Winter 2006
GLEN PARK NEWS
Volume 23, No. 4
Glen Parkʼs Compost
Is a Hit With Farmers
Americans produce enough waste as
a country each year to fill a convoy
of garbage trucks long
by enough to wrap around
Charlotte the Earth six times and
Ely then reach halfway to the
moon. In 2002, 483 mil-
lion tons of waste filled these emblem-
atic convoys. Yard trimmings and food
residuals made up about a quarter of
the load.
So whatʼs the problem with throw-
ing out leaves and veggies with Styro-
foam and diapers? Well, diverted green
waste could reduce the need for chemi-
cal fertilizers, promote higher yields of
agricultural crops, help facilitate habitat
rehabilitation and significantly lessen
our landfill-bound loads.
Thatʼs why progressive people
like San Franciscans are troubled that
a material as valuable as green waste
is getting thrown out with the trash.
So it was with the hope of diverting 75
percent of the cityʼs waste by 2010 (and
reaching zero waste by 2020) that the
City implemented the “Fantastic Three”
curbside recycling program, which
introduced the green bin to residents
in 1997.
Currently about 150,000 San Fran-
ciscans and 2,000 businesses compost
their green waste. These composting
residents and restaurants rescue about
300 tons of food waste a day. Thatʼs
80,000 tons of mostly food scraps
diverted each year! Combined with
intensified recycling efforts, weʼve now
diverted 63 percent of the cityʼs waste
from the landfill. However, the 2010
deadline is approaching fast. While
a large number of local businesses,
which tend to generate large quantities
of green waste, are composting, we
have a long way to go.
More than 5,000 food-related San
Official Newspaper of the Glen Park Association Published Quarterly
www.glenparkassociation.com
Francisco businesses feed our 760,000
residents. We have a lot of people who
love to eat a lot of good food. In effect,
we produce large quantities of nitrogen-
rich food waste. In fact, food scraps
account for a whopping 19 percent of
the cityʼs solid waste.
What would happen if all San Fran-
ciscans embraced the green bin?
Letʼs look at those who already do.
The 80,000 tons of mostly food scraps
they toss in their green bins are com- The Glen Park BART station was the location for a scene from the movie The
bined with leaves and lawn clippings Pursuit of Happyness, starring Will Smith. Photo by Michael Waldstein
from Dixon and Vacaville and tons of
straw from the University of California
at Davis veterinary medicine school.
Hollywood Comes to Glen Park
This food-scrap-and-lawn-clip- BART riders might have thought theyʼd plays a homeless father in San Francisco
pings mixture is important because entered a slight time warp when they who goes on to become a wealthy stock
compost—at least good compost—is caught the train on Sun- broker.
a delicate mix of browns and greens. by day, October 16. The ads The shoot involved legions of pro-
Compost is decaying organic matter: a Elizabeth on the walls above the duction people in addition to the cast.
rich, nutritious soil-like substance com- Weise tracks were for Betamax All the actual filming took place under-
prising both nitrogen-rich and carbon- & video cameras, the Brooke ground in the station, which remained
rich materials, decomposed by helpful Bonnee Shields movie The Blue open the entire time. Remarkably, people
fungi and bacteria. Waldstein Lagoon and cars that continued to go in and out of the station
Food waste from San Francisco and havenʼt been produced in and hop on trains without even seeming
yard waste from Davis and Dixon unite the U.S. for more than 20 years. to notice that a movie was being filmed
at Norcalʼs Jepson Prairie Organics But it was no science fiction event, down at the far end of the platform.
facility, a massive composting facility only the magic of Hollywood. Megastar After taking over the station on a
outside Vacaville. There, the food/yard Will Smith was filming a scene for his nonrush hour Sunday, the cast and crew
waste combination is loaded into 200- upcoming movie The Pursuit of Happy- were treated to a catered lunch under
CONTINUED ON PAGE 7 ness at our neighborhood station. Smith tents set up in the St. Johnʼs school-
yard.
This isnʼt the first time Glen Park
Glen Park Association Meeting Notice has been immortalized on film. Kristin
Tuesday, January 10, 2006 Treiber of the San Francisco Film Com-
7:30 p.m. mission says at least one episode of the
St. John’s School, 925 Chenery St. Nash Bridges TV series was filmed at
Parking available a residence in Glen Park. Playwright
Philip Kan Gotanda, now a Berkeley
All are welcome. Come and meet your neighbors, nibble goodies and get the
resident, used his former Diamond
latest update on the market and library project, the sushi restaurant and more
Street Victorian to film one of his pro-
Glen Park happenings. Friends of the Urban Forest will offer a presentation
ductions. Readers who know of other
on how neighbors can add and maintain street trees. Staff from the Municipal
local film shoots are encouraged to
Transportation Agency will discuss planning underway for “traffic-calming”
contact the Glen Park News so we can
measures for OʼShaughnessy Boulevard and upper Bosworth Street.
begin keeping track.
Glen Park News Page 2 Winter 2006

Editorʼs Letter Glen Park Association News

Take a moment to look around you next But hearing their reminisces Am I the only one who wants that white dent bookstores and Bird & Beckett
reminds us how much things
time youʼre in the village. By this time plastic wrapping on Diamond Street to is among the liveliest. If you need the
change and yet how they stay the
next year, things will be very different. unfold on December 24, perfect frame for your old photograph
Weʼll have a supermarketsame. The dry cleaners was once a by
as a big holiday gift to or that special print, Art for Art next
by bustling with people, a five-and-dime. Higher Grounds was the neighborhood? At door will do exactly, once matching for
Elizabeth library spilling light and Michael
a café run by a Greek family. In the Rice
least the apartment win- me a 15-year-old frame.
Weise warmth out onto the street, ʼ70s—back before videos—a house dows already look like a Then back across Chenery Street to
perhaps a new restauranton Chenery was a makeshift movie real building. The Glen Glen Park Hardware for the tools and
across from Tygerʼs and something—no theater. Park Marketplace grocery and library hardware to put the pictures up, or fix
one yet knows what—in the old Dr. And few today probably remem- will not, alas, be here this season. anything else. Hal and Susan probably
Video space. ber when Glen Park had its own At this time of the year, though, have what you need and will tell you
stone gates welcoming people to
Last issueʼs call for stories about old think about our great business com- how to use it, and theyʼll send you to
Glen Park was heeded by one family, the neighborhood, as some San Fran- munity in “Downtown” Glen Park. the right place if they donʼt have it.
the Bagatelos, who have been liv- cisco neighborhoods still do. But that Walk to the Village, drive if you need You can look for the perfect gift at
ing in the neighborhood since the day might yet come again. The City to and find parking (the parking is there, ModernPast—some retro furnishings,
1940s. Theyʼve linked us up with is considering a plan to put them maybe a half block away. Think of it or cookware like your mother used to
other Greek families and begun to back as part of the traffic-calming as much shorter than walking across a have, which looks impressive now!
tell stories of what things were like measures for OʼShaughnessy Bou- parking lot at Stonestown. Across the street we have Para-
when horse-drawn carts rattled down levard and Bosworth Street between It is easy to support our local graph, with great window displays of
the streets and a fish monger went Malta and Elk streets. You can get the merchants: What other neighborhood stylish clothes. How about those “Glen
door to door selling his wares. Look full scoop at the next Glen Park Asso- in San Francisco has the Cheese Bou- Park” sweatshirts?
for their stories next issue, complete ciation meeting (details on page 1). tique, selling French bread baguettes, Donʼt forget the treats for your pet
with photos of Sweet Sueʼs back So whatʼs old becomes new fresh several times a day from Destina- at Critter Fritters. At one point, my
when it was a soda fountain. again. And weʼre here to tell you tion Bakery. The Cheese Boutique is household was feeding the dog, the
about it. We invite readers to share well-stocked with great cheese, olives, cats, the cockatiel, the guinea pigs and
other stories with us. If not from the sweets, snacks, pastas and condiments a hermit crab. Well, not all at once.
The Glen Park News ʼ40s, perhaps from last year. Whatʼs from around world. Go back to Destina- Look for some decent wines at
2912 Diamond St. #407 happening in our neighborhood? tion for the lemon bars or scones. Buddieʼs Market, or even the single-
San Francisco, CA 94131 What are your memories, thoughts After youʼre stocked for your par- malt Scotches behind the counter. Then
(415) 908-6728 and opinions? And if you have pho- ties, look for gifts at Bird & Beckett. you have to wrap and send some gifts?
news@glenparkassociation.org tos youʼd like to share, weʼre always The difference between Bird & Beckett Glen Park Mail Depot across from
happy to print them. and Borderʼs is that Eric has edited the BART will take care of you. Buy some
Please contact us at 908-6728 or stock to things youʼll want to read or bouquets at Glen Park Flowers at the
news@glenparkassociation.org. give. San Francisco is rich in indepen- BART plaza, and get off your feet, at
Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Weise Café Bello, Higher Grounds, Pebbles
Deputy Editor Rachel Gordon or Tygerʼs, or Red Rock or Glen Park
Photo Editor Liz Mangelsdorf The mission of the Glen Park Association is to promote the collective Station for something stronger.
Design Editor Mary Mottola interests of all persons living in Glen Park, to inform and educate about After all your shopping and errands
Copy Editor Denis Wade neighborhood and citywide issues, to promote sociability and friend- are done, you deserve some take-out
Advertising Nora Dowley
ships and to support beneficial neighborhood projects. from Yong De sushi, La Corneta or
Hong Sing, or reserve a table at Chen-
Reporters Joanna Pearlstein
GPA Board of Directors and Officers for 2005 ery Park for a celebration.
Miriam Moss
Emma Bland Smith
Enjoy your holidays in Glen Park!
Kate Stoia See you in the New Year at the quarterly
Denis Wade President Michael Rice 337-9894 GPA meeting on January 10.
Bonnee Waldstein mrice100@aol.com

Columnists Bill Berry Vice-President Jeff Britt 239-4347 Michael Rice is the Glen Park Associa-
Lori Chaplin amesbritt@earthlink.net tion president.
Jean Conner
Sharon Dezurick Treasurer Dennis Mullen 239-8337
Bevan Dufty
Recording Secretary Kim Watts 902-4767
Dorlan Eargle
Corresponding Secretary Tiffany Farr 215-2320
Tiffany and Paul Farr
Membership Secretary Sharon Dezurick 584-4224
Carol Maerzke
Katey Mulligan
Health & Environment Meredith Miller 908-6728
Michael Rice Neighborhood Improvement John Walmsley 452-0277 Glen Park News
Glen Park News Elizabeth Weise 908-6728
Photographers Ellen Rosenthal news@glenparkassociation.org The Glen Park News is pub-
Public Safety Volunteer needed lished quarterly by the Glen Park
Alex Smith
Association. Signed articles are
Bonnee Waldstein Recreation & Park Richard Craib 648-0862 the opinions of the authors and not
Michael Waldstein Traffic, Parking & Transportation Armando Fox fox@alum.mit.edu necessarily those of the Glen Park
Bill Wilson Zoning & Planning Volunteer needed Association. To advertise in the
Program Volunteer needed Glen Park News call 908-6728.
Winter 2006
U. S. Rep Tom Lantos at the Glen Park BART station.
U. S. Representative Tom Lantos
Brings Home the Bacon
It was a glorious Indian summer after-
noon on October 15. Glen Park residents
and local politicos, includ-
by ing Supervisor Bevan
Bonnee Dufty and BART Board
Waldstein member Tom Radulov-
ich, gathered at the BART
station plaza. On display were pictorial
proposals for neighborhood improve-
ments under the Mayorʼs Better Streets
Program.
The object of the plan is to solve
some of the transit and traffic issues
that plague our congested downtown
area and impact the quality of Glen Park
life. Among the plans are to redesign the
BART station to better integrate it into
the neighborhood, to provide more effi-
cient intermodal transit connections, and
to improve pick-up and drop-off points
to maximize pedestrian safety.
Also addressed is the plaza itself,
Page 3 Glen Park News
introduced, the crowd embraced him
with cheers and applause. They were
there to thank U.S Representative Tom
Lantos for spearheading the allocation
of $3.3 million to begin the process of
implementing the plan.
Lantos was an elegant figure with
his platinum hair and dapper navy blue
suit. His warmth and humor easily
charmed the spectators. Two sentences
which would be made more accessible into his remarks he assured them he was
and an improved public gathering place. “already halfway finished.”
In the surrounding village area, the plan He presented a Certificate of Con-
calls for designating the northeast cor- gressional Appreciation to AnMarie
ner of Bosworth and Diamond Streets Rodgers, the “planning goddess” who
and Kern Alley a “landmark area” guided the process of development
entrance to the Glen Park commercial of the Glen Park plan, and another to
area; enhancing the green space along Supervisor Dufty.
Bosworth from Diamond Street to Elk;
and scaling down the San Jose Avenue
corridor.
The entire draft plan is available at
the Glen Park Library or online at the
Cityʼs Planning Department web site.
Armando Fox, chair of the Glen
Park Association Traffic and Safety
Committee, made note of the fact that
beginning the funding of improvements
just two years after the 2003 plan was
quite a coup, and due to the efforts of
Supervisor Dufty.
When the guest of honor was
Glen Park News Page 4
Notes From District Eight
Iʼve always loved Dear Abby.
Itʼs no surprise that I enjoy respond-
ing to your e-mails,
thereby solving
by
problems, explain-
Supervisor
ing stances on issues
Bevan
and making our city
Dufty
more effective and
responsive. E-mail
is instant democracy.
Your messages have alerted me to
needed stop signs, graffiti problems and
police issues in Glen Park. So I want to
highlight and thank you and your neigh-
bors who made me aware of problems
and tell you the outcome.
David Angel wrote to me about a
safety mirror on Chenery at Natick that
had been knocked off kilter and await-
ing repair for months. A few days after
receiving his letter, the Department of
Parking and Traffic (DPT) replaced and
reset the mirror. When the mirror got
knocked off again in November fol-
lowing an accident, the good folks at
the DPT got it up again in no time.
Shawn Hallum contacted me
late last year earnestly seeking new
stop signs on Arlington Street. When
DPT turned him down, I picked up
the request and pushed it forward at
the Board of Supervisors. I worked
closely with Shawn until the signs
were installed. Now, Shawn, his wife,
Tina, and their daughter, Keira, are all
crossing much more safely.
Bob Micallef contacted me,
exasperated with the condition of
OʼShaughnessy Boulevard. Moham-
med Nuru from the Department of
Public Works intervened, and now Bob
and his wife have a much cleaner daily
stroll down the street.
And if you thought speeding cars,
graffiti and trash were bad, the neigh-
bors on Chilton Avenue were dealing
Winter 2006
with overflowing sewage. Megan
OʼKeefe e-mailed me, and with the
help of colleagues at the Public Utili-
ties Commission, Department of Public
Works and the Department of Public
Health, the problem was resolved and
cleaned up.
In other news, if youʼve been
concerned about the increasing graffiti
around the ʻhood, you are not alone. On
Dec.19, Iʼll be taking a “graffiti tour,ʼʼ
where Iʼll be joined by representatives
from the neighborhood and City agen-
cies, such as police and public works,
to craft get an action plan for regular
graffiti removal in Glen Park.
Thanks again to David, Shawn,
Bob, Megan, Martin and the members
of the city family who have helped fix
these problems and make Glen Park
safer and cleaner. Iʼm always eager to
hear from you, so if you have a problem
you canʼt seem to solve, e-mail me at
Bevan.Dufty@sfgov.org.
Bevan Dufty is Glen Parkʼs represen-
tative on the San Francisco Board of
Supervisors.
Need a Hand?
Lend a Hand?
For as long as sheʼs lived in the neigh-
borhood, Karen Bagatelos has chatted
with elderly neighbors
by walking by her house.
Elizabeth Those talks have got
Weise her wondering if there
are other older folks she
doesnʼt know, who might be home-
bound and in need of assistance now
and then. But she doesnʼt know how to
reach out to them.
Sheʼs wondering if it might be
possible to get a neighborhood group
of people together who would volunteer
to help their neighbors out “in small and
big ways.”
It might be something as simple as
running to the drug store for a prescrip-
tion, or pruning a rose bush once a year.
Or just being someone to call if thereʼs
a problem and a neighbor needs help.
Or it could be as organized as agreeing
to drive someone to the doctor or drop
in to visit once a week.
“It could be really cool to start
something like that in the neighbor-
hood,” says Bagatelos.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 14
Winter 2006
Graffiti a
Growing
Problem
When a delivery man asked Chenery
Street resident Karen Bagatelos “Did
you see the windows?” she didnʼt
have any idea that Glen
by Parkʼs growing graffiti
Bonnee problem had made her its
Waldstein latest victim. But when
& she went downstairs one
Elizabeth
fall morning, she was
Weise
confronted with acid-
etched graffiti “tags” on
her downstairs windows that ended up
costing her $3,000 to replace.
“Itʼs money you just have to spend
for nothing, and whatʼs the guarantee
that itʼs not going to happen again?”
she says. “But what really aggravated
me is they told me that thereʼs really no
funding in the city for graffiti or going
after these people, so even if they catch
them thereʼs nothing they can do.”
At the last Glen Park Association
meeting, SFPD Officer Mike Walsh
told neighbors that lately this par-
ticularly egregious form of graffiti has
appeared on many homes and busi-
nesses. He noted that if a property is
graffitiʼd the owners are responsible
for the cleanup.
Walsh urged residents hit with graf-
fiti to make a police report—itʼs easy
to do online at sfgov.org/police. Click
the Online Report icon and you will get
a report number that you can use for
insurance purposes. Also take pictures
and e-mail them to Christopher Putz,
SFPDʼs graffiti officer, at SFPD_graf-
fiti_unit@pacbell.net or call 278-9454.
Supervisor Bevan Dufty, Captain
Paul Chignell of the SFPDʼs Ingleside
Photo by Bonnee Waldstein
Page 5
Children and their parents at the newly refurbished Walter Haas playground, with what is arguably the best view of any play-
ground in the country.
Nine Years Later: A Park with a View
Glen Park and Diamond Heights resi-
dents cheered the newly opened Wal-
ter Haas Playground at a
by ribbon-cutting ceremony
Joanna in November. Supervisor
Pearlstein Bevan Dufty and Robin
Lee, president of Friends
of Walter Haas Playground, did the
honors.
Station, and Officer Putz are aware of
the problem. Other resources for the
community include:
Cleaning Graffiti in the Park:
Joe Padilla, Paint Shop Supervisor
for Recreation and Parks, is respon-
sible for cleaning graffiti in the parks.
Report new graffiti in Glen Canyon
Park to Joe at 242-6377, or at Joe_
Padilla@ci.sf.ca.us.
Graffiti Watch: This volunteer
program is supported by the SFPD and
the Department of Public Works. It has
been most successful at fighting graf-
fiti. It involves a neighborhood watch,
active reporting and graffiti clean-up.
The Graffiti Watch program, run by
DPW, provides training and cleaning
materials for volunteers who quickly
and regularly remove new graffiti from
the neighborhood. This program is run
by Merle Goldstone, the DPW public
information officer. His office number
is 641-2630; e-mail merle.goldstone@
sfdpw.org.
Glen Park News
Photo: Ellen Rosenthal
The park welcomed visitors back construction by taking photographs of its
in late October after eight months of progress every Friday. “Iʼve been taking my
construction. The new design features dog over to Christopher Playground, and Iʼm
an off-leash dog run, a redesigned and so glad weʼre back here,” she said.
relocated childrenʼs play area with fan- Steve Calahog monitored the parkʼs
tastic views of downtown San Francisco, rejuvenation as he drove his children
a ramp connecting the lower and upper (Maeve, 7, and Liam, 9) to school. “We
sections of the park, and a remodeled stopped here as soon as we saw it was
basketball court. open,” Calahog said. “Weʼll come here
The project to renovate the park more often; the kids like it.” For her
began in 1997, when Lee began investi- part, daughter Maeve observed that the
gating how the community could get the park “has a lot of grass. My favorite
decrepit childrenʼs play area upgraded. thing is the play wall.”
In the following eight years the project The park is named for Walter Haas,
became a $1.4 million reconstruc- who was president of Levi Strauss &
tion project that drew funds from the Co. for 27 years and died in 1979. UC
Mayorʼs Office and the Walter and Elise Berkeleyʼs school of business is also
Haas Foundation, among other donors. named for him.
Now that the project is complete,
Lee says, “In my wildest dreams, I never
envisioned it could be this glorious.” Glen Park resident Joanna Pearlstein
Back when she was seeking funding is an editor at Wired Magazine.
for the project, Lee said one potential
donor asked why she should fund the
project since no one visited the park.
“It really is true, if you build it,
theyʼll come,” she says.
Neighbors say they expect to use the
park much more often now. “This is the
best thing thatʼs happened in this area,”
said park neighbor Jessica Stevenson.
“Thanks to the dog run, now we can sit
and have a picnic on the grass and not
have dogs running up to us, and thereʼs
no poop on the grass.”
Barbara Casey has lived in the area
for 21 years and tracked the parkʼs
Glen Park News
Glenridge Fosters Nature
Appreciation for Tiny Tots
“Imagine that you are three or four years
old,” says Mame Campbell Salin as we
sit together on pillows in the brightly
colored and toy-filled
by Glenridge Cooperative
Kate Nursery School, hidden
Stoia deep within Glen Can-
yon Park.
“You are small. Every day, you walk
to school through a towering forest. You
walk past a creek that is rushing and
full of water in the winter and you help
build dams and runoffs to channel the
rainwater back into the creek. You are
learning to understand the principle of
erosion and about the physical properties
of water and dirt and wood and rocks,
even though you might not know the
scientific words yet. Inside the forest,
you roll logs to see what lives beneath
them and discover a whole world down
there—bugs and salamanders and differ-
ent things growing.
“Little by little you get to know the
other inhabitants of the forest—from the
smallest roly poly bug to the owl watch-
ing from a nearby stump. You learn not
to pick up a banana slug because the salt
from your hands will hurt it. You learn
that if you want to find a ladybug, you
need to look for aphids, because those
are what the ladybugs eat. Our setting
in the middle of Glen Park is probably
the most important part of attending our
school. We are teaching these children
to be gentle with our planet.”
Mame has been the Glenridge direc-
tor for eight years, and her love for the
park and its environs is topped only by
her love and respect for the children
who attend the preschool. Although
she is clearly a born educator—both of
her parents were teachers—she didnʼt
immediately follow in their footsteps.
Page 6
“There was way too much rebel in me,”
she explains with a smile. So she spent
her early career working in the field of
space planning and earning not one but
two bachelorsʼ degrees.
Mame stopped working when her
first child, now 18 years old, was born.
His entry into Miraloma Preschool
was also her entry into the world of
cooperative preschools, in which the
parents work alongside the teachers in
all aspects of the school, from admin-
istration to teaching. Eventually Mame
became part of the paid teaching staff
at Miraloma and when the position of
director at Glenridge was open she saw
an opportunity to put her ideas into
action. As she points out, “When youʼre
the director, youʼre in charge!”
Mame knew from the start that she
didnʼt want to be the kind of director
who wears a suit and sits behind a desk,
so she knew Glenridge was going to be
the right place for her. Co-ops like Glen-
ridge “involve the whole family, with
the idea that school shouldnʼt be that
separate from family for very young
children.” In her view this setup benefits
not only the kids, but also the parents:
“I was a parent at Miraloma before I
was a teacher and I was able to learn a
lot about how to be a better parent by
watching how the teachers interacted
with the kids. Being a teacher at a co-
op is the best it can be—not only can
I make sure a child has a good day at
school, but when I help parents feel
more competent, I can make sure that
this whole family will have a lot of good
days at home too!”
Although Glenridge has long been
a part of Glen Park (it opened its doors
in 1971) many people who visit the
park donʼt even know it exists. Itʼs that
Mame Campbell Salin has been director of the Glenridge Cooperative Nursery
School in Glen Canyon Park for eight years.
building that looks, in Mameʼs words,
like a “bunker” at the end of the gravel
path, where a couple of bridges cross
over Islais Creek. The building is rented
from the Recreation and Park Depart-
ment, which also uses it for Silvertree
Camp during the summer. The dull
brown exterior of the squat two-story
building reveals nothing of the brightly
colored young childʼs paradise inside.
And the fact that itʼs in a remote loca-
tion also adds to its charm for the Glen-
ridge families. “We donʼt like people to
drive in to school. We encourage all the
families to walk in to the park with their
kids,” says Mame.
“This is another important way
in which our families come together.
Because the kids know each otherʼs par-
ents from the classroom, there is a very
high comfort level and you will often
see one or two parents bringing a whole
herd of kids down the path.” And, says
Mame, that walk is another important
part of the kidsʼ education: “Our kids,
and our parents too, learn that we share
the park with our neighbors who bird
watch, who garden and who walk their
dogs here and we welcome that interac-
tion. We acknowledge all the time that
we are part of a bigger community and
that is very important for us.”
The bigger community includes,
of course, all of San Francisco. Mame
and the rest of the Glenridge commu-
nity take pride in the fact that the school
really reflects the whole city—kids of all
different ethnicities, family structures,
physical ability levels and economic
Winter 2006
Photo by Kate Stoia
situations are encouraged to apply and
are welcomed at the preschool. Says
Mame, “It is very important for chil-
dren to see their families reflected in the
school environment.” To that end, the
parents do extra fundraising to support
scholarships and recently applied for
and received a grant to update the facil-
ity to reflect the schoolʼs commitment to
all forms of diversity. The grant money
went toward everything from new books
about all different kinds of families for
the bookshelves, to making sure that the
plastic food in the “kitchen” play area
includes sushi and tacos.
In the end, however, any conversa-
tion about Mameʼs tenure at Glenridge
always comes back to the park itself and
its importance to her mission at the pre-
school: “We have families here who live
in apartments with no backyards. Out
their front windows, all they see are cars
racing by on a busy street. But when
they come to school here, they enter a
different world with a different pace and
rhythm to it. Their walk down that path
to preschool can take 20, 30, even 40
minutes; they become so engaged by the
natural world all around them!” And, of
course, at the end of that path is another
great day at Glenridge for Mame, her
kids and their families.
Kate Stoia is a writer and mother in the
neighborhood. She and her family have
moved to Israel for a year or so but we
look forward to more articles upon her
return.
Winter 2006
Playgroups and Halloween
Picnic Keep Glen Park
Parents Busy
On October 4 the Glen Park Parents
Group welcomed its 200th member,
Kristie White and her husband Stephen,
parents of Delaney White.
by Moderator Beth Weise
Emma sent out an e-mail to
Bland celebrate the event—and
Smith to remind us all that the
neighborhood is as buzz-
ing with families as ever. At press time,
the tally came in at 220 members.
That wonʼt come as a surprise to
anyone on the Glen Park Parents Yahoo
e-mail group. A good handful of mes-
sages pop up in membersʼ inboxes every
day (prompting one member to politely
ask e-mailers to employ the “reply to
all” function with discretion). The Yahoo
group has become the go-to place to find
anything from a used umbrella stroller
to the best takeout (Good Frickinʼ
Chicken, in the Mission, according to
one poster). Members also use the list
to sing the praises of services ranging
from a good plumber, a venue to help
Katrina victims, and, most frequently of
all, quality childcare and preschools.
So whatʼs new this quarter? Proac-
tive member Barksdale English, father
of Lukas, 10 months, set up two online
databases, one for recommended pedia-
tricians and one for babysitters. “The
online group is such a wealth of parent-
Higher Grounds owner Manhal Jweinat cooks up a storm, and recycles the res-
taurantʼs waste. City-wide composting keeps 300 tons of food waste a day out of
landfill.
Page 7
ing wisdom, with word-of-mouth advice
flying around all the time,” explained
English. “With the databases, I hope to
centralize some of this information in a
place we can all access anytime.” Stacy
Stevenson, mother of TK, followed his
lead and set up a similar database for
ObGyns and midwives. English hopes
more members will add their picks.
Another happy happening has
been the continued flourishing of play-
groups for all ages. An e-mail sent out
to the group in November revealed the
existence of three established weekly
meetings (members take turns host-
ing). The Active Baby Group, for tots
born from January through June 2004,
meets Wednesdays at 4 pm. Children
born from July through December 2004
meet Thursdays at 11 am. (These two
groups, which have about six core mem-
bers each, overlap occasionally and have
been known to take field trips together to
the zoo or the new-and-fabulous Walter
Haas Playground.) The January through
June baby group, which meets Fridays at
1 pm, has swelled to 15 families since its
conception with only four last spring.
A group for July through December
2005 babies has sadly fizzled, due to
most of the moms returning to work, but
at least one former member expressed
hope for its revival. A weekend play-
Photo by Michael Waldstein
Jan-June 2005 playgroup members at the Halloween picnic. Ava Johnson (the
kitty), Miles Boushey (the bumblebee), Geoff Boushey (the grown-up), Everett
Smith (Charlie Brown). (Geoff is holding Everett.)
group for working parents and a Span-
ish-speaking playgroup are two other
just-getting-started ideas.
One of the most exciting events of
the season was the Halloween picnic.
Organized by Kristin Byrd, mother of
Zachary, six months, the get-together
took place on Sunday, October 30 on
the tables and grass at the Glen Park Rec
Center. Attendees estimated the number
of families enjoying the party at more
than 40. Guests spread out blankets, let
the costumed kids romp, and helped
themselves to a groaning buffet table
featuring turkey, salads, cupcakes and
more.
“The picnic exceeded my expec-
COMPOSTING
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
foot-long bags that are aerated for 30–60
days by timed blowers and perforated
pipes at temperatures that reach 140
degrees centigrade. After the compost
leaves the bags, it is turned for an addi-
tional 30 days and then sold.
Norcalʼs final rich compost product,
Four Course, was approved for use on
organic soils by in 2001. It has consis-
tently scored high in nutrient-grade
compost, or composts that have suf-
ficient combined nutrients of nitrogen,
phosphorus, potassium, calcium and
magnesium. Californiaʼs farmers love
it. As of February 2005, more than 30
vineyards in Northern California were
using Four Course compost.
San Francisco restaurants like the
idea of Four Course too. Big tourist
destinations, like Scomaʼs seafood res-
taurant, save roughly $10,000 a year by
composting. Our restaurants like more
Glen Park News
Photo by Alex Smith
tations,” said Byrd, who reserved the
tables and provided tablecloths, plates,
flatware, cups and juice. “We had such
a great turnout, the food and weather
were great, and we had so many babies
in cute costumes! I also enjoyed putting
faces to names I had seen on the e-mail
list.”
New parents are always wel-
come. To join, e-mail glenparkpar-
ents-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
or go to groups.yahoo.com/group/
glenparkparents.
Emma Bland Smith is a freelance writer
in Glen Park. Her son Everett, 10
months, goes to the Friday playgroup.
than just the fact that Norcal charges 25
percent less to take away meal remains
and kitchen trimmings for composting
than it does for garbage. For many of the
restaurants and business participating in
San Franciscoʼs composting program,
composting is more than saving money;
itʼs saving the planet.
So, given this morally and finan-
cially beneficial path to sustainability,
why arenʼt all San Francisco restaurants
composting? One reason might be that
like all of us at times, they needed a
couple of pushes to start. Jack Macy,
organics recycling coordinator for the
City and County of San Francisco, said
Norcal and its subsidiaries went around
to most local restaurants once, and only
once, to tell them about the green com-
posting bins. If the proprietor didnʼt
CONTINUED ON PAGE 14
Glen Park News
Glen Park Association:
Notes From the Fall Meeting
GPA is Online
Everything you would want to know
about the Glen Park Association, its
activities, and how you
by can get involved in the
Bonnee problem-solving pro-
Waldstein cess in our community
is now just a mouse
click or two away. At the October GPA
meeting, Armando Fox, chairman of the
parking and transportation committee
and webmaster, unveiled our new web
site, www.glenparkassociation.org. It is
anticipated that residents will now have
an easy means of keeping informed of
progress on issues that affect Glen Park,
as well as tools to communicate with
each other and responsible officials.
An exciting feature is the posting
of the Glen Park News itself online,
beginning with the current and previ-
ous issues. Although widely distrib-
uted throughout the neighborhood by
volunteers, the newspaper online will
be a readily accessible resource and a
way to extend the reach of the paper
outside the neighborhood.
On the home page of the web site
you will find a news link that will tell
San Francisco Services
Abandoned Cars
Building Inspection Info
Bus Shelters (repair/clean)
District 8 Supervisor Bevan Dufty
Garbage (oversized item pickup)
Graffiti Hotline
Mobile Assistant Patrol (MAP)
(Homeless Outreach/Transportation)
Mobile Crisis Team
(Mental Health)
Muni Information
Muni Complaint/Compliment
Parking Enforcement
Police (non emergency)
Potholes
Rent Stabilization Board
Street Construction Complaints
Street Lighting
Tree Problems
Towed Cars
Mayorʼs Office of
Neighborhood Services
Page 8
you the time and agenda for the next
GPA meeting as well as a recap of the
discussion at the previous meeting. Cur-
rently there is a detailed summary of the
discussion of traffic and parking issues
that occurred at the October meeting.
There are links to the graffiti hotline,
local merchant news (such as Bird and
Beckett coming events), City Car Share
at the BART station, and numerous com-
munity resources.
To further communication among
Glen Park residents, many of whom are
online frequently throughout the day, we
now have two Yahoo discussion groups,
both of which are also linked to the GPA
web site. The glenparkdiscussion Yahoo
group is open to GPA members and pro-
vides an informal forum for trading tips,
ideas and concerns. In the future, other
features will be activated such as polling
issues and proposals through the group.
The glenparkassociation Yahoo group is
open to all Glen Park residents who want
to stay informed of Association news by
mail. Right now the activated feature is
the message board.
A few minutes of surfing this site
will familiarize you with its many infor-
553-9817
558-6088
882-4949
554-6968
330-1300
28-CLEAN
431-7400
255-3610
673-6864
923-6164
553-1200
553-0123
695-2100
252-4600
554-7222
554-0730
695-2165
553-1235
www.sfgov.org/mons
mative features. If you have questions,
comments or suggestions for the web
site, contact webmaster@glenparkasso
ciation.org.
Trust Keeps City Beautiful
Ever wonder where the money comes
from for some of the ambitious beau-
tification projects in the city? Kearstin
Krehbiel, program manager for the San
Francisco Parks Trust, provided some
answers. Since 1971, the San Francisco
Parks Trust (formerly Friends of Park
and Rec) has funded capital projects that
restore and beautify the parks, as well
as providing volunteer support, manage-
ment oversight, fiscal and fundraising
services. The most notable recent project
was renovation of the Conservatory of
Flowers in Golden Gate Park. The Trust
is currently researching the possibility
of renovating the Japanese Tea Garden.
Through its Park Partners program, the
Trust has helped 50 neighborhood
groups who apply for funds dedicated
for certain purposes, such as Music in
the Parks, Summer Youth Games and
Green Schoolyard Alliance. The Parks
Trust (sfparkstrust.org) is determined
that donations made by private citizens
will be spent wisely on specific projects,
Krehbiel said.
Overview of Crime in Glen Park
SFPD Officer and 22-year Glen Park
resident Mike Walsh provided some
statistics about crime in our neighbor-
hood. In the 90 days preceding the
Oct. 11 GPA meeting 62 crimes were
reported, including 18 cases of larceny
and theft, 14 vehicle thefts and 11 acts
of vandalism/graffiti. That compares
with Noe Valleyʼs total of 212 and Ber-
nal Heightsʼ 277.
SAFE: Organizing for Protection
Pamela Matsuda, program director of
the cityʼs SAFE (Safety Awareness for
Everyone) Program, described how her
agency helps neighborhoods organize
themselves into watch programs to pre-
vent crime. Police canʼt be everywhere
and they depend on the community to
identify and report suspicious activity.
Usually the group includes both sides
of one block or adjacent blocks. Six
groups are starting in the Diamond
Heights area. The process begins with
calling SF SAFE at 673-SAFE. A crime
prevention specialist will be assigned to
shepherd your group through the orga-
nizing process, providing brochures
and invitations and facilitating the
initial group planning sessions and the
development of crime-prevention strat-
egies tailored to your area. The group
must be ongoing and meet at least four
times a year. Meeting that requirement
Winter 2006
enables you to obtain the neighborhood
watch signs to post in your area. Another
valuable service provided by SAFE is
an individualized security assessment
that makes low-cost recommendations
for better security in your home. For
full information about these and other
programs offered by SF SAFE, log on
to www.sfsafe.org.
Bonnee Waldstein has lived with her
family in Glen Park for over 20 years.
New Glen
Park Mural
Is Finished
The latest project of the Glen Park
Advisory Board has been to produce
a mural on the wall of the Recreation
Center, facing the base-
by ball diamond. It depicts
Miriam the Canyon by including
Moss many of the flowers and
animals that flourish in
the park. Many thanks to all the vol-
unteers who helped with the painting
over the two months it took to complete.
Thanks to Rec and Park for their help
and cooperation.
We are looking for a carpenter to
work on the tree seats, for which we
have some grant money. Bureaucratic
delays have kept us from getting this
done and we have lost two carpenters
in the process.
It is sad but true that there is no
money for Glen Park to do capital
improvements. That means no new
playground or recreation center for
many years to come. The current
building has a leaking roof, is non-
compliant in every way possible and
the bathrooms are atrocious. It is near
to impossible to get Rec and Park the
to do even the smallest improvement.
The City is thinking of asking for
a bond measure for parks like ours but
wonʼt put it on the ballot until 2007 or
2008. In the meantime the Glen Park
Advisory Board will continue to try
to improve our site. If you have any
suggestions you can contact me at
moss3x@earthlink.net.
Dates of our next meeting and park
clean-up are listed in the Community
Calendar on page 16.
Miriam Moss is the president of the
Glen Park Advisory Board.
Winter 2006
The Roar of the Traffic, the
Smell of the Exhaust
Who hasnʼt awakened about dawn to the
roar of Interstate 280? Or, who hasnʼt
awakened about dawn
by on other days only to
Dolan look southward toward
Eargle shadowy vehicles in the
fog—seeing only shapes
floating in a soundless
puppet show? Glen Park, especially the
Diamond Street valley, is susceptible to
echo. Everything is fog in the wind.
The clue is the wind. I-280 awakens
about 5:30 a.m. and begins to roar with
the inbound seekers of the great ups-
and-downs of the stock market which
opens in NYC at their 9 a.m. Along
with them are the thousands of persons
who support the FD—the cleaners, the
office support staff, the store clerks, the
nurses and doctors and everyone on a 6
a.m. shift. Then about 15 minutes later,
the roar subsides. Then the 9 a.m. rush
starts about 8. Well, it does subside a
little during the day…
It isnʼt only I-280. Muniʼs streetcars
begin their exodus from the Geneva barn
a little after 5, and the parade continues
until the ends of the lines are poised
ready for the inbound morning rush.
Have you noticed that the overpass
across Bosworth Street has a remark-
able ability to reverberate? From a long
distance you can always tell when a train
passes. Day and night, night and day.
Well, a heavy fog does muffle all the
sound a lot.
If it is summer and the fog is roll-
ing, or if we are getting a rainy season
souʼwester, then the combined rush
echoes up the Diamond Street valley, not
to mention around the whole area from
Congo to Fairmount. What to do?
It is amazing to me that very few
vehicles stand out in the noise. I mean,
like a motorcycle with its muffler cut
out, or a particularly laborious truck.
Rather, the prevailing sound is a lot
like that continuous sound called “white
noise.” White noise is canned on CDs
and actually sold to soothe nerves that
are especially disturbed by silence. We
are talking surf or an oscillating elec-
tric fan (which pulsate), like Yosemite
Falls (continuous), like certain pieces of
repetitive music (no comment), like the
clack of rails (the old-style non-welded
ones), or the sound of wind in the for-
est. Aha! That brings me back to the
freeway.
Our local winds are not continuous.
They blow in great gusts, then let up,
and you can hear them roar down the
Page 9 Glen Park News
Alemany Fog Gap—first from that tight
clutch of eucalyptus high above Glen
Park in Dorothy Erskine Park, then as
they eddy and whirl, through the tall
pines and eucs above Chenery, then
into the Monterey pines and eucs and
assorted trees above Sussex and Laidley
and Randall and then around the hill.
Watch the fog replicate the chaos in its
whorls...
So not all of what you hear roaring
is traffic on I-280, but also the wind. You
can see it. Comes a gust, the Erskine
trees bend and tremble, then the tallest
of the Islais Creek valley trees rattle,
then the gust divides into eddies, some
of which whirl up Diamond, some down
Chenery. Each clutch of trees sends its
own roar to echo.
Wait till we get a north breeze.
Look down the Diamond Street valley.
About the only thing you hear is either a
bravely struggling bus or the clank and
clunk of construction. No roar. (The
vehicle exhausts follow the wind, but
thank Thor, they are so highly dissipated
we donʼt really get to smell them.)
So what to do when you hear I-280?
Think Yosemite Falls and wind in the
Sierra. Think of a distant train passing
Van Gogh in the south of France. Go
back to sleep.
Footnote: The Diamond valley day-
and-nightingale mockingbird seems to
have finally lost his fervor. His songs
lasted 4-1/2 months; he is still flitting
about. Some neighbors kind of miss his
erstwhile calls.
Dolan Eargle is a student of wind and
weather.
Glen Park News Page 10
Check It Out at the Library!
After the successful promotion of
Gus Leeʼs China Boy, the library is
promoting a book each month through
a program called “On
by the Same Page: San
Sharon Francisco Reads.ʼʼ The
Dezurick goal of the program is
to encourage reading
and to spark a citywide
discussion on the monthly pick. The
San Francisco Public Library will host
events related to the books during the
month each is highlighted.
Novemberʼs book was Ishi in Two
Worlds by Theodora Kroeber. Decem-
berʼs is Kate Chopinʼs The Awakening
and Selected Stories. Januaryʼs book is
Jack Kerouacʼs On the Road. The Main
Library and each neighborhood branch
will be receiving a stack of paperback
copies of the monthly selections to help
meet the demand.
Thereʼs been some added excite-
ment at the Glen Park branch. On
Nov. 13, artists involved in a fund-
raising project for our new building
now under construction on Diamond
Street installed their works in the
present branch on Chenery Street, and
local authors Milton Muriyama, Jerry
Rosen, Richard Stookey and Nellie
Wong read from their works. We even
tested the Sunday paramedic response
when a member of the audience fainted.
He had come to by the time the pros
arrived and got a clean bill of health
when they checked him out.
The donated artwork will be sold
through a silent auction, which con-
tinues through the end of December.
Come see it and bid early, bid often,
bid high—remember, all money raised
will help buy furniture, fixtures and
equipment for the new branch. Artists
who graciously made donations include
Anna Asebedo, Svetlana Buchli, Almut
Busch, Peter Fairfield, Ruth Lasky,
Avelina Leanos, Jane Lidz, Alberta
Mischke, Roberto Montoya, Jonathan
Runcio, Henry Sultan and Jennifer
Badger Sultan.
The next fund-raising event is
a showing of Allie Light and Irving
Sarafʼs Academy-award-winning doc-
umentary In the Shadow of the Stars,ʼ
Winter 2006
which is about the San Francisco Opera
chorus. The event will be held Friday,
Feb. 10, at the Lick-Wilmerding High
School Theater. There will also be a
raffle. Mark your calendar and meet
your neighbors.
Thoughts are turning more and
more to the new Glen Park Branch. The
construction phase is proceeding and,
through Friends of the San Francisco
Public Library, weʼre also getting ready
to order furniture.
But since we will be in our little
branch for another year, please help us
by having your library card out before
you approach the desk to check out. For
those of you who find reserves to be
such a wonderful service, please donʼt
go wild on the computer and reserve
more than you can possibly read or
watch. Reserves are a great service,
and they are labor intensive. Glen
Parkʼs staff has not increased com-
mensurately with the workload, so help
out by reserving what you truly need or
want, but no more.
Glen Park Branch
653 Chenery Street
San Francisco, CA 94131
(415) 337-4740
Hours
Tuesday 10 – 6
Wednesday12 – 8
Thursday 1 – 7
Friday 1 – 6
Saturday 1 – 6
Sharon Dezurick is the Glen Park
Branch librarian.
Winter 2006
San Francisco Banana Slug: a useful native.
In Glen Canyon Park
From mid-September to mid-November
I was away from the Friends of Glen
Canyon Park events
by while recovering from
Jean a knee replacement.
Conner On Sunday, Nov. 13 I
got a ride into the park
for our Bird Walk and
Pancake Breakfast. It was a lovely fall
day and I enjoyed seeing friends and
neighbors out on this sunny day in the
park. A couple of good rains had washed
the dust off the willows and the Canyon
was looking fresh and green again.
The leader of the Friendsʼ October
geology walk, Neil Fahy, was one of the
people who came for the Bird Walk and
Pancake Breakfast. Neil travels widely
and has been studying mollusks for
some time. He collects snails and land
slugs for the California Academy of Sci-
ences on his trips. His walk with the
birders was cut short when he found an
injured banana slug and realized it was
a species that was new to him. When
Richard Craib pointed out three more
slugs near the Silver Tree building Neil
went home to get his camera to record
them.
We learned that the banana slugs
in Glen Canyon Park are endemic to
San Francisco. That is, this particular
sub-specie, Ariolimax californicus
brachyphallus, is found only in San
Francisco and is now found mostly in
natural areas such as the Canyon, Mt.
Davidson and Twin Peaks. Other spe-
cies of banana slugs can be found in
coastal forest ranging from San Diego
to Alaska. Because some of them have
the yellow color and the long shape of
a banana they have an obvious name:
banana slugs. Some are even the size
Page 11
Photo
of a small banana. The adult San Fran-
cisco banana slug may grow to be five
inches long, half the size of some of
the ten-inch giants found elsewhere in
California. It varies in color from dull
gold to tan to olive green.
The banana slug eats dead and
decaying plant material. That is why
we no longer find it in our gardens.
We keep our gardens so clean that the
banana slug has nothing to eat. The vil-
lains eating your living garden plants
are the non-native slugs as well as the
European garden snail. The small non-
native slug is usually overlooked. I find
them under my flowerpots. They are
gray and vary from 1/8 inch to perhaps
1/2 inch in length.
The body of the banana slug is
covered with a clear slime that keeps
it from drying out, serves as protection
from predators and aids in movement.
The slime makes it possible to glide
over a rough surface as well as climb
up a vertical windowpane.
Near the head of the banana slug is
a tough oval covering that protects its
vital organs and head. The head has a
mouth and two pairs of tentacles. The
longer upper pair of tentacles, each
tipped with an eye, can be moved and
extended separately so that the slug can
see in two directions at once. The two
lower tentacles are located just above
the mouth. They are shorter and are
used for smelling and feeling.
If you find a banana slug in your
garden count yourself lucky to have
this native animal. It is helping improve
your soil by recycling nutrients from
dead and dying plants.
The rainy winter months are the time
to plant native plants. Planting early in
On Patrol in Glen Park
Late in the evening on Oct. 29, the
peacefulness that characterizes Glen
Park was momentarily shattered by
the all-too-familiar
by sound of gunfire that
SFPD plagues many of our
Officer neighborhoods in San
Michael Francisco. Residents
Walsh were reminded of the
realities of urban life
when two teenagers were shot and
wounded while in their vehicle near the
intersection of Monterey Boulevard and
Circular Avenue.
My partner, Officer Jenny Marino,
and I assisted Inspector John Harold
in the investigation of this incident
because both victims were students in
high schools to which we administer
as the Ingleside Police District school
patrol officers.
The victims had attended a party
at the home of one of their classmates
in Glen Park and had left the party in
search of late-night fast food. Because
the investigation is ongoing, I only can
report can that this appears to be an iso-
lated, random incident and not a precur-
sor to further “turf”—or neighborhood-
based—gang conflicts. If you have any
information regarding the incident you
think might be useful, feel free to e-mail
me at mwalsh4719@sbcglobal.net and
I will forward your information to the
inspector assigned to the case.
In another matter of interest to
the neighborhood, many people have
expressed their concerns to me about
what they believe to be the increase in
graffiti in Glen Park. Graffiti is vandal-
ism, plain and simple, and is a serious
property crime, which most often goes
unreported. Nevertheless, people I
speak to are reluctant to make a police
report because of the wait time for an
officer to respond to this maddening,
but usually non-violent, crime.
However, it is important that if you
are the victim of graffiti vandalism you
make a report. The Police Department
funds those areas of need that are most
prevalent and quantifiable. If crimes
the rainy season gives the plants a good
start and they will most likely survive
the summer season. Be sure to come out
on the Friendsʼ monthly work parties
in December and January, listed in the
Community Calendar, to help plant. The
Friends will also be repairing some of
the fencing in the Canyon, and we are
looking at purchasing material that will
blend in with our rustic fences.
Glen Park News
are not reported, resources will not
be dedicated. You can now make an
online police report for any non-vio-
lent property crime for which you
have no suspect information. Go to
www.sfgov.org/site/police and click
“Reports” and the program will walk
you through the process.
I spoke to Officer Christopher
Putz, who is the departmentʼs graffiti-
abatement officer. He is an expert in
deciphering the “tags” these vandals use
and has made a number of high-profile
arrests by compiling case files of pho-
tographs taken by vandalism victims.
Officer Putz advises that the sooner you
can wash off or paint over the vandalism
the better. He informs that these vandals
brag to each other via cell phones and
text messaging, alerting their cohorts
to the places they have tagged so that
others may add to the damage.
Officer Putz asks that you take
a digital photo, if possible, prior to
cleaning and e-mail it to SFPD_graf-
fiti_unit@pacbell.net. You also can
mail non-digital photos to his attention
at Mission Police Station, 630 Valencia
St., San Francisco, CA 94110. He can
use these photos in any ongoing inves-
tigations as well as evidence of recidi-
vism for those currently on probation
for vandalism.
Feel free to e-mail me on these or
any other issues youʼd like me to address
in future columns. Till next time, stay
safe and make those reports.
SFPD Officer Mike Walsh, a Glen Park
resident, is assigned to the Ingleside
Police District. He can be contacted by
email at mwalsh4719@sbcglobal.net.
����������
�������������
���������������������
��������������
�������������������
�������������
������������������
���� ���������������
�������������� ��������
���������������������
��������������
Glen Park News Page 12 Winter 2006

A Glass Half Full

This is the sixth installment of our and the corner kids were chasing him
memoirs in the Glen Park News. We on their skateboards. Tiffany arrived at
owned Tiffanyʼs Wines & Spirits at the store to be told that an accomplice
Major surgery. by
678 Chenery St. from
1976–1997, 21 years.
had the bottle on a Muni bus parked in
front of BART. Tiffany asked the driver
Minimal pain. Tiffany Our customers and
and Paul passersby must have
if she could look for something, and
boarded the bus. In the last seat was
Farr thought we spent our a boy about 12 with the bottle tucked
days laughing and tast- under his seat. She reached down and
ing wine with wine reps. Indeed, we with no resistance, grabbed the bottle.
spent many an hour developing our She returned to the store with the bottle
palate as well as finding great wines to cradled in her arms.
The Orthopedic Center purchase for our customersʼ pleasure. The corner kids, meanwhile, had
But we also had our headaches. captured the thief. They had him sur-
at St. Luke’s First, letʼs focus on the good. In rounded inside the store. The police
August we spent time in San Luis arrived. One officer took Tiffany to
��������������������� at St. Luke’s offers the latest advances
in orthopedics to patients suffering from arthritis, spinal problems, Obispo, where we rekindled our friend- the back room. He said, “Lady, what
joint pain and sports injuries.
ship with Clay Thompson, the owner of do you want us to do, you have your
With the latest minimally invasive surgical techniques, we can repair Claiborne & Churchill Winery located bottle back.” She said that she wanted
joints, spinal discs and brittle bones without large incisions, so that
recovery is faster and less painful. in the Edna Valley. Twenty five years him arrested for stealing. The officers
In addition to state-of-the-art surgery, we offer an array of treatment
ago, Clay paid a visit to our store to give read the suspect his rights, handcuffed
options to reduce pain and improve mobility—including medications us tastes of his delicate dry Muscat, dry him and put him in the patrol car. We
and physical rehabilitation, as well as complete joint replacement.
For osteoporosis and compression fractures, we are one of the few
Riesling and Gewürztraminer. never heard anything further.
centers to offer “kyphoplasty,” a surgery that strengthens bones Sadly, these wines are underrep- The downfall of the loiterers finally
by inserting bone cement within, often with minimally-invasive
arthroscopic surgery. resented in the marketplace because came after several of the older boys
Quality Care, of lower public demand. They are made rude remarks to two gay men who
Close to Home For more information on the Orthopedic Center at St. Luke’s
and to receive a free copy of our medical staff directory, delicious with Asian and Asian-fusion lived on Chenery Street. One afternoon
including our highly trained orthopedic surgeons, call
������������������ (415) 641-6657. food—anything with spice. The Edna they followed the men to their house,
Valley is known for growing fine throwing rocks and shouting slurs. It
chardonnay and pinot noir grapes. just so happened that these men were
Claiborne & Churchill make these sheriffʼs deputies, and the police finally
wines exceptionally well. The winery took action after the Chronicle wrote
building is constructed of straw bales, an article about homophobia in Glen
which keeps interior temperatures low. Park.
Visit Claiborne & Churchill at 2649 During our time on Chenery Street,
Carpenter Canyon Rd. (Highway 227), we saw the good, and the bad. We are
San Luis Obispo, CA, www.claibornec often asked if we miss owning our busi-
hurchill.com. ness. In a word: No.
And while we enjoyed getting to
meet people like Clay, and sharing our
love of wine with our customers, run-
ning a business wasnʼt always fun. For Questions or comments? E-mail Tiffany
years, for example, we were plagued at TiffanyFarrSFrealtor@yahoo.com.
by a group of teens and preteens that
hung out in front of Buddies Market
at the corner of Diamond and Chenery
streets. They brought their boom boxes
and skateboards with them, and turned
off many of our customers who opted
to stay away from our shop because of
the threatening scene outside. When we
complained, the kids would laugh and
say they were protecting us.
Tiffany went to the monthly Ingle-
side police community relations meet-
ings. She would talk to the captain in
charge about the nuisance caused by
the people loitering on the corner. The
captain would send officers to cruise
by, but the problems persisted.
Late one afternoon Tiffany received
a call from our employee, Pat. She said
a man had walked in and stolen a two-
gallon bottle of Chivas Regal scotch
Winter 2006
Digging the Dirt:
News from the Garden Club
In winter, we are in the time of endings
and beginnings. Out with the old and in
with the new applies to our gardens. All
of the annuals lovingly planted in the
spring have been cleared away. Some
of them have left seeds behind as a
wonderful surprise for
next year. The decidu-
by ous bushes and trees
Carol have lost all their leaves
Maerzke after a brilliant showing
of color in the fall and
are resting through the
winter months, displaying their grace-
ful branches and trunks. Plants that are
overgrown have been trimmed back
and dead materials have been cleared
away. Every living thing seems to be
waiting in expectation for the holiday
season. While we are all waiting it is
time to mulch, protect delicate plants
from the frosty nights and mull over
seed catalogs.
This holiday season there are many
plants beside the traditional poinsettia
to decorate our homes. For a change, try
freesia, cyclamen, azaleas, orchids and
narcissus. These also make great gifts.
After the season is past and the blooms
have faded many can be planted outside
in the garden.
Roses will need pruning in January or
Page 13 Glen Park News
February because the blooms will appear
on the new growth. Applying a dormant
spray will keep away insects that attack
roses. This is the time to buy and plant
bare-root roses also. My mother says that
digging banana peels into the soil around
roses makes them healthy and beautiful.
Iʼve taken a lot of teasing over this advice
but it seems to work.
Some trees need to be trimmed now
and others need to wait for spring. An
arborist will be able to give the best
advice on this matter. I was recently able
to save a pine in my backyard with the
help of an excellent arborist who was
referred by a member of the Glen Park
Garden Club.
As the New Year approaches, it is Glen Parkʼs Own Katrina Benefit: Bird & Beckettʼs Eric Whittington loves jazz, and
he loves jazz musicians. So when he heard that New Orleansʼ Jazz Vipers band had
time to plant pansies, violas, calendula, been stranded on the West Coast after Hurricane Katrina, he offered them a gig in
primrose, cineraria, cyclamen, azaleas his store. Then he printed up some posters and some T-shirts and some book bags
and camellias. It is also the last chance and got some friends to make gumbo and beans and rice, and before you know it
to plant bulbs for spring blooming. Sept. 21 became a genuine hurricane relief event. The event raised over $2,650 for
Soon there will be new beginnings the band. Photo by Ellen Rosenthal
of life with bulbs and plants beginning
to show their green sprouts in the earth
with the help of the rain. All of us gar-
deners can then get a head start on pull-
ing the weeds that seem to also appear
like magic.
Carol Maerzke is a member of the Glen
Lynn
Antiques & Beautiful Things
Park Garden Club.
Original. Handmade. Fun. Gorgeous.
Gifts for the One-of-a-Kind.
Italian Pewter by Match
Original Pottery by Giorgos Nikolaou
Handmade Journals, Cards, Baby Books, Scarves
Hand-Colored Photographs
Culti Bath Gels and Doux French Soaps
Antiques, Artwork, China
1478-A Church Street @ 27th Street
Hours: Wed – Sat, noon to 7pm; Sun., noon to 6pm
Glen Park News
COMPOSTING
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7
get the message, that business missed
out on the green bin opportunity. And
when businesses close, change owner-
ship or change policy, the likelihood of
composting at that location is apparently
fairly low.
A few business owners and manag-
ers in Glen Park gave some more cre-
ative reasons. One Glen Park restaurant
said they didnʼt want to compost. One of
the servers explained that they already
paid the garbage company to sort
through the trash and he was not going
to waste his time doing something dirty
like separating the trash--the garbage
men should do it.
Fortunately, several of the restau-
rants in Glen Park already compost.
Both our bakeries, Hong Sing Chinese
restaurant, Higher Grounds, Chenery
Park and Tygerʼs have been composting
ever since the green bins were delivered.
But other Glen Park food establishments
donʼt. Since the average restaurant may
produce about 50 pounds of food waste
a day, these non-composting Glen Park
businesses could be throwing away as
much as 100,000 pounds of composta-
ble material every year.
Those garbage-filled convoys that
wrap around the earth six times and then
reach half way to the moon keep on fill-
ing. If you think your favorite Glen Park
restaurant might not be composting, ask
them if they are and, if theyʼre not, why
not?
In terms of wildlife and outdoor
spaces, transportation, the number of
trees on our streets, our politics, etc.,
Glen Park is already one of the “green-
est” neighborhoods in San Francisco.
By getting more local restaurants to
compost, we can make Glen Park a
little greener.
Charlotte Ely grew up in Glen Park.
Now a student at San Francisco State
University, she wrote a version of this
article as a paper for a class called
The Geography of Garbage. This
winter sheʼs working on getting State
to compost.
LEND A HAND
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4
If you have ideas about how a program
like this might be put together, know of
neighbors who could use a little help, or
would like to get involved, please get
in touch with Karen via the newspaper
at 908-6728 or news@glenparkassoci
ation.org.
Page 14 Winter 2006
Classifieds
Computer repairs, mainte-
nance and user education (tutor-
ing). Hardware and software:
installation, configuration, and
upgrades. Broadband installation,
and network (wired and wireless)
setup. Virus, Trojan, and spyware
removal (Flat rate—guaranteed).
Website construction. Competi-
tive rates, house calls, small to
large jobs and can work with non-
technical individuals. References.
John 415-586-2333
End Homework Hassles
Family time’s better spent!
www.mystudybuddy.org
Jane Radcliffe 415-586-4577.
Charlie the Phone Guy:
Residence/Business/home
office phone wiring. FAX/
Modem/DSL. Dead jacks made
live! Remodel Planning. Free
estimates. On-time appoint-
ments. 20 years experience. 641-
8654, charlie@sfphoneguy.com.
August Moon Massage
Jana Hutcheson. Swedish, Shi-
atsu, LomiLomi, Deep Tissue,
Sports Massage. Office space
on Diamond Street and house
calls available. Gift certificates.
$70/hour. Author of Healing
Alternatives. Call 415-647-7517
for appt. today.
Stereo Repair House Calls/
Home Theater Setup
Here’s a service that’s very
convenient at a reasonable
price. Gene’s Sound Service
offers personalized in-home
repair of stereo components;
and installation of audio, video,
and home theater systems with
day, evening and Saturday
appointments available. Serving
S. F. and Bay Area since 1983.
“Gene’s honest and knows his
stuff. Give him a try,” says Bobby
McFerrin. Gene’s Sound Service.
415-377-1258.
Garage For Rent
On a lane in Glen Park that is
not suitable for everyday, so
motorcycle or storage use only.
11’ x 16’, $200, month to month.
Call 841-9313.
Winter 2006 Page 15 Glen Park News

���������������������������
Real Estate in Glen Park ���������������������������
���������������������������������������
Historically, as we reach the end of below sold well over asking price.
the year, the real estate
by
Bill
market slows, as seen by
fewer sales reported since
Bill Berry is a Realtor with Paragon
Real Estate Group. For any of your ������������
Berry our last issue. However, real estate needs, you can reach him at
Glen Park real estate 738-7022, or at bberry@paragon-
��������
remains a healthy and competitive re.com for a free comparative market- �������������������
market; most of the transactions listed ing analsis of your home.
�����������������
Single Family Homes
����������������������
Date Address List Price Sold Price �����������������
08/31 1720 Sanchez St. $1,195,000 $1,300,000
�����������������������
09/01 79 Bemis St. $939,000 $1,205,000
09/15 117 Moffitt St. $849,000 $820,000
09/15 130 Arlington St. $769,000 $820,000 ������������������������������
10/14 2555 Diamond St. $699,000 $775,000 ���������������������������������������
10/18 64 Surrey St. $735,000 $750,000
�����������������������������������
10/21 40 Mateo St. $849,000 $960,000
10/21 57 Sussex St. $899,000 $1,005,000
����������������
10/26 176 Randall St. $939,000 $1,275,000
������������������������������������������������������������
10/27 550 Laidley St. $599,000 $730,000
10/31 739 Congo St. $779,000 $825,000 ��������������������������������������������������������������
11/01 48 Whitney St. $989,000 $1,105,000 ���������������������������������������������������������������
11/04 157 Randall St. $1,345,000 $1,450,000
11/10 221 Mateo St. $769,000 $808,000 ���������������������������������������������������
11/18 49 Everson St. $1,450,000 $1,500,000 �����������������������������������������������
Condos / TICs

Date Address List Price Sold Price

09/09 292 Arlington St. $649,000 $649,000
09/09 2921⁄2 Arlington St. $499,000 $499,000
09/15 130 Arlington St. $769,000 $820,000
10/20 131 Randall St. $1,150,000 $1,350,000
10/25 409 Miguel St. $299,000 $310,000
10/25 407 Miguel St. $229,000 $330,000
10/25 407A Miguel St. $309,000 $340,000
10/25 409A Miguel St. $499,000 $510,000

2- 4 Unit Buildings

Date Address List Price Sold Price

09/15 727-733 Chenery St. $998,000 $1,175,000
Glen Park News
Glen Park Association
Quarterly meetings are held on the
second Tuesday in January, April, July
and October at 7:30 p.m. Everyone is
welcome, members and non-members
alike.
Next meeting: Tuesday, Jan. 10,
2006, 7:30 p.m., St. Johnʼs School, 925
Chenery St. Parking is available in the
schoolʼs fenced lot. Agenda includes a
presentation on street trees by Friends
of the Urban Forest, plus City offi-
cials discussing traffic planning for
OʼShaughnessy Boulevard and Bos-
worth Street between Elk and Malta
streets.
Glen Park Advisory Board
The Advisory Board works hand in hand
with the Recreation and Park Depart-
ment to make our park the best in the
city. If you care about whatʼs happen-
ing in Glen Canyon Park, you should
attend their meetings and join in the
dialog with other interested neighbors.
Those who canʼt make the meetings
can send concerns or suggestions to, or
request information from, Miriam Moss
at moss3x@earthlink.net.
Next Community Meeting:
Wednesday, Jan. 25, 6:30 p.m. at the
Rec Center auditorium. We will be plan-
ning our next annual Family Fun Fest
and anything else that needs addressing
with regard to programming and main-
tenance.
Next Park Clean-up: Saturday
Feb. 4, 9 a.m.–noon, rain or shine.
Come to help or just to say hello and
get acquainted.
Friends of Glen Canyon Park
Meetings and Plant Restoration
Work Parties: Third Saturday of each
month, 9 a.m.–noon. Next dates: Jan.
21, Feb. 18 and Mar. 18. Meet behind
the Recreation Center. Tools, gloves and
instruction are provided.
Weekly Work Parties: Every
Wednesday, 9 a.m.–noon. For the
current weekʼs meeting place contact
Richard Craib, 648-0862.
To join Friends, or for more infor-
mation about their activities, contact
Jean Conner at 584-8576 or Richard
Craib at 648-0862.
Glen Park Branch Library
Silent Auction Benefit: Saturday
Dec. 31 is the last day to bid on unique
artwork at the Chenery Street branch.
Get a treasure and help furnish our new
library.
Movie Benefit: Friday Feb. 10, 7
Page 16
Community Calendar
p.m., Lick Wilmerding auditorium, 755
Ocean Ave. See story on this page.
Tuesday Story Time: Weekly, at
10:30 a.m. Donʼt be late for this increas-
ingly popular childrenʼs program pre-
sented by our neighborhood librarians.
SFPD Community Forums
Third Tuesday of each month, 7
p.m.: All residents are encouraged to
participate in the monthly Community
Relations Forum at SFPDʼs Ingleside
Police Station, hosted by Captain Paul
Chignell. There are refreshments, guest
speakers, and the opportunity to ask
questions and air your concerns. Drop
in and get acquainted with some of the
dedicated people whose job is keeping
our neighborhood safe. The main station
number is 404-4000, or e-mail Captain
Chignell at Paul_Chignell@ci.sf.ca.us.
Next dates: Jan. 17, Feb. 21, Mar.
21.
Light Yoga Classes
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6:15–7:
15 p.m. (except second Tuesday of
each month). Light Yoga classes at the
Glen Park Recreation Center are an easy
way to begin or continue the study of the
Iyengar method of Hatha Yoga.
Christine Trost teaches the basic
poses, and modifies postures to suit
your own physical requirements. This
is a free community service (some leave
gratuities for the teacher). Wear com-
fortable pants and top. Bring a Yoga mat
or large towel. For more information call
Christine at 846-8481 or e-mail her at
catyoga@gmail.com.
Bird & Beckett
Bird & Beckett Books & Records,
2788 Diamond St., presents a full cal-
endar of regularly scheduled and special
literary and musical events in the heart
of Glen Park. All events are free, but
donations are encouraged. Remember to
buy a book, record, greeting card, T-shirt
or membership when you attend these
events. Everybodyʼs support is essential
to help keep our neighborhood treasure
open.
Book club meetings and jazz
sessions are listed at www.bird-
beckett.com, or call 586-3733 for more
information.
Coming Events:
Every Friday, 5:30 p.m.: Jazz in the
Bookshop is set to begin its fifth year.
These Friday sessions are meant to end
at 8 p.m., but this popular neighborhood
party is sometimes difficult to bring to a
close. Bring a friend, a bottle of wine or
Winter 2006
whatever, and be sure to help us pay the with the group.
musicians! Thatʼs how we keep doing First Wednesday, 7 p.m.: Bird &
this thing! Longtime leader Chuck Beckett Book Club discusses a book
Peterson and sidekick Bill Perkins plan every month. All are welcome. The
to take a break now and then. Look for book for Jan. 4 is Danteʼs Inferno. Janu-
the Henry Irvin Trio (featuring Bishop ary participants will choose the February
Norman Williams and Jimmy Ryan) selection.
with vocalist Dorothy Lefkovits to play Second Thursday, 7:30 p.m.: Politi-
the fourth Friday of every month in cal Book Discussion Group. Call the
2006. Other Fridays, enjoy quartets led store for title of the book to be discussed
by bassist Don Prell, drummer Jimmy on Jan. 12.
Ryan or trombonist Rick Elmore. Join Tuesday, Dec. 20, 5-7 p.m., 455
us Friday, Dec. 30 for a special session Market St.: Free holiday Gallery Exhi-
to jazz out the year! bition of record jackets from Christmas
First Sunday, 4:30 p.m.: Sunday lps, most supplied by Bird & Beckett,
Jazz: Henry Irvin, with the Bishop, curated from her new home on Kauai
Jimmy and Dorothy will begin this by former Surrey Street resident Bon-
new gig in addition to their fourth-Fri- nie Earls-Solari. Gems include an album
day sessions. Next date: Feb. 5, monthly of carols narrated by Basil Rathbone,
thereafter. one depicting an astonishingly cheery
First and third Mondays, 7:30 p.m.: quartet of monks dragging their fir tree
Open mic poetry series plus featured trimmings and axe back to the cloister,
poets. goofy stuff featuring Barbra Streisand
Second Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.: The and Jim Nabors (thereʼs a pair!). Best
Eminent Authors Birthday Reading part is, you donʼt have to listen to the
features an open reading from the works records - just gaze and giggle at the jack-
of favorite authors whose birthdays fall ets, drink free wine and hobnob while a
during the month. Bring a bit to share jazz duo plays.
See the Stars, Help the Library
On Friday, Feb. 10 Glen Park residents will have the rare opportunity to meet
our neighborhoodʼs very own Academy Award-winning filmmakers Irving
Saraf and Allie Light for a screening and discussion of their documentary
about the San Francisco Opera Chorus, In the Shadow of the Stars.
Guests will view their Oscar and hear from the filmmakers, stars of the
movie and special opera guests. A sumptuous dessert and champagne recep-
tion will follow the film. A raffle will include an “Opera Night on the Town”
as grand prize, with opera tickets, dinner and hotel.
The event will begin at 7 p.m. at the Lick-Wilmerding High School Audi-
torium, 755 Ocean Ave. Tickets are $40 in advance, $50 at the door. Students
and seniors (in advance only): $20. For ticket information call 626-7512, ext.
103. All proceeds will benefit the Glen Park Branch Library Campaign.