Respected elders pass

The lights in Bayview Hunters Point have dimmed as the community mourns the loss of Eloise Westbrook and Leroy Looper.

Mrs. Westbrook's accomplishments are lasting and far reaching, and many in the community consider her an icon. more

Mr. Looper was respected for combining keen business sense with social responsibility. He told his own "bootstraps" life story in an autobiography that can be found online. Read the autobiography.

Quesada Gardens Initiative expresses deepest sympathy to the many family members and friends of Mrs. Westbrook and Mr. Looper.

pictured: Eloise Westbrook in November 2007 (credit, Richard Uchida)

Return of Cyclecide

Cyclecide Heavy Pedal Bike Rodeo, a nationally known punk rock, bike-centric circus show, is making its home in Bayview once again.

Situated next to Flora Grubb on Jerrold Street, a newly-leased warehouse is home to bike and ride builder-welders, the band Los Banjos, and clowns who perform tricks and skits during shows. Together they are known as Cyclecide, one of Bayview’s most unique neighbors.

Cyclecide had resided at the Green Tortoise house on Jerrold until moving to ACE Junk Yard. ACE closed in 2008, leaving Cyclecide homeless ... no small problem for a troupe of performers with a complete carnival of pedal-powered rides, art bikes and an old school bus.

Cyclecide, with its pedal-powered midway and punk-rock clowns, is a yearly fixture at Art 94124’s annual art’s festival on Fairfax and 3rd, and has made appearances at SF Sunday Streets. The troupe has performed at rock festivals such as Coachella and Bumbershoot; and, rumor has it, their midway will be a feature of the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park this fall.

Compost Q and A with "The Green Goatee"

"Compost;" not exactly an inspiring word - to most folks. But to Quesada Gardens' own Master Gardener, Tony Tarket, a.k.a. 'Green Goatee,' compost is a beautiful thing. 

Tony shed some light on the subject, something that is a mystery to the average person, when Footprints caught up with him last Saturday morning setting up the food table for the Every Saturday Volunteer Day at Quesada Gardens.

FP: Why compost?

TT: Composting is great because it uses vegetable peelings, lawn clippings, newspaper and other things you would normally throw into the trash bin. It turns them into fertilizer. So you don't have to buy expensive fertilizer with all kinds of chemicals in it, and you don't have to throw all that stuff into the landfill.

FP: What are some benefits of composting?

TT: Composting is great because it uses vegetable peelings, lawn clippings, newspaper and other things you would normally throw into the trash bin. It turns them into fertilizer. So you don’t have to buy expensive fertilizer with all kinds of chemicals in it, and you don’t have to throw all that stuff into the landfill.

FP: Can I compost anything I would normally put in the City’s green bucket, or are there certain things I’d throw in there that I can’t use in my home compost? 

TT: There are some things you should never put in your compost such as meat or anything with meat residue on it, and diseased clippings or weeds. Also you probably don’t want to put as much paper in the compost as you might throw away. I like a 50/50 mix of green (vegetable peelings, grass clippings, plants) and brown (wood, sawdust, branches, paper). Make sure you cut all clippings and wood and branches into small pieces so it will break down faster. Anything with chemicals, like wood that’s been treated, shouldn't go in the compost.

FP: Is composting complicated? What are some different methods?

TT: No. It does not need to be complicated at all. You can start with a ready-made compost container, which come in several varieties. Barrel composters, or plastic ground composters are great and easy, and there’s even one that’s really easy to use if you have a disability. All you need to do with those is to start putting the compost in and crank the handle to turn it. These and other types are all available at garden centers like Lowe’s.

 If you want to use a compost heap, that’s fine too. One good way is to use four posts with chicken wire around them to contain the compost. Then make the front so the wire rolls up from the bottom so you can take the bottom compost out when it’s finished. The heap needs to be turned once a week, ideally, with newspaper layers put on top after you’re done.

FP: Does it require much space?

TT: The smaller barrel composters are small, and the plastic ground bins are about three feet in diameter. So, no, you don’t need much space at all.

FP: What’s the best way to start?

TT: Start saving your compost and use a ready-made composter. You can begin right away with minimal cost, or start a compost heap for next to nothing.

 Tony is a horticulturist, Quesada Gardens Initiative's backyard gardening program coordinator, and a neighbor on Quesada Avenue. Email him with questions at greengoatee [at] quesadagardens.org.

New play called "Hunters Point"

Hunter's Point

Written by Elizabeth Gjelten

Directed by Christine Young

Original Music by Pat Moran and Eula Janeen Wyatt

Featuring: Carlos Aguirre, Allison Payne, Christine Rodgers and Eula Janeen Wyatt

Attending a performance of Hunter’s Point at St. Boniface Church Theater, in the heart of the Tenderloin, is a complicated experience. It’s a play with music about the strong ties of family, loss, the divisive effects of mental illness, and about new love blooming like roses in bombed-out Sarajevo. But underneath those gracefully waltzing themes lies the pavement of the play: finding a home, and what that means for each of us.

Although the play isn’t about the Hunters Point in our neighborhood, it touches on issues, such as the current state of the Hunters Point Shipyard cleanup, that affect this neighborhood directly. If you have a few dollars and a couple of hours, it might be a welcome and timely diversion.

To enter the church, nighttime theatergoers may need to step around actual homeless people who are trying to sleep outside on the sidewalk. Seeing people who are homeless is unavoidable in this neighborhood, making the church an appropriate place for the play/conversation of Hunter’s Point.

The play’s action centers on Ruthie (played precisely by Christine Rodgers), a cynical, attractive red-haired adventure-travel writer, who is looking for her sister Eva (a very convincing Eula Janeen Wyatt), a singer who lives somewhere outside on San Francisco’s streets. Eva, a fine-boned, fragile blonde, has a mental illness and doesn’t want to take medication, so she’s become estranged from her family through a series of episodes of acute illness and forced hospitalizations. Their mother, Eva’s main caretaker, died years ago, their father has just died, and Ruthie needs to tell Eva the news.

Having run out of ideas, Ruthie makes a lackluster search, then, with no better idea, enlists the help of a beat-box performing genius/street denizen to find her. Carlos Aguirre is spot on as Hunter, a likeable God-fearing performer/con-man who knows all the street people. Ruthie gives Hunter $20, and then jets off to Sarajevo to write an article on post-war tourism.

Eva, meanwhile, sleeps in an abandoned tower at the old Hunters Point Shipyard which awaits redevelopment’s imminent bulldozer. She has ventured out to Hunters Point on her bicycle because she feels safe sleeping there.

Related stat: Public Press recently reported that homeless populations are shifting from inner-city streets to BVHP to avoid violence and evade new laws like Sit Lie.

Eva researches psychoactive drug studies during the day at the San Francisco Public Library where she meets overwhelmed librarian, Violet (played convincingly by Allison L. Payne), who tries to help her. Their relationship touches on the issue of the moral treatment of people who have a mental illness. Violet is reaching burnout at her job because she sees so many people who need mental help rather than just books. She’s trained to be a librarian, but spends much of her time managing chronically homeless people who use the library as a sort of home.

Ruthie meets war survivor Zulko (also played by Carlos Aguirre), in Sarajevo, and unexpectedly falls in love. She prolongs her visit, as she and Zulko discuss war, family and the meaning of home, but can’t stop thinking about Eva with whom she has several aborted cell-phone conversations, and dreams about their childhood. She is finally compelled to go back to San Francisco to search again for Eva.

Carlos Aguirre’s mastery of beat box and poetry commands attention. Obviously a seasoned musician and rapper, his acting skills also shine. He has no trouble switching fluidly between the roles of street hustler and war survivor, and this heightens the similarity between those two social positions, peeling back another layer in this onion of a story.

The songs, a mix of traditional spirituals and originals (composed by Wyatt and Pat Moran) are sung by Rodgers and Wyatt a cappella aside from occasional beat box accompaniment. Their two voices blend in a raw, tense way that complements the story’s mood and the sparse sets.

The sets, designed by Nick A. Olivero are simple and effective, with digitally projected photos of San Francisco homeless people by Mark Ellinger (an artist who has himself lived on the streets), lighting by Gabe Maxson, and wonderful sound design by Edna Miroslava Barron that perfectly syncs with the projections.

As well as being a play, Hunter’s Point is intended as a conversation with the community of the Tenderloin about homelessness and how communities can come together and cope with it. The audience is invited to stay after each Saturday performance to participate in that conversation.

The play is about ideas and issues, such as mental illness, homelessness and alienation, which come up naturally within the story, rather than being trotted out for display one at a time. It isn’t preachy, and would be captivating no matter what the setting or circumstances. But using it as a catalyst to inspire change in a desperate neighborhood is brave and effective.

Writer Elizabeth Gjelten and director Christine Young spent the better part of two years writing and obtaining grants to cover the costs of the production.

Hunter’s Point is a typical San Francisco story that unfolds like a pocket map. It has elements that everyone can relate to, the story draws the audience into it, and the story is literally spilling over into the streets.

By Elizabeth Skow, all photos by Gabe Maxson