JANUARY 2013 Serving the Potrero Hill, Dogpatch, Mission Bay and SOMA Neighborhoods Since 1970 FREE
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p. 3 p.8 p.S13 p.20 p.27 McKinley Square Annual Boosters Sandy Hook INSIDE Emcampment Holiday Party Beneft p.12 p.19 p.25 JANUARY 2013 Serving the Potrero Hill, Dogpatch, Mission Bay and SOMA Neighborhoods Since 1970 FREE Pennsylvania Street Garden Grows By LEEANDREA MORTON Pennsylvania Street Gardens, an initiative to improve the 100 block of Pennsylvania Street, is fnally under- Lead Used in way after more Fishing Littering than two years of pla n n i ng. San Francisco Bay The project is d e s i g n e d t o By GEORGE NELSON wholly renovate the forsaken The use of lead in fshing tackle, area near Inter- sinkers and jigs has come under consid- state-280 on the erable fak from environmental groups corner of Penn- in recent years, with many calling for sylvania Avenue a ban on the use of the metal in fshing and 17th Street. Once completed, that due to its toxicity. strip of Pennsylvania Street will be Lead is a perfect material to use home to 23 trees, a walking path, and for fshing weights. Heavy in relation a state-of-the-art storm water drain- to its size, a small lead weight makes age site. Left to right, developments done or in the making at Potrero Launch, Corovan, Dagget Place, and the minimal commotion on the water’s The initiative is led by Potrero Hill Opera Warehouse.. PhotoS bY DoN NoltE. surface and sinks quickly, dropping resident Annie Shaw, her husband, Matt the line without disturbing the fish Petty, and Dogpatch resident Emily below. It’s resistant to rust and cor- Gogol. It was frst launched by Shaw, rosion; ideal for ocean fishing since a web designer, who decided to plant 2,600+ New Housing Units salt water is especially erosive. Lead’s a garden on a derelict section of Cali- pliability and low melting point allows fornia Department of Transportation fshermen to easily alter the shape of (Caltrans) right-of-way located on 18th Proposed for Potrero Hill each weight. And the metal’s low cost Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, at the adds to its favorability; lost weights are I-280 off-ramp to Mariposa Street. By CHRISTOPHER ROBERTS Potrero Annex-Terrace public housing reasonably cheap to replace. Shaw was inspired to start the complex, upwards of 4,000 new hous- The U.S Environmental Protection garden in 2008 after she noticed a pot- After four years in the doldrums, ing units could be built in the area by Agency (EPA) estimates that more than ted, stray Princess Plant – Tibouchina California’s real estate market is back. 2025, adding as many as 10,000 people. 4,000 metric tons of lead – in excess of urvilleana – sitting deserted on 17th And in a San Francisco that remained And that doesn’t account for the large 450 million sinkers – may be dropped Street. A few days later, looking out relatively buoyant even during the 2008 amounts of commercial space being in American waters each year through the window of her Pennsylvania Street recession, a veritable developed in Pier lost fshing equipment. No one knows home, she saw that someone had planted boom in high-rise, 70 and elsewhere, how much fshing-related lead is depos- it by the Mariposa off-ramp. The next high-density devel- Pol Pu AtIoN to JuMP By HAlf which will sub- ited in and around the San Francisco day, Shaw loaded her car with plants opment is occurring, stantially increase Bay. she purchased much of it in Potrero the neighborhoods’ When ingested lead can wreak hav- at a San Fran- Hill and Dogpatch. The skyline emerg- population of daytime commuters. oc on the body, causing brain damage, cisco Botanical ing in Southside neighborhoods today Much of the development is taking high blood pressure, kidney disease, G a r d e n s a le , could make the live-work heyday of place on vacant or underused blocks in impotence and even death. Growing thinking she’d the late-1990s dot-com boom look Showplace Square, where roughly 1,300 children are particularly vulnerable; never have to buy insignifcant. units are planned for Daggett Place – lead exposure can result in permanent vegetation for Upwards of 2,600 new housing units now vacant, but formerly home to a behavior and learning difficulties. the empty space have either been constructed in the last paint factor – and at the Concourse Ex- Birds and mammals exposed to again. “Naivety year, or will be built in Potrero Hill, hibition Center/1 Henry Adams Street the metal have been shown to suffer is a really good Dogpatch and Showplace Square in the site. But Dogpatch – long-praised as an from lead poisoning in much the same thing in situa- next fve years, if all of the plans on fle “emerging neighborhood” by the New way humans do. Raptors, including the tions like this, because you don’t know at the San Francisco Planning Depart- York Times and other media – could California condor, have been known to how daunted you should really be. Just ment are approved. In 2008, CityData. also see 1,000 new housing units. suffer from lead poisoning by consum- get started, though, and people will com estimated the area’s population at The development boom is taking ing game birds or mammals that have help,” said Shaw. just over 10,000. The massive infux of some residents by surprise. The lull been shot with lead ammunition. After Shaw and her now husband new housing could increase the Hill’s in new construction while the East- Lead sinkers – and shot gun pel- Petty created the Pennsylvania Garden population by more than 50 percent by ern Neighborhoods Plan was crafted lets – that settle on the Bay bottom can at 18th Street, a steady stream of vol- 2020. Combined with the 1,400 to 1,700 lasted more than six years, followed be mistaken for the grit that waterfowl units that could replace the decrepit GARDEN page 9 NEW HOUSING page 7 LEAD page 4 Southside inside — Enhanced coverage of San Francisco’s southern communities 2 THE POTRERO VIEW January 2013 Locals Pack Tumlin discussed the Mission’s unique history, which has shaped the area’s PuBlISHEr’S VIEw O’Connell High to hodgepodge of land uses. The data high- lighted parking supply, regulations and Shape Parking Plan occupancy at the block-to-block level. “One size certainly does not fit all,” Legacy By ANNE HOFFMAN said Tumlin. Special from Mission Local SFMTA restarted the decision- By Steven J. Mo S S making process in the northeast Mis- Last month more than 100 people sion after encountering ferce opposition packed John O’Connell High School’s from the community last year, when o understand City government’s priorities, take the following mul- auditorium, angry about a contested it tried to implement an SFpark pilot tiple choice quiz. When Ed Lee talks about what he wants to be his plan to meter parking spaces in north- project that would install new parking T “legacy” as mayor, he’s referring to which of the following: east Mission. The meeting was the San meters in the area. Under the SFpark Francisco Municipal Transportation program, meter and garage prices are A. Fixing Muni. Agency’s chance to rectify the situation, adjusted up or down according to de- to let residents know that they wouldn’t mand. The goal is to reduce congestion B. Finding compassionate ways to cope with go forward with a new parking plan by helping drivers quickly fnd open San Francisco’s 6,500 homeless individuals. without community input; that this time parking spaces. The move to manage would be different. parking comes as a 220-spot parking lot C. Managing development in Dogpatch and But the agency met with a tough on 17th and Folsom streets is slated to Potrero Hill, where a new city is emerging. crowd. As SFMTA officials asked the be converted to a park and low-income attendees to sit in the area of the au- housing development. The purpose of the D. Insuring that naked people don’t roam the Castro District. ditorium that corresponded with their meeting was to present newly acquired quadrant of the neighborhood, one man data and hear the community’s sugges- E. Building a basketball arena on the City’s central waterfront. murmured, “They wanna divide and tions regarding parking management conquer!” It was a bit like watching techniques in a neighborhood where Now that you’ve selected your answer, consider how a mayor might an absent parent try to reconnect with parking is largely unregulated. view these options. Choosing a policy problem in which to deeply children after years of missing visits One man, unhappy with the re- engage is almost as important as deciding who to marry. Given the and breaking trust. sponse to his question about his small complexities of moving anything through any legislature – especially “We are here to restart the process business, left angrily, flashing his San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors – followed by the challenges of because we heard loud and clear that we middle fnger at Reiskin. “I’m taking successfully implementing a program once it’s been approved, a mayor didn’t get it right the frst time around. my business elsewhere,” he said. Jen- has to be fully committed to an issue to take it on, much less try to So we took a couple steps back to re- nifer Brommer, who owns a motorcycle make it their legacy. start,” said SFMTA Director Ed Reiskin shop in the Mission, was close to tears.