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| Harvest Festival 2010 |
Noe Valley is one of the most desirable neighbourhoods in San Francisco right now. It is close by the Castro and the Mission, but it [is] filled with yummy mummies and the stroller set, sidewalk cafes and lovely old Victorians.[BBC Travel: Living in: San Francisco]
More Restaurants
In January the planning commission lifted the restaurant ban in 24th St commercial district. Although we didn’t see that ruling turn into new permits in 2010, it did send a message that Noe is restaurant-friendly again. New additions food-wise this year included Patxi's and Little Chihuahua. Tataki South also opened for sushi on outer Church. Not a restaurant but happy news for foodies, Blue Bottle Coffee also debuted at Spin City.
More Green
Pocket Parks, Parklets and Plazas were big items this year. Not everyone liked the plaza idea, but the tea party fillibuster and ensuing kerfuffle did pave the way for 2 parklets and discussion of a possible town square.
Quieter Trains
The J-Church rail at 30th got an upgrade and neighbors rejoiced: “Just as I was thinking it, a neighbor nearby noted with happiness, 'Hey, it doesn’t make noise anymore.'”
Orange Wins
Noe resident Matt Cain helped take the Giants to a World Series victory. And Scott Weiner – whose campaign color was orange – replaced Bevan Dufty as disctrict 8 Supervisor. Noe Valley was also voted # 1 for Halloween trick-or-treating, and the orange-themed Harvest Fest was a hit.
Crime Files
Sadly, it was also a busy year for crime in Noe including vehicle thefts, stolen iPhones, a homicide, identity scavengers, and a Wells Fargo bank robbery (which may explain the armed guard in front of BofA these days).
Storefront Changes
We lost some retail stores this year on and near 24th St. including Cooks Boulevard, Lisa Violetto, Urban Cellars, and Apple Blossom (and the genie went back into the bottle). We also lost useful retail space to Circle Bank, Alain Pinel and the soon-to-open Noe Valley Smiles. New shops in the area include: When Modern Was (via Church), Sway in the old Streetlight Records space, Heliotrope, Design Quarter, Re:Construction Salon, and Joseph Andrade Floral in the old Artsake space.
Lively Debates
Finally, it was a year of lively debates. We all got exercised about lots of things besides plazas. Favorite topics were passive aggressive parking, shuttle buses, dogs, pedestrians, strollers, a new mayor, and local color.
Here's to more fun in 2011. Happy New Year, Noe Valley!
One star, FWIW:Most pedestrians on 24th Street (Noe Valley) orbit in their own galaxy. These ipod listenin, blue tooth talkin, crackberry squeezin, stroller pushin aliens like to truck right into the crosswalk in front of autos already making a turn. Or they blast off the curb clueless to the autos that have been waiting (...and waiting) to get going to where they're going.[Yelp: Pedestrians / 24th Street]
OK, pedestrians have the right of way. But this is not a right without expiration. 24th Street pedestrians will be better off applying the normal rules of humanmobility...like generally keeping to the right (unless you're a Brit, Irish, Australian et al) and yielding to whomever arrives first. This universal law of motion applies to all moving objects like autos, people, aliens, strollers, bikers, boarders, skaters...
"But why would I ever yield to an auto?" the 24th Street pedestrian ponders. Because if the autos can't get going to where they're going, the "solution" is a traffic light. Hello? Can we agree the universe doesn't need more traffic lights?
Next time I'm crossing the road, I'm letting the waiting auto take its turn through the intersection. Not because it's about equality, but because we agreed (at least I did) that we don't want more traffic signals with their lighted Walk (white) and Don't Walk (orange) figurines from outer space. Some signals are outfitted with unnatural high-pitched sounds that warn aliens the sign is about to change.
Don't Walk? Yes We Can!
Do you happen to know if the Noe Strolls group was recently disbanded? Their web site is inactive and the e-mail addresses I had on file for the group are bouncing back. My wife and I recently moved to the neighborhood and are due next week, and we were hoping to join. Just curious what the story was.Anyone know? Have the organizers already moved to the 'burbs?
"Next time I come to Noe Valley I'm bringing a paddle ball. Maybe then the stroller b******* will move over."
...the only reason why Noe gets a bad rap is that unlike most of SF, it actually has kids. I'll agree with other posters that the bigger problem in Noe is dog poop--and the lack of parking spaces at Whole Foods!
...I may not get run over by a stroller, but I swear spending time in Noe is like being somewhere similar to Fresno.
...I don't get the aggressive stroller thing. I am nothing but polite to these folks and am tired of the cell phone yapping meaness of stroller. So, do we look forward to yet another generation of clueness when sharing sharing sharing public space?
...Bad: attempting to drive through the intersection of Noe St & 24th St., baby strollers which nowadays are the size of small SUVs, & hearing the automated-recorded lady-voice on the 24 Divisadero bus pronounce any stop along Noe Street as "no"...
...Noe Valley snobs are nothing compared to the likes of the entitlted brats in the Marina...
...Noe Valley is sort of the Palo Alto of SF neighborhoods. It's cool days are long long behind, now appropriated by unimaginative yups who all paint their houses a tasteful beige.While this bit from the Chron's post probably sums it up, there's truth in stereotypes:
Some people in love with Noe's centrality, its Victorian splendor, its low crime rate, its warmer micro-climate, its shopping and food, and overall family orientation might take comfort from these data. But it does seem like such people would still have to be doing better than the majority of San Franciscans, a city whose median income doesn't push $80K. Others of us then, forever shut out, will continue to complain (a little enviously-- let's be honest) about stroller accidents with bourgeois soccer moms.And?
...While all of you hater posters have been ranting on Noe, my property value just shot up another 3%.[SFGate: Noe Valley: only for strollers made of gold?]
A week of irony, sad, sad irony.. Especially after watching all the Noe Valley mothers here in San Francisco drinking out of their SIGG bottles, then passing them on to their kids. If they only knew they were poisoning their kids one little sip at a time, negating all the thousands of dollars spent on Waldorf and Montessori educations. Despite effusive denials backed by "scientific" studies, their CEO now admits they knew that BPA could be harmful way back in 2006, and their bottles contained BPA up until August 2008.[GetOutdoors: SIGG CEO Says BPA Found In Interior Coating Of SIGG Bottles]
SFGates's The Mommy Files blog checked out Stuff White People Like and "it sparked an unoriginal idea to develop my own list poking fun at myself and the idealistic, inspired parents who I hang with in my urban Noe Valley neighborhood."