Man arrested following series of early morning fires (updated)
November 18, 2016
Burned garbage lay scattered on the sidewalk Friday morning after someone set fire to a trashcan on 20th Street near Capp.
UPDATE 12/5/16: Police have released the name of the man they say is responsible for a recent string of arson fires around the Mission.
Michael Boyle, 41, of San Francisco, was arrested near 19th and Florida streets at around 3 a.m. on Nov. 18, and believed responsible for 11 arson fires in the Mission and SOMA from Oct. 26 through Nov. 18, according to San Francisco Police Spokesman Carlos Manfredi.
Michael Boyle (Photo courtesy of the San Francisco Police Department)
Many of the fires involved sidewalk trash receptacles, although in one instance a trashcan in the entrance way of a bank was set on fire. Boyle is also suspected of igniting a camping tent that caused a car to catch fire, Manfredi said.
ORIGINAL POST: A man was arrested following a string of trashcan fires in the neighborhood early Friday morning, police said.
The 41-year-old suspect was taken into custody just before 3 a.m. after witnesses pointed him out as the person responsible for setting multiple trashcans on fire within a two-block radius in the Mission, according to San Francisco Police spokesman Carlos Manfredi. The fires were at 18th and Folsom, 20th and Folsom and 18th and Florida streets.
Minutes earlier, around 2:24 a.m. someone reported a trashcan on fire on 20th at Capp Street, Manfredi said. The trashcan, one maintained by the city, is in front of Alioto Mini Park.
Prior to that, at 2:04 a.m., firefighters were called to the area of 16th and Folsom streets where they found a Jeep Cherokee on fire.
Investigators are looking into whether the man arrested this morning also started the car fire and the fire at Capp and 20th streets, Manfredi said.
In a possibly related incident, friend of CSC Jeff tells me that around 2 a.m. Thursday, he and his girlfriend spotted a trashcan on fire just inside the entryway of US Bank building at Mission and 22nd streets. The couple phoned 911 and waited until SFFD arrived to presumably put the fire out.
Meter maiden
November 14, 2016
Watch out. She’ll only take your money.
Massive post-election hug planned for Dolores Park
November 11, 2016
Exhausted, pissed off and terrified of our new dark overlord? Protests not your thing? Ease your post-election blues this weekend by hugging it out in Dolores Park.
A massive group hug and gathering will take place at 3 p.m. Saturday in the park. As of this morning 55 people were going and 425 were interested, according to the Facebook event page. Here are some more details:
This election is one of the most difficult elections we’ve ever faced, and we’re all in a lot of pain. Come meet at Dolores park for hugs and community support, including at least one giant group hug, to spread the love and remind each other that we are here for one another as one family.
Look for folks carrying a sign that says “Group Hug”
This is an open invitation, so invite everyone you can! Let’s get the biggest group hug you can imagine!
Here’s to touching strangers — in a nice way.
[Photo by Matt Baume/Flickr]
Oh no! Capp Street’s cat mascot is missing (updated)
November 10, 2016
UPDATE 11/11/16: I just learned this morning that Pierre was found but that he is no longer with us. He will be missed.
ORIGINAL POST: Many of you have seen Pierre, the sweet black cat who often saunters along Capp Street between 18th and 19th, but have any of you seen him lately?
Pierre has been missing since Saturday, according to the couple who takes care of him, and is due for dental surgery for an infected and cracked tooth. A mostly outdoor cat, he was adopted by neighborhood residents in 2007 when his old owner moved to L.A. and left him behind. He is believed to be about 16 years old, is missing some fangs and may or may not be wearing a collar with red heart tag on it.
Anyone who spots Pierre is asked to call 415-867-2549 or to bring him to 325 Capp St.
Scenes from last night’s anti-Trump rally and vigil
November 10, 2016
Thousands took to the streets in San Francisco Wednesday night to protest Donald Trump’s presidential victory (full disclosure, I was one of them), marching from Powell and Market streets to meet up with protestors at a candlelight vigil in the Castro. Above and below are a few photos of the protest in Mission.
[Photos via @TenTimesOne]
Something useful from NextDoor
November 9, 2016
Sigh. There will be better days.
Outpatient treatment?
November 7, 2016
Capp Street, for whatever ails you.
Previously:
20th Street space up for lease, Rodger’s coffee has gone cold
October 31, 2016
Rodger’s Coffee and Tea, the Mission coffee shop owned by a man who claims to have come up with by-the-cup brewing, has closed its doors.
While there used to be a sign in a front window reading “the original one cup at a time,” one now advertises Rodger’s space, at 20th and San Carlos streets, for lease. Yelp also reports that the business has closed.
Rodger’s neighbor Mission: Comics & Art moved from the building last year, unable to negotiate a long-term lease with the landlord, but it is unclear what caused the coffee shop to close. Attempts to reach owner Rodger Bories through his website and by text message were unsuccessful.
A write-up posted by the business on Yelp says that Bories first opened a coffee shop in 2009 but that while running his wholesale coffee business, which dates back to 1982, he taught his “one-cup-at-a-time” method to Phil Jaber. Jaber now owns the hugely successful Philz Coffee chain and is credited for the concept.
Earlier this year, Mission Local wrote a story on the dispute, in which Bories said he collaborated with Jaber for five years, helping him with his coffee shop concept, before their relationship went bad.
Jaber said he and Bories only worked together a short time and noted that if Bories had the idea on his own, “he never acted upon it.
“I’m the first guy on this planet to do this concept, I had the vision,” Jaber told Mission Local.
[Photo, tip via Jeff]
Mini bar: Horsies Saloon opens inside Mission market
October 28, 2016
The Mission now boasts what might just be the city’s only beer and wine bar inside a liquor store.
With red lights and a growing stable of horse-related kitsch, Horsies Saloon is now up and running inside the Royal Cuckoo Market on 19th Street near Capp. The tiny bar, roped off from the liquor store and market section of the business, has been developing a menu of creative cocktails made with digestifs, aperitifs and fortified wines.
Paul Miller, who opened the market two years ago and owns its namesake bar on Mission Street, said he wasn’t sure he’d get the OK for his unusual idea. But the state issued the market its license to serve beer and wine in the middle of October.
“I was cautious,” Miller said. “It’s such a small space.”
The bar, which will also serve food, will be having a grand opening party on Thursday, Nov. 3 from 5 to 8 p.m. Miller’s sister Lavay Smith will be performing.
When he chatted with Capp Street Crap earlier this week, Miller was already done with the food menu and nearing completion on the drinks. They’ll include a bloody Mary made with Underberg, the “Pony Express,” a double shot of espresso with Underberg and a dollop of Cuckoo’s own whipped cream, and the surprisingly tasty “Blood of Rollo,” with Cardamaro and beet juice.
Horsies will also have beer and wine on tap, wine by the glass, mimosas, and pour different vermouths and amaros, Miller said.
Customers will able to get coffee and breakfast items, panini and sandwiches, cheese boards and other prepared food at the bar. The market part of the store, at 3368 19th St., will continue to stock many of the grocery items it previously did, like eggs and snacks.
Miller said the bar’s menu and decor is a work in progress.
“We don’t have a master blueprint. It will change over months,” he said.
Activists take traffic safety campaign to Valencia Street (updated)
October 24, 2016
UPDATE 10/16: SF Transformation tells me the Valencia Street barriers have been removed but that the group will continue its efforts at that location and others.
UPDATE 5:50 p.m.: While he did not comment on the Valencia Street barriers directly, SFMTA Spokesman Ben Jose said generally the agency must remove unapproved cones and posts because its a code violation to put things in the road “and they can create conflicts for various types of traffic.
“We certainly understand that people are passionate about safety. We are too,” he wrote in an email. “In 2010, we had zero miles of protected bike lanes and buffered bike lanes in San Francisco. Since then, we’ve installed 27 miles of bike lanes that are either protected from traffic by things like parked cars or curbs, or have a space buffer between them and vehicles so people on bikes are safer.”
ORIGINAL POST: An activist group known for erecting its own safety barriers in areas of the city it deems dangerous for bicyclists and pedestrians has turned its attention to Valencia Street’s well-traveled bike lanes.
Early this morning, members of the group SF Transformation (SFMTrA) put up flexible white posts and cones along the northbound side of Valencia from 17th to 14th streets, creating barriers between cars and the bike lane.
According to an email from the group, that area of Valencia was chosen “because it is notorious for private cars, Ubers and delivery trucks double parking/unloading in the bike lane.
“Parents biking their kids to school have to swerve into moving traffic,” the email said.
SF Transformation also noted that the area has a number of curb bulb outs and parklets and said the San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Agency could make protected bike lanes next to them because cars don’t need to pass through them to park.
“The street could also use some badly needed Uber/taxi/truck loading/unloading zones,” the email said.
Founded this year, the group put up other “installations,” including at Folsom and 13th streets, the bike lane on the “Wiggle” at Scott and Fell and in Golden Gate Park. Last week, Hoodline reported that the SFMTA had removed posts on Crossover Drive in Golden Gate Park, and at Geary and Leavenworth streets.
It’s unclear how the city agency is reacting to SF Transformation’s newest effort. As of this afternoon, a spokesman for the SFMTA hadn’t responded to a request for comment.
However long they stay up, the barriers on Valencia Street are bound to garner significant applause. According to a bike counter near 17th and Valencia, nearly 300,000 bicyclists have traveled that stretch since the meter’s installation in May.
[Photo via SF Transformation’s website]