Special to Bayview Hill Association from Ouesada Gardens

Quesada Gardens is what community looks like...

Sunday, February 8, 2009
Jobs in healthcare industry
Health practitioners work in one of the top five most profitable industries according to the research firm Sageworks Inc. Sageworks examined thousands of privately run industries, and found that healthcare ranked 4th, behind the number one profitable industry: dental offices.

It's good news that some sectors of our economy offer a more hopeful window of opportunity for job seekers.

If you know young people from the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood looking at the healthcare industry as a possible career, San Francisco General Hospital would like to give them a special tour of the hospital. Contact: info@quesadagardens.org
Posted by Quesada Gardens Initiative at 12:17 PM 0 comments
Labels: Community News and Events, Food Health and Safety
Study shows potential of existing food systems
"Beyond Food Deserts: Measuring and Mapping Racial Disparities in Neighborhood Food Environments" by Samina Raja, Changxing Ma, & Pavan Yadav, provides more evidence that building community and the capacity of local systems is a key strategy in addressing even the most challenging issues.

The study found that, "contrary to reports in the popular press and studies from elsewhere in the country (Mari Gallaghar Research and Consulting Group 2006)...an extensive network of small grocery stores available within a five-minute travel time of minority neighborhoods offers a tremendous opportunity for creating healthful food environments within neighborhoods of color.

The study substantiates what we already knew, that there is an absence of certain healthful food sources, namely supermarkets, in neighborhoods like Bayview Hunters Point when compared to predominantly white neighborhoods.

The new findings offer insight into effective strategies to bring good food to communities like Bayview. Instead of trying to get supermarkets to open up stores here, the study suggests that "creative planning and policy support for networks of existing small grocery stores may be a more efficient strategy for ensuring access to healthful foods within minority neighborhoods."

Literacy for Environmental Justice's Good Neighbor program is an example of efforts to strengthen existing food retailing systems. Community-based food production like that which Hunters Point Family and the Quesada Gardens Initiative is engaged in, is another important capacity-building strategy.

See more about this issue and efforts in Bayview to support local food at resident Rhonda Winters' blog, at the Southeast Food Access Working Groups' online space, and in 2007's food preferences survey for the southeast sector.
Posted by Quesada Gardens Initiative at 11:30 AM 0 comments
Labels: Food Health and Safety, Gardening and Food Production
Spring tree plantings on the calendar
SF Environment is busy organizing Arbor Day plantings, and Friends of the Urban Forest set a date for the next Bayview Free Sidewalk Tree Planting.

It must be Spring!

For your free Bayview trees, fill out DPW and FUF forms that can be found online.

Planting is scheduled for Saturday, April 4, 2009 - 9am to noon, and volunteers are always welcome.

FUF volunteer and Bayview resident Matt Czajkowski advises that you can apply for a tree for a DPW-maintained site. Good tip!

Another hot tip? Trees make unusual and meaningful Valentine's Day gifts. FUF will send an email to your sweetie, or you can download and send a card that shows how green just might be the next red when it comes to celebrating romance.
Posted by Quesada Gardens Initiative at 10:13 AM 0 comments
Labels: Community News and Events
Friday, February 6, 2009
Healthier foods coming to Bayview

It's no surprise to Serena Ortega, who works for the business that includes Upper Crust Deli on Third Street in Bayview, that she doesn't have much competition when it comes to new products she is introducing. She's done her research.

"There was a line out the door at 6am this morning," she said, "and it's just the first day for us to offer breakfast."

The deal of the day was the breakfast burritto, a relatively healthy food alternative compared to other offerings on the commercial corridor, and very competitively priced (starting at just $3).

Next on Serena's list is a line of salads which is a nearly subversive act in a neighborhood known as a food desert by those who measure the distance between front door and produce retailer.

Many community-based groups such as Hunters Point Family, Literacy for Environmental Justice, and the Quesada Gardens Initiative have been long been concerned about the lack of healthy food options in the neighborhood, and have taken steps that include community food gardens.

These groups also belong to a collaboration called the Southeast Food Access Working Group (SEFA) where they sit alongside representatives from the SF Department of Public Health, Southeast Health Clinic, and the SF Wholesale Food Market to advocate for more and better food options.

A survey of Bayview residents' food preferences, accomplished through SEFA, and released in late 2007, is a high water mark in the overall effort to attract new and better food options to the neighborhood.
Posted by Quesada Gardens Initiative at 6:25 PM 0 comments
Labels: Bayview Business, Food Health and Safety
Valentine's Day means a visit to Yvonne's

We've said it before, we'll say it again...If you have a sweetheart or just a sweet tooth, you need to make your way over to Pralines by Yvonne.

The little store with the big heart carries Yvonne Hines' own line of pralines, butter cookies, lemon pound cake, and more.

For Valentine's Day, get a gift box wrapped with passionate red ribbon and packed with goodies to make your special someone say "yum."

Pralines by Yvonne is located at 5128 Third Street. Say hello to Jacqueline Smith (pictured) who keeps the place warm and friendly when Ms. Hines is away.

Yvonne was recognized as Business Owner of the Year in 2007 by Senator Carole Migden's office.
Posted by Quesada Gardens Initiative at 6:19 PM 0 comments
Labels: Bayview Business
Bayview parks are city's most neglected

Just across the street from one of the lowest rated parks in San Francisco is a gardening and open space improvement project that neighbors who live on the block have started since they can't really use the existing park.

The newer project is on public land, but limited to a narrow strip of dirt outside the larger fenced-in area because approval to use the empty lot has been tough for the neighbors to secure even though the site has been a trash dump for years.

These folks, known as the Palou Garden group, and similar groups associated with the Quesada Gardens Initiative and Bayview Footprints Network spend little, do a lot, and just might get a higher grade than City's Parks and Recreation department.

A report from the San Francisco Controllers Office reports that, while our city's parks are improved overall, Bayview's parks occupy half of the bottom ten list.

The report is covered in today's SF Chronicle and yesterday's SF Examiner. It is well-timed with an opportunity for Bayview Hunters Point residents to give input into the future of open spaces in our neighborhood.

The report is also a forceful reminder that resident-led efforts to define and maintain the open spaces near them is a cost-effective alternative to traditional government strategies that often fail to connect with the people who are most affected by the potential and problems associated with these public assets.

The report card (which grades parks based on the condition of their trees, lawns, benches and play areas) will almost certainly come up at the Open Space Community Workshop on Wednesday, February 24th from 7pm to 9pm at the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House at 953 De Haro Street.

The Neighborhood Parks Council and the City's Open Space Team will host the meeting as part of a series of community workshops designed to solicit the public's vision and priorities for the future of open space in San Francisco.

District with lowest-rated parks:

Bayview-Hunters Point/Visitacion Valley, 10

District with highest-rated parks:

Mission/Bernal Heights/Portola, 9

Lowest-rated parks:

Cayuga/Lamartine Mini Park, District 11
Sgt. John Macauley Park, District 6
John McLaren Park, District 10
Park Presidio Boulevard, District 1
Palou/Phelps Park, District 10

Top-rated parks:

Collis P. Huntington Park, District 3
Richmond Recreation Center, District 1
Fay Park, District 3
Midtown Terrace Playground, District 7
Hyde/Vallejo Mini Park, District 3

Most improved:

29th/Diamond Open Space, District 8
Saturn Street Steps, District 5
Page/Laguna Mini Park, District 8

Source: City Controller’s Office
Posted by Quesada Gardens Initiative at 9:03 AM 0 comments
Labels: Gardening and Food Production, Palou Garden
Monday, January 26, 2009
Bayview community-building network reinvented

REPORT-BACK TO OUR COMMUNITY

From Bayview Footprints' organizers and friends

Bayview Footprints did something you don’t see very often: a public review of what we do and how we do it. Even a collaboration fueled by volunteers, residents, and small organization staffers should be transparent, responsive and open to change.

In October, Footprints leaders and allies asked the Haas Business School to send a team of advanced students to facilitate public meetings, interview member group representatives, and present feedback and recommendations. We also administered two surveys, one for our member groups, and another for the broader community that was sent out online and published in the last Footprints News edition.

Bayview Footprints is respected and appreciated, according to the review findings, and accomplishing things that the community wants to see more of. On the other hand, most folks had trouble saying what, exactly, “Bayview Footprints” is!

Communications turned out to be the critical challenge: communicating Footprints’ mission and structure, communicating member benefits and responsibilities, and communicating what the group actually does.

What is “Footprints” anyway? The question came up often during the intensive public review process that Bayview Footprints just concluded. The Haas Business School volunteers said, in their final recommendations, that “Member groups interviewed were proud of their membership,” but that “Footprints’ main focus should be on networking the member groups.”

And so, Footprints is no longer a Collaboration of Community-Building Groups.” Welcome to the Bayview Footprints Network of Community-Building Groups!

Changes at a glance:

* Look for a new focus on “networking.”

* Look for the prioritizing of informal, small groups as members, with larger, more established organizations as supporters.

* Instead of monthly social gatherings, look for periodic “issue forums” on subjects of interest to member groups.

* Look for the network and its resources to be “open for adoption” for specific periods and for specific projects that member groups or other organizations need community support for.

Now, Bayview Footprints is a network of informal BVHP Member Groups building community, supporting resident leadership, and contributing to a balanced story about our beloved neighborhood. The “walking footprints” graphic represents the strength of diversity and the recognition that our past, present and future are inseparable.

Footprints’ focus is on shared values and a belief that every conversation and handshake is shaping our community whether it occurs in a meeting room or on the street. While member groups may play advocacy roles, the network as a whole is non-governmental, nonpolitical, and entirely supportive of established policymaking and advisory structures.

The network advances BVHP groups that typically don’t have a place elsewhere: social clubs, neighborhood associations, families, new projects, small organizations, projects without funding or sponsorship, independent businesses, and the like.

Member Groups benefit from mutual support and assistance, communications opportunities, and forums for the discussion of issues important to them. Membership is free; however groups are required to participate in the life of the network to retain membership. Member Groups each have a vote in any question affecting Footprints such as new member applications.

Supporting Organizations are larger and more established groups and institutions from within and outside the community that commit to contributions in support of the network. These organizations also receive benefits, such as being listed in materials, and are invited to participate in events. They are non-voting allies of Footprints.

Bayview Footprints Network of Community-Building Groups encourages the spirit and energy of community cohesion so that each footprint we leave today builds on the last, and leads to a future that includes everyone.

2008 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Footprints is proud of its long list of accomplishments, all the more because it’s only been eighteen months since the first groups got together and defined a focus on positive strategies that build community and tell a balanced story of our neighborhood’s strengths.

* 7 social gatherings attracting hundreds of residents to the library, Upper Crust Deli, Roadhouse Café, Webspot, Javalencia Café and Gallery 94124, and the Quesada Garden.

* 6 Footprints News print editions, and dozens of e-news briefs.

* 4 issue forums, at the library and the Southeast Community Facility, on subjects including sidewalk and streets improvements, community responses to violence, history and culture, and arts funding to BVHP.

* “Bayview Is…” campaign launched so all individuals and affinity groups can share their own experience of their neighborhood through photographs, videos, public art, and more.

* Community calendar launched and paid for as a donation to collaborative work in the neighborhood.

* 1 portal website including a social networking component so that online resources for the neighborhood can be found and shared easily.

Accomplishments are the result of pro bono contributions aside from a $3,000 contribution from Wells Fargo Bank for the reproduction of the Footprints News, and a $3,000 contribution from Zellerbach Family Foundation for the “Bayview Is…” mural. We are grateful to all.

Bayview Footprints member groups are: ART 94124, Arthur H. Coleman Medical Center, Bayview Business Resource Center, Bayview History Preservation Project, Bayview Safe Haven, Bayview YMCA, Better Bayview Group, Blue Dolphin Youth Swim Team, BVHP Foundation for Community Improvement, Community Arts Center Working Group, Hunters Point Family, India Basin Neighborhood Association, Literacy for Environmental Justice, Old Skool Café, Pathlight Productions – Infinity Gospel Ministries, Public Glass, Quesada Gardens Initiative (including Bridgeview Garden and Latona Garden), Reachout for the Rainbow After School, Renaissance Parents of Success, Shipyard Trust for the Arts, Think Round, Inc./Children’s Mural Program, Third Street Youth Center.

For more information, call 415.822.0800 or email info@quesadagardens.org
Posted by Quesada Gardens Initiative at 11:54 AM 0 comments
Labels: "footprints" - leave a good impression
Arts in Bayview 2008 and beyond
NEW BAYVIEW MURAL DEDICATED ON MLK DAY

By Heidi Hardin
Think Round, Inc.

If you are in Bayview and standing on the hills along the Bay, look west to see something new near the familiar spire of All Hallows Church: strokes of bright colors that are part of Bayview’s newest piece of public art.

Acting on a generous grant from the Zellerbach Foundation, the Quesada Gardens Initiative solicited community artists Malik Seneferu and Heidi Hardin to create a “Bayview Is…” Community Mural on a gray retaining wall located on Newhall Avenue, just below the showpiece Bridgeview Garden.

Seneferu created a design that depicts the sun radiating across the 120’ x 14’ wall, dividing it into six areas of solid hot colors. Several large white birds fly across the expanse toward the sun.

The bold design was brought to life at the end of 2008 by the artists, and teams of volunteers from the community and San Francisco General Hospital.

The design is planned to evolve in a future phase of the project. The large, solid blocks of color within the sun’s rays create areas for community artists, youth, faith-based groups and others to express in words and images what “Bayview Is…” to them. These community-generated, community-inspired visions will be facilitated by Hardin and Seneferu who welcome your ideas.

The “Bayview Is…” Campaign is a community-generated and resident-led arts and communications campaign that has been developing a balanced story about the strengths of our neighborhood over time, like resident-contributed patches in an ever-expanding quilt. It is a project of the Bayview Footprints network and the Quesada Gardens Initiative.

Hardin and Seneferu are artists and educators with deep roots in Bayview Hunters Point. The groups they lead, Think Round, Inc. and the Safe Haven Program are both Bayview Footprints member groups.

SHIPYARD TRUST FOR THE ARTS REACHING OUT

By Marc Ellen Hamel
STAR Board Member & Shipyard Artist

2008 was a busy year for the nonprofit organization Shipyard Trust for the Arts (STAR). In addition to joining Footprints last year, STAR continued its tracking of the Hunters Point Shipyard redevelopment process, and built important new relationships within the Bayview Hunters Point community.

In 2009, the organization is focusing on building infrastructure, a process it is kicking-off with a full-day Board of Directors retreat this month.

Veronica Orozco, a native San Franciscan of Nicaraguan heritage, was the 2008 Artist-in-Residence. Orozco now joins the list of former artists-in-residence, which includes Rhonel Roberts, Dolores Gray, Juan Fuentes, Mary Booker, and Santie Huckaby.

STAR members and many Shipyard Artists have been active in the exciting new Bayview community arts organization, Art 94124, and were enthusiastic participants in a number of Footprints events.

ARTS CENTER VISION DEVELOPS

By Rebecca Haseltine
Shipyard Artist & ACWG Group Member

The Art Center Working Group, in 2008, continued manifesting the dream of a multidisciplinary Community Art Center on the Hunters Point Shipyard that emphasizes arts education. 2009 will bring more detailed development of our plan for the Center.

This past year, we met with individuals and groups in the Bayview Hunters Point community to build a broader coalition for the work, and to find out the scope of the community’s needs. We continue to work with the SF City Redevelopment Agency and the Citizen’s Advisory Committee to expand our base of support and to participate in the existing planning process for the Shipyard.

We also met with several experts who have created art centers in other locations to help us develop our ideas, expanded the core group of participants, created a brochure to present our mission and vision, and began investigating funding opportunities.

This year, look for us to continue this project intensively. We welcome participation on many levels. If you are interested in becoming involved, please contact me at 415.641.5301 or haseltine@earthlink.net.

ART 94124 SHOW

ART 94124 will celebrated its first show of 2009 last Friday at the unique gallery behind Javalencia Café at 3900 Third Street. A group exhibit of artists working in multiple media that salutes jazz and African-American heritage features original artwork, photography, and limited-edition prints.

Footprints member group ART 94124 represents an innovative mix of art, business and community, and is fueled by residents and other community-minded leaders who recognize the power of grassroots strategies to bring people together and create change.
Posted by Quesada Gardens Initiative at 10:17 AM 0 comments
Labels: "footprints" - leave a good impression, Community News and Events, Public Art Programming
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Bayview business notes
Folks collaborating to help businesses on Third Street report that eight new businesses opened up on the corridor in 2008. Among them are Auntie April's Soul Food Restaurant and Trendsetters.Below, FJ Cava is caught in a rare moment of relaxation in the entryway of his unique business, Webspot.

Webspot has has the creative attention of Traci Peace from Visions of LaModa (also pictured) who works with young women in the design field.

Visions of LaModa holds classes at Faith Temple Church on Oakdale, and took a group of youth last summer to New York City for a backstage experience of fashion week.

The collaboration between Webspot and Visions is a remarkable example of socially-responsible businesses working with the community for the benefit of all.









Posted by Quesada Gardens Initiative at 9:53 PM 0 comments
Labels: Bayview Business, Community News and Events
A & A Photography - Ready for your closeup

What's in a name?

In the case of A & A Photography, the answer is Arnella Williams and her son Alonzo Williams. A & A is the newest business on Third Street, next door to Upper Crust Deli at Revere, and is offering photography to meet all the community’s needs.

“I was raised in the neighborhood,” Alonzo said recently, “and wanted to start a business that helps the community.”

Alonzo has a sincere way about him, and is easy to believe. But check the price sheet, and you know he’s real. Need a quick professional photo of your new girlfriend or boyfriend for your wallet? Get one, and 55 copies for your jealous friends…all for just $16!

A & A Photography occupies a storefront divided by one of several backdrop rolls hanging from the ceiling. There seems to be a backdrop for all occasions. Stand in front of graffiti hearts for a youthful pose, or sit on a park bench for an old style studio portrait.

A & A offers a range of services, including wedding and church event photography, and is the go-to place for anyone building a modeling portfolio. The business specializes in the family portrait, and the increasingly popular pet portrait.

Alonzo’s brother, James Williams, slid behind the counter for a quick picture of the nonprofessional kind. “I’m photogenic,” he said, and then grinned to prove the point.

A & A is an inviting place that illustrates the Bayview most people have yet to discover…a place where friendly family businesses pop up to meet the needs of residents…a place where you can have a professional and artful portrait taken even though funky phone pics seem to rule…a place where the people on both sides of the business counter truly care about their community.

Walk in to A & A Photography (5112 3rd Street) Monday through Saturday from 10am to 6pm, or make an appointment (415.822.FOTO).
Posted by Quesada Gardens Initiative at 9:40 PM 0 comments
Labels: Bayview Business, Community News and Events
New manager at Bayview Wells Fargo

Cliff Banayat has moved to the manager’s chair of our neighborhood Wells Fargo Branch at Bayview Plaza. Denise Woo, former manager, has moved to a new position within the bank.
Footprints is grateful to Wells Fargo Bank for funding reproduction of the Bayview Footprints print newsletter.
Posted by Quesada Gardens Initiative at 9:35 PM 0 comments
Labels: Bayview Business
Innovative gardening idea from Bayview



Photos and text by Rhonda Winter
Bayview Resident

My neighbor Alyssa and I spent this afternoon making paper pots to propagate wildflower seeds for the Latona Community Garden. Anyone can create these simple recycled pots using just an empty can or jar and paper.

To make a paper pot simply cut your material to size, fold it and wrap it around your jar or can leaving a few inches over the end of the container, then fold the edges of the paper over into the open end. Next, remove the jar and push the sides down to form the bottom for your pot. Now you are ready to fill it with soil for planting your favorite vegetables or flowers.

Once your seeds have sprouted, the whole biodegradable pot can be planted directly into the ground so you do not have to disturb the seedlings’ roots. The entire paper pot will eventually just decompose into the earth!

When initially making paper pots I suggest experimenting with different sizes, methods and materials to see what works best for you; there is more than one way to make a perfect paper pot. I prefer to use old grocery bags the spirit and energy of community because they are sturdy and last many months, but something else might work better for your planting needs.
Posted by Quesada Gardens Initiative at 9:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Gardening and Food Production, Latona Garden, Our Children and Youth
Wise Bayview resident talks about election
by Jeffrey Betcher
Bayview Resident

The day after Senator Obama became President-Elect Obama, Edward Allen’s thoughts went to his military days, a past president, and a time when the country was in peril beyond what we’re experiencing now.

“You can’t touch it,” Mr. Allen said of the Great Depression, World War II, and the generation of Americans that came together to turn things around. He ought to know. He’s lived through most of it.

I wanted to take a walk around my neighborhood, San Francisco’s maligned and challenged Bayview Hunters Point, to soak up the community reaction to the prior day’s election. I said “hello” to Mr. Allen, who was sitting about a minute’s walk from my front door, next to Wendy’s Bakery, looking out onto the unique urban beauty of the Quesada Garden.

Almost daily, weather permitting, Mr. Allen walks by my house carrying a folding stool, and takes position where folks have been gathering for the ten years I can speak to, and probably since the corner emerged from a dirt road and open space. Allen and other locals know that the corner has always been favored by the sun.

“December 7th, 1941,” Allen said. “The whole country came together in about a week.” He blew a gust of military and national history in my direction, complete with dates, names and events. De Gaulle…Churchill…Montgomery…Roosevelt…

Allen served from 1952 to 1954, during the Korean War, spending a good bit of time in Germany where he witnessed the stunning rubble that called itself “Berlin.” The Korean War was the beginning of the United States’ slow left turn into conflicts that should have been avoided, Allen believes. Vietnam and Iraq are on the same list.

“It’s not people like Bush who have to fight,” he said. “Poor folks do that part.”

Allen was drafted away from a job he had held at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard for five years, and there was nothing to do but put on a uniform. The Shipyard, a rare hub of job opportunities for working people, was no protection from the draft.

Allen, I already knew, was the son of a farmer. Usually quiet, he was walking by one of the community gardens in the area a few months be ago, on his way to Quesada Avenue and Third Street. He pointed out that the corn in the Bridgeview Garden needed more water than we were giving it. It was obvious that he knew what he was talking about.

Born in 1931, Allen was raised in Louisiana. With the exception of his overseas service, Bayview Hunters Point has been his home since he arrived as a teenager in 1947. When he returned from the service, in 1954, he looked for a job outside the Shipyard. “Working with longshoremen, there was a lot of hard living, drinking and that kind of thing. I ended up working for Best Foods on Bryant, and was there for thirty years.”

The Best Foods job was fortunate for Allen as the Shipyard began its postwar decline, and the neighborhood began to suffer from the evaporation of employment opportunities. But he remains proud of his military service, and his time at the Shipyard.

The election of Barak Obama stirred both that pride and his concern about how far we, as a country, have drifted from the generation of leadership that sent soldiers into harm’s way only when absolutely necessary.

“Where’s Osama bin Laden?” he asked, and then shrugged his shoulders. “And look at all we need here at home.”

The view we had, from the corner of Quesada and Third, supported Allen’s opinions. This is the kind of neighborhood that disproportionally bears the human burden when leaders call upon the military. It’s the kind of neighborhood that most needs the economic vitality that bringing resources home could create.

Allen grew up understanding the struggle to survive, and came of age in an era of unity generated by the demands of World War II, which, he believes, remains the best example of when the United States should fight. He remembers how, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, everything changed and ultimately got better.

Allen understood the comparisons of Obama to FDR. For him, the fact that a black man was elected president is meaningful. But what is more important is that a new president might unite everyone, and cut a path to the future that we all can find and travel together.

As we talked, passers-by -- each different than the last when it comes to race, class, and other things that usually separate us -- all smiled and shared in the excitement of the day. “From the outhouse to the White House,” one said.

If a sunny corner in Bayview and a conversation between neighbors are any indication, Allen’s vision for the country under an Obama presidency seems especially focused, and as close to becoming reality as the people walking by.

Whether we see sudden “change” or a long slow climb, we can find Edward Allen on most sunny days somewhere between the Quesada Garden and Wendy’s Bakery, making sense of the day’s events by remembering the past.
Posted by Quesada Gardens Initiative at 8:24 PM 0 comments
Labels: Community News and Events, History of BVHP
Bayview landscape "then and now"


Our community is growing dramatically...again! Large format versions of these photographs can be seen at our branch library on Third and Revere, behind the circulation desk.

Thanks go to Bert Graziano who took the older photograph around 1920, and Margot Bors who did photo restoration and then took the newer picture in 2003: footings to an eighty year span of local history.

The Bayview History Preservation Project, a co-founding Footprints member group, is located at the library, and houses many images and other treasures from our past.
Posted by Quesada Gardens Initiative at 7:13 PM 0 comments
Labels: "footprints" - leave a good impression, History of BVHP
New Bayview library designed

This rendering of the new Bayview branch library is the latest from Thomas Hacker Architects, and re!ects community input. Note the green roof!

Library Design Highlights:

* Expanded materials collections
* Meeting room with after-hours access
* Fully accessible
* Flexible design for future technologies
* Increased Chinese language collection
* Prominent reading area
* Two enclosed study rooms
* Expanded children’s area
* Inner courtyard
* More functional staff work areas
* A larger designated teen area
* New furniture
* Clear signage
* More computers and internet access
* Express self-checkout machines
* A variety of seating choices
* 24-hour book return
* Maximum use of natural light
* Public art

By Linda Brooks-Burton
Managing Librarian & Footprints Co-Founder

San Francisco voters passed a bond measure, in 2002, for $106 million to upgrade San Francisco’s branch library system. In 2007, voters authorized additional funding for branch improvement.

The San Francisco Public Library decided that its Bayview branch should be rebuilt given the voting public’s message and strong community support, and because increasing service needs have been difficult to meet in the current building.

In 2008, the San Francisco Public Library’s Branch Library Improvement Program (BLIP) produced important achievements, including pre-design meetings with branch staff, administration and architects from Thomas Hacker Architects, Inc. Three community meetings, at which the architects presented design options to the community, generated community input into the process that affected the final concept.

More community meetings will be held in 2009, and construction on the new building is scheduled to begin in early 2010 and be completed in late 2011. This month, art selection for the branch will take place.

The Bayview Branch Library is emblematic of the changing face of the neighborhood, and of the community’s historic commitment to education -an important stepping stone to a better life for African Americans, immigrants, and all working class families.

Bayview History Note: The branch is now named for a San Francisco clerical employee, Anna E. Waden, whose bequest made possible the cooperative community project that resulted in the current building at Third and Revere where a Sinclair gas station once stood. Constructed in 1969 under the leadership of its fi rst librarian, George Alfred, the library still traces its roots to a humble storefront facility opened in 1927.
Posted by Quesada Gardens Initiative at 5:44 PM 0 comments
Labels: "footprints" - leave a good impression, Community News and Events
Bayview YMCA - Healthy Resolution
NEW YEAR ’S RESOLUTION: Healthy youth, families and community

by Gina Fromer, Executive Director of the Bayview YMCA

The Bayview Hunters Point YMCA is always working to make a difference for you, for your family, for our partners, and for the community.

For the last ten years, we have been creating a unique story, providing a safe haven where people gather and celebrate family, and creating programs that have a direct impact on the families they touch.

With 2009 here, we are working to expand our youth services to include a community teen center, and to increase our Health and Fitness Studio programs for active adults. We see the difference that our YMCA makes every day in the lives of ordinary people.

The BVHP YMCA is an anchor organization working in collaboration with key partners to bring quality services and programs to the diverse community of Bayview Hunters Point. We are a focal point of youth development, youth leadership, and youth sports — a conduit for the forward movement of our future generation.

Note: The Bayview YMCA is a Bayview Footprints member group, and is located at the corner of Lane and Quesada. Contact them at 415.822.7728.
Posted by Quesada Gardens Initiative at 4:46 PM 0 comments
Labels: Community News and Events, Food Health and Safety, Our Children and Youth
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Bayview Is... mural dedicated
Annette Smith, one of the first to plant flowers on the Quesada Avenue median strip in 2002, beginning a new phase of community involvement in a challenged neighborhood, offered an opening prayer at the post-work gathering near the new “Bayview Is…” mural on Newhall at Bridgeview. Smith offered thanks for the effort underway in the neighborhood, and asked for wisdom and guidance as more and more people get involved in the work.

Dolores Williams, a longtime Newhall Avenue resident, spoke about the importance of community involvement. She can see the “Bayview Is…” mural from her kitchen window, she said, the same window from which she has seen crime and violence. She thanked Joel McClure for quickly covering over the graffiti that all too often would appear on the wall when it was a patchwork of gray paint. She said the mural is a big improvement.

Williams told stories about things she has seen from her window over the years, and about how neighbors have looked after one another. “Watch out your windows,” she advised, “and you might be surprised at what you see.”

Now, Williams has a view from her window of vibrant colors in a radiating sun pattern spanning over one hundred feet in length, and about fifteen feet in height. A series of birds, rendered in white silhouette, rise across the mural, suggesting rebirth and hopefulness. The design is by Malik Seneferu, an artist with deep and ongoing ties to the community.

Mary McClure who, along with husband Joel, is the project manager for the Bridgeview Garden project, helped roll paint onto the Newhall wall under the watchful eyes of the artists. Yesterday, she presented bouquets of flowers to those same artists, and introduced them to the audience as catalysts for change on Newhall.

Heidi Hardin, a Shipyard artist and longtime arts educator with a commitment to youth, the arts and environment, was the first to receive a bouquet. She thanked all those who worked on the project, and pointed out that she and her fellow muralist, Seneferu, were fine artists in addition to the collaborative, community-based work they have become known for. She expressed her personal commitment to advancing the health of families from all different faiths by using her arts in a project she calls the Human Family Tree project.

Malik Seneferu, after thanking Mary for his bouquet, encouraged support for all the arts work happening in the neighborhood, from the Arts Center at the Shipyard to the community-based Gallery 94124. He was moved by the dedication, he said, as he was by MLK Day and the inauguration to follow. In that spirit, he asked for feedback on an image of Obama, his newest artistic accomplishment, which he had brought with him.

Hardin and Seneferu both have a long history of working with at-risk youth, Hardin with her Children’s Mural Program and Think Round, Inc., and Seneferu with the Safe Haven Program of Hunters Point Family. They also possess the rare ability to foster their unique artistic visions while, at the same time, working in collaboration on projects intended to facilitate the expression of diverse voices.

The mural, Bayview’s newest piece of public art, is part of the “Bayview Is…” Campaign and the Bayview Footprints Network of Community-Building Groups. The Campaign is a resident-led effort to provide those with deep roots in Bayview the means to express their own experience of their neighborhood. It involves public art, like the new mural, photographs of residents holding signs with their own descriptions of their experience, and public events.
Posted by Quesada Gardens Initiative at 6:16 PM 0 comments
Labels: Bayview Is, Community News and Events, Public Art Programming
MLK Day of Service in Bayview

Residents from the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood of San Francisco joined with volunteers from outside the neighborhood yesterday to celebrate Martin Luther King Day with community service, as then President-Elect Obama had suggested.

Groups from Stanford University, University of San Francisco and AmeriCorps, along with individuals from other San Francisco neighborhoods who wanted a service experience to mark their MLK holiday, worked in community gardens around the heart of Bayview.

The Quesada Gardens Initiative organized the event on behalf of the many informal groups focused on projects such as the Bridgeview Garden, the Latona Community Garden, and a new garden emerging on Palou Avenue.

About a hundred volunteers weeded, picked up trash, built retaining walls, laid piping for an irrigation system, painted garden furniture, and spread a mountain of mulch. Afterward, they gathered to share food and lemonade, dedicate a recently finished mural and celebrate the muralists, and share thoughts about the meaning of the day.

The day’s activities were promoted on KCBS, in the SF Chronicle and SF Examiner, and were covered by KGO local ABC news.

“I’ve had a lot of great moments in my private life, but this is the greatest in my public one,” Revere neighbor Nan Foster said as she worked in the Quesada Garden yesterday. She was talking about the inauguration, something that was on everyone’s minds and lips throughout the MLK Day holiday.

The MLK Day and the inauguration seemed like one holiday, and the work on the local level was never more connected to events outside the neighborhood.

Even with our hands in the dirt, we could sense the camera of perspective panning out to a long shot of the earth from space. MLK Day itself seemed to expand around us as people who are vastly different from one another worked together, drank lemonade together, and cheered together. Still a celebration of the African American experience and the movement toward civil rights, the MLK holiday seemed all the more inclusive as a day of purpose for all cultures and all struggle.

Contributing to the day of service were as many people who appeared nearer Obama’s mother’s ethnicity and culture as from that of the new President’s father. Individually, we brought to the day perspective dictated by our unique backgrounds. Together, we were immersed in a collective experience that is rare even in a place where unity is cultivated along with community gardens and public art.

Pictured are Drew Howard and Chris Waddling working on the newly emerging Palou Garden just west of Phelps. Photo by James Ross

See lots of great pictures of community-building work, all by Rhonda Winter, including pictures from yesterday.
Posted by Quesada Gardens Initiative at 5:25 PM 0 comments
Labels: Community News and Events, Palou Garden
Friday, January 16, 2009
New video on community-building in Bayview
The secret is out, if it ever was one, and it's Freshh!

A new video by Dorothy LaRue and Jeph Foust at Studio Freshh features community-building in Bayview, scenes of the neighborhood, Bridgeview Garden, Latona Garden, Quesada community mural, and more. The piece is now on the StudioFreshh website.

At about eight minutes, it's one of the more substantive pieces on building community cohesion through positive strategies that we've seen. The good folks at StudioFreshh hope for comments at their website...so please visit them to see the video, and leave an impression during your stay.
Posted by Quesada Gardens Initiative at 1:31 PM 0 comments
Labels: About QGI, Bridgeview Garden, Latona Garden
Saturday, January 10, 2009
New art show in Bayview

ART 94124 will celebrate its first show of 2009 on Friday January 16th from 6pm to 10pm at the unique gallery behind Javalencia Cafe at 3900 Third Street in Bayview. A group exhibit of artists working in multiple media that salutes jazz and African-American heritage will feature original artwork, photography, and limited-edition prints.

ART 94124 represents an innovative mix of art, business, and community, and is fueled by residents and other community-minded leaders who recognize the power of grassroots strategies to bring people together and create change.

Visit ART 94124 Presents: JAZZ! and see artwork from Bayview Hunters Point and beyond, including pieces by Kajahl Benes, Tad Bridenthal, Marsha Ercegovic, Juan Fuentes, James Gayles, Santie Huckaby, Natalie Kaufman, Malik Seneferu, Brian Stannard, Jon Tomlinson, and Charles Unge.
Posted by Quesada Gardens Initiative at 10:42 AM 0 comments
Labels: "footprints" - leave a good impression, Community News and Events, Public Art Programming
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Quesada Gardens Initiative
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Quesada Gardens Initiative
We are building "community," connecting across our differences, and strengthening local systems in the Bayview Hunters Point Neighborhood of San Francisco through strategies that have emerged from the grassroots: community and backyard gardens, public art projects, events, and more. We are 100% resident-led, and believe that communities should be allowed to define themselves. We also believe that we all have a responsibility to be involved in the life of the street where we live. There is nothing more valuable than informal groups and social networks, especially in challenging times. Contact us at 415.822.0800 or info@QuesadaGardens.org

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