Links

This is a partial, evolving list of links that neighborhood residents may find useful. We welcome feedback. Did you find one of these links helpful, or not? Do you have one to add? Is something not working?  Contact us.

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Senior Services

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Arts and Entertainment

  • San Francisco Conservatory of Music

    Through the Conservatory’s “music to go” program, you can hire students from the Conservatory to play at your event.

  • Seventh Avenue Performances

    Reasonably priced classical music performances in the Presbyterian Church at 1329 Seventh Avenue (btwn. Irving and Judah).  The performances include those of the artist in residence at the church, San Francisco Renaissance Voices, which is dedicated to “exploring and performing the music of the Renaissance and related periods outside of the traditional European canon.”

     

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Businesses offering free services

  • Cole Hardware

    Cole Hardware has a free home-repair referral service.   You type in your contact information and a description of the job you need done; they provide you with a choice of two or three contractors who can do the job.

  • FunCheapSF

    Lots of free or cheap events in San Francisco and the Bay Area

  • Next Door

    A free, web-based private social network organized by neighborhood.
    For more information, see SHARP’s program meeting notes from February 25, 2013.

  • Recology

    San Francisco’s waste disposal company. Want to know which items go in which bins?  How to save money on your garbage bill by reducing the size of your black bin?

  • The Simple Dollar

    Nationwide personal finance site includes a guide to buying a home.

     

  • The Urban Farmer Store

    Irrigation, lighting, pond supplies, and landscaping tools for your garden.  The site offers free guides in video and written form. Unsolicited testimonial from Inner Sunset resident Nelda Williams, 11/26/14:  “I attended a couple of classes at the Urban Farmer store to learn how to install a gray water system in my front yard to water my fruit trees. The instructor was Maggie Guerra from the Garden for the Environment.  The city provided an excellent, comprehensive guidebook and, for only $15, a kit with most of the supplies I needed. After taking the class and reading through the illustrated guide a couple of times, I was able to install the gray water system myself. I had an estimate from a landscaper that it would cost about $1,000 to do both the plumbing and the required yard work, but I did it myself in less than a day and only needed to purchase a couple of tools and additional PVC pipe. Now I get to use my water twice!”

  • Walkscore

    Type in your address to find local businesses, parks, and schools.  This site also rates how amenable your address is to walking, biking, and mass transit.

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City Services

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Civic Groups Citywide

  • Bay Nature

    A comprehensive site covering nature in the Bay Area.  It has news, events, articles, an “ask the naturalist” section, and an interactive “trailfinder” that lets you find parks (424) and trails (353) in the Bay Area.

  • City Youth Now

    City Youth Now supports youth in the San Francisco foster care and juvenile justice systems by providing funds for services and programs that promote stability and personal growth.  From glasses, hearing aids, and emergency supplies to tutoring, internships, and summer camp, CYN finds practical ways to give at-risk kids the chance to succeed. For a rundown of the many services CYN provides, go here. To see some of their inspiring success stories, go here. To help, go here.   Ananda Joy Hart, the managing director of CYN, spoke to SHARP in August 2014.

  • Community Boards

    Volunteer mediators help to resolve conflicts through no- and low-cost mediation.

  • Nature in the City

    A group that “help[s] to connect people, communities, and the city to local nature through urban ecological stewardship and restoration.” The group sponsors nature walks, events for children and families, and eco-literacy training. It provides volunteer opportunities and resources for community groups starting their own citizen science projects. Stewardship projects include “The Green Hairstreak Project,” which strategically plants and maintains habitat to preserve a butterfly species native to the Inner Sunset.

  • San Francisco City Guides

    Many walking tours throughout the city, conducted by knowledgeable, trained volunteers. Although the tours are free, the tour guides encourage donations. Veteran City Guides tour leader Rob Spoor spoke to SHARP in April 2014.

  • San Francisco Days

    Maps, short descriptions, and photos of every SF neighborhood; guides to the cable cars and the parks, especially Golden Gate Park; seven suggested day tours of the city, with photos (map links inoperative); historical postcards; and a blog (last entry in 2010).

  • San Francisco Freecycle Network

    A Yahoo group of persons dedicated to donating and receiving items that would otherwise end up in landfill.

  • San Francisco Housing Action Coalition

    According to its mission statement, this group “advocates for the creation of well-designed, well-located housing, at ALL levels of affordability, to meet the needs of San Franciscans, present and future.” The group evaluates proposed projects for possible endorsement, tracks housing issues in SF, and takes positions on issues that affect housing production.

  • San Francisco SAFE

    SAFE stands for Safety Awareness for Everyone.  This group partners with the San Francisco Police Department to help residents keep their neighborhoods safe.

  • SCRAP

    Located in a warehouse at 801 Toland Street in the Bayview (btwn Highways 101 and 280), “SCRAP is a non-profit creative reuse center, materials depot, and workshop space founded in 1976. . . .  SCRAP breathes new life into old objects and reduces waste by diverting over 200 tons of materials heading to landfill every year.”  You may not have to throw away all that extra stuff you need to get out of your house.  This page describes the kinds of things that SCRAP accepts and how to donate.  You can also pick up materials there—some free, the rest at low cost.

  • SF Moderates

    A group that describes itself as politically moderate and an independent alternative to “downtown” and “progressive” political interests.   Makes endorsements in local races.

  • SPUR

    San Francisco’s preeminent think tank, SPUR (San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association) focuses on community planning, disaster planning, economic development, good government, housing, regional planning, sustainable development, and transportation. SPUR publishes a magazine (“The Urbanist”), hosts many forums, takes positions on political issues, and conducts walking tours.

  • Walk San Francisco

    San Francisco’s pedestrian advocacy group.  It supports Vision Zero, a program to eliminate traffic-caused pedestrian fatalities by 2024.  The site includes a map of San Francisco that plots pedestrian injuries and fatalities from 2007 to 2011.   The map shows 19th Avenue to be a major source of pedestrian injuries and fatalities.

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Civic Groups Local

  • Golden Gate Heights Neighborhood Association

    Working to preserve and enhance the quality of life in the Golden Gate Heights neighborhood, this group addresses such issues as parking, traffic, and the improvement of Golden Gate Heights Park.

  • Hidden Garden Steps

    In December 2013, the second tiled-steps project in our neighborhood opened: a 146-step stairway that is an extension of 16th Avenue between Kirkham and Lawton. The mosaic tiles are designed by the artists who did the tiled steps on Moraga between 15th and 16th avenues (see below). The Hidden Garden Steps project includes a mural on the retaining wall on Kirkham. SHARP contributed $1,000 to the steps. The organizers of the Hidden Garden Steps spoke to SHARP in July 2014, reviewing the history of the project.

     

  • Inner Sunset Merchants Association

    The site includes a “find a business” page, which allows you to search by category for businesses in the Inner Sunset. The Board of the Merchants Association meets on the last Thursday of the month at 5:30 p.m. at the Woodside International School, corner of Irving and 17th streets.

  • Inner Sunset Park Neighbors

    ISPN strives to encourage those who live and work in the Inner Sunset to get involved and invest their time and talent in the neighborhood. ISPN also provides tools and infrastructure to empower community members to take action. ISPN’s projects include the Sunday farmer’s market in the parking lot between 9th and 8th avenues near Irving, “Inner Sunset Sundays” street fairs, and the Public Bench Project, which has placed some twenty benches in public spaces in the Inner Sunset.

  • Sutro Stewards

    Pretty much all you need to know about Mt. Sutro, including the volunteer work there of trail and nursery stewardship.  Includes a trail map of Mt. Sutro.  Craig Dawson, the Executive Director of Sutro Stewards, spoke to SHARP in June 2014.

  • The Tiled Steps

    The Tiled Steps is a glorious, multi-colored creation: 163 mosaic panels applied to the step risers on the stairway on Moraga between 15th and 16th Avenues. The steps are a tourist destination in our neighborhood.  Volunteers maintain the landscaping around the stairway.

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Elected Officials and Voting

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Emergency Preparedness

  • Matt Springer's Home Earthquake Preparedness Resources

    Matt Springer is a professor at UCSF who has made earthquake preparedness his avocation (bordering on obsession).  His resources page is a companion to an engaging talk he gives on the subject.  Both the resources page and the talk show basic precautions you can take as well as additional resources for an even greater degree of preparedness.  Matt also writes a useful blog on earthquake preparedness: Quaketips.

  • NERT (Neighborhood Emergency Response Team)

    NERT is the SF Fire Department’s program of free emergency-response training for individuals, neighborhood groups, and community-based organizations in San Francisco.  The program is based on the premise that a major disaster will overwhelm first responders, leaving many citizens on their own for the first 72 hours or longer after the emergency.  NERT volunteers will supplement the first responders.  In addition to teaching the basics of personal preparedness and prevention, the program includes hands-on disaster skills to help individuals respond to a personal emergency and act as members of a neighborhood response team.  The Inner Sunset’s NERT volunteers have formed an independent neighborhood-based group working in conjunction with NERT: Neighborhood Emergency Support Team (NEST).

  • SF72

    San Francisco’s hub for emergency preparedness.  It includes simple instructions for how to prepare for an earthquake and an award-winning series of 10 short youtube videos (between 4 and 8 minutes each and totaling less than an hour) that explain how to prepare for an earthquake so that you will be able to stay in your home afterward.  A production of the city’s TV station (SFGovTV), the series features interviews by Laurence Kornfield of the city’s Earthquake Safety Implementation Program.  Kornfield has spoken to SHARP (scroll down to June 2012 meeting) and is an excellent, engaging speaker.

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Gardening

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History

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Journalism and Blogs

  • Bernalwood

    This blog about the Bernal Heights neighborhood has links on its home page to many other neighborhood blogs in SF.

  • Jake Sigg newsletter

    Jake is a longtime SHARP member with a particular interest in nature.  He does not have a website.  His e-newsletter began in 2007 as a way to communicate information about the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department’s Natural Areas Program. In the beginning, the newsletter focused on San Francisco parks and open space issues with special emphasis on natural areas. Over time it began to range into other areas and topics. It is eclectic, as Jakes interlaces it with items of interest to him, e.g.: events having to do with parks and related issues, a little politics, history, natural sciences, nutrition, astronomy, his own observations and experiences with the natural world.  To receive the newsletter, contact Jake at jakesigg@earthlink.net

  • Joel Engardio

    Joel is an award-winning journalist and documentary film maker who lives in the Inner Sunset/Sunset Heights neighborhood. Since April, 2013, he has been writing a column for the San Francisco Examiner about local government and related topics. Here is a list of his written work. Joel spoke to SHARP in January 2014.

  • The N Judah Chronicles

    Items of interest to the neighborhoods served by the N-Judah; news and commentary on transportation issues

  • The Richmond District

    A comprehensive blog about the Richmond District that includes not only events and comments but a police blotter, a history section, photos and videos, and a “Richmond Shop” with T-shirts and such for sale.

  • Sunset Beacon

    News of the Sunset neighborhood. Companion of Richmond Review, which covers the Richmond.

  • The Usual Suspects

    A daily compendium of newspaper stories about local politics and government, arranged by subject matter. Links to SF newspapers, political blogs, supervisors’ newsletters, and chat rooms.

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Parks

  • San Francisco Department of Parks and Recreation

    This site includes a calendar of events in all of SF’s parks and a park finder, an easy to use interactive mapping tool that lets you find parks by activity, name, or neighborhood.

  • San Francisco Parks Guide

    Photos, maps, and descriptions of every park in the city.

  • San Francisco Parks Alliance

    This group does a lot. Among other things, it conducts research, testifies at SF Rec. & Park Commission hearings, convenes an annual meeting with the mayor and park stakeholders, helps organizations fund and implement park improvement programs as “park partners,” gives grades to the city’s playgrounds, conducts a variety of philanthropy programs, works with the city to implement a long range plan for open space, has a “blue greenway” program to create a 13-mile greenway and waterway network along the city’s southeast waterfront, and runs a program to create a butterfly habitat on Strawberry Hill (above Stow Lake in GG Park).  The Strawberry Hill project was part of a SHARP program in March 2014.
    Parkscan  allows you to find information on any city park, including maps, illustrations, and mass transit directions. It also allows you to report a problem at the park to the city and to see the status of other such “observations.”  Parks portal  allows you to find parks and park events and to post your own event

  • Golden Gate Park

    Photos, brief descriptions, and maps for everything in the park

  • SF Rec. and Park's Golden Gate Park site

    Basic information, descriptions, and location map for GGP’s main attractions.

  • Golden Gate Park

    The site describes the main attractions more completely than does the SF Parks & Rec. site, and it covers many more places, including all of the park’s gardens, groves, lakes, and meadows (see right side menu). The descriptions for the less well-known areas are cursory, not illustrated, and lack location maps.  The site includes monthly events calendars.

     

  • Golden Gate Heights Park

    This park, at 12th Avenue and Rockridge Drive, is a hidden gem at the top of the hill. More pics and information about it can be found on yelp, google, and four square. The Golden Gate Heights Neighborhood Association is helping to raise money for the park’s renovation.

     

  • Grand View Park (aka "Turtle Hill")

    At Moraga and 16th Aves, this is a hilltop (not really a park) with spectacular panoramic views (fog permitting).  Accessible by foot from the east via steps on Moraga Street west of Funston, and from the west via the tiled steps on 16th Avenue, then to the right and up the wooden, railed staircase. Either way, there are lots of steps, but they’re worth climbing. Here is a photographed walking tour from the Inner Sunset. More information, directions, and pix at San Francisco Days, google, and yelp.

  • Hawk Hill Park

    400 San Marcos Avenue at 12th Avenue (east entrance); 14th Avenue and Rivera (northwest entrance). Hilltop dune in Forest Hill with view to the southwest.  More info and pix on yelp.

     

  • J.P. Murphy Playground and Clubhouse

    1960 Ninth Avenue (btwn Ortega and Pacheco). SF DPW has information about the 2008 renovation.  SF Rec and Park has information about how to rent the clubhouse.  Yelp has reviews of the playground and clubhouse.

     

  • The National AIDS Memorial Grove

    A 7.5 acre dell in Golden Gate Park (including a little redwood grove) “where millions of Americans touched directly or indirectly by AIDS can gather to heal, hope, and remember.” Take a virtual tour with panoramic photos that move as you “walk.”

  • Rocky Outcrop Park

    This spot is at 14th Avenue and Ortega, a natural area between Grand View Park to the north and Golden Gate Heights Park to the south.   More information and pix at sfcurbed and google.

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