Noe
Valley Resident Kit the Cattle-dog writes that she is a
big fan of the Voice. She says she scoops up the paper
early in the month, before her pet—local real estate
broker and attorney Misha Weidman—can get his paws on
it.
September 2011
TheVoice welcomes your
letters to the editor. Write the Noe Valley Voice,
P.O. Box 460249,
S.F., CA 94146. Or
email editor@noevalleyvoice.com.Please include your name and
contact information. (Anonymous letters will not be considered
for publication.) Be aware that letters may be edited for
brevity or clarity. We look forward to hearing from you.
Bar Whole Foods’ Liquor License
Editor:
I’m writing to you to let you
know that Whole Foods Market in Noe Valley is in the process
of obtaining a liquor license. This is a bad idea. There are
enough liquor stores to satisfy the needs of Noe Valley. Whole
Foods is already hurting many businesses along 24th Street.
Urban Cellars and J&J Market have already closed their
doors since Whole Foods opened [in September 2009]. If Whole
Foods gets a liquor license, it will hurt many more
businesses, such as St. Clair’s, Shufat Market, and PlumpJack.
Whole Foods Noe Valley is a very
busy store. Their parking lot is small and always full, and
cars at times are overflowing onto 24th Street between Sanchez
and Noe streets, creating a traffic mess for Noe Valley
residents and customers of other local merchants. I’m
concerned that if Whole Foods sells liquor it will attract
even more shoppers. Whole Foods doesn’t have room to increase
its parking capacity. That will force the extra shoppers to
park in the neighborhood and in 24th Street’s metered parking
spaces. This will take away parking spots that otherwise would
be used by shoppers at other local stores, which will
eventually hurt all businesses in Noe Valley.
The increase in traffic and
noise and in the lack of parking will have a negative effect
on residents and merchants alike. Unless Whole Foods addresses
the parking issue, we must stop them from obtaining a liquor
license.
Name withheld by request
Mystery Disappearance
Editor:
I was sad to see in the June Noe
Valley Voice that the San Francisco Mystery Bookstore
has closed. I visited it twice on trips from England. A few
weeks before my first visit I dreamed I was in a shop with
shelves of Maigret paperbacks. Imagine my delight when I
walked into the Mystery Bookstore and found—shelves of Maigret
paperbacks. The store felt like a great Noe Valley
institution, and it’s disappointing to think it won’t be there
when I make my next visit.
Harry Harmer
Lewes, East Sussex
England
Now Going to the Castro
Editor:
Regarding the July/August letter
from Gwen Sanderson about “Cars vs. Pedestrians”: I live in
outer Noe Valley and must drive to get my errands done
(grocery shopping, banking, pharmacy, etc.). I now avoid, like
the plague, 24th Street, because (a) no parking—some critical
parking has been taken away with these “parklets”—and (b)
pedestrians. There is an endless, almost rude stream of
pedestrians who never—ever—allow cars to cross. They saunter
across the intersections as if they are on a stroll and they
are the only ones around. They have no respect for anyone
else’s time. Sure, drivers need to be safe and careful—I am
not arguing that.
The bottom line is this. I have
taken my business to the Castro, where it is easy to park (way
easier than Noe Valley), the pedestrians actually stay on the
sidewalk to wait for the cars, and the parking enforcement
folks are not out in force like they are in Noe Valley.
If the strategy is to have less
cars in Noe Valley, which also means less money flowing into
local businesses, you all have succeeded. I have friends all
over the city and they have voiced the same concern and no
longer shop or visit Noe Valley. They are spending their
dollars in neighborhoods that are fair to everyone. I have to
chuckle when people debate why storefronts are vacant on 24th
Street. Maybe no one wants to say this, but people with cars
are more likely the ones with higher disposable incomes and
would be spending considerable dollars that are much needed to
keep small independent stores open.
Jon Bouffard
Cars Are Not People
Editor:
In regards to letter-writer
Michael Laflamme’s comment that “Nothing frustrates city
residents more than being cited for a blocked-sidewalk
violation” [July/ August Voice], well actually, there
is something that frustrates good city residents even
more. And that is cars blocking the sidewalk!
No one I know wants to live in
and walk in a neighborhood that resembles a parking lot. Cars
and roads and parking already take up the bulk of all public
spaces in cities, and these sidewalks need to be protected for
the people use they are intended for. Pedestrians, kids,
strollers, and people walking their dogs might be able to
maneuver around a parked car, but they shouldn’t have to!
Sidewalks are for people, whether they are narrow sidewalks or
wide ones like on Dolores Street. Parking your car on any part
of the sidewalk shows no respect for other users and the
beauty of the street. It just says that you and your car are
more important than the rest of us. I say thank goodness for
DPT for enforcing the laws to keep cars completely off the
sidewalk.
And Civics 101: Just because I
as a homeowner need to take care of the sidewalk in front of
my home for the public good, it doesn’t mean that I can do
whatever I want with that sidewalk. I am opposed to Mr.
Laflamme’s suggestion of redefining a sidewalk as four feet,
so a wide sidewalk can be encroached on even more. We all know
there are too many cars looking for very limited parking
spaces, but such is life in the city. The answer is not
to infringe on the last bits of space reserved for pedestrians
and create blight in the neighborhood. If people really must
park their vehicles wherever they go, perhaps they should
consider moving to a suburb where they could have the liberty
to park their extra cars (and campers and boats) in front of
their homes, where sidewalks are probably nonexistent anyway.
Paul Svedersky
14th Street
Slow Down, Officer
Editor:
Today, Saturday, Aug. 13, at
11:20 a.m., a police officer with siren blaring sped down 24th
Street at a speed in excess of 60 mph. There was a party
atmosphere on the street. It was sunny and there were more
than 100 people about, families with young children
especially. At any moment as the officer sped down the street,
children and moms could have been crossing or a car could have
pulled out of a parking space or a hundred other scenarios,
and a terrible accident could have occurred.
I do not believe that officer
had to get where he was going that quickly, but if he did,
24th Street was a poor choice of travel. Many lives were put
in danger needlessly as he/she raced down the street. I was
very shaken by the incident.
No officer should ever drive
down 24th Street in excess of 30 mph, especially on a weekend
day when lots of people are about. I would hope that the next
time an officer needs to get somewhere quickly he/she would
use better judgment. We all want to be safe on our streets
even while officers answer calls.
Paula Symonds
Read the Fine Print
Editor:
I looked in Whole Foods Market
today for blueberries. They were advertising a big sale in the
store: “Two half-pint containers for $5.” Only problem was
they weren’t half-pint containers. The containers were clearly
marked as six ounces. (A half-pint is eight ounces.) I pointed
it out to a store manager, who replied he thought everyone
just referred to six ounces as a half-pint, but he did say
he’d speak to the produce department about the problem.
Meanwhile, containers were flying off the counter.
Lynn Thompson
Magical Photo
Editor:
I loved the photo in the
July/August issue of the lemonade stand [by Pamela Gerard].
I’m always happy to see Pamela’s work—she has a spot-on feel
for the magical world of childhood.
Leslie Lingaas Woodward
Are Guest Rentals Legal?
Editor:
Two items not addressed in your
article about Noe Valley short-term rentals [“NVHOO: Taking
the Guess out of Guesthouses,” July/August
2011] are the legality of these accommodations and the impact
these properties can have on long-term neighbors.
I would like to know if these
properties are licensed and regulated as businesses by the
city. Do they pay typical tourism taxes? Are they subject to
laws, or do they operate in some “don’t ask, don’t tell” gray
area?
More important would be a
discussion of how visitors in town for a good time can
negatively impact the lives of neighbors. For example, there
is a single-family home that is a permanent short-term rental
on 23rd Street. It features a hot tub which I can assure you
is used enthusiastically at all hours of the day and night by
visitors who don’t have to get up for work the next morning
like the rest of us.
What recourse do those of us who
live here have against the nuisances of such permanent hotels
in our midst and absentee owners who collect income and may
live elsewhere?
John Bartleby
Noe Valley
Editor’s Note: The San
Francisco Municipal Code (Sections 41A.4 and 41A.5) states
that “it shall be unlawful for any owner to offer an
apartment unit for rent for tourist or transient use.” It
also provides definitions of key terms.
An “apartment unit” is defined
as a “room or rooms in any building, or portion thereof,
which is designed, built, rented, leased, let, or hired out
to be occupied, or which is occupied as the home or
residence of four or more households living independently of
each other in dwelling units as defined in the San Francisco
Housing Code....”
(“Tourist or transient use” is
considered the “use of an apartment unit for occupancy on
less than a 30-day term of tenancy.”)
The law would seem to preclude
short-term rental of a room in a house. However, Rachel
Donovan of the Noe Vacation Home Owners Association Organization says the
“regulations make vacation rentals illegal only in apartment
buildings with four or more units.”
Still, she’s asking for
clarification from the city. No matter what their status,
the vacation rentals are subject to the city’s 14 percent
hotel tax, plus a 1 to 1.5 percent “tourist improvement” tax
passed in 2009.
This is a sad story.
I was walking on Sanchez Street
near Cesar Chavez one morning in Julywhen I saw a
momma bird—a small bird, maybe a sparrow—feeding a baby bird
on the sidewalk. As I stopped to watch, the baby bird opened
its mouth and momma bird put something in, then hopped away.
Baby hopped after her—so sweet. Then momma flew across the
street. Baby hopped after her into the middle of the street. I
thought I should go and shoo baby back under a nearby car, but
decided to just leave it alone. Probably it would see the
approaching cars and hop back. Not so! Poor baby bird was run
over...such a shock, so sad and sudden.
I walked on—feeling terrible,
certainly no guardian angel. Then I thought I should go back
and pick it up, at least get it out of the street, so I did.
Wrapped in newspaper, baby bird was laid to rest in the bottom
of someone’s green compost bin. I could hear momma chirping as
I walked away to buy my New York Times on 24th Street.
So I thought I would meditate on
this on Billy Goat Hill and ponder if I was wrong not to
interfere. What did it matter anyway, except perhaps to tell
me to jump up the next time I saw danger.
On the hill, I went to the spot
where we go to touch the tree that used to shade Mia, our
recently deceased 14-year-old doggie. There was a man with two
dogs, one of which was rolling around on her back enjoying a
good scratch and the sun on her belly. When the dog got up, I
could see she was an old dog, a pit bull, a brindle like Mia
with a face of white hair from age. She came over to me and
gave me some love. It touched me so. The man said the dog,
Monkey, was 15 and had recovered from almost dying of kidney
failure. She looked very good. It was so nice to meet her and
the man and the other dog, Babe.
The Noe Valley Voice is
an independent newspaper published monthly except in January
and August. It is distributed free in Noe Valley and vicinity,
on or before the first Friday of the month. Subscriptions are
available at $30 per year ($25 for seniors) by writing to the
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to Noe Valley. All items should include your name, address,
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CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS AND EDITORS
Olivia Boler, Other Voices
Editor
Corrie M. Anders, Associate
Editor
Heather World, Associate
Editor
Heidi Anderson, Karol Barske,
Helen Colgan, Chrissy Elgersma, Jan Goben, Liz Highleyman,
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