Richmond Roundup

Students Brighten Hospital
The faculty, staff, and students from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising met with Barbara Skelly, the resident Art Therapist at the Veteran's Administration Hospital, located at Clement Street and 42nd Avenue, to discuss the creation of a mural.

Both parties agreed to paint a set of seascape murals, which were recently finished, to brighten the environment at the hospital and raise the spirits of the medical center's patients. As well, the V.A.'s residents and local community members were able to participate in an art therapy opportunity.

There is no charge to view the mural, located at the V.A. Medical Center, 4150 Clement St. For more information, call 221-4810, ext. 2250.

Clement St. Festival Nears
The fourth annual Clement Street Festival will take place on Saturday, Oct. 16 and Sunday, Oct. 17, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Clement Street, between Second and Sixth avenues, will be closed off for the event.

The festival is sponsored by the Clement Street Merchants Association. It will feature live music, food from around the world, a climbing wall and activities for children, including an inflatable "jumpie," and local vendors.

This year, the festival is expanding the area open to exhibitors in order to accommodate numerous civic and non-profit organizations, including the On Lok Senior Health, SF Interfaith Council, Western Neighborhood Project, Richmond Community Youth Center and the Richmond YMCA.

Music plays a prominent role at this year's festival. On center stage, Bay Area musician Tim Cain, of the '60s group Sons of Champlin, will perform.

Additionally, the festival features a Karaoke competition called "Clement Street Idol," in which young vocalists attending district schools will sing a tune before the crowd. Finalists will be selected Saturday to compete Sunday for a first-place cash prize. There will be ribbons for both grade school and high school students.

For more information about the event, call (415) 456-6455 or visit the website at www.clementstreetfestival.com.

Volunteers, Gifts Needed
The gift drive aims to provide holiday dinners, gifts and companionship for more than 600 isolated elders this Thanksgiving and Christmas season.

"Wish lists" of the elders' desires are being distributed to ease the gift-buying process. If you would like to participate in visiting elders, delivering dinners and flowers to the elderly and donating food and gifts, call the Little Brothers-Friends of the Elderly at (415) 771-7957, ext. 105.

Bookstore Closes
A well-known bookstore in the Richmond District, Bookmonger, located at 2411 Clement St., was forced into retirement on Thursday. Sept. 30 due to a large increase in rent after ownership of the building changed.

Norman Wexler opened the Bookmonger in January 1980. The store was known for its low prices, low-key atmosphere and varied selection of out-of-print books and magazines.

Fulton Playground Programs
The Fulton Playground, located at 855 27th Ave., has announced its fall schedule of programs for children.

The Tiny Tots program has a "Fun with Music" class on Tuesdays, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and an "Our Natural World" class on Thursdays at the same time. The fee is $25 per quarter, per class. A Tiny Tots Halloween party will be held Tuesday, Oct. 26, between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., featuring games, music and a costume parade.

On Mondays through Fridays, the Latchkey Program is open between  2 p.m. and 6 p.m. for children aged 6 to 12. During the evening, a "community night" is held for all ages between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Additionally, every Friday night between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. "Teen Night" is held at the playground.

The playground is open to the public Monday - Friday, 12:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., and Tuesday - Thursday, 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. The playground is closed weekends.

For more information about the Fulton Playground, call 666-7020.

Hospitalized Youth at UCSF Granted "Little Wishes"
"Little Wishes" is an all-volunteer program in which volunteers bring joy to hospitalized children by giving them special gifts, such as a new toy or doll, a book, C.D., D.V.D. or a special visitor.

In September, the "Little Wishes" program was inaugurated at UCSF's Children's Hospital when Mayor Gavin Newsom visited patients' hospital rooms and children received the gifts they had wished for.

Newsom, leaders from UCSF and volunteers with "Little Wishes" also attended a party in the UCSF Children's Hospital courtyard to celebrate the creation of the program.

Ranked Voting Debuts Nov. 2
In November, San Francisco voters will elect seven seats on the Board of Supervisors using ranked choice voting (RCV), also known as Instant Runoff Voting.

Proposition A, passed by San Francisco voters in March 2002, enacted ranked choice voting in elections for supervisor, mayor and six other city offices.  If you are voting for supervisor this November, you will be using RCV.

RCV is a way of making sure one candidate gets a majority vote in a single election, eliminating the need a runoff election in December. 

With RCV the voter picks three candidates and ranks them in order of preference. If a first choice candidate has the fewest votes and is eliminated, your vote will count for your second choice candidate. If that candidate also gets eliminated, your vote counts for your third choice.

RCV eliminates the "spoiler" effect by allowing a voter to vote for whomever they want first, even if they have no chance of winning, because they can rank a more realistic candidate as a second or third choice.

For more information about RCV, call 554-4375 or visit www.sfrcv.com. Brochures on RCV are also available from the SF Department of Elections.