Parrots multiply in heart of Bayview

Thank you to Quesada Gardens Initiative co-founder Tom Galante for getting this great picture of Conyer Parrots socializing in his backyard.

In August of 2011, we posted a picture of a pair of loving parrots that had discovered the food-rich Canary Island Date Palms on Quesada.  Two years later, a resident reported counting eleven of them on two separate days.

Call it new "local color."  Green, that is.

Bayview's car culture on Quesada

Bayview is home to folks who love vintage cars.  Just ask the members of Fo' Fifteen, Bayview's car club.  Or ask Hawk and Shon, Quesada residents who took their love of history on wheels to a new level on May 5th when they organized a block festival to show off some of the neighborhood's hottest hot rods.

Bands played until an unplanned break when the electricity went out.  According to PG&E, a transformer located at 39 Bertha Lane failed during repairs.  More 

The festival went on, fueled by as much by a culture of informal gathering as the community's appreciation for a nice set of wheels.  

Girls can fly, at the gardens

Photo: Flyaway Productions

Flyaway Productions has announced that, for the first time, it will offer a site specific dance-making experience for girls at the Quesada Gardens and Bridgeview Garden in the heart of San Francisco's Bayview neighborhood. The program will run from July 1st through July 13th.

 

Flyaway Productions dancer Jennifer Chien will work with ten teen girls to make dances at the gardens as part of a partnership with Quesada Gardens Initiative and College Track.

 

Flyaway and QGI will co-host two free shows on July 13th.

 

Girlfly Arts and Activism Apprenticeship is a paid summer apprenticeship using the arts to respond to the efforts of neighbors who have radically transformed the place they live. Side by side with the creative process, Quesada Gardens' neighbors will lead sessions for participants on community-building and social issues that affect the young participants.

Volunteers love the gardens

Recipe for a beautiful day in Bayview: 1 part group event with Airbnb, 1 part Quesada Gardens Every Saturday Volunteer Day, and 1 part National Day of Service.  Stir in a dozen resident leaders and cap with blue skies.  Voila!

The concoction creates its own warmth, and a whiff of it makes pretty much anyone smile.

Before the day was done, Quesada Garden had a new lemon tree thanks to Maya, Mei Ling (pictured above) and crew (pictured 2nd from top), and has a lot less dead wood, litter and Oxalis, thanks to Shane, Doreen, Wendy, Dylan, and new Bayviewites Jack and Daynas (pictured 3rd from top).  

The Latona Community Garden got some Oxalis-pulling love, too.  And the Palou Community Garden...wow!  (Pictured at top) Chris lead the way.  Airbnb brought volunteers.  Shu cooked up a great lunch.  Malia Cohen stopped by.  Co-Founders Claire and Elizabeth were there.  Lots of kids.  Great fun!

3rd Street Youth Center on the move

Sharon Papo leaves 3rd Street
Youth Center and Clinic for
The Diversity Center

The 3rd Street Youth Center and Clinic is moving from its location on 3rd and Thornton to new space at 1728 Bancroft. The health-based, youth-serving organization is officially operating at the new location today.

Sharon Papo, who has directed 3rd Street Youth Center and Clinic for the past four years, is seeing the organization through its move and then making one of her own. Sharon will leave 3rd Street Youth Center and Clinic to become the Executive Director of The Diversity Center, Santa Cruz's largest gay and lesbian advocacy group.

The 3rd Street Youth Center and Clinic provides medical and behavioral health services to children and youth in Bayview Hunters Point. The group has been a major contributor to the Latona Community Garden located just above 3rd Street on Latona and Thornton. Among other contributions, it has provided free water to the garden for years.

You can still find 3rd Street Youth Center and Clinic at the same location online.

Harrison family at Quesada Gardens

Marie and Na'im Harrison on July 4th, 2012. 
Photo: Jeffrey Betcher

The Harrison Family’s roots in Bayview Hunters Point run deep, and help connect everyone near the Quesada Gardens in Bayview to a better understanding of the challenges long-term residents in the neighborhood have faced through the years.

Marie Harrison is an environmental activist who played a lead role in shutting down a polluting electricity-generating plant on the waterfront. Husband Na’im Harrison provides violence prevention and reentry programming for formerly incarcerated men.

Along with daughter Arieanne and grandchildren Giovanni and Roman, the Harrison Family has lived on the Quesada Gardens block since 2006. They are respected neighbors who always find the time to participate in the life of their community. Plums from the Harrison’s backyard tree are used in the preserves that Quesada Gardens Initiative makes.

More about Marie

More about Roman

Jeanette Hill Q&A by Kelsey Ransick



The first drawing of the Quesada
median strip by Jeanette Hill, 2004

We remember Karl and Annette as the first to start gardening on the median strip running up the 1700 block of Quesada Avenue in Bayview Hunters Point. But lots of people were beginning to come together at that time, and some of them were good with plants. Jeanette Hill was one of those people. 

Drawing on her professional skills, Jeanette drew the first site plan of the median strip. She and her husband Dennis were quick to lend a hand whenever anything was needed, helping set a new tone in the community. 



Deja Hill in September of 2004 when
Quesada Gardens was really taking off. 
Courtesy Chronicle/Liz Hafalia

Deja Hill, Jeanette and Dennis' daughter, was pictured on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle when journalist Pat Yollin broke the story about Quesada Gardens. While the family does not currently live on the block, they stay connected with neighbors and are proud of their contribution to Quesada Gardens Initiative.

How would you describe the neighborhood before QGI began? What were the most noticeable changes, both in the physical nature of the neighborhood and in the residents?

My family has lived on Quesada since 1969 when my grandparents bought their first home for themselves and their 11 children. The first day they moved in, there was a riot in the streets. There were other incidents that they recall such as cars frequently broken into, neighborhood kids throwing rocks, and store thefts.

When I bought the house from my grandparents in 2001, I remember seeing trash, oil, weeds, and a neglected piece of land along with the beautiful date palm trees that I remembered as a child. A lot of people loitered in the median which was used as a parking lot and as a place to dump garbage like mattresses, TVs, appliances, and other miscellaneous items that Sunset Scavenger would normally not pick up. People knew DPW would pick up things like that, so this dumping was almost a daily occurrence.

When a few neighbors decided to make a change, that change gradually happened through using plants to bring the neighborhood together. I met Annette and Karl when I first moved in. We began digging holes and turning the soil over to grow plants.

I worked for Friends of the Urban Forest at the time so I tried to organize a tree planting. But at that time, I was only able to get a few people signed up. Involvement from the neighborhood grew, and from then on the median was respected.

How did you get involved with QGI? What made you want to get involved?

Deja Hill near her childhood home
waves from the garden her mom
helped plant.  Photo: Jeffrey Betcher

I got involved with QGI because I was tired of the violence. And as a landscape architect, I wanted to see a pretty picture when I looked outside. My daughter was just born, and I wanted her to be in a safe place. Before I moved to Quesada, I helped organize tree plantings in Visitacion Valley, and liked how it improved the area.

What are some of your favorite memories from your involvement in QGI?

We were involved for about 3 years. Some of that time was when QGI was informal. One of my fondest memories is seeing Karl every morning walking up and down the street picking up trash and holding the peace. He knew everyone. He always had kind words to say, and always made me laugh.

Why do you think QGI succeeded? Why do you think other neighborhoods wanted to emulate QGI's progress, and how did QGI help them do so?

QGI succeeded because the residents all worked together. Fortunately Quesada has many talented people living there who contributed greatly to the cause and who had experience in publicity, grant writing, design, gardening, persistence, and love for people. It was not easy at first because change sometimes causes trouble. I remember feeling a little scared when I dug my first hole and got stares from people sitting in the median near 3rd Street. They didn't seem happy at first, but weeks later, when the plant grew, I remember getting compliments. It felt great.

This interview was conducted by Kelsey Ransick in November 2010 as part of a University of San Francisco McCarthy Center service-learning partnership with Quesada Gardens Initiative.

Tai Trang brings skills to Bayview

Tai Trang gets to know the
Canary Island Date Palm trees
at the Quesada Garden

Tai Trang may be the perfect neighbor in a place where diversity of experience and a do-it-yourself spirit are valued.

Tai and his family emigrated from Vietnam in 1980 when Tai was a teenage, a radical change that puts moving to a unique place like San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood into perspective. In 2010, he came to settle with his partner Mark Philpot in a home at Quesada Gardens where he immediately got busy putting his packed tool kit of practical skills to good use.

Among other things, Tai is a professional gardener. He can often be found in the Quesada Garden, one day under the fronds of the massive palm trees with a pruning saw in hand, and the next setting up a pen so his hens can get some air and charm the neighbors.

In the Spring of 2012, you could have found Tai helping his neighbor Liz transform her backyard to include what is now a thriving bee colony. It turns out Tai is a well-seasoned beekeeper. He has donated some of his own honey to the Quesada Garden General Store project.

When he isn’t contributing to his community at Quesada Gardens, Tai expresses his commitment to AIDS awareness. Since 2000, he has been a part of the annual 585-mile AIDS/LifeCycle ride, and plans on continuing that streak. 

More

This profile is part of a series done by University of San Francisco McCarthy Center service-learning students with residents at the Quesada Gardens Initiative.  The student team included profiles project group leader Andrew Kentopp, Calvin Tanod, Yichao (Cherry) Chen, Gaowei (Eric) Ma, Noell Niro, Matt Sattler, Nicole Lee, Patrick Lee, Minyi Huang, Shengcheng (Roy) Zhang, Shawn Yang, Christina Nguyen, Bernadette de Mesa, Nick Carignani, Sarah Claytor, Melissa de los Reyes, Hanna Lafranconi, Elizabeth Cochran, Emily Fredrickson, and Yvette Cervantes.

Palou neighbors mix wood, poetry & community

by Peg Conley

 

In San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood, creativity, connectivity, ingenuity and perspiration are ingredients for building community and, in the case of Sarah Stangle and Chris Buck, fences.

Last April, Sarah and Chris sent a letter to their neighbors about replacing the dilapidated fence located at 1665 Palou Avenue just off 3rd Street near where the couple and daughter Taylor live.

Tapping the goodwill they had built up over the years, these highly involved community members brought neighbors together to procure materials, and to build and paint the fence. They solicited donations to cover other costs.

Once the fence was in place, the organizers embellished it with a quote, “Good fences make good neighbors!” from a poem written by Robert Frost (American poet born in San Francisco) titled “Mending Wall”. The entire poem is also on 2 slats of the fence.

Though the project is finished, and the neighborhood is benefitting, the organizers have another $150 in costs to cover. It's easy to donate online, or drop by with a check (note “fence project”) or cash to 1657 Palou.

Getting to know the bees

Brendan and Tai work with bees at
Quesasda Gardens.

by Elizabeth Skow

We didn't know much about bees. But that was a few weeks ago.

Our household got together and purchased a beginner beekeeping kit this spring, joined the SF Bee Association, and took a basic beekeeping class. Still, experienced beekeepers told us, the only way for us to learn was to go ahead and do it.

You might already know a bit about my changing backyard: trees felled, new ones planted. Add to that: a TON of concrete moved to accommodate an apiary, a lemon tree planted, and some roses started which we expect to grow alongside a hive.

The hive, an unassuming cream-colored box, is already filled with thousands and thousands of diligent little creatures.

We were all interested in bees, but we had some reservations about getting stung.

Everyone at the SFBA said "Don't worry! The bees aren't even paying attention to you, they are doing their jobs," but no matter how many times people have told you bees are gentle, the fact is, they sting.

I found out firsthand when I picked up the bee box and my middle finger touched the screen part. Instant sting! Didn't hurt much, and didn't swell up.

Brendan, my housemate, volunteered to install the bees by pulling the queen and her little plastic sarcophagus out of the bee box without dropping her. After dropping her anyway, and reaching into the box full of bees to find her, he placed her in the center of the hive box where she would later be released as the other bees would begin to get used to her scent. He then literally shook the other bees into the box, installed extra frames for honeycombs, and stepped back to admire his work.

As you can see from the photos, Brendan is wearing a bee suit, and there are quite a few bees flying around. But our neighbor, like many seasoned beekeepers, doesn't use protection when he keeps bees. Brendan said he was a lot less nervous working in the bee suit next to someone with virtually no equipment.

Once the bees were installed, we waited about ten days to look inside and ensure that the queen had been released, with help from a bit of beekeeping magic: she comes with a candy plug that the other bees eat through.

A bee smoker made our first inspection easy. It puffs smoke into the hive opening which sedates the bees so that we could pry off the cover. Since bees like to stick everything together tight with propolis, the cover must be pried open each time.

After ten days, the bees had filled most of the box with honeycomb. After two weeks, the combs were filled with bee larvae, future workers to collect pollen and honey through the summer, and the queen was roaming around laying eggs.

I lifted out each frame to see how busy the queen had been. Pulling them out is tricky because the box is crowded and it's hard not to crush a bee or two. It is quite a sight watching the bees go back and forth across the frame, doing their job despite my rude interruptions.

We quickly grew more comfortable with the new hive, and placed a chair nearby so that we can watch the workers come in to deposits the loads of pollen on their legs. We find it quite meditative to watch.

Not that our own work is done. Next time we open the hive, we will be sprinkling our bees with powdered sugar which manages bee mites, a cause of feral bee colony collapse. Beekeepers have found that if they sprinkle powdered sugar on the bees, the bees eat any mites and mite eggs off of each other. That’s much better than using insecticides.

Thank goodness for the SF Bee Association...and Youtube.


Some amazing things about bees:

They dance to communicate where the most nectar is. You can see them doing this around the entrance to the hive in the springtime.

They are very neat, and they haul the dead bees and any trash out of the hive right away. One new hive owner reported that her bees had deconstructed the plastic queen cage, made of thick plastic, removing it piece by piece from the hive.

Saturday May 5th at Quesada Gardens

Quesada Gardens gets national attention

"The Quesada Gardens Initiative has helped to transform the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood," said San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee at a special dedication event on Tuesday, March 13th in the heart of Bayview.

The mayor visited as part of GRO1000 San Francisco, a national initiative that made awards to five U.S. cities.   

Representatives from The U.S. Conference of Mayors, ScottsMiracle-Gro, Plant A Row for the Hungry, the National Gardening Association, the Garden Writers Association and Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens also spoke. Locals Annette Smith, QGI founding gardener) and Jeffrey Betcher, QGI organizer, represented Quesada Gardens Initiative, welcoming the Mayor and other guests.

The ceremony included the presentation of a National Gardening Association youth gardening award to Serenity Williams who lives on Bridgeview Drive and gardens in the Bridgeview Teaching & Learning Garden.

Serenity Williams smiles with neighbor Mary McClure who works (and plays) with her at the Bridgeview Garden.

Beginning at 7am, about 50 Quesada Gardens residents and volunteers from ScottsMiracle-Gro and Lowes weeded, pruned and spread mulch throughout the showcase Quesada Garden. 

The San Francisco GRO1000 event is the first of several public installation events being held in the U.S., Canada and Europe in 2012. 

More national attention: New York Times profiles 5800 Third

A March 13th NYTimes article by Barbara Tannenbaum acknowledges that the economic boom years stopped just short of Bayview Hunters Point.  The article also sites mixed use development, specifically 5800 Third, as an indication that better days have finally arrived.

  

SF Housing Director Olson Lee is quoted as saying, "This development proves that economic diversity and market-rate housing can work in the Bayview."

   

See the article online. 

Herb Dang brings art glass to Bridgeview

Joel, Herb, Mary and Josh at Bridgeview.

"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!

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.

Art bench at Bridgeview complete

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.

Young volunteers at Bridgeview Garden

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.