precita.org

Treat Avenue residents are up in arms about a rash of DPT ticketing Saturday (1/31/09) on their street.

While Treat Ave does have some significant parking and traffic issues (many due to the fact that it is a narrow dead end street with no turn around), Saturday's ticketing was all about what one person called "petty technicalities that wasn't harming anyone".
What we know is that at 8am Saturday morning, DPT cited over 10 cars on one block for being parked the wrong direction on the street. Because there were no apparent safety issues, many people felt this was a "revenue action" on the part of DPT. People have stated that because it was the last day of the month, that DPT may be trying to reach revenue quotas. (We're trying to contact DPT to find out more about this.)

One neighbor has left signs around asking people to complain about this by emailing Supervisor Campos' office.

Here's a letter that's been posted on the street from Barbara:



Other parking issues have been double-parking and blocking the sidewalk. DPT has repeatedly ticketing the "Tiger Beer" Bajaj Scooter Pickup (which is a motorcycle under California law) for parking on the sidewalk in front of the owner's house; and ticketing of other cars for protruding onto the sidewalk from their driveways.

Many residents have professed that protruding onto the sidewalk is acceptable if it does not interfere with with pedestrians. While some residents do park in a way that impedes the pedestrian right-of-way, those are rarely ticketed.

Double parking is a more-mixed issue. Treat is a narrow street, and sometimes double-parkers make it impossible for wide vehicle (and delivery trucks) to safely pass by them. Other times double parking makes it hard for other residents to get out of their driveways.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

[UPDATE: this is happening in Sunnyside, Glen Park and other parts of Bernal Heights as well. DPT needs the revenue!]

Labels: Neighborhood Watch, News, parking, precita valley neighboars, Precita Valley Neighbors, pvn

Late last week, many people were wondering what was going on with the piles of dirt that were dumped in the middle of Precita Park. We found out today, when volunteers from One Brick were helping improve the grass in Precita Park by distributing compost on the grounds.



Thanks to everyone at One Brick for helping improve our park!

One Brick brings an innovative twist to the volunteer experience by creating a social atmosphere around volunteering: after each volunteer event volunteers gather at a local restaurant or cafe where they get to know one another in a relaxed social setting.

Labels: Precita Park, Precita Valley Neighbors

The city is installing a new catch basin at the intersection of Precita (North side) and Folsom, as well as replacing the sewer lines from around 343 Precita to Folsom. There will be no parking during working hours for the first 2 weeks in February along that stretch of Precita. Additionally, there is no parking along Folsom near Precita.
This is part of a more complex project that will also involve the building of "bulb outs" at Precita and Folsom, financed as part of the 'Safe Routes to School' project.

So expect there to be some parking issues around the park for the next few weeks, but the impact is expected to be less severe than most street cleaning times.

Labels: construction, News, Precita Park, Precita Valley Neighbors, traffic calming

Precita Valley Neighbors Meeting

Saturday, January 31st, 10am – 11:00am

Charlie’s Deli, 3202 Folsom Street -Folsom at Precita


This is a special continuation meeting from last weeks meeting, focusing on issues on Stoneman (neighbors want stop signs, SF traffic engineering wants bulb-outs and speed bumps):

AGENDA:

I. Stoneman Traffic Calming – Stoneman Neighbors discuss how to curb traffic speeds

II. NW Bernal Traffic Calming Requests Updates

Labels: Precita Valley Neighbors, pvn, traffic calming

There has been some strong neighborhood opposition to a building permit for a restaurant at Harrison and Precita. There has also been some support for a restaurant, so this was a lively topic at the Precita Valley Neighbors meeting last Saturday.

We were brought up to date with the history of this property: about 35 years ago, the ground floor was used as a small store, but for the last 35 years it has been used as a residence by artists Susan Cervantes (of Precita Eyes) and her late husband. The property was not used as a gallery, as alleged by the current property owners, and therefore should not be considered a commercially zoned space. (Someone stated that Cervantes never even took part in Open Studios, but the location is listed in the October 2006 Open Studio guide. [pdf]) Cervantes was evicted in 2005, and eventually came to a settlement with the building owner.

Several immediate neighbors have expressed concerns about increased traffic, parking issues as well as problems from rodents, smells and fire dangers to the surrounding homes. Others are upset at the processes the owner of the building has used to

One of the neighbors that lives one door down from the location stated that she's not opposed to having a restaurant there, but "It's chinese food, it's all fried, which is different than having a sandwich shop." This offended one of the attendees who then walked out of the meeting, saying he would vote for the restaurant just because of her statement. She then clarified and said "We don't know enough about what they're planning on putting in there to make a judgement."

After a heated discussion, it was moved that "The organization [PVN] object to the application as filed because it falsely states that the proposed restaurant space is a commercial use where as it has in fact been residential for more than 30 years, and therefore any commercial use would require rezoning." A majority of the attendees supported this.

There was much more to discuss and time had run out, so it was suggested that a second meeting happen next week to discuss the issues of traffic calming on Stoneman more.

Labels: construction, parking, Precita Valley Neighbors, pvn, Zoning

At least 25 people showed up for the PVN meeting last Saturday.



Andreas Power from the San Francisco Planning Department spoke at the PVN meeting about the Cesar Chavez improvements. There have been many ongoing workshops with the extended community, and a final design has been chosen.

The features will include:

• 14’ planted median


• Regular spacing of trees on median and sidewalks. As well as the purely aesthetic and environmental benefits, trees along roads are proven to slow down traffic.


• Corner bulb extensions at most intersections increase visibility an provide a shorter street crossing distance for pedestrians.


• Pedestrian refuge areas halfway through cross-walk in the median (a safe place for a pedestrian to stop who is unable to cross the entire street in the time available)


• Pedestrian lighting


• Bike lanes


• 4 lanes of traffic with turning pockets at Bryant, Folsom and Mission


• Stormwater planters, designed to catch street runoff and not funnel all the water into the City's storm drain system

One of the issues that has come up is the removal of the left turns on Alabama and Harrison. Some neighbors are concerned that this will put more traffic onto Precita for the people who want to get to Harrison or Alabama, but other thought that drivers would just make a U-turn at the streets where permitted.

The Planning Department cited a traffic study they did that counted traffic flows and turns, and found out that a very small number of cars turn left on Alabama or Harrison, and they believe that this will cause very minimal disruption.

One other issue had come up: while funds had been set aside for this project, the State budget crisis is impacting its progress. However, there is also belief that Federal Stimulus funds will be available to fund the project in the near future.

Labels: Cesar Chavez, Precita Valley Neighbors, pvn, traffic calming

Please attend the meeting of Precita Valley Neighbors this Saturday at 10am, at Charlie's Deli on Folsom and Precita.

Two important issues will be covered:

Restaurant at Harrison and Precita- a building permit has been granted for a restaurant at Harrison and Precita (398 Precita / 3200 Harrison). Several neighbors are opposed to this, others support development of this site, which is currently a blight on the neighborhood. Please come to discuss the ramifications of a restaurant here.

Stoneman Traffic Calming- there are concerns that there is traffic traveling much too fast down Stoneman, and neighbors will discuss methods to slow down traffic while not impacting available parking on the street.

Also:

Andres Power, Cesar Chavez Street Traffic Planner from the SF Planning Department will present the most current design of Cesar Chavez. There has been neighborhood concern that adding bike lanes and reducing traffic lanes will force more traffic onto Precita.

Demece Garepis will give an update on "Solar Panel District 9 Aggregate Organizing Results" and PVN's plans for the Community Matching Funds for installation of solar panels in Precita Park Children’s Playground.

Precita Valley Neighbors Monthly Meeting
Saturday, January 24th, 10am – 11:00am at the
Charlie’s Deli
3202 Folsom Street -Folsom at Precita

Labels: construction, parking, Precita Park, Precita Valley Neighbors, pvn, real estate, traffic calming, Zoning

Here is a list of the Community Safety Camera Locations that are in our neighborhood. They're all north of Cesar Chavez and not immediately in our neighborhood, but they're in areas where residents often travel on their ways to and from home.

Mission 26th and Shotwell, NW Corner
Mission 26th and Shotwell, NW Corner
Mission 26th and Shotwell, NE Corner
Mission 26th and Shotwell, SW Corner
Mission Treat and Kamille, NE Corner
Mission Treat and Kamille, NE Corner
Mission 26th and Treat, SW Corner
Mission 26th and Treat, SW Corner
Mission 1350 block Treat, W side

From ECD Camera Locations [pdf].

Labels: crime, Neighborhood Watch

Once again, No Parking signs have been installed on Alabama Street and Esmeralda Avenue.



This fixes the dangerous traffic situation where there was only enough room for one car to travel around the curve there when cars were parked on both sides.

Labels: parking, traffic calming

You've probably noticed the water leaks on Harrison just uphill of Precita. DPW on Friday was trying to locate the exact underground location of the leak, but the leak hasn't been fixed yet.



This is the second leak of that kind in the last year that we know of, the last one was up the hill a bit more.

The SF Water Department staff told Precita.org that the water line the 3200 block of Harrison is almost 100 years old. One house on Harrison still has the original building permit to connect to the water main dated 1910.

The water main will need to be replaced at some point in the future, else residents will be getting a lot more visits from DPW to repair the leaks the spring up. The water line is a 3" pipe going up the street. It's amazing that it has lasted as long as it has!

In the mean time, if you see any more instances of water seeping up from the street, please call 311 and report it.

Labels: construction, water main

If you want to "opt out" of delivery of the Examiner, either permanently or temporarily, here's the link where you can make the request:

http://www.sfexaminer.com/delivery/Temporary_Delivery_Hold.html

Alternatively, you can send an email to both these addresses:

customerservice@dcexaminer.com
mcostello@sfexaminer.com

with the subject "Stop/Hold Examiner delivery request".

This saves the Examiner money, and cuts down on unnecessary recycling!

(Thanks to to Steve for this find)

Labels: Precita Valley Neighbors

Ingleside Station will host its monthly Police Community Relations Meeting on Tuesday, January 20th at 7 p.m. in the Station's Community Room.

Guest Speaker: Sergeant Mario Molina, renowned expert on gangs.

Map to Ingleside station below:

Labels: gangs, Neighborhood Watch

The SF Water Department will be doing some construction on Harrison near Precita. We don't have any more details at this time.

UPDATE: work has begun. [1/16/09]

Labels: construction

Due to the holidays, the police blotter wasn't being published on a regular basis. Here's what has been going on that's of interest to the neighborhood:

December 20th, 2:00 am 1600 block of Alabama St. Robbery: A 26 year old Precita park man was attacked by three other men and robbed of his backpack.

December 29 6:50 am Folsom St. & Precita Ave. Shots Fired: A resident reported seeing a man with a gun fire two shots in the air.

Labels: crime, Neighborhood Watch, police blotter

On January 6, 2009 1500 block of Treat Ave.(Oakes Children's Center) A student was cited for assaulting a school employee. SFPD Case 090018289

(This is the first complaint we've heard about the behavior of the students at Oakes Children's Center. In general, they're well contained.)

Labels: crime, Precita Valley Neighbors

There was a fire at the Rite-Way market on Precita and Alabama on December 26th. The fire started in one of the refrigeration units. The store will remain closed for at least a month. There was some damage to the apartments above as well.




We are told the owners had insurance and are waiting on their claim before they can rebuild the store. We wish them well and are glad that no one was hurt.

Labels: News, precita, Precita Park