More Signs Of Spring: Baby Spiders

They're baaaack! Fall brings monsters, but monsters start small. They're Golden Orb Weavers, they've hatched and they love to cuddle. The toughest will survive until fall when they will capture small birds and large insects. Fortunately, they are solitary creatures. As cuddly as they appear above, check out what happens when disturbed. Together in peace, separate in war.

[NVSF: Fall in Noe Valley: Spiders!]

NVV: 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 highlights from the latest issue. Links are to stories we've covered at NVSF.

June 2009

• Front page: Noe Valley is for sale - lots of homes and rentals on market. 68 homes listed for sale in April, which is about double last year. "Bargains" are still over $1M. Rental rates are down about 10% from last year.
  
• Op-Ed: Misha Weidman, RE broker and attorney, says Noe Valley is no longer immune from the housing slump. Good news: Noe is off only 13% from last year.
• Letters: People are still outraged about arbitrary parking enforcement (4 letters); Someone wants you to send stimulus money to On Lok on 30th St; Thanks given to Noe Valley Auto Works for taking care of a recently laid-off client's car.
• Photo: 7 people waiting for train confirms that J Church is still the worst.
  
• Short Takes: FUF planting Saturday July 11 in Noe Valley; Celebrate the Solstice at Noe Valley Ministries; Got a problem with services at City parks? Parkscan.org will now route all calls to 311 [Ed.--better than calling: check them out on Twitter]; Noe Valley Quest Fest will celebrate winners on June 17th at Upper Noe Rec Center from 5:30-7:30PM, drawing at 6:15--more deets at noevalleyquest.com.
• Crime: Only covers first half of May, so no mention of armed robberies on Church near 26th (be careful out there); And...the Peace Blotter is back. [Ed.--If you're a crime watching sort of person, we've posted instructions for subscribing to regular updates here.]
• Rumors: Bevan Dufty considering run for Mayor [Ed.--can Noe get a pink cloud too?]; Dufty also denies he's endorsing anyone running to replace him; 28.6% of Noe Valleyans voted on May 19; Rumor becomes fact when checking police reports - many vehicle break-ins lately; Empty storefronts: AAA space for $12k/month, Riki landlord looking for retail (not food), Streetlight rent reduced to $8k/month, Simply Chic asking $4k/month, Wells Fargo's old ATM closet wants $4k/month, Successories opening, Noe Knit closing, Phoenix moving in; last month's Store Trek feature Arara changing name and moving to 1513 Church (NV Buzz); She-Bible opening; Noe full of babies; Also: "you can put a lock on a rumor" that Locksmith Central is moving--they changed their mind.
  
• Traveling Voice: Noe residents carried the voice to such far off places as...nowhere. The NVV is on staycation.
  

[The Noe Valley Voice]

Duh: Noe Valley Is Full Of Babies

It’s not your imagination: San Francisco (and especially Noe Valley) is in the midst of a baby boom, says an article today in the The San Jose Merc:

Births in the 94114 Zip code, which includes Noe Valley and the Castro, the historical center for San Francisco gay life, were about 50 percent higher in 2007 than in the mid-1990s.

Urban enclaves like Noe Valley and the Castro may sound like unlikely places for a baby boom. But they are at the vanguard of a national urban trend that, according to U.S. Census estimates, has given San Francisco its biggest brood of young children since the early 1970s.

Credit goes to creative types...:

The city has seen an influx of highly educated professionals, a "creative class," Adams said. "Like Seattle and San Francisco and the Bay Area, they care a lot about the sustainability and quality of life. That has attracted a lot of the younger, creative types who now are of childbearing age."

...and the Google bus(!):

With private commuter buses from Google and other Silicon Valley companies cruising Noe Valley to pick up tech workers each morning, Yenne says the tradition of working in a city and raising kids in the suburbs has flipped for some.

[SJM: San Francisco Sees Baby Boom]