The current temperature at 24th and Mission is soggy, misty 48 degree Farenheit, with mottled sky and waning crescent in the south/southeast.  More rain said to be on the way.  It’s a morning for a Che Guevara.

Division of Shrewd Marketing

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.  Missionlocal has received reports of serious swooning south of 24th as the cookie masses once again fall victim to their singular passion.

A Farewell to Frogs

Anthony is coming back (he promised!); apparently neighbor Toad’s is not.  Unpretentious, with strikingly good burgers and fries, Toad’s has apparently croaked; although a  reincarnation waits under wraps.    SF Eater has the story.  Ciao, Toad’s; you were more than a quirky alternative to Big Mouth.

The Ultimate

Maybe  you heard the load moaning emanating from 24th and Poplar on Sunday.  We thought it might have been a cat in heat, or someone winning/losing the football game.  Turned out it was The House Poet getting a “foodgasm” from Papalote’s carne asada tacos.  Miguel and Victor, you’ll never get a better review.

Reach for the Mindwrench

SF Streetsblog posts an excellent piece by Chris Carlsson reviewing the history of Critical Mass and the SF cops.  For such an ecologically enlightened burgh like San Francisco, official attitudes (and practices!) toward bikers and their bikes could use a  serious adjustment.

Over the Top

This Thursday, Mission Street Food will honor the great Ukranian pole vaulter Sergey Bubka with a seafood menu designed to get you jumping out of your seat.  Profits to benefit Groceries for Seniors.

We Get the Picture

Our Woman in Washington weighs in on this morning’s consciousness with some informative easy-to-read charts on the economy, health care, etc.  Check out the charts and surprise family and friends by sounding like you know what you’re talking about.

What can you say after a cup of Che Guevara but hasta la victoria siempre!

The last opportunity for the community to select their favorite elements of the three designs will be at drop-in sessions today at the Planning Department, Room 431 at 1650 Mission Street.  So far, community input and city planners have come with with elements such as a rain water collecting system, plaza space for food vendors,  community gardens, and a bicycle-powered carousel.

The 60,000 square-foot site, which has been a parking lot for decades, has been identified by the community and city as a priority project. However, Susan Exline, a member of the San Francisco Planning Department cautioned, “Nothing in this project is set in stone because there is no funding.  We’re just in the idea-gathering phase.”

So far those ideas include three names and lots of ideas: Revolution Park with an outdoor amphitheater and great lawn, Mission Creek Commons, with communal gardens fanning out from a central rain catchment area, and the   Eco- People Park with smaller community gardens, but other water elements including a dry creek bed.

The lot is owned by the Public Utilities Commission and leased by the University of California San Francisco.

Not everyone is happy about the planned park. “We don’t like it, and when I say that I’m speaking on behalf of roughly 20 businesses around here,” said Hans Art, owner of Hans Art Automotive, across the street from the lot, who spoke to a reporter before the second meeting on Saturday.

Art said he fears losing two key employees who commute and park in the lot. “If they can’t park here they would eventually quit; BART is too slow and they can’t afford to live in the city. We’re not opposed to parks, but they should keep some parking. My impression is they have absolutely no interest at all in this issue.”

The project is a collaborative effort involving the departments of Recreation and Park,  Planning,  and  community organizations including PODER, which stands for People Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights.

A neighbor reviews the park designs at the proposed site on Sat. Feb 6.

Right now the focus is on developing a park at the site but later, they will also be looking into adding roughly 70 units of affordable housing that would be funded by the Mayor’s Office of Housing, according to planners.

Melissa Dubon, who works for the Mission Neighborhood Health Center across the street from the site, said most of the employees there would miss the parking.

“I’ve been parking there since it’s been opened somewhere around 1976,” said Dr. Peter Nehrebecki of the Mission Neighborhood Health Center.

Karin Edwards from the planning division of  the Recreation and Parks  said the city’s transit-first policy meant, “We should be considering transit as a first option, especially long-term commuters.”

Oscar Grande, a community organizer for PODER said he understands losing parking spaces can be a deeper issue that can involve safety concerns for individuals getting off work after dark. “I’m hoping we can weigh some of those issues and figure out alternatives,” he said.

Grande said the seeds for the park were planted 10 years ago. “Now the issue is how we bring it to life.”

Eco-People Park

The project is requesting a $5 million grant from Proposition 84, the Resource and Water Bond passed by California voters in 2006 that set aside $400 million for local parks.

“The grant is a good opportunity,” said Grande. “It’s a great connection that what we do at the ballot box greatly affects our neighborhoods. Some of it trickles down into our community, and we’re excited about this.”

Grande said  they are prepared with a backup plan in case the grant, which many programs in the state are competing for, falls through.  The alternative funding method would be to wait for developer impact fees., which require for-profit developers to contribute to the funding of open space. Waiting for those fees to accumulate, however, could take years.

The design process for the park began in December of last year. On Saturday, Jan. 23 roughly 80 community members, including 25 percent Spanish-speakers, gathered at Marshall Elementary School to design their visions for the park. They worked in small groups and presented their designs at the end of the meeting.

“There was no antagonism at all,” said Gillas Combet, a participant at the meeting. “I don’t think I’ve ever been to such a positive meeting.”

“I thought it was very positive and there was a good turnout,” said Claudia Flores, a member of the Planning Department who was at the meeting. “Parks are one thing that draws people together. There were a lot of similarities in concepts that would make it easier to come up with a design.”

Flores said, however, that she would like to see more representation of the immigrant, non-English-speaking community involved. Grande said they would go to churches, schools, and door-to door to reach a more diverse group.

The ideas from the designs created at the meeting on Jan. 23 were condensed by landscape architects from the Department of Public Works to three designs reviewed by community members on Saturday. Neighbors came by and put stickers next to their favorite elements.

John Dennis, one of the landscape architects, said all the suggestions would be used to develop a final conceptual design.

The Recreation and Park Department will submit a grant proposal on March 1 and will be presenting the conceptual design to the Recreation and Park Commission in April.

According to Edwards, if the grant comes through in October then development of the park could begin in Spring 2011.

Other organizations involved in the planning are  the Central American Resource Center, Dolores Street Community Services, Causa Justa, formerly St. Peter’s Housing Committee, and the Mission Economic Development Association.

The designs can be viewed online at: http://17thfolsompark.sfplanning.org

It was Friday morning at 11 a.m. and I was headed  to catch the 22-Fillmore on 16th and Bryant with a mission: to ride every bus route that passed through the Mission to get a sense of cops and crime on Muni.

The 22-Fillmore was half-empty. It smelled like vinegar. At the first stop an older gentleman got on wearing a black leather vest under a suit jacket, gold-rimmed glasses, a watch on each wrist, teal alligator loafers, and a name tag, “Hollywood – The Magic Chef.”

Everyone was quiet.   “You got five dollars,” Hollywood  asked the man next to him.

The rider shook his head and looked away.

At 16th and Church I hopped off the 22 and got on the J-Church heading toward 24th Street where I would catch the the 48-Quintara-24th Street.

I ride the J-Church frequently and earlier this year in July I had my own brush with crime — a man swiped my iPhone out of my hands and bolted from the streetcar at 16th Street . Since this occurred at the back of the train, the driver was unaware of what happened and I borrowed the phone of a woman on the street to call the cops.

While I was filling out a police report, a man walked up with my cell phone. He had chased after the thief on his bike and fought him for my phone. Patrick, my hero!

That, I discovered Friday, was a rare Muni tale.

On the 48, Matthew, a 32-year-old software designer said he had never seen police on the Muni but had almost been pick pocketed once.

At a stop, the driver stood up. “Don’t go in the back door,” he yelled to three men who were trying to board the bus. One waved a transfer and approached the back door again. The driver repeated the same warning — only louder. Defeated, the men walked to the front of the bus.

At 24th and Potrero a group of Muni drivers boarded the bus. I asked one how he felt about crime and the police on the bus.

“I don’t drive the bus,” he said.

I got even less out of the next driver who told me he would be no good for answering questions.

Stephanie Jackson, a Muni driver for nine years, offered more. She drives a different route every day but said she only sees a policeman once a week. She has seen fights break out and has had to call the cops in the past but she said fights don’t happen often.

Pat Wooley, a passenger in the front of the bus, said she had never seen police on the 48 and she rides it twice a day.

After doubling back up 24th I stopped at Mission Street to board the 14-Mission. Fifty-year-old Patricia Oliver, who is unemployed said she feels lucky that she hasn’t seen any crime on the Muni. When asked about seeing police, she said, “Only to harass you about a transfer.”

I walked down to Potrero and caught the 33-Stanyan where I joined only two other passengers and the driver. No one had much to say. The 27-Bryant was also quiet and nearly empty. I got off, walked to Folsom and took the 12-Folsom with six other passengers

After three and a half hours, six buses and one streetcar, I didn’t see a crime — or a police officer.

CAFE LA BOHEME 6 A.M.

Current temperature at 24th and Mission is a bleary 50 degrees Fahrenheit.  For those who need a weatherman to know the way the wind blows, consensus is more or less clear, more or less in the upper 50s with no significant chance of rain until this evening.

A New Orleans Iced Coffee as a nod to the football gods.  Not sure what makes it “New Orleans.”

Department of Early Morning Distraction

Remember saving Dolores Park (last week)? Remember the Facebook protest you joined, or not, last week from your cubicle deep in the bowels of the Financial District?  Dolores Park Works, a local nonprofit, confirms the closing, but puts a fairly good spin on it.

Eating for Fun and Nonprofit

Mission Street Food, expanding its effort to become a nonprofit restaurant, is now accepting  donations below the $500 “investor” level.  Any amount will help. Don’t know what kind of  ”investor rights” you get for a buck, but if that’s your main motivation, go back to bed.

Black Gold

The wired reviewers at  coffeeratings.com think the Coffee Bar (incorrectly placed in Potrero Hill) and Ritual have the second best espresso in the City, tied with the surprising Dynamo Donuts.

Chocolate City?

Once known derisively as “Vanilla Town,” our City may be planning a makeover.  This photo from Bikes and the City gives hope.  The post also attributes the origins of the word “chocolate” to the Nahuatl (“xocaltl”), though, of course,  not everyone agrees.

Surfer Alert

The FBI would like to know what websites you’ve visited over the past two years.  The Bureau is pressuring internet providers to retain this information, something they don’t currently do.  While the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) supports the idea, some telecoms are balking.

Sunrise: a rose-gold ribbon stretches across the southeastern sky.   “New Orleans Iced Coffee” is extra-strong, sez Glenna, who did not watch the game.

As City College of San Francisco prepares for hearings on the academic achievement gap among Latinos, blacks, Filipinos and Pacific Islander students when compared to white and Asian counterparts,  one administrator said a huge problem was students who are trying to attend school without adequate financial aid.

Chris Jackson, a City College trustee, said that 60 percent of students who qualify for federal and state financial aid don’t apply for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid—the first step in seeking monies for tuition and books.

When students don’t have to worry about how they will pay for books or classes, they can better focus on learning and completing their educational goals, Jackson said.

“We need to do a better job,” Jackson said.

Financial aid is one of the barriers that student, faculty and administrators will examine in the first of three hearings on Feb. 9 from  3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at City College’s Ocean campus at 50 Phelan Ave. in San Francisco.
A City College report titled “Student Achievement Gap and Social Equity Report,” showed that transfer rates for Latinos, black, Native American, Filipino, Pacific Islander and Southeast Asian at the college are 19 to 21 percent lower than the overall than their white or Asian counterparts.

Jackson said they hope to implement policies reflecting the outcomes of the hearings to improve student success, including possibly having a one-stop shop for students to find information on financial aid and other programs, such as the Latino Student Network, that are helping students succeed.

Still settling on a name — only a couple of days ago the Collective was known as  the Zahira Soul Band — the young Mission-based group delivered energetic tunes that touched on everything from R’n'B Hip Hop to Roots, Reggae, Latin Salsa and Eastern Sufi chants.  It was only their second performance as a band.

Led by the vocal harmonies of soul singer Zahira Soul,  percussionist Mike Scartezina has created a distinct sound by uniting six talented musicians of different musical backgrounds.

“There was a simbiotic relationship that formed with us musically,” said Scartezina, who founded the band after playing a spontaneous gig at CultureSkate at 214 Valencia St.

While exploring the spirituality and healing aspects of music, Zahira has been performing with  bands on both coasts, and has been greatly influenced by her study of Indian and Arabic music.  She met Scartezina while singing back-up for Jah Levi, and has since dedicated herself to  the Anu Dub Collective.

“Music picks you,” said Scartezina about the 10-year journey that has lead him to share the stage with original members of Brazil’s Ile Lye, as well as Jah Levi, Rocker T and SambaDa, before finally going solo with a band of his own. “I’m trying to be the voice of the drum by bringing that ancient percussive energy to the people.”

Anu Dub, he said,  is the solo project he’s been looking for.

“You can only play so many covers until you get the desire to create your own,” said Scartezina. “Ultimately, that’s every musician’s voyage.”

With their first album still in the works,  Anu Dub is focusing on vibes  with instrumentation that pretty much anyone can groove to.  Stay tuned for local gigs, or catch them at the Center of Quantum Healing in Marin County on Feb. 22.

Like most Super Bowls though (remember Janet?) this one’s not without its accompanying controversy, in the form of an anti-abortion ad starring Tim Tebow. The ad has sparked a flurry of counter-ads though, none of which will probably gain the large viewership of being aired on the emeffing Super Bowl. All Shook Down has the rundown.

If M.C. Escher lived in SF, he’d surely live in the Mission.
Over at CALIBER, photographer Stuart Dixon posts this Escher-esque cityscape from Clarion Alley. I wonder what the inspiration for this mural was?

Stolen Bike
Mission Mission has word of a stolen bike. And to commenters – what’s wrong with posting about a stolen bike? If it was yours, you’d be glad people were spreading the word, right?

4am Blogging
Over at Uptown Almanac, Kevin waxes the 4am kind of lyrical over the Make Out Room, which makes up half of the binary bar-star of 22nd Street between Mission and Valencia. Piñatas on one hand, trashy prom decorations on the other.

Throwback
And in a throwback, I feel we have to re-ask the question – Which Mission Bar would Han Solo most likely shoot someone in? I think this one deserves a poll. I would guess Clooney’s or Dovre.

Avid swimmer Jane Wilson was distraught on Monday when she called Mission Loc@l.

The city had indefinitely closed Garfield Pool, her favorite swimming spot of 20 years and the only indoor public pool in the Mission District.

By Friday the pool’s future looked more secure after the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department staff met with Wilson and Bob Gamino, the athletic director from John O’Connell High School.

The pool, on 26th and Harrison, is one of the city’s most popular pools and serves students from Garfield and John O’Connell as well as local residents.

Mission Loc@l called the Recreation and Park Department frequently this week to verify details, but the department is under water trying to balance its 2010-2011 budget and hasn’t been particularly responsive.

The pool was closed in November for routine maintenance. Wilson says the pool had not been maintained since 2007, but no one in the city could verify this. Wilson alleged that the maintenance was delayed because the attention went to fixing another city pool, North Beach.

Parks and Recreation drained Garfield pool and noticed it needed significant repair including a new liner. Because there isn’t a budget for the roughly $75,000 liner and an additional $45,000 in new lights and other repairs – the department is broke  – officials were uncertain of when they could get the funds together to fix Garfield.

Wilson and other swimmers were understandably upset to discover that their pool’s maintenance may have been deferred to the needs of a tonier neighborhood’s pool, but now it appears that the aquatics division will get the repair money from the Open Space Contingency Fund, which the Recreation and Parks Commission will vote on in March.

Meanwhile KGO reports that police also arrested a 56-year-old homeless man for alleged arson at an 18th Street apartment last week.

Truly the Coolest Map Ever
Via Burrito Justice, the data wizards over at Stamen Design have created a Flash map called “Trulia Hindsight.” Watch the progression of housing construction over time, and see when most of your neighborhood was built. Hey guess when most of the Mission was built?

The “T” stands for “Twitter”
Hey everyone, Muni’s finally on Twitter! They’re even holding contests, and guess what the first one was? “Guess how much money we lost from the state,” as Vic Wong points out over at Mission Mission. Now if only the individual lines could tweet as well.

But you don’t have to DM them, you can tell Muni what you think tomorrow at a town hall meeting, according to Muni Diaries. 10am – noon, 1 South Van Ness Avenue, 2nd Floor Atrium. Check out all the upcoming town hall meetings on the MTA’s website here.

Spicy Night
With explosive pepper szechuan tater tots, jerk albacore charashi and salt and pepper CRAWFISH, tonight’s Mission Street Food menu looks tops, at least if you like spicy food. (yes.)

Papalote Goes Pinoy
Also in foodie news tomorrow, Papalote’s once again teasing us with a mere day of their special chicken adobo and garlic fried rice burritos, but at the Fulton Street location (sad face) according to SFoodie. Oh, and either call ahead or bring a friend or a book, the We Eating video featured in the post isn’t lying about the crowds.

Dolores Park Dogs
Kevin Montgomery of Uptown Almanac digs up this little treasure. Oh, the potential.

Also today is Beer 2 Brakers! See you there!