Tag: Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood

Love, creativity and determination direct renewed and expanded energy into communities hit hardest by ongoing calamity avalanches like Bay View Hunters Point. The leadership baton at Mission Neighborhood Centers is passing from retiring Santiago “Sam” Ruiz to new non-profit veteran Richard M. Ybarra.

Decades ago, when cattle were driven north on Third Street to the area west of what is now Bayview Plaza, that neighborhood was called Butchertown. Like bygone Butchertown, the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood leads the city in ethnic and economic diversity. With Bayview’s small businesses, industries and its dedication to feeding the city, the spirit of Butchertown lives on. Today, a community group of local businesses calls itself the Merchants of Butchertown (MOB).

It’s 2016, 40 years since Muhammad al-Kareem founded the New Bayview, now renamed the San Francisco Bay View, in 1976. Inspired by Malcolm X, he wanted to bring a newspaper like Muhammad Speaks to Bayview Hunters Point. He’ll tell the story of those early years, and I’ll pick it up now at the point when my wife Mary and I took over in 1992. Watching our first paper roll through the huge two-story tall lumbering old press at Tom Berkley’s Post Newspaper Building on Feb. 3, 1992, was a feel-like-flying thrill we’ll never forget.

San Francisco is touted by conservative detractors and liberal boosters alike as the nation’s most progressive city. This is still true in many ways, even amidst towering symbols of gentrification. But, in particular, when it comes to holding police accountable for use of excessive force against communities of color, the City by the Bay is no different from the New Yorks, Chicagos, Baltimores or Fergusons of this country, where cops literally get away with murder. Think this is an exaggeration? Read on.

We want to invite every friend of the SF Bay View newspaper to our 40th anniversary party. It’s a free event this Sunday, Feb. 21, 1-5 p.m., at the Main Library, 100 Larkin St., San Francisco. Come one, come all and let’s celebrate 40 years of the most radical Black newspaper in the country. Enjoy a panel of Bay View writers, a fashion show and performances by the legendary Avotcja, Stoney Creation and Sista Iminah reminding us of the beauty and talent in our community.

Some of the most important Black cultural work coming out of San Francisco is coming from the organizing of Naomi Jelks at the San Francisco Main library. Naomi is one of the few within the City who are bringing us a lot of the local, national and international voices that we need to hear. Check her out as she describes what the library has in store for February and celebrate the SF Bay View’s 40th anniversary at the SF Main Library, 100 Larkin St., on Feb. 21, 1-5 p.m.

The Public Health Organization of Graduate Students at San Francisco State University condemns the actions of the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) in the unjust shooting of Mario Woods, a young African American man who was a resident of Bayview Hunters Point, on Dec. 2, 2015. The current situation in which SFPD officers kill community members with impunity is intolerable.

Yolanda’s Construction Administration & Traffic Control (YCAT-C) was awarded a contract to provide construction flagging services at the new California Pacific Medical Center (CMPC) hospital construction site at Van Ness and Geary. YCAT-C will employ 30 local citizens, primarily from San Francisco’s District 10, over the next four to five years.

The Center for Dance and Aerial Arts is the brainchild of Zaccho founder and artistic director Joanna Haigood. The studio is hosting a week long grand opening celebration from Sept. 7 to 14, with teaching artists from the center offering sample classes to the public. A free family event is planned for Saturday, Sept. 7, where the studio will open its doors and offer free hourly sample classes to the public.

In December 2009, leading climatologist Dr. James Hansen cited new satellite data doubling or tripling previous sea level rise predictions. Climate change, he said, “is really a moral issue analogous to that faced by Lincoln with slavery,” an apt comparison considering the dangers for peoples of color in the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood of San Francisco.