July-August 2002 RETURN TO HOME PAGE FEEDBACK

How About IKEA?

Editor:

From the photograph of her in your June issue, Kathy Zucchi, new president of the Noe Valley Merchants and Professionals Association, shows good taste and good judgment in having pugs as pets. Everything else she has to say seems totally wrongheaded.

She goes on about how she loves Noe Valley and then says she wants to change it into a "destination neighborhood" (while opposing space for City CarShare in the public parking lot). She wants a Williams-Sonoma store, and then what? A Gap? Pottery Barn? Maybe we could dump those mom-and-pop corner stores and lure in some 7-Elevens? Noe Valley doesn't need to be further homogenized by chain stores into some tackier mall combo of Union Street and Stonestown.

As for a street fair, didn't we have one in the '70s and '80s that was dropped because of mounting problems and lack of interest?

Normally I have no problem with business associations. Let them meet, chat each other up, have lunches or dinners, put up decorations, whatever. But if this suburbanizing chain-store stuff is going to be the policy of the Noe Valley Merchants Association, I would be happy to join, or even help organize, a neighborhood boycott of the member stores.

David Erikson

Noe Valley resident

Hats Off to Police Beat

Editor:

Hey, neighbors over there in Noe Valley! I have to tell you that your online edition of the Noe Valley Voice is one of the most inspiring examples of the word "community" that I have ever run across.

In particular, I would like to commend Kathy Dalle-Molle, who writes your most excellent Police Beat column. She has apparently found a way to tap into a rich source of information from the SFPD's Mission Station. If she has any suggestions as to how we might follow her example over here in the Civic Center, which is Northern Station territory, I'd love to hear them. All we get are raw crime statistics, instead of something more alive, relevant, and useful in preventing neighborhood crimes.

We salute the talent that is packed into the Noe Valley Voice and your inspiring contribution to San Francisco's overall reputation as a patchwork quilt of great neighborhoods!

David Noor

Fox Plaza Tenants Association

Editor's Suggestion: Your best bet is to get to know the beat officers in your neighborhood. They'll help plead your case with the brass at Northern Station.

Combing the World for
Galileo Grads

Editor:

This is to announce the re-formation of the Galileo Alumni Association. Re-formed in January of 2002, our group is looking for alumni from Galileo for all years. Please contact us for additional information at Galileo Academy of Science and Technology Alumni Association, 1150 Francisco Street, San Francisco, CA 94109.

In addition, one of our members has created "A Decade at Galileo High School: The '50s," an Internet web site devoted to the alumni of the 1950s. It can be viewed at http://GalileoHS50s.homestead.com. The site also lists all the known upcoming events.

Phil Kaiser

Via e-mail

Bid Farewell to Victorians

Editor:

It seems as if more and more historic buildings are being demolished in Noe Valley and new buildings thrown up simply to maximize developers' profits. One block from where I live, two large original Victorian houses on Chattanooga Street are currently undergoing this threat by a developer who recently purchased the properties to build new condos and sell for quick profit. The historical significance of such buildings to our neighborhood and city seems to be ignored. The idea of restoring and expanding the buildings is discarded as less profitable. So another Victorian is bulldozed and gone forever.

Mark Olson

22nd Street

Splitting Hairs Over Dog Policy

Editor:

You published an article by Erin O'Briant, "Hackles Raised Over New Dog Policy," in your June 2002 issue that contained major misstatements of fact.

O'Briant wrote that "[d]og owners in Noe Valley are growling at the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission for passing a tough leash law in early May."

This is false. It is a policy, not a law. More importantly, it is not a new leash law. The leash law is very old and was not changed by this policy.

Further she stated, "It [Day Street Park] is one of only four parks in the city with a fenced area set aside for dogs." Wrong, there are 19 legal off-leash areas.

Please have your journalists check their facts.

Kevin Wallace

Via e-mail

Erin O'Briant Replies: The city's new dog park policy is indeed a policy and not a law, as Kevin Wallace points out. But since you can get a ticket for breaking this new policy, it sure sounds like a law to me. Also, the policy will put teeth into the existing leash laws by restricting off-leash dogs to fenced-off dog runs within most city parks (or banning them from small parks altogether). According to Rec and Park, there were 19 designated off-leash areas before adoption of the new policy in May. But under the new policy, there are only four parks in San Francisco that still qualify as legal dog runs. Most other parks will have to come up with specially marked dog areas by next fall.

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