Authors Birthday Reading features an open reading from the works of favorite authors whose birthdays fall during the month. Bring a libation and a literary bit to share with the group. First Wednesday, 7 pm: Bird & Beckett Book Club discusses a book every month. Participants choose the next monthʼs selection. Oct. 4: The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. Nov. 1: Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck. Please e-mail Marcy at [email protected] to get on the e-mail distribution list for Book Club notices. She has links for you to learn more about the book selection, and will let you know about our monthly Political Book Discussion Group. Second Thursday, 7:30 pm: Political Book Discussion Group. Oct. 12: The Federalist Papers. Nov. 9: The Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam by Gareth Porter. Sunday, Sept. 24, 4:30 pm: “Blood, Gold & Water:” Walker Brents riffs on

the myths of the American west. Monday, Sept. 25, 7:30 pm: Nellie Wong, an Oakland native who lives on Chenery Street, is a hugely important poet from many perspectives: her workʼs content, her skill in shaping her poems and her commitment to humanity, social justice, commemoration of past struggles, and hope for a decent future. Weʼll celebrate her birthday by having her share some of her poems. Honor her by attending this reading. Modern Times Bookstore on Valencia at 20th has supported her political work for years, giving her much in the way of context and information; you can show them your appreciation by buying a book from them, as well. Sunday, Oct. 22, 4:30 pm: Bookstore Benefit Reading by David Meltzer and Diane di Prima. Buy one of the limited number of tickets in advance to ensure your space in the small venue: Fifteen $25 tickets will guarantee seats. Another 20 standing-room tickets will be sold at $20. The room will be crowded. The poetry will be great. No advance reservations. Eric will notify his e-mail list before tickets go on sale shortly after Oct. 1. Art in the Bookshop: Works on paper by Marlene Aron are hanging in the store until mid-October. Theyʼll be followed by the art of longtime Glen Park resident Jean Conner.

Diamond Street residents Chris Neumann and Michele Bulen are among the neighborhood graffitiremoval volunteers who have taken on the regular Saturday-morning job of erasing vandalsʼ tags on Chenery and Diamond streets. Chris is familiar to many neighbors as one of the smiling faces at Chenery Park; Micheleʼs activities include work with the erstwhile Glen Park Festival. Photo by Denis Wade.