We posted in January that GNC was rumored to close and today the shelves are empty. GNC will officially close its Noe Valley location on July 7th. Don't know where you'll get your fix? The helpful sign in the window directs you to other San Francisco locations for your "nutrition" needs.
Bistro 24 is on schedule to open July 1st. Please report back if you check it out.
Dear Residents and Merchants of Glen Park and Noe Valley,June 29, 2009And nearby:
Street Robbery -- 11:15pm. 1800 block Church St. Officer Plantiga and Officer Khan responded to a call of an armed robbery. The victim stated that she had been confronted on the sidewalk in front of her house by two males. One suspect placed his hand under his shirt and displayed and object that the victim believed was a handgun. The two suspects forced the victim to surrender some U.S. currency, her ID, and her debit card before fleeing on foot from the scene.
Street Robbery -- 11:00pm. Elk St. / Chenery St. Officer Stansbury prepared a report at Ingleside Station regarding a street robbery that had just occurred. The victim stated that she had just gotten off the Muni bus at Elk and Chenery and was walking on the sidewalk when she heard a vehicle stop, and then start back up again, from somewhereAlso yesterday:
behind her. The victim then saw a small to mid-sized vehicle slowly pass her and disappear around a street corner. As she continued walking near the tennis courts, she was suddenly set upon by two males. The victim believed that one suspect may have been holding a firearm underneath his shirt and was pointing it at her. The two suspects stole various items,
including the victim's cell phone, and fled on foot, disappearing in the direction where the victim had noticed the suspicious vehicle had been driven. The victim was able to recover several of her personal items that
the suspects had dropped while they were fleeing on foot.
Buglary -- 11:52am. 500 block 28th St. Officer Lundy prepared a report of a residential burglary. An unknown suspect(s) entered the home by breaking a window while the owners were away on vacation. The suspect stole jewelry, cash and electronic items.[NVSF: All posts tagged 'armed robbery']
Malcolm HaarJune 26
Street Robbery -- 10:30pm. 600 block Noe St Officer Rueca and Officer Polovina responded to a report of a street robbery with a gun. Two victims stated that they had just finished dinner and were leaving when they were approached by two males. One suspect pointed a semiautomatic pistol in their faces and forced each of them to relinquish their purses. The suspects then fled on foot from the scene.
June 27
Burglary --11:04am. 300 block 30th St. Officer Creed prepared a report of a residential burglary. An unknown suspect(s) broke in through a window and stole $750 worth of shoes.
4th of July Update:
Throughout the week, I will list the following phone number in the newsletter: 415-378-5243. Sergeant Miller will have this cell phone and is ready to take your Ingleside District fireworks complaints!
June 25, 2009Lt. Louis Cassanego took over the newsletter today and gave the following advice:
Robbery w/Gun -- 11:39pm. Noe St./Day St. Officers B. Ng and Rueca responded to a call of a robbery. The victim said he parked his vehicle and was walking to his house. The suspect approached the victim and told him to hand over his wallet. The victim gave the suspect his wallet. The suspect fled in a waiting vehicle.
I would like to write about how you can aid in the capture of robbery suspects by just being vigilant in your neighborhoods. Most street robberies in the Ingleside District have a get away car involved. The victim hardly sees the car, because it is waiting around the corner from where the robbery occurred.
So, if you happen to see one or two subjects run around the corner to a waiting car and quickly jump in and then the car speeds off, you may have witnessed the tail end of a street robbery.
Try to remember the license plate, make, model, number of doors and the color of the car. I know that's a lot to ask, but the license plate is probably the most important item on the list. The description of the suspects is also helpful. You'll know something is amiss, when you see police cars suddenly saturating the area.
You can call the Non-Emergency number: (415)553-0123 with your information, or if you wish to be anonymous we have our "tip line": (415)587-8984.
June 25, 2009Really? That's it? Granted the economy has taken its toll (it's been over two months since a Noe Valley project was heard by the Planning Commission), but this is all we got?
4024 26th Street - Informational presentation on the status of the project.
Still organizing, but Phoenix Books is open for business at 3957 24th St. Piles of books everywhere, but the new kids' reading room in the back is open and the stalls are out front.
We've been saying for some time that the trend towards high alcohol wines isn't a good thing. Witness this query we received via email:The Zin was good at dinner- Homemade adobo with Lolonis Zin from Drewes (a butcher selling wine? is that a problem?). I'm just curious. Why all the corner fruit selling and where does it come from? Strawberries at Sanchez and Church? Fruit cart vendors on 24th Street? 2 for a dollar mangoes at Skyline and Westgate in Daly City. What does it all mean?Laughter aside at a bit of "drunk dialing" ... it's a good question. What's up with the fruit vendors on Noe Valley corners? Are the super-cheap flats of strawberries anywhere near as good as the berries from the farmer's market? Does the price trump freshness? Has anyone bought fruit from these guys – and why or why not?
The Chronicle provides more info on Bistro 24:Coppola opened City Grille in January after the space became available last year, figuring, he says, that "it could pretty much run itself." That turned out to be a mistake, he readily admits. "I was blinded," he says. "It was way too much to try to manage two places at once." Coppola closed City Grille after just three months and was getting ready to sell it when things took another turn. With Bistro 24, he's teamed up with Pierre Mange, opening sous chef at Contigo. Instead of City Grille's diner approach, Bistro 24 will serve, in Mange's words, "contemporary American comfort food with Mediterranean influences."(Remember Coppola's plans for City Grille? "Classic American fare.")
It all started with a simple question from reader BG:Do you know what's going on at the 24th & Douglass kids' park? The internal perimeter now has construction easels woven together with "caution" tape. Is the city finally putting up the funds to add a protective banister (my understanding is that the funding wasn't there initially, so they had left this out).We decided to try San Francisco's new SF311 Twitter service. Within hours they confirmed a fence will be built, but couldn't say when. They quickly referred us to Rec & Parks (415-831-2700), who in turn not-so-quickly referred us to Eric Andersen, Manager of Neighborhood Service Area 5 (PDF map). Mr Andersen referred us to Marvin Yee, who gave us the answer BG was looking for:
[Recreation and Parks Department] is waiting for a cost proposal to install a 3' high chainlink fence along the south and east border of the play area. When the playground was renovated in 2008, there was insufficient City funding to add this item. However, the City is interested in getting this item funded. The fund source and a construction schedule is not yet determined at this time. I should have more information in about 2 weeks. Please feel free to check back with me then. Thanks!Mr Yee gave us permission to list him as a contact for more information on this project:
Sure looks like it. Eater SF has the scoop: "While the Bay Bread folks are mum on any specific location, saying nothing is confirmed quite yet, we couldn't help but notice this liquor license application for 3898 24th Street, which just happens to be the current home of Noe Valley Pizza Restaurant on the corner of Sanchez."Scam Alert! On Friday, May 30th, at 12:30 p.m., a 70 year old woman was approached on Church Street near Cesar Chavez by two individuals. A male in his 30's, 5'1 and claiming to be from El Salvador. This person was acting confused and worried because he could not find a lawyer's office. A woman, claiming to be of Puerto Rican descent, wearing sunglasses and a hat, 5'4" tall, walked up moments later and was the man's accomplice. While acting as though they had never met, they coerced the woman into making a series of decisions, ultimately defrauding, or "scamming" her of $10,000.00.
These individuals produced a lottery ticket with a purported value of one million dollars. Pleading for help in finding the attorney, they tricked the woman into providing them with half of the $20,000.00 deposit required to "claim the prize money." The individuals took the woman's money, put it in a Fed Ex envelope then switched it with an identical envelope containing cut-up newspaper. PLEASE BE CAUTIOUS FOR THESE SCAMS!
Noe has a community garden, a Farm, ESB's brewpub and 2(!) apiaries/ beekeepers. Anyone out there know of any Noe Valley chickens?Residents are allowed three of one kind of animal and a total of four animals. Legal pets include hares, rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, mice, gerbils, chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, doves, pigeons, game birds of any species, as well as cats and dogs. According to the health code, donkeys, mules, cows and goats (all "even-toed hooved animals") require a permit, though senior health inspector Helen Zverina told me that pot bellied pigs and pygmy goats were also defined as pets. Contrary to common belief, roosters are not outlawed. But if there's a complaint, the city will take away the bird based on noise abatement.If you're a chicken farmer in Noe, what are your hints/tips/tricks/trials/tribulations? Do you use an Eglu or something more traditional? Raccoons an issue? Where do you get your chicks? What do you feed them? Is it worth the hassle to raise them vs. the $7/dozen for farm fresh eggs at the Noe Valley Farmer's Market? Curious minds want to know.
Noe Knit has closed, and Phoenix Books is now advertising that they will move into 3957 24th St on June 16th. They're excited about the new space, and at least one of the employees is excited about getting away from a landlord who "isn't very nice".Lawyer and Board of Appeals Commissioner Rafael Mandelman filed papers with the San Francisco Department of Elections Wednesday, formally declaring his candidacy to replace sitting Supervisor Bevan Dufty in the 2010 race for District 8 Supervisor.[FCJ: Mandelman First to Declare District 8 Candidacy]
The SF Supervisors approved Gavin Newsom's plan to fine businesses and residents that don't recycle and compost. The ordinance passed yesterday mandates sorting refuse into color-coded bins: trash (black), recycling (blue) and compost (green). Fines set to begin in 2011 are capped at $100 for residents and $500 for businesses, assuming they're collected at all. "'In any scenario there will be repeated notices and phone calls before we even start talking about fines,' said Jared Blumenfeld, head of the city's Department of the Environment. 'We don't want to fine people.'" Sure you don't.
Reader Carol informed us that Noe Valley's Just Awesome was on Good Morning America today as part of a profile of micro-lending site (and San Francisco based) Kiva.org. Kiva links businesses with individuals willing to loan them as little as $25 to build their business. Just Awesome owners Erik Mantsch and Shane Allen are seeking a total of $7500 to repair their ceiling and add inventory. (As of this posting, they still need $4575.)
A little bit of renovation and a pending alcohol permit are the only hurdles left for Noeteca wine bar/cafe to open in the old Last Laugh coffee shop. The holdup? Grumpy neighbors.
Yet another restaurant is to open at 4123 24th St: Bistro 24. So far there's just a sign in the window that says "Coming Soon: Bistro 24." No building permits have been filed. The domain name bistro24sf.com is currently parked on godaddy.com. And the beer and wine license is still held by the previous tenant, Stefano Coppola of Lupa.
General consensus: Noe Valley is for NIMBYs. The Examiner reported on last Thursday's Upper Noe Neighbors meeting without managing to get quotes from "the other side" so well represented in our comments sections. While much of the discussion here has revolved around employee shuttles to Silicon Valley, the Examiner missed the point that this study is looking at all shuttle use in San Francisco--Noe Valley is just a small (albeit vocal) focus of the study. (More about the Strategic Analysis Report in this post and this PDF.)
San Francisco's 311 service is now using the internet real-time. Is there a Noe Valley pothole you're tired of? Broken sprinkler in Dolores Park? Want a new freeway through the City? "Customer Service Representatives are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year to assist you. 311 can help with: street cleaning graffiti removal, pothole and sidewalk defects, abandoned vehicles, city garbage can maintenance, department information ... and much more!" After you submit a request "You will receive a Direct Message from 311 with either your Service Request number, the answer to your question, or a request for more information from us." Posting to @SF311 isn't the best way to get an answer, however: "For faster service, please us a DM as only DM's are monitored real time."
The NY Times featured a Noe Valley flat for sale today as an example of what you don't get when you spend $449,000. In Shelburne Falls, Mass. or Richmond, Kentucky that price will net you a 4 bedroom, 3 bath house or larger. In Noe you get this lower-unit apartment on Clipper:WHAT: A one-bedroom, one-bath apartmentWe're not even going to touch the comment about the 1970s dot-com boom (um, fact-check?). But we'd rather live here than either of those places - even in a one bedroom at 595 Clipper.
HOW MUCH: $449,000
PER SQUARE FOOT: $700.49
SETTING: This apartment is on the lower level of a two-unit corner building in Noe Valley, a centrally located neighborhood in San Francisco. During the beginnings of the dot-com boom in the 1970s, densely packed row houses, originally built for working-class families in the early 20th century, became popular with young families. This building was built in 1921, but the unit was added in the 1950s. Two blocks north is 24th Street, a thoroughfare lined with coffee and pastry shops, bookstores, a diversity of eateries, and boutiques catering to young professionals and their kids. There’s a light-rail stop within a mile of the house.
COMMON SPACES: The kitchen is eat-in and there are hardwood floors throughout.
PERSONAL SPACES: The bedroom has built-in closets and cabinetry.
OUTDOOR SPACE: The unit shares a large yard with the rest of the building. A city park with a basketball and tennis court is across the street.
TAXES: $5,208 (estimated)
On the market for nearly a year, 1280 Church St now has a "sale pending" sign out front. No word on the selling price or if a Smart car was included in the deal.
We received a tip that Noe Knit will close on June 9th. Slow sales a sign of the times or is knitting once again uncool? Phoenix Books is rumored to be moving into the space at 3957 24th St. No word on what will move into the Phoenix spot. Ideas?
[The Upper Noe Neighbors] will be having a follow-up meeting about the San Francisco shuttle study on Thursday, June 4th. There will be an update from the SF County Transportation Authority on progress made since our last meeting. Also on hand will be a panel of employers from Google, Genentech and more whose companies contract the shuttles. These employer reps will be there to address questions from neighbors and provide information about their shuttle services. Obviously, this meeting is a must for those who use or are affected by the shuttles in Noe Valley.Who isn't likely to be there? Representatives from the bus companies. So while Google, Apple, Genentech, etc, can laud the good they're doing, no one accountable for large buses speeding, ignoring weight limits or idling while waiting in front of residences and businesses will hear your concerns. Hopefully word gets back to them...
