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April 30, 2015

Closed: Noe Valley Music


Noe Valley Music, the local neighborhood music store at 3914 24th Street run by Doug Roomian since 1986, has quietly closed up shop and vanished. The sign over the door is gone, the door is padlocked, and there’s nothing left inside except bare walls.

When we checked in with neighboring shops to find out where it might have moved or what happened, none of the other merchants even noticed NVM was gone – and there’s no note in the window. Clerks at two neighboring stores didn't even know what music store we were talking about (we're looking at you See Jane Run and Good news). Sad.

Noe Valley Music was definitely a music shop from a different era. As one reviewer on Yelp put it: "Cute little neighborhood shop where you can grab a set of strings, a slide, or some random part if you happen to build instruments."

Anyone who took lessons or bought strings there have any details?

April 23, 2015

Crime Beat: Suspects In A White Mercedes Are Snatching Computers And Phones

The most recent report from the Ingleside Station includes three robberies all on April 19th and including the same description. Here's the report from the 1700 block of Church Street:
4:15pm--THEFT, 1700 Blk Church. Another victim working on her laptop in a coffee shop had a similar situation occur. While sitting in the front window of the shop, the suspect entered through the front door, approached the victim and proceeded to steal the laptop from the table she was working at. The victim and two other patrons of the coffee shop immediately chased after the suspect. The suspect was then seen entering a white Mercedes vehicle which fled the scene. One of the chasing patrons was able to identify and record the CA license plate number of the vehicle. Officer Macaulay and Duffin responded to the call and interviewed the victim and witnesses. Numerous police units then searched for the vehicle in the Ingleside area. Surveillance cameras were identified in the coffee shop and surrounding areas. No one was injured during the incident. A license plate match was successfully identified to a white Mercedes registered in a neighboring city.
Our first thought was a Martha & Bros victim, but they're at 1551 Church St. The only "coffee shop" on the 1700 block is Toast. Could be Cafe XO? Regardless, a white Mercedes was involved in a similar incident on the 400 block of Cortland (Progressive Grounds?) around 1:30PM. Another report puts the Mercedes at 29th and San Jose at 4:25 where the suspect snatched an iPhone from someone's hand and then fled the scene in a, you guessed it, white Mercedes.

As far as we know, no arrests have been made. No description of the suspects has been provided. Keep your eyes open for a white Mercedes.

[Photo: Dramatization via Grand Theft Auto V]

April 21, 2015

This Week At The Planning Commission: The Evolution Of 24th St Continues

A look at Noe Valley projects in front of the Planning Commission this week. Information is provided by the Planning Commission, and taken from its published agenda. All hearings are on Thursday at 1:30pm, Room 400 in City Hall.


April 23, 2015

3822 24TH STREET
- north side of 24th Street between Church and Vicksburg Streets; Lot 018 in Assessor’s Block 3651 - Request for Conditional Use Authorization pursuant to Planning Code Section 303, 317 and 728.37, to allow demolition of an existing two-story single-family dwelling. The proposed new construction includes a five-story-over-basement, five-unit residential with ground-floor commercial building, with five bicycle parking spaces. The building will be approximately 45 feet in height, pursuant to Planning Code Section 263.20. The property is within the 24th Street- Noe Valley NCD (Neighborhood Commercial) Zoning District, and 40-X Height and Bulk District. This action constitutes the Approval Action for the project for the purposes of CEQA, pursuant to Section 31.04(h) of the San Francisco Administrative Code.

Preliminary Recommendation: Approve with Conditions
Records show the existing single family home at 3822 24th St was purchased in $759k in 2012, and the current owner has lived there since. Interesting, the application filed in 2014 includes an appraisal for the house as is: But rather than cash out, the owner is looking big: five new units (three of which are "family size") over retail. As shown in the picture above, the proposed building is roughly the size of the new construction next door. And as it is close to major public transportation, there will be no parking on site for autos (but yes for bicycles).

Full plans, staff analysis and thirteen letters of support (mostly from area merchants) are included in the application. There are no letters in opposition.

Also at the Planning Commission this week is the continuation of 4022-4026 24th St - the Bliss Bar building. A final decision was postponed on March 26th so that the project sponsor and concerned neighbors could meet and hammer out some compromises. The issues include the larger space taking up 100% of the rear yard, amplified music and (of course) lack of parking among other things. According to a comment on April 5th, it does not appear that the project sponsor was willing to compromise. We'll see what the Planning Commission says.

Update (4/24): After a brief presentation by the project sponsor of 3822 24th St that highlighted the fact that there was no one in opposition, two people stood up to voice their concerns. Both are Elizabeth St residents, and neither had heard of the project until it was highlighted in the Chronicle last week (they missed the mailings, large posters, etc). Their concerns were predictable: light, shadow, harshness of design and the changing character of 24th St.

The Commissioners agreed that the design is a bit "brutal" and asked that the architect work to soften the facade. Commissioner Moore also asked that the location of the stair and elevator penthouses be consolidated to reduce shadows. With those conditions the project was approved 7-0.

On the matter of 4022-4026 24th St, the Commissioners voted 6-0 to continue the hearing to June 11, 2015. Details on our original post.

Video of the hearing is here.

[SF Planning: 3822 24TH STREET]
[SF Planning: 4022-4026 24th St]
[NVSF: This Week At The Planning Commission: Tom & Rai Will Move Into Rebuilt Bliss Bar]

April 4, 2015

This Week In Noe Valley: Easter Egg Hunt Cancelled, NIMBYs Out In Force, And True Love SF Style


News from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:
[Photo: Bom Dia via no_barkin]