Off Top is growing up The Mission-based cap designer Off Top is growing fast – so much so that it’s finally getting its own space on the corner of 19th and Mission streets June 1. Co-owner Armando Ramirez, 29, said the move will allow the one-year-old cap-embroidery business to focus on its own branding. Right now, he shares a space...
A Mission District nonprofit is adding a hurdle for a cafe hoping to open on Mission Street near 22nd, asking the operator to agree to concessions they say will mitigate its gentrifying effects. The Mission Economic Development Agency, or MEDA, filed a request for a discretionary review on a proposal for a cafe at 2567 Mission St. That means the...
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...
New housing units will soon replace the abandoned sausage factory at 1726 Mission Street. The San Francisco Planning Commission approved plans Thursday evening for a six-story, 40-unit building on the block of Mission street between 14th and Duboce streets that will include 20 one-bedroom and 20 two-bedroom units, car and bike parking spaces and a ground floor largely dedicated to...
At a public meeting Wednesday night, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting small businesses demanded that a mom and pop grocery and liquor store drop its application for a wine and beer license. “The onsite liquor service is the issue,” said Gabriel Medina, the policy manager for the Mission Economic Development Agency, which is opposing the application. The nonprofit agency has been...
San Francisco Planning Commissioners on Thursday approved a land use and policy plan designed to mitigate the effects of gentrification and displacement in the Mission District. The seven commissioners also agreed to a nine-month extension on 14-month-old restrictions that require some projects to undergo more stringent review. The policy plan, called the Mission Action Plan 2020, is the product of...
All it takes to delay an affordable housing project in San Francisco is $578 and filling out a simple form. Take the case of the affordable housing project at 2060-2070 Folsom Street, where one neighbor’s list of complaints – including one about sewage and flooding – could stall the project for as long as six months. Margaret Eve-Lynne Miyasaki, a...
Meditating for world peace wasn’t without consequences for Saytar Kamdar, who lives across from Dolores Park in one of four condos that were once a 100-year-old church. The site at 651 Dolores Street is now called the Light House, a seemingly appropriate name for a meditation space, but not according to the city planning department. Just days after the Ghost...
“When I came to San Francisco, I saw that fantastic sign…with no explanation but it was enough for me,” wrote Glen Mehn in a 2002 letter to the city protesting the removal of the icon. “I knew where I wanted to live…in the Mission, close to that sign.” Read the Full Story HERE.
A planned market-rate housing development coming to Cesar Chavez Street faced concerns from neighbors that the 65-foot building would block sunlight and impede privacy. “It’s the tallest thing around,” said Kim Basset, a neighbor who lives across from the development at 3314 Cesar Chavez St. near South Van Ness Avenue. Not true, said Drake Gardner, the project sponsor. Gardner pointed...
A lukewarm welcome awaited the proprietors of a potential new real estate office and coffee shop at the Planning Commission, where Keller Williams Realty on Thursday sought a permit to move into what was once ArtZone 461 on Valencia Street. The realty firm has dozens of locations across the country and several in the Bay Area, and at issue is...
The three-member Land Use Committee voted unanimously yesterday to recommend neighborhood preference for affordable housing. The policy would ensure that 40 percent of new affordable housing in a supervisorial district be reserved for former residents of that district. “This is incredibly bold and important legislation for the residents of San Francisco,” said Supervisor Malia Cohen, calling particular attention to the decade-long...
Activists have started a petition asking for the removal of the lone Republican on the city’s Planning Commission after he penned a letter critical of the Mission moratorium. In the letter, Michael Antonini described the measure as “thinly veiled reverse racism” and called the Mission a “low income neighborhood.” “The community is incredibly, incredibly upset to the point that it...
Emotions ran high at City Hall today as protesters gathered under the bright sun and then visited city officials to address San Francisco’s debilitating housing crisis and call on city leaders to take action by passing proposed legislation. The crowd of about 150 housing leaders, union members, homeless rights activists and residents voiced their frustrations with the city’s failure to stem...
In a room packed with contention, the Planning Commission decided Thursday in a 5-to-1 vote to begin considering temporary controls on development in the Mission. The Commission will take a final vote on a resolution in early August. The decision came after two hours of public comment, during which almost all of the members of the public — both pro- and...
