Tag Archives: Excelsior

Short Film Festival to Debut in Excelsior

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Image of Film Fest poster

Excelsior Short Film Festival's Kickstarter page, above, has a short preview video. Image courtesy of Diane Vallecillo.

Ingleside nor Excelsior may have movie theaters anymore, but filmmaker Diane Vallecillo is doing her part for the art form by creating the Excelsior Short Film Festival. Mama Art Cafe will host the event June 23 to June 26.

“Its so cool how many people are submitting their films to our little festival,” Vallecillo said in a comment on her Kickstarter page.

Vallecillo also created a Facebook event page to sent invites to friends. One friend responded in a comment that he was excited to attend.

“I’m interested primarily in…films about the neighborhood, its culture and residents,” he said.

The 4648 Mission St. Wells Fargo branch will hold a fundraiser for the festival June 9 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The money will help pay for the $500.00 prize awarded for the best film of the festival.

Additional prizes will be $150.00 for the best film in these categories: They are documentary, narrative, animation, experimental, films by children, films by teenagers and Excelsior rebirth.

McLaren Park Plaza Spruce-Up Nearly Complete

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McLaren Park Garden

McLaren Park gardeners at work. Images courtesy of Help McLaren Park.

McLaren Park’s gardening crew planted three new flower beds at the Gambier Street entrance April 11 as part of an ongoing rebuild of a former play area that had been torn down years ago. With the sand removed and new granite surface in place, the three oval shaped beds were ready for the annuals to go in the ground.

Help McLaren Park’s Charles Farrugia said in an e-mail the plaza won’t be complete without the fountain that will be used as a raised planter.

“The fountain will eventually contain colorful annuals,’ he said. “The annuals planted (April 11) were left over from another park’s work party and our park supervisor donated them.”

Farrugia said the annuals in the ground would be joined by perennial Phylum’s that don’t need as much water.

Mission Street Overpass Mural Design Now on Display

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A new  mural design is now complete and residents have the opportunity to help install it Saturday, April 9. The design is on display at Mama Art Cafe, Excelsior Library and Mission YMCA.

Excelsior Action Group’s $30,000 Community Challenge Grant helped fund this beautification project, and was designed with over 100 residents’ input.

Mural

The Mission Street overpass is shown here in two parts. One for each side of the street.

Tag-Team Goes Against Graffiti

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McLaren Park image used under Creative Commons license. Photo by Orin Zebest.

An Excelsior resident won approval from Rec and Park recently for his efforts to get rid of graffiti in McLaren Park. Aaron Perry-Zucker decided to go vigilante style on some benches and signs in the park by painting over some tags with bright colored paint. He said it seems to deter the frequency of repeat taggers in this SF Examiner story.

The Examiner reports Perry-Zucker started by painting a sign red. Then he went back and painted it blue. I’m sure he knows these are gang colors, but in the Ex story, he says he noticed more time had gone by before the sign was tagged again. Perhaps because the taggers were taking extra caution before starting a turf war? Maybe not, and there are other gangs besides Bloods and Crips in San Francisco, but the Examiner followed up on the original report by identifying Perry-Zucker’s patner in, um, anti-crime, Max Slavkin.

The pair can continue their tag-team fighting, as long as they use city sanctioned colors; not bright red or blue.

Get Involved: Tree Planting in the Excelsior

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Even though the trees lining Persia Avenue seem to block the street lights, that should not stop anyone from planting trees near their home or business. That’s why Friends of the Urban Forest wants you to help out on Excelsior Street Tree Planting Day 2010.

For $75, FUF will supply and deliver the tree on Oct. 16. The deadline for applying is Sept. 8 and anyone interested should contact
their neighborhood organizers. They are Becky at (415) 722-4518 or Donna at (415) 584-9849.

“Normally, the cost of planting a tree on your own would be over $300,” according to FUF. “Trees help to reduce air and water pollution, reduce energy costs, beautify the neighborhood, increase your property value, block wind, absorb noise and build community spirit!”

Help in Planning the Arts Showcase for the Excelsior Festival

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Join Excelsior Action Group in showcasing the projects they’ve completed to beautify the Excelsior  at this year’s Excelsior Arts and Music Festival, which will be on Sunday October 3, 2010. There will be discussion about hosting an art project such as a moveable mural, and other ideas to showcase local talent and the Excelsior Art Plan.

“We’d like to showcase and celebrate these achievements through a variety of mediums at this year’s biggest party in the neighborhood,” EAG’s Executive Director Cristy Johnston said in an e-mail.
Wednesday, August 18
6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
4702 Mission Street
(at Ruth, near Persia)

(415) 585-0110

www.eagsf.org

Excelsior Parking Summit is June 29

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Do you ever have trouble finding parking? Do have other concerns related to parking in the neighborhood? Do you have solutions that might help?

The Excelsior Parking Summit will convene June 29, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at 4750 Mission St. to explore whether a consensus can be achieved on parking issues and problems and what potential solutions to pursue.

The meeting is hosted by the Excelsior District Improvement Association (www.ExcelsiorSF.org) and sponsored by Supervisor John Avalos, (415) 554-6975.

There will be a follow up workshop to focus on priority actions and solutions on July 10, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. at the same location.

Excelsior Senior Center Grand Opening Saturday, May 21st

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The Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center warmly invites you to the Grand Opening of our Excelsior Senior Center on Friday, May 21st, 11:00 a.m. Located at 4468 Mission St. in the Excelsior District, we are proud to be able to expand our senior program and service offerings to the neighborhood. Special Guests Supervisor Avalos and Department of Aging and Adult Services Director Anne Hinton will be in attendance. Light refreshments will be served.

For more information, contact:
Faith Kirkpatrick
Project Manager
Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center
515 Cortland Ave, San Francisco, CA 94110
415.206.2140 x 151

Excelsior Working Together on Beautifying the Neighborhood

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Volunteers work to beautify the neighborhood by painting over graffiti.

Excelsior Action Group took another step toward their vision of giving a face lift to the main entrances of the neighborhood along Mission Street in April. The two sides of Mission Street that serve as gateways to the area are seen as high profile areas to focus on. To accompany EAG’s garden project at Geneva and Mission, Ingleside artist Max Allbee and nearly 20 volunteers, mostly Lick-Wilmerding students, painted and prepared the Mission Street overpass for a new mural April 24. The windswept overpass connects the Excelsior neighborhood to the Saint Mary’s/Glen Park neighborhood to the north and acts as a natural gateway.

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