NVV September 2015: 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.

September  2015

Front Page: Patxi's abandons plans for parklet to avoid a public spat with other merchants; a profile of BookMentors run by Noe Valley resident Debra Hannula; hiking trails in Glen Canyon will get an upgrade.

Letters: Letter from the lawyer for The Ark toy store explaining why the company went bankrupt (online retail, smartphones and financing were the cited culprits); Omnivore Books and Noe Valley Pet Company owner Celia Sack urges you to shop local if you love a livable and vibrant neighborhood instead of realty offices, banks and nail salons. Also: RIP Noe Valley artist Royce Harris Vaughn.

Features: Diana Barrand, co-owner of Le Zinc dies of cancer at 57; the restaurant will endure. Clipper Street repairs and traffic-calming plans are back on the drawing board for new ideas.

Cost of Living in Noe: The $7 million home that sold in June tied for the most expensive sale in Noe Valley. Average rent for a 1 bedroom is $3,500+.

Short Takes: Coyotes were spotted in Noe Valley in August; no pictures.

Rumors and Short Items: The Ark filed for bankruptcy, despite 3 years left on the lease; Cradle of the Sun is moving to West Portal and lots of items are on sale - doors close Sept 13; Noe Valley Music is becoming a nail salon (ugh!!); Martin Mattox is closed; Video Wave has moved into a shared space with Buttons Candy Bar; Pascal Rigo will be taking back several La Boulanges under a new concept including the one in Noe Valley [Ed note - we have not seen any other confirmed reports of this]; The Noe Valley Town Square will break ground in January; There's no Harvest Fest this year but Just for Fun is hoping to hold a Fall Fest on Oct 24 instead; No news at Real Foods despite the presentation in January; and improvements are slated for Noe Courts including benches and landscaping, to be completed by Thanksgiving.

[The Noe Valley Voice]

NVV July/August 2015: 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.

July/August  2015

Front Page: San Jose Avenue traffic calming isn't working [for cars]; the earthquake shack was ruled a historic resource under the California Environmental Quality Act; Airbnb hosts are successfully colonizing Noe Valley - there are currently 227 rentals in the hood with an average price of $212 per night;  Lhami Sherpa, co-owner of Holy Kitchen on 24th St has family affected by the Nepal quake.

Letters: A hater complains about the benches in front of Martha & Bros; the Garden Tour was a success and well-sponsored by Voice advertisers; a neighbor doesn't like the produce selection and high prices from the new owners of Church Produce.

Features: The bar at 1600 Dolores St has new owners and will be called The Bar on Dolores Street; Horner's Corner is closed and John Dampeer of Caskhouse is buying the bar/restaurant - still no word on planned changes or when it will reopen. Bliss Bar is becoming Tom Rai, a restaurant with live music. RIP local activist Vicki Rosen.

Cost of Living in Noe: Hotter than the surface of the sun. The average house price is up 10 percent year-over-year to $2.4 million according to Zephyr data.

Store Trek: The Podolls (3985 24th St)

Rumors: Short items in the back: Starbucks is killing La Boulange in September - no word on what will move into the corner spot on 24th St but there is still 10 years left on the lease; L'Atelier's brief run of upcycled goods is over and a children's bookstore called Charlie's Corner will move in by September; Work on a new cafe called LaPanotiQ in the old Global Exchange space should begin at the end of the month; VideoWave is losing it's annual lease but hoping to hang tough; The Ark toy store closed it's Presidio Heights store and is having a tough time competing with Amazon (maybe that's why the staff rarely smiles?); Songbird Studios opened and is offering singing lessons; Isso is closed; The Noe Valley Town Square got another grant for $743,543 and construction should start early in 2016; The 24th St. bulbouts, planters, benches and crosswalk improvements are wrapping up and there will be a ribbon-cutting on July 15; Noe Valley Harvest Fest is cancelled this Fall and will return in 2016; The Noe Valley Association will not approve any more parklets for 24th St says Debra Nieman; The new construction on 24th at Church is now expected to be completed in September and the 4 luxury condos and retail space will be available for sale/rent; the Noe Valley Wine Walk returns on August 20.

[The Noe Valley Voice]

This Week In Noe Valley: Blender Bomb Scare, June Rain Record, And Housing In The Gayborhood

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

• Traffic-snarling bomb scare on 24th Street turns out to be … a blender in a box [NBC]
• Training them early in Noe Valley [pbleam71]
• What 10-12 year olds in Noe Valley talk about [@swmajor]
• Noe Valley has a second $7M sale and a new most expensive home [SocketSite]
• In honor of Pride Month, data shows gayborhoods like Noe Valley are “really expensive” [Marketwatch]
• A fifth of an inch of rain fell on Wednesday in Noe Valley – the most in June since 1879 [SFGate]
• The northern half of Dolores Park is reopening Thursday – take the pledge [@Scott_Wiener]
• ICYMI: Rumors of a new parklet on 24th Street in front of Patxis [NVSF]
• Spotted: Classic 1970s VW Vanagon, stickers and all [@blars0n]

[Photo: Noe Valley on lockdown – for a blender in a box via @JosephJPEG ]

This Week In Noe Valley: Glorious Rain, Poinsettia Poaching, And Other Signs The Holidays Are Coming

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

• The Just for Fun parklet holiday decorations are all over Instagram [adrienneelzbth]
• Video of brazen Santa-looking thief stealing poinsettias in the hood [@ddudgeon]
• Christmas music on Christmas eve in the newly-renovated NV Ministry [Noe Valley Ministry]
• At last - rain! And the downpour created a small lake in Noe Valley [@DanielAndefors]
• The ceiling (and roof?) in Starbucks took a beating [@dplattsf]
• Epic flooding during the rain on Valley at Dolores St [@cvonhaxthausen]
• Rainbow alert over Noe Valley [Burrito Justice]
• Gorgeous sushi from Saru [kewyn15]
• Mike from Mike’s Shoe Repair in Noe Valley spotted in the Financial District [@ddudgeon]
• Scott Wiener’s December Newsletter [Scott Weiner]
• ICYMI: Plans to develop the Real Foods building are coming soon [NVSF]
• Holiday trees that eventually become street trees available through Dec 19 [@SFPublicLibrary]
• Philz Coffee in Noe Valley is getting a makeover [@rohitjenveja]
• The Wishing Tree in Noe Valley inspires another in Portland [TravelPulse]
• Bom Dia Market opened today [@BomDiaMarket]

[Photo: Muni Polaroid in the rain via Nuugent]

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]

Noe Valley 2011: Year in Review

It was a big year, even in Noe Valley. While nobody occupied the Real Foods space, the Great Blizzard passed us by, and the economy in Noe defied gravity, plenty happened in our little village. Here's a look back at some of the top stories and themes from 2011:

The Town Square Lives
The year kicked off with proposed design concepts for a Town Square in the parking lot that is currently home to the Farmer's Market – and owned by the Noe Valley Ministry. The proposal is still alive but seems to have stalled until funding can be sorted out. Doesn't someone working at Twitter, Facebook or Zynga want a park with their name on it?

Parklets Are Here To Stay
While the town square is in limbo, parklets boomed in 2011. The one in front of Just for Fun was home to concerts, playdates and lots and lots of lights. It's been over a year since the parklets were installed and all signs point to them sticking around. 44 parklets are currently in the application process following the success of extant trials, and the City is moving ahead with other street greening projects such as the nearby Cesar Chavez project.

Noe Is A Foodie Haven
It was a banner year for Noe in food news. Our little hamlet is home to the best fried chicken, the best glazed donut, an amazing (and romantic) foodie bookstore and the best regional Italian food. We also had not one but two wine walks this year. There were a lot of restaurant changes afoot – Joe's is for sale, Fattoush was listed for sale (but the owner decided to stay), Amberjack Sushi turned into Kama Sushi, and the oldest sushi bar in San Francisco closed and is slated to open as Akai Saru soon. There's also a mystery restaurant for sale. For a brief moment this summer we even had an artisan beer mirage and a gluten-free bakery (oops!). Noe is desirable enough that a cookie truck is willing to battle for space in the Farmer's Market.

Fires Bring People Together
In September there was the devastating fire on 24^th Street. Fortunately no one was hurt, but plenty of people were displaced and the community rallied to help. This touching and heartfelt letter from a survivor reminds us all how lucky we are to live here.

Crime Hits Noe Too
From plant thefts and curb painting scams, to the attempted carjacking, armed robberies, and horrifying rape – sadly we had them all. Keep your eyes open folks and watch out for your neighbors – we're all in this together.

Change Happens ...
There were plenty of retail changes all around Noe this year. Among the closures: Vivon, Joseph Andrade Floral, San Francisco Mystery Book Store, Cosmic Wizard, Cover to Cover, Bespoke (moved to Pac Heights) and Hot Headz. Openings included Two Birds, K9 Scrub Club, Cliché Noe, First American Title and Walkershaw among others. Coming soon in 2012 are Philz Coffee, Noe Valley Wine Merchants and a new sushi restaurant called Akai Saru. The Lux Condos on outer Church also came to life with the retail spots on the ground floor available soon. On balance it feels like as many places opened as closed in 2011.

... And So Do Lively Debates
The other things that got Noe talking in 2011 were the sidewalk parking crackdowns, the controversial (and not very attractive) AT&T UVerse boxes, shifting school lines, yummy mummies and the signs of the times.

Here's to a safe and prosperous 2012. Happy New Year, Noe Valley!