This Week In Noe Valley: La Bou Is Assimilated, Tombstones, Noe Shoals And More

News from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:

• Chicks dig high-worth Noe Valley bachelor with multiple roommates [NYTimes; Also: Response]
• Noe Valley Chamber Music announces 20th Anniversary Season [NVCM]
• Map of San Francisco Archipelago now available as poster [Burrito Justice]
• The "First Gay President's" top fund-raising district is Castro and Noe Valley (94114), which has given him $248,048 this donating cycle [The Snitch]
• More fallout from the Starbucks – La Boulange deal [Inside Scoop]
• Big house, views, low ceilings, cheap finishes, no parking. $3.2M? Someone will buy it anyway. [Curbed SF]
• Please don't leave your junk on the sidewalk [Bernalwood]
• There are old tombstones on Valley St (and all over Ocean Beach). Anyone have pictures? [KTVU]

[Photo: Construction at the future site of Mill, NVSF]

This Week In Noe Valley

News from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:

• Remodeling your home? Had debris picked up recently? Know where it went? [Bernalwood]
• Don't get your future raincoat-clad puppy from a mill [YouTube]
• 24th St Bart to get a makeover; some upset there will be trees [Mission Local]
• Letter From Incanto inspires protest and attracts "press sluts" (info on helping to repeal foie gras ban near bottom) [Incanto]
• Also: #noevalleyproblems [Twitter]
• There must be a geek in Noe Valley: May the Fourth be with you [Vimeo]

[Photo: F6x]

PSA: Noe Valley Tree Collection Schedule 2010

If you bought a live Christmas Tree or Hanukkah Bush for the holidays, don't just toss it on a random corner when no one's looking (we've already seen a few sad castoffs this season). Do the right thing and recycle it. Sunset Scavenger will haul it away for free starting next week.

Via the Sunset Scavenger RecologySF.com newsletter:

Christmas tree collection will take place January 3-8 and January 10-15. Please place clean, unflocked trees next to your carts when you take them to the curb for your regularly scheduled pickup. Be sure to remove all tinsel, decorations, plastic bags, stands, and lights. If your tree is over 6 feet, please cut it in half.

If you're wondering what happens to your tree once Sunset Scavenger picks it up: it's fed to a wood chipper. The wood chips are then trucked to Tracy, burned to power turbines and create electricity – and then sold back to PG&E to power that iPad you got as a gift this year. In 2009 San Francisco recycled nearly 500 tons (!) of holiday trees, enough to power 20,000 houses for a month.

Fun with Analytics: Christmas Trees

Noe Valley, SF has received a huge amount of traffic lately for our post about holiday trash pick-up. Most people found us with some keyword variation of "Sunset Scavenger Christmas Tree Pickup." We think it's great that so many people are genuinely interested in the proper way to dispose of their holiday cheer.

Contrast that with the apathy of those who have dragged their trees to the curb on any old day and in any condition. Apparently these people haven't read the newsletter that comes with their trash bill (owners) or tried to find the information online (all others). They can't be bothered.

Friendly reminder: Christmas Holiday tree curbside pick-up is this week only. Don't dump your tree on the curb after that. Option: "Trees can also be dropped off at the Haight-Ashbury Neighborhood Council at 780 Frederick St. until Jan. 18, and at Golden Gate Disposal and Recycling at 900 Seventh St. until Jan. 16." Or you could bring them to the SF Recycling Center.

[NVSF: PSA: Sunset Scavenger's Holiday Collection Schedule]
[CBS5: SF Curbside Christmas Tree Recycling Begins]
[NVSF: Fun with Analytics: Google Club]
[Photo: Brian Brooks, via Curbed]

PSA: Sunset Scavenger's Holiday Collection Schedule

Sunset Scavenger only takes a couple of days off a year, and they're in the next couple of weeks. If your building has collection on Monday, Tuesday or Friday, then collection will be 'normal.' But Thursday and Friday collection will be delayed by one day for Christmas and New year's weeks (normal Thurs pickup will be on Friday, etc).

Christmas tree collection is from January 5-9. "Place clean, unflocked trees next to your carts when you take them to the curb for your regularly scheduled pickup." In other words, don't wait until the end of January to haul your dried-out fire hazard to some corner and dump it. If you really must keep a tree that long take it to the SF Recycling Center yourself.

Some other tidbits from the October-December newsletter:

Prevent needlestick injuries: "Residents with medical conditions requiring the use of hypodermic needles can get free sharps containers at 60 pharmacies in the City." (As we read that, the law doesn't apply to using needles for recreational activities.) At any rate, it's now a state law that all needles and sharps are disposed of properly - protect the sanitation workers. (Duh?) In Noe Valley, Walgreen's is your source for sharps containers.

Why compost if it's all going to break down in landfill anyway? "A chicken bone tossed into a garbage can goes to a landfill, decomposes and produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas. That same bone tossed into a green cart goes to a modern compost facility, and most of the carbon in the bone is preserved in the finished compost and returned to the land..."

Shredded paper - bag it (paper bag, of course) and then label bag as "shredded paper." "Small paper shreds are difficult to sort from other recyclables at the recycling plant... Doing this prevents the shreds from blowing away to become litter."

More complete information is available at SFRecycling.com

[NVSF: SF GreaseCycle]
[NVSF: Recycling Theft = $469,000]
[NVSF: Dumping: Why Here?]

Dumping: Why Here?

What is it about the corner of Noe and 26th that attracts so much trash? Here's a picture of an old TV and a car battery, as well as old paint stains from a previous dumping. The trash can on the left is usually overflowing, and the shelter glass is broken on a regular basis. Can't place all the blame on the James Lick kids waiting for a bus as they probably don't carry a car battery to school.

The City of San Francisco has made it easy to get rid of this stuff, and most items cost nothing to dispose of. But since the people leaving junk on corners probably aren't reading this, here's how you can get it cleaned up: Dial 311 and report illegal dumping. Extra credit if you can provide a license plate of the offender.

[SF Recycling]
[SF 311 - 24x7 Customer Service Center]