n o . 6 2 $1.4 billion plan PUBLISHED CENTRAL CITY BY THE SAN FRANCISCO for Van Ness STUDY CENTER NOVEMBER hospital complex 2006 Cal Pacific first to use city’s health 33 impact report MILLIONTH MEAL MAN BY M ARJORIE B EGGS St. Anthony SAN FRANCISCO ALPH Marchese was upbeat as he told the October Tender- serves up R loin Futures Collaborative about California Pacific Medical a milestone Center’s $1.45 billion plan for a new ‘WORST’ INFESTATION hospital at the site of the Cathedral PAGE 3 Hill Hotel, formerly the Jack Tar. His Marchese Co. is the consulting real estate developer. But he didn’t say anything about organized opposition to the plan, brewing since early last year among Cathedral Hill neighbors, or about all the legal and policy hoops CMPC has yet to negotiate — from amend- ments to height limitations to partic- ipation in the city’s first-ever use of a Healthcare Impact Report (HIR). CPMC, Marchese explained, wants to raze the 10-story hotel, which fills the square block bound- ed by Van Ness, Geary, Franklin and Post, and build a 20-story, 490- to 650-bed hospital that would become ALMOST the primary acute care and inpatient treatment facility for the four-hospi- LIKE A tal California Pacific system. And directly across Van Ness it WOMAN plans to demolish five two- and three-story build- ‘My Glamourous ings, on properties it’s already pur- Life as a “(The HIR) isn’t chased, and erect a P HOTO BY L ENNY L IMJOCO nine-story medical Broadway Tenderloin Playground Director Kay Rodrigues shows the garbage door’s steel plate and on anyone’s office. black box trap that are used to fight the rat infestation. The hospital Hostess’ desk yet. … No and office build- one knows how ing, with a total PAGE 4 1.9 million square it will work.” feet, would be connected by a Eileen Shields It’s rat season tunnel under Van DPH INFORMATION Ness. A thousand OFFICER underground park- Berrios notified Rec and Park headquar- ing spaces are part FAMED BUT Tenderloin parks, ters and its pest control officers came out, of the plan. set traps and caught two. But the problem, “CPMC is the largest health DECREPIT the worst infestation in the park’s 11-year provider in San Francisco,” playground staff history, he said, isn’t over. Marchese said. “It has 1,500 physi- 6TH ST. Two blocks away, Boeddeker Park cians, 47,000 ER visits, 5,904 births, shocked at numbers Director Al Wimberly announced at the Oct. 415,643 outpatient cases and 19,000 HOTEL 12 Friends of Boeddeker Park meeting that ambulatory surgery cases.” he had found five dead black rats in traps It operates four hospitals here — BY T OM C ARTER set inside the clubhouse. in Pacific Heights, Presidio Heights, Redevelopment Rec and Park had set the large spring- Duboce Triangle and the Mission — operated traps in the corners and a few Agency HEN Rec and Park custodian but all, he added, are out of date Hugo Berrios returned to black box traps with poison outside. The and must be seismically upgraded to negotiating Tenderloin Children’s Play- very next day he had a record catch. In his meet state mandates. ground from a three-week five years at the park, there have never been ® CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 for Hugo vacation in August he was this many rats, he said. shockedW to discover four large rats jumping “We had a few in January and I spent my own money to buy traps,” Wimberly Illustration of how CPMC’s PAGE 6 around the garbage cans in the back. Among the 100 children who visit the playground said. “But this is the worst I’ve seen it.” proposed hospital would sit on The Extra reported the park’s rat prob- the site, courtesy of Cathedral Hill daily, some had seen rats in the grass outside or traveling along the top of the fence. lem in October, but the story was based on Neighborhood Association. sightings outside the building by next-door residents at Presentation Senior Community. Rats that journeyed across the Presentation patio for a drink from the fountain were thought to be nesting in the grass and weeds near the park’s locked gate on Ellis Street, and fed by food tossed over the fence from sidewalk encampments. There’s that, plus it’s rat season. Fall is a time that appeals to the roof rat that lives above ground and the sewer rat that cavorts below it. Both types, going where their hunger takes them, are in abundance in San Francisco. “Roof rats are more visible in autumn,” said Helen Zverina, environmentalist with the Department of Public Health. “They are fattening up for winter with fruits and ® CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 FUTURES COLLABORATIVE $1.4 billion complex evokes GOOD ‘complete outrage’ from neighbors

® CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 of the residential hotel ordinance Morgan, the group’s vice presi- (one of the buildings to be dent. for...for... “Senate Bill 1953 from 1994 demolished is a six-unit SRO); “A year ago, Ralph Marchese NEWS and this year’s SB 1661 are at the and an encroachment permit presented the CPMC plan to four GREENING THE TL St. Francis Memorial Hospi- heart of CPMC’s plans,” agreement with Caltrans and homeowner groups. It helped us tal wants more trees in its neighborhood and the Board of Supes approval for the coordinate our feelings about North of Market/Tenderloin Community Benefit Marchese said. The legislation gives acute care hospitals in tunnel under Van Ness. the proposal and that’s when we District does, too. In a match made in heaven, the Worse, perhaps, for CPMC, is formed our association,” Morgan hospital gave Friends of the Urban Forest a dona- California until 2013 to make their buildings safe in earth- that it will be the test case for a told The Extra. tion and asked that money go to the CBD to plant city-mandated Healthcare Im- She says the group repre- up to 40 new trees. “The hospital has always quakes and other natural disas- ters. “The work to be done is so pact Report. sents 45,000 residents in a 36- been very supportive of us,” said CBD Manager square-block area, Polk to Elaine Zamora. “They also want to be communi- complex that [to comply], CPMC will have to off-load some serv- ROOTS OF IMPACT Fillmore and Eddy to ty participants and help with the planting, sched- In 2004, the Board of Sacramento. Morgan has lived in uled for Dec. 9.” There’s no charge for property ices from the other campuses to the new Cathedral Hill campus.” Supervisors passed an amend- a high-rise on Cathedral Hill for owners who want to green their sidewalks with a ment to the city’s Administrative 12 years. new tree; the hospital donation pays for the tree, CPMC acquired the option to buy the hotel site in 2003, select- Code that requires “larger non- “We started out being sur- concrete breaking, stakes and netting. FUF will government health care pro- prised by the mass of the pro- provide the expertise and help organize volun- ing it, he said, because it’s on major transit corridors and is viders” that want to “add or posed buildings, and our goal teers. “The owners are ultimately responsible for replace more than 200 hospital was to get them more in scale maintenance and liability of their tree,” Zamora near enough to its other hospital complexes to allow movement beds” to supply the Department with the city’s plans for the Van said, “but the CBD is debating whether it can of Public Health with extensive Ness corridor,” she said. “Then, help the owners and take on the liability in per- of staff and patients between them. data. DPH then analyzes how as we got more familiar with petuity for the trees.” There’s a tree-planting plan- the proposal affects “availability” health care issues citywide, it ning meeting Nov. 8, 5 p.m., at 118 Jones. To sign QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS and “accessibility” of services in seems that CPMC needs a real up for a tree, contact Zamora at 440-7570 x21 or the neighborhoods slated for the campus elsewhere — not here in e-mail her, [email protected]. “We also believe that it can be an economic stimulator to new construction, and prepares the middle of a residential area this area,” Marchese added. an HIR. “Larger” is defined as a and a traffic corridor.” GREEN IS BEAUTIFUL The mayor’s Neighbor- hospital or part of a hospital sys- The group’s most recent hood Beautification Fund has morphed into the Employees, patients and hospital visitors always need restaurants tem that provides more than 40% action was to ask the Board of Community Challenge Grant Program, but the of the city’s nongovernmental Supervisors to look at acute care aim’s the same: Get residents and businesses and sometimes overnight accom- modations, plus many other hospital beds. That’s tailor-made planning for the city. “How involved in greening public spaces, such as medi- for health care giant CMPC. many beds are really needed in ans, sidewalks and community gardens, and use services. Chaplain Earl Rogers of the Health Department Pubic In- the city and where,” she said. the projects to get neighborhoods working togeth- formation Officer Eileen Shields “We think the city is overbed- er on common issues. Groups can apply for San Francisco Rescue Mission asked if CPMC has a timeline. said the ordinance wasn’t even ded.” $10,000 to $100,000 grants; in return, they have to on their radar. Nelson said his team has prepare a five-year maintenance plan and match Marchese estimated 2012 for completion, or four to five years “This isn’t on anyone’s desk made plan presentations to high- the grant with volunteer labor and donated mate- yet,” she said. “It may be too rise apartment tenants and to rials and supplies. In the May 2006 cycle, the pro- after project approval and all its permit ducks are in a row. early in the legislation’s growth every organized neighborhood gram gave out $589,000 in grants to 26 groups. A mode. The department knows it and merchant group in the small grant, $11,000, went to Enterprise for High “Will the hospital accept Medi-Cal and Medicare patients?” will be involved, but no one Cathedral Hill area. School Students for a John McLaren Park summer here knows how it will work.” “We’ve heard [Cathedral Hill youth employment gardening program. S.F. Clean asked Tenderloin resident Mark Brown. The Extra was told about the Neighbors Association] concerns City Coalition got one of the larger grants, ordinance from Geoffrey Nelson, loud and clear,” he said. “We $39,000, for graffiti and litter abatement South of “We do at all our campuses now and we’ll continue at the Marchese Co.’s CPMC project went, twice, to educate their Market. Resident groups or business owners must manager, though he didn’t know membership, and we’ve gotten a apply through an existing nonprofit organization. new campus,” Marchese an- swered. details. bitter response. They say we Program Manager Lanita Henriquez, 554-4830, “We welcome it,” Nelson don’t have a finalized project yet.” can help you find a nonprofit. For online guide- “Will the hospital have an emergency room?” wondered said. “It’s the only rational way Told of Nelson’s comment, lines and applications, http://www.sfccgp.org. to plan.” Morgan responded that her Application deadline is Dec. 18. S.F. Network Ministries Execu- tive Director Glenda Hope. group simply “invited them to NEIGHBORHOOD present at the point that they KIDS ON BIKES After a three-week break, the Three of the four CMPC cam- puses do and the new hospital OPPOSITION had something new to show us. Saturday Boeddeker Park children’s bike pro- CPMC’s plan for a Cathedral I can’t imagine where the ‘bitter’ gram resumed in October with big improve- may or may not, said Marchese. TNDC’s Jerry Jai asked if Hill campus has generated “com- comment comes from. We’ve ments — 15 shiny new helmets donated by the plete outrage” from the Ca- made it clear we intend to keep S.F. Bike Coalition and a new trailer hitch, CPMC is considering the neigh- borhood’s employment and thedral Hill Neighbors Associa- communicating with them as we donated by San Francisco Parks Trust, that con- tion, according to Marlayne go through the process.” I nects to a Rec and Park van. The hitch holds a health care needs in its planning. five-bike rack; the rack and a dozen BMX bikes CPMC “has to reach out to were purchased in 2003 through a Rotary Club the community,” Marchese said, donation. On Saturdays, up to 16 neighborhood adding that he expected there to CENTRAL CITY kids, some with their own bikes but most with- be many opportunities for out, show up at the park at 9 a.m. for an excur- neighbors to voice concerns. “The EIR will be deeply scruti- sion to the ocean. The group rides in the van to SAN FRANCISCO a point in Golden Gate Park where they park, nized.” then pedal to the beach and back, stopping for CENTRAL CITY EXTRA is published monthly by San Francisco Study Center Inc., lunch. “Everybody’s huffin’ and puffin’ when we REGULATIONS TO HURDLE After the meeting, The Extra a private nonprofit serving the community since 1972. The Extra was get to the beach,” says Boeddeker Park Director initiated through grants from the S.F. Hotel Tax Fund and the Richard and looked at City Planning’s July Rob McDaniels who runs the children’s pro- Rhoda Goldman Fund. It is now assisted by the Koshland Committee of the gram, “and oh, that ocean smell. It’s great.” 2006 pre-EIR “notice” — a 34- San Francisco Foundation. The contents are copyrighted by the San Francisco Before the program got the hitch, McDaniels page document that lays out all Study Center, 1095 Market Street, Suite 601, San Francisco, CA 94103. CMPC’s retrofit and new con- transported the bikes in his pickup truck and all PHONE: (415) 626-1650 the kids took Muni to meet him in the park. struction plans — and could see FAX: (415) 626-7276 Now, most of the kids can ride in the van, five that the Cathedral Hill project E-MAIL: [email protected] will require lots of jiggling of bikes go on the hitch and the rest are stacked in EDITOR AND PUBLISHER: Geoffrey Link the back of the van. Next, McDaniels hopes for existing regulations before it SENIOR WRITER/EDITOR: Marjorie Beggs a donation so he can buy a trailer to carry a passes muster. REPORTERS: Tom Carter, Ed Bowers, John Goins, Anne Marie Jordan dozen or more bicycles. In other good news, It will need land use, height DESIGN AND LAYOUT: Lenny Limjoco McDaniels received an award from the National and bulk, open space and other ADVERTISING: Julia Baldassari-Litchman amendments because it’s within PHOTOGRAPHERS: Lenny Limjoco, Mark Ellinger Council of Negro Women, Golden Gate section, CONTRIBUTORS: Diamond Dave, William Crain, Mark Hedin, John Burks on Oct. 14 for his work with children. the boundaries of the Western Addition A-2 Redevelopment DESIGN CONSULTANT: Don McCartney Project Area; design amend- EDITORIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE: David Baker, Michael Nulty, Debbie Larkin, Nicholas Rosenberg, Brad Paul, Tariq Alazraie If you have some good news, send it to mar- ments to the city’s General Plan; [email protected] or [email protected]. zoning changes; alterations to the Planning Code’s annual Central City Extra is a member of the S AN F RANCISCO N EIGHBORHOOD N EWSPAPER A SSOCIATION office limit; special consideration

2 CENTRAL CITY EXTRA / NOVEMBER 2006 St. Anthony’s serves 33 millionth meal Itinerant musician, 62, hits milestone with meatloaf and mashed potatoes

BY T OM C ARTER Destitute and low-income folks, from travelers with back- packs to scraggly street people to FTER Father John Hardin’s blessing before people in wheelchairs, sit and mix 200 sit-down guests and volunteers, St. easily at the 180 blue Formica A Anthony Dining Room served its 33rd mil- tables. Lines of volunteers — 40 a lionth free meal shortly after 11 a.m. on Oct. 12 to day — swoop down the aisles Bobby Perry, a 62-year old musician. bringing hot food trays from the The congenial 6-footer was sitting at a table with kitchen. The light gray linoleum three others in the far corner of the spacious 2,500- floors are so clean they glisten. square-foot hall. It was his second tray of meat loaf, Pleasing murals of seascapes and mashed potatoes and green beans and a pastry that countryside landscapes adorn the established the historic mark, and a phalanx of cam- beige walls. eramen and reporters, several of them young The meal is served between women with radio microphones, rushed to his side. 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., except To the inevitable question, “How’s the food?” after the 15th of the month when the Perry smiled and issued his self-styled Michelin crowd increases because money grade: “It’s better than in some restaurants.” Then, gets scarce. Then the doors open 15 he had the disarming honesty to admit to the young minutes earlier. ladies, “I’m enjoying the attention, too.” The briefly famous Perry, a life- St. Anthony’s has been serving free meals to the long traveling musician originally homeless, low-income and anybody else who wants from Chicago, lives around town in to wait in the long line that snakes outside up Jones cheap hotels (“in the Hindu Hilton,” Street, around the corner and down Golden Gate he’ll say). He has been coming to St. Avenue every day since Oct. 4, 1950. That’s the date Anthony’s for nine years, “just when Franciscan friar Alfred Boeddeker opened the doors I need to,” he said. Accompanying at 45 Jones St. and served 400 meals. himself on guitar for the guests, he P HOTO BY L ENNY L IMJOCO Now, 2,500 meals are served daily, 25% more has sung jazz and blues during the Father John Hardin celebrates the milestone meal served to than in 2002. meal. He also volunteers on musician Bobby Perry, his second tray of the day. The million-meal milestones used to come every Thursdays to fill and distribute three, five or 10 years. But they arrive more fre- brown bag lunches. quently now. Now he is struggling with a new project. He is and start a business and a record label,” he said. “Just over a year ago, we served our 32nd mil- trying to distribute his two CDs, “Love Camouflage” “I’ve got very little money and I’m running into brick lionth,” Father Hardin, St. Anthony Foundation’s and “In The City.” He wrote, arranged and per- walls.” he said. executive director, said. “The need for solutions to formed all the tunes on both CDs. But he and thousands of others always know hunger in our community is urgent.” “I’m a musician trying to become a businessman where a hot meal in the Tenderloin will be. I Turk St. methadone clinic has ties to CMPC

BY M ARJORIE B EGGS stance abuse providers that want to locate in their — a specific amount that’s computerized, based on community, so despite a David and Goliath-sound- information collected by professional staff and entered ing situation, Collaborative members showed little in the client’s record. Licensed vocational nurses and NE of the properties California Pacific sympathy and pinned Kletter to a different mat. psychiatric techs, sitting at counters behind plastic bar- Medical Center bought last year to make “How many clients do you have, and what’s riers with large holes cut in them, measure the liquid O way for its proposed medical office building BAART doing to keep them from hanging around doses into cups, which they pass through the holes. was at 1040 Geary. The three-story structure, a clin- outside the clinic during and after hours?” one per- For about two-thirds of the 600 clients on ic operated by Bay Area Addiction Research and son asked after citing the Tenderloin’s glut of methadone maintenance, the drug must be consumed Treatment, closed its Geary facility on one day in providers and clients. on the spot, and there’s no loitering inside once the September and opened the next day at 433 Turk. “We have 600 clients and a security guard when drug is ingested. The other 20% to 30% of clients con- “We started renting the Geary building in the we’re open, seven days a week, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.,” sidered stable enough to do “take homes” pick up early 1980s and later bought it,” said Evan Kletter, Kletter said. “We’re sensitive to the community, but their methadone in vials. CEO of BAART, a nonprofit founded by his father in I haven’t thought much about our responsibility “In either case, we have a strict dose-and-leave 1977, that provides substance abuse services, includ- when we’re not open.” policy,” Kletter said. “I’m certainly aware now that the ing 12 methadone clinics in California. “But that is exactly what being a good neighbor community wants us to watch the people we serve, At the end of the October Tenderloin Futures is,” shot back Michael Nulty, resident and president and we will.” I Collaborative meeting, Kletter got up and invited of Alliance for a Better District 6. everyone to the Oct. 25 open house at the new Turk Kletter promised to consider ways to keep Street clinic. BAART’s clients from adding to sidewalk problems. Central City Democrats Neighbors rarely roll out a welcome mat for sub- Two weeks after the meeting, The Extra talked with Kletter about BAART’s move from Geary gets official approval to Turk and its negotiations with CMPC. When CMPC began “going down the HE San Francisco Democratic County Central block, snapping up sites,” Kletter and his Committee met Oct. 25 and chartered the Thank You! brother, Jason, BAART’s president, decided city’s 28th Democratic club — the Central City Your Business Supports T that they’d sell only if they could open a bet- Democrats. The committee heard comments from The Mission of the ter clinic in a different location. Faithful Fools six members of the new group, which was voted in “We found the Turk Street site fit our unanimously. needs better,” he said. “More of our clients Democratic clubs work to get out the vote, dis- come from the [94102] ZIP code, and we tribute slate cards, endorse candidates and promote could install an elevator and do other things the Democratic Party’s endorsements. Each club to improve the building. We’ve always put a president becomes a nonvoting member of the lot of resources into our facilities, making Central Committee. them look good so anyone would feel com- “That’s really important for us,” said Michael fortable coming to them.” Nulty, the new club’s secretary, who also is presi- FAITHFUL FOOLS CMPC’s purchase of 1040 Geary was “a dent of Alliance for a Better District 6. “It means that COPY SHOP really fast transaction,” Kletter said. BAART in all committee discussions, there’s representation rented it back from CMPC for about six for our district neighborhoods and their needs.” 230 HYDE STREET months while it prepared 433 Turk. (Between Turk & Eddy) Other officers — all District 6 residents — are Clinics like BAART, most of whose clients Rick Hauptman, president, also president of North 415.673.4567 PHONE 415.673.1027 FAX rely on daily doses, can’t have service gaps, Mission Neighborhood Alliance and a 30-year [email protected] Kletter said. “We closed Geary one day and Democratic fundraiser and supporter; Marvis www.faithfulfools.org opened Turk the next.” Phillips, vice president, Tenderloin block captain DIGITAL DIRECT TECHNOLOGY! At the open house, he gave The Extra a and former NOMPC president; and Susan Bryan, COLOR COPIES*PRINTING*BROCHURES*LEGAL BRIEFS personal tour of the new digs. The 10,000- treasurer, also treasurer of Alliance for a Better square-foot two-story space, formerly a law District 6 and a NOMPC board member. office, is efficiently laid out and attractive — The Central City Democrats meet quarterly, with lots of exposed brick, olive and dark lemon monthly executive committee meetings. Since form- painted walls, sharp black doors, nice carpet, ing early last year, it has sponsored four community checkerboard linoleum tiles. and voter education events. More information: 339- After methadone clients check in, they go VOTE. I to the dispensing area to receive their dose —MARJORIE B EGGS

NOVEMBER 2006 / CENTRAL CITY EXTRA 3 xxx

CENTRAL CITY A R T Beat Bambi meets Tenderloin art critic – a twisted saga BY E D B OWERS My friend Snow at the 21 Club had to the fact that Bambi has connections with many fectly rendered. It is pure show business, the their CDs and get the hell out. punch Bambi in the face to get her to shut up famous and glamorous show business gang- songs of a 57-year-old transvestite who sings Later, Bambi returned twice to insult Ramu and back off. I guess if two speed freaks are sters but is currently homeless adds irony to its like a fallen angel and lives out of a trunk. with racial epithets, and caused a certain AMBI Lake has been a habitué of the added together with an argument then two and sinister subtext. But right now Bambi is living out her amount of unnecessary stress to people like Tenderloin for at least two decades. two equals one broken nose. I’ve never been Sean Penn and Henry Rollins had some- Tennessee Williams fantasies at the kindness of me who only wish her well, don’t know any B She’s a transvestite poet/performance good at math but I have learned the basics. thing to do with the production of this CD. I’m strangers. She’s homeless, as are many mental- famous people, and are just surviving from artist/singer who recently put out a CD titled The next song, “Jaded Lady,” is a lively up- not sure precisely what they did and since she ly ill people in San Francisco and the United paycheck to paycheck. “My Glamourous Life as a Broadway Hostess.” tempo ditty about the glamorous life of a male and I are no longer on speaking terms, I sup- States of America. The Bambi Lake saga is a Tenderloin story. The word glamorous on the cover is prostitute working in a midnight meat market pose I’ll never find out. I’m not a famous per- Poet-photographer Ramu Aki gave me her It is selfish and it is sad. She received thou- spelled oddly. It looks almost right. whose only goal is making lots of money; a son. I’m ignorant. CD and suggested that in my capacity as art sands of dollars for this CD, but it didn’t do her Just like Bambi. She looks like a woman story not so much different from that lived by “Marahuana” is a tango sung about the critic for Central City Extra that I review it. any good. She blew it. but she’s not. She’s artifice. the average hardworking slob. soothing caress of getting high on pot. The Then my friend Veronica ran into Bambi on But she is not alone. There are many like But this CD is a masterpiece, a real work of Some idiot calling himself The King of word marijuana was misspelled. It should have Polk Street and informed her as to where she her here. They are not nice people. They art. The minute I heard it, I wanted to review Satan clocked Bambi Lake at his satanic cele- been spelled “Meth.” could locate me. destroy themselves, and sabotage anyone who it, and I don’t even like this kind of music, bration. Not even Hell wants her. Bambi prefers hard drugs, but art is illusion Bambi contacted me, and I scheduled a would help them. much preferring the work of dead jazz musi- “Midnight in Manhattan” is a perfect New and she does a great job of creating a roman- photo shoot for her. Then I mentioned to her Yet there is a light inside them that is dying cians to the living songs the dead sing when all York City sophisticated lady taxicab romance tic fantasy in the mind of the listener concern- that I had been told that someone might be to get out and, heroically, some of them man- they want to do is make money. song. It’s a myth, but Bambi renders it perfect- ing the virtues of oblivion. moving out of my residence and that she age to shine for a bright second in a precise The album perfectly captures the deca- ly. It is moonlight and skyscrapers in young “The Golden Age of Hustlers” is a master- should inquire as to its availability. I forgot that and focused manner that can be for the good dence of the ’30s and fully documents the vis- eyes. piece and it was written by Bambi Lake. It’s a you have to watch what you say around unsta- of others before their flame is extinguished. ceral extremes of joy, delusion and self-indul- Bambi was stabbed by the manager of a precise and hard look at what being a gay hus- ble people. I suggest that anyone who loves music pur- gence that reflect a myopic world reduced to punk rock club a few months ago. She lived to tler is in San Francisco. The way it is sung is One mistake, that’s all it takes around here. chase “My Glamourous Life.” If you’re smart trivia, momentary pleasure and egocentric tell me about it at the recent City Hall poetry minus any trace of self-pity, and actually con- So Bambi came back the next day and said enough to read between its lines, you will get glory that will eventually end in carnage, geno- reading. veys an affection and feeling of universal that she wouldn’t do the photo shoot if she quite an education. cide and the atomic bomb. Nobody really cared about her being brotherhood for those who have shared her couldn’t get the room. How can you purchase it? I don’t know. The names and Social Security cards of the stabbed, but the fact that she survived caused lifestyle. The room, as it turned out, was not avail- Bambi sells them for three dollars on the street. characters have been changed, but in the 21st a certain amount of disappointment among the It’s nice when somebody who is narcissis- able, so, after insulting me because I had no All you have to do is find her. Check out Polk century the actors remain the same. underground poets who have known her for tically psychotic can look outside herself for a power to cure her homelessness, she walked Street. Or wait for her to get mad at me again My friend Vlad Popolev, a poet, once had years. few seconds and bring to light a vision. I out. But then she returned after I canceled the and go down to Hyde. to throw Bambi Lake out of his second-story Then on the CD there’s an amusing narra- admire that. photo shoot at her request and screamed out Warning: A few months ago, while trying window. She was obnoxiously out of control. tive, followed by the song “Cigars, Cigarettes,” My friend Veronica was sitting with singer my name on the street for 15 minutes of fame to order coffee, I was sitting with Bambi out- He’s from Russia. He knows. whose subject is how wonderful it is to be a Mark Eitzel at the original Baobab when Bambi because she wanted to go to the photo shoot. side the Café Zoetrope when she spit at the A rendition of “Song of the Siren” is an gangster’s mistress dying from loneliness and Lake saw them, threw a fit, put her foot With some losers you cannot win. waiter for giving her $800 fur coat to Goodwill anthem to self-obsession aimed at seducing alcoholism. through a plate glass window, and was spot- The Diva was now transformed into the because she hadn’t retrieved it for two weeks those who would follow Bambi’s path, think- One week after I met Bambi in the year lighted by the Beauty Bar and carted offstage Wicked Witch of the West. and we took off in opposite directions. P HOTO BY R AMU A KI ing it romantic. Believe me, I’ve known Bambi 2000 she entered Alcoholics Anonymous. It by an ambulance team who laughed in her I’ve read books about people who are Maybe you should just order this CD on the Bambi Lake is a transvestite poet torch singer whose CD is a master- Lake for six years. This is a song sung by didn’t work. face. demon-possessed. You don’t want to engage Internet. Getting too close to the source can piece. She sings like a fallen angel and lives out of a trunk. Death. The content of this show is very funny, and The rest of Bambi’s repertoire is also per- these creatures in conversation. Just review often be a losing proposition. I Rat season — ‘We’ve got ’em. Huge. The size of cats.’

® CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 rats gobbling up what people were throwing to rodents and to do their own trapping. The the fences there. He held his hands 9 inches bread and peanut butter but even so the food away. “We had to ban events at Kezar,” she PUC, which has jurisdiction over sewers, con- apart to show their body size. in the box is Generation Mini Block and it’s berries and other food.” said. “They were all over the place.” tracts with Pestec, a company in the Mission. Mice have beleaguered the park before, he irresistible. It contains chemicals that destroy When rats brought death to S.F. Abandoned sandwiches are high on their The Tenderloin is especially vulnerable Rats can carry upward of 30 diseases, said, but “this is the worst we’ve had rats.” the rat’s nervous system. One dinner is enough list. because it is old and densely populated. Rats although it is the roof rat that’s most likely to Some mornings now Berrios sees two rats to kill it in two to three days, Rossi said. AN Francisco’s rat problems are nothing compared to Nobody knows how many rats are in the like to burrow through the mortar of its large carry plague germs (see sidebar) and show up at 5 a.m. scampering across the front steps. “All you can do is monitor,” Rossi said. “In our bubonic plague years in the early 20th century when Tenderloin let alone in San Francisco, but they brick buildings to look for food and to hide at Boeddeker, the Tenderloin Playground and Walking out to the steps, he climbed over the one month they should be declining. If they S the city had a bounty on rats and killed a million of are present just about everywhere at one time and perhaps nest, although shrubs suit them Sgt. John McCauley Park on Larkin Street rail and pulled back vegetation to show a rat are not taking the bait, they’re not present.” them in two months. or another. With food, water and shelter they best, which is why they’re rampant at between Geary and O’Farrell. hole at the edge of the building. “I saw one go The Boeddeker clubhouse gets cleaned The dead rats were taken to Bureau of Health Rat multiply like crazy. Boeddeker and TL’s other two open spaces. What attracts rats is food and that’s what’s in the building yesterday. I’ll have to put in regularly. It has a kitchen and refrigerator in Receiving Stations. How do rats do it? Quickly and often. Male Metal plating is used to repair the brick intru- bringing them to the Tenderloin Children’s another work order.” one corner. The seniors who play bingo three From 1900 to 1909, about 200 people in San Francisco and female rats may have sex 20 times a day, sions. For the brown sewer rats, which are Playground and Boeddeker. Three days later, the Arundell Apartments afternoons a week have doughnuts and snacks died from the plague. It was the same plague, or “black according to Robert Sullivan’s book, “Rats.” slightly bigger than roof rats, a large under- “Rats,” said Children’s Playground Director manager, who refused to give her name, and Pastor Roger Huang from the San death,” that that devastated Europe in the Middle Ages. The One pair of rats has the potential to birth ground sewer system accommodates them. Kay Rodrigues, making a face. “We’ve got ‘em. denied that the property had any rats. Francisco Rescue Mission brings food in on plague hit here twice. 15,000 descendants in a year. They are more prolific and more aggressive. Huge. The size of cats.” “Absolutely” no rats, she said, “and no drop- Tuesdays and Fridays. In 1900, rats and people off a boat from Hong Kong were Phil Rossi, who coordinates Integrated Pest They can push roof rats out of their territories. She was standing on the playground next pings.” She wouldn’t say more. The snap traps were put down after a thor- blamed. Houses in Chinatown were inspected and 1,200 were Sewer rats live in or near garbage dumps, to the garbage enclosure and its porous metal It is possible the rats in the front of the ough cleaning of the facility, and always away scoured. A move to close Chinatown failed. The plague sub- Management for Rec and Park’s 250-park sys- 1 1 tem, said a rule of thumb is that rats equal the sewers and basements and are good swim- gate. The gate had a new 3 /2-by-2 /2-foot solid playground are the brown to gray sewer rat, from children and dogs in rooms accessible sided in 1904, but 122 had died and no one knew with cer- human population, which puts the number in mers. A roof rat likes warmer weather and is a metal plate at the bottom to keep out rats. also called the Norway rat. “Remodeling or only to staff, according to Rossi. The tainty what caused it. San Francisco at close to 800,000. “And I think poor swimmer but an agile climber. Both are Park and Rec’s three-man pest management work on sewer lines will disturb colonies that “ReCreation,” a volunteer cleanup operation After the 1906 earthquake, rat and flea populations that’s conservative,” he said, “but it’s just a nocturnal and omnivorous — although grains team, responding to the infestation, had weren’t apparent before,” said DPH’s Zverina. Sept. 9 sponsored by the San Francisco Parks exploded. A larger plague outbreak began in May 1907 and guess.” rank high — and both are burgeoning now. installed it when they put two traps inside by “They need new hiding places.” Trust was followed by another session. peaked in September. All parts of the city were affected. Of Park facilities can be overrun quickly. One Children, or adults for that matter, are usu- the garbage can. They are a problem in the sewers where Assistant Recreation Director Pat Wiley, who 160 human cases, 77 died, all “white persons, many of them Rec and Park employee recalls when Kezar ally not in any danger from rats, though they Nine-year-old Dominic Eik sidled up to they find the grease they adore. The PUC has oversees Boeddeker, found “mice poop.” And of a good condition in life ... and dwelling in houses that Stadium had to be closed to any event that had may be frightened. Long viewed as disgusting, Rodrigues. Sure, he has seen rats several a program that encourages North Beach and when others told her they had seen rodents, would commonly be called ‘sanitary,’” one report said. food because disease-carrying parasites, rats are often sup- times, he said, in the grass on the other side of Chinatown restaurants to contain their fats, oils she was “horrified.” In 1908 it was accepted as medical fact that fleas off rats the stadium porting characters of horror stories and night- the north fence, running on the top of it, and and grease (FOG) instead of dumping them “People leave food on Ellis Street and in spread the plague’s germs. In a historic civic effort, organiza- was so in- mares. They never got over being blamed for on the 10-foot wall and fence to the east. “I down the drain. Clogging means a feast for the park,” Wiley said. “It’s unsanitary. I don’t tions throughout the city pitched in to educate the citizenry and fested the Black Plague that ravaged Europe in the look for them,” he said. Nope, he wasn’t rats. know how police can handle that. I don’t eradicate rats. The U.S. Public Health Service established Rat with 14th century. scared, he said. The PUC wants to eliminate dumping alto- know the answer. Receiving Stations and the bounty concept was very successful: “Rats will run away from loud noises The next day, Berrios was at the eastern gether. Next year, the PUC will start a pilot “If I walk up (to the encampment) and ask a million were killed in two months. By 1909 it was over. and aren’t dangerous unless they are fence. He pointed to a rat hole in the ground program to collect FOG and turn it into bio- them not to sleep there they look at me like I In a 1926 follow-up study, 20,000 rats were trapped, cornered and you’re trying to hurt on the other side where he said pest manage- diesel fuel for city vehicles. am talking a different language. If they are killed and analyzed by a five-man crew to determine if the them,” said Olga Jaurigui, sen- ment put poison when they set traps by the “You’ll never get 100% eradication,” Phil stoned, they get angry. I’ve been spit on and city was in any danger of the plague. It wasn’t. I ior Environmental Health garbage cans. Garbage got out of hand while Rossi of Pest Management said. “McCauley my car’s been kicked in. It’s not a director’s —TOM C ARTER technician with Public he was away three weeks, he said. “We’re Park has regular activity and we always keep a job.” Health. “Then they will short on staff and if it was only cleaned up black box in it.” But in recent weeks the street encamp- attack humans.” once or twice a week, then it happened,” A black plastic box is about a foot long, 8 ments have diminished. Diamond-shape SFPD DPH advises other city Berrios said. “That’s the way I see it.” inches wide and 4 inches high and has a door signs reading “No obstruction on street or side- departments that contract Food attracted those rats from the hole and that allows a rat to go inside, eat tasty food off walks” are posted on the park’s Ellis Street “So far, it seems to be working day and separately for pest control, more from the garbage cans that he pointed to a spit, then leave. Pest Management has one gate. Dan Stein, a resident of Presentation night,” he says. and under the health code farther down the fence. They belong to the each at the playground, Boeddeker and Sgt. Senior Community at Ellis and Taylor, said And as the colder weather sets in, rats will requires property owners to Arundell Apartments at 526 Ellis. John McCauley parks. Tenderloin Police Capt. Kathryn Brown is stay closer to their nests and won’t mate as keep their spaces unattractive He said he has seen the rats running atop Besides grain, the roof rat likes sourdough probably responsible for it. much. I

A RT FROM A NIMALS BY W ILDSIDE P RESS

4 CENTRAL CITY EXTRA / NOVEMBER 2006 NOVEMBER 2006 / CENTRAL CITY EXTRA 5 Redevelopment tries to buy the Hugo

BY T OM C ARTER Karnilowicz, who rehabilitates and mas- that were donated — near, or in, the Hugo’s ter leases commercial properties on Sixth windows. The spectacle was called Defe- Street, said the Hugo is in bad condition and nestration. It means to throw things out the HE San Francisco Redevelopment should be torn down and replaced with window. Immediately, it caught the eye of Agency is negotiating to buy the long- housing. He served on SOMPAC two years city residents and tourists and soon was a T vacant Hugo Apartments at Sixth and ago when it rejected the $4 million asking favorite on the Gray Line bus tour. Some Howard streets where the whimsical art price. The property has appreciated since see it is a comment on rampant con- project Defenestration has adorned its blem- sumerism. ished outer walls for 10 years, delighting Goggin feels lucky he was allowed a thousands. S O U T H S I D E place where his work would be seen by The property is worth upwards of $4 thousands. million, according an estimate of a neigh- A cabbie once told him that a German borhood general contractor and former and an 85-foot limit would push its value couple asked to go see Defenestration member of the South of Market Project Area higher, although the seedy neighborhood because they had read about it in Der Committee that advises Redevelopment. doesn’t inspire offers. Karnilowicz had no Tagenspiegel, the big Berlin daily. But in 2005, the Hugo owner turned idea how the May 2006-elected SOMPAC Although his www.defenestration.org down a $4.6 million offer, according to a would respond to a sale figure that Web site offers Goggin’s art project for sale Sept. 10 story in the Chronicle. A Bay Area Redevelopment would bring to it. for $100,000, ideally, he says, the Hugo and developer wanted to build 20 market-rate “All the information is confidential” its quirky spillage should become a commu- condos and 10 storefronts, the story said, about the negotiations, said Mike Grisso, nity arts center with studios. quoting an anonymous company source. Redevelopment’s SoMa project manager and “It has international recognition so why The developer didn’t mind the 50-foot liaison to SOMPAC which urged the pur- tear it down?” he said. “I’d like it to last for- height limit, even though sometime in chase last March. “But we expect to have ever.” 2007 the Planning Department is expected something to announce sometime.” Even so, SoMa’s singular amusement to rezone it to 85 feet, the allowable height There is “no time limit” on negotiations, doesn’t attract tourism to the city and the on the other three intersection corners. which could go past the year’s end, Grisso city has lost two decades of taxes that “The land is worth about $2 million said. replacement housing would have generated. and with the Hugo, about $3.5 to $4 mil- If and when the sale is consummated, In 2000, Redevelopment paid $1.8 million lion,” said Henry Karnilowicz, a SOMPAC the agency will “definitely” put in housing, for the Plaza SRO diagonally across from the member when the group recommended Grisso said. The fate of Defenestration Hugo, then built the eight-story $22 million early this year that Redevelopment try would be decided then. Plaza Apartments, which opened in March again to buy the blighted building, vacant The five-story building has 75 units, fal- with 106 units to house low-income and for- 20 years. low since a fire in 1987, according to a merly homeless. For years, a sign on the building has Central City SRO Collaborative report on But after being rebuffed by Hugo’s high directed any interested buyers to a fax num- SRO fires. The building was damaged fur- price, Redevelopment got a significant bar- ber, (415) 621-8436. A couple of years ago ther by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. gaining tool in December. The Board of when Redevelopment inquired, the build- I.M. (David) Patel bought the building in Supervisors approved converting its pur- ing’s owner wanted $4 million. But SOM- 1964, according to a Chronicle story. In 1998, pose from earthquake recovery to a tradi- PAC said then that was way too much, and assessor records show that I.M. and daughter tional redevelopment project with expanded Redevelopment stopped its negotiations. Sumatai Patel turned it over to Branch Limited powers. Partnership in Hills- This meant the agency could acquire borough, where David blighted properties like the Hugo. If its own- Patel’s daughter Varsha ers didn’t fix up their property, which they lives, and the assess- haven’t, Redevelopment could negotiate to ment valuation was buy the place for fair market price, or if no $400,589. She handles deal could be made, acquire it by eminent Imagine a neighborhood the go-between nego- domain. tations, said Karnilo- A factor making the owner intractable wicz. The Patels also over the years was the Hugo’s 50-foot limit, in San Francisco own the Ramada and the hope the city would “be fair,” in Limited at 240 Seventh Vasha Patel’s words, and give it a boost to St., which Varsha Patel 85 feet. Redevelopment took advantage of that has more butterflies. manages. the 85-foot zoning across the street when it In 1997, the aban- tore down the two-story Plaza SRO and doned Hugo became a replaced it with an eight-story apartment Rents starting at $1299! building everyone sud- building. denly noticed. Sculptor Varsha Patel has indicated the owner For a limited time. Call now! Brian Goggin got would have been more cooperative years approval from the ago if the value-adding change had been Patel family to create a made. It’s City Planning’s intention to do surreal, three-dimen- that through its East SoMa Plan, expected to sional scene on its be adopted in February. outer walls. “It was The change to 85 feet “is being taken very casual,” Goggin into consideration” in the current negotia- said of the agreement tions, Grisso said. And the option of emi- in an interview with nent domain, if a fair market price is reject- The Extra in April. “It ed, is leverage. Karnilowicz said eminent was just a handwritten domain could be an issue “in six months, if note. No lawyers.” things don’t pan out.” Goggin’s idea, Every two years Goggin spruces up inspired by New Stone Defenestration. He gets a permit to use a Age paintings of ani- crane and inspects the pieces and their mals on cave walls, moorings, sands and refinishes wood, had landed him a replaces light bulbs and checks all the $3,500 grant from the wiring. It takes two weeks of long days National Endowment and costs him $7,000. This year he has for the Arts and postponed it because he thought he might $20,000 in other grants. get some donations to defray the cost, Bayshore Metals Inc. maybe a waiver from the city for the and Harrison and Bo- crane permit that would show its support nini hardware store do- of popular art. He wanted the work-over nated materials worth for Defenestration’s 11th anniversary “thousands,” he said. March 9. About 200 people vol- A commemoration may be in order in unteered, some for a March anyway, as a wake or rededication. few hours, others for Informed of the negotiations by The Extra, Discover a neighborhood months. Goggin was eager to talk to the Rede- with spectacular lake and “A lot from the velopment Agency. Villas Parkmerced ocean views and large Burning Man commu- “It would be a shame to get rid of it,” living spaces. One, two, nity helped,” he said. Goggin said. “It’s an iconic image and a Tower and garden apartments for rent in and three bedroom The volunteers beautiful building with arching windows apartment homes anchored bulky furni- and the turret on the corner. It was built in San Francisco just steps from the Muni. now available. ture, appliances and a 1908 and named after Victor Hugo. It adds grandfather clock — to the neighborhood. Structural engineers more than two dozen say the façade doesn’t need to be torn down 877-849-5186 www.villasparkmerced.com objects that Goggin and can be shored up. scavanged and some “Maybe we can work together.” I

6 CENTRAL CITY EXTRA / NOVEMBER 2006 OBITUARIES

ROBERT BURKE LEE HARMONY tor. “Nobody messed with me in high school,” she Wrote for “Hollywood Squares” Carpenter, waiter said. “He could be scary. But unfortunately he didn’t For 10 years, Robert Burke and Beth Chiarelli met Lee Harmony sat in his wheelchair in the get the love and attention at home he needed, and regularly for lunches that were punctuated with the 5- Alexander Residence lobby, or went to UCSF for at 13 or 14 he turned to drugs.” foot-2 Burke’s stream of witticisms and banter. The 5- cancer treatments. The rest of the time he was in his She lost track of him after high school. She later year-old son of a friend of his some years ago had room watching cowboy movies where his caregiver learned he had been in the Marines, worked for the once looked up and asked his mom, “Is Bobby a visited six days a week and prepared his meals. Post Office, was married twice and has an estranged grown-up or a kid?” “If he (Mr. Harmony) came to any social event son, 24. A father-in-law of his once said he was “a “It was our standing joke,” said Chiarelli, his social he didn’t stay,” said his social worker Winnie great guy when he was clean and holding a job,” she worker 10 years ago when Mr. Burke was in the city’s Kwong. “He’d take his food said. “But drugs were a demon he was never able to shelter system, just before he moved into the Ritz upstairs to his room. When he conquer.” Hotel, an SRO on Eddy Street. “He was quite a guy, came back from the hospital She reconnected with her brother 17 years ago positive about everything. He used to write for the last time I asked him why when he was diagnosed schizophrenic, went on SSI ‘Hollywood Squares.’” he didn’t go to a hospice or a and needed a sponsor to receive his monthly checks. “He was more like a kid than anyone I ever nursing home? He said, ‘What In his impatience for money, he’d call her at home knew,” said Morgan Paris. “He was the liveliest person are you talking about? I want and leave messages laced with foul language. in the Ritz. I called him the Watermelon Kid because to die here, at home.’” “I was a wife, a mother with two children and he loved watermelon. Every day I miss him. It’s not the Mr. Harmony got his wish working two jobs,” she said, “and I didn’t need that. same without him.” on Sept. 19, succumbing in his So I told him to forget it. But he apologized and said Paris and Chiarelli were two of a half-dozen 11th floor room. He was 66. he loved me. I was the one solid thing he could friends who attended Mr. Burke’s memorial at the Ritz “I’d see him in the lobby,” count on.” on Sept. 19. Mr. Burke, who claimed he never had Beatrice Duran, a woman who has lived at the When she had to call him, and he answered gone to a hospital, was taken unconscious from his Alexander a year, said at his memorial service. “He gruffly, she cut him down with sweetness. fourth floor room on Sept. 6 after fracturing his neck was a quiet man but he always responded if you “I’d say, ‘hello, Sunshine,’ ” she said, “and he’d in a bathtub fall, his friends said. He died of complica- greeted him. And he is a member of this big family. immediately change and be nice. ‘Hi, Sis,’ he’d say.” tions two days later at St. Francis Hospital. He was 68. I feel the loss. I pray for his eternal peace.” They met infrequently over the years as he Chiarelli, who had her 2-year-old son Devin with As the Rev. Glenda Hope read scriptures and bounced around before landing in San Francisco. her, said Mr. Burke did office work in his life but also prayed, Kwong interpreted for the dozen Chinese But when he got sick in February they started talk- once wrote for “Hollywood Squares” and was a friend and Filipino women and men who attended the ing a lot more. And two days after he returned from of actor Paul Lynde, a show regular. memorial. More than half of the Alexander’s 200 res- the hospital, she came to visit. She learned he had Paris said Mr. Burke had injured his back in anoth- idents are elderly Asians. given the nurses such a bad time that he was passed er fall in February. He was incapacitated and his Mr. Harmony had once been married in from one hospital to another to get rid of him. friends ran errands for him. In two weeks he resumed Michigan and has a brother and sister in Idaho, his Hageman brought her watching sports on television friends said. He worked as a carpenter and handy- brother clothes, food, a downstairs, insisting that others man, also as a waiter in New York and at a Powell microwave and two tickets watch, too. Originally from Street restaurant, Edgar Sanchez, his caregiver of 18 to a Nov. 2 concert starring Boston, he avidly followed the months, said. his favorite group, Red Sox and was a consummate Kwong said Mr. Harmony wanted to leave her Arrowsmith, at Shoreline tennis fan, rising well before everything in his will but she said no, a social work- Amphitheater in Mountain dawn to watch every hour of the er can’t do that. She did accept his movies, about View. French Open in May. It was sus- 100, including the TV series, “Gunsmoke,” all of Mr. Pangle was ambula- picious when he missed a cou- which she donated to the hotel’s library. The tory but in pain. His colon ple of days of the U.S. Open in remainder of his estate he left to Sanchez, she said. and three-fourths of his September. —TOM C ARTER stomach had been “I called to tell him about the Andre Agassi match, removed. She stayed seven but there was no answer,” Paris said. “I had the hotel STEVEN PANGLE hours. His room had knives go up and check and they found him.” Vietnam veteran and swords on the walls. Dozens of inscriptions on two sheets of paper next Steve Pangle could scare you to death just by They talked a lot and said to flowers and two lighted candles on a memorial table looking at him. He had a full beard, long hair and no they loved each other. recalled his scintillating personality and love of sports. teeth. In his black leather jacket, the 6-foot-1, 200- “My brother liked pizza, Pamela Hageman Arrowsmith, the Raiders, “God has blessed you, you have a better seat now for pounder looked like a glowering Hells Angel. He and Steven Pangle all the major tennis matches,” said one. “I think the was gruff and irascible besides. motorcycles, the Roman Red Sox will win again this year and (Roger) Federer But it didn’t keep a handful of his friends-at-a- Empire, lemon meringue won the Open,” said another. distance at the Iroquois Hotel from liking the loner, pie, Butterfingers and weapons,” she said standing Mr. Burke attended every social event the Ritz or his understanding sister from her unconditional next to the pictures. “Some people asked if he over- sponsored, said Ritz Hotel social worker William Leary. love. dosed on purpose. I don’t think so. He was looking “His name was always at the top of the signup list,” he Mr. Pangle, a Marine who served in Vietnam in forward to getting rid of the colostomy bag and the said. “And he was the official food taster. He had to the early 1970s, died in his Iroquois room on Oct. 5, concert, and I was going to come back for a visit. taste everything first to see if it was okay for everyone. two weeks after returning from a seven-month hos- “But he had been in the hospital so long and He knew how to make people smile.” pital stay. He had lived in the O’Farrell Street SRO six then he must have resumed the same level of drugs. Someone said a fortune-teller once told Mr. Burke years. He was 55. His body couldn’t take it. he’d live to 101 but he said he didn’t need all that time. At his Oct. 10 memorial several residents told “Some say people like him weren’t meant to be He had done everything he wanted to do, he said, and how they had appreciated Mr. Pangle. here. But I thought he was here for me. He was was happy with who he was. “He was a character who had his ups and downs, ornery and reclusive and a very big bad guy – but he —TOM CARTER and some attitude,” said one man. “But he always really wasn’t. I’ll miss him.” said hi to me.” A big lady described how much Mr. She said she would donate his body to a college IDA GARNER Pangle admired her arm tattoos, which became their here because “I’m sure they can learn something,” Safeway worker casual friendship bond. And she said she was glad and thanked people for coming Ida Garner worked many jobs in her life and was when he came home from the hospital. Then the group broke up and ate the pizza that looking for another when she died unexpectedly of “Oh, he was so handsome and kind,” said anoth- Hageman offered and listened to an Arrowsmith CD unknown causes in her Senator Hotel room on Labor er woman, fighting back tears. She glanced at Mr. she brought. Day, hotel sources said. She was 52. Pangle’s sister sitting in the front row and added, “I —TOM CARTER “She looked like the picture of health when she had a crush on him, by the way.” Everyone laughed. came here,” said Deborah Brooks, the hotel intake “He was rough around the edges,” said Cory MORLIN SMITH coordinator. Reese from his wheelchair. “I think we related Longtime resident But Ms. Garner had “health issues” she was trying through disability. He could be a big tough guy but Morlin Smith, longtime Tenderloin resident, died to resolve as she also sought employment, said he told me once how hard it was for him to para- Oct. 3 at the age of 59. Dorothy Ridley, supervisor of Tenant Services, before chute out of a plane the first time. He wet his pants.” Cards on the table at his memorial service at the a memorial for Ms. Garner on Sept. 11. But it was Mr. Pangle’s sister, Pamela Hageman, Alexander Residence showed Mr. Smith was held in Her friends said Ms. Garner was a slight, sweet, who provided a history. She and her husband and high regard by staff and residents. soft-spoken lady who favored wearing “leopard” — one of their two sons had come up from Monterey. One staff member wrote, “Thank you for always animal print — pants. She loved cooking soul food, On a bulletin board leaning against a table with two being kind and patient with the new girl at the especially ham hocks and yams, in the hotel’s com- candles were 15 pictures she had put up. One was desk.” munity kitchen. of Mr. Pangle as a sweet little boy in a striped, dark “And thank you for making your space safe for Ms. Garner had worked for Safeway, in conces- T-shirt, another was of him as a handsome, strapping people in need of sanctuary. Your helping nature sions at SBC Park, recycling for the Gay Pride parade high school student in coat and tie. A black-and- and accessibility will live on in the hearts of those and at odd jobs that the Tenderloin Housing Clinic white snapshot showed the two as children sitting on you touched,” another noted. When asked what found for her, Ridley said. She was homeless before a step, and in a leap to 2002, a color photo showed “sanctuary” referred to, a staff member laughed and signing up for the city’s shelter system that led a year the burly, leather-jacketed brother with his arm shook his head before answering, “When he could ago to permanent housing at the Senator. around his pretty blonde sister. bring people in, on the sly, to crash there, he “She was like a big sister to me,” said a lady who Hageman said her brother died of a drug over- would.” identified herself as Kim. “She had a smile that would dose after resuming his habit following his long hos- Mr. Smith was born and raised in Marin County. knock you off your feet. You don’t get the good peo- pital stay, but the medical examiner’s office couldn’t His family did not attend the memorial because the ple too often. This is the worst thing that could hap- confirm that and on Oct. 27 said the cause was still funeral was being held at the same time. They sent pen. And this is how I have to close it out.” pending. flowers as a way to celebrate his life with those he Ms. Garner is survived by two daughters, one in She and her brother had been raised in China spent his days with, the ones who consistently Los Angeles, the other in Michigan. Lake near the Mojave Desert where they rode bikes called him “a good person.” —TOM CARTER and hunted lizards, and he was big-brother-protec- —HAPPY H YDER

NOVEMBER 2006 / CENTRAL CITY EXTRA 7 COMMUNITY CALENDAR SPECIAL EVENTS p.m., City Hall, room 278. CMHS advisory committee, open to Gene Friend Recreation Center Advisory Board, 3rd Thursday the public. Contact: 255-3474. of the month, 5 p.m. Board works to protect SoMa resources for Tenderloin Childcare Center silent art auction and reception, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill-S.F., 3rd Wednesday of children, youth, families and adults. Gene Friend Recreation Nov. 9, 5:30-9 p.m., 144 Leavenworth. Included are works of Center, 270 Sixth St. Information: 554-9532 local adult artists and center children that were displayed at City the month, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Family Service Agency, 1010 Gough, Hall in October. A $10-$20 donation at the door supports the 5th Fl. Contact 905-6264. Family member group, open to con- Mid-Market Project Area Committee, 2nd Wednesday of the child care center, a program of Compass Community Services, sumers and the public. month, 5:30 p.m., Ramada Hotel, 1231 Market. Contact Carolyn Diamond, 362-2500. Market Street redevelopment on Fifth to which serves the city’s homeless families. SAFETY Tenth street. Hospitality House Exhibit features Harry Driggs, through Nov. Crime and Safety Committee, meets bimonthly on the North of Market Planning Coalition, 3rd Wednesday of the 17, Community Arts Studio, 146 Leavenworth. Paintings, sculp- Wednesday after the first Monday, SOMPAC, 1035 Folsom, 6 month, 6 p.m., 301 Eddy. Contact: 820-1412. TL 2000, neighbor- ture, illustration, classic underground comics originally printed p.m. Information: 487-2166 or www.sompac.com. for Rip Off Press. Information: 749-2104. hood planning. North of Market NERT, bimonthly meeting. Contact Lt. Erica North of Market/Tenderloin Community Benefit District, 1st Arteseros,, S.F. Fire Department, 970-2022. Disaster prepared- Thursday of the month, noon. July and August 2006 meetings: COMMUNITY: REGULAR SCHEDULE ness training by the Fire Department. Hastings College of the Law, 198 McAllister, Classroom B. SoMa Police Community Relations Forum, 4th Monday of the HOUSING Contact Elaine Zemora, district manager, 440-7570. month, 6-7:30 p.m. Location changes monthly. To receive SoMa Leadership Council, 3rd Wednesday of the month, 6 p.m., Supportive Housing Network, 4th Thursday of the month, 3-5 monthly information by e-mail, p.m., location TBA. Contact: Alecia Hopper, 421-2926 x302. The Arc, 1500 Howard St. at 11th. Emphasizes good planning contact Lisa Block, 538-8100 ext. 202 [email protected]. and good government to maintain a diverse, vibrant, complete Tenant Associations Coalition of San Francisco, 1st Wednesday Tenderloin Police Station Community Meeting, last Tuesday of neighborhood. Contact: Jim Meko, 624-4309 or jim.meko@com- of the month, noon, 201 Turk Community Room. Contact the month, 6 p.m., police station Community Room, 301 Eddy. cast.net. Michael Nulty, 339-8327. Resident unity, leadership training, Contact Susan Black, 345-7300. Neighborhood safety. facilitate communication. South of Market Project Area Committee, 3rd Monday of the NEIGHBORHOOD IMPROVEMENT month, 6 p.m., 1035 Folsom, between 6th & 7th. Contact: SOM- HEALTH AND MENTAL HEALTH PAC office, 487-2166. Alliance for a Better District 6, 2nd Tuesday of the month, 6 CMHS Consumer Council, 3rd Monday of the month, 5:30-7:30, p.m., 301 Eddy. Contact Michael Nulty, 820-1560 or sf_dis- Tenderloin Futures Collaborative, 2nd Wednesday of the CMHS, 1380 Howard, Rm. 537. Contact: 255-3428. Advisory [email protected]. Districtwide association, civic education. month, 10 a.m., Tenderloin Police community room, 301 Eddy. group of consumers from self-help organizations and other men- Contact Jerry Jai at 358-3956 for information. Network of resi- Boeddeker Park cleanup, 3rd Saturday of the month, 9-noon, tal health consumer advocates. Open to the public. dents, nonprofits and businesses sharing information and taking organized by the Friends of Boeddeker Park. To RSVP to work or Health & Wellness Action Advocates, 1st Thursday of the on neighborhood development issues. for information, contact Betty Traynor at the Neighborhood Parks month, 1-3 p.m., Mental Health Association, 870 Market, Suite Council, 621-3260. SENIORS AND DISABLED 928. Contact: 421-2926 x306. Central City Democrats, meets four times a year, 301 Eddy St. Mayor’s Disability Council, 3rd Friday of the month, 1-3 p.m., Healthcare Action Team, 2nd Wednesday of the month, Quaker Community Room. Addresses District 6 residential and business City Hall, Rm. 400. Contact: 554-6789. Open to the public. Center, 65 Ninth St., noon-1:30. Focus on increasing supportive concerns, voter education forums. Information: 339-VOTE (8683) home and community-based services, expanded eligibility for Senior Action Network, general meeting, second Thursday, 10 or [email protected]. homecare and improved discharge planning. Light lunch served. a.m.-noon, St. Mary’s Cathedral. Monthly committee meetings, Contact: Aaron Wagner, 703-0188 x304. Community Leadership Alliance. CLA Community Advocacy 965 Mission #700: Pedestrian Safety, third Wednesday, 10 a.m.; Commission monthly meeting, City Hall, Room 034. Senior Housing Action, third Wednesday, 1:30; Information: 546- Hoarders and Clutterers Support Group, 2nd Monday and 4th Subcommittee meetings and informational forums held monthly 1333 and www.senioractionnetwork.org. Wednesday of each month, 6-7 p.m. 870 Market, Suite 928. at the Tenderloin Police Station Community Room. Information: Contact: 421-2926 x306. SUPERVISORS’ COMMITTEES City Hall, Room 263 David Villa-Lobos, [email protected] Mental Health Board, 2nd Wednesday of the month, 6:30-8:30 Budget Committee Daly, Dufty, Peskin, Thursday, 1 p.m. Friends of Boeddeker Park, 2nd Thursday of the month, City Services Committee McGoldrick, Dufty, Ma, first and third 3:30 p.m., Boeddeker Rec Monday, 1 p.m. Center, 240 Eddy. Plan park Land Use Committee Maxwell, Sandoval, McGoldrick, events, activities and improve- Wednesday, 1 p.m. ments. Contact: 552-4866.

HELP WANTED .=F<=JDGAF#-,=KGMJ;==FL=JTENDERLOIN HEALTH Outreach and Community Events November 2006 /UTREACHAND#OMMUNITY%VENTS-ARCH CIRCULATION COORDINATOR — We need someone to distribute Health()63ERVICES&ORUM Promotion Forum Central City Extra. Someone who wants a regular part-time job. Topic: Come learn about4OPIC 3PEEDAND()6HIV Testing and Ways to Stay Safe The person must be willing to work hard two, three days in a Speaker:3PEAKER Tenderloin+EVIN-OSLEYAND+ATHLEEN2ITCHIE Health Promotion Team row once a month. $ATE4IMEDate/Time:7EDNESDAY -ARCH  PM November 8, 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm We deliver to the Main Library, City Hall offices, Glide, all GET SAFE! Free HIV Testing 7 Days a Week TNDC buildings, SomArts, Brainwash among nearly 150 locations (EALTH0ROMOTION&ORUM Where: Tenderloin Health, 187 Golden Gate Avenue in the Tenderloin and SoMa. 4OPIC3AFE3YRINGE$ISPOSAL Get your results in 20 minutes with a RAPID test! Pay: $10 an hour. 3PEAKER*ENNIFER!WA Weekdays: 9 am - 12 pm; 1 pm - 4 pm; 5 pm - 8 pm $ATE4IME7EDNESDAY -ARCH  PM We need someone reliable who understands how important (5 pm - 8 pm Mondays/Wednesdays standard tests only) good distribution is to The Extra. ,OCATIONFOR&ORUMS4!2# Weekends: 9 am - 12'OLDEN'ATE!VE pm; 1 pm - 4 pm Call 626-1650. Ask for Phil. ClientLIGHTMEALWILLBEPROVIDED Advisory Panel Come talk with#LIENT!DVISORY0ANEL#!0 Tenderloin Health’s Executive Director and program #OMETALKWITH!LEXANDER&IELDS #ONSUMER"OARD2EPRESENTATIVEmanagers about plans for Tenderloin Health. Also provide4RACY"ROWN 4!2#gS input %XECUTIVE$IRECTORANDPROGRAMMANAGERSABOUTPLANSFOR4!2#on new services and how we can improve. Date/Time:!LSOPROVIDEINPUTONNEWSERVICESANDHOWWECANIMPROVE Wednesday, November 8, 11:30 am - 1 pm; $ATE4IMEWednesday,7EDNESDAY -ARCH AM PM November 29, 11:30 am - 1 pm Volunteer7EDNESDAY -ARCH AM PM and Intern for Tenderloin Health Orientation: Sunday, November 12, 12 pm - 6:30 pm 2206OLUNTEERFOR4!2# Golden Gate Ave., 3rd Floor /RIENTATION3UNDAY -ARCH AM PMLUNCHPROVIDED lunch provided 1106 Market Street at Jones 3UNDAY -ARCH AM PMLUNCHPROVIDED You must pregister for volunteer trainings. Stop in/call'OLDEN'ATE!VE Emilie (415) 934-1792. Since 1989 in San Francisco 9OUMUSTPRE REGISTERFORVOLUNTEERTRAININGS3TOPINORCALL$AVIDAT   For current groups’ schedule or for more information call:&ORTHECURRENTGROUPSSCHEDULEORMOREINFORMATION 415.431.7476 or go to www.tenderloinhealth.org CALLORGOTOWWWTARCSFORG 17th TENDERLOIN HEALTH Anniversary A MERGER OF CONTINUUM AND THE TENDERLOIN AIDS RESOURCE CENTER PROGRAMS • 415.431.7476 and 415.437.2900 Churrasco Dinner Thursdays to Sundays ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE • 255 Golden Gate Ave • San Francisco CA 94102 MAILING ADDRESSHEALTHPROMOTIONsSOCIALSERVICESs()6HOUSING• PO Box 423930 • San Francisco CA 94142 and Lunch Buffet Mondays to Fridays &ORMOREINFORMATIONVISITWWWTARCSFORGwww.tenderloinhealth.org

8 CENTRAL CITY EXTRA / NOVEMBER 2006