Being booted by August 2018 is not the first existential threat that the quirky, “do-ocratic” hackerspace Noisebridge has faced – and this time around, some core Noisebridge geeks are dreaming big. They’re hoping not just to live on, but find a bigger space and maybe even buy a permanent home. As the place and its reputation have grown, so have...
Even if you don’t live in the Mission or consider yourself artistic, Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center has most likely touched your life. What started as a free mural-painting class has become the group of artists behind hundreds of iconic murals throughout the city and world, a steward for maintaining and educating the public about mural arts and a hub...
Supervisor Hillary Ronen has once again saved a project from the limbo of delays. A developer’s plan to build space for some 10 nonprofits to operate will go forward, following swift approval Tuesday by the full Board of Supervisors. The project, at 1850 Bryant St., hit a snag when when homeowners in the neighboring building filed an appeal of the...
Neighborhood organizations are mobilizing to renegotiate a deal struck years ago – and recently upheld in binding arbitration – to save the Mission Language and Vocational School from what was then looming financial ruin. That 2013 deal, made with Huckleberry Friends, which promotes science and engineering education for youth, was a lease with an option to buy the leased portion...
At a meeting Monday night, service providers for the city’s Latino and immigrant populations said fear of deportation and family de-stabilization have risen while the resources to deal with both have diminished. “Our attorneys are doing quasi-social work,” said Lariza Dugan-Cuadra, executive director of the Mission-based Central American Resource Center or CARECEN, a nonprofit that provides immigration legal services to...
It’s not just residents who are displaced when rents in San Francisco skyrocket – it’s nonprofits. Two planners who saw that happening are now constructing an entirely new building that will be sold, piece by piece, to nonprofits for a permanent home. Common Ground Urban Development is seeking approvals to tear down a two-story building at 1850 Bryant Street and...
A survey of 584 households with children in the Mission District and surrounding area shows that while the city overall enjoys low unemployment rates and high incomes, local Latino families experience a starkly different economy. Nearly all of the respondents were Latino and the majority of them were women. Most – 77 percent of the 447 who answered the household...
Dance Mission Theater has its eyes on a new home – one they’re going to build with the help of a local union and the Mission Economic Development Agency. MEDA has brokered a deal between the dance organization and UFCW 64, a union that owns the property where it has offices at 1980 Mission Street near 16th Street. Though plans...
The Bike Kitchen, a nonprofit bike repair space that allows anyone to come in and use tools, get mechanics’ advice, and dig through used parts for low fees, sent an email to its members over the holidays announcing big plans for 2017 and a goal of raising $10,000 in donations. It started with some break-ins at the kitchen’s space on Florida Street...
Mere minutes after Humphry Slocombe started offering free cones to celebrate its eighth birthday, a line had formed to the corner. The quirky deluxe ice cream joint could draw thousands today, cofounder Sean Vahey said. “The least we could do was say thank you,” Vahey said by way of explanation for the thousands of scoops the shop will hand out today....
The arts community was hit hard by a fire in a converted Oakland artist live-work space known as the Ghost Ship that killed 24 on Friday, and some in the Mission have mobilized to give money, a couch to sleep on and other support to those affected. Gray Area, a theater and arts and education space, wrote online that some...
More than 100 people called for more movement from City Hall on housing and public health issues affecting the Latino community at a press conference on Wednesday, singling out the mayor for inaction. The crowd of mostly minority residents lined the sidewalk in front of the massive hole at 22nd and Mission streets — the site of a thrice-burned and...
Two nuns who have been making national headlines following the eviction of their soup kitchen in the Tenderloin, where they fed the hungry during the day and slept at night, are moving their services to the Mission. Last week, blessed with some unexpected altruism from none other than multimillionaire life and business coach Tony Robbins, Marie Valerie and Marie Benedicte of the Fraternite Notre...
The San Francisco Community Land Trust and the Mission Economic Development Agency today announced the conclusion of a deal in the works since last summer that will preserve five multi-unit buildings citywide, two of them in the Mission, as perpetually affordable housing. The buildings, one of which houses renowned Mission artist Rene Yañez and his family, were formerly owned by...
The Brava Theater Center is planning a major renovation and expansion by the end of the year, and has just received a $200,000 grant from the Super Bowl 50 committee that brings it a step closer to reopening its long-shuttered storefronts along 24th Street. “For the Super Bowl Committee to acknowledge … the impact that Brava was having on the community and...
