GOOD Magazine explores by Quesada Gardens succeeds

Quesada Gardens' Co-Founder Annette Smith. Photo: Kevin B. Jones.

"The key takeaway from Bayview-Hunters Point is not that a handful of gardens in a rough, underserved neighborhood are the solution to a food desert," wrote Bora Chang in a GOOD Magazine article published last week. "Rather, it’s the need for a strong network of people."

GOOD Magazine explores the topic of food security in urban places like Bayview Hunters Point. The article features Quesada Gardens, including the Bridgeview Garden.

Pictured is Annette Smith, Co-Founder and Board of Directors Chair for Quesada Gardens Initiative, in a photograph by Kevin B. Jones. The photograph is part of a City Hall exhibit that opens Thursday, November 7th.

See the full article online now.

Re-naming the Library after Linda Brooks-Burton | Update

The campaign to name the Bayview Branch Library for Linda Brooks-Burton, a local hero who died suddenly in September, has reached new milestones. Both as a managing librarian and Bayview community member, Linda had devoted her life to the benefit of education, youth and families, and to the preservation of African American history.

Over 650 people have signed on to the campaign, on paper petitions at the branch library, and through a petition the campaign organizers have circulated online. Well over half of the signers of the online petition live in zip codes outside the 94124 and 94134 areas, which may indicate that Linda touched the lives of more people than locals may have known.

A committee of organizers met at the Bayview Branch Library on October 21st to discuss the campaign. Lydia Vincent organized and facilitated the meeting which included petition originators Norita Collins and Fran Carter. Other participants were Dorris Vincent, Espanola Jackson, Geoffrea Morris, Mary McClure, Rene Gonzalvez, Jeffrey Betcher, and library representative Christina Mitra.

San Francisco Public Library system leadership has expressed support of the campaign which seeks to honor one of their own. Norita Collins organized an October 31st meeting with SF City Librarian Luis Herrera and Chief of Branches Edward Melton that was also attended by community members Fran Carter and Jeffrey Betcher.

The campaign to honor Linda will be underway for at least one year, given the SF Public Library Commission’s policies for such things. Future campaign events will include involvement opportunities supporters, including attending a library commission meeting to formally register the library naming, participating in community feedback gatherings in the neighborhood, generating letters of support from key City and community leaders, and growing the number of petition signers.

Managing librarians of branch libraries across the City are being approached about hosting a petition in their branches as a way to grow support for the renaming of the Bayview Branch Library.

The next meeting of the campaign committee has been scheduled for December 18th at noon in the community room of the Bayview Branch Library. Find more information online.

Sign the petition today!

Tom Galante serves Bayview

This article was first published in Bayview Footprints Local News print edition, Summer 2008. 

When Tom Galante landed a job back in 1970 as a teller at Bay View Federal Savings and Loan (now US Bank) on the corner of Third and Quesada, he didn't realize how it would shape his life.

Tom Galante was pictured (left) in the New Bayview News in 1985 when he managed the Bayview Federal Savings and Loan on 3rd and Quesada Avenue.

In 1973, Galante bought a house half a block away from the bank where he worked.  He became immersed in the neighborhood's community-building work, and retired from the bank in 1995 as Vice President and Community Banking Center Manager.

"So many people knew me by the time I retired that I grew a beard for awhile just so I could walk down the street without having a hundred conversations," he joked recently.

Galante joined the BMA in 1972, and served as the organization's president for five years. During his tenure, the scope of the BMA's activity expanded from a four block radius to most of the 94124. He was solely responsible for "temporarily" blocking off what is now known as Mendell Plaza, a contribution that lives on to this day.

Galante also served on Mayor Feinstein's Third Street Task Force, was a founder of the Network for Elders, joined the board of the South Bayshore Community Development Corporation, and was a commissioner of the Southeast Community Facility for four years.

Even before Bayview became the epicenter of Galante's busy universe, "service" was an important value to him. In fact, he served in the US Navy during the Vietnam War, and was involved in the recovery of three Apollo space capsules.

Galante is a Co-Founder of Quesada Gardens Initiative, and serves on the organization's Board of Directors.  He is known as the "Ambassador of Quesada." It's a fitting title, and reminds newer Quesada and other Bayview residents how broad the shoulders are on which we all stand.

Tom Galante, Bayview hero, passes

Longtime Quesada Avenue resident, Tom Galante, passed away after a brief illness on Friday, October 9th.

Tom was a familiar face in Bayview.  He managed the Bay View Federal Savings and Loan on 3rd and Quesada, just half a block from his home.  He served as President of the Bayview Merchants Association, and as a Commissioner for the Southeast Community Facility Commission.

He was also a Co-Founder of Quesada Gardens Initiative, which blossomed on the block where he lived.  While he was a Board Member, Board Treasurer, and Chief Financial Officer for the group, he may be best remembered as the friendly guy who managed to feed a lot of volunteers for a few dollars. 

Tom had been a longtime volunteer with the San Francisco Ducal Court.  In his final months, he was cared for by his partner, Tony Tarket.

See more about Tom online now.

Please comment with a remembrance of Tom.

Let's go to Linda's library - Sign the petition

Linda Brooks-Burton, 1962 to 2013

Tuesday's "Homegoing Celebration Service" honoring the life of Linda Brooks-Burton was so large it tested the limits of the Alex Pitcher Community Room at the Southeast Community Facility.  Hundreds of friends turned out to support the Brooks and Burton families, and to express the love Linda inspired in so many.

 

Rev. Ollie Robinson and Lydia Vincent both announced a petition to name the Bayview Branch Library after Linda.  At the end of the day, 300 people had signed it.

 

A similar petition is online now, ready for the electronic signatures of others who support honoring and remembering Linda Brooks-Burton in this way.

 

Click here to sign the petition (and please tell your friends about it)!

 

Many familiar locals spoke at Tuesday's service, including Jessie Whiley, Larry Ware and a representative of FACESSF, each of whom read original poems in honor of Linda.  Dr. Arelious Walker and Walter Johnson gave moving reflections.  Dennis Gilmore sang, and the FACESSF Dancers performed to a cheering audience. 

 

Among others who testified to Linda's contribution to the community was the YMCA's Gina Fromer.  During the period when the older library building was being demolished, and the present one constructed, the Bayview YMCA housed temporary services for the branch library.

 

Linda's husband, John Burton, was the final speaker, just prior to the blessing of food and Repast.  He expressed gratitude about the turnout with humor: "I'm the one who grew up here," he said.  "Linda was from LA!"

Petition to rename Bayview library for Linda Brooks Burton

Friends of Linda have started a petition to name the Bayview branch library the "Bayview/Linda Brooks-Burton Branch Library."  Sign on to that campaign today.

 

Petition to rename theBayview Branch Library to the  Linda BrooksBurton Bayview Branch Library.

Please sign this petition in support of renaming the Bayview Branch Library to Linda Brooks Burton Bayview Branch Library in honor of our beloved librarian and community leader. Linda served as manager of the Bayview Branch Library for 15 years and later as Southeast District Manager for the San Francisco Public Library.  Linda played a pivotal role in bringing the new Bayview Library, which opened February, 2013, from concept to fruition. She also served as Board member of several community organizations including Whitney Young Child Development Center, the Healing Arts Youth Center and was co-founder of the Bayview Footprints Network. Your signature endorses the wishes of Bayview Hunters Point residents in honoring a person so appreciated, respected and loved by all who came to know her. Thank you for your support.

Celebration of life for Linda Brooks Burton

A public celebration of life for Linda Brooks Burton, Southeast District Manager for the SF Public Library, will take place on Tuesday, October 1st at 2:15 to 4:30pm at the City College of San Francisco's Southeast Community Facility (1800 Oakdale - map below) in the Alex Pitcher Room. A repass will immediately follow.

 Linda's daughter, Jamila Burton, has set up a fund for donations which the family is suggesting in lieu of flowers. 

Click here to read remembrances from people who Linda touched, and to make a donation. 

"My mother, a well known community figure, passed away suddenly," Jamila writes, "and it was a shock to all who were close to her. We, as her family, are asking that in lieu of flowers, to please make a donation.The funds collected will go towards an education fund which we are creating in her name to help send deserving students in the bayview district to college."

Most community members know Linda from the Bayview's branch library where she served as Managing Librarian for nearly 15 years. She worked for the SF Public Library for a total of over 30 years, and was the central champion of the new Bayview library building project.

SECF 1800 Oakdale

Linda co-founded the Bayview Footprints Network of Community Building Groups and the Bayview History Preservation Project, and served on many boards, including those of the Whitney Young Child Development Center and the Healing Arts Youth Center. 

More

Kathy Perry expresses service at Huntersview

Kathy Perry stands between the old and new at Huntersview.

Kathy Perry seems to know everyone.  While giving me a tour of the rapidly-changing Huntersview Housing which rises above the Hunters Point Redevelopment Project, she is frequently stopped by residents who need something from her.  She is genuinely patient, and focuses in on each person. 

"I'm here to serve," she said.

And serve she does.  Kathy is the primary contact for the public housing project's current occupants, assisting with all aspects of the transition into new housing for seventy-one households as part of the Bayview YMCA's on-site service provision.

Residents seem comfortable with her, perhaps because they know she understands them.  At one point, Kathy gestures to the Northridge Cooperative Community Housing Project, on the crest of the next hill over, where she raised her own children.

"They went to Malcolm X Academy just over on Harbor Road," she added.

Kathy believes in public housing.  She knows firsthand how assistance at the right time in a family's life can make all the difference in that family's future.  She also knows how assistance often comes with hard edges.

"It's strange that I love seeing boarded up doors and windows," she said.  "But now they're boarded up because the occupants have moved into new housing."

Not long ago, she remembers, there was little else but patched-up housing that, when it was built, wasn't intended to stand so long.  Before the reconstruction got underway, boarded up windows usually meant there was a problem for the people inside.

There are still problems.  A bus stop kiosk, all frame, no glass, stands in evidence.  Colorful flower boxes have been added by residents in memory of JaQuan Rice "GS Dutch," a much-loved resident and talented rapper who was gunned down there on June 25th.

Kathy is in constant motion, as she explains the history and future of what I'm seeing, yet still manages to exude a sense of calm.  Standing in the expansive quad where one of the many decaying structures is slated to become her new temporary office, she is at once all the things her job requires: commanding and assured, warm, knowledgeable, compassionate.

Near where her offices will be, community groups are already operating: Brothers Against Guns, HERC, Mothers Against Crime.  Law enforcement will have space, too.

The building Kathy is moving to is also home to a youth residents' organization known as WHOP.  Under the leadership of Michael Jackson, WHOP is improving the futures of residents through music.  A recording studio is a major feature of the operation.

When Michael comes by, Kathy makes sure I know how important his work is, and how a new generation is forging a new path at Huntersview.

Michael said that there are some real generational differences when it comes to advocating for the community at Huntersview, and that the younger folks are proud of being "self-sufficient."

"The people here are beautiful," Kathy says more than once.

As much as she loves the gleaming new housing complexes, she worries about residents still waiting for a transition.  The path of construction is physically dividing the hill, and that makes getting a break from it nearly impossible.

It will be several years before all the residential transitions are completed.  That's a long time for residents to live in a place that is part construction zone.  But until they get in to new apartments, the residents can be comforted by at least one thing: Kathy Perry is there for them.

Bayview community leaders celebrated at event and on radio

Folks in the neighborhood took to the stage, screen and radio waves as the featured acts at a multimedia event last Thursday at the Bayview Opera House. KALW radio personalities narrated stories about the locals as images and video clips played out behind them. James Martin and the women of Ladies in Line performed.

 

Some of the featured neighbors are well-known to locals, including Olympic Silver Medalist (and confident "Olympic hopeful") Rachael Miller, and fatherhood program policymaker James Martin.

 

The event was part of "Sights and Sounds of Bayview," a program of the SF Arts Commission. It was broadcast live on KALW public radio which is also broadcasting audio segments on-air, and serving related videos and slideshow stories on its website.

 

The Arts Commission's Robynn Takayama, the program's Executive Producer, worked closely with KALW reporter Ninna Gaensler-Debs to create a celebratory event that was well-received by a full house of Arts Commission and KALW staffers and fans, and by the family and friends of the Bayview Hunters Point leaders who were being featured.

 

Among those cheered at the event were Tracy Zhu, who leads Toxic Tours of the neighborhood by bicycle, Juana Tello, a committed youth organizers with POWER, and healthy food advocate Kenneth Hill.

 

Several groups of leaders were also featured including Ladies in Line, Bayview seniors who are changing their lives through dance; H.P. U.N.I.T.I., a congregation of former gang members who minister to young men about leaving violent street life; and Quesada Gardens Initiative, a network of local community builders who act on the belief that everyone should know their neighbors.

Many friends and family of Rachael Miller were on hand, though Rachael couldn't be there herself.  The Coach (he really does coach Rachael) and Carla strike a pose and smiles.  Taneshia Miller, Rachael's sister and half of Ladies in Power, was also at the event.

 

In Line Dancers get the room moving.

 

Tracy Zhu gets a bite to eat before the program.

Quesada Gardens Initiative Co-Founders Linda Pettus and Annette Smith.

James Martin surprised the crowd with a song.

Linda Brooks Burton mourned by community

Linda at the 2012's Black Cuisine.

One of Bayview Hunters Point's most beloved members, Linda Brooks Burton, passed away yesterday.  While details are scarce, early reports are that she suffered a heart attack. 

Most community members know Linda from the Bayview's branch library where she served as Managing Librarian for nearly 15 years. She worked for the SF Public Library for a total of over 30 years.  She was a central champion of the new library building project.

Though she was promoted to Southeast District Manager for the SF Public Library, and began working from Civic Center, her commitment to the Bayview branch was unwavering.  

Linda was born in Los Angeles, lived in Bayview until a family move to Fairfield, and remained highly-involved in the life of the Bayview community she loved.

Linda co-founded  the Bayview History Preservation Project to build an archive of materials about the African American migration to the area, and other aspects of local history. She served on many boards, including those of the Whitney Young Child Development Center and the Healing Arts Youth Center. 

Linda also co-founded the Bayview Footprints Network of Community Building Groups. Her fellow co-founders are stunned at the loss.

Linda was glowing at the opening of the new Bayview Branch Library.

"I keep expecting to get a call about it all being a mistake," said Tom Kennedy of ttdigital.

"She was so young and beautiful and vibrant," said Heidi Hardin of Think Round Inc.

Footprints' deepest sympathies go to Linda's husband and three children, and to her entire family and community.

Willie B. Kennedy passes suddenly

Anyone who worked with Mrs. Willie B. Kennedy during her long career might easily have thought she would go on forever.  At age 90, she remained an extraordinarily active and familiar presence in the community. 

According to Dr. Toye Moses, Southeast Sector Community Facility Commission Executive Director, Kennedy was working in her position as President of the Southeast Sector Community Facility Commission right up until her death earlier this week from a heart attack.

In a statement issued yesterday, Mayor Edwin Lee acknowledged Kennedy as a personal source of inspiration, adding that he was "glad she was able to help turn the first shovel of dirt on the project representing the beginning of the first phase of home construction at The Shipyard earlier this week."

In 1981, Kennedy was appointed to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors by Mayor Dianne Feinstein, succeeding Supervisor Ella Hill Hutch. She went on to re-election in 1984, 1988, and 1992.

In 1996, Kennedy resigned from the Board of Supervisors to become the administrative officer for the Public Transition Development Corporation.  She began her service as Commission President at that time.  She was also the longest-serving Board member for the Bayview Opera House.

Photo: Footprints caught up with Mrs. Willie B. Kennedy at the opening of Fresh & Easy in August 2011.  She was a familiar presence in Bayview, and a tireless advocate for her community.