Welcome to Westside Observer
The September 2010 Issue
Mismanagement: Harding Park Contract—The Final Insult
The sequence of events that led to the city’s renovation of this classic golf course on beautiful Lake Merced, and its possible give-away to private entities unknown, provides a cautionary tale for all San Franciscans. The Recreation and Park Department’s (RPD) mishandling of golf money—misleading the public about Harding’s future, then making a bad deal for the city with a long-term contract—concludes RPD’s decade of deception.
Read More...
Water Bills and WISP
On July 1 the rate charged for water rose about 15%. Rates have doubled over the past five years.
There are two rates, called tiers. For the first six “units” of water (about 4488 gallons) used in each two month billing period,the homeowner pays $3.09 per unit. For more than 4488 gallons the homeowner pays $4.12 per unit. So on average the first 75 gallons a day are charged at a lower rate. It does not matter if a household is one person or a family of ten. Each customer (meter) also pays a flat charge, usually $12.40 for two months.
Read More...
Black
Holes at Laguna Honda
Laguna Honda Hospital’s (LHH) unresolved scandal with its patient gift fund, additional construction problems and potential cost over-runs exacerbate already-poor relationships with the community, donors, and its patients.
Construction Problems In recent months, there have been anecdotal reports that: 1) Air conditioning compressors, or some other units placed on the roofs of LHH’s new buildings, have been emitting a high-pitch noise disturbing patients and surrounding neighbors...
Read More...
Is Jeff Adachi Now Public Enemy Number 1?
Public Defender Jeff Adachi has been unofficially declared public enemy number one by San Francisco labor unions and City politicians.
Adachi had the audacity to place Proposition B, “The Sustainable Employee Benefits Reform Act,” on the November 2 ballot, against the will of City unions and local politicians.
Read More...
FANTASY ISLAND ONE MORE TIME!
By: Tony Hall
This past week we all have been, once again, inundated with news releases and press conferences about the supposed hand-over of Treasure Island to the City and County of San Francisco. Here we go again!
I was interviewed at length by several news media outlets last week and thought I would share some of the points in question with you.
Having written about this Island several times before, I didn’t think I would find myself visiting it again so soon, but this mayor’s latest attempt to attract attention, by staging a “hand-over” from the Navy to the City, and then commencing to talk about how he is actually creating jobs with a false and unverified development plan is incredibly transparent and deserves a response.
Read More...
Au Contrair
SF PUC Takes Exception to Charges of Malfeasance
Building for the Future – Transparency and Ratepayer Savings
The last Westside Observer issue contained an inaccurate depiction of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s (SFPUC) well-regulated, transparent financial bond-issuance process. The article lacked mention of the hundreds of millions of dollars of savings that the SFPUC has locked in place for the benefit of ratepayers. It also lacked explanation of the numerous independent reviews and audits undertaken each year that are required by the San Francisco Charter, state municipal code and the voters. So let’s take this opportunity to explain the substantial and multi-pronged oversight processes governing the SFPUC.
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Dimitra’s Medi-Spa – helping people look their best for almost 30 years
It’s not uncommon in this day and age to see multiple storefronts in a block with the word “Spa” in their name. From hair salons, nail salons and to massage treatment centers it seems that everyone wants to be in the “Spa” business.
For the West of Twin Peaks area, Dimitra’s Skin Care and Medi-Spa, located at 324 West Portal Ave., pioneered the skin care business and has been helping clients look their best for three decades.
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SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT: 
THE FACTS ABOUT HEALTHCARE UNDER PROP B
Proposition B, which will be on the ballot in November, addresses not only the City’s escalating pension costs for city employees, but also health care costs. There are two provisions to the measure. The first requires all city employees, including elected officials, to contribute between 9-10% towards their retirement pensions. Currently, nearly half of City employees do not contribute towards their pensions. The second requires that city employees contribute more towards their family’s health care costs.
Here are the facts about the cost of health care to taxpayers for the city’s 26,000 employees and 28,000 retirees:
Read More...
Around the Town...
Que
Syrah Wine Bar just celebrated their 4th anniversary
of pouring and selling delicious wine at 230 West Portal
Avenue. Owners Stephanie and Keith Mc Cardell feature
many wines that you can’t find in lots of places, and
these treasures make for a great visit. They have a Neighborhood
Happy Hour every Tuesday night from 6-8 PM and are featuring
tapas on Thursdays as well. They just started a “Yappy
Hour” for doggies and their owners on Sunday, August
29th. In September they’re having a “Barbeque and Big
Reds Event” on September 18th from 5-8 PM. Check it out.
Read More...
REMEMBER WHEN
Golden Gate Heights
Golden Gate Heights - 15th Avenue at Noriega Street - steam shovel grading for wall May 10, 1927. Permission: SF Public Library Historical Photograph Collection.
More Articles of Interest in the September Issue
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The July-August 2010 Issue
Unanswered Questions Remain for the Patient Gift Fund
Since a Whistleblower complaint about potential inappropriate spending from Laguna Honda Hospitals (LHH) Patient Gift Fund was filed last March, no corrective action has been taken.
After KGO TV’s “I-Team” investigative journalist Dan Noyes aired a story on May 20, nothing meaningful has been done. Numerous public records requests subsequently placed have lead to only more questions, and few answers.
Read More...
Merchants Struggling to Survive MUNI’s St. Francis Circle Project
By Elliot Wagner
Merchants up and down West Portal Avenue are struggling to survive the chaos of the St. Francis Circle rail replacement project. Although MUNI conducted several community meetings to provide outreach to the stakeholders in the neighborhood, they waited until the last minute to ‘drop the bomb’ of gory details that caused an uproar. The merchants were dismayed that they were never consulted on a project that could potentially devastate them economically. The project has created far more intrusive challenges than anyone could have predicted. By some accounts, merchant traffic is down 20% with merchants losing as much as $250,000 per month in revenues.
WOTPCC's Annual Meeting
The speakers for the meeting were former LHH employees Patrick Monette-Shaw, Dr. Derek Kerr and Dr. Maria Rivero, and Seth Mallen of Stellar Management/Parkmerced. The audience included many neighborhood leaders including Judge Quentin Kopp and former Supervisor Annemarie Conroy.
Before delving into the highly anticipated topics on the agenda, WOTPCC President George Wooding presented Vice President Don Dutil, who will be stepping down from the Board, with a plaque in appreciation of his years of hard work. Directly following the crowd’s rendition of “For he’s a jolly good fellow,” Secretary Rae Doyle was recognized for her nine years of dedication. Doyle, who also received a cheerful “For she’s a jolly good fellow,”... Read More...
The Regulatory Morass of the SFPUC Financing System
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) is going deeper and deeper into debt, and voters no longer have the right to approve of how SFPUC incurs this revenue based debt. Ratepayers still have to pay for this debt through their utility bills. The structure of this debt has become considerably complex, and it appears that the SFPUC has become a financial intermediary, wheeling and dealing in complex debt instruments. Read More...
A Parks commission Gone Wild
San
Francisco’s Recreation and Park Commission has long proved
citizens have the right to be heard — but not listened to.
Anyone testifying before the seven-member Recreation and Park Commission (RPC) about keeping our park lands as natural open spaces should expect, in return, glazed looks, yawns, furtive texting, and attempts to appear to be listening thoughtfully. Whatever your issue may be, long before the RPC starts taking public testimony, it has already decided what it will do.
Welcome to San Francisco’s version of pre-scripted Kabuki theater. Read More...
What’s Happening with Community Choice Aggregation?
City government is getting into the business of providing electric power to San Francisco households and businesses.Under a law passed shortly after the energy crisis, cities may organize a company to compete with PG&E. Although the energy crisis waned, Greens joined long-time public power advocates, like the Bay Guardian and other “progressives” to push “power to the people!” Greens hope that community choice aggregation will bring greener power. Read More...
Westside Real Estate Report
Pricing a Property to Sell Fast and
for the Highest Price
What sales strategy sells homes fast and for the highest amount? We will answer that question after a market update.
The median price for homes within the distribution area of the Observer was $949,943 in the past month. There were forty-four homes sold with eighty-eight active on the market at this writing. With a two month supply of homes the area is solidly in a seller’s market right now. Currently there are thirty-eight properties under contract and proceeding through the sale process. Citywide the median price for single family homes is $750,500, down 4% with sales volume increasing over the prior month by 32% and 41% over the same month of the prior year.
What I heard At City Hall
By
Gregory P. Miller
If you have read my previous articles in this newspaper (Perils to our Parks), you will not be surprised to learn that I support the proposed Charter Amendment which would change how Recreation and Park Commissioners are appointed.
Currently, all 7 Commissioners and the General Manager are appointed by the Mayor. The amendment calls for 3 to be chosen by the mayor, 3 by the Board of Supervisors, and one by a joint selection by the Mayor and the President of the BOS. Read More…
PENSION TSUNAMI: The Billion-Dollar Bubble
During recent periods of economic prosperity our City officials, along with compassionate voters, created relatively generous pensions for many City employees. With the recent downturn in our economy and loss of millions in value from the City’s pension fund, these rapidly increasing costs threaten to jeopardize the City’s financial future. The Office of the Controller estimates that the funding of pension and retiree health benefit costs for fiscal year 2010 is $413 million, which is expected to rise to $1 billion in 2015, approximately a third of the City’s current General Fund. The expected General Fund
contribution, which is approximately 61% of the total pension and
retiree health benefits costs, will increase annually by $60 million
the next five years. This shift in resources may drastically impact funding to other basic services, affecting all San Franciscans. Read
More...
REMEMBER WHEN
Westwood Park Grocery Company’s building under construction (not before 1917). Anyone knowing the address or date of this building please contact editor@westsideobserver.com. Photo: Gabriel Moulin, Permission: Moulin Studios. 1460 Grand Ave, San Rafael, 94901 and the SF Public Library Historical Photograph Collection.
More Articles of Interest in the July-August Issue
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The June 2010 Issue
Raiding the Public’s Trust
By Patrick Monette-Shaw
Why does Laguna Honda Hospital (LHH) continue trampling on, and raiding, the public’s trust? Trust once lost, is difficult to regain.
On May 20, ABC-TV “I-Team” investigative journalist Dan Noyes aired a story about Laguna Honda’s Patient Gift Fund, setting off a firestorm of outrage. The investigation revealed LHH’s Patient Gift Fund solicits donations for patients, then spends large sums on staff parties, but hasn’t informed donors of this bait-and-switch.
Taraval Medical Cannabis Approved
A lot of people were disappointed by the decision of the Planning Commission to approve our Permit at 2139 Taraval Street, but there are also a lot of people for whom the decision considerably improves access to their medication and who are very pleased. We appreciate the Planning Commission’s members who carefully researched our proposal, we know there was a lot of pressure to vote against a site at this location but we know, after they studied the facts, they voted fairly and according to the State laws and San Francisco regulations. This was not something that they had on their calendar with no warning…
Pristine Green Space Turns Industrial Lot
By Anthony Roy
Located at the corner of 7th Ave and Clarendon Ave, Laguna Honda Reservoir has long been one of the few remaining green spaces in The City. To the shock of area residents, the SF Public Utility Commission (PUC) has plans to permanently use this site for industrial purposes.
Just a few years ago, the area on the east end of the reservoir facing Clarendon was filled with flowering shrubs and blackberry bushes. When the PUC began the …
Parents Take On School District
SFUSD conducted numerous meetings to get community input and the communities spoke loud and clear in favor of neighborhood schools. But the SFUSD has made no such policy commitment, despite encouraging the media to portray the new policy as one of neighborhood schools.
Civil Sidewalks - The Sit/Lie Ordinance
San Franciscan’s are headed for a debate and possible election on maintaining civility on our sidewalks. It’s too bad that it’s come to this, most San Franciscans would have loved to have not seen this day, but unbelievably, the situation has brought us to this point. Groups of street urchins traveling the country, living off the fat of the land and imagining themselves to be hippies, have descended upon the Haight Ashbury neighborhood over the years. In just the last few years the situation has gotten very ugly. Either a new style of anarchy is making its way through these travelers or these kids have an even larger sense of entitlement than previous generations.
Hijacking The Democratic Party
Voltaire said that when you hear the news, wait for the sacrament of confirmation. I have some news, and if it is confirmed in the June 8 election, the sacrament you will need is Extreme Unction because it will be the death of the Democratic Party as San Francisco has known it.
This is the handiwork of the irrepressible Chris Daly, operating under the big wingspan of Aaron Peskin. The two Supervisors, one termed out and the other about-to-be, a few years ago decided it would be lonely out there in the cold, and conspired to create a permanent government…
Vote NO on A On June 8
Proposition A — San Francisco School Board’s “School Facilities Special Tax” — is the most destructive and divisive measure on the June 8 ballot. This Proposition is only “special” because it forces property owners to subsidize the public education costs of City renters. Quietly snuggled among Statewide energy measures, politician and judge races, and controversial City propositions, Proposition A is almost guaranteed to be overlooked by San Francisco voters.
CCA: Coming To A Socket Near You
SF’s Broken Pension System Is Breaking Us!
By Jeff Adachi
San Francisco is at a crossroads. There’s a fiscal train wreck just around the corner. In fact, it’s already here. With our city’s failing infrastructure and roads, a $787 million deficit next year, $1.2 billion in city employee pension costs that are projected to double in five years, the term “go for broke” takes on a new meaning. Will San Francisco become the next Vallejo?
Not if San Franciscans for SMART Reform is successful in getting San Francisco’s finances back on track. SF SMART Reform is a a coalition of community, neighborhood and business leaders committed to Sustainable, Measured, Accountable, Result-oriented and Transparent (SMART) reform.
News from the West of Twin Peaks Central Council
Transit, Cleaner Energy and new officers were the main discussion topics at the WOTPCC meeting on May 24th. In the absence of both President George Wooding and Vice President Don Dutil, Treasurer Carolyn Squeri opened the meeting at 7:40 PM. Secretary Rae Doyle called the roll and a quorum was reached before a group of approximately 24 attendees.
Oh The Games People Play
By now many of you have read or heard about the tremendous deficit that our City is facing this year projected for the next few years to come. How does all of this happen so rapidly, especially in a City like ours that has such a solid and far reaching tax base, that is a tourist destination for people from all over the World, is headquarters to some of the wealthiest corporations in the country, and is encompassed in a land-locked 47 square miles with only approximately 800,000 residents?
GG Park: The Peril to our Parks (Pt. iii)
By
Gregory P. Miller
In my first two articles, I explored some of the problems threatening our parkland today and what has caused them. Here are some ideas for solving them. I encourage readers to look closely at these ideas and come up with some of your own – if you wish to see parkland continue as open space in San Francisco, your parks need you to become involved!
Westside Real Estate Report
Is the Real Estate Storm Passing?
By Jed Lane
San Francisco’s real estate market is again acting in an untypical way. Normally as spring builds so do sales. Right through August there is a month over month increase in activity. April 2010 sales volume decreased 17% from March’s sales. For comparison, April 2010 was better than April 2009, ironically by 17%.
The inventory of residential property, condos and single-family homes is up 7.6% over March 2010, but there was a decline of 8% from April of 2009. With sales down and inventory up the time to absorb the current inventory has increased to 3.4 months for single family homes and 5.7 months for condos. This should be good news for buyers allowing them to get what they want, if they can get financing.
Politics and Personal Financial Planning
You may be aware that the Senate recently passed bill s. 3217, known as the Restoring American Financial Stability Act bill (“RAFSA”), in a vote of 59-39 and renamed it H.R. 4173, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Broadly speaking, this 1,500 page bill seeks to overhaul the financial markets in order to avert the next financial meltdown.
Do you really think this bloated behemoth of a bill is going to do that?
Where were the lawmakers before the mortgage meltdown? Before the fall of Lehman Brothers? Before Merrill Lynch was bought by Bank of America? Before Madoff?
REMEMBER WHEN
Pine Lake Park, August 27,
1927
Photo courtesy of the San Francisco History Center, SF Public Library
More Articles of Interest in the June Issue
Ocean Beach Infrastructure | Jonathan Farrell
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the May Issue
Déjà Vu: Tackling the Breach at Ocean Beach
On January 11, 2010 Mayor Gavin Newsom declared “a state of local emergency to exist in connection with the severe erosion along the Great Highway, due to a series of large swells, windstorms and rain storms at Ocean Beach.” Parts of the Great Highway were slipping into the ocean, and parking lots at the bottom of Sloat Boulevard were disintegrating.
Yes, recent wind and rain storms eroded Ocean Beach, but this “emergency” was actually caused by years of City-deferred maintenance, inaction, and neglect.
May 8th Traffic Nightmare-Bus Cuts
MUNI Schedule Cuts Expect longer waits and more crowded buses. The SF Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) will begin MUNI schedule changes May 8th including reduced frequencies and shorter hours of operation on many bus routes and rail lines. “needed to bridge the Fiscal Year 2009-10 operating budget deficit,” according to official sources. For details on specific schedule changes please visit www.sfmta.com.
Construction Disruptions May 8th is also the beginning of preliminary work on the St. Francis Circle Rail Replacement Project. “The busiest intersection on the Westside,” it is expected to cause major traffic tie-ups.
Prop 16-PG&E's Public Option Perplex
You’ve got to hand it to the ad boys over on Beale Street. The day they realized they could not compete in the marketplace against cheaper community rates must have been a sobering moment. Seems PG&E’s monopoly is threatened by Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) in Marin and San Francisco counties. Since Sacramento’s SMUD continues to provide cheaper power to the capitol building itself and provides money for community welfare as well, the CCA competition has befuddled the PG&E lobbyists in Sacramento. They were unable to wine and dine the elected representatives to get their anti-competition legislation passed the old-fashioned way.
No on the Bloated Water Bond
By
Jennifer Clary
The battle over California water has once again taken center stage. The Governor and State Legislature have placed an $11.14 billion water bond on the November 2010 ballot. Don’t let the name fool you! The so-called “Safe Clean and Reliable Drinking Water Act of 2010” provides funding to build new dams and mitigate some of the environmental damage caused by a Peripheral Canal.
You heard right – the Peripheral Canal! The debate over that boondoggle has resurfaced.
GG Park: The Peril to our Parks Pt. 2
By
Gregory P. Miller
On April 15th, the SF Recreation and Park Commission (RPC) approved replacing the existing natural grass athletic fields at the west end of Golden Gate Park with over 6 acres of artificial turf. The area will be illuminated every night of the year until 10 p.m. with almost a quarter million watts of night sports lighting. The SF Planning Department paved the way with its earlier ruling that the proposal was a routine renovation and no Environmental Impact Report was required.
These decisions were made despite the written concerns of over 1500 residents and over 80 neighborhood, environmental, and historic preservation groups.
West of Twin Peaks Central Council
By Mitch Bull
Help to “Fix Muni Now”
The ballot initiative to restructure the City Charter as it relates to MUNI was the biggest focus at the April 26th meeting of the West of Twin Peaks Central Council meeting.
Council President George Wooding presided over an informative meeting that featured four “guest” speakers as well as the usual monthly information that is shared and discussed between the WOTPCC board and the various neighborhood improvement association delegates.
Photo: Supervisor Chu on pot.
LHH Lessons Unlearned Impacts
All Bond-Financed Projects
Have any lessons been learned from the rebuild of Laguna Honda Hospital? Or will LHH rebuild mistakes be repeated on other City construction projects — like San Francisco General Hospital — because LHH’s lessons weren’t learned?
Photo caption: Shortly following excavation, the Health Commission was told in June 2004 of a $25 million cost overrun; in five short years, overruns skyrocketed to $183.4 million, largely due to “change orders.” Where was the CGOBOC?
The Tail That's Wagging the Dog!
You know folks, this little newspaper, the Westside Observer, being circulated mainly in the southwestern segment of the City, is doing much more for the welfare of our residents than any of us realize. By printing the truth while exposing the lies, spin, and corruption so embedded in our local government, and then offering workable solutions, a real service is being performed.
Full
Employment for Rasputins, Puppets & All Their Apparatchiks
For those of you hoping to see financial relief on the horizon due to the Financial Reform underway in Washington, forget it. This reform package will not ease up on present credit constrictions in play nor will it facilitate easier access to borrowing. This reform package is strictly a triple play that pits big banks, small banks and Wall Street firms against each other. However, rest assured that when the smoke clears and the dust settles, you and I, and the rest of middle class America will be straddled with new synthetic fees and charges for these changes.
Westside Real Estate Report
Do You Qualify for a Loan?
By Jed Lane
Remember just a short time ago when lenders would do anything for business? They were competing to sign you up and give you any amount of money you wanted to make your plans happen. Well, as we know, it went overboard and money was given to everyone that asked nicely. Remember even longer ago when there were local lenders that knew what the community needed, could address those needs and kept the profits local to be re-invested locally?
Will You Help SAve Our City?
Sustainable City Employees’ Benefits Reform
Measure Slated for November Ballot
In the February issue of the Westside Observer, I wrote about the need for San Francisco to reform its pension system. I noted that while our City is facing a $522 million dollar budget deficit, we are paying $525 million in retiree pension and health care costs. According to projections by the City’s retirement board, the city’s annual pension costs will balloon to $818 million in 2016.
Fix MUNI Now
San Franciscans have put up with late buses, fare increases and service cuts for too long. Now San Franciscans have the opportunity to stand up and say that enough is enough and we need to Fix Muni Now!
To improve Muni service and oppose unjust fare increases and unnecessary cuts, hardworking San Franciscans are joining the Fix Muni Now campaign and signing the petition to place a reform measure on the November 2010 ballot.
Business Corner
Alma Via of San Francisco proves that “Home” is where the heart is and
where
Caring comes first
If asked, most people will have different ideas and memories when asked what constitutes the concept of “home” to them. From a Midwestern farmhouse to a bustling San Francisco neighborhood, all of us have experiences that help to define “home and family.” As we gain in maturity we will have another shared experience, aging and the way that we choose to live. Some of us will live with adult children while others will keep the “family home, or apartment” until the physical or financial upkeep becomes too much.
More Articles of Interest in the May Issue
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the April Issue
The Duel at the BOATHOUSE at Lake Merced!
By Former Supervisor Tony Hall
In the 1850’s Lake Merced was a popular dueling ground because of its remoteness from the rest of the City. Indeed it was the site of one of the best known duels in the Old West. The duel between U.S. Senator David Broderick and Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court David Terry capped a bitter personal feud between the two powerful politicians and ended in the Senator’s death. Today, another feud is ongoing, only this time it’s between the City’s ruling intelligentsia and the citizens they are supposed to represent.
The Peril to our Parks
By
Gregory P. Miller
Many San Franciscans are shocked when they learn the details of the proposed “renovation” of the Beach Chalet Soccer Fields in Golden Gate Park. How did San Francisco come to the point where converting over 13 acres of parkland into an artificial, brightly lighted, single-purpose sports complex is acceptable to City officials and some of its citizens? Our Soccer community has legitimate needs, but why has there been no serious public exploration of alternatives which would be less destructive to our Park?
The
Little Guy Gets It Again
After a 34 year Rip Van Winkle slumber, it was good to see the Building Trade Unions demonstrate at City Hall a couple of weeks ago for advancement of union developer interests – interests which benefit from proposed deferred permit fees and a reduction in the inclusionary housing requirements, among other singularities. Riding the momentum of major successes at the federal level and striking while the poker is still hot, these big developer interests, such as Lenar, decided to demand local level benefits that would complIment those recent monetary windfalls gained at the federal level – windfalls estimated at
City the Big Winner
as Sunshine Proves Its Value
Kimo Crossman and Allen Grossman are the kind of citizens we admire. These two advocates for open government have conducted their own war on backroom deals that has taken years out of their lives—so far at their own expense. They’ve been vilified by Ken Garcia in the Examiner and in articles in the Chronicle as well as the SF Weekly for “abusing the system” by requesting that the City turn over
Neighborhood Schools Admissions Policy Determined
On March 10th, 2010 the Board of Education passed the long discussed “new” admissions policy, scrapping what had become a hated and often vilified system that was cobbled together after lawsuits to end exclusions based on racial quotas. For almost a decade, San Francisco’s kids have been assigned to schools based on a diversity index that tried to place kids in schools based on the dogmatic belief that an education in an economically diverse setting is the best thing for all children.
Tasers: Controversy or Political Fumble?
On March 4th 2010 the Police Commission voted 4 to 3 to not allow Chief Gascón the opportunity to draft a policy on the deployment of Tasers. As incomprehensible as it sounds it’s true - they denied him the opportunity to DRAFT a policy.
MUNI: Operators Salaries v. MUNI Riders?
by George Wooding
It is time for City voter’s to get on the bus and sign District 7 Supervisor Sean Elsbernd’s Muni Reform initiative. The initiative will force Muni operators to negotiate their pay scale and work rules by using collective bargaining. Elsbernd’s initiative is simply asking Muni’s 2,000-member transportation workers union, TWU-250A, to negotiate salaries like almost every other City union.
Westside Real Estate Report
Jumbo Loans for Westside Homes
By Jed Lane
Last month my article was on the lack of lenders for our market and the obstacles the Federal secondary mortgage markets are inserting into transactions. I think they read my article and mended their ways, hah! Whatever happened, the situation’s improving. The sales figures for the month of March show a City-wide increase in volume and a rise in the median price.
On the Westside the median price is $832,000, 4% higher than the SF median. There were 39 sales closed in March. 67 properties are in contract and 91 properties are actively for sale. With 39 sold and 91 active there’s a 2.3 month supply of homes on the market now. Ostensibly that’s a seller’s market, but it’s still a screwy market. March 1st there were 62 active properties and only 18 sales in February. The absorption rate decreased from 3.4 months to 2.3 months even with an increase in inventory. This is all good news for the start of the typical selling season.
West of Twin Peaks Central Council
By Mitch Bull
MUNI contracts, Police and Firefighter facilities and broken sidewalks held “center stage” at the March 23rd meeting of the West of Twin Peaks Central Council meeting.
The West Portal Community Business District
Now’s the Time to Get Involved
All of us associated with the West Portal community, merchants, customers,landlords, residents and visitors usually agree on one thing: West Portal Avenue is a special (albeit) hidden jewel within San Francisco.
Matt Rogers (Papenhousen Hardware) and several colleagues are working feverishly to create a West Portal Community Business District, or Community Benefits District (CBD) in city government speak.
REMEMBER WHEN
Gold Mine Hill and the surrounding
area in the Diamond Heights district, June 26,1953
Notes Newscopy: “THE VACANT HEIGHTS—Big, empty hill in center of this picture
is Gold Mine Hill, one of three vacant heights on which Redevelopment Agency
proposes to build 2300 dwellings. In foreground is Miraloma Park, just beyond
that is O'Shaughnessy-blvd and dropping off from the boulevard is Glen Canyon,
part of Diamond Heights development...”
Photo courtesy of the San Francisco History Center, SF Public Library
More Articles of Interest in the April Issue
Real Travel: Pre Season Giants
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MORE HIGHLIGHTS FROM PAST ISSUES
