Quesada Gardens Initiative

How do you "improve" a landmark?

2012-01-27T15:56:00.000-08:00

Neighbors and allies of Quesada Gardens Initiative plan to gather and discuss possible changes to the landmark public space on the 1700 block of Quesada Avenue in the heart of Bayview.

On Saturday February 18th at 1pm, following the weekly Every Saturday Volunteer Day, neighbors will gathering in the heart of Bayview to share ideas about one of the City's most beloved public spaces.

The Quesada Gardens Initiative, the organization that started when Annette Smith and Karl Paige first planted a garden on the median strip on the 1700 block of Quesada Avenue, invites all those who care about this lovely place to participate.

Like most Quesada Gardens Initiative events, organizers hope for an informal and fun gathering. Still, Involved neighbors want to accomplish some important things:

Protect the spirit and history of the project, especially the many special parts of the current median strip developed by Annette, Karl and others who joined in with them during the early days of the project.

Hear from newer neighbors about their experience on the block, and about how the median strip can reflect it.
Present new ideas that project groups focused on specific sections of the median strip have come up with.

Please save the date, and watch Bayview Footprints Local News for developments.

Yoga in Bayview? Yes!

2012-01-27T15:49:00.001-08:00

"I have a vision of Bayview where there are as many places for yoga as there are liquor stores, so everyone has access to yoga within a block or two."

-- Sudeep Motupalli Rao, yoga teacher and Quesada Gardens resident.

by Elizabeth Skow

Living in the Bay Area, it's hard not to notice how popular yoga has become. One can spot yoga enthusiasts any day of the week, in almost any neighborhood (or even the airport!), their thin foam mats protruding from a backpack or wedged under an arm.

Close to 11 million Americans practice yoga. WebMD

Yoga may seem daunting to newbies who see the brochure pictures of perfectly fit bodies bent into impossible poses, and who sense a mysterious spiritual side to it all. The truth is, there are as many ways to practice yoga as there are people who want to try it.

While media images usually show thin, flexible people with impressive physiques, yoga can work for any body type and isn't just about getting fit.

A typical yoga class includes an instructor moving participants through a series of body movements, stretches and held poses, while explaining each movement. Instructors often will take a few minutes at the beginning of a class to ask who is new to yoga, and may offer the class something specific to focus on during the session.

A participant might sit in one pose and focus on breathing for minutes at a time. Or might meditate in some other way. It's up to the participant whether or not that is spiritual or something else.

For Sudeep Motupalli Rao, Bayview Yoga, yoga is about union with the cosmos, and should not be treated like just another fitness routine.

"We are never alone when we practice yoga," Rao says. "You can do yoga as exercise without awareness and sensitivity which could result in injury."

Rao advises that people should always listen to their bodies. If something hurts, don't do it. Not everyone will be able to do all the poses, but alternate movements and poses can easily be substituted.

To find out if yoga is right for you, it's best to just try it. You can start at almost any fitness level, and build from there. You will feel more relaxed, and could experience better flexibility, strength and balance.

-Elizabeth Skow

Yoga at the YMCA: Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 6 to 7 pm. Saturdays and Mondays are beginner classes, Wednesday and Friday are intermediate/advanced. The classes are free for YMCA members, and $5 for non-members.

Yoga at Bayview Opera House: Mondays at 4:30 pm. The suggested donation is $10, but nobody will be turned away for lack of funds.

Yoga here and there: Keep an eye open for classes at 5800 Third Street, 3rd Street Youth Center and Clinic, and at special events throughout the neighborhood. (Yoga is mobile!)

Quesada Gardens and SF win national award

2012-01-20T09:56:00.000-08:00

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee accepted one of five 2012 GRO1000 Gardens and Green Spaces Awards at the U.S. Conference of Mayors' winter meeting in Washington, DC yesterday. The award benefits the Quesada Gardens Initiative and its effort to address the social environment alongside the physical one through citizen empowerment and grassroots involvement.

The award is part of a partnership program of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the ScottsMiracle-Gro Company, and includes up to $10,000 worth of products from ScottsMiracle-Gro. It recognizes "cities for the creation of innovative public gardens and green spaces, and recognizes mayoral stewardship in the development of urban greenscapes," according to a U.S. Conference of Mayors' press release issued yesterday.

San Francisco and Quesada Gardens Initiative are one of five city and project partnerships to receive the 2012 award. The winners were "selected by a panel of former mayors and national garden experts from a pool of more than 80 applicants," according to the press release.

The other winners were Baltimore (Upton Edible Garden), Columbia South Carolina (Greystone Blvd. Beautification Project), Cleveland (Urban Agriculture Innovation Zone), and Corpus Christi (Lindale Park Community Garden).

Quesada Gardens Initiative is an innovative community-building effort in San Francisco's Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood. The grassroots organization is respected for the creation of community and backyard gardens, public gathering spaces, public art, and other projects that residents envision and implement for themselves.

What's all the Bridgeview Garden fuss about?

2011-12-24T12:45:00.000-08:00

Bridgeview Community Garden - 2011 NEN Awards - Best Green Community Project from NENtv on Vimeo.

Holiday season in heart of Bayview

2011-12-24T11:44:00.000-08:00

Many thanks to Elizabeth Skow for contributing these images of the season in Bayview Hunters Point.

Bayviews food improves as leaders step forward

2011-12-05T16:46:00.001-08:00

by Jeffrey Betcher

Unless you live in a place like Bayview Hunters Point, where residents face big challenges when it comes to finding healthy affordable food nearby, you may not understand why we get so excited about small victories.

The opening of a new mid-sized market is a welcome development in most urban neighborhoods, but not "game-changing." Here, the opening of just such a market, Fresh & Easy, rates as the biggest event of the year for many residents, and an emotional experience shared by the community at large.

Bayview Footprints has covered the "food beat" in the neighborhood for years. Now, we're happy to share some recent developments that are feeding the momentum of positive change.

On the heels of Fresh & Easy opening a store at 5800 3rd Street, Limon Rotisserie (pictured lower center) has just opened its newest restaurant at the same location. Limon's grand opening was Friday, taking Chef Martin Castillo and his broth Antonio Castillo a step closer to their vision of bringing San Francisco casual affordable dining that would make a native Peruvian homesick. Try the Pollo a la Brasa, marinated and slow roasted chicken paired with aji sauces and native spices. The dish is a national favorite in Peru, and Limon's signature offering. See the full menu online

For more information, or to make a reservation at Limon call 415.926.5665, email them, or visit them online.

Antonia Williams is part of a slow, quiet food revolution.

Jazz Vassar, Antonia Williams, Jameela Toups and Kenneth Hill (pictured above top) presented a workshop called “Food Justice: Honoring our Roots, Growing the Movement” at the Community Food Security Coalition’s 15th Annual Conference in Oakland last month. Well over 100 people attended to hear about strategies to improve access to healthy affordable food that include education, outreach, research and policy work.

The presenters are Bayview Hunters Point residents who are part of the SEFA Food Guardians Project, a group of community health workers focused on food issues. The program emerged from the Southeast Food Access Working Group.

The SEFA Food Guardians were featured in the most recent San Francisco Bay Guardian as part of an article by Christopher Cook.

Antonia Williams (pictured lower right) was highlighted in the article, sharing a bit of her personal journey as well as her experience as a community health worker passionate about improving food options where she lives.

Many residents remember the once-a-week farmers market on Mendell Plaza that popped up seasonally for five years. A new conversation about trying again is underway, with a tentative launch scheduled for the spring of next year. An organizing meeting at Renaissance Bayview's offices is being scheduled. Contact James Moore at 415.647.3728 ext. 6, or by email, to get involved.

In all the excitement about Fresh & Easy and other new food victories in the neighborhood, it's good to remember that FoodsCo and SuperSave have both improved offerings of healthy foods, especially fruits and vegetables, in recent years. SuperSave is an independent, family-owned business. FoodsCo is part of the Kroger supermarket chain.

Ann Berry (pictured above left), a longtime advocate for the neighborhood, and an early voice in the demand for improved access to healthy foods, has just won a Berkeley School of Public Health award for her work benefiting senior citizens.

Ann works for Network for Elders, a group that demonstrated in front of FoodsCo, attracted media attention, and helped inspire public health and funding leaders to start the Southeast Food Access Working Group (SEFA).

Congratulations, Ann Berry, for this well-deserved honor!

Historic settlement for black farmers

2011-12-04T17:19:00.000-08:00

Restoring hope for black families

By Kenneth Hill for the Food Guardians

Throughout American history, African-Americans have landed on the short end of discrimination. So, as I surfed through the National Black Farmers Association website, which is dedicated to the advancement of African-American farmers- my attention was immediately captured by a glaring banner stating, "Black Farmers Awarded $1.15 Billion in Settlement." As I processed the statement, my curiosity began to grow and my computer mouse raced to 'click to read more.'

As I sat and waited for my computer to load the next page, my mind began to explore the different possibilities as to why black farmers were being paid $1.15 in settlements. As I began to read, my eyes and mind consumed the article, reading every word, as it excited my curiosity. As I read further, a sense of gratitude came over me as I learned that the U.S government had awarded black farmers $1.15 billion on the basis of discrimination. My sense of gratitude stemmed from the always controversial topic of reparations for African-Americans.

As an African-American that supports the idea of reparations, I believe that the U.S government’s actions are just, timely and needed. In this case, the government has recognized its faults in a reasonable time, provided more than an apology for their unethical actions, and is giving black farmers that which is overdue to them.

This historic civil rights class-action suit has validated the claims made by black farmers for decades: that black farmers were systematically denied USDA loans and farm subsidies that were made available to white farmers with similar credit histories. USDA farm loans and subsidies are an essential part of a farmer’s operating budget and safety net, and this systematic denial of equal rights has resulted in a decline of black farmers at more than 3 times the rate of white farmers. Black farmers now make up only 1% of the nations farmers.

In 1999, Timothy Pigford made a claim of discrimination against the U.S Department of Agriculture, stating that he was denied U.S farming money because he is black. After being denied U.S Agricultural funds, he joined with other black farmers in a class action suit, Pigford v. Glickman. The suit claimed that the U.S. Department of Agriculture discriminated against black farmers and failed to properly investigate the claims of discrimination. The U.S Department of Agriculture only owned up to their faults through an approved settlement agreement and consent decree in Pigford Vs. Glickman on April 14, 1999, by Judge Paul L. Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Judge Friedman’s actions were just, however his just actions were cut short; not all black farmers were granted money in this settlement.

These African-American farmers kept fighting until they eventually got justice. Thousands of African-American farmers claimed they did not receive adequate council representation, which resulted in delays while filing their claims. The settlement agreement imposed by Judge Friedman on behalf of the U.S government deemed 22,721 farmers eligible, and set the deadline for application submission as September 12, 2000. By November 2010, 15,642 of the 22,721 eligible class members had received an approval from the courts to be paid. The other 7,079 eligible class members were those who claimed inadequate representation, in addition to thousands of farmers deemed ineligible, or others who were unaware of the proceeding in the initial Pigford claim.

But in due time, as America was preparing to elect the nation’s first African-American president, the U.S government approved a provision in the 2008 Farm Bill that set aside money for African-American farmers who “Farmed or attempted to farm between January 1, 1981 and December 31, 1996; Applied to the USDA during that time period for participating in a federal farm credit or benefit program and believe that they were discriminated against on the basis of race in the USDA’s response to that application; or Filed a discrimination complaint on or before July 1, 1997 regarding the USDA’s treatment of such farm credit or benefit application.”

An early estimate from the U.S government expects more than 70,000 black farmers to be eligible for funds under the 2008 Farm Bill provision. “Black people have been bullied out of their way of life for many years, and to see my friends and family made whole is a blessing,” said Isaiah Young. Though some will be made whole, we can’t shy away from reality -the high number of African American communities across the nation impacted by the decline of African American farmers seems to go hand in hand with the lack of access to fruits and vegetables within African American communities.

San Francisco’s Bayview, a majority African American district, has deep farming roots, and once played a critical role in the city's food shed, according to a report on agriculture and the Bayview by Quesada Gardens Initiative. The Quesada Gardens Initiative has compiled a detailed report of Bayview’s history with food and farming, which contrasts with the current lack of access to fruits and vegetables.

The report states that “Bayview Hunters Point is a neighborhood where fresh, healthy food is hard to find, but liquor, fast food, and highly processed food and beverages abound.” A lack of fruits and vegetables was not always an issue in Bayview; this report states that “ocean and bay fishing, slaughter houses,http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif rail lines, ‘truck farms,’ pastures for grazing animals and family farms all proliferated here, [in addition to] immigrant families raising animals, vegetables and fruit as part of the community's daily life.”

But due to many factors, including the redevelopment of the district and the U.S government’s discrimination against African American farmers, the Bayview, once a farming district, is now saturated with liquor stores and fast food chains. These convenience food outlets sell cheap foods and beverages that are high in salt and sugar, which is a catalyst to the disproportionate rates of diabetes and hypertension from which Bayview residents suffer.

In contrast to the fast food chains and liquor stores, the SEFA Food Guardians have been raising awareness by promoting nutrition education and advocating for change, in addition to gathering community input to assure that change is lasting. The Food Guardians raise awareness by educating the community about healthier food options and the importance of eating healthier, as well as linking oppression to these food issues. The Food Guardians also advocate for change by attending many health fairs and meetings, advocating for progressive public policy, and utilizing community input to create a sustainable change. Creating a sustainable change is important to the Food Guardians and essential to the growth of the African-American community.

In an attempt to insure a sustainable change, on December 8, 2010 President Obama signed legislation that renders a payout of $1.15 billion in damages to African American farmers on the basis of discrimination. On September 1 of this year, the litigation proceedings came to an end and the $1.15 billion was approved for payout. U.S. District Court judge Paul Friedman deemed this settlement to be “fair, adequate, and reasonable." We now need to work together to fight for access to healthier foods and healthier neighborhoods that are fair, adequate and reasonable for all.

Volunteer Coordinator Jacob Watta

2011-12-04T15:41:00.000-08:00

Jacob Watta's normally pensive-looking face and clear brown eyes light up as he bends over to pull a fragrant leaf off of a plant festooned with flesh-colored flowers.

Watta found Quesada Gardens shortly after moving to Bayview from his home state of Pennsylvania. When walking to the library, he saw the median strip garden on the 1700 block of Quesada Avenue, and was so curious and excited about the discovery that he tracked down the resident leaders.

Watta began volunteering right away, and must have liked the experience. Now he is the group's official Volunteer Coordinator.

"I feel much happier and more attuned when I am working with plants," Watta explains when asked why he is so passionate about gardening. "It's very grounding."

If you are interested in helping with the gardens, gathering space and art projects that are part of the Quesada Gardens Initiative's network, Watta invites you to join in the Every Saturday Volunteer Day series that he coordinates.

Meet other volunteers and project leaders at 1747 Quesada Avenue at 10 am. Contact Jacob Watta at 415.314.2850 or by email for all the details.

African American history: homegrown

2011-11-20T16:57:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's Bayview History Day event at Washington Carver Elementary School was as much an historic event as an educational one. Shapers of history shared firsthand experiences about the neighborhood's unique and important past. Others celebrated the new library in the neighborhood's future.

The event was dedicated to Eloise Westbrook, a locally and globally recognized change-maker who passed away recently at age 94. A full program kicked-off with the screening of a short video about Mrs. Westbrook.

Shirley Jones, one of the women known as "The Big Five," was featured in the video. She told the story of Eloise Westbrook, speaking in her usual no-nonsense manner, to House Speaker Tip O'Neill.

"I don't call you Tip. You don't call me Eloise."

New political clout

While topics at the history event were wide-ranging, Bayview Hunters Point's role in important political struggles emerged powerfully.

John Templeton, writer, historian and expert on the 60-plus black-owned restaurants in San Francisco, made a few comments and then interviewed esteemed members of Bayview Hunters Point's African American community.

"Bayview is of national importance," Mr. Templeton pointed out.

Templeton noted that, in the 1960's, the Ford Foundation promoted Bayview as the country's best organized community. At that time, everyone knew everyone, and the neighborhood was organized down to the block level. When word needed to go out about something, it went out fast and wide.

Espanola Jackson was at the front of the fight to integrate public housing. "If they called it an annex, that meant it was for black folks," she said from the stage.

Housing justice. Affordable health care. Neighborhood health clinics. These movements began here according to expert testimony at the history event.

Developing new leaders

Espanola Jackson found herself in the thick of the welfare rights struggle of the 1960's. She knew she wanted to help change the inequality she, her family and friends were experiencing, but wasn't sure how to go about it. She had been told she should find her leader, and so she approached Mrs. Westbrook.

"I was scared," Jackson said about meeting Mrs. Westbrook. "I tried to look tough."

But Mrs. Westbrook was famous by that point, and a large woman with a reputation for talking loudly and using language Jackson did not use.

Westbrook message to young Espanola Jackson has well-served both Jackson and the issues she has championed ever since. "You don't need me to lead you," she said. "You can be your own leader."

Westbrook made sure Jackson had help getting flyers out about a first meeting. By the second meeting, Jackson found herself Chair of the group.

Many elders at the event expressed how important new leadership and involvement is to the struggles they continue to work on. For some, leadership was about having faith and getting busy. Say "Yes I can," one participant said, "and you will be able to do it."

"No one gave us anything," Jackson said. "We fought for all of it."

Referencing the Block C Organization and George Earl, Essie Webb gave an example of a rent strike that was waged when the Housing Authority failed to maintain public housing.

Instead of paying rent, "twelve families put their rent money into a bank. And it worked. Does anyone remember the showers? We wanted better showers, and to pick our own contractors."

They got both.

Food and culture
In a brief on-stage interview, Mr. Templeton asked Rev. James Hall, an organizer for the annual Black Cuisine Festival, why he believes knowing about his culture's food is important.

"When your food goes, your culture goes with it," Rev. Hall said. He went on to say that this is why George Davis was inspired to start Black Cuisine which has been an important part of Bayview Hunters Point's cultural landscape in one form or another for 33 years.

Rev. Hall explained how food is connected to struggle, and how families had to get creative simply to survive. Over time, making do with free or low cost ingredients, such as the fruits and vegetables raised by families themselves, became customary.

"Let me tell you something about greens," Rev. Hall said of growing these hardy and productive plants. "Once you get that first batch going, you almost can't get rid of them."

In Butchertown (now known as Dogpatch), the slaughterhouse workers threw out scraps that were part of a food tradition that continues in new ways to this day.

"$5 a pound for ox tail?!" Espanola Jackson said of today's prices for an ingredient once considered worthless.

Mrs. Pickering shared how she gardened, raising food just like nearly every Bayview Hunters Point resident. "My husband didn't like gardening, but I did it year after year."

"Every major decision that was made in my family was made at the kitchen table," said Rev. Hall. "The women would call us in, and we would go."

Quesada, path of struggle

2011-11-18T21:34:00.000-08:00

By Jeffrey Betcher

When I met Vivian Richardson about five years ago, I liked her right away. She was warm and friendly, quick to get involved in the life of her community, always smiling. She impressed me as the type of person most anyone would want to have as a neighbor.

That's why it's so hard to imagine her living anywhere but in her Quesada Avenue home.

In 2006, Vivian had joined Maggie Apostol and other neighbors on her block to talk about an organizing project which eventually resulted in the installation of a backyard garden. In fact, she was one of the first to express support of the effort.

Since then, like so many others in our neighborhood, Vivian has been injured by the home foreclosure crisis. But what would be a crushing blow to most of us, is a call to action for Vivian who moved back into her home, organized a march, and landed on the front page of Wednesday's Bay Area section of the SF Chronicle.

Vivian is pictured leading a group down Quesada Avenue toward 3rd Street. See the full article here.

For me, seeing Vivian in the newspaper was an important reminder that, for all our attention to positive change where we live, many folks are more vulnerable than ever. Too often, those losing a foothold here are those who contribute most to making Bayview Hunters Point a unique San Francisco neighborhood.

The cornerstone of our collective history that is about "struggle" ... losses and victories (against all the odds) ... is precious. For Vivian and many others caught between a bank and a hard place, history is a current event.

Waddling is new QGI Vice Chair

2011-11-18T21:16:00.001-08:00

Quesada Gardens Initiative has even more to thank Chris Waddling for. First for his massive contribution to the Palou Garden project, and now for expressing his commitment to Bayview Hunters Point through expanded leadership with the feisty band of neighbors known as Quesada Gardens.

Chris agreed to fill QGI's Board of Directors Vice Chair position, which had been empty since co-founder James Ross moved to Kentucky, and the Board voted its unanimous and enthusiastic approval. He will work with Chair (Emeritus) Annette Smith and all the residents associated with QGI to grow the network of involved residents building social cohesion through consensus and asset-based approaches to community change.

Taught the value of gardening and sustainable living by his mother and
grandmother, Chris has become an avid backyard gardener himself, with a passion for improving the community by working the soil and bringing neighbors together.

Chris credits his "can-do" attitude to lessons passed down from his working-class ancestors - the Jamaican meat-packer, the English ship-builder, the American iron-worker - and credits his parents for encouraging his demand of himself to strive for better.

Chris sees the founders and members of the Quesada Gardens Initiative as sharing many of the same values as his family. He has found QGI to be a good fit for all those who believe that nurturing our community's strengths and building consensus as a way to solving our problems are simply part of being a good neighbor.

You can often find Chris working at QGI's Palou Community Garden, where he continues to serve in a project leader capacity, or walking from his home to his job as a PhD scientist at UCSF, Mission Bay. He also does his best to keep himself and others in the district informed through his D10 Watch blog.

Chris immigrated to the US in 1994. He has lived in San Francisco since 2000, and in the city's Bayview neighborhood with his family since 2004.

Pictured is Chris at the Palou Garden after a recent mulching effort. Bridgeview Garden neighbor Sherry Scott pitched in.

Locals win Best Green Community Project award

2011-11-18T17:24:00.000-08:00

The Bridgeview Teaching and Learning Garden, a project of the Quesada Gardens Initiative and its partners, accepted a Neighborhood Empowerment Network 2011 award for Best Green Community Project at a gala City Hall event on Thursday November 16th. Joel and Mary McClure, project leaders, and star volunteer Rika Kruse accepted the award on behalf of their neighbors and hundreds of other contributors.

Cheering from the audience were the Vidal Perez family (Vidal and his nephew, Jose, built the new gathering space and entryway at the Bridgeview Garden), QGI's founding gardener Annette Smith (also QGI Board Chair), and Chris Waddling (QGI Vice Chair) with his partner Tim Chan. Seth Wachtel, Professor of Architecture and Community Design at University of San Francisco (a major QGI partner) and Jeffrey Betcher, QGI organizer.

The open space project located at Bridgeview Drive and Newhall Avenue just above the original Quesada Garden has received support from Michael Lee Environmental Foundation, SF Environment, and the SF Community Challenge Grant Program. In addition to the new entryway, the site includes an art bench by Mark Baugh-Sasaki, and art glass signage by Herb Dang (Public Glass), both local folks with big hearts.

The garden is tended by neighbors including John, Sherry, Rika, Serenity, and the SEFA Food Guardians. Critical contributions also come from hundreds of individual and organizational volunteers.

Respected elders pass

2011-09-23T10:01:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-21T09:35:00.000-07:00

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"

2011-09-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

"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?http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

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"

2011-09-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

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

Fri 9/16 @ 7pm Sat 9/17 @ 7pm; with post-show panel “What is Moral Treatment?” 
Fri 9/23 @ 2pm (note: weekday matinee) Sat 9/24 @ 7pm; with post-show panel “Creating Wellness: The Role of Arts in Healing and Transformation” 
Thu 9/29 @ 7pm , Fri 9/30 @ 7pm,  Sat 10/1 @ 7pm; with post-show panel “How Can We Help? Practical and Compassionate Next Steps to Address Homelessness”
Suggested donation: $15–25. No one turned away due to lack of funds.  All proceeds to benefit The Gubbio Project. Tickets can be purchased online: http://hunterspoint.eventbrite.com

It Came From Beneath the Sea...at the Shipyard

2011-08-29T14:17:00.000-07:00

Even by today's standards, the cinematic trickery of "It Came From Beneath The Sea," which shows Hunters Point Shipyard and other sites on the San Francisco waterfront roughly handled by a gargantuan sea monster, is convincing.
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Bayview Hunters Point residents and others with a fondness for the eastern waterfront, will find this four minute sampler of the science fiction classic fascinating.

See the sampler

The film documents as much by what is left out. Nearly 50 years after the Great Earthquake and Fire, old buildings are few and far between. The crowds filmed fleeing the beast include few women and people of color when, in fact, 1955 was the year that women accounted for 35% of the total workforce, and Dorothy Dandridge became the first African-American to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress.

See a great timeline of African-American's in film highlights.

Still, the film that once thrilled kids at the Chiller Dillers, a scary movie series at the single screen theater on the east side of 3rd between and Quesada and Palou, now serves as important visual documentation of life in our part of the Bay nearly 50 years ago.

One question remains: How did the Ferry Building clock tower get restored after the devastation wrought by giant tentacles?!

See a bit of the later colorized version of "It Came From Beneath the Sea" here. Ray Harryhausen, the creative genius behind the stop gap animation-fueled black and white original, helped create it.

- Jeffrey Betcher

Enjoy lots more about the history of BVHP.

Don't miss Bayview Footprints Local News

2011-08-28T12:48:00.000-07:00

For news and information about positive community-building happening all over the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood, sign up today!

Join the Bayview Footprints list for free

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Don't miss a thing! You can find past issues of Bayview Footprints here.

Fresh & Easy Grand Opening

2011-08-24T18:10:00.001-07:00

Bayview to get healthier at SECF September 24th

2011-08-15T16:58:00.000-07:00

The Southeast Community Facility Commission's 4^th Annual Family Health Fair is scheduled for Saturday September 24^th from 10am to 2pm. As in past years, healthy food, health care advice, children’s gardening activities, and entertainment will be abundant.

New this year is a very special awards presentation. Louise C. Jones and Catherine Sneed, respected for lifetimes of service to the education and wellness of all those living in Bayview Hunters Point, will receive well-deserved recognition for their accomplishments.

The Family Health Fair is a family-oriented event organized by the Southeast Community Facility Commission in partnership with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, San Francisco Unified School District, and many businesses, community-based organizations, and concerned citizens from Bayview Hunters Point.

“Obesity, diabetes and asthma can be stopped if our families and community stand together,” stated Commissioner Louise C. Jones, organizing committee chair.

People living in Bayview Hunters Point live on average 14 fewer years than those who live on Russian Hill, according to www.HealthMattersinSF.org.

The Southeast Community Facility is located at 1800 Oakdale Ave. For more information, contact Francis Starr or Carla Vaughn at 415.821.1534.

Moving testimony from young LGBT advocate

2011-08-15T16:27:00.000-07:00

Jose Romero tells Footprints that he wants to start a nonprofit service organization in District 10 that connects local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered folks to meaningful support. He envisions a safe place that offers everything from after school programming to workforce development classes, all geared toward the LGBT community.

Never mind that he is just 22 years old...has had his share of tough life experiences...and has lived for 20 years in Bayview Hunters Point where youth who dream big do not always get the support they deserve. Jose is likely to deliver.

Already he is a youth representative on the Human Rights Commission's LGBT Advocacy Committee, and holds a day job with Visitacion Valley's One Stop program. He was also president of the Gay Straight Alliance in high school, a LGBT representative to the SF Health Initiative, a member of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straights Education Network, and a facilitator for the Mission Neighborhood Center Aquellos Locos. Whew!

When the HRC held a meeting in District 10 to talk about LGBT issues, it surprised no one who knew him that Jose was a core organizer, or that he would open the meeting with his personal testimony about growing up gay and Latino in an often unforgiving place.

"Be the change you want to see in the world," he says. "That quote from Mahatma Gandhi inspired me in high school, and still does."

Jose understands that it's not easy to do the work to which he has committed himself. He is taking the long view, building a network of support with allies, and building trust with the people he wants to help.

"We need to reach out to people, because they won't feel safe reaching out to services...if they even know those services exist. We need to build relationships first."

Jose is featured in today's Bay Area Reporter article, by Tony LeTigre, about LGBT people in a changing Bayview Hunters Point. See the full article here. His testimony, which opened the HRC LGBT Committee meeting in D10, is reprinted here by permission. He hopes that, by sharing it, he can help build awareness about the presence of LGBT youth in the neighborhood.

My name is Jose Romero. I am the Career Placement Specialist at the Visitacion Valley One Stop, with Florence Crittenton Services-Whitney Young Child Development Center. I am also a part of the LGBT Advisory Committee with the San Francisco Human Right Commission.

This panel discussion is really important to me. It was very difficult for me coming out as a Latino, in a closed minded family where perspective and image of what people will say was important. I was born and raised in Hunters Point. I grew up to be myself and serve my community.

When I came out, my life went upside down. I needed support and was referred to the Castro Community. My first reaction was “What is Castro?” I was told, “That’s where all the gay people are welcomed.” I was then wondering, “What about LGBT services in my own community where I’m comfortable and able to be myself? Where are my resources here?” That is what brings us here today. Where are the services? When I came out I was afraid and lonely and had no idea how to access programs. Where were the doors I needed to open in my neighborhood?

A quote by Mahatma Gandhi that makes me a strong gay Latino man is, “Be the change you want to see in this world.” I was called a faggot so many times, assaulted, watched gay people being harassed for just being themselves. This is our opportunity to overcome and find solutions to Homophobia and racism in district 10.

We are all the same. I am here to share with you what I’ve been through on a personal level to bring into perspective the services that are needed in my community. For those who are serving the LGBT community in District 10, let’s speak out and tell the community you are here.

Supervisor David Campos is a strong Latino leader whom I look up to. He once told me to follow my dreams and be who I am. I applied for the LGBT Advisory Committee with a purpose – to speak out for those who don’t know or unable to speak out for themselves. I am speaking now when I say bring more LGBT service to District 10.

Herb Dang brings art glass to Bridgeview

2011-08-14T12:08:00.000-07:00

"G is for garden," Herb Dang said as he chose a letter to pose with in front of the Bridgeview Teaching and Learning Garden. He is pictured, above, alongside project leaders Joel and Mary McClure and neighbor Josh (right).

Herb knows a thing or two about letters after spending months handcrafting many of them as part of an extraordinary contribution to the Bayview community. He stopped by to share his progress with community-involved neighbors who have made the Bridgeview Garden a labor of love.

Herb's first attempt to use scrap glass to forge a garden sign quickly failed to pass his own quality standards, and sent him back to the kiln in search of a new process that has since produced sturdy and beautiful results. His art glass letters are luminous, each one boasting unique colors and patterns. When the final two are complete, the letters will be arranged above the garden entryway as part of finishing touches to the new public gathering space at Bridgeview and Newhall.

Once installed, the Bridgeview Garden sign will come to life with all the nuance of the food producing garden itself, changing in appearance along with the season, time of day and quality of light. Bayview contractor, Vidal Perez, is working with Herb to frame the letters so that they are secure and open for light to pass through.

Herb has deep roots in San Francisco's Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood through his work at the Public Utilities Commission, and his involvement with Public Glass, Art 94124 and other community groups. His work will join Quesada Gardens Initiative's collection of community-generated artwork by Dierdre DeFranceaux, Santie Huckaby, Malik Seneferu, Heidi Hardin, Rhonda Winter, Mark Baugh-Sasaki and other uber-creative locals.

Bayview's people, plants and critters - recent pics!

2011-08-09T13:11:00.000-07:00

From top to bottom:

Megan (center) brought her friends Andrew (second, left) and Jake (right) to join Bridgeview Gardens Joel (left), Sherry (with hat), and John (second, left) last Saturday.
Tony and Jake inspect the ripening plums on the Harrison's backyard fruit tree.
Annette, QGI's Co-Founding Gardener and Board Chair, shows us her new backyard garden.
Shujcca, a neighbor next door to the developing Palou Community Garden, is planting his new Baybloom Backyard Garden.
Jacob is QGI's volunteer coordinator, and can be found in one of the gardens most any day.
Tom is a neighbor, QGI's treasurer, and a fixture in the neighborhood who regularly prepares the lunch for Saturday volunteers.
Victor found Quesada Gardens on Craigslist, and made last Saturday his 3rd volunteer experience in the gardens.
Hean, a Balboa High School student, was working in the gardens, as usual last weekend.
The Conure parrots on Quesada are a noisy but cute couple.
The Quesada Gardens Canary Island Date Palms are golden with ripening dates.
This o'possum isn't having a good time, but needed to be relocated after outgrowing his cute phase and squatters rights in a Quesada house.
Tony found his camera just in time to catch this hawk, in a camera-shy moment, outside his home.
Lisa Foster's beautiful cherry tree was in full bloom not long ago.
One ripe tomato heralds the coming of the full crop at Bridgeview.
John Kosich shows young eggplants growing beneath green and purple-veined leaves at the Bridgeview Garden.

Bayview plants and critters update

2011-08-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

Sherry Scott, a resident on Revere near the Bridgeview Garden, is pictured harvesting sweet peas to share with neighbors.

The gardens and gathering spaces in the neighborhood's heart are blooming, and the critters are roaming. Here are some highlights:

The Bridgeview Community Teaching and Learning Garden is bursting with food production as corn stalks stretch over 5 feet tall, vines yield the sweetest peas you can imagine, young eggplants enter adulthood, and fruit in the orchard turn harvest colors. One red tomato is keeping company with countless green siblings. Joel, Mary, Serenity, Rika, Sherry, John and everyone pitching in with the garden are loving it!

The Quesada Garden Vegetable Patch has been dormant for months as garden educators have been demonstrating how covering the ground with cardboard and then mulch can benefit the soil. The cardboard turns to mulch after baking the soil free of unwanted plants, roots and seeds. Volunteers recently turned the soil, and discovered that the areas covered with cardboard were much easier to work than the area benefiting from mulch alone. Tony, Jacob, Chris, Victor, and Hean have worked the patch recently, after contributions from University of San Francisco students and youth from the Bayview branch of the Salivation Army.

The Canary Island Date Palm trees, landmark trees on the 1700 block of Quesada, are loaded with dates. Some boughs are low enough that visitors can pick and eat the dates when they are ripe. While smaller and less meaty than the more tropical ones found in stores, these dates taste just as good.

Bayview's plentiful plum trees are now producing. The most common type of plum tree in the neighborhood is the Mediterranean variety, (that's Punus domestica for the serious tree lover). Many of the older trees were planted decades ago by European immigrants who made their homes in the then rural Bayview. The Mediterranean or European variety remains a good choice for our temperate climate. (Check out this great recipe for plum sauce!)

The Latona Community Garden is showing its pride after feasting on mulch and welcoming vegetable starts in its double-height raised planting beds. Rita has led the way with help from Latonians Jim, Brigit, and Marcus.

The now-established Krispy Korner Garden is pumping out fruits and vegetables for the tables of nearby residents once again. Rahsaan, Cody and Cyrus are leading the way. Cody is working with other Quesada Gardens Initiative residents to create a mobile container orchard as an off-shoot of the Krispy Korner project.

The Cornerstone Missionary Baptist Church garden is in its first planting season. The beautifully designed food production space next to the church is planted and will produce food for the congregation.

The Old Skool Cafe Kitchen Garden on Key Avenue has been mulched and weeded as this great community partner focuses on building out its new cafe space at Mendell Plaza.

The Baybloom Bayview Backyard Gardens network now includes 16 food producing gardens, after one was taken out when the home changed hands. Two more garden installations are planned for this month, which will bring the network's total up to 18. The gardens incorporate raised beds, fruiting trees and mini-gathering spaces for families, friends and neighbors.

All of the gardens and other landscaping residents have undertaken are blooming beautifully, with multiple varieties of dahlias and loads of the edible, spicy nasturtiums especially evident.

Several reports from Quesada and Latona residents suggest the O'possum population in Bayview is booming. Families of them have made homes in bureau drawers and basement corners under the watch of curious residents.

Those white butterfly's that look so lovely are flitting about all the gardens, irritating experienced gardeners who know that they are leaving leaf-eating larvae on plants. The snails, so ubiquitous in San Francisco, seem to be giving the gardens a break with a little encouragement from organic snail bait some gardeners are using.

The feral cats that some neighbors have worked with in hopes of controlling the population seem less skittish as they find a balance between their wild instincts and their curiosity of neighbors. Most of the cats are from the same lineage, and are dark gray or black. They are spotted every day on Quesada, stalking rodents and ignoring gardeners.

One of the two black squirrels many residents have been watching for years died recently from unknown causes, while the surviving squirrel, however mournful, seems to be holding up pretty well.

The birds and other animals that love the Canary Island Date Palm trees on Quesada couldn't be happier. The Conure parrots that have made their home at the gardens, crows that frequently perch for a conversation with their favorite residents, and hawks that make their egg-laying sisters of another species very nervous all appear fit.

Bees and hummingbirds, important pollinators, can be seen everywhere. The population of pollinators bounced back at the gardens several years ago as the number and density of natural spaces growing the plants they love increased.

Anyone who doubts that neighbors can improve their own physical and social environment, even in the most challenging of places, should visit the network of gardens, gathering spaces and public art projects the Quesada Gardens Initiative as fostered in the heart of San Francisco's Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood. The Initiative is not only inspiring, it is also colorful and thriving!

A recent status report on urban agriculture in Bayview Hunters Point is available online.

Global meets local as Couchsurfing.org comes to Bayview

2011-08-09T11:02:00.001-07:00

When Heather O'Brien first stopped by the Quesada Gardens, she represented more than a Bayview neighbors curious about all the activity.

Heather (also known as "Wondergirl") is one of the forces behind a unique "digital world" social venture, called CouchSurfing International, that connects active travelers to destination points most tourists never know exist. The not-for-profit enterprise also connects those travelers to volunteer opportunities available to them when they arrive.

Oh, yes...it connects them to couches, too. If you ask Heather, "couch-surfing" is more than a rite of passage for young travelers. It is a lifestyle.

Heather and her colleagues are putting a local face on their international concept by volunteering at the Bridgeview Teaching and Learning Garden, planting a lemon tree the business is donating, and capturing it all on video. The resulting digital short will serve as a home page introduction for CouchSurfing.org.

Heather's concept and neighborly approach seem to be working. CouchSurfing has over 3 million members, representing every country on earth. The website enjoys, on average, over 20,000 new sign-ups per week.

"Our mission is to create inspiring experiences for people," Heather says. "We are working toward a world where everyone can explore, connect and ultimately appreciate diversity."

Heather feels that CouchSurfers and Quesada Gardeners are a "perfect fit," and the resident organizers at the Quesada Gardens Initiative agree.

Anyone interested in CouchSurfing International, the Bridgeview Teaching and Learning Garden and the network of projects the Quesada Gardens Initiative is growing, can find involved visionaries like Heather all in one place: Bayview.

QGI is getting a new "look"

2011-08-02T10:57:00.000-07:00

Quesada Gardens Initiative is getting close to celebrating its tenth birthday, and is already getting ready for the celebration by updating its "look."

The logo shown here is a result of months of community input at meetings and other gatherings, and the graphic tinkering of local businessperson and friend to the project Tom Kennedy.

The consensus of involved residents was to retain the elements of the older logo that everyone liked while communicating "freshness." Some felt the older logo looked too institutional, and that the new graphic direction wasn't helping. Others wanted a graphic that reinforced the fact that Quesada Gardens Initiative is so much more than a block association or gardening club.

All involved deserve a pat on the back for sharing ideas and sticking with a process that touches on everything the group does and represents.

Older voices, new media - Neighbors in the news

2011-07-18T13:52:00.000-07:00

Five of our community's elders were featured in the Sunday Chronicle Insight section, in an article by Brenda Payton with photographs by Liz Hafalia, that touches on shifting services for the senior population, and on racial tensions between African American and Asian American residents.

Maggie Lloyd-Agnew "...wonders why African Americans can't seem to hold on to their communities." More

John Wilcher "...decries the rise of violence in the neighborhood...." More

Fenghui Zhou says "seniors in the United States have a better life than seniors in China." More

Jacqueline Quach says "I believe in Buddhism and karma, the cause and effects in everything." More

Vincent Barb says that, in the 1960's, "...there were more black businesses." More

The coverage of Bayview Hunters Point seniors is multifaceted, and includes video by Vivian Po, Angelina Wong, and Corwin Cooley.

Chinese language video pieces about these seniors are airing on KTSF this week. English language videos are online at New America Media.

More information: An Op Ed by La Shon Walker appeared in the Chronicle on Monday, focusing on business revitalization, vacant storefronts, and the 3rd Street Corridor.

Is it safe to eat Bayview's homegrown food?

2011-07-18T13:46:00.000-07:00

Bayview resident and SJSU student, Jennifer Gorospe, has announced that her research into soil toxicity in the neighborhood is available online.

She has created a website that includes basic information on heavy metals and gardens, as well as overall findings of her project. Special features include maps that show the levels of metals that were found in each garden alongside income and race/ethnicity data.

Jennifer's work also provides detail about the relationship between the concentrations of the metals in our soil and gardening models and demographic factors that might alter the chances of toxicity.

Jennifer is cited in the recent report: "Urban Agriculture in Bayview Hunters Point - Status 2011."

Bayview now has more food choices

2011-07-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

Mo Betta Food in Bayview
By Kenneth Hill and Jasmine Vassar, SEFA Food Guardians

When it’s time to eat, most San Francisco residents look for food choices nearby that offer the taste they desire at the prices they can afford. In Bayview, most prepared food choices are located on Third Street, crowning it the Mecca of meal time for this Southeastern part of town. For some folks, restaurants are the staple of their diet. Others choose to cook and prepare meals at home. The neighborhood has a strong family element, which can prove challenging at dinner time, as the resources and time to cook meals in family households is at an all-time low in the nation.

When it comes to eating out, there are a variety of meal options ranging from BBQ at JJ’s , Chinese at Peking Wok , pizza and sandwiches at Torino’s, soul food at Auntie April’s and Frank’s , and Mexican at El Azteca Taqueria, just to name a few. Of course there are the fast food chains like McDonalds and KFC as possible sources of cheap meals. However, many locally-owned options exist.

Frank, of Frank’s BBQ, prides himself on having fresh-made seafood, BBQ, and soul food. The menu consists mostly of BBQ meat, fried fish and chicken, and sides like greens, mac and cheese, red beans and rice, yams and corn bread. Frank says he has tried to offer healthier options, such as a vegetarian plate made of just his sides, yet is doesn’t sell. “I have to sell what people want to eat, and people want the meat,” says Frank.

What else is it that the people of Bayview want? “Price range is important, but so is location,” says Michael, a longtime BVHP resident. “If I can go to Torino’s and get a slice of pizza for three bucks, why get on a bus or two to buy groceries and cook? That takes way too long.” However, the price of cheap fast food may costs its frequent consumers more in the long run, as diet-related health diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure rapidly increase.
Not all Bayview restaurants serve cheap food. Z, the manger of JJ’s Fish & Chicken admits,

“The price is high, but the food is excellent.” He prides himself on running a healthy business- “We cook with trans-fat free oil and use turkey wings for flavor instead of pork, and we also fry healthy.” JJ’s secret to the “healthier” fried poultry and fish is attributed to their 100% whole-wheat breading and high temperature cooking. “With our chicken, you’re getting two to three hundred less calories [than other fried chicken], and a lot people will substitute a vegetable side for fries,” says Z.

For some residents, these restaurants are the only options for affordable hot foods, as access to greater quality foods aren’t as easy to come by, like in other neighborhoods like Nob Hill or the Sunset. Furthermore, the patrons of Bayview restaurants usually come from the surrounding blocks, more than most other neighborhoods in the City. When the T metro line opened in 2007, it was supposed to open up access to other parts of the city, though not everyone agrees this is true. Access to other parts of the city can still be difficult for Bayview residents. Safe and accessible transportation can be a huge issue for determining where the next meal will come from.

Another factor to consider is the nutritional value of the food options in the Bayview. With a predominantly Black population, many of the restaurants serve traditionally Black foods, such as soul food cooked with saturated fats, high in cholesterol, salt and sugar. While soul food gives the taste many people desire, it has never been noted for lowering obesity or diabetes. Traditional versions of soul food featured fresh, nutrient-dense vegetables such as collard greens, kale, corn, and yams. Now many of these vegetables have fallen out of favor and been replaced by other fried foods.

New Fresh Alternatives in Bayview

Today, many children and adults have limited options for fresh vegetables and fruits, and don’t have the palette to accept the taste of healthy foods made with these ingredients. Numerous studies have shown that neighborhoods with access to fresh vegetables have healthier children and adults. Not having access to fresh alternatives in Bayview may be a thing of the past as the date of the highly anticipated Fresh and Easy grocery approaches. With the large number of families and a growing family population, the neighborhood has really needed a new grocery store.

Currently, Bayview residents have limited choices for groceries, with Foods Co on Williams Street and Super Save on Third Street. After being known as a troublesome liquor store in the past, Super Save has made many improvements over the last few years, and now offers a better selection of food. While the Foods Co is much larger, it has been known to provide mostly low-priced, non-nutritious.

But recently, with the work of Southeast Food Access (SEFA) Food Guardians and Foods Co. manager, Roberto Aguilar, customers are now offered a cleaner shopping environment and healthier options to choose from. In the past, residents complained of the dirty shelving, aging refrigeration units, long lines, rotten meats and vegetables. As Foods Co. has been the main source of groceries for an entire community, these quality issues were unacceptable. The store has acknowledged the complaints, and has been working to improve its reputation. Now upon entering Foods Co. customers are welcomed by some fresh produce, which contrasts with the vast array of sugary cakes and pies. Also, customers now have the choice of choosing alternative food items, such as milk, canned fruits, vegetables, and sauces, which are lower in fat, sodium or sugar.

In a recent meeting between the SEFA Food Guardians and the Foods Co store manger, Mr. Aguliar stated "After trying them out, we’ve ordered additional pallets of the low-sodium tomato sauce and vegetables because they flew off the shelves."

Ordering low-sodium tomato sauce and vegetables was something no prior store manager had done before. This simple adjustment allows Bayview residents to eat better, and gives hope to the success of new grocery stores with healthier food options, such as Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.

Fresh & Easy will open for business on Third and Carroll Streets on August 24th. Fresh & Easy made a commitment to opening a store in the Bayview after many dead-end results from other national grocery chains that declined to open in the neighborhood, due to an alleged fear of not profiting. At Fresh & Easy, customers can expect an array of quality seasonal fruits and vegetables, a variety of low sodium and low-sugar options, as well as organic and all natural options. Fresh & Easy has committed to providing a high standard of cleanliness and a new technologically-advanced green building with bike racks, new refrigeration units, shelves and flooring, as well as wide aisles and a well-lit facility. Fresh & Easy has committed to hiring locally and encourage anyone in the community to apply for employment at freshandeasy.com.　

The Fresh & Easy store is what Bayview needs, according to life-long Bayview resident and former Foods Co. employee, Sheena Hughes.

Ms. Hughes says, “The opening of a Fresh & Easy store would be a beautiful thing for the community. It would give those whom live at the upper end of Third Street the convenience of a grocery store and provide more fruits and vegetables throughout the community.”

Bayview residents welcome the addition of new restaurant and grocery options, located right in our community, that provide the variety of choices that neighborhood residents want, such as convenience, great taste, healthfulness, and a fair price. The option to choose fresh and healthier foods will be a welcome addition to the neighborhood.

Pieces of Overhoff sculpture preserved

2011-07-11T12:30:00.001-07:00

When Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood residents were asked whether they wanted a new library in place of the older one, few said anything but "Yes!"

Fans of the old building, which held good memories for many, had mixed feelings from the start, but prioritized the new library. Now that the old building is rubble, along with the building next door to it, some neighbors, artists and policymakers are reflecting on the process.

A piece of art designed by internationally respected artist Jacques Overhoff, whose work can also be seen at Hilltop Park and Charles Drew Elementary School, was created in 1968 when the old library building was constructed. It was created in partnership with St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church, and with the involvement of many children in the community. The piece was a fixture of the old building ... literally ... as it was a sculptural part of the entryway wall.

The sculpture and the wall came down last Thursday as part of the overall demolition, emotionally tinging the excitement about the new, larger library. Though gone, the artwork may illuminate the community's relationship with pieces of public art, and the City's management of them.

In October of 2009, the San Francisco Arts Commission gave a thumbs-up to the San Francisco Public Library's request that the art piece be "de-accessioned," or removed from the City's list of protected artwork, so that the new building could go up on schedule. The recommendation enjoyed the support of the San Francisco Department of Public Works, the architects of the new building, and vocal Bayview Hunters Point residents. (See more.)

Recently, when the announcement came that the old library building would be demolished soon, Quesada Gardens Initiative organizers offered to incorporate the pieces of the Overhoff sculpture into something new, such as landscaping at a public gathering space that would include historical markers about the artwork and the old library building. The first Quesada Garden is just a block away from the library, and seemed an ideal place to preserve these pieces of the community's past.

Jacques Overhoff, speaking from Germany where he and his wife now live, was pleased that interest was being shown. Such interest had seemed to him sorely absent up until the latest proposal had been made. He felt that the cost of preserving a piece of public art should not be pushed back onto the artist when development puts that piece at risk, and that it was possible to design the new library in such a way as to preserve the sculpture.

Mr. Overhoff hoped something could be accomplished so that the dedication of the piece to Medgar Evers, which had been part of his original intent, could still take place. He supported the idea of using pieces from his sculpture in a new community space, and shared an idea of his own: that a contractor he knows come to cut the sculpture from the building, intact, and move it to one of the Quesada Gardens Initiative's gardens and gathering spaces.

With permission from Mr. Overhoff, representatives from SF Department of Public Works and the SF Arts Commission worked with QGI to save as much of the sculpture as possible, short of postponing demolition. Sadly, the schedules of the contractor and the City did not allow for saving the piece in its entirety.

Ultimately, several medium- to small-sized chunks of the sculpture were set aside. Quesada Gardens volunteers quickly moved them to a new location so that all concerned would be able to participate in some process defining the future use of the pieces.

Whatever use is made of the pieces, serious questions about a community's willingness to protect its public art have emerged. It is fitting, perhaps, that those questions will be lasting because of new work that incorporates elements of something that did not survive development. Those elements will always be a reminder that a community's progress can carry a heavy cost to its history.

See much more about the Bayview branch library, the old building and the new one, and the people who care about them.

Aztec ritual, ceremonial dance hosted in Bayview

2011-07-11T11:45:00.000-07:00

Danza Xitlalli de San Francisco and dancers from as far away as Mexico celebrated Xilonen (Tender Corn), a coming-of-age ceremony for young women, at Raza Park (also known as Potrero del Sol) on Saturday June 18th.

Xilonen (tender corn) is an Aztec ceremony that is held near summer Solstice and celebrates the rite-of-passage of girls into womanhood, a transition represented by the ripening of the corn. Twelve to fifteen young women or girls are chosen from within the community to be honored, given advice and http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifcounselehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifd http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifby elders. The ceremony consists of a nighttime vigil that lasts several hours followed, the next day, by ceremonial Aztec dancing.

- Text and photos Elizabeth Skow

On June 17th and 18th, a community based Aztec ceremonial dance group, Danza Xitlalli de San Francisco, celebrated the festival of Xilonen at Walden House in Bayview. Many Aztec dance groups traveled to the Bay Area from as far away as Mexico and Texas, joining groups from San Francisco, Santa Rosa and San Jose. About two hundred people attended the vigil Friday night and the dancing on Saturday.

The ancient Aztec ceremonies and dances are part of the Danza movement, which has been growing throughout the United States for the last twenty years. Joanna Uribe, longtime member of Xitlalli, who also serves as the group’s secretary, thinks the movement is gaining popularity because people are looking for ways to connect to their cultural traditions and community.

“Mexican and Chicano communities are looking for ways to raise cultural pride and find traditional spiritual roots,” Uribe said.

At the vigil, the Xilonen, or corn maidens, are prepared for the transition by receiving offers of flowers, candles and food. Traditionally, community members come from far and wide to support the girls who are honored. The June 17th vigil at Walden house was open to the community. There was a large altar decorated in corn and yellow flowers, with pictures of Aztec figures alongside some Catholic imagery.

All participants at the ceremony sang along with elders, accompanied by wooden stringed instruments, Mandolinas, which are Mexican mandolins. The smell of sage and chopal, which must be lit the entire night of the vigil according to tradition, wafted through the air, and the sound of rattles made from Chachayote punctuated the songs. There was plenty of food for everyone at the potluck table.

Many of the songs, all sung in Spanish, told stories from the Bible. The reason for this is that the Spanish forbade the Aztecs from drumming and also from speaking their own language. The people disguised their rituals — dressing them up in Catholic garb — to protect traditions and pass them down to their children.

“When people were caught playing the drums or owning a drum, the Spanish would cut off their hands,” said Xitlalli member Roberto Ariel Vargas.

Vargas said that the singing in Spanish and the mixing up of the images is an example of syncretism, when two oppositional ideologies are mixed together. There are examples of this phenomenon in most religions, but it is striking in this case.

The singing and storytelling went on until 1am, on June 18th, when the participants went to Raza Park (Potrero del Sol) to prepare the altars for the center of the dance. The dancing went from 10am to 2pm as families watched, participated and picnicked on the grass.

Some aspects of the Xilonen ceremony might be difficult for the uninitiated to understand in today’s modern society. Others serve a familiar and universal purpose.

“It is important to recognize our children as they are growing up, and to provide them with a venue to receive advice and cautions as they move into adolescence,” Uribe said.

During the year that the girls are Xilonen, Uribe explained, they have responsibilities. People in the community are watching them to see how they are doing. At a time when most teens are pushing their parents away, this is an opportunity for community members to step in and help.

Cindy Dominguez, 30, was a Xilonen when she was 16 years old. She and her sister both took on the role. Dominguez wasn’t a dancer, but was nominated because of her work as a youth advocate.

To prepare for being a Xilonen, some girls participate in sweat lodges with their community groups, or in small honoring ceremonies within their own group.

“Back then, what I got out of it was to learn about my indigenous roots and Mexica culture,” Dominguez said. “It made me realize how alive the traditionshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif are, and how it is carried on to the next group. Now it grounds me spiritually. I became a dancer and joined a dance group.”

Dominguez has been honored to act as a Xilonen guide the past two years. As a guide, she stays with the Xilonen during the ceremony to guide them through it spiritually.

Danza Azteca Xitlalli is the oldest Aztec Dance group in San Francisco, established in 1981 by Maestra Macuilxóchitl and Maestro Francisco Camplis. The group celebrates five major ceremonies per year, in addition to smaller ceremonies that have recently been added. The group always welcomes donations for food for the celebrations and for operating costs of the dance group.

Local history note: The Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood was once home to Muwekma Ohlone native peoples.

Art bench at Bridgeview complete

2011-07-06T15:20:00.000-07:00

Mark Baugh-Sasaki is seen sitting on the bench he designed and built (with help from Alisha, Diego and other residents who donated wood to the project).

The bench is the newest addition to the public gathering space and new entryway to the Bridgeview Teaching and Learning Garden located at the intersection of Bridgeview and Newhall.

The project is one of the resident-led and -defined projects the Quesada Gardens Initiative has been working on. It has received funding from Michael Lee Environmental Foundation, SF Department of the Environment, SF Community Challenge Grant program, and individual donations from residents and their allies.

Vintage sign in Bayview exposed!

2011-07-06T14:40:00.000-07:00

A painted sign on the side of a Third Street building saw the light of day this morning after nearly a century.

Demolition of buildings on the 5000 block of Third Street in San Francisco's Bayview neighborhood has begun, making way for a new public library branch. As of noon today, the old branch library still stood after a wooden structure next door to it was knocked down in short order.

The wooden structure at 5025 Third had contained a Chinese restaurant during recent years. It was acquired by the SF Public Library system so that a larger library building could occupy two lots instead of the one the old building sits on.

The sign, hidden since the building at 5025 Third went up, promotes garments for the working person. It reads:

N.B. PRODUCTS
BOSS OF THE ROAD
UNION MADE
OVERALLS & WORK SHIRTS
Your Money's Worth You know It!

According to public records, the building had been owned by the Wong family since 2005, and by the Hallett family prior to that.

Bay View School 1951

2011-07-04T14:07:00.000-07:00

Mary Grandin, an elementary school teacher in Bayview in the early 1950's, has sent pictures of herself and her students. This picture comes from Grandin's collection, and was particularly moving to Quesada Gardens Initiative members old enough to recall life at the time it was taken.

The QGI members recalled that the picture shows something rarely seen in other parts of the country 60 years ago: children holding hands across the racial divide while an adult takes a picture instead of telling them they should not be doing that. They reminisced that Bayview Hunters Point has always been ahead of the times when it comes to people who are different than one another getting along.

The Bay View School dates back to 1904, Grandin believes. The single-room building served younger and older students alike.

"Bay View was a wonderful old building," Grandin said. "High ceilings, double hung windows overlooking the bay and wide hallways."

Quesada Gardens members would love to know more. Anyone with more information about Bay View School is encouraged to call 415.822.0800 or email us.

Young volunteers at Bridgeview Garden

2011-07-04T13:48:00.000-07:00

The next generation of community-minded residents is finding the gardens and art projects in the heart of Bayview, and contributing youthful energy to the work. These images by Rika Kruze show work happening at the Bridgeview Teaching and Learning Garden, including finishing touches on a unique bench, crafted from wood donated by neighbors, that artist Mark Baugh-Sasaki (pictured, bottom) has created.

Rika notes that 7 year old Serenity (pictured, middle) loves the garden across the street from her home. ("I taught her that Snapdragons snap open when you squeeze them.") She also observes that Hean He (pictured top), a frequent volunteer at the Quesada Gardens Initiative, and a Balboa High School student, "is an awesome worker."

Stop by the Bridgeview Garden soon, see all the new work, and share some love with the volunteers you are likely to see there.

City of Dreams meets Gardens of Quesada

2011-06-22T16:40:00.000-07:00

1944 to 2011 perspective on Third

2011-06-16T18:42:00.000-07:00

The Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood is undergoing rapid change, spurred by the economy, redevelopment, new arrivals to the area, and other forces.

These images, one taken in 1944 (from the SF Public Library website) and the other a week ago from a similar vantage point, show that change is not just a recent phenomenon.

The changes that pop from these pictures, book-ending a 77 year stretch of time, are ones that have to do with transportation and other aspects of the urban infrastructure - things over which those who live, work or play in the neighborhood have had limited control.

But a closer look reveals changes to the commercial landscape along Bayview's main drag. The first clue is in the greater number of signs and associated small businesses in 1944 when Bayview was enjoying a boom time, associated with the Shipyard and WWII, as compared with today's sleepier activity. These aspects of life in our neighborhood are ones over which neighbors and entrepreneurs can work (and are working!) to improve.

Local history buffs have told Footprints that the building (far right) that now houses a program of the Bayview Hunters Point Foundation for Community Improvement would become the location of Fuller's Pharmac y three years after the older photograph was taken. The building on the far left, with the Kaufman's sign, and the building next door to Bank of American have been torn down to make way for an empty lot and the newer building seen in the recent photograph.

The single story structure on the corner of Third and Quesada, where Wendy's is now located (after a move from several doors down) at one time housed Rizzato Realty. Across the street, the 3-story structure made way for Bay View Federal Savings and Loan, and later for U.S. Bank.

Do you have memories or mementos of the neighborhood "back in the day?" We love to digitally copy photographs and films of place, people and life in Bayview Hunters Point, and invite you to email us or call 415.822.0800 with ideas.

City of Dreams on Quesada

2011-06-16T14:53:00.000-07:00

This Saturday, beginning at 10am, the dream of better connecting the communities on Hunters Point Hill with those in the heart of Bayview will come closer to reality when the City of Dreams youth program located at the 1030 Oakdale community center brings youth and mentors to the Quesada Gardens for a day of learning and community building.

Quesada Gardens Initiative hosts a volunteer experience every Saturday that hundreds of individual neighbors and groups from throughout the area have taken part in. Neighbors are excited about the young visitors scheduled for this Saturday, and are organizing additional activities that will include:

an orientation to Quesada Gardens and its history,
a beginners gardening demonstration,
a sidewalk art activity, and
light gardening at 2 locations on the 1700 block of Quesada.

Everyone is welcome. Meet at the community mural and gathering area (cul de sac at end of 1700 block of Quesada one block west of 3rd) at 10am. Lunch and a "closing circle" are scheduled for about 1pm.

Pictured is QGI horticulturist Tony Tarket who will offer a gardening demonstration this Saturday.

Sunday Streets 2011 in sunny Bayview

2011-06-12T17:36:00.001-07:00

See you on Third...TODAY!

2011-06-12T10:52:00.000-07:00

The northbound lane of Third Street will be closed from Evans to Mendell Sunday June 12th from 11am to 4pm as part of the city's Sunday Streets program. Community serving organizations have organized activities from free health services to a battle of the Bayview cooks.

All sorts of family-friendly fun opportunities will line Third Street with concentrated activity at the Bayview Opera House and Bayview Plaza. The weather wizards promise some of Bayview's famous sunshine, just for the occasion.

Something for everyone at music festival

"You've never seen anything like it," James Moore says of the Shrimp N' Grits Cook-Off.

James manages the Third Street Corridor Program, and is an organizer for the 2nd Annual Bayview Music Street Festival to be held tomorrow from noon to 5pm. While the lineup of musical acts is impressive (it includes Juan Escovedo and the Latin All-Stars, Ashling Cole of Graham Central Station, Rhonda Benin and the Soulful Strut, and Clifford Brown III and the Brewing Company), the down home, back-slapping fun may be what most folks remember.

James has sat in every other meeting room in the neighborhood these past months making sure Bayview Hunters Point residents know about the festival on Galvez Avenue at Third Street (Next to Bayview Plaza).

His eyes light up when he mentions the Peoples Choice Shrimp N Grits Cook-Off which will pit local food luminaries against one another between 2pm and 4pm. Tasting tickets for the contest will be sold for $5, with proceeds benefiting Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center.

The festival will also include local arts and crafts vendors, roller skate rentals, and a church dessert contest.

Health and fun meet-up at Opera House

The Bayview Opera House will host a collaborative health fair, tomorrow from 11am to 4pm, that will feature free health screenings alongside active-living opportunities for children and adults alike.

The collaborative health fair is the second that organizers have brought to the Opera House, and promises to be the best yet. UCSF clinicians will provide free dental screenings and fluoride treatments for community youth. Health workers from the SF Department of Public Health will provide prenatal care to expectant mothers. Massage therapists from California Pacific Medical Center will be on hand to relax moms, and help ensure their kids are healthy and strong.

A big hit last year, emergency responders from EMS Division, Station 49 will be back with their 40 foot MCU vehicle to promote an upcoming CPR class. Other reasons to stop by the event include free arts activities for kids, yoga, bikes, a 40 foot graffiti wall, Zumba class (Mendell Plaza at 11:30am), music and other live performance.

Gospel Singer Bridgette Bailey will perform inside the Bayview Opera House Ruth Willams Memorial Theatre, 4705 3rd St., at 3pm. A $10 donation is requested.

Cornerstone grows faith and food

2011-05-22T13:34:00.000-07:00

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Tony Tarket, Quesada Gardens Initiative's horticulture expert, also known as the "Green Goatee," has been spending a good bit of time lately helping bring Bayview's newest community garden to life at Cornerstone Missionary Baptist Church on 3rd and Paul. A ribbon-cutting on Saturday was part of festivities that included food and gardening education along with a healthy dose of smiles.

Auria Styles, and five other women helped coordinate the project, and was the first to reach out to Quesada Gardens and get a tour of various community and backyard gardens residents have created in the heart of the neighborhood. She and Angelique Tompkins, who has been involved with the Latona Community Garden project, attended a SEFA meeting to make further inroads into the community of concern abouthttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif our neighborhood's food and health issues.

Together with parishioners Brian Cody and Gina Warren, the group assessed the open space next to the church, as well as the interests and needs of the future gardeners, to design the best garden for Cornerstone. As a result, double-height raised beds and dwarf fruit tree containers, made from wood donated by Home Depot, with fresh soil and mulch from Greenwaste Management now form an eye-pleasing crescent and a place for raising healthy fruits and vegetables.

Congratulations to our friends at Cornerstone; and "thank you" Green Goatee helping create another in the network of community and backyard gardens that are transforming the heart of our beautiful neighborhood.

Bayview gardens get attention, Stanford-style

2011-05-21T18:42:00.000-07:00

After eight years, it's an official tradition at Quesada Gardens. Stanford men and women roll out of beds on a Saturday morning, climb into cars, and end up with tools in hand, helping with the gardens and gathering spaces in the heart of Bayview.

There aren't many gardens in the network that haven't benefited from some Stanford-style love over the years. Today, the Bridgeview and Latona gardens got most of the attention, including a heroic effort to move and spread a mountain of mulch.

A few images from the day show the group after gardening and a grabbing a quick lunch, QGI'er Tom Galante with Danny and Chris, and local fashionistas Dillan, Ava, and Jacob.

Food Guardians dig in at Bridgeview

2011-05-21T18:29:00.000-07:00

The air was cool, and the sky gray, but the spirit at the Bridgeview Community Teaching and Learning Garden was unmistakably warm when the Food Guardians and Bridgeview Garden project leaders Joel and Mary McClure met last Monday morning to begin planting. Food Guardians is the newest group to use the Bridgeview Garden to grow food and share knowledge about health, community and the environment.

The group's members are Bayview Hunters Point residents who are working hard to improve the neighborhood's food system ... and teach us all a thing or two along the way.

Here are a few images from the day:

Bayview babies saved by gardeners

2011-05-19T20:32:00.000-07:00

A sweet report from Tony Tarket and Tom Galante who found, at the Quesada Gardens, three baby squirrels that had fallen from one of the palm trees. Each baby suffered a bloody nose from the fall. After being christened "Quesada," "Palou," and "Little BV," they were carefully transported to the San Francisco SPCA's animal rehab unit.

Another baby squirrel, "Latona," also fell from the tree, landing on some soft plants before running off to parts unknown.

Visions of La Moda students excel

2011-05-19T20:28:00.000-07:00

A student fashion show on April 21st raised funds for Visions of La Moda Fashion Studio for Youth, a Bayview Hunters Point organization that provides youth ages 12-18 with a free introduction to the fashion industry. The funds will help with expenses for exceptional students to participate in the New York Collections - Fashion Week either in September or in February of 2012. Star students Chante Mobley and Arielle Piamonte modeled garments they designed and made.

Runway 2011: Enchantment, held at at the Galleria San Francisco Design Center, was a partnership production of the Fashion Networking Association and the Apparel Design and Merchandising program at San Francisco State University.

Traci Peace, Visions' founding director, reported how proud she was of Chante and Arielle who, she said, "had never sewn anything prior to starting the program this past summer."

Chante and Arielle are pictured wearing their own designs.

Creative businesses, local flavor

2011-05-19T20:18:00.001-07:00

Scrappy artists have made work and lived in Bayview Hunters Point home for decades, enriching the neighborhood with every creation. So Peg Conley and Rika Kruze must feel right at home. They share the entrepreneurial bug, are talented artists, and have chosen Bayview Hunters Point as the place to live and work.

Peg lives on Palou, is active with Art 94124, and has been found in the Quesada Gardens with pad and watercolor brush in hand. Rika lives on Hudson, and regularly volunteers in the gardens while keeping an eye out for a good photo opportunity.

What they produce feeds their souls, and communicates personal stories about the place they live. Both are happy to share the results.

Peg Conley's transportational watercolor paintings and textual messages have found their ways to a set of cards for all occasions. The colorful, muted-here-bold-there images of nature she finds close to home and heart are lush and unmistakablely her own.

Rika Kruse moved to the neighborhood recently, and originally was a native of Germany. She makes cards and other items that communicate what she sees through the lens of a camera when she is in nature or with friends. The positive messages she pairs with the resulting images are drawn thoughtfully, through her international sensibility.

The card collection pictured (above right) can be found on Peg's aptly named website: Words and Watercolors. She can be contacted by email.

Ask Rika about her images and handcrafted cards and other items by email or by calling 415.821.1732. The image (above left) is of "Nisha's Rose," a blossom from the rose bush Antwanisha Morgan's family and friends planted at the Quesada Gardens in Antwanisha's memory.

BVHP wellness strategy goes international

2011-05-19T19:12:00.001-07:00

The Seva* Partnership, a wellness policy and advocacy project that has connected community members and medical professionals in the service of better health for residents of Bayview Hunters Point, just went international.

Two neighborhood residents, Roberto Ariel Vargas and Sudeep Motupalli Rao, and Dr. Sharad Jain, who directs the Internal Medicine Residency Track program for UCSF at SF General Hospital, delivered a presentation about the partnership to participants at the Community-University Expo 2011 in Ontario, Canada last week. About forty attendees interested in how to better connect education and work in the community setting discovered the Seva* project.

The newly revised Seva* Health Care Policy and Advocacy Brief was made available online so that participants could see the practical results of such a project.

The brief and website emerged from a series of dialogues with residents that Seva* hosted at several community organizations to explore grassroots wisdom about strengths and challenges residents of Bayview Hunters Point experience with regard to staying well.

The community-based participatory research process and resulting policy and advocacy tool were reviewed by an "Accountability Council" of residents, healthcare professionals and community advocates. Key findings include the importance to residents of social cohesion, a clean environment, quality youth mentorship, improved access to care, and a better response to trauma caused by violence.

Miss Jackie on the return to Hunters Point

2011-05-19T19:01:00.000-07:00

Miss Jackie works with Hunters Point Family to maintain a community garden that is important to public housing residents and the larger neighborhood. She is featured in a new video that can be found here.

From the story, Superfund City by Crystal Carter

Jackie Williams starts the day off in her neighborhood garden...She checks out her black-eyed-pea plant, and the beans are ready to harvest...She loves her job and she loves where she lives but she doesn’t believe that she will be able to keep these things when the developers come and tear down what she has called home for over 30 years.

“They told us that we need to be ready to move out when they say,” Williams says. “They told us that we’d be able to move back, but I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Source: spot.us (http://s.tt/12djV)

New talent at Footprints Local

2011-04-27T20:12:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Skow, twenty-year San Franciscan and new Quesada Gardens block resident, is now writing and editing alongside Jeffrey Betcher (who is THRILLED!). Jeffrey writes:

It was thrilling enough when Liz moved in across the street from me a few months ago, because I knew that she is the kind of person you want living nearby: a caring, involved neighbor.

I had met her at a Bridgeview Garden gathering two years before, saw her reportage in the New Bay View Newspaper, and watched as she did a great story on Quesada Gardens co-organizer James Ross while earning her degree from San Francisco State University.

That was when she began to fall in love with the Quesada block, she said later, and set her mind to join the movement of positive change emerging here...as a resident.

Liz is a second generation journalist, whose work has appeared in the Contra Costa Times, Oakland Tribune, and the San Mateo County Times. She grew up in New Hampshire, where her father, John Skow, a freelance magazine writer, taught her to write and to use a chainsaw, both skills she has found indispensable.

When the co-founders of the Network decided to start a vehicle for information about the positive things happening in our community, the involved community members worked together to deliver on that vision...and to earn your respect. That was 2006.

It has been a labor of love and volunteerism ever since. It has survived on the hope that it will generate small acts of kindness: perhaps you will forward this to a friend, get involved in something you might not know about otherwise, or express a feeling of pride about the place you live because of something you saw here.

The Bayview Footprints Network of Community Building Groups has never shied away from changing with the times. A deep community review of the network created changes we all are still benefiting from.

Now, we welcome Elizabeth Skow and the changes she will bring that will make this local news vehicle even better.

You can call it "the Opera House"

2011-04-27T08:14:00.000-07:00

The Bayview Opera House Ruth Williams Memorial Theatre, originally known as the South San Francisco Opera House, is now known to locals simply as the Opera House. It is one of San Francisco's oldest theaters.

Located at 4705 3rd Street, nestled just a couple blocks from the Quesada Gardens in the heart of the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood, the Opera House remains a historic treasure. Its original Douglas Fir floor, horseshoe balcony and forty-five foot stage proscenium are as charming as they were on opening day. Recent upgrades include a digital projector and an outdoor stage and courtyard.

A San Francisco's Masonic Lodge constructed the ornate Victorian building in 1888 as an "amusement center," and as part of a larger construction project that included a Masonic Temple adjacent to the theater.

The Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of California, organized in 1850, oversaw sixteen "Subordinate Lodges" in San Francisco by the 1880's including the South San Francisco Lodge which met at Myrtle Hall on Railroad Avenue and at its 1528 Gerald Avenue headquarters. At that time, South San Francisco encompassed what is now Bayview Hunters Point, and Railroad Avenue was the name for the neighborhood's main road, now 3rd Street.

For their "amusement center," the Masons contracted with Henry Geilfuss, a German architect who moved to San Francisco in 1876. Geilfuss designed many structures in the City, notably the William Westerfeld House at 1198 Fulton, which stakes out a corner of Alamo Square Park. He is known for blending Italianate detail into Victorian design, and brought that sensibility to this new project by blending Italianate, Gothic and Stick styles.

After completing construction in 1888, the Masons called their new theater the South San Francisco Opera House, a name that is still written above the front entrance to the theater.

In its early years, the 300 seat theater hosted a number of dramas, minstrels and vaudeville acts that were well-known at the time. Among them was Gordon William Lilly's Pawnee Bill's Medicine Show, one of the first of the era's traveling exhibits that characterized the vanished American frontier in popular, if not accurate, ways.

David Belasco also presented work at the Opera House. The son of Sephardic Jews who had emigrated from London during the Gold Rush, Belasco was born in San Francisco. He learned his trade in the City's theaters before moving, at age 29, to New York City where he found fame as a producer, director and playwright.

Like any centenarian, the Opera House has seen its ups and downs, some of which trace the boom and bust cycles of the neighborhood in which it sits.

The first shows were provided by road companies that brought performers, costumes and scenery by horse-drawn wagon from wherever the previous theatrical run had been. The dominant form of entertainment in those days, these shows attracted patrons in large numbers. Opera House theater-goers arrived by horse and buggy dressed for a big night out. Intermissions were long enough for a ticket-holder to walk to the brewery, just across Railroad Avenue, for refreshments.

Changing times stalled legitimate theater at the Opera House for decades. When rail transportation became common, road companies booked venues based on railroad stop locations. The closest stop to the Opera House was a long two blocks away for companies transporting sets and costumes. When the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire destroyed most of the City's other theaters, road companies stopped coming altogether.

The Masons began using the Opera House as a community social hall through the war years when the neighborhood was experiencing an economic upswing associated with shipbuilding activity at Hunters Point Shipyard. When, after the war, business at the Shipyard fell off, the neighborhood, its residents and the Opera House all suffered. In 1965, the Masons ceased all operations at the building, and the threat that the building would be demolished became dire.

That same year, the Western Opera Theatre, part of the San Francisco Opera Center and sponsored by the Equal Opportunities Council, mounted shortened productions of The Barber of Seville and La boheme. Seventy-seven years after being built, the facility that has "Opera" as its middle name hosted its first traditional operas.

In this transitional moment, Ruth Williams stepped into leadership. A community resident, activist, playwright and actress, Williams played a key role both with staging productions at the Opera House and with saving the building from demolition. She was an influence on many other artists emerging at that time, including film star Danny Glover.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to rename the facility for Ruth Williams on December 7, 1995. Williams is commemorated with a large sculpted bust that sits on a terrace just outside the theater.

In subsequent years, the Opera House served primarily as an African American youth center. It has been operated by the nonprofit Bayview Opera House, Inc. since 1989 as one of six City-owned cultural centers providing low cost arts education and cultural enrichment to the City, and has received majority funding from the San Francisco Arts Commission.

Community groups such as Infinity Productions, Pathlight Productions and the Children's Mural Program kept the pulse of art and performance alive during difficult years with programs geared toward the African American community in Bayview Hunters Point. After a period of management that was questioned by government oversight and community members, the Opera House now seems to be entering a new era. The building has been renovated, inside and out, with historic preservation in mind.

New community-serving programming has been introduced at the facility in the past several years as San Franciscans are once again discovering and rediscovering this community treasure. In April of 2011, the Bayview Opera House became the neighborhood's first landmark to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, protecting the building from any future changes not authorized by the State Historic Preservation Office.

- Jeffrey Betcher

Pictured: The painters who did the exterior restoration pose at the community event celebrating their work.

Along with the Opera House, these other great Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood structures are also on the local list of historic places:

Albion Brewery, 881 Innes Avenue
Quinn House, 1562 McKinnon Avenue
Shipwrights House, 900 Innes Street Video
Sylvester House,1556 Revere Avenue

Studios at Hunters Point to open

2011-04-25T15:26:00.000-07:00

The Hunters Point Shipyard Artists (HPSA) invites the public to the 20th annual Spring Open Studios on April 30th and May 1st, from 11 am to 6 pm. The event takes place in two studio locations in Bayview Hunters Point. Over 150 artists of all kinds will have work for sale, including sculpture, painting, ceramics, textiles, metal and stonework.

Free and abundant parking and free refreshments at many individual studios, as well as catered refreshments available for purchase.

The director of this year’s HPSA Spring Open Studios, Wendy Robushi said that this event sometimes draws over a thousand people. “HPSA Spring Open Studio was really the original Spring Open Studios–now everyone has events like this, but ours was one of the first,” Robushi said.

Each year the artists who wish to exhibit at the event pay a fee and somebody in the group comes forward to coordinate the event. It’s a big job, according to Robushi, and a paid contract position, but there is never enough money to make it a full-time job. She had the help of several volunteers, without whom, she says she couldn’t have done it. In years past the HPSA has depended on press releases, but this year they changed their tactics and sprang for a new website and paid advertisements.

The heyday of the event was during the dot com boom of the late nineties and early aughts, when so many people had money to throw around, Robushi said.

“I am optimistic that despite the economy, the ads and website will bring people to this event.”

HPSA is a grassroots collective of artists who rent studio space at the shipyard and at Islais Creek Studios nearby. The Spring Open Studio event is the collective’s main focus. This enables artists to show and sell their work. At one time, several galleries represented Robushi’s work, but the economic downturn has resulted in their closure. This is the case for many San Francisco artists, Robushi says, and that makes the Spring Open Studios even more important to the survival of art and artists.

The main location of the Shipyard artists is called The Point. Jacques Terizan, the first artist to lease space at the location, saw the potential to use the abandoned shipyard buildings as an artist colony. With help from his children and a coalition of community leaders and environmentalists, Terizan achieved his vision, and by the late ‘70’s, The Point was home to over 300 artists. Many of these artists were evicted and relocated to Islais Creek Studios, but bringing them back to the shipyard area is part of a master redevelopment plan.

Seth Wachtel receives community award

2011-04-20T20:19:00.001-07:00

Seth Wachtel, Professor of Architecture and Community Design at the University of San Francisco, was awarded the Karl Paige & Annette Smith Community Leadership Award by the Quesada Gardens Initiative on Saturday April 16th in San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood. The presentation took place at the Bridgeview Teaching and Learning Garden, the newest project in Quesada Gardens Initiative’s network of gathering spaces, gardens and art projects.

Wachtel has been central to the development of the new project, located at the intersection of Bridgeview Avenue and Newhall Street, working with community leaders and USF students to design and build a showcase garden and gathering space on a seemingly unusable parcel of city land. He has been involved with Quesada Gardens Initiative since 2006, and has been a key leader in many projects that the grassroots group has undertaken.

“Seth embodies the best of USF’s spirit of community involvement,” said Jeffrey Betcher, Quesada Gardens Initiative’s Co-Founder and Organizer. “He has made it possible for us to turn our community’s vision for itself into practical reality.”

Wachtel is the Director of the Architecture and Community Design Program in the Department of Art and Architecture and is Co-Founder of the Garden Project Living-Learning Community at USF. He has worked in architecture and construction in India, Colombia, Haiti, Israel, Mexico, Nicaragua, Zambia, and the San Francisco Bay Area. His focus is low-cost building and urban landscape in underserved communities, and the development of innovative construction techniques that produce sustainable and aesthetically and culturally appropriate buildings for human environments.

Wachtel runs USF’s Community Design Outreach, International Projects, and Construction Innovation courses which provide students the opportunity to work on real world design and build projects for underserved communities both locally and internationally. He is also a recipient of the USF Service-Learning Community Outreach Award, the College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Service Award, and a nominee for the Thomas Ehrlich Civically Engaged Faculty Award.

Photo: William Campos

Images from Bridgeview event

2011-04-20T20:01:00.000-07:00

All photos by William Campos. From top: Jeffrey Betcher, Annette Smith, Eliot and dad Seth Wachtel after Seth wins the Karl Paige and Annette Smith Community Leadership Award. Annette at the mic. Bob Grover, the Mayor of Latona. Brandon Oldham, USF community liaison. Chris Waddling, Palou Garden project leader talks with Seth and Elliott. Irene Molinari, born on Latona (literally), and a powerful community leader. Joel and Mary McClure, Bridgeview Garden project leaders share some love with neighbors. Ralph Schardt, Michael Lee Environmental Foundation Executive Director champions the community. Quesada Gardens neighbors and staffers Tony "Green Goatee" Tarket, Jacob Watta, and Tom Galante.

Bridgeview Garden grows, community celebrates

2011-04-20T18:55:00.000-07:00

About fifty Bayview neighbors and their friends gathered on Saturday April 16th to celebrate progress on the new gathering space and entryway to the Bridgeview Teaching and Learning Garden.

Annette Smith, Quesada Gardens Initiative’s co-founding gardener and the organization’s board of directors Chair Emeritus, began the event with an invocation. She thanked all those who support the Quesada Gardens Initiative, the grassroots group that coordinates what has become a network of gardens, gathering spaces and public art projects in Bayview.

Annette and Jeffrey Betcher, Quesada Gardens Initiative organizer, presented Professor Seth Wachtel, from University of San Francisco, the Karl Paige and Annette Smith Community Leadership Award.

“I feel like I should be giving you an award,” Seth said to the group. “USF students learn about designing public spaces by beginning with the people who live nearby. They just don’t experience that approach anywhere else.”

Seth was the first faculty from the university to make contact with the Quesada Gardens Initiative, through a since-graduated student, Dionisia Montanez, who returned to the project she had worked so hard on in prior years so that she could applaud her former professor. Many current USF students helped with the event, including service-learning student liaison Brandon Oldham who talked about how meaningful their months of service in the community had been.

Joel and Mary McClure, Bridgeview Drive residents who have led the Bridgeview project for many years, and who sit on Quesada Gardens Initiative’s board of directors, talked about how their project got started when they saw what was happening a block away on Quesada and asked neighbors for help.

“Quesada Gardens is our mooring,” Joel said. “It’s been a lot of work to create this garden and gathering space, but these things can’t happen without the support of organized neighbors.”

Ralph Schardt, Executive Director of the Michael Lee Environmental Foundation, the group that footed the largest part of the materials bill for the Bridgeview Garden, spoke at the event.

“The Quesada Gardens Initiative is a good investment,” he said. “Communities have an important role to play in defining their own environments. Groups like this accomplish just that for pennies on the dollar.”

Organizers who contributed to the event include Corine Pettus who made two of her famous pies, sweet potato and buttermilk, Tony Tarket who shared garden education materials, Jacob Watta who promoted the group’s volunteer program, and Tom Galante who organized the food and lemonade tables.

Jim Ansbro, a leader with the Latona Garden group, contributed Easter gifts for young visitors. Irene Molinari and Bob Grover, also from Latona, attended.

Balboa High School student Hean He, who volunteered with the Bridgeview Project many times, passed out brochures. Will Campos, a young photographer in the neighborhood and frequent volunteer on Quesada, took pictures.

Bayview contractor, Vidal Perez, who built the new gathering space with his team, also attended the event.

James Ross & the "Kentucky Gardens Initiative?"

2011-04-19T17:01:00.000-07:00

You can take the man out of Quesada Gardens, but not Quesada Gardens out of the man. At least that appears to be the case with James Ross, who sends regards to his Bayview friends from Kentucky where he is spreading the love of community gardening and community media.

Those following the growth of the Quesada Gardens Initiative in San Francisco's Bayview neighborhood will remember that James, along with his family, moved back to his hometown of Danville, Kentucky a year ago.

James is still remembered and missed on Quesada. He is a co-founder of QGI, was the coordinator of the Baybloom Backyard Gardens project, and became the best organizer any group could ask for. No one will be surprised to learn that he is doing community gardening work in Kentucky, emphasizing the value of backyard and small-space gardens.

In recent days, James and other community members, all part of a group known as The Danville Garden Club in Central Kentucky, planted ten trees. James is pictured above, pausing a moment during the planting.

He is also talking with other local-living and food production organizers near him on a new radio show called "Gardening with James" on WHBN AM every Saturday at 8am and online at hometownlive [dot] net. The show is designed along the same lines as "Life on the Block," a weekly Public Access Cable television show he produced in San Francisco.

After the first episode of his new show, James was stoked. "It was a blast," he said, "talking and teaching listeners how to grow a Butterfly Garden in their own backyard without having to spend a lot of money."

James, his wife Lisa and their sons Isaiah and Apollos are all well. Contact them by email.

For more:
James Ross and Quesada Gardens by Elizabeth Stow December 2008
Ross family on the move April 2010

"Bayview is..." our library

2011-04-13T10:32:00.001-07:00

The soon-to-be-demolished Bayview Branch Library on 3rd Street at Revere was full of life once again on Saturday, April 2nd as neighborhood residents squeezed in to celebrate the contribution of the old building and library staff through the years.

Participants could be heard sharing stories about experiences at the library, and expressing some sadness that the building where those memories began would disappear. At the same time, excitement about a new, larger building was evident everywhere.

Linda Brooks-Burton, longtime Managing Librarian, and her colleague Jessie Wylie orchestrated a series of performances featuring young musicians and dancers from the community. With a backdrop of books and historical photographs, Mary Booker delivered two spoken word performances, Supervisor Malia Cohen spoke, and a dance band swooned into the late afternoon. A BAYCAT videographer was on hand to record reminiscences about the library.

See below for a few images from the event.

Images from library closing

2011-04-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

SF Wholesale Product Market - Bayview treasure

2011-04-13T10:06:00.000-07:00

Much of the business of the San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market is done old style: with a handshake. - Michael Janis, from a SECF presentation

The San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market will be improved in phases in the years to come, enhancements that include construction on the four main buildings on Jerrold Avenue, and adding a new parcel at 901 Rankin, according to Brian Liles, an architect workin on the project.

Michael Janis, General Manager of the Wholesale Produce Market, one of Bayview's most unique assets, brought Liles, Monica Melkesian (Project Manager) and Helen Sess (Board Member) to formally announce the project to the community at the SECF Commission's February 10th meeting.

Here is the full text of the presentation as captured by Carla Vaughn, Commission Secretary.

Commission Chair Kennedy introduced and welcomed Mr. Michael Janis, General Manager of the San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market.

Mr. Janis thanked Commissioner Kennedy and the Commission on behalf of the entire San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market family. He advised this was
the first public presentation of their Retention and Expansion Project and they thought it was important to be at the Commission for the first presentation.

Mr. Janis introduced SF Wholesale Produce Market board member, Helen Sess, Monica Melkesian, Project Manager, and Brian Liles, architect of Jackson Liles Architect. Mr. Janis introduced the Commission to the market and shared the vision of the market.

Given the unique hours of operation many people are not familiar with what the market does.

The market operates in the middle of the night and very few people get to see the market. Fresh produce is provided in many different ways, through neighborhood grocers, through large independent grocery stores like Mollie Stone's, through some unique businesses like SPUD, which is a home delivery company, much like the old milkman use to do. What is really unique about the market is a product that is literally cut in Salinas today would be on sale in our market tomorrow morning. The market family is a very unique one that operates in the middle of the night and is made up of 30 individual businesses that all have one thing in common and they are joined at the hip around fresh produce. They compete against each other but they work together collectively. There are about 650 people who work on the market as part of our market family and they work within about 30 merchant vendor businesses.

The customers are extremely unique and varied such as JB Cafe, a small cafe, independent grocers such as Mollie Stone's Market that has eleven stores throughout the Bay Area and they just added a store in the Castro. There are stores like Good Life Grocery in Potrero Hill and also in Bernal Heights that have been a customer of the market for many years. There are stores throughout the Mission such as Valencia Farmers Market. The customer base varies in the hundreds upon hundreds primarily in San Francisco but throughout the Bay Area. The system in the market is unique also in that it is very old style and much of the buying and selling is done by handshakes. Many of the relationships go back many, many years. Many of our growers have been selling to our vendors for literally generations. One of the most unique aspects of the market is some of the relationships we have beyond buying and selling. The one we are pointing out here is with the Food Bank. Our relationship with the Food Bank is a very special one. It goes back many, many years. It resulted last year in over a million pounds of fresh produce was donated from the market to Food Bank and that resulted in about a million three hundred thousand meals that San Franciscan's were able to benefit from with our partnership with the Food Bank. The Food Bank trunk is literally in the market every morning and goes from business to business picking up produce. Commissioners Chung and LeBlanc were in the market this week and got to see a little bit of that. If any of the other Commissioners would ever like to see the market we would be delighted to provide a tour.

The market family is about 30 businesses. We have businesses that are over 100 years old and we have those that have formed within the last decade. Some of the examples of our business Washington Vegetable was founded in 1931 and they were founded literally on Washington Street at the original market district in San Francisco which is now the Embarcadero Centers. Earls Organic is another one of our very notable businesses. He started his business in 1988 literally with a desk and on his own.

He now has about 45 employees and he is in 20,000 square feet of space. Greenleaf is probably our most visible business on the market. It is also our largest business. Many of you have probably seen their white trucks running around town with the green lettering on it with jingles about food and produce and things like that. They started their business over 35 years ago in the market and it has an incredible story. The founding of it, the motivation was literally to save a commune in San Francisco. The home where the commune was based was going to be sold and the people thought they needed to save the home and they went into the produce business. They now have over 150 people working at Greenleaf and they have a national reputation.

Our vendors work very hard to bring a wide variety of produce to you. It ranges the gamut from international produce like tomatillos and wild mushrooms to conventional to organics. We are fortunate that Earls Organic who I mentioned earlier is one of the foremost organic businesses not only in the Bay Area but really on the West Coast and we are very lucky that he founded the business on our market. If you are in the market in August you’ll see incredible varieties and selections of tomatoes. Even this time of year Commissioner Chung and Commissioner LeBlanc commented about the variety of tomatoes they saw. In August when it is really coming locally you see even more.

THE MARKET TODAY: Mr. Janis provided an overview of the current market location. The market is made up of five major buildings bonded by Rankin and Toland streets. The newest building which was purchased in 2000 and Whole Foods Market has their northern California central distribution center based in that building, as well as Earls Organic. Whole Foods is opening their newest store in San Francisco on Monday in the Haight on Stanyon Street.

The buildings were brought on line in 1963 and although they are serving the market very well it is time to look to the future and look to improvements. The activities in the buildings are very intense. Inside the buildings and on the front docks are where the sales actually take place. In between the buildings is where forklifts go back and forth, hand trucks and product is moved between vendors either selling to each other or loading customer trucks.

VISION: Brian Liles provided details of a proposal for the market’s vision for the future. The proposal is a phase program of improvements that will be implemented over many years. These improvements incorporate construction on the four main building sites and the addition of an adjacent parcel at 901 Rankin. 901 Rankin is viewed to be the first phase of the proposed project and will include warehouse space and associated office space. In addition the market would like to find a way to include a demonstration kitchen and associated meeting space. The subsequent phases of the project on the market will be on the market’s existing site. These improvements will occur on the four main building sites, and will also include a small marshalling yard. 2101 Jerrold will remain as it is since it was just recently constructed and finished in 2000.

The latter phases of construction that take place after 901 Rankin will either renovate the existing buildings providing grade level parking at the current location and under freeway 280, or provide new construction with rooftop parking. At the completion of these improvements depending on whether new construction or renovation takes place the market will increase in size from approximately 100,000 to 200,000 square feet. Inside the new or renovated buildings will be the infrastructure to support a vibrant market place where produce will be displayed, purchased and loaded. The building improvements will include a durable flexible warehouse space, adjacent office space above, and a dock area below. All of the building improvements whether renovated or new will have seismic strengthening new building systems such as, electrical, mechanical, and plumbing. The improvements will meet lead silver standards for sustainability in energy use. Key features will be renewable energy, such as solar heating on the roofs, or possibly wind energy. Day lighting would be provided by sky lights and clear story windows, construction waste management and recycling, use of regional building materials, bicycle accommodations and potentially a green roof. The focus will be to provide functional, durable infrastructure that will serve the market far into the future.

Mr. Liles reviewed the proposed site and roadway improvements. Currently Jerrold Avenue, which approaches the market on either end, splits and public traffic circulates around a median of market buildings and some grade level parking. Industry Street which is north of the market does not connect through to Toland Avenue. Innes Street which is just to the north of the market does not connect through to Toland Avenue, and neither does Kirkwood Avenue which is just to the south of the street. This limits their overall utilization into the surrounding transportation grid. The conditions of Kirkwood and Innes are also substandard lacking curbs, gutters, sidewalks, and street lighting with the street paving actually being in fairly poor condition. All of these conditions result in their underutilization. Rankin Street to the north of Jerrold which picks up at the east end of Innes and connects back to Jerrold Avenue is quite narrow and not very useable. Loading and other market activities happen right out on the apron of the existing buildings creating a mixture of public traffic and market operations. It is important to realize that many of these market functions happen throughout the night when it is dark and visibility is limited. Given these existing conditions the market is proposing a number of improvements to the streets adjacent to it. These improvements are intended to work in concert with each other and to provide a new and improved overall transportation network. The market proposes to create a new intersection at Innes Avenue and

Toland, and another new intersection at Kirkwood Avenue and Toland. These two intersections will increase the connectivity and utilization of these important street assets. There will be a new alignment connecting the east end of Innes to Jerrold Avenue, widening that connection and making it useful again. That alignment will run roughly parallel to the Cal Train spurs.

The market proposes to improve the conditions of all of these surrounding streets the actual way that they are built. With the sum of these improvements the market proposes that public traffic will be rerouted around the market utilizing these improved street areas. People will be able to flow from Jerrold up and around Innes and back, and do likewise with Kirkwood. Both Kirkwood and Innes will be two way streets. With this rerouting of traffic the market seeks to minimize the conflict between the public traffic and market operations.

These improvements will create a more typical street experience which willreduce confusion about which roadways are intended for public traffic and which areas are intended for market use. The improvements will route all of thetraffic around the market and vehicles inside the market will be limited for those necessary for market operations. In tandem with the proposed improvements will be two new entry and orientation points at either end of the market at Jerrold and Rankin, and Jerrold and Toland. It will allow you to come in and enter the market and gain orientation to it’s’ buildings and the marshalling space in between.

Mr. Liles provided images related to the proposed details of the rebuilding of those streets. The rebuilt streetscape is proposed to include new sidewalks, curbs, and gutters on both sides of the street. A better environment will be created for both pedestrians and motorists alike. Improvements additionally will provide street trees, additional landscaping, storm water control elements, and street lighting. All of these improvements will make the streets more attractive, useable, and sustainable. Mr. Liles provided images of new curb, gutter, sidewalk, street trees, and new paving. Another image showed the current condition of the area.

Commissioner LeBlanc asked if the traffic improvements would be completed first.

Mr. Janis responded it was anticipated the road improvements would be completed within the first phase. The process will provide flexibility and allow for change if necessary.

Commissioner LeBlanc suggested notifying the Commission when it was time to go before the Planning Department so they could lend their support.

Monica Melkesian said the market was in the process of preparing their environmental evaluation and anticipate it will be published in the next month or two. After the completion of the environmental evaluation process there will be a move forward to finalize the project approvals. This is a long term plan of 10 to 15 years and it is envisioned that the first phase of construction will be occurring in 2012.

Commissioner Chung thanked Michael Janis for the tour of the market and asked what the budget was for the project.

Monica Melkesian said they were in the preliminary stages of development of the project and were currently working to identify various financing vehicles to fund the project development. When the project is fully built out this will be an investment into the community of about 90 to 100 million dollars.

Commissioner LeBlanc reported that during the tour she learned that although the market is on city property their funding is raised by private funding so it will not affect the city budget. Commissioner LeBlanc suggested they talk to people in the hospitality industry since San Francisco is the home of many restaurants. Mr. Janis thanked the Commission and invited the other Commissioners to tour the market.

Toye Moses, Executive Director, thanked Mr. Janis for providing healthy food at the SECFC Health Fairs and had a question regarding the market’s ability to provide jobs to the community and reduce the unemployment rate that plagues the 94124 area.

Mr. Janis said approximately 650 people work at the market through the private businesses. About 250 people are San Franciscans and within that group over half are people from the Mission, Bay View, and Visitation Valley. Mr. Janis said there are opportunities to increase employment. However, the challenge at hand is that the businesses are fairly small and the size of their Training and HR departments are minimal compared to a large national retailer that has that infrastructure. The market is working with the City to identify partners that can work with the market to increase the number of people hired from the community.

Director Moses commented regarding the produce being sold on San Bruno Avenue and Mission Street. He asked if the market could do something to help the Commission promote small businesses on Third Street.

Mr. Janis said several months ago Jacob Moody was here for SEFA (Southeast Food Access Working Group), an organization co-chaired by Mr. Janis and Mr. Moody, whose priority it is to increase fresh foods into the retail base here in the Bay View. It is frustrating to those at the market to have so much produce right here in the community, however at a retail level the access is limited.

SEFA is working on three or four different initiatives that range from working with FoodsCo with their existing store, as well as looking at the opportunities to enlarge that store. SEFA has been supportive of Fresh and Easy coming in, which will be opening up this year. The other piece of the puzzle that SEFA has focused on is SuperSave. There is a tremendous opportunity with SuperSave given that they have been in the community for many years. It has a very strong infrastructure and there is a tremendous opportunity for that store to be repositioned for a significant amount of retail outlet for produce.

The other area is that we do have many merchants that shop in the market today that have stores in the Mission or other neighborhoods in San Francisco that are doing very well focusing on produce. Working with the City through the Office of Economic and Workforce Development we can make sure those retailers are aware of opportunities here in Bay View. We absolutely do see part of our role is to try to increase the amount of access to fresh and healthy foods here in the Bay View.

Commissioner Kennedy said the process of getting anything built in San Francisco is horrendous, however she is delighted that they will be looking at hiring individuals from the community. She asked if they were strictly wholesale.

Mr. Janis said the vast majority of their business is business to business, however they do have consumers come down and buy for events, or church groups and as long as people know it is a wholesale environment they are more than welcome.

Krispy Korner expands food production

2011-03-23T14:39:00.000-07:00

One of the most engaging gardens associated with the Quesada Gardens network of projects is one that combines love of art, cooking, and fresh fruits and vegetables. The Krispy Korner Community Garden is really a group of creative neighbors living near the Bay and amidst the light industry on the eastern side Bayview.

The first garden that emerged from these neighbors' hyper-local community power is the small but stately and very productive one at the intersection of Crisp, Shafter and Palou. When everyone else in the neighborhood were having trouble producing a good tomato, these folks had a bumper crop!

Very recently, new container planting has emerged within a block of the first, including one organizer's kitchen garden outside his home, and another organizer's fruit trees and planting beds for greens across the street from his live/work space.

Krispy Korner is a great example of how informal groups are reshaping Bayview from the ground, up.

Photo (Footprints): Cody Reynolds clearly loves his new garden which is already producing greens for his table.

Informal businesses important to Bayview

2011-03-23T14:36:00.000-07:00

Informal businesses make up a key part of Bayview's economic life. But you don't have to tell that to Cody Reynolds and Tony Jones who have started Your Cabana, a festive restaurant-style operation in their live/work space at 1308 Griffith Street.

The food-lovers' oasis in a mixed-use industrial setting serves up signature dishes like Pasta ala Cabana with Italian sausage, peppers, onions, zucchini and mushrooms. Much of the produce is as locally-raised as it comes...a block away at the Krispy Korner Community Garden.

Every Tuesday from 9am to 2:30pm, fresh seasonal dishes are served for suggested donations. Contact Your Cabana at 415.822.1217.

Photos credit: Footprints. Find Your Cabana at the sign of the goat. Enjoy your food indoors or out. Meet Cody and Tony, the talent behind the business.

Local hero achieves national spotlight

2011-03-23T14:10:00.000-07:00

Bayview Hunters Point pediatrician Nadine Burke is featured in the latest edition of The New Yorker. She makes a powerful case that growing up with poverty and violence has serious health consequences, and that the physical effects of anxiety may be far more damaging than we ever thought.

Dr. Burke is a local hero and national leader in the evolving sciences of stress physiology and neuroendocrinology. She was featured in the San Francisco Chronicle in February.

See more about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as it affects vulnerable communities in the Seva* Project Policy Brief, which emerged from a community-based participatory research project, a partnership of SF General Hospital and the BVHP community.

Photo credit Footprints (archive): Dr. Burke was caught with a young friend at a 2008 Health Fair sponsored by California Pacific Medical Center.

Big doin's on Bridgeview

2011-03-23T10:38:00.000-07:00

Neighbors near the Bridgeview Community Teaching and Learning Garden on Bridgeview Drive at Newhall in San Francisco's Bayview neighborhood have been watching a new publicly accessible gathering space take shape just outside the existing garden.

Under the care of extraordinary project leaders, Joel and Mary McClure, who live next to the garden, dozens of pro bono contributors and other volunteers have been engaged in the new work.

Vidal Perez, a Bayview contractor who lives with his family on Thomas, is leading the actual construction of the gathering space, bringing to life a concept that emerged from many community events at the site. The project includes permeable landscaping, a community notice posting board, and a new garden gate that will make the existing garden more accessible for everyone. The work has been slowed by the rain, but it's still moving forward. Pavers will be installed next, and the new gate and posting board just after that.
An accomplished sculptor who lives nearby is working on concepts for a unique bench for the publicly accessible sitting area ... so that we can all enjoy the view and have a place to rest when we're climbing up from 3rd Street. He will be introduced, along with concepts for the bench, at a celebratory gathering at the site on Saturday, April 16th.
Quesada Gardens has raised funds for this new work from Michael Lee Environmental Foundation, SF Environment, and SF Community Challenge Grant Program. Pro bono design work has been provided by Seth Wachtel and his students at University of San Francisco. Massive volunteerism from many other groups and involved residents is ongoing.

Please watch for details about the Saturday April 16th celebratory event to "launch" the new project. We hope all our neighbors and allies will join us as a show of support, and showcase the Bayview "can-do" approach to community self-definition.

Find more about the history of the Bridgeview Garden project (going back to 2007!) online.

Please join in the fun happening on Bridgeview and Newhall. (There's gardening space available!) Everyone involved is doing this for our community, and loves working and playing alongside neighbors. Donations are needed, will put your or your family's name on the supporters list, and help pay for the bench.

Pictured: Students share design ideas with residents at a community gathering last year.

New ideas on Latona

2011-03-12T16:28:00.000-08:00

Thirty-six volunteers converged on the heart of Bayview today to weed their ways through areas of the Quesada, Bridgeview and Latona gardens. Special thanks go to Captain Tyrone Pruitt and the San Francisco Black Firefighters' Association and to all the young people their work in the community involves.

The day included an informal gathering on Latona Avenue at Thornton where volunteers and residents shared food and talked about life on Latona. A new consensus plan for the existing garden and the Thornton Steps began to emerge.

Latona Project Leader, Rita Collins was introduced to neighbors. She spoke about her activity in the garden, so far, and some ideas she has for future work. Lydia Vincent, Bayview Koshland Fellow, presented a quick overview of a collaborative project focused on an arts treatment on the Thornton Steps which run along the side of the Latona Garden. This project is being organized by Lydia with Koshland, QGI, Art 94124 and other groups.

Rita announced that Quesada Gardens has five free backyard gardens to install in the coming months, and that the involved Quesada neighbors have offered them to their friends on Latona. Contact Rita for more information.

Participants shared these suggestions about possible changes to the existing Latona Community Garden:

We could use a new raised bed box. One suggested putting it in the middle to create a group of beds that can be protected from dogs.

We should move the box just inside the gate back further to make entering easier.
To control the fennel we have pulled several times, we need to use weed-killer that disperses quickly without leaving residue except localized residue that kills the roots.

We should improve the fence alongside the steps and make it look consistent with improvements to the steps and garden.

Encampments on the lot on the side of Thornton opposite the existing garden may require action beyond the garden and steps projects.

Littering and trash dumping is hard to keep up with and should be addressed in some way.

We need signage, especially facing 3rd Street that says “Latona Community Garden.” One neighbor used a Chicago garden art-sign made from metal as an example.

We should get more businesses involved, especially as donors of funds and materials.

We should have a bigger event like a BBQ that Latona residents organize to get more involvement on the block.

Education will always be an important of anything that happens at Latona. For instance, we can keep picking up trash, but will have less trash to pick up if people learn how to use the 3-color bins.

One resident living very near the garden has serious allergies/asthma issues, and hopes that new plants will be food or non-fragrant florals. She is interested in maintaining an herb garden to grow medicinal and kitchen herbs, and is open to working with others who may have health issues that herbs can help with.

One participant suggested keeping the garden locked with a combination lock which only residents involved with the Latona Garden have the combination to. This would lessen the amount of maintenance necessary, help with food safety, and be a barrier to nuisance crime. Other participants worried this would make using the garden informally difficult, be a barrier to the involvement of youth on the block and folks from 3rd Street who eat lunch at the garden, and could send the wrong message about the nature and purpose of the project.

Developing letterhead/logo for the Latona project could be useful, especially with fundraising. Jeffrey promised to share the logo done by the last organized Latona Group in case it is still useful.

Bayview residents on "Why I contribute"

2011-02-24T10:26:00.000-08:00

Gatherings of people who live, work and play in Bayview are common near the Quesada Gardens. The gathering pictured occurred on MLK Day 2009.

At Quesada Gardens Initiative's December 2010 meeting, at a home alongside the first garden in what is now a network of projects that involves hundreds of people throughout the heart of San Francisco's Bayview neighborhood, involved residents talked about why they got involved ... and why they stay connected.

One highly-involved student liaison from University of San Francisco, and a diverse collection of thirteen Bayview residents spoke. Participating residents' ages ranged from four to seventy, were both renters and home owners, new arrivals and folks who have been in Bayview for generations. Here is what they had to say:

QGI is a model of what Bayview can be. It’s about progress.

It’s easy to support QGI. There are so many ways to help.

A contribution from community members to QGI is like giving money to ourselves. The benefit is direct.

The garden itself draws new people to the community. The garden is its own best advertising.

I volunteer with other nonprofits, but like QGI because it is local, and it gives me a place to share my talents.

Because Annette is so lovable!

QGI breeds sociability.

QGI is a good model of grassroots community-building.

We can shape the community here, whereas other neighborhoods are shaped for us.

When people live at Quesada Gardens, they can still define their own community…unlike other neighborhoods.

We include everyone. Everyone has a say. We all have respect for one another, and everything we do is transparent.

It’s about tolerance and respect.

QGI is “the commons.”

I still feel like I’m free here.

All are accepted, all are forgiven.

QGI is people sticking together and working toward a safe place to be.

QGI is a group of people who have brought together their good intention. The people who make it all happen are really special.

Neighbors coming through feel more secure because we’re out and about. We used to do the neighborhood watch-style of organizing on the block, but it never really went anywhere. Now we are actually out on the street instead of just watching out our windows.

QGI teaches by example. At USF, service-learners often report that they learned more about social justice and grassroots power from QGI than other community partners.

QGI keeps it real in a neighborhood that is one of San Francisco’s last places for people who aren’t rich.

You can give these folks who spend their time and resources to build community another reason to stay involved: Because supporters know we're here and care enough to contribute.

Free solar installations for BVHP residents

2011-02-23T18:09:00.000-08:00

GRID Alternatives has installed 270 energy units for elder homeowners, lower-income residents, persons with disabilities and others in just seven years. Now the organization wants to install one in your Bayview Hunters Point home. It’s free and surprisingly easy.

It may seem too good to be true, but Bayview residents have already taken advantage of this amazing program, are saving from 50 to 75 percent on their electric bills, and have increased the value of their homes.

GRID Alternatives’ professionals provide the system design and engineering, obtain building permits, procure equipment, prepare and submit rebate and utility interconnection paperwork, and provide an industry-standard 10-year labor warranty.

For more information, contact Outreach Coordinator and Bayview resident Leah Pimentel by email or at 510.550.8535 x333.

Recognition fuels community-building

2011-02-23T18:00:00.001-08:00

Heidi Hardin's Jefferson Award, reported here, is deserved recognition of decades of commitment to good works. It may also prove valuable beyond the attention. Awards like this one boost awareness about important issues, draw contributors to worthy projects, and keep community-builders committed to the work.

The Quesada Gardens Initiative is a good example. Co-Founding gardeners, Karl Paige and Annette Smith won Jefferson Awards and other acknowledgments in the early days of the project, drawing funding leads and public awareness that have helped to grow the work ever since.

As the organization began to win awards, such as those from San Francisco
Beautiful and Crissy Field/Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, resident leaders came to understand how nice it is to be celebrated ... and how important it is. Involved individuals seemed re-energized, and often deepened their commitment to the work.

Those experiences, in part, led the Quesada Gardens group to establish a "Thank You Committee," a sub-committee of its Board of Directors that held as its sole responsibility saying "thank you" to the many individuals and groups that contribute to Quesada Gardens.

The spirit of acknowledgment is now a part of the organizational culture, and can be seen in everything the group does. For instance, a memorial to the founders (pictured), a beautifully landscaped vista above the main Quesada Garden, is a permanent and "green" thank you.

Heidi Hardin acknowledged

2011-02-23T17:47:00.000-08:00

Heidi Hardin, a Bayview Footprints Co-Founder and the heart behind Think Round Inc., is Bayview’s newest recipient of a Jefferson Award for Public Service for her work using art to educate Bayview Hunters Point’s children about the environment and the importance of family and community.

A video featuring several students from Willie Brown Academy who have participated in a ceramic tile project can be seen on CBS 5's website.

Heidi put down roots in Bayview Hunters Point as a Shipyard Artist, and has worked with hundreds of the community’s children through arts programming she has been developing since 1991. She also served on the Shipyard Citizen's Advisory Committee (CAC) from 1991 to 2003, and as a Commissioner of the Southeast Community Facility Commission from 1999 to 2003.

When asked how she felt about her award, Heidi responded characteristically: “I consider it ours. It especially belongs to the many children and their families, teachers and principals, nonprofits, community centers, senior facilities, community service committees and commissions that have been such an important part of my work.”

Congratulations Heidi Hardin…and thank you!

Pictured: Heidi at a 2008 Bayview Footprints "First Thursday" event at the Roadhouse Cafe on 3rd Street.

Bayview's history: food, farms & families

2011-01-26T14:37:00.000-08:00

The full history of our neighborhood's role in food provision for the City of San Francisco could (and probably should) fill a book.

It wasn't long ago that most homes in the neighborhood included a backyard garden and some livestock. Remnants of those days are everywhere: converted chicken coops, aging Mediterranean plum trees, and the rusty tractor (pictured) that was just recently removed from what was a family farming operation on Williams Avenue.

From the slaughter houses in Dogpatch, named for the opportunistic dogs that lived off the slaughter house scraps, to Hunters Point Hill where the Hunter family grazed animals on the hillside in full view of the burgeoning town below, to the Chinese shrimp vendors and Italian fishermen along the water front, local food production and distribution to residents in the neighborhood and beyond its borders was common.

See more Bayview history online.

Food Guardians report on FoodsCo

2011-01-26T14:16:00.001-08:00

SEFA Food Guardians focus on FoodsCo
by Kenneth Hill for the Food Guardians

Building on Network for Elders ground-breaking grassroots effort, the SEFA Food Guardians have continued to work with Bayview’s only full service grocery store, Foods Co., located at 5800 Williams Street, to ensure that quality nutritious foods and a clean shopping environment is being provided to all shoppers.

The SEFA (Southeast Sector Food Access) Food Guardians found it essential to get the opinions of Foods Co customers, by developing and administering a community-based participatory survey, to see where those customers stand on the overall spectrum of freshness of food and cleanliness throughout the store. The survey was conducted over a series of two weeks in the month of May 2010 on peak shopping days, during mornings and afternoons, to get a variety of opinions. After the survey was concluded and the data was compiled, a meeting was set up to discuss the results of the survey with the new Foods Co Director, Roberto Aguilar.

On October 14th 2010, the SEFA Food Guardians, along with the Food Guardian Coordinator, met with Foods Co Store Director, Roberto Aguilar, to discuss the results of the survey, and also to present a list of recommended changes for the store. Mr. Aguilar committed to most the recommendations, and felt that the following recommendations for improvement could be met within 3-6 months:

* Cleaning
* Customer Service
* Addressing the loitering outside
* Healthier foods options
* Being more on top of checkout lines
* Attending SEFA meetingsMeeting with Food Guardians quarterly

To ensure that the recommendations are met, the SEFA Food Guardians have requested quarterly meetings with the store director, followed by an official letter being sent to Foods Co District Manager, Richard Tovatt.

We are counting on the community to look for the changes as well.

Neighborhood food production assessed

2011-01-26T14:16:00.000-08:00

An estimated 10,000 pounds of food is grown in Bayview Hunters Point each year, a number that is increasing as assessment efforts improve, and as more residents begin raising food. The estimate puts the neighborhood's annual food production at about a day’s worth of what is needed to feed the 34,000 people who live here.

Download the full report

The history of urban agriculture in San Francisco's Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood runs deep, and began a century ago with the critical role that the Southeast Sector of San Francisco played in the City's food shed. Struggling immigrant families raised animals, vegetables and fruit as part of the community's daily life.

More recently, the history of agriculture here includes the origins of SLUG (San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners), The Garden Project (founded by Catherine Sneed), Girls2000 (from Hunters Point Family), the California Plant Nursery (project of Literacy for Environmental Justice), and the gardens network that is emerging from community-building work at the Quesada Gardens Initiative.

Bayview's models of food production demonstrate significant social and educational value. Those that have emerged from community-building and organizing approaches seem able to sustain resident involvement and produce strong social networks. Community gardens more closely associated with "greening" also operate as informal public forums. Policymakers and researchers increasingly include "greening" alongside other community development cornerstones such as small business, faith-based institutions, and community-based service providers. Grassroots political advocacy groups are entering the food production arena at a more rapid pace, hoping to make a practical contribution to their constituencies that also advances their general agendas.

Gardens can serve as effective entry points for governmental agencies and large nonprofit organizations to disseminate their messages. Community-building project leaders in Bayview are learning how to balance the opportunity for education and movement-building against the risk of undermining multicultural consensus and local resident investment in their projects. All social change agents in Bayview Hunters Point grapple with a history of disappointment associated with external institutions and movements.

Backyard gardens are increasingly important and popular in Bayview, a trend that may parallel the broad economic downturn, the global food movement's progress with reshaping cultural norms about food, the efforts of public health institutions working to decrease health disparities through physical activity and better nutrition, and new programming from environmental institutions geared toward the reduction of food transport-related carbon emissions.

Contributing factors to the trend toward backyard gardening in Bayview and similar multicultural urban neighborhoods may include unique definitions and experiences of "community." Grassroots community-builders understand that the days of the "neighborhood town square" have passed, and that the connection between municipal "civic centers" and vulnerable populations of people has always been tenuous.

Many residents of Bayview Hunters Point consider the physical parameters of their "community" as their own home or yard, immediate neighbors, and block-level associations. They may or may not feel safe and connected to the commercial districts and corridors available to them. This is especially true when residents experience barriers to social connection such as language and cultural difference, country of origin or citizenship status, and socioeconomic inequity associated with class, race, or gender identity.

Schools-based gardens have proliferated in the neighborhood as “seed to plate” demonstration projects at Bayview Hunters Point schools such as Malcolm X Academy, Willie Brown Jr. Academy, Bret Harte Elementary School, and Charles Drew Elementary School. These programs, which sometimes have filled gaps left by dwindling science and physical education programming, are suffering from eliminated public funding that once had been at a higher level in California than in any other state.

The Quesada Gardens Initiative is mapping assets in Bayview for the Bayview Footprints Network to model hyper-local interactive online interfaces. The group hopes to build capacity of the community's own online portal site while also serving data to citywide and other mapping systems. As a policy and practice matter, the group advocates that both community and larger groups work together to drive traffic to the most local online resources available, and to build the capacity of community-generated social and environmental change tools.

Volunteers are working through the Quesada Gardens Initiative to identify community-, school-, and backyard-gardens and fruit trees, and ultimately to record open spaces, cultural and social history landmarks, and other places of importance to the wellness of a community. The "early" food production numbers cited above are based on well-known gardens in the neighborhood and estimates derived from the Quesada Gardens Initiative's tracking of food production in its own gardens. The actual number of gardens, especially backyard gardens, is unknown … for now.

The current status of urban agriculture in San Francisco's Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood, to the extent that that is a quantifiable phenomenon, pales in comparison with its food shed history, but is an indicator of growth and potential. There is reason to be hopeful that much more food can be produced here, and that food can be produced in a way that supports the community's interest in defining itself, protecting its diversity, and putting its stakeholders in leadership.

Jeffrey Betcher, Quesada Gardens Initiative
From a presentation to the Southeast Sector Food Access working group (SEFA) in January 2011

Pictured is Tony Tarket, Bayview resident and horticulturist for QGI, demonstrating raised bed planting for USF students.

Krispy Korner Cushman in Wall Street Journal

2011-01-22T16:58:00.000-08:00

Take a whirl around Krispy Korner Garden and you'll probably think that Bayview has gone crazy for Cushmans, those 3-wheel vehicles that look cool until you see one stopped by your parked car to deliver a ticket.

Krispy Korner member, Rahsaan Morin, is the star of a Wall Street Journal national print article and online video about these vehicles he has helped make a staple of Bayview transportation.

One of Rahsaan's vehicles, a rare Cushman with a hydraulic lift bed, was on loan to Quesada Gardens for years, and could be seen carting mulch, plants and tools between garden projects. QGI Co-Founder, James Ross (pictured) restored the body, while he and Rahsaan took care of its sundry mechanical needs.

At right, Chris Waddling works with neighbors at the Palou Garden, and appears thankful for the Cushman "work horse." Photo by James Ross

Latona Garden's new project leader

2011-01-22T16:53:00.000-08:00

The Latona Community Garden, star of the SF Chronicle and grateful residents along Latona, Thornton and 3rd Street has a new best friend.

Rita Collins, a longtime Bayview resident and a landscape gardener, is the new project leader for this charming mixed-use space where double-height raised planting beds make a home alongside a children's play space and a gathering area for block celebrations.

The garden has involved dozens of residents in the immediate area, and was a labor of love for project leaders Rhonda Winter and Peter Haas who moved from the area last year.

Rita has loads of experience, unparalleled community spirit, and great ideas for the garden. She is talking with neighbors about what they would like to see happen at the garden, and about how they want to be involved. Email her with any ideas or just to say "thank you."

It's Saturday. Do you know where your neighbors are?

2011-01-22T16:28:00.000-08:00

Tai Trang is new to Bayview, but a skilled hand with gardening and landscaping. He is shown here pruning fronds from one of Quesada Gardens' landmark Canary Island Date Palms so that visitors can take the stairs beneath without ducking, and so the ground-level plants get more sunlight. (photo by Jacob Watta)

Quesada Gardens, the home-grown grassroots network of gardens, gathering spaces and public art projects, introduces Bayview’s newest tradition: Saturday community volunteer parties.

Why stay indoors or travel out of the neighborhood when you can have fun volunteering in your own community?

Not from these parts, but still want to come play? Come on by and experience the best of Bayview, and the best in grassroots community strength as neighbors lead volunteer activities in the neighborhood's gardens and along its sidewalks.

The Quesada Gardens Initiative has always been volunteer-driven, began as an all-resident volunteer organization, and has hosted countless groups of volunteers from schools, businesses and social clubs.

Volunteers enjoy sharing tips about gardening with expert horticulturists, and learning about sustainable local systems that support cultural diversity, food production and healthy environments.

When? Every Saturday from 10am to 1pm-ish.

Where? Meet at 1747 Quesada (under the Canary Island Date Palms trees, just west of 3rd Street). Bicyclists enjoy flatland peddling along Oakdale and 3rd. MUNI riders choose between T-Third light rail (Palou stop) and busses (23, 24 and 44 lines).

Details? Volunteers should dress appropriately for weather and gardening. Gloves, tools, refreshments, and team leaders are waiting.

More Info? Contact volunteer coordinator Jacob Watta by email or 415.822.0800.

Annette Smith and Karl Paige started the Quesada Garden in 2002, and the Quesada Gardens Initiative has been growing gardens, gathering spaces and public art projects in the heart of San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood ever since. Quesada Gardens has come to represent the neighborhood’s beauty and strength, and to show what ordinary citizens can do to create positive change where they live.

Dumping prevention campaign launches

2010-11-29T17:27:00.000-08:00

“Don’t Leave it on the Sidewalk,” a community education campaign of the SF Department of Public Works, was launched in the Bayview neighborhood on November 17th as phase one of what will become a citywide effort.

The new campaign highlights property-owners' responsibility for removing items that have been illegally dumped on sidewalks. Failure to do so could result in a $1,000 fine.

Marginalized communities are especially vulnerable to commercial and other dumping on streets and open spaces. Bayview's proximity to the area's largest legal dumping facility means that the neighborhood has the dubious distinction of being the last stop before a fee is required to drop-off waste where it should go.

fresh and easy's store opening...not so easy

2010-11-29T17:19:00.000-08:00

John Gavin, fresh & easy's community liaison, met with Bayview Hunters Point food advocates at November's Southeast Sector Food Access working group (SEFA) meeting. He said the store opening, at 5800 Third Street, is now estimated to happen early in the summer of next year.

That estimate is one of several in recent years as the project stalled with the economic downturn and changes to both 5800 Third Street project developers and fresh & easy's own store roll-out strategy. This blog first reported about the new food retailer in December of 2007.

When it opens, the new supermarket will join FoodsCo and SuperSave Market as the neighborhood's only major food retailers.

Gavin also told SEFA that the new Bayview store would employ twenty to thirty people, and that local hiring will be prioritized.

For more:

Food, Health and Safety in Bayview Hunters Point.

2007 Bayview Hunters Point Food Preferences survey (used to communicate the community's need and willingness to support new food options in the neighborhood).

Get your WIC on in Bayview Hunters Point

2010-10-29T09:46:00.001-07:00

Submitted by Kenneth Hill, Food Guardian

The wait is over! With the help of U.C Berkeley graduate student Pamela Washington, Bayview Hunter’s Point women and children now have more options for where they can cash their WIC checks.

Bayview Hunter’s Point, the industrial district of San Francisco, a diverse community representing many income levels, has seen its share of food inequalities. Yet with two new approved WIC stores, H&K Market at 1300 Fitzgerald and Super Save at 4517 Third Street, located in the heart of the Bayview, women and children now have more access to nutritional foods.

Sam Aloudi, owner of Super Save, stated, “I am happy I can better serve the community my store is located in.”

The news comes at a great time for Aloudi. Since purchasing Super Save, he has been working with the Southeast Food Access (SEFA) Working Group to improve the quality of his store by becoming a full service grocer. With a low interest loan from SF Redevelopment Agency being discussed, the approval to accept WIC puts the icing on the cake.

Alongside the newest addition of WIC approved stores, the WIC program began its fruit and vegetable program in April 2010. In the past, WIC coupons were only good for milk, eggs, cheese, cereal, dry beans, peanut butter and infant formula. Now WIC also offers a voucher worth 6 dollars for women and children to purchase fruits and vegetables at neighborhood approved WIC stores, grocers, and farmers markets.

To publicize these changes, a WIC postcard has been created with the location of all WIC approved stores located in 94124 zip code. To order FREE WIC cards, please contact Sabrina Wu by email or at 415.581-2444.

Pictured is the vegetable isle at Super Save Market in July of 2007. Big changes since the picture was taken include a new deli counter.

Neighbors play on Quesada

2010-10-27T11:18:00.000-07:00