The Mission restaurant boom that has transformed Valencia Street in recent years will continue to spread east on 24th Street and push out established businesses, many of which are owned by Latinos, a neighborhood merchants’ group fears.
Members of the Lower 24th Street Merchants and Neighbors Association are analyzing a range of options for preserving the current culture of the neighborhood. Among the possibilities under consideration are establishing a cultural district and imposing a moratorium on new restaurants.
“Talking about preserving the Latino culture, sometimes it’s a bad word,” said Erick Arguello, president of the merchants’ group. “People look at you like you are already on your way out.”
Talk of a moratorium on restaurants in order to slow gentrification is not new to the Mission. Last fall, the Valencia Corridor Merchants Association proposed a restaurant moratorium for Valencia Street. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that at least 16 new restaurants opened there last year, and according to Supervisor David Campos, that moratorium is still being considered.
Community groups in other parts of the city, such as Japantown and SoMa’s leather district, are also working on preserving community identities by enacting zoning restrictions.
At a meeting of the lower 24th Street group last Thursday, community members also proposed expanding any moratorium to include bars and limiting the sale of alcohol in grocery stores. Campos, who led the meeting, said that a restaurant moratorium could be designed to expire in a year or two or could be made permanent.
Brooke Oliver, an attorney and local resident, thinks that if the Valencia Street moratorium is enacted, 24th Street could see an influx of new businesses.
“One of the biggest concerns we have is Valencia Street,” he said. “If there is a moratorium on restaurants there, it’s going to be like a toothpaste tube squeezing the speculation onto 24th Street.” Even without the restriction, some businesses that have opened recently on 24th either relocated from Valencia or avoided it altogether because of high rents. Wise Son’s Deli opened on 24th and Shotwell streets instead of Valencia last year because of the rents being asked, the owner told SF Weekly.
Pig and Pie, which opened last year, kept an iconic sign from the previous business, Discolandia, at the request of the merchants’ association and residents who are keen to preserve the feeling of the area.
Some local merchants worry that a moratorium could do more harm than good. Yaron Milgrom, the owner of restaurants Local Mission Eatery and Local’s Corner, said he would be opposed to a policy with absolute restrictions.
“I don’t think we should keep the same business at all costs,” he said. “If the auto shop was vacant, if no one else is going to come, if they make it work, it’s better.” Milgrom plans to open a market in the 24th Street area.
Aside from a moratorium, other options for 24th Street include requiring a Planning Commission hearing for proposed new restaurants, limiting the number of restaurants allowed in spaces previously occupied for other uses, and enacting no new zoning regulations.
“There are pros and cons” to each option, Campos said. With the future of the 24th Street neighborhood far from settled, business owners and residents are expected to continue the debate in months to come.
One thing’s for sure: people are passionate about this neighborhood! This is goodness. Is there a way we can harness this? Does anyone know Mr Campos? Let’s have him read this.
One more thing…
Building owners should just come out and admit what everyone knows: you are in favor of gentrification because it makes your property worth more. You are salivating over those $100k/year appreciations and the obscene rents you can now charge.
Your self-interest trumps any other concern.
Just because we want to live here doesn’t mean its due to appreciation of property values: WE WANT TO LIVE HERE. Oh and WE WANT IT TO BE SAFE. Oh and WE WANT IT TO BE CLEAN.
Since when are these bad things?
Like I said previously, your ignorance of the actual economic situation in the Mission speaks volumes. Try arguing with facts and data, not rhetoric, and you might do better.
I live in the mission and was given a notice of eviction 2 weeks before the opening on a grill cheese sandwich restauraunt below my apt. The reasons for eviction stated on the notice seemed sketchy, stating we owe rent from a month we had proof we paid rent on. I know he was trying to get us out becausr the place is rent controlled, there are tons of converted old homes on the street and they think theyre gonna turn this old house with a major black mold and mouse problem into a place with higher rent. Its landmark reality, look it up, the owner lost in eviction court a few years ago and filed bankruptcy to not owe the tenants money, leaving them homeless. The people moving in and the landowners moving them in dont care about preserving the neighborhood but dont get its attractive because the people here now made it attractive. Its all for self interest but when the culture is gone the yuppie parasites will only follow behind the people being forced out of this neighborhood because it will no longer be interesting here, not looking to live in the marina in the mission area thanks.
To Mazzy and others who say that price and other controls are “unamerican”, let me ask you a question by posing a hypothetical…
Imagine that a big company buys up the water system of San Francisco. And, being good free-market loving American capitalists, they started jacking up the price. A few years down the road, the tarrif is up to $1 per gallon, and so a shower costs $20 and flushing the toilet costs $3.50.
Would you be OK with that?
I, and most people, WOULDN’T. Because reasonable people understand that there are limits to what owners should charge for the necessities of life, and these limits must be socially imposed for the social good.
In other words, capitalism is like a horse that must be harnessed by regulation so as to pull the cart of society.
Anyone who actually has to pay for water in the Mission and has been here longer than a year or two will find this comment just as hilarious as I do.
Predictably, the point of the comment sailed right over your head.
So i’ll restate it country-simple: unrestricted market forces tend towards wealth concentration, political corruption and bleeding-dry of the working person. It is up to society to build a system of rules to limit these negatives, while maintaining capitalism’s productive powers.
It is a mechanical certainty that market forces, left to operate unimpeded, will ethnically and economically sanitize lower 24th street. If you don’t see that, you have the magical mind of a child. There’s simply too much cash and too little distance to the 101 for it to be otherwise.
Market forces have already had a 15 year head start transforming the Mission into a neighborhood of highly paid (yes, white, ivy league educated) software professionals.
It’s not that I dislike Google employees, but rather that I dread monoculture.
I believe that what is being threatened – the Mission as it is – is a justifiably world-famous American melting pot. Skanky as parts may be, lower 24th is a treasure that must be preserved.
Opposing this moratorium is SUPPORTING the slow suffocation of the Mission as living urban fabric – a complex multi-ethnic, multi-lifestyle, multi-class, multi-generational neighborhood.
The tipping point is here. Time is running out.
If the ethnic/economic cleansing is not halted now, what’s left of San Francisco’s complex human ecosystems will be gone in a few years – transformed into upscale consumer playgrounds. At that point, the Mission will have become more stage set than real city, and humanity will have lost something special.
Say YES to complex urban fabric
Say NO to the steamroller onslaught of $100/meal eateries
Say NO to simple minded progressive politics formulated with no understanding of history or economics – they have made San Francisco an unsafe, filthy place to live for residents of all colors, classes and creeds. As residents of this amazing city, we all deserve better.
Also, once you use the phrase ‘ethnic cleansing’ to describe gentrification, it’s pretty hard to take anything you say seriously.
I used the phrase ethnic/economic cleansing.
If you have a better phrase for the cleaning-out of people of particular ethnic and economic characteristics, please enlighten us.
I’d rather just chuckle softly to myself at your ridiculous hyperbole, thanks. I hope you never live anywhere where you have to deal with real ethnic cleansing. You need to check your privilege.
Noe Valley 24 th st has a restaurant moratorium for many many years. It didn’t stop the influx of high home rents and sales and turned out to be a bad idea for the neighborhood. And in terms of the tech influx they are not all white. Many Asian, Indian and yes Latino. The mission will always have the greatest mixture o cultures in SF. Nobody fought the influx ofAsians into the Richmond and outer sunset. Tat was not like that at all before the 80s and is is very different. Should there have been a moratorium on them? Or the Asian import shops that have sprung up on mission street ? I think not
Safety and trash are all separate issues. I remember the mission up to the early 80’s was pretty clean. Federal policies allowed for many services for the mentally ill cut. The City then was providing monthly checks to anyone that was homeless. The homeless and mentally ill came from all across the country to flood the mission. Good weather, cash and a tolerant community. It took 30 years for it to be finally addressed. It cost our neighborhood and city greatly.With people in the street comes trash and urine. We are still seeing some of the effects but an 80 percent improvement.
Interesting comments. Lots of passion. I think the issue is to keep the Mission diverse. But you all have to admit, there are a lot more Latino Merchants on 24th then anything else and we should respect that. You could walk blocks and all you here is Spanish. Remember we all came here because we liked something and we knew the area had a strong Latino presence. We will lose the diversity we like and this includes, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Irish. Its like moving to Chinatown and then want a business to cater to my taste. If something is not done to preserve the mom and pop business on 24th, we will lose the diversity we all came for, with all its art and culture that we crave.
I think the point is to preserve that. That I think is the point the article makes and that is the conversation we need to have.
Hey what a great neighborhood. We have Valencia street that caters to wealthier customers. Mission St. to downtrodden hipsters, yuppies and artist and immigrants to 24th street whose working class could still shop and eat here. If it all turns into Valencia street where is the diversity that everyone likes!
No Moratorium!
Businesses should be allowed to cater to what people want! If new fancy restaurants are being successful and are making good money, then clearly that is what people want! Vote with your dollars, support the businesses that you love, and they will prosper.
We don’t need top down moratoriums and other market interventions — those are the failed policies of the last generation.
I live here in the mission and will fight hard against any such moratorium! I *want* new restaurants. Our neighborhood is still sadly lacking on good healthy pro-vegetable oriented places to eat. I’m hoping new places will open and will broaden the options with more organic and vegetarian foods.
Even the new restaurants that have opened have been very meat oriented — much to my disappointment.
More restaurants! More vegetables! More Choices!
America is about Freedom — The freedom to open the business you want — and the freedom to shop where you want.
Anna,
Congratulations that you and/or your family are originally from Nicaragua. My parents are from elsewhere in North America & moved to SF nearly 60 years ago. I was born in SF, and as a matter of fact, my sister who was also born in SF married a Chino/Nicaraguense in the Mission District nearly three decades ago. When they moved to Lily White Marin, they didn’t experience one iota of the racist sentiment you’re expounding.
The wonderful thing about SF in general & the Mission in particular, is that it is and has almost always been multi-cultural. If you hadn’t realized that, perhaps you need to open your eyes; that’s why people live in the Mission. It’s diverse, open and tolerant.
By and large, we get along, fall in love, & appreciate the neighborhood in which we live. And its why we intermarry & interbreed. Sorry you missed out on the later.
There are a few insular communities in Utah and Mississippi that would absolutely understand your toxicity. Until they recognize your ethnicity and made sure you were not welcome.
Let me know if you want a one-way plane ticket. I’ll purchase it for you simply for the sake of the rest of us all simply getting along.
Enjoy the new diversity = rich people. How can we be diverse when a 1 bedroom apt in the neighborhood is $3,000 a month?
Landlords charge what the market rate is. Three four years ago is was half that. The building owners are Irish Latin, Indian ,Asian and everything else .. they charge what the market will bear when someone moves out. But that’s the free market in America and people move around. Yes it s hard for many but should we tell a private owner what they should charge for their rents bad sales ? That’s unAmerican
Perfectly written. I’m a third generation San Franciscan and my son is fourth. He grew up in our mission house. I have opinions that are good and bad about the city. It is a city that constantly changes . Yes I feel protective being a native but I would never say that some segments should not move or live here if they choose to.
1. Any economic development professional [like me] worth their salt would NEVER allow a moratorium to be enacted on a specific sector of small businesses–retail or restaurant–unless it is harming the public’s welfare, ie smoke shops, porn stores, bars that dont also serve food etc. It’s just plain un-American and unwise to freeze in time the current number, type, size, or QUALITY of restaurants or retailers using a moratorium out of fear that some thing might happen some where that just might hurt some one a few blocks away! It’s economic development 101 to educate people that moratoriums are not the answer. And shame on Mr Campos for even entertaining the idea. Which staff members are you getting your advise from anyway? Moratoriums open multiple cans of worms that are too many to mention here, but they lead to 3 things for sure: graft, corruption, and lack of CHOICE for local consumers. RESIST the temptation to TRY to FIX something that isnt even apparent or measurable just to please one small sector of the business community that is squeaking loudly.
Thank you Rob. Great post.
I really wonder where Campos’s motives are, because almost all of his decisions seem to fly in the face of all logic.
I can’t wait until his term is up because I can’t imagine anyone as out of touch as he is to succeed him.
His motive is clear : sucking up to the small minded racists who support a moratorium to build support for his run at whatever bigger political position he’s going for after his years of leaving the Mission to rot.
Last time I checked Campos won with 98 percent of the votes in his district. He has the support of the majority of residents in the district and the Mission. It seems that most folks that are pro-gentrification are very few.
Would this moratorium stop businesses like Luz De Luna from opening up? What do Ana, Eddie, and Mission Bred have to say about that?
http://missionlocal.org/2012/06/luz-de-luna-gift-store-opens-on-24th-street/
And over the past few years El Metate on Bryant has expanded into three buildings and their food is great and pretty cheap and it is a Latin owned business. Be create time and offer a good product. Some of the overpriced spots will fail on their own.
I think the article talks about restaurants not retail.
What’s the difference, from your perspective? Honest question.
Color don’t make the difference. Its the deeper pockets.
How about fixing the godd*m blight that use to be Cala Foods??
Yes, Trader Joe’s, please!
Let Trader Joe’s know: http://www.traderjoes.com/about/location-requests-form.asp
I vote for Amoeba Records to open a HUGE record store in that spot. Vinyl has come back 😉 Plenty of parking, they could have mini shows too like at their Haight store…
Here here
If you suggest Trade Joes goes in there …there goes the neighborhood….
A business should succeed on its own merits. There are many wonderful Latin establishments both food and otherwise who are doing just fine and will stay and prosper but a moratorium is a bad idea. Those shops that bring in little traffic or are dumps should probably move on or clean up their act and sell items or that people want I remember and loved going to the York theater in the 70s before it really got run down the Brava group improved it and continue to do so.
Amen.
I agree. But the playing field is not even for everyone. Deeper pockets have the advantage, coming in with investors and not true mom and pop business.
I agree but deeper pockets have always had the advantage.
LOOK AT WHAT GENTRIFICATION IS DOING TO BERNAL! THE HORROR! http://bernalwood.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/badger-books-opens-for-business-on-cortland/
Yep, the Bernal Hill neigborhood is clean and safe…wish the mission was that way!
The difference between the Mission and Bernal is that our supervisor, David Campos, actually lives in Bernal. The Mission is the place to which he sweeps down all the trash and quality of life issues he doesn’t want to actually have to experience.
All people who live in the neighborhood are “stakeholders,” not just property owners.
When did this word “stakeholder” become so popular? I say to the tumbrils with it along with the commonly written “entitlement” and “quality of life.”
I think it would be great to preserve the Latino Flavor on 24th St. Bringing in high end business to the area will not take care of trash and social problems that we have.
Many of the new business don’t clean or sweep in front of their business either.
Its sound like some folks here have a great fear for the corridor to remain Latino. I’m sure you think Latinos are responsible for all the trash and crime, and social ills you all speak of.
We could have a safe and clean 24th street and still remain Latino, which I believe are the majority business’s.
It will still keep your property values high. I know many of you came here with the expectation that all Latinos and working class folks will be driven away. Some have been waiting longer then others. To hear it may be around longer really scares some. We could have a great corridor by preserving whats there and working to improve not remove.
Well said Mission Bred. All businesses need to step it up and clean the graffiti everyday and sweep their storefronts. It’s the gangs and mentally insane that are the problem in the mission. If the building owners paint over graffiti everyday, the gangbangers would get frustrated and try to tag elsewhere. When the sidewalks and buildings are clean, it makes everyone respect the area more and keep it clean. People start throwing their trash away instead of on the ground. I don’t know anyone that would prefer a dirty street to a clean one.
As always, the issue is “gentrification.” And, in the case of the Mission, “gentrification” means “de-Latinization.” The demography of the Mission is changing – rather rapidly – and therefore it’s reasonable to expect that stores and shops along the commercial strips will also change. What neighborhood needs an empty-all-the-time Nicaraguan restaurant which no one, not even Nicaraguans, patronizes? Why would it be a “shame” if it closed and a popular, successful eatery opened? One which caters to a diverse crowd of patrons, not just Nicaraguans, who stay away in droves? The future of the Mission was sealed when UCSF moved into Mission Bay. A slum can exist adjacent to closed industry and abandoned railyards, but it cannot exist adjacent to a major research university and biotech hub. The future has caught up with the Mission, and no amount of relabeling crime and blight as color and vibrancy will change the outcome.
I imagine Eddie that hispanics in the community feel the same way….its time to clean up the mission
Your wrong. Not at the expense of them being thrown out with the trash.
this has nothing to do with folks being “thrown out with the trash”; the issue is all about change, expanding the current demographic, public safety and enabling some different restaurants…that’s all. Nothing to be upset about.
Some gentrification is a good thing,…time to clean up the mission.
Maybe because the Nicaraguans were already displaced by people like YOU! And now you are trying to finish off the job by eliminating the businesses that Nicaraguans like myself DO visit.
You are so self-centered that you don’t even realize that “succesful eateries” are NOT friendly to us, the people who’s neighborhood you are exploiting. Get your head out of your ass and maybe, just maybe, you can realize what you’re saying/doing.
I hope you get displaced by people that make twice the amount of money you make.
I imagine that other long term Mission residents will be offended at the characterization of the neighborhood as a crime and blight-filled slum.
I hope the author of this article will translate it into Spanish for Spanish-speaking readers, which may lead to comments that diverge from the pro-gentrification ones predominating here.
I love it when individuals get together and share ideas.
Great site, stick with it!
“I don’t like the new businesses that opened up, so we’re going to make it so nobody can open one.”
^ The entire argument in a nutshell.
These folks apparently enjoy crime and all the other shit (literally) that appears in the neighborhood.
Haha! Bingo! Sad isn’t it?
Try higher rents and displacements. Anyone could be next.
Property ownership, look it up. Only person displacing me is someone with a fat ass check.
higher rents and expectation are what happen if folks want a clean decent community to live in
I don’t want lower 24th st to be flooded with expensive restaurants that no one can afford to eat at. For me, quality of life is not improved by having the area populated by people with money to spend. Quality of life is having families around, having a diverse neighborhood where music, culture and an active civic life is happening. I definitely don’t want more places to sell liquor. How dare you call that area a slum @ Pamela. There’s more going on at 24th st than meets your eye.
Show me the families walking around 24th Street after sunset. They don’t walk there because it is completely unsafe to do so. The street is totally controlled by homeless, peddlers, and gang members once the sun goes down. Valencia has a far more vibrant streetlife than 24th Street does.
why do you belong here more than me or the others? We all belong here.I was born in this city. Natives and immigrants all have a right to live here,
Sorry but even though I respect your passion for our neighborhood (yes mine too), your hatred is something that is ugly. It sounds like those right wing jerks who want to deport everyone. You are acting the same.
Ana, I like it here so I choose to live here. Please don’t infringe on my right to do so. I welcome you to stay; you don’t hear me telling you to leave.
By the way, phrases like “people like you” are usually code for something very dark, intolerant, and downright nasty. Not very San Francisco in my opinion.
OMN is right about safety. The truth is that 24th IS unsafe. You can not argue with the reality of gangs, killings, hold ups, rapes that happen here every year.
Other comments to “move out of the neighborhood if you don’t like it” don’t deal with the problem and are out of touch with what’s happening in our hood.
And “the we were here first” argument is a Republican argument against immigration. Ironic, possibly even hypocritical.
You are right and that’s what I want for lower 24th. I am sick and tired of folks who seem to be intent on keeping the lower 24th as a dirty crime infested and homeless infested blight…its disgusting.
Campos needs to take a hard look at lower 24th and honestly conclude that this area continues to be blighted and we need a solution now!
Homeless infested? Hardly
Hi Dave…you see them everyday on the way to work, moving grocery carts around, sleeping on the sidewalk etc
This is an over exaggeration of 24th street and you sir should be ashamed for those remarks. If that was the case we would not have these higher end business trying to come to 24th. You I believe just want more. At the expense of others.
You are right in that I am thinking about the broader picture (the Mission East of Mission street). While it’s true that restaurants and businesses are slowly coming in it is a struggle because of vagrants and dirty streets. so no I am not al all ashamed to speak the truth as I see it.
24th St once you get past Dolores is a dump. The Mission/24th corner being the worst. The so-called relaxed character is a slum. New businessess such as the ones on Valencia St would be a great improvement over the schlock that is there now. It is filthy, crime-ridden. Best example of good businesses are Wise Sons, Humphrey Slocumbe, Philz, & the new clothing stores, cafes on the side streets. There are maybe a dozen businesses that are worth the trek. Take lessons from the various businesses on Valencia St. which used to be quite rundown, dangerous. Now it is busy all the time. You can walk around there. Going upscale is quality of life. It brings you homeowners, business owners, full restaurants & bars, busy shops, clean streets, trees, lots of walkers, bicylists, people who care about their neighbhorhood, district, & are positive factors to the community, as well as the big plus of city services.
I also hope YOU DO NOT LIVE HERE! YOU are the personification of gentrification. WE DON’T WANT YOU HERE, PLEASE LEAVE!!!
Ana – I hope to God you don’t volunteer with young and impressionable minds. Your uncontrollable hatred and inability to think logically impairs your judgement and would leave terrible impressions on children. You are borderline racist with your comments.
Spewing rhetoric does not equal being “right”.
Calm down.
Get over yourself Ana, you are getting hysterical.
In other words, Pamela wants the Mission section of 24th Street to be an extension of Noe Valley. Also, only upscale people care about their neighborhood, especially now that they can walk around Valenica Street, which until recently, was free from any pedestrians, just as the dumpy section of 24th Street is now.
I am sorry Eddie, I live here and I want the neighborhood to improve…I am sick of the crime and the filth
I am also concerned about folks who advocate keeping it as it is only to move out to more upscale neighborhoods…while the rest of us are left holding the bag. Bad news
Improve? No, you just want to change the neighborhood by bullying the people that were already here.
Lots of Latinos move out of the neighborhood cause they want a better life which equals less grubby, filthy, and crime ridden.
Well put, Mazzy.
I know many Latino families who also have chosen to move to the suburbs and have made a pretty penny selling their homes that they have owned in the mission for many years. Yes some are pushed out but that is not exclusive to Latinos in the mission and I too dislike that practice. But when a home is for sale or a store front for rent, it is is up to the owner to charge the market rate. And yes these days that rate is very high. But three or four years ago there were so many. Ancient storefronts around. Including on Valencia.
I’m sorry but that argument is invalid. Who’s asking anyone to leave?
Are the Irish complaining about getting “kicked out”? No. We can co-exist.
So “clean” and “crime free” is now considered UPSCALE?
Its important to know history. The Irish and Italians were not kicked out. They left to follow the American dream to the suburbs. They did not just leave from the mission it was city wide. They left from the Castro and Noe Valley too. Track homes were being built by the 1000’s after world war 11 and were cheap. The Irish and Italians were working class.
Currently large amounts of people are being forced out by evictions, brokers, developers and deeper pockets and not by choice. I don’t think this is a case of “Oh well things change” This is greed over people and we are all at risk. Look at Valencia bigger sharks moving in.
Charles, if you are referring to me, I assure you I have lived in the Mission for over 20 years, and have no plans to move out to a more upscale neighborhood, even as this one becomes more upscale.
Now, if we lose our rent-controlled apartment, then we most definitely will be moving, but not to a richer area.
I hope you don’t live in the neighborhood. Or if you do there are places for you to move to that would fit you better. Like the Marina
I don’t think a moratorium is a good idea but there truly is a danger of lower 24th street losing its relaxed Latino character and I don’t want that.
I love lower 24th street and the current mix of European and Latin businesses. I love that Spanish is still the lingua franca. The pace of life is much nicer here.
I used to live on 18th and Dolores. You can’t even go the businesses around there without waiting in 30 minute-plus lines. Wise Sons is nearly that busy now on weekends.
Success can be too much of a good thing. If commercial rents in our neighborhood are better than the Valencia corridor, those businesses are coming here & fast.
I think we need to take good stock of what we have.
And, turning lower 24th into Valencia street is not the way to heal our chronic quality of life issues.
Once we have leadership who cares about our district and has the guts to clean it up, we WILL get our fair share of city services. It can be done without selling out our neighborhood.
You probably don’t remember when the Mission was an Irish neighborhood, Potrero was Russian and the Fillmore was Jewish. And Clement street wasn’t Asian 25 years ago. Neighborhoods do change over time
Neighborhoods change over time, you’re right, but we always hope is for the better. Bringing in a bunch of high-end shops, restaurants, boutiques, etc. will perhaps better YOUR life, but not the life of the COMMUNITY THAT WAS ALREADY IN PLACE!
Ana seems to think graffiti covered buildings, violence, and homeless everywhere is a good thing. Ana, what is wrong with cleaning up the neighborhood? do you not like clean streets and buildings?
I’ve organized and joined many community clean ups, trust me, the new residents are not inventing the wheel. They have been many efforts in the community to clean up (in many different ways), took a lot of work to get where we are, and it sucks that now it’s being taken over by people that believe they are doing us a favor by moving in 🙁
Agree but a moratorium is a bad idea.
Well said!
A moratorium is a horrible idea. Wise Sons is a terrific local business that creates jobs and helps the neighborhood in many ways. Milgrom’s restaurants are also excellent. Why would you want to keep out innovative restaurants and bars? It makes no sense. Existing businesses should improve quality and step up their game, then everyone can succeed.
Lucky you that can afford it, most of us can’t. You people are so entitled, selfish and ignorant. My heart hurts to know that I have to share my beloved neighborhood with people like you!
How do you think ‘we people’ (I can’t believe someone seriously said “you people” in a 2013) feel about having to share the neighborhood with ignorant racists? You’re not exactly representing ‘you people’ in a positive light.
Ana….you are calling people names and name calling doesn’t make an argument and seems silly.
It’s my neighborhood too. I was born here 58 year ago and I love the diversity . We all share it and its selfish to say others cannot enjoy the mission as well. 58 years in the city 22 years in the Mission.
There are expensive restaurants along Valencia and throughout the Mission but there also also many cheap eating places. The produce store on 24th are great but some businesses like Discolandia decided to retire and someone invested in the building and the neighborhood.. To be honest there re many more choices now. I lave Latin food but its nice to have more choices now. Once could say put a moratorium on tacqeerias . But that would be s tidied as well.
i agree
So what? Not everyone has to afford every establishment in the neighborhood they live in. No one is asking existing business to close.
You’re welcome to patronize any restaurant you wish to; whether you choose to or not (because of price or any other reason) is up to you.
Have you seen the lines in front of that place? Clearly, there’s demand for places like it in this neighborhood. Stop trying to cripple business owners who want to meet people’s needs and improve their neighborhoods.
I just wish Wise brothers deli had a bigger space I was born in San Francisco and there really has never been a great Jewish deli. In any hood. It made good sense for them to open on 24th. There is nothing else like their spot
hmmmmm never seen a line there….
I have on weekends…they have quite a lot of weekend business.
http://peninsulaeatz.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/wise-sons-deli-line.jpg?w=499
It is a great restaurant and I want to see more of these.
Damn, I just want to move to Mountain View.
Please do, and advise your crowd to go with you!
Your crowd… you people… Talk about racist.
No kidding. From her comments, Ana sounds about as racist a person as I’ve come across in SF.
These stories really bring out the racists, don’t they?
Now would you like someone saying that to you?
They already did
I as well have been subject to epithets because of race and I too am sensitive about that. But people who put other people down due to race or whatever are just displaying fear etc.
Knowing that, you can live your wonderful life and tune out the noise from name-callers etc
Existing merchants who want to create a monopoly on restaurants on 24th is pure self interest. The people who live in the neighborhood (including myself) want greater diversity of stores and restaurants not just block after block of taquerias, Mexicatessans and run down shops who service many who don’t even live in the Mission. Conservative anti progressive moratoriums stiffling change are not the answer to the best interests of the neighborhood!!
I agree that we need greater diversity in all ways in the Mission including retail and in restaurants.
Ana, do you want the Mission to be 100% Latino? Is that your goal? You do know that the Mission isn’t traditionally just Latino, but was German, Irish, Italian, and later Latino. There should be room for everyone in a city, but you seem not to think so.
You are absolutely right SFAdri….I am very much for a mixed demographic (ethnicity and otherwise) here in the Mission.
I moved to the Mission because I enjoy differences here.
But……in no way do Latinos or anyone else own this neighborhood….different folks have lived here over time and it will continue to change. Folks need to get used to this.
Everyone (working class hispanics and everybody else) wants a neighborhood with good restaurants and stores in a safe environment. Who could be against that.
I am not for any moratorium on new restaurants opening in the neighborhood. New businesses bring jobs to folks who need them. Further, new restaurants can bring more folks visiting existing businesses and help grow the economic health of the neighborhood in general and create even more jobs.
This is not solely about race, don’t you get it? Have you checked how much a 1 bedroom apt goes for in the Mission? The artist community can’t afford to live here anymore,the white/asian/black middle class can’t afford to live here anymore! This is about the displacement of low income communities (coincidence that they are mostly Latinos?)
I agree that rents have skyrocketed in SF New York and other large cities for everyone . And many of my artists friends can’t have studios here anymore and I agree that is a shame. My wife is an artist and we invested everything we had to buy shone in the mission in 1990 but we did it. We both worked hard to make it happen. But the answer is not moratoriums .more jobs are being rated when new businesses open up. Building more units is necessary but the mission is desired for many who like the energy and cultural diversity which is huge
Amen, Steve.
+1!!!
Why should these merchants associations, who are owned by <1% of the people who are in the neighborhood, control what life is like on the corridor? This sounds like an oligopoly and I think it's ridiculous that these "preservationists" are keeping the neighborhood down because they are scared of a little competition.
Shame on you.
SHAME ON YOU! Why did you move here? Why don’t you take your privileged ass somewhere else and let us keep OUR neighborhood the way WE LIKE IT!
Newsflash, Ana:
You displaced someone when you moved here as well. That’s how cities work.
What did 24th St look like in the 1950s?
No, my family lived here since the early 80’s… and their landlord is Irish! So yeah, they were definitely here, they bought and left, rented to the next wave of struggling working class.
In the 4os and 50s it was mostly Irish. I bought my place in the Mission over twenty years ago from a guy who had a drayage company in the city and wanted to move elsewhere with more space I bough the house on the entire lot and raised my song here
There are a lot of people who live in the Mission and commute elsewhere for work–relaxing is in the evenings for them. Maybe local merchants could capture more sales from these evening restaurant-goers by extending business hours or holding coordinated late night shopping events. I certainly wish there were more stores open late when I dine in the Mission.
So what don’t you move to a place where the world revolves around your needs and wants instead of displacing the community that made the Mission home?
Ana — you’re contradicting yourself. Change is good.
This particular change is not necessarily good. At least not for the people that grew up here and want to stay, but can no longer can afford it.
Whenever change happens some folks will unfortunately be displaced, but hopefully most will be able to stay and enjoy a better Mission neighborhood.
What I have observed over the 25 years I have lived in the Mission, is that folks (hispanics and others) will leave the neighborhood as soon as they can afford to do so because they want to live in a better neighborhood. I want those folks to stay because with change they will see that the Mission is a better neighborhood.
Thing is, 24th Street takes a dark turn once it gets past about 7pm or so. The whole vibe changes. Too many drunks and rowdy folks. You’d need to definitely beef up the police presence.
This is EXACTLY why we don’t need a moratorium!
Indeed, lower 24th street gets dark and sometimes scary at night. Lower 24th street is in desperate need of change which means making the neighborhood safe and pleasant to walk around at night.
Currently the area is dirty, has beggars and folks sitting/sleeping around on the sidewalk. We need to apply sit/lie laws to this area.
Local businesses need to take an aggressive stand to make sure that the sidewalk in front of their stores is inviting.
The latin culture should not own the neighborhood but instead be mixed with other cultures and socio-economic demographics that want to live here. Neighborhoods change and I think in the case of lower 24th it is a very good thing.
I have lived in the neighborhood since 1988, I am a person of color and I own a home and am a stakeholder in the neighborhood
Eddie — “landless and homeless ones and “beggars”, are stakeholders in the neighborhood”. Are you kidding me?
I am sorry Eddie, I live here and I want the neighborhood to improve…I am sick of the crime and the filth
Also the homeless and beggars are not stakeholders…get real…they don’t pay for anyting and they don’t care about the neighborhood.
I am also concerned about folks who advocate keeping it as it is only to move out to more upscale neighborhoods…while the rest of us are left holding the bag. Bad news
All Mission residents, including landless and homeless ones and “beggars”, are stakeholders in the neighborhood.
Criminalizing poverty won’t eliminate it. No to sit/lie. No to economic cleansing.
Restaurant moratoriums in the Castro and Noe Valley failed and after many years were finally reversed. They prevent innovative new places from opening up, while those with big money can still buy up existing restaurant sites. Don’t ruin the eastern stretch of 24th as was done with the western stretch.
Innovative or over-priced?
First, the merchants decide on the moratorium? How self-serving of them.
Second, does preserving “culture” refer to blighted properties? If the restaurants are so culturally important, shouldn’t they be doing the business to back that up?
Sounds to me like a bunch of horse poop.
How self-serving of you to decide to change our corridor over-crowding it with unwanted people and businesses.
Your comment is as self-entitled as you probably are about everything else!
“Our corridor?” “Unwanted people and business”?? If they are truly unwanted then they would go out of business. Talk about self-serving!
Ana, are you American Indian? If not, shut up as it’s everyone’s corridor. In the 50’s it was mostly Irish and Italian. Times change and so do neighborhoods. What gives you the right to call it “our” corridor. If the businesses are not wanted, no one will patronize them and they will leave as soon as they came. Why you gotta harte on new people?
No, I’m not. Although those two groups lived here in the 50’s, they eventually left for bigger and better places (bought their properties first), which is not the case of the community displaced in this last wave of “change.”
What gives me the right to call it my corridor? That I live, work, do community work, love and respect the corridor. Something you will never understand.
The corridor belongs to whoever pays for it.
So one ethnic group can shut out another in SF? And you think that’s right?