Showing posts with label Muni. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Muni. Show all posts

November 23, 2019

This Week in Noe Valley: The J Church Is Slow, Sister Act Reminiscing, and Noe Valley Homes Are a Bad Investment


The latest news from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:
[Photo: Beautiful doorway via oldsoulhomes]

November 16, 2019

This Week in Noe Valley: New SFMTA Head Lives Here, Aster Closed, Seafood Love for La Ciccia



The latest news from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:
[Photo: Fog via ninadietzel]

October 6, 2019

NVV October 2019: We Read It So You Don't Have To



The Noe Valley Voice is published ten times a year and has been a neighborhood fixture since 1977. Here are notable highlights from the latest issue. Links are to stories we've covered here on NVSF or other resources. Follow the NVV link at the bottom for full articles and all the ads.

October 2019

Front Page: The J Church line is notoriously unreliable; Reliving the 1989 Loma Prieta quake in Noe Valley; The Town Square before it was a Town Square (spoiler: it was a gas station and auto shop in the 70s and then a church parking lot in the 90s).

Letters: A neighbor suggests the sidewalks of 24th St are beautiful and well kept - but shouldn't be power-washed so often.

Cost of Living in Noe Valley: The average price of a single-family home in Noe Valley is $2.8 million.

Store Trek: Toci Wellness, 816 Diamond at 24th St.

Short Takes: New lights are being added to the Town Square to make it more festive and safer; a lighting ceremony will happen on October 26 at 6:30pm. Spooktacular, a Halloween celebration is back for the third year on Sunday October 27 and on Halloween, October 31.

Rumors and Tidbits: The makers of The Last Black Man in San Francisco will be showing their semi-autobiographical film as a benefit for Video Wave, which they fear is “the Last Video Store in San Francisco” on Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. at the Noe Valley Ministry. The Noe Valley Girls Film Festival was a huge success. Doggy Style is closing by the end of the year and DS owner and NVMPA president Rachel Swann wants to open a wine bar. Toast on 24th is closed thanks to a lease expiration and pending seismic retrofit. Chez Marius is closed. The former Le Cupboard space on Church St will become a new restaurant called Inle Burmese and should open Oct 8. Pomelo on Church St is closed (see full note here). Also on Church, the former storefront for Curator will become Delights by Lisa offering fresh baked sweets by a Noe Valley native. Readings at Charlie's Corner will no longer be free; they cost $10 (!) per child and $5 for siblings. Shoe Biz is closed. A psychic is back on 24th St. And animal rights activists protested at Whole Foods.

[The Noe Valley Voice]

August 26, 2018

This Week in Noe Valley: The View Then and Now, 110% Home Appreciation in 6 Years and Beautiful Vintage Trains



The latest news from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:
[Photo: William Eggleston at Alvarado shot from Eureka St. via eyeofted

May 9, 2015

This Week In Noe Valley: Free Mother’s Day Concert, Saudi Mogul Sighting, And Muni Musings


News from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:
[Photo: Epic hills via oldsblank]

January 31, 2015

This Week In Noe Valley: Hipster Coffee Battles, Debating Stanford Douchebags, And Other Signs of the Times


News from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:
[Photo: Happy homes via juliahengel]

April 15, 2013

It's Windy! Mother Nature and MUNI Mix It Up On Church St

If your wait for the J Church seems longer than usual today, it's not your imagination. The wind downed a tree on Church St. just north of 24th St and the carnage has disrupted trains for hours. As of this writing, trains were still not running and buses had to detour around that stretch of Church.
Incidentally, it's the same set of trees that caused this MUNI backup and power outage last May.

If you're headed outside, hang on to your hat and watch for falling branches. The winds are expected to die down tonight.

August 2, 2012

The NVMPA's Parking Problem

The NVMPA's newsletter is always amusing, but this item from July is particularly out of touch:
PARKING - NOE VALLEY NEEDS PARKING

As noted in the President's information emails, your Association, specifically the merchants on Castro, is circulating and gathering signatures in protest of the SFMTA's planning for the removal of three (3) much needed parking spaces on Castro. We need more parking for our customers, for the community and for commercial growth, not less. The future will be more demanding, especially with the loss of the Ministry Lot.

We need your support! If the SFMTA insists upon taking of a parking space; then we want some support from the City, in which we live, work and pay taxes. We are asking for the conversion of the 24 Divisadero bus zones at Noe and 24th Streets, that they be converted to 'pole or bar stops', thereby adding necessary and favorably anticipated additional parking. Not only would this add parking but would eliminate the dangerous illegal right turn lane that so many drivers use. The intersection at Noe and 24th Streets would be made safer for the entire Noe Valley Community. See attachment, copy and circulate.

Please, read the Petition. Gather signatures, then call your President for pick-up. We are also asking for unmetered Diagonal Parking on the Eastside of Castro at James Lick Middle School. The issue of needed parking in Noe Valley is a straight forward one and your Association has a Parking Plan.
This is an old issue with the NVMPA and deserves discussion. But since NVMPA President Robert Roddick never returns our emails we put these questions to our readers:
  • In a Transit First city should Noe Valley really push for more parking (and therefore more traffic)?
  • How many of the employees at NVMPA member businesses are encouraged to carpool, take public transit or ride a bike to work?
  • What is the "illegal right turn lane" at 24th and Noe?
  • How is the NVMPA working to reduce car use and pedestrian safety on our very busy commercial corridor? (For instance, curb bulb-outs at all intersections, increasing the number of parklets, etc.)
Your thoughts in the comments, please. We'd especially like to hear from you, Robert.

[Noe Valley Merchants and Professional Association July Newsletter]
[NVV: Scouting for Parking in `Downtown Noe Valley']
[NVSF: Parking, Parklets and Other Backroom Deals in Noe Valley]
[NVSF: Forget Whole Foods - Noe Needs a Parking Lot]

July 5, 2012

NVV July/Aug 2012: We Read It So You Don't Have To


The Noe Valley Voice is published ten times a year and has been a neighborhood fixture since 1977. Here are notable highlights from the latest issue. Links are to stories we've covered here on NVSF or outside sources as the Voice doesn't post stories until the middle of the month.

July/August 2012

Front Page: Noe neighbors nix the idea of losing a Muni stop at 30th; First Republic approved for 24th St; merchants are noticing an uptick in petty crime, shoplifters and "unbalanced homeless men" in the neighborhood as beat cops are spread too thin.
 
Letters: A reader opines that 24th and Church needs a traffic light for pedestrians; a plea for Noe Valleyeans to be Town Square heroes; Liberty resident alarmed that Muni wants to nix the Liberty St stop (reason: it's a scary blind corner if Muni doesn't pause there); the 2012 Noe Valley Garden Tour sold 200 tickets this year and the winning garden was Jana and Geoff King on Cesar Chavez; a Valley St resident rails against the white dots requiring sidewalk repair (choice quote: "the blinding white of replacement squares is a physical annoyance..."); a fan of First Republic chimes in; a Duncan neighbor warns of the perils of rat poison to other local pets (use traps instead); more Examiner grumping; SF Girl Scouts (Ed.--and more likely their parents as anyone who works in an office knows) are the top Cookie sellers in Northern California; and farewell Miss Kit, the much-loved "oldest dog in Noe Valley."

Cost of Living in Noe: Buyers are routinely paying 5% to 10% over asking. It's hot out there. Good luck renting.

Store Trek: Philz Coffee (4298 24th St.)

Short Takes: A $1700 sandbox cover was installed at Upper Noe Rec Center to keep out the late-night feline visitors using it as a litter box. (Ed.--It's an old problem not likely to go away.)

Rumors: La Boulange is now owned by Starbucks; Radio Shack will open "sometime toward the end of August" and the 2 upper units will be ready for renters in July; Tuggey's is closing at the end of the summer at which point the new tenant will be revealed ("in negotiations"); rumors that First Republic could have moved into the Real Foods space are wishful thinking so Real Foods remains a black hole; Noe Valley Town Square needs $3.6 million and so far Patxi's has pledged the most at $24,000, matching grants are materializing and residents are organizing house parties "hosted by people who work for for large Silicon Valley companies;" US DHS director to speak July 18 at St. Philip's Church; news from the blogosphere covered here at NVSF and elsewhere; and kudos to the St Philip's baseball team for 1st and 3rd places in the citywide tournament.

[The Noe Valley Voice]

February 23, 2012

It Must Be The Weather

Blue skies and seventies. Great day for a walk in the nude:
At the intersection of 24th Street, a heavyset woman stood wrapped in a blanket, surrounded by medical personnel. A J-Church train was stopped, with passengers crowding and trying to see what was happening.

Suddenly, the woman whipped the blanket off and threw it at the medics, revealing that the only item of clothing she had on was a pair of closed-toe shoes, Knight said. And then she turned around and noticed Knight, still stopped and now shocked behind the wheel, about 50 feet away.

“She walks directly to me,” he said. “She walks up the hood of my car. And she begins stomping on my windshield, completely naked.”
Update (2/24): SFist received a NSFW photo of the lady in action from a Noe neighbor.

[SFGate: Heavy crime in the naked city]

July 27, 2011

Notes: July 27 Noe Valley Neighborhood Meeting

The Friends of Noe Valley sponsored neighborhood meeting with Scott Wiener this evening at St. Philips was reasonably well attended (40-50 people) and featured free wine and free pizza from Patxi's. The meeting got off to a a slow start with some random notes from the FoNV including ballot measures the group is interested in such as a move stop the privatization of park facilities. FoNV also needs the services of a pro bono lawyer and webmaster if anyone's interested.

Things picked up when guest of honor and District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener arrived (a few minutes late). He jumped right in with a plug for the accomplishments of his office so far including balancing the budget, rescuing some money for tree maintenance, and bringing back the police academy classes to train new cops in SF. He also touched on…
AT&T Boxes – Scott spent some time recapping his position on why he voted yes on the boxes and fielding tangent questions such as: Could we get rid of the Clear Channel news boxes instead (no – it's a 1st amendment issue, they're paid for and you can't ban news boxes); could we turn the boxes into street art or benches (yes, good idea – Emeryville has turned its boxes into art); and why can't we underground them (too big and need cooling). Overall AT&T is aware that Noe doesn’t want boxes and is not likely put them here unless asked.

Town Square – "It's alive" and can happen, says Scott, but it's going to take "an enormous amount of work." It might need to be packaged up with some other projects in the Bayview and Mission and can’t be done with just open space funds. Private funds will have to fill the gap + buildout costs + income for ongoing maintenance.

Real Foods – Scott's goal is to get the owner of the building to finally "sell it and be done with it." He says he's "found new people" involved in the building and is "in a dialog" with them. He'd like to see retail on the ground floor and housing above – which means the buyer would have to be a developer.

Muni – It's going to be a "long road to progress" Scott admitted, but there are some hopeful signs including the new MTA Director Ed Reiskin (he takes Muni daily and doesn't own a car), and the fact that Muni can now hire part-time drivers to cover Muni's sky-high absenteeism (expect to see changes on that front in 12-18 months). Other interesting factoids – the J has the lowest ridership of any Muni train at just 18,000 per day (vs. the N Judah's 30,000 per day), and most J Church riders only use the line north of 30th St.
In between of all of this, Scott also fielded some wacky (boozy?) out-of-left-field questions thrown at him by people who didn't quite get the format. Q: How do you stand on the Muni to Chinatown plan? A: I wouldn't have backed it but the horse has left the barn. Q: How come third-world countries have better cell reception and they don't have big AT&T boxes? A: The boxes are about high-speed cable and Internet, not cell service. And so on.

After Scott left, the meeting wrapped up with a preview of possible planned events from the FoNV this year and next including:
· Music in the Park (BBQ, music and activities near Noe Courts after Labor Day)
· Happy Birthday Noe Valley (history event in November)
· Noe Valley Love Fest (Valentine's Day)
· Book Week (March 4-10 with a Book Fair)
· A Group Run (See Jane Run sponsored; heats for strollers, pets, etc)
· A Pet Event (for families and furry ones; sponsored by local pet stores)
And finally, at the end of the meeting FoNV president Todd David dropped a rumor that the Tuttimelon space on 24th Street may have a new tenant soon… First Republic Bank.

[Photo: @sdweiner on Twitter]