Walgreens Moving to Coliseum Site

By Paul Kozakiewicz

The popular Walgreens site on Clement Street will move to the reconstructed Coliseum Theater when construction at the historic former movie house is completed.

The move is less than a block, but moves the business from mid-block to a prime corner, with a public parking lot nearby.

According to Inner Clement Street Merchants Association President Irwin Phillips, Walgreens will lease out its old store location at 719 Clement St. He also said the now-vacant storefront at an adjoining property, formerly a Woolworths, was getting a new tenant that would be doing business as a retail establishment.

Phillips made the comments at a general meeting of the Clement merchants held March 14 at the Clement Street Bar and Grill.

Daniel Kahn, manager at the Gateway Bank, reported that a plan to put a street festival on Clement Street would probably not happen until October, 2002. He said a theme is not narrowed down but that a pumpkin or harvest festival theme is possible.

Kahn said a firm hired to assist with the festival's planning, Pro Events, wants to create something unique for the district and include various venues, some of which take a long lead time to get necessary city and state permits to cook and serve food, sell produce on the street and provide live entertainment.

Pro Events currently produces the North Beach and Polk Street festivals.

"They want a non-cookie cutter event," Kahn said.

The intent of the festival is to promote the Inner Clement Street commercial corridor and draw people to the area from throughout the city and maybe make a buck or two for merchant causes.

In other news, Phillips said the SF Department of Parking and Traffic was making some changes to increase the amount of parking available to Clement Street merchants. The department is removing a couple of yellow zones (for commercial vehicles) in the unit block of Clement and changing the enforcement times on others to be enforced from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., shorter than the current enforcement time of 6 p.m. The move is expected to open up six or seven more parking spots.

The merchants association is also pushing a plan to make the city parking lot on Ninth Avenue near Clement street to have its parking meters enforced until midnight, seven days a week.

The plan, Phillips said, is similar to a plan instituted at the city-owned parking lot on Geary Boulevard between 21st and 22nd avenues. A reduction of people loitering in the lot after hours and the availability of the lot for parking for businesses has been successful, according to David Heller, president of the Greater Geary Boulevard Merchants Association.

A plan is also underway to contact five or six schools in the Inner Richmond District to have its students participate in a poster contest. Merchants are currently being asked to make room in their store's windows to post the artistic entries.

According to Phillips, $500 will be given out in prize money and trophies will go to the winners of the contest. Local artists are being asked to judge the competition.

For more information, call Phillips at (415) 831-4605.