San Francisco Metblogs » Development

3rd and King Borders store to close

Mark Pritchard — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:50:44 +0000

SFist reports that “store closing” discount signs have appeared in the aisles of the Borders bookstore on Third and King Streets, depriving Giants fans of a rendezvous spot and after-game shopping experience. The store, whose cafe was usually lively, has been open pretty much ever since the ballpark opened ten years ago, is another victim of the changing book retail industry. A bowling alley may go in its place, SFist reports. LiveSOMA has more details, and the closing date, Oct. 16.

At the Roxie: ‘Ready, Set, Bag!’ benefit for SF Food Bank

Mark Pritchard — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:49:26 +0000

The film “Ready, Set, Bag!” (formerly titled “Paper or Plastic?“) will be shown tonight at the Roxie Theatre in a benefit for the San Francisco Food Bank, the city’s non-profit group that helps feed thousands of families every week using groceries and produce donated by stores and growers. The program starts at 7:00 pm.

The film follows the finalists in the National Grocers Association Best Bagger Championship, which is exactly what it sounds like, I guess. Also on the program is a short, Leonardo, by Pixar animator Jim Capobianco.

Speaking of the Food Bank, VISA is doubling donations to the group right now. So go to their website and give ‘em some money. The Food Bank is a great community organization.

The cost of living in the Bay Area

Mark Pritchard — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:24:42 +0000

A liberal think tank, the Urban Land Institute, has issued a report on the cost to working people of living in the Bay Area. The report, Bay Area Burden, examines the impact on working people of high costs of housing and transportation, looks at how proximity to mass transit helps relieve the burden, and asks policymakers to take working people’s needs into account when making land use decisions.

Their website, bayareaburden.org, has a Housing + Transportation Calculator that’s fun to play with.

Hey, it’s an election

Mark Pritchard — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:39:03 +0000

It’s election day! Who knew? In San Francisco, the only interesting thing on the ballot is Prop. D., the proposal to put giant Times Square-type advertising signs on Market Street in order to “enliven” it.

Are they kidding? Apparently not. Here are some arguments in favor and a Chronicle editorial against. And here is the whole list of issues and candidates running, including City Atty. Dennis Herrera (unopposed).

Go to the SF Dept of Elections for results tonight.

Flickr photo of Times Square by Scott Beale at Laughing Squid.

Cathedral Hill Hotel to become hospital

Mark Pritchard — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:27:13 +0000

Gene Hackman as Harry Caul monitoring the goings-on in the Jack Tar Hotel

I was shocked to see this Curbed SF story on the proposed conversion of San Francisco’s Cathedral Hill Hotel to a hospital by the octopus-like California Pacific Medical Center. I don’t know about you, but the first thing I think about whenever I pass that hotel is that part of the great Coppolla film The Conversation (1974) was filmed there when it was known as the Jack Tar Hotel. (Part of it was also filmed at the Embarcadero Center, and somehow that office complex does not evoke the same associations.)

A personal memory I have of that hotel is the 1990 and 1991 Out/Write conferences, which brought together the whole LGBT literary world for the first time. Searching for some mention of these conferences on the web, I found a lovely piece by Edmund White, in which he gives a glowing description of the 1991 conference.

Also read: Curbed SF on the Jack Tar Hotel

Time Lapse of Bridge Being Built

Anna — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:50:56 +0000

Who knows how to post YouTubes on Metblogs (tips welcome), but here is a time lapse of the bridge being built!

High speed rail contract put off

Mark Pritchard — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 23:49:35 +0000

California’s High Speed Rail Authority delayed a vote to award a $9 million public relations contract when some commission members let it be known that the contract was about to be awarded to some cronies of Gov. Arnold Schwartzenegger, and that two of the three commission members who recommended the PR firm used to work with one of its principals.

Wasn’t Schwartzenegger elected by promising not to do business as usual?

Google still leaves much of southeast SF from Street View

Mark Pritchard — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 05:32:41 +0000

Although San Francisco was one of the first cities to have Google’s camera-equipped cars tootling up and down its streets to produce Street View imagery, the service has never been very good for the southeast part of the city. With yesterday’s update to the service, several neighborhoods, including much of Bernal Heights and Visitacion Valley, still lack coverage. Here’s Bernal Heights:

As a Bernal Heights resident whose block is not covered, I have mixed feelings about being left out. Should I feel exclusive, or excluded? At least it’s an improvement over the original coverage which showed only half the city.

Click the image above for an image that shows the southeastern quadrant of the city, where coverage is lacking.

Previously:
SF stops at Cesar Chavez?
Google maps now displays BART, Caltrain lines
Petition to have bike routes on Google maps
Fun with Google maps

Noe Valley’s Bell Market closing Sunday

Mark Pritchard — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:21:46 +0000

The Bell Market in Noe Valley is set to close at 4:00 pm on Sunday, Feb. 15, according to signs posted on the store. I went in there last night to buy some baby food (for the cat — I don’t have any babies) and they were totally out of what I wanted. A look around the store revealed that many shelves were already bare, with empty banana cartons lining the empty bottom shelves.

Curbed SF has been saying that Whole Foods is taking over the location. Their most recent post on the matter says the location is expected to open in the fall, leaving more than six months for renovation to take place.

Planning Commission denies permit to American Apparel

Mark Pritchard — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 06:49:52 +0000

Less than a month after local writer-activist Stephen Elliott began organizing a campaign against a proposed American Apparel store on Valencia St., the San Francisco Planning Commission denied a permit to the controversial clothing manufacturer-retailer.

The vote by the commission was 7-0, the Stop American Apparel website reported.

Update: Elliott, who was in New York last night promoting his new online magazine The Rumpus, blogged about the commission’s vote and his efforts.