Steve Fox, owner of Urban Putt at one of the holes on his course. Photo by Lola M. Chavez

Hello Readers:

A year after having to close their doors, three Mission businesses look back – and ahead.

In other news:

Stay safe and enjoy the weather,

— Lydia

Stories

As 24th Street trees begin to fall, merchants remain divided

The saws were buzzing and the branches were falling on 24th Street Wednesday.

Burger Wars visits True Laurel

Julian, 30-something, and Mark, 70-something, sink their teeth into the True Laurel patty melt and have very different reactions.

Three SF Mission District businesses, a year later: optimism, hope, realism

“Obviously, it has been miserable,” said Steve Fox, the owner of Urban Putt. “There were periods of tremendous fear about whether we’d reopen — and sadness, because I’d come here every day, and there’s something sad about walking through this mini-golf course when no one is here.” 

Covid Tracker: 34,840 cases, 451 deaths

The Citywide average positivity rate has been below 1 percent since March 4.

Just a snap.

A notion of working – remotely

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I’ve been a Mission resident since 1998 and a professor emeritus at Berkeley’s J-school since 2019. I got my start in newspapers at the Albuquerque Tribune in the city where I was born and raised. Like many local news outlets, The Tribune no longer exists. I left daily newspapers after working at The New York Times for the business, foreign and city desks. Lucky for all of us, it is still here.

As an old friend once pointed out, local has long been in my bones. My Master’s Project at Columbia, later published in New York Magazine, was on New York City’s experiment in community boards.

As founder/executive editor at ML, I've been trying to figure out how to make my interest in local news sustainable. If Mission Local is a model, the answer might be that you - the readers - reward steady and smart content. As a thank you for that support we work every day to make our content even better.