Kamala Kelkar

Giants fans stunned by Lincecum’s repeat win

Jaws dropped when Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum won another Cy Young Award — the fourth player to win the title back-to-back in National League history — and smiles were plastered on fans’ faces. The reactions were about the same: “He won?” supporters asked while they raised their eyebrows in suspense, waiting for the official answer. Yasuko Takada, 31, had just taken a break from work when she heard the news. “I can’t believe it! Yes, he won!” Takada said, as she jumped up and down a few times. Many fans surveyed believed one of two St. Louis Cardinals — Chris Carpenter or Adam Wainwright — was the favorite for the award,...

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District considering first boarding school

The San Francisco Unified School District could see its first boarding school in coming years if the Board of Education decides to facilitate a charter school in the Bayview. The school board has been considering Mt. Kilimanjaro Charter Boarding School, which would be the tenth charter in the district, but this one is unique because it would eventually turn into a boarding school. Charter schools are paid for by the district but are governed on their own accord in most cases. A district representative said the school would have to teach at least 80 students for the district to pay for its facilities. The school would start as a K-8 then expand to a K-12 as the students progressed, and...

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Private business could operate Golden Gate Park Carousel

The nearly century-old carousel in Golden Gate Park could start turning every day of the week with the company of a family-style food vendor if the right business applies for the job. The Recreation and Park Commission will vote Thursday on whether to seek proposals to run the vacant food kiosk and the carousel, which only turns on weekends. The current carrousel is the third one that’s been in the park and was originally carved and manufactured in 1912 in North Tonawanda, New York. Its 62 menagerie animals were at the 1939 World's Fair on Treasure Island and it was originally powered by steam, according to Rec and Park. The vendor would compete with someone who already sells ice...

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School board meeting to talk 10-year plan

The Board of Education is meeting this week to talk about its 10-year plan that assumes the district will need about $896 to maintain its facilities throughout the decade. When the plan was presented to the Board of Education for approval, commissioners said close to $900 million sounds like a lot of money, but the numbers were comparable to prior 10-year plans. However Commissioner Sandra Lee Fewer requested the board meet again to discuss it further before adopting the plan. The plan also assumes the district will ask voters for more than $500 million in bonds starting 2011 to keep around 75 facilities up to ADA standards and keep up with enrollment demands, among other needs such as...

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Stabbing suspect connected to prior attack on boy

A transient accused of stabbing a woman who refused to hand him change Saturday morning may be the same man who nearly killed an 11-year-old boy on a Muni bus in September. A 25-year-old woman was walking to work near Jones and Sutter streets around 10:45 a.m. when a man, who police said has been hanging around the area for months, asked her for change, police Sgt. Vinny Catanzero said. The woman said she didn’t have any, but the man followed her and stabbed her in the upper back and buttocks, Catanzero said. “She thought she was getting punched,” he said. Catanzero said doctors are worried about the woman’s back wound because it’s dangerously close to...

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City’s students get into Asian Art Museum for free

The Asian Art Museum gives free admission to all of The City’s public school students, but a lot of them don’t know that. For decades the museum has had a partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District, but students and teachers are not taking full advantage, Director of Education and Public Programs Deborah Clearwaters said. Last year more than 18,000 students, not just in the district, participated in school tours and more than 500 teachers participated in educator workshops, but Clearwaters said those numbers can and should be bigger. Clearwaters and her colleague reported to the Board of Education last week they want to work harder with the district to teach...

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Teaching styles clash at elementary school

The idea of turning an entire elementary school in Lower Pacific Heights into the first public learning facility in San Francisco to incorporate a Montessori education has raised alarms with parents and teachers. There are two programs at Dr. William L. Cobb Elementary: one is a Montessori program for pre-kindergarten through second-grade students, which has 81 students; the other is the general education K-5 program with about 150 students. Montessori is a type of teaching style that was created in Italy in 1907 by Dr. Maria Montessori. The program allows children to work at their own pace and choose their own assignments, according to the Montessori Foundation. Cobb Elementary is the...

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Nonprofit seeking math, science professionals

Jennifer Anastasoff, CEO of nonprofit EnCorps Inc., is currently recruiting in The City. The program looks for retiring math and science professionals through their employers, then selects, matches, trains and supports them to teach in California public middle and high schools. Why are you targeting math and science teachers? Looking at the achievement gap in terms of math and science, it’s a key piece we’re hoping to address. Our No. 1 priority is to bring great math and science teachers into low-income classrooms. Closing the achievement gap is essentially key. How do you find recruits? We work with professional association meetings. We also present to businesses and a...

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Tsunami relief concert gets a break

About $900 worth of permits were waived for a tsunami relief concert in Golden Gate Park’s Music Concourse that is expected to draw about 800 on November 21. The concert, produced by SF Friends of American Samoa/Samoa Disaster Relief Team and Most Bangin’ Entertainment, starts at noon and ends at 6 p.m. The Recreation and Park Commission voted 4-1 to waive the $875 permit fee for the concourse and the $56 sound application fee for the family concert with Polynesian performers such as JBoog and The Jets and local artists such as MALO and the Family Stone. Attendees will be asked for donations and wrapped toys to benefit the American Red Cross specifically for victims of the...

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Green Festival producer discusses being eco- and people-friendly

Kevin Danaher, the co-founder of the nonprofit Global Exchange, is the executive co-producer of the seventh annual Green Festival in The City. The festival will feature more than 400 exhibitors, 125 speakers, dozens of community and nonprofit groups, how-to workshops, green chat space, hemp fashion show and live music. The event runs Friday through Sunday at the San Francisco Concourse Exhibition Center. Why should people go to your festival instead of a corporate store? I figure, “OK, what’s the opposite?” When we do these shows in Chicago and Denver, our main thing is, “How do we strengthen the local green economy?” It’s convergence marketing. You...

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SFUSD teachers may be booted

Every public school instructor in The City will likely have to obtain credentials by Jan. 20 to teach students who are not proficient in English or their jobs could be on the line. In the years since the state settled the landmark 2005 class-action lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union to improve the education of students at California public schools, the San Francisco Unified School District has told teachers they must have the state’s Crosscultural, Language and Academic Development, or CLAD, certificate. In 2007, about 900 district teachers didn’t have the certificates or had expired permits, according to district documents. That number has been reduced to...

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Summer classes too costly for CCSF

School is completely out next summer for the City College of San Francisco. The board of trustees has slashed CCSF’s summer-school program for 2010 — about 900 classes — due to a $20 million cut in state funding that the school has been trying to mend, San Francisco City College Board President Milton Marks said. Some 800 classes have already been eliminated in the current academic year — about 300 from fall and about 500 from spring — by taking away roughly 8 percent of the courses it offers from just about every discipline, Marks said. The cuts mean fewer classes and more students in each one at a time when enrollment isn’t waning, he said. This...

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District shapes up for state inspection

The school district is preparing for an inspection that will determine whether it gets federal reimbursements for feeding their students. The California Department of Education Nutrition Services Division took away the district’s funds after inspections revealed it was not following federal guidelines. For instance it was not accurately identifying which students were getting either free, reduced-rate or paid lunches. Since then every principal in the district has taken and passed a training test that reminds them of the rules, according to the district. The schools are expecting inspectors to show up again at the end of the month. Since school started, the district has been...

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Rec and Park launches retail line

If you happen to be a big fan of the new Recreation and Park Department logo, you can buy it on coffee mugs, T-shirts and other gear to admire it all the time. The department launched http://www.zazzle.com/sfrecpark a few months ago mostly for internal purchases, but it’s available for anyone who feels the urge to make a purchase, Rec and Park spokeswoman Lisa Seitz-Gruwell said. The revenue is supposed to benefit afterschool and summer school programs, but they haven’t been selling like hotcakes, Seitz-Gruwell said. However General Manager Phil Ginsburg did buy coffee mugs - with his own money - from the site for all the senior staff at Rec and Park’s retreat, she...

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Local business owner touts microfinance loans

Alix Shedd, the owner of the online vintage retail site Apocalypse Vintage — which is based in The City — recently moved her business from Portland, Ore. To get her business back up and running in San Francisco, she turned to the Opportunity Fund to secure a microfinance loan to open a warehouse for her inventory. What’s the first piece of advice you’d give someone starting a business? Plan it out really well ahead of time. Make sure it’s something you’re committed to. Why should a business owner apply for a microfinance loan instead of a bank loan? One reason is the direct personal relationship. A bank obviously wants your business to succeed so...

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Sharp Park Rifle Range could get its facelift soon

It’s been three months since a plan was approved to overhaul the bullet-riddled Sharp Park Rifle Range, and construction could start soon. The Recreation and Park Commission is scheduled to vote Thursday on a contract to start excavating about 15,000 cubic yards of soil contaiminated with lead shot at the range. The range was closed in 1988 after bullets were discovered in a nearby residential area, according to DTSC which is overseeing the soil removal action plan. The removal was initially supposed to start a couple years ago, but the former project manager with the DTSC said he thinks an endangered species issue postponed it for a while. In 1917, Sam Murphey and Jenny...

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School district’s enrollment fair on Saturday

The school district’s enrollment fair for families and students getting ready to choose which schools they want to attend is on Saturday. The first deadline for applications that allow up to seven school options is January 9. Parents and students will be able to talk to principals from all over the district and attend workshops with topics that include the transition to kindergarten and how to enroll special education students. Superintendent Carlos Garcia called it a “one-stop shop’’ for parents where they can see what many schools have to offer without having to tour all of them. Last year about 10,000 families went to the annual fair, according to the...

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PAC wants in on student assignment

The Parent Advisory Council wants to engage at least 200 hard-to-reach parents about changing the student assignment lottery system by the end of the school year. At the Board of Education meeting Tuesday night, council representatives told commissioners that given the tentative deadline, the board won’t have enough time to reach people who do not feel comfortable or can’t come to meetings. They talked about people who don’t speak English or who might not even know the meetings exist, and how they feel it’s necessary to get as much input as possible. The council in the past has also indicated that since the Ad Hoc Committee on Student Assignment only meets once...

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Sea lions take hike from Hyde Street Pier

Most of the sea lions lurking on the docks at the Hyde Street Pier have left, but the 200-feet worth of mesh barriers will stay put to help ensure they don’t come back. Instead of more than 100 basking where the commercial boats dock, Port spokeswoman Renee Martin said now there are only about 10. Martin said there’s no way to tell if the barriers, that didn’t cost a whole lot because they were fabricated in-house, made them leave or if it was just their time to migrate. However she did say they’re still swarming PIER 39, and since they have a habit of returning, the barriers will stay put for a...

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School district needs more money

The San Francisco Unified School District is preparing to go to voters with an approximately $500 million bond in 2011 to renovate its facilities. The roots of the proposal came before the district's board tonight in the form of a 10-year capital plan that calls for spending about $850 million over the next ten years, Chief Facilities Officer David Goldin said. However, the board also heard a report tonight indicating that the district would be facing an $83 million deficit by fiscal year 2011-2012. The board will vote on the capital plan in...

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Ailing department seeks workers comp change

One out of every five employees in the Recreation and Park Department reported an injury for workers’ compensation last year — and that was considered one of the better years. Compensation and residual costs such as paying overtime to make up for absences took $3.5 million out of Rec and Park’s budget for the 2008-09 fiscal year, General Manager Phil Ginsburg said. He’s aiming to reduce the number of injured workers in order to save money. The department is responsible for about 3.4 percent of The City’s work force, but last year it accounted for about 7 percent of the money spent on workers’ compensation. After working as director of the Human...

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Synthetic sod still stirring dust at city's soccer fields

Installing synthetic turf at the most popular soccer fields in The City could more than triple the amount of time they could be utilized, but the proposal has detractors who worry about safety and the effects of the increased use. There are four soccer fields adjacent to the Beach Chalet in Golden Gate Park, but the 4,738 hours that they are used each year necessitate that one must be closed at any given time for watering and to allow the grass to grow back, according to the Recreation and Park Department. To increase the amount of time the fields could be open for sports, the Recreation and Park Department is proposing installing artificial turf and upgrading the lighting system. The...

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Community meetings on school district budget planned

The Board of Education is learning how to handle a $61 million deficit over the course of two years and wants to make it easier for the parents and children to learn, too. Commissioners are talking about holding community meetings starting sometime in November to specifically talk about the budget, what kind of decisions they might be making and how they could affect everyone. Typically accountants and staff start number crunching for the next budget in spring for the board’s approval by the end of the school year. However, the saga of budget woes has continued; they’ve already busted out their calculators for the next school year. “We think it’s really...

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Woodstock anniversary celebration surprises some Richmond neighbors

The free 40th anniversary celebration of Woodstock in Golden Gate Park this weekend does come at a price for some Richmond District neighbors. Concerts and events in the park mean more traffic, noise and less open space for the veterans of the area. The side effects would not be as big of a deal if the Recreation and Park Department gave neighbors some public notice, Planning Association for the Richmond President Ray Holland said. “It comes as the total surprise to the neighbors. There ought to be, at least a week in advance, some sort of protocol for when they’re using major parts of the parks,’’ Holland said. Neighbors were impressed by the outreach for...

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SFUSD's Special Olympics start Friday

The City’s kids will bring their soccer skills to a head on Friday at the first Special Olympic event of the school year. The program is in its third year and coordinates soccer, basketball and track and field fore more than 380 students in special education with exercises during their regular school day. The kickoff is at the South Sunset Field at 10 a.m. But by this time next year, the Beach Chalet soccer field should be ripe for the...

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School assignment timeline remains unknown

No one really expected any decisions to come out of the latest meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on Student Assignment meeting, but it has again left the timeline for the controversial lottery system’s replacement ambiguous. The committee was first presented with three alternatives to the system, but no one was too thrilled with them, Commissioner Rachel Norton said.[end hyperlink] So at Monday’s meeting, the commissioners looked at three more options. Norton described them in her blog as follows: “Option 1: Local (”neighborhood”) school assignment with city-wide schools; Option 2: Local assignment with wider choice (parents are guaranteed local school...

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Funds flow to fix park fountains

Money meant to spruce up Golden Gate Park has predominantly flowed to upgrades at the Music Concourse, and now more than $1 million more will go toward fixing four fountains. The upgrades to the area, which lies between the de Young Museum and the California Academy of Sciences, began in 2005, and at least $9.9 million has been poured into projects that include widening the walkways, planting trees, fixing lighting, paving paths and restoring the historic bandshell. In addition, four fountains in the concourse stopped working a few years ago, and it will cost $1.1 million to fix them. The upgrades to the area are overseen by the Recreation and Park Department and the Concourse...

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Library recognized for its historic renovation

A historic renovation of the Noe Valley/Sally Brunn library was awarded for its excellence in design, construction, planning and technology by a state preservation nonprofit. The California Preservation Foundation awarded the library with a Preservation Design Award for Carey & Co. Architecture’s $5.7 million restoration of the 1916 Carnegie landmark. In 2008, the 6,096-square-foot, two-story library with a Spanish-style façade of brick and terra cotta was repainted and the masonry was restored. The original tables were refinished, the floor was replaced and the lighting and windows were modified. The City spent $45,499 on the original, which was designed by John Reid...

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New goals set for Rec and Park

An ambitious General Manager presented a list of new goals to Rec and Park commissioners at their meeting Thursday night. Approaching his 100th day on the job, General Manager Phil Ginsburg told commissioners he wants staff members to wear uniforms next year, increase the daily outreach to illegal campers from 1.5 hours to 2 hours every day and come up with 10 new concession agreements by the end of this year, among many other tasks. He also commented on how ridiculous it is that only about 30 percent of staff members can be reached through the Internet and said the department's Web site was terrible. Both issues must change so that everyone can communicate more fluidly, Ginsburg...

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Community groups to donate funds for new playground

Community groups have said they are willing to raise about $250,000 as a gift for the Recreation and Park Department if the funds are used to make a new play area in Duboce Park specifically for older kids. The area would have a net climber, an overhead climber and slide shaped like boulders and logs on a rubberized surface alongside the basketball court. Several neighborhood associations such as Friends of Duboce Park and Duboce Triangle Association are backing the plan and will be presenting it to the commission at the 4 p.m. meeting Thursday. In December, Rec and Park estimated the project would cost about $250,000. Friends of Duboce Park has already secured about $50,000, and...

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Dreading dredging: Harbor tab is hefty

A neglected Marina Harbor that docks hundreds of police, fire and Coast Guard boats annually could get the attention it has needed for years — but the fix won’t be cheap. Through the years, so much sediment has built up at the east harbor — which is also known as Gashouse Cove — that at low tide emergency boats are sometimes forced to dock in mud to fill up on gas or pick up and drop off their crews. The Recreation and Park Department runs the harbor — which is divided into east and west sides — but has no record of the last time it was dredged, according to a report. Today, the Recreation and Park Commission will decide whether to commit to a $9.5...

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Less could be more for golf residents

Golf residents might start paying for two years of residence fees at a time - $90 every two years instead of $45 annually – if the Recreation and Park Commission approves it. The card allows the members to make reservations at all six of The City’s golf courses seven days in advance, opposed to six days in advance by people who aren’t registered residents. The merge makes it easier for golf players and more efficient for the Rec and Park Department, spokeswoman Lisa Seitz-Gruwell said. A monthly budget report however has indicated that the revenue from golf funds is making about $250,000 less than last year at this time. The decision will be made at the commission...

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Special education resources get boost

More and more students are being diagnosed with autism in The City’s school district, and it’s costing more money. This year the San Francisco Board of Education added about $2 million from the general fund to pay for resources for students with special needs. Autistic children make up about 8 percent of that population, according to the San Francisco Unified School District. “The most substantial challenge is the cost as the district continues to develop and implement research-based programs to best meet the educational needs of students,” the district’s Special Education Supervisor Pam Macy wrote in an e-mail. The Autism Society, a national organization...

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School board votes to keep kids in the classroom

San Francisco's school board got a round of applause Tuesday after voting to make it harder for students to get sent home from school. In response to data showing that an increasing number of students are being suspended or expelled - with a disproportionate number of them being black - a resolution was put before the board by three commissioners to try to find alternatives to disciplinary concerns other than suspension or expulsion. At Tuesday night's school board meeting, several students spoke out in favor of keeping kids in the classroom. "If they're not getting love at home and they're not getting love from the school district, they'll get it from the streets,'' said...

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Cleanup organized for horseshoe pits

A Richmond District blogger interested in preserving the horse shoe courts in Golden Gate Park, posted details for a clean-up on Saturday for the Coast Live Oak Woodland grove in the area. The Guardsmen and several other groups who spent their Saturdays digging and hauling were worried the court could turn back to its orginal state after the hot-shot tournament in September. If this weekend’s a stretch, the Recreation and Park Department has coordinated a similar cleanup on the second Saturday of every month. Roll-call is always 10 a.m. at the Conservatory of...

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Cigar blown out of proportion

After a picture of Michael Jordan was published smoking a cigar on Harding Park, San Francisco residents immediately noticed that it violated park code. In 2006 the Board of Supervisors banned smoking in public parks, including golf courses. After a few phone calls from the public poking fun at the matter, Recreation and Park General Manager Phil Ginsburg did his job by sending a one-line e-mail to President’s Cup director Tom Clark, reminding him about the rules. Ginsburg was able to laugh at the matter but also said, “This should all be taken with a bit of perspective. While it is true that the Board of Supervisors legislated a ban smoking on our public golf courses,...

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North Beach library could be preserved

It’s only appropriate that library connoisseurs would be at a historic preservation commission meeting on their extended lunch breaks. At a packed lunchtime meeting that lasted for hours into the afternoon Wednesday, several of them weighed in on whether seven post World War II libraries in The City – and specifically the North Beach branch -- should be preserved. The North Beach branch is of particular concern because it is the only one in the group that hasn’t either finished reconstruction or started reconstruction under major plans to renovate 16 library facilities in The City. The commission voted 5-2 to start the process of preserving five of the seven...

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Board of Ed considers cutting down on contract approvals

Instead of having to analyze and approve several, sometimes more than 100, contracts at every Board of Education meeting, four of the commissioners tonight had a discussion about whether they should even be voting on them in the first place. The board typically approves millions of dollars worth of K-resolutions, which are personal contracts for construction, classroom personnel, physical education, art resources, libraries and other resources for specific schools needs. However veteran Commissioner Jill Wynns said at a rules committee meeting since the board passes a budget every year with a specific amount of money allocated to each school, she wants to know if its necessary the...

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S.F. school district losing millions on meals

Parents and students who fail to fill out a two-page meal application form for the San Francisco Unified School District are costing the district millions of dollars. The tri-lingual application, which consists of nine sections, is used to determine whether a student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunches. Last year, it took the entire school year to have 85 percent of the student body fill out the application. As a result, the district paid $9.7 million for thousands of breakfasts and lunches and counted on federal reimbursement for the students who were eligible. But because many of the students failed to prove eligibility, the district was forced to take $2.9 million for the...

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Old cottage may become modern eatery

Nestled in the southwest corner of Golden Gate Park, a 100-year-old cottage that sits next to a windmill will soon start a new chapter in its life. Sitting off Martin Luther King Jr. Drive near Lincoln Way, the vacant Millwrights Cottage could soon be transformed into a destination spot where people go to eat sustainable foods. The 100-year-old, Colonial New England-style cottage has been vacant since 2003. The caretakers of the Dutch windmill that sits next to the cottage used to live in the two-story home that was designated a historic landmark in 1999. As a part of the larger project to revamp the Dutch windmill, which is set to have its overhaul completed next year, the Recreation...

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Crocker's got nothing on the Beach Chalet soccer fields

Those soccer fields over by the Beach Chalet have got some major potential. You can’t see them on most maps unless you know what you’re looking for, but they do exist and they’re getting makeovers to accessorize the windmill and Millwrights Cottage renovations taking place in the area. The Beach Chalet soccer fields have seen better days, said Recreation and Park spokeswoman Lisa Seitz-Gruwell, but just you wait because she said they’ll be the best ones The City has to offer. “They’re bigger then Crocker,’’ she...

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Cracking the leash on unruly dogs

Dogs biting at horses and hang gliders may force canines back on leashes at the popular Fort Funston recreation area. Owners have been allowed to legally walk their dogs off leash though most of Fort Funston — the 141-acre park in the southwest corner of The City — for decades. The federally owned, pooch-friendly park that runs along Skyline Boulevard has attracted more than 560,000 dog walkers, hang gliders, horseback riders and other visitors this year alone. A recent spike in some canines’ unruly behavior, however, could jeopardize the license for all dogs to run free, particularly because the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which owns the land, was already...

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Teachers blue over budget cuts

It is not a coincidence if a sea of blue takes over schools today. The City’s teachers are wearing dark blue shirts with the Golden Gate Bridge union logo to participate in a statewide budget protest to educational cuts. “We’re generally making a blue presence,’’ president of the teacher’s union Dennis Kelly...

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District deficit may choke negotiations

More than 200 of The City’s public school principals, assistant principals and administrators are trying to get better benefits out of their current contract, despite a $61 million deficit the San Francisco Unified School District is facing during the next two years. United Administrators of San Francisco represents 245 administrators who are in their third year of a three-year contract. The Board of Education voted this week to reopen the contract, scheduling an informational hearing Oct. 13 for three bargaining items. The union cited three reasons that prompted the renegotiations: to increase salary and benefits; to change procedures for appointment transfer and reassignment;...

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Police returning to high school sporting events

Uniformed police officers are usually present at public high school football games in The City, but that has not been the case this school year. The $50,000 contract to secure about 35 officers throughout the year at sporting events that are well-attended, considered high profile or against rival schools was put before the Board of Education on Aug. 25. With the San Francisco Unified School District’s budget tightening, board members are increasingly questioning whether some expenses, such as the security detail, are really necessary. At the last meeting, board member Sandra Fewer suggested that high schools could use their own security and asked that a decision on the contract...

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Historic Cliff House adds one century to its menu

It has had its share of reincarnations after being blown up by dynamite and twice burning to the ground, but now the Cliff House is turning 100. The famed restaurant perched atop a cliff near Sutro Heights Park is the third building on the site since the first Cliff House opened in 1863. A wing of an 1863 Cliff House was demolished in 1887 by a schooner that crashed while loaded with kerosene, dynamite caps and 42 tons of black powder, according to Mary Germain Hountalas, who has operated the restaurant with her husband, Dan, for 35 years, and whose book about the restaurant, “The San Francisco Cliff House,” was published by Ten Speed Press in August. The building was put...

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Mired in debate, school assignment system remains

A long-sought change to the controversial system San Francisco Unified School District uses to assign students to campuses is still in the works, but the Board of Education is plagued with the same cyclical problem: No one can agree on an alternative. The district is apt to promote statistics showing that the majority of families — 78 percent this year — receive a school of their choice. Every year, though, that leaves thousands of students assigned to a school they did not request. The current system asks parents to apply for up to seven schools. At schools that have more requests than seats, students are assigned through a complex calculation that considers such factors...

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Parks looking for input on repairs

A panel is going to decide which little projects will be a big deal for public parks. Nearly new Recreation and Park Department General manager Phil Ginsburg ran a marathon shortly after his appointment to raise money for simple ways to improve parks. The department was taking suggestions near the beginning of Ginsburg’s appointment until the end of August – some of them including ping pong tables or motorized recreational centers. Rec and Park spokeswoman Lisa Seitz-Gruwell said the next step is selecting a panel, hopefully by Oct. 1. The panel will decide on some of more than 100...

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Rainy day funds running dry

The City’s School district can stop holding its breath for a minute because it was granted the other half of its $24 million rainy day reserve funds on Wednesday. After an evaluation about how the district was spending the reserve money — by mostly to replenishing staffing costs — Supervisor John Avalos said he was happy to save the teachers with the $12.3 million. The district relied on the funds to patch the hole of its $30 million deficit this year that already led to penny-pinching, but it faces another $31 million deficit next year and the rainy day funds have dwindled to about $12...

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Outside Lands Event brings in bucks for city

Attendance at the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival may have fallen short of last year by about 30,000, but the Recreation and Park Department still took in $178,000 more than it did in 2008. The department officially made about $1,028,000, profiting from changes to the rental agreement with Another Planet Entertainment. Last year, the promoter paid $850,000 for the use of Golden Gate Park, and the department did not receive a cut of ticket revenue. This year, the event’s producer paid $950,000 to use the facilities and the department received $78,000 from ticket proceeds, Rec and Park spokeswoman Lisa Seitz Gruwell said. In 2011, the end of the three-year contract, the...

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Upgrade could make park reservations pricier

In January, it should be easier to rent parks or soccer fields in The City, but it may come at the expense of the users. The Recreation and Park Department has been overhauling its half-handwritten, half-computerized reservations and permits system to put it all online. The shuffle, however, has made it apparent fees need to be more organized, Rec and Park spokeswoman Lisa Seitz Gruwell said. Right now, renters either call the rental and permits office or walk in to the facility in the middle of Golden Gate Park, and only in some cases — like for Dolores Park and Kezar Stadium — they can fill out a lengthy application for review online. But the goal is to get it all...

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Niners tickets gifted, then gone

Thousands of free tickets for 49ers home games have been given to a city agency — but who received them, when and why is unknown. As the Recreation and Park Department now works to comply with a new state regulation about gifts, The Examiner has learned that the tickets have been doled out in the past by general managers of the department in a manner that was unaccountable and devoid of any policy. For each Niners game, the team gives two stadium tickets to each of the 11 members of the Board of Supervisors, and Rec and Park receives another 40, half regular seating and half box seats. The 49ers tickets given to Rec and Park at the beginning of the season are part of the lease...

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Parks lined up for blanket face-lifts

Two antiquated San Francisco playgrounds are about to receive major makeovers. The Recreation and Park Commission approved a $7.5 million restoration plan for Mission Playground at 19th and Valencia streets and an $8.5 million one for Sunset Playground at 28th Avenue and Lawton Street. Funding is coming from the $185 million Neighborhood Parks Bond approved by voters in 2008 to improve facilities throughout The City. Janese Tyree said she and her daughter Bailey love Mission Playground and have been going there since Bailey was 4 months old. But she pointed to a corner of the concrete soccer field guarded by a tall, rusted fence and said, “It’s just a homeless hangout, and...

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Community college is a hot commodity

For $11 a unit you could crash whatever community college course you wanted so long you showed up the first day and rubbed elbows with the teacher -- oh, but wait, that was ten years ago. Now you pay $26 a unit and cross your fingers. The City’s community college is slated to teach 36,042 students this semester – 2,000 more than fall 2008, spokeswoman Martha Lucey said. But hundreds of classes have already been canceled because of budget woes. The community college’s Board of Trustees has asked the public for $6,000 donations to resurrect one class at a time. Lucey said so far eight of the hundreds will see the light again....

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