Richmond Roundup

New Site Tracks the SF Board of Supervisors

A new website, www.sfvotewatch.com, enables San Franciscans to track the activities of the SF Board of Supervisors on legislation since January.

The site catalogs the individual votes of supervisors at their weekly meetings, and web visitors can search for information by specific supervisor, subject, committee and/or date. Also available are meeting agendas, documented supervisors' positions, feature articles written by a rotating group of local political commentators and links to supervisors' personal web pages and a variety of political groups throughout the City. Plans to include mayoral vetoes and board committee votes are currently in progress.

Sponsors responsible for developing the public resource include community and business organizations whose members decided it was time people had easy and immediate access to the board's decisions.

The Small Business Network, Committee on Jobs, SF Partnership, Council of District Merchants and Golden Gate Restaurant Association are among the site's dozen sponsors.

SF Jewish Film Festival Celebrates Cultural Cinema

Richmond District director Daniel Gamburg screens his short film, "Tsipa and Volf," at the 21st San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, playing July 19 through July 26 at the Castro Theatre.

This year's festival spotlights diverse features, documentaries and other shorts, with a special focus on works by young local and international filmmakers.

The festival will also debut the New Jewish Film Project, a program in which select, 15- to 19-year-old youths will attend festival screenings and write, direct and edit films of their own over the course of the subsequent year. Their films will then premiere at the 2002 SF Jewish Film Festival.

For ticket information, call 621-0556 or visit the SF Jewish Film Festival website at www.sfjff.org. Discount rates are available for seniors, students, disabled, groups and advance purchases.

Jewish Community Center Leader Named "Executive of the Year"

Nate Levine, Executive Director of the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, was recently named Executive of the Year by the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco.

Levine, who has built a career working for a number of Jewish organizations around the Bay Area, has served as the San Francisco JCC's executive director for four years. This year, he has earned one of the Jewish Community Federation's Awards of Excellence by leading the completion of the JCC's $70 million Capital Campaign to create a "new Jewish neighborhood." Construction of the new facility will begin this fall, and it is expected to open in late 2003.

California Bank & Trust Welcomes New Vice President and Manager

Lelia Mozingo has been appointed vice president and branch manager at California Bank & Trust's office on Geary Boulevard in the Richmond District.

Mozingo brings more than 12 years of banking experience to her new position. She is fluent in both English and Chinese.

The former manager of Citibank's Sunset District office pads her banking career with community service work. She is a former board member of the Outer Sunset Merchants Association and participates in other volunteer activities.

Geary Merchants to Hold Annual Luncheon

The Greater Geary Boulevard Merchants Association will hold its annual luncheon on Tuesday, July 24.

The event will feature an on-stage act performed by the cast of Beach Blanket Babylon and an awards ceremony that will focus on honoring the association's women merchants.

Some of the merchants that will he honored are as follows: Marie Brooks, Ellis Brooks Chevrolet (39 years); Barbara Hatley, Tigges Jewelry (36 years); Madaline Gloria, Foreign Car Repair (32 years); Phyllis Nabhan, Gaslight & Shadows Antiques (25 years); and Ella Budovsky, Budovsky's Insurance Services (15 years).

Additionally, Clyde Cournale, who operates Cournale & Cournale with his son, Curt, will receive a special recognition for his 54 years of service on Geary Boulevard.

The luncheon, entitled "Crossing the Bridge Together," will be at the Cathedral Hill Hotel, 1101 Van Ness Ave. (at Geary), from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

For more information about the luncheon, call merchant's President David Heller at 387-1477.

Stern Grove Festival Continues Summer Run

The 64th annual Stern Grove Festival opened its run of 10 consecutive Sundays of free entertainment June 17. The remaining concerts this summer,which start at 2 p.m., are:

July 1 ­ SF Symphony, with conductor George Daugherty, performing Mendelssohn, Ellington and "Butterfly Lovers Concerto;"

July 8 ­ SF Opera's Merola Opera Program performing Puccini's "Gianni Schicchi" and "Suor Angelica;"

July 15 ­ Cheb Mami and Mission District group Los Mocosos;

July 22 ­ Celtic music with Altan and fiddler/stepdancer Natalie MacMaster;

July 29 ­ Mediterranean Gypsy music with France's Lo'Jo and Les Yeux Noirs and Greece's Savina Yannatou;

August 5 ­ San Francisco Ballet highlights;

August 12 ­ World premiere of the "Tabla Beat Science Project;

August 19 ­ Jazz in the grove with the Nancy Wilson Trio and chanteuse Ledisi.

The festival is the longest-running free outdoor summer concert series in the United States. Stern Grove is located at 19th Avenue and Sloat Boulevard. For more information, call 252-6252 or visit the website at www.sterngrove.org.

Students Recognized for 'Doing the Right Thing'

Students from Sunset District high schools were recently awarded as the winners of the Anti-Defamation League's Sugihara "Do the Right Thing" Essay Contest. First place was awarded to Laurie Shikhman from Abraham Lincoln High School, second place went to Raymond Lee from Lowell High School, and third place honors went to An Qi He also from Abraham Lincoln.

The essay contest, intended to inspire dialogue among youths about moral courage and ethical decision making, asked participants to write about "doing the right thing" in the face of a moral or ethical dilemma. The essays were to include analyses on the actions' effects on others in society, and discuss the relation to the heroic choice of Japanese government dissenter, Chiune Sugihara, who illegally issued transit visas to Jewish refugees in WWII and for whom the contest is named.

Honorable mentions also went to Lincoln High School's Lucy Chu, Yali Corea-Levy, Sheung Yam Jason Leung and Moury Minhaz. Lowell High School mentions went to Vicki March, and Dena Takuri. Arthur Woody Schulze, of George Washington High School in the Richmond District, also received an honorable mention.