Sunset Spotlight

Huge Pot Bust in Sunset
Something smelled suspicious when firefighters responded to an electrical fire at a three-story house at 2359 20th Ave. in late January.

While extinguishing the blaze, the firefighters noticed an indoor marijuana forest with 2,640 plants, in various stages of development, growing throughout every room in the house - about 900 on each of the three floors. Apparently, no one was living at the house at the time.

According to Officer Maria Oropeza, SFPD spokesperson, a neighbor saw smoke and sparks coming from the house and called the fire department.

Soon after arriving at the scene, firefighters put out a small fire near a fuse panel. With evidence of an extensive growing operation staring them in the face, firefighters contacted the Taraval Police Station, which in turn notified the SFPD narcotics detail. The investigation continues; so far no arrests have been made.

Police also confiscated 14 pounds of dried marijuana; the total haul had an estimated street value of $2.2 million.

More Opposition to Garage
Opponents of a plan to widen Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Golden Gate Park got assistance in their efforts when the Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods voted to oppose widening the street.

At its Feb. 15 meeting, the coalition voted 19 to 5 to oppose the Golden Gate Park Concourse Authority's plan to accommodate a second entrance to an underground parking garage that was approved by city voters. The coalition's resolution calls for SF Mayor Gavin Newsom and members of the SF Board of Supervisors to intervene and stop construction of the second entrance. One entrance will be located at 10th Avenue and Fulton Street.

"This vote illustrates a broad base of support across the city for opposing plans to turn MLK Drive into a four-lane freeway into Golden Gate Park," said Craig Dawson, president of the Inner Sunset Merchants Association.

Groups that have declared their opposition to the garage entrance plan include the Inner Sunset Merchants Association, Sunset-Parkside Education and Action Committee, Sunset District Neighborhood Coalition, Sierra Club and the SF Council of District Merchants.

Performance to Benefit Center
The public is welcome to experience a unique line-up of Asian Pacific Islander performers on Saturday, March 5, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., at the Kaleo Cafe, a Hawaiian cafe located at 1340 Irving St.

The event will feature spoken word stylists, musicians, poets and dancers from various communities throughout the Bay Area. Admission is $7, a portion of which will benefit the Aloha Pumehana O'Polynesia Hawaiian (APOP) Cultural Center. For more information, call 753-2460.

Earthquake Shacks Making Move to Zoo
Four refugee shacks built after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire are on their way to a new temporary home at the San Francisco Zoo. On Saturday, March 5, the shacks at 4329 and 4331 Kirkham Street will be lifted off their sandy foundations and transported to the zoo, courtesy of Sheedy Crane.

"Originally carted from a refugee camp by horses pulling wagons, these 98-year-old pieces of San Francisco history will have a smoother ride on March 5," said Woody LaBounty, director of the Western Neighborhoods Project, just before the shacks were moved. "We are reaching a major milestone in saving these important monuments for future generations."

The four shacks are among only 23 certified survivors of the 5,610 camp cottages built to house 16,000 San Franciscans in the months after the 1906 earthquake and fire. When the camps closed in 1908, thousands of cottages were moved to empty lots to be used as homes.

In 2002, when the owners of the Kirkham Street cottages applied for a permit to demolish the buildings, the Western Neighborhoods Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the history of the western side of San Francisco (www.outsidelands.org), began efforts to save the shacks.

The Western Neighborhoods Project will restore the cottages in the SF Zoo's back lot and relocate them to permanent locations by April 2006, the centennial of San Francisco's earthquake.

Nominate a Good Business
Nominations are currently being accepted for the Small Business of the Year Award contenders. The award recognizes the accomplishments and community contributions of small businesses in the 12th Assembly District, which includes the Richmond, Sunset and Parkside districts. The deadline for submissions is Thursday, March 31 and winners will be announced April 27. For more information or eligibility requirements, call Assembly Speaker pro Tempore Leland Yee's office at 557-2312.

Experience Corps Needs Help
Experience Corps is a volunteer program that strives to utilize the time, talent, and experience of older adults to serve the youth of San Francisco's public schools.

Experience Corps recruits and trains adults 55 and older to tutor and mentor students at the Francis Scott Key, Sunset and A.P. Giannini elementary schools. Stipend volunteer options available. If you would like to join Experience Corps or need more information, contact Volunteer Coordinator Star Bressler at (415) 271-1777, e-mail starbressler@yahoo.com or visit the website at www.experiencecorps.org.

Choral Society Opens Season
The SF Choral Society will open its 16th season at the St. Anne of the Sunset Church, located at 850 Judah St., on Friday, April 1, at 8 p.m.

The first concert of the season will feature Leonard Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms" and Benjamin Britten's "Rejoice in the Lamb."

Twelve-year-old Andy Gutierrez will sing soprano in the Bernstein performance. Three other scores, by Lauridsen, Part and Elgar, will be performed a-capella at the event, which will also be performed Saturday, April 2, at 8 p.m.

Ticket prices are $20 - $26 and can be purchased by calling 392-4400.

Youth Baseball League Sign-ups
The San Francisco Youth Baseball League, in which more than 150 teams are expected to participate, will start its season Saturday, April 2. The league, which is sponsored by the SF Fire Department (FLAME), SF Police Activities League (PAL) and SF Recreation and Park Department, is seeking players and coaches.

Youth interested in playing can call the league office at 831-6318 and prospective coaches can call Rec. and Park at 831-6318, PAL at 410-4666 or FLAME at 664-7475 for more information about meetings, clinics and fingerprinting.

Mercy Helps Tsunami Victims
The Campus Life Team at Mercy High School, located at 3250 19th Ave., organized an event to raise money for the victims of the Southeast Asia tsunami with the goal of gathering $4,515 between students and faculty. The faculty informed the students if they exceeded the goal, the teachers would dress up as students for a day.

The Mercy community donated to the relief effort to the tune of $6,239.10. A date is being sought for the teachers to fulfill their promise.

New Beach Benches for Ocean Beach
The Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) recently purchased 24 benches for Ocean Beach and Sutro Heights Park. The funding to procure the benches was done in 2004, but the installation of the benches relies on the GGNRA securing another $10,000 for materials and labor to install them.

When installed, the benches will sit near the seawall walkway facing the ocean. They will be located approximately at every other stairwell along the seawall.

"They were down to one or two workable benches from 25 or so," neighborhood activist Tom Koon was quoted as saying in the SF Examiner. "People need to rest, especially kids and the elderly."

"Woman of the Year" Named for 12th District

California Assemblyman Leland Yee has named Tess Manalo-Ventresca as the 12th Assembly District's Woman of the Year.

Manalo-Ventresca has been an active volunteer in the Sunset District for more than 30 years. She has donated many hours to numerous causes, from creating award-winning youth programs and assisting underserved populations throughout the City to advocating for small business, community safety and neighborhood participation. She has fought to keep high-rise buildings, chain stores and absentee landlords out of the Sunset and she continually organizes neighborhood clean-ups and arts programs to keep the community clean, safe and beautiful.

"Tess truly embodies the spirit of giving -never asking for anything in reward and never losing her sense of humanity," Yee said.

Sunset Resident Honored as "Senior Leader"
Sunset resident Barbara Strong was honored Feb. 12 at an award ceremony in Oakland's Jack London Square. The event was sponsored by the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and the California Wellness Foundation to recognize volunteers active in the elderly community.

Strong received a "California Senior Leaders/Healthy Aging Award" for the nearly 3,000 hours she has conducted through the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) for the SF Food Bank and Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly.

Model Yacht Club Launches New Season
The San Francisco Model Yacht Club will launch its 2005 season of sailing model yachts at Spreckels Lake in Golden Gate Park on Saturday, March 5, at 1 p.m.

On the following Sunday, March 13, the club will host the Stinkpot/Ragtop Regatta, which will feature a relay competition.

Lead by Commodore Jim Forbes and Power Squadron Officer Ken Reilly, informal power boating takes place starting at 9 a.m. on Saturdays (gasoline) and Sunday (electric and steam). Sail regattas (radio-control and free-sail) take place most Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, starting at 1 p.m.

All events hosted by the club are held at Spreckels Lake, located in the park at 36th Avenue and JFK Drive.

For more information, call Forbes at 925-672-7788 or visit the club's website at www.sfmyc.org.

Read Aloud Day at Sunset Elementary School
On Wednesday, March 2, Sunset Elementary School and SF School Volunteers (SFSV) took part in "Read Aloud Day." The day promotes reading in the schools.

Reading to the students at Sunset Elementary were a number of local dignitaries, including Assemblyman Leland Yee; SF Supervisor Fiona Ma; and Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White.

For more information, call SFSV at 749-3700, ext. 3026.

Orchids Get Sunset Man's Touch
More than a year ago, Tom Perlite, a resident of the Sunset District since he was a teenager, knew exactly what he would be doing in mid-March. Just as he has done for the past six years, he and two of his employees at Golden Gate Orchids will move hundreds of exotic flowering orchid plants from his nursery to the Orchid Pavilion at the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show.

"We prepare for the show a year in advance since most orchids are seasonal and quite often will flower at the same time each year," Perlite said. "There are even some orchids we grow to bloom just for this show."

Since his nursery is only a block from the Cow Palace, where the show will be held March 16 to March 20, Perlite can offer some of the freshest orchids. Because Golden Gate Orchids is a wholesale nursery, this is one of few times a year where they sells to the public. Perlite will feature a number of different varieties that are not typically found at a grocery store. 

According to Perlite, some orchids like the fog and cool breezes in the Sunset - especially the cooler growing varieties, including Australian Dendrobiums, Odontoglossums, Masdevallias, Coelogynes and Disas.

For more information about the SF Flower & Garden Show, call 800-829-9751. Tickets cost $20 before 3 p.m. and $13 afterward.

UCSF Chancellor Earns Medal of Science
The University of California at San Francisco Chancellor J. Michael Bishop, MD, has been named a recipient of the National Medal of Science, the nation's highest honor for science and technology.

Bishop was among eight winners announced Feb. 14 by President George W. Bush. The honorees will receive medals at a White House ceremony on March 14.

The National Medal of Science honors individuals in a variety of fields for pioneering scientific research that has led to a better understanding of the world, as well as to the innovations and technologies that give the United States its global economic edge.

Bishop, who is also a professor at UCSF, began his research career working on the replication of the polio virus. Soon after arriving at UCSF in 1968, he shifted his attention to Rous sarcoma virus, hoping to explore the fundamental mechanisms of tumorigenesis. In 1970, Harold Varmus joined him and they directed research that led to the discovery of proto-oncogenes - normal genes that can be converted to cancer genes by genetic damage. This work eventually led to the recognition that all cancer probably arises from damage to normal genes and provided new strategies for the detection and treatment of cancer.

Bishop is the author of more than 300 research publications and the book "How to Win the Nobel Prize: An Unexpected Life in Science."

Volunteers Needed at Golden Gate Park
Volunteers are needed for the reopening of the M.H. de Young Museum and for giving tours in Golden Gate Park.

For more information about volunteering to work at the new de Young, which is scheduled to reopen Oct. 15, call Marilyn at 750-3633.

Individuals are also needed to learn about Golden Gate Park and its intriguing history to become a volunteer park guide. Volunteer guides lead groups on free historical walks throughout Golden Gate Park, including tours of the Japanese Tea Garden, Stow Lake, Strawberry Hill and the western windmill areas.

Volunteers should enjoy walking in Golden Gate Park, have an interest in history and storytelling and want to support promoting stewardship of city parks.

The next training session begins Saturday, March 19. For more information or to volunteer, contact SF Parks Trust Volunteer Manager Michele Canning at (415) 750-5109 or by e-mail at michele@sfpt.org.