Photos: St. Paul's Church

The oldest (and largest) church in Noe Valley is St Paul Church at 29th and Church Streets. Commissioned in 1876, construction on the Gothic stone structure began in 1897 and was dedicated in 1911. Construction was aided by parishioners:

Father Michael D. Connolly, then pastor, is said to have had every able person in the parish, including himself, at work on the project. Reports say many were called and chosen, including Saturday morning religious education students who, according to the parish centennial history, "tended to end up at the Thirtieth and Castro Streets quarry hauling rocks down to the church."

After the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, the San Francisco archdiocese deemed the building too costly to upgrade and decided to sell the property. Once again, parishioners got the job done - they raised the money themselves. St. Paul's Church closed for seismic retrofitting for much of 2000, but managed to reopen in time for Christmas Eve Mass.

St. Paul's Church was also the set for 1992's Sister Act with Whoopi Goldberg.

Thanks, once again, to bats1234 for the great photo (and inspiration for the brief history).

[Flikr: bats1234]
[Source: St. Paul's Church]
[Source: Bill Yenne: San Francisco's Noe Valley]

Tuttimelon: What Gives?

"Coming Soon" signs have been posted over the menu board at Tuttimelon Belgano Tuttimelon(?) since they opened. Nothing has changed since JT's comment on October 26th: "Tried going today, but there's no froyo. Supposedly froyo will be available 'next month.'" The counter staff only says "soon" when asked for details on when "next month" will be. And Tuttimelon's website still lists 3901 24th St as "coming soon" (seems to be a trend).

Last week, Gwen Sanderson (President, Noe Valley Merchants and Professional Association) left a comment asking for public support: "Regarding frozen yogurt, the new owners of Belgano are trying to get through permitting to put in the machines. But the city is holding it up. They could use community support."

We tried to get a hold of the owners to no avail. We also searched for permit records and found nothing. The only information close to useful is this letter to the GM of Tuttimelon [PDF] from Larry Badiner (Zoning Administer for SF). In brief: "An operation of this type is very close to that of an ice cream store, which Planing Code Sections 790.90 and 790.91 consider to be large fast-food or small self-service restaurants, depending on the size of the use."

If the same information applies to Noe Valley's location, Tuttimelon/Belgano will need a conditional use permit to operate a restaurant and that means Noe's Neighborhood Commercial District would have to approve more restaurants. The three CU's approved in 2006 (after a 20-year moratorium) have been claimed: Contigo, Noe Soup, and the (stalled) restaurant from the folks at Regent Thai at Church/Jersey.

Or maybe we're wrong. Does anyone out there have better (or more complete) info? Is the City holding up the project or are existing restrictions imposed by the NV Neighborhood Commercial District? Will Noe Valley get its FroYo?

[NVSF: Tuttimelon: Open!]
[NVSF: Food Bites: What's New In Noe]
[NVSF: Blight: Real Foods]

Trash: Black, Blue or Green Bin?

Trash stress in Noe Valley: What to do with items that aren't listed on the black, blue or green collection bins? We always wonder about things like dryer lint. Or corks. Or bicycle inner tubes.

We contacted Sunset Scavenger and spoke to Robert Reed, Public Relations Manager. We gave him a long list of items we don't know what to do with. He responded: "We have tried putting lists together but found long lists can overwhelm customers and often it may be more effective to focus on items and behaviors that provide the best opportunities to help protect the environment through source reduction, reuse and recycling. Internally we call this approach 'Better Instincts.'"

What follows is an article prepared by Sunset Scavenger in response to our questions, as well as specifics on what goes where.

Recycling more helpful at protecting environment than many know

How to recycle resources in San Francisco

A study by Institute on Self-Reliance reports that if Americans recycled and composted 90 percent of all their discards, we could cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 400 million metric tons, equivalent to closing 21 percent of all U.S. coal-fired power plants. That would be a tremendous reduction in emissions.

Here is how recycling helps protect the climate: Food scraps tossed in a trash bin go to a landfill, decompose and produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Those same scraps tossed in a green cart go to a modern compost facility; there much of the nutrients and carbon in the scraps are preserved in the finished compost and returned to the soil when the amendment is applied to local vineyards and farms.

Here is even better news: Compost also helps the Earth to store carbon.

What are some simple guidelines that help make sure everything that can be recycled and composted in San Francisco goes in the blue and green carts? The short answer is: all bottles, cans, paper, and nearly all plastics go in the blue recycling cart; food scraps, yard waste, and food-soiled paper go in the green cart.

Plastics acceptable for blue cart recycling include plastic tubs and lids and yogurt containers, plastic cups, clamshell containers, molded plastic packaging, plastic buckets and flower pots, and broken plastic toys as long as they have no metal parts, batteries, circuit boards or wiring.

Plastic film of any kind, such as plastic bags and plastic wrap, is not accepted in the blue cart. Styrofoam is not accepted.

Recycling managers in San Francisco like to say “if it was ever alive, you can put it in the green cart.” Food scraps and yard trimmings go in the (green) compost collection cart. Some people fear that food scraps will smell. Here is the simple fix. Place kitchen trimmings and plate scrapings in a paper milk carton, a compostable bag (inside a kitchen pail), or a paper bag with a little newspaper at the bottom to absorb moisture. Place kitchen trimmings and plate scrapings inside, roll the top shut and toss it in your green cart.

Vegetables, fruit, cooked meat and poultry, eggs, fish bones and seafood shells can all go in the green cart. They are rich in nutrients and turned into compost literally become food for the soil. Soiled paper such as used paper napkins and paper towels should also go in the green cart.

Labels on cart lids also show what items go in which carts. Additional information is posted at SFRecycling.com and SFEnvironment.org.

What they didn't mention is that recycling and composting also saves you, the consumer, money. The amount charged for trash collection is based on the size of the black bin - the smaller the bin, the lower the charge. The blue and green bins are provided no charge.

Sunset Scavenger also took our original list and annotated it with suggestions:

Blue cart:

• tinfoil (ball it up)
• aerosol cans (empty only)

Green cart:

• tea bags
• chicken bones / feathers
• used facial tissues
  
• dryer lint
• corks
• vacuum cleaner bags (full, no plastic)
• cornstarch packing peanuts (can compost if truly made from cornstarch, but put them in a paper bag and roll the top shut so they won’t blow [out of] the outdoor compost facility) update below

Black cart (goes to landfill):

• candle stubs (wax)
• dead birds (wild)
• used facial tissues
• fabric softener sheets
• cat droppings (contain toxic ammonia, pregnant women strongly advised to avoid them)
• bubble wrap
• rubber bands
• dryer lint
• corks
• vacuum cleaner bags (full, no plastic)

Bulky Item Collection, BIC, program

• small appliances (coffee makers, mixers)

Other (how to avoid landfill altogether):

• clothes/fabric (thrift stores/clothes donation boxes)
• cooking oil (SF GreaseCycle)
• mylar wrappers (return to Terracycle's pilot recycling program)
• Tetrapak containers (don’t buy aseptic packaging, switch to reusable metal bottles)
• rubber bike tubes (check on the internet for a creative reuse)
• dog droppings (flush down the toilet)
• tampon applicators (buy brands that use cardboard applicators and put cardboard in the blue black cart)
• propane canisters (reuse them)
• bicycle and Nalgene-type water bottles (switch to reuseable metal bottles, otherwise blue cart)
• cornstarch packing peanuts (can be reused or dissolved in warm water)
• Styrofoam packing peanuts (avoid them; if you receive some, drop them off at a UPS shipping store or return them to whoever sent them to you.)
• shipping pallets (reuse them)
• (broken) pottery / ceramics (put them in a paper bag and break them by hitting them with a hammer and reuse them in tile projects or toss them in the black cart)
• perfume/cologne (use it up)
• straw baskets/hats/etc (if you cut straw baskets and hats into small pieces, we can compost the straw)

Can we use Lawn and Leaf BioBags curbside (as opposed to paper bags)?

Watch out for “bio-plastic.” The key word there is plastic. We can not compost plastic. The best container for compostable material is the green cart. If you routinely have more compostable material than fits in your green cart, call us and we will bring you a larger or a second green cart. If you have extra prunings, tie them with a string and set them next to your green cart. Local hardware stores sell large paper bags, some people use to hold extra branch cuttings. Manufacturers of large compostable bags need to more clearly mark the bags as compostable and certify that their bags are truly compostable. Some look like [regular] plastic bags to recycling workers. [Editor -- the bags from Tuggey's or Walgreens are clearly marked on the side.]

Do household batteries still go in a bag on top of black bin? (They have been stolen there, so we bring them to collection places.)

We favor rechargables. People can also place used household batteries in a clear plastic bag on top of their black cart, and we will collect them for recycling.

UPDATE (1/28): We received a correction from Heidi Obermeit, Waste Reduction Specialist for Sunset Scavenger:

Most of the information listed in the article is accurate but there are a few items that should be removed from the acceptable green cart items. While the majority of this material may be organic we do not accept dryer lint, corks, full vacuum cleaner bags, or cornstarch packing peanuts in the green cart. These materials should all go in the black cart with the exception of the cornstarch packing peanuts which can be reused, dissolved in warm water for disposal, or placed in the black cart.

Also, we do accept used facial tissues in the green cart and used tampon applicators should go in the black cart.

[Official Site: SF Recycling]
[NVSF: SF GreaseCycle]
[NVSF: Recycling Theft = $469,000]

Shop Local: Noe Valley Honey

Here's a cool item we stumbled across this weekend: honey made from local bees. "Limited quantity specialty wildflower honey from the heart of San Francisco. Our honey is gathered in Noe Valley and surrounding regions by bees that are kept free of antibiotics." More information at Pollen Princesses' online shop and on their blog.

[Official Site: PollenPrincesses]

Crime Beat

Information is from Mission and Ingleside District San Francisco Police Station newsletters.

January 19

Robbery -- 3:10pm. 2900 block of Diamond St. A 32 year old Noe Valley man had his cell phone and earpods snatched from his hands as he exited a MUNI bus. He fought for control of the items only to have the robber's accomplice knock him to the ground. The robbers were described as black males in their late teens wearing dark baggy clothing. The pair split up after the crime, one fleeing north on Diamond Street, the other running south.

January 22

Attempted Robbery -- 8:15 pm. 27th & Church Streets. A Noe Valley man found himself surrounded by three male teenagers who demanded his backpack. He refused to comply and one of the teens produced a handgun and threatened him. One of the robbers punched the man in the face and he ran from them. The suspects fled empty handed and the police were called. As Officer Androvich interviewed the victim on the 1500 block of Church Street, the man pointed out the suspects as they passed by inside a MUNI LRV. Sergeant Kim and posse stopped the train at Church and Cesar Chavez Streets and detained four teens. A replica handgun was found near one of the suspects. The victim identified his assailants and three of the four were charged with attempted robbery. The three perpetrators: a 16 year old Tenderloin District resident, a 15 year old Mission District resident, and a 15 year old SOMA District resident, were turned over to probation officers at the Juvenile Justice Center. Sergeant Branconi, Robbery Detail, took over the investigation. Case 090081515

Contigo: Opening February 17th

Brett Emerson is set to open Contigo on February 17th at 5:30pm. No word yet on how to make a reservation, but they are hiring all positions (probably including a host to take your call).

Congrats, Brett - it's been a long time coming!

Contigo
1320 Castro St
(415)285-0250

[IPoS: The Answer to your Question]
[Contigo: Official Site]
[NVSF: Food Bites: What's New In Noe]
[NVSF: Contigo: Upside Down, Backwards & Hopeful]

Photos: Noe Valley At Night

Once again, Flickr user bats1234 sends a great shot of Noe Valley. This time, it's of Upper Noe and Fairmont Heights. "With all these warm days and mild nights, I can actually go out back for more than a quick glance at the hills." Also: "My first shot (a 47 second exposure) using a decently tall, heavy, and stable tripod. With luck, there will be fewer shaky night shots and subsequent cursing. And more peering into neighbor's windows." Close your blinds, Noe Valley -- no one wants to see that!

And thanks, bats, for the photo.

Food Bites: What's New In Noe

A quick round-up of the latest Noe Valley food news:

Incanto is now offering a Leg of Beast dinner as a simpler version of Cosentino's popular Whole Beast events. Best for 6-8 people, the meal "is centered around a whole leg of beef." Reservations and pre-order required; $200.

La Ciccia is hosting another of its popular Cena di Porco dinners on January 26th featuring a whole roasted suckling pig and wine pairing. $75 per person, plus tax and gratuity. Reservations by phone only - (415)550-8114.

Firefly celebrated its 15th anniversary in November. (We ate there the first month they were open and can't believe it's been 15 years!)

Contigo hired a General Manager and hopes to announce an opening date soon. Go Brett!

City Grill opened as expected on January 14th. The website isn't up yet (citygrillsf.com), and the menu is evolving. But for now they're offering steak, a pork chop, burger, and fish, chicken and veggie options. Now we know what "classic American fare" means to Stefano Coppola.

Cooks Boulevard has announced their new class schedule, and classes are filling up fast. Also be sure to check out the upcoming events at Omnivore Books.

It may be January, but the warm weather continues to bring crowds to the Farmer's Market. This week there was a new vendor selling organic vinegar, and there's talk of more vendors to come - possibly on a rotating basis. Spring is just around the corner...

Nothing new to report on the "Vietnamese Fusion" at 1298 Church St. except that there's nothing new to report. There's been no work on the space for a couple of months. Anyone have details?

Finally, Elizabeth Street Brewery. Yes... Noe Valley has a brew pub. They Tweeted this weekend that they're set to brew another 200 gallons of beer this year and hope to keep up with ever-increasing demand. Drink up!

[Food Gal: Take Five with Chris Cosentino, A Chef Who Is Offal Good At What He Does]
[NVSF: Opening: City Grill]
[NVSF: Update: "High End Vietnamese Fusion"]
[Image: Elizabeth Street Brewery]