Register your opposition to Batteries Plus at Divis & Oak

Folks have been asking about the plans for a local franchise of the Batteries Plus chain opening on the corner of Divisadero & Oak. This has not gone unnoticed, and several neighbors are organizing a campaign in opposition of the place. You can find all the details on this page of the NOPNAwiki.

We also encourage you to write a letter to the planning department and make your voice heard.

Jonas Ionin
San Francisco Planning Department
1650 Mission Street, Suite 400
San Francisco, CA 94103
Jonas.ionin@sfgov.org

Dear Mr. Ionin,

I live at on Hayes street in the North of Panhandle neighborhood and I am writing to ask you to oppose the conditional use permit for Batteries Plus, a formula retail store, at the corner of Oak and Divisadero Streets.

There are many parts of San Francisco that provide an appropriate context for formula retail stores: most of Geary, Van Ness, and Market streets are home to varied and different chain stores.

On the other hand, the Lower Divisadero corridor has very few formula retail stores. This area has a very distinct and unique atmosphere and I strongly believe that granting Batteries Plus a conditional use permit in my neighborhood would detract from our culture and would not provide any tangible asset to the community.

I strongly oppose this permit for the following reasons:

• This retail chain does not directly serve the needs of my community.
• Over 2 years ago the neighborhood had several planning meetings for Lower Divisadero Corridor and our community stated we did not want large retail chain stores of this kind in our area.
• Recently these opinions were reinforced when the Lower Divisadero Corridor planning team did another survey of the area residents and found that this type of business falls at the bottom of the needs and desires for the neighborhood.

As a neighbor invested in this area, I respectfully demand that the planning department deny the grant of a conditional use permit for Batteries Plus, to be located at the corner of Oak and Divisadero Streets. I hope that my voice, and those of my neighbors, are considered.

Sincerely,

YOUR NAME
Resident - YOUR HOOD

Catching up with former NOPNA presidents

The last president of the North of the Panhandle Neighborhood Association (NOPNA) was Tys Sniffen. He did not resign in shame like a Republican senator, he simply decided that after living in the heart of San Francisco, close to everything you could ever want... Tys decided to move to the barren wilderness of Boulder Creek in order to live off the land. If you've been wondering what that looks like, you can learn more at his blog -

http://journeyinthewoods.blogspot.com/

Accessing City Services via 3-1-1

An article in today's SF Examiner discusses the popularity of San Francisco's 3-1-1 system, which provides a single number to access a wealth of information and services. According to the article, Mayor Newsom is using the statistics about these calls to keep department heads accountable. So if you see a persistant problem on your block, calling it in to 3-1-1 may be another way to get attention from the City.

“The reports are already having an impact,” Newsom said. “I start my Monday department head meetings talking about how many calls for services [were received], and if there’s a disproportionate number of calls, asking [city officials], ‘What are you doing about it?’”

Call center a boon to S.F. (article)

Seeking volunteers to host CSA dropoff site in NoPa

Eatwell Farm, a 70 acre organic farm located in Dixon, CA, operates a Community Supported Agriculture program where they deliver boxes of farm-fresh produce and eggs to various sites in San Francisco. Subscribers to the CSA then pick up their box each week. Eatwell is interested in starting a new pick-up site in our neighborhood. Can you help?

(More information about Eatwell Farm and the CSA is available at http://www.eatwell.com/.)

In order for Eatwell to open a new site, there are a few requirements. The site must have enough room for at least 10 produce boxes and a small cooler for eggs, be sheltered from the rain and sun, and be convenient to our established delivery route. We also need to have at least six boxes delivered to the site in order to open it. If you think your home or business could fit these requirements, we will come by your place to evaluate the situation for our needs. You determine the hours you're willing to have members retrieve their boxes. If all looks well, your site could be opened in just a couple of weeks!

What are the benefits to being a host? First of all, your CSA box arrives directly at your house or business, which is pretty exciting. Also, if there are at least 10 boxes consistently arriving at your site, you will get either a free every-other week produce box subscription OR a half-priced weekly produce box subscription. If there are at least 15 boxes at your site, you will receive a free weekly produce subscription.

What does Eatwell expect from you? They just need to make sure you are at least somewhat available to our members (by phone or email), just in case they need to set up an after-hours pickup. Also, we need to retrieve the empty boxes and egg coolers each week, so it would be your obligation to ensure those are easily found.

If you think your place might work, or you have questions, please email Molly at organic@eatwell.com. They are particularly interested in finding a site to replace the Laurel Heights location (Lyon and Geary), which will be closing at the end of August 2007.

Bar Crudo to open on Divisadero

From our neighbor the Tablehopper...

Okay, it’s now time for another installment of my favorite new game: “My ‘Hood is Cooler Than Yours!” NOPA residents, something fishy is moving into the 94417: ~BAR CRUDO~ is opening a second location, hopefully by the first of the year. Color me excited. The restaurant will be opening in the short-lived Amina Pizzeria space, just across the street from the Independent. The 60-seat space will have a mezzanine and long bar where you can savor some foamy goodness off what is sure to be a long list of ales. (The Selvera brothers have a knack for Belgians. Beers, that is.) Since the kitchen is bigger than their slip of a space on Bush Street, look for an expanded and different menu. I’ll release more details, like the name, hours, and menu items as things develop. 655 Divisadero St. at Grove.

Community rememberances and benefit for Aubrey

Neighbors,

1) Please join us in a Peace Walk scheduled tomorrow, August 14th in
honor of Aubrey Abrakasa.

The Peace Walk will start at 1950 Page at Stanyan (Boys and Girls
Club) at 5:30pm and walk through the Panhandle to Baker and then end
at Grove and Baker (arrival expected to be 6:30pm).

All are welcome to speak. Various speakers are scheduled including
members of the Community Resource Network, the Healing Circle and the
Trauma Project. Paulette Brown, Aubrey's mother, wants to send a
message that violence must stop. She does not want other mothers to
go through what she has been through. In addition, NOPNA will be
handing out flyers and postcards you can mail in to the Mayor's
office to send a message "Silence the Violence" to the Mayor. We hope
to get some media coverage.

This is an opportunity for us to come together a community and
support our neighbor and send a strong message to the Mayor. I hope
you will take the time to participate.

2) Also, SF Day School is sponsoring a garage sale on Saturday Aug
18th starting at 11:30am which all proceeds will be donated to
Aubrey's parents. Paulette Brown is deeply touched by this offer and
plans to purchase a headstone for Aubrey's grave. She has not had
funds to do this up to this point and it means a lot to the family to
be able to honor him in this way. We hope you can be part of this
gift to the family.

A) BBQ and potluck for NOPA residents at 11:30am

San Francisco Day School will provide hot dogs, hamburgers (and some veggie dogs
and garden burgers), grilled potatoes, watermelon, drinking water,
napkins and utensils.

We would like residents to bring other dishes to share with others,
including desserts and drinks if you can.

The grill and potluck will be on the far side of the playground (on
Golden Gate, just east of Masonic).

B) Garage Sale: starts at 1pm sharp, giving the neighborhood first
dibs at the goods, which include:

- about 15 eMacs: 700mhz procs, 256mb ram, 38GB drives, OSX
- various computers
- various tech hardware: cameras, video cameras
- two large tvs with carts
- four large tables, solid wood, about 36"x72"
- 24 matching fabric chairs
- three new armoires, Cost Plus style: one like a credenza, one a medium sized armoire and one huge armoire with glass doors
- small sofa
- various chairs
- two 30"x72" 'science tables'
- filing cabinets
- office desks and chairs
- white boards
- kid's and fiction books
- tons of kid's games
- children's clothes
- adult clothes
- school odds and ends

Photos of goods will also be posted on Craigslist in a week or so.

I hope you will be there tomorrow night at the Peace Walk and again
next Sat. Aug. 18th at the garage sale at SF Day School (entrance to
the sale will be on Golden Gate just east of Masonic).

Performances at the Panhandle Bandshell this weekend

Saturday, August 11
1.30p The Brother Lekas
2.40p The Swamees (live music)
4.00p The Country Bears of Nova Scotia - Acoustic guitar trio singing and playing rock music from the 1960s to now.

Sunday, August 12
12p Kenni & Co. - Original guitar, bass, accordion, hand percussion
2p Clide vs. Crocodiles - Folk rock/bluegrass
3p MerryGoRound House performs vaudeville, comedic acts, dance, music, and more!

Also on Sunday...

The Golden Gate Park Band will be performing circus tunes in the Music Concourse Bandshell,

The San Francisco Ballet are performing at Stern Grove.

So get out there and enjoy San Francisco!

NoPa (the neighborhood) in this Sunday's NY Times

There will be a brief article highlighting several of our local Divisadero businesses and restaurants in the Travel section of this Sunday's New York Times (08/12/07), authored by a local writer.