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The Ocean Beach Bulletin is now at oceanbeachbulletin.com

As Ferris Bueller would say, what are you doing here? It's over.

The Ocean Beach Bulletin has moved on to its own domain. Come visit us at oceanbeachbulletin.com.

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Construction crews and earth-moving machines work on a section of San Francisco's Great Highway just south of the San Francisco Zoo on Friday, Sept. 10, 2010. That portion of the road was closed due to heavy erosion of Ocean Beach in the winter of 2009-2010. The city's Department of Public Works installed a large rock revetment to protect the highway, but work stopped over the summer -- in part to accommodate some endangered swallows that had nested in the eroded bluff just below the road. National officials recently gave the city permission to continue work after the end of the swallows' nesting season, and crews returned to work this week.

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Facebook Fund Created for Lenny the Dog

The powers of community and social networking have flexed their muscles with impressive timing. Only a day after the story broke that a dog was stabbed at Fort Funston, a fund has been created on Facebook to help pay the vet bills for Lenny, the victim of the stabbing. Lenny suffered damage to the spleen, liver, and some of his arteries when he was stabbed by a suspect on Thursday, August 19. The police have identified the man but there is no word yet that he has been apprehended. The Facebook page offers updates on Lenny's condition as well as updates on the progress of the police investigation into apprehending the suspect.

The latest news is that Lenny is at home recovering, and pictures are posted that show the stab wounds. You can go to the Facebook page to make a donation or find more about Lenny's condition by going here.

-Mark Lukach

#Fort Funston #Crime #Dogs #Stabbing #Lenny's Fund #Facebook

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Fort Funston dog stabbing suspect identified

U.S. Park Police have identified a man suspected in the stabbing of a dog at Fort Funston.

According to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the Park Police know the identity of the 33-year-old man, but have not revealed his name pending further investigation. Two people identified the man from information the Park Police posted on flyers at Fort Funston. The man is not under arrest.

At about 2:30 p.m. Thursday, a woman reported that a man had stabbed her dog several times after a brief encounter on the Sunset Trail, the main trail at Fort Funston. The former military installation on the coast near San Francisco's southern border is popular with hang gliders and dog walkers, and is part of the GGNRA, which also encompasses Ocean Beach, Crissy Field and the Marin headlands.

According to accounts of the incident, including an email circulated among Fort Funston dog walkers and Ocean Beach-area residents, the owner of an American bulldog name Lenny encountered a man walking a pit bull dog. As the two dogs sized each other up, the woman either asked the man to grab his dog or inquired whether his dog was neutered. As the man took hold of his dog, he allegedly stabbed Lenny several times and then left the area.

The suspect's dog is described as a light brindle-colored pit bull with a white chest, possibly named Denali.

Lenny's spleen reportedly was removed in surgery, and veterinarians also repaired his liver and some arteries.

While Fort Funston is a popular place for people who want to walk their dogs without a leash, off-leash dogs have been the subject of controversy in the past. GGNRA officials had tried to restrict off-leash areas, but a judge ruled that the correct rule-making process had not been followed. The GGNRA has been gathering input from the public and working on new off-leash rules for several years.

- Tom Prete

Photo: Flickr user thomwatson.

#GGNRA #NPS #National Park Service #Fort Funston #dogs #San Francisco #Golden Gate National Recreation Area #USPP #stabbing #crime

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Outside Lands neighborhood survival guide 2010

The Outside Lands Music and Art Festival returns to San Francisco's Golden Gate Park this weekend, bringing tens of thousands of music fans -- and their money -- to the city. But while Outside Lands is a fun, freewheeling weekend for those with a ticket, it can try the patience of people who live in nearby San Francisco neighborhoods.

In the festival's earlier years, a three-day schedule and masses of partying out-of-towners created havoc for residents of the Richmond and Sunset districts near Golden Gate Park and Ocean Beach. But Outside Lands 2010 has been scaled back to two days, and information about how neighbors can survive the weekend with a minimum of fuss is available from a variety of sources.

One good place to start is Akit's Complaint Department, which has put together a detailed list of contact numbers for city agencies and officials, plus information about parking, traffic and transit disruptions.

The sound from Outside Lands can carry pretty far, so residents near the Ocean Beach end of Golden Gate Park might want to check out the official schedule of performance times from Outside Lands itself. The bottom line, though, is that no act is scheduled to be on stage after 9:55 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 14 or 9:20 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 15.

Outside Lands also has a information guide for the festival, as well as an Outside Lands Neighborhood 311 guide with information including phone numbers for parking enforcement and a general hotline for neighbors to call if they have problems with the Outside Lands Music and Art Festival itself or with concert-goers. The San Francisco parking-enforcement number is 415-553-1200 and the hotline number is 415-752-2098.

- Tom Prete

Photo: TheNickster/Flickr

#Outside Lands #Golden Gate Park #San Francisco #neighborhoods #parking #traffic #music #arts #Richmond District #Su #sunset district

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Clearing the smoke from an Ocean Beach bonfire story

San Francisco's online magazine The Bold Italic has an article on Ocean Beach bonfires today, but it contains a handful of problems that would-be bonfire-builders should be aware of before they head out to the beach.

Problem No. 1

Bonfires are still completely legal on Ocean Beach. The parks department, in conjunction with the Surfrider Foundation and a Burning Man splinter group, has even installed about a dozen bizarrely shaped metal fire pits and designated the entire area directly beneath the park as OK for fires.

"The parks department" sounds like the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department. Only Rec and Park doesn't have anything to do with it. The regulation of bonfires -- and many other activities on Ocean Beach -- is the responsibility of the National Park Service. Ocean Beach itself is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, an arm of the NPS.

And those fire pits (some metal and some reinforced concrete) in the beach area west of Golden Gate Park are the only places on Ocean Beach where fires are allowed under GGNRA rules. It's common for people to start fires directly on the sand, as the author of the article did, but only the designated pits are on the up-and-up.

Problem No. 2

I still wasn’t sure if it was OK to drink on the beach, so I decided to keep it discreet.

Drinking on Ocean Beach is illegal, and broken glass is one of local residents' most common complaints about bonfires. Like the rule restricting bonfires to designated pits, however, this rule isn't universally enforced.

Problem No. 3

The beach technically closes at 10 p.m., but this rule mostly refers to the parking lot.

Actually, this rule refers only to the parking lot. Unlike the beach itself, the parking areas just inland from the Ocean Beach seawall are under San Francisco city jurisdiction, and the city closes those lots at 10.

Ocean Beach is open 24 hours a day, but under new rules from the GGNRA all fires must be out by 11 p.m.

Problem No. 4

Check craigslist or construction site dumpsters for free firewood.

The Park Service encourages builders of beach fires to use "clean" wood without the paint, glues or nails often found in construction debris. Like broken glass, nails from beach fires are one of the complaints that nearly led to a complete ban on Ocean Beach fires a few years ago.

The Golden Gate National Recreation Area maintains a web page with complete current information on Ocean Beach fire regulations.

- Tom Prete

#Ocean Beach #San Francisco #media #bonfire #GGNRA #NPS #Golden Gate National Recreation Area #Nationa #national park service

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Chu campaign reaches fund-raising milestone

San Francisco Supervisor Carmen Chu, running unopposed for re-election in November 2010, has exceeded her fund-raising goal of $160,000, according to an email from the Chu campaign Thursday.

The supervisor's campaign stated it had taken in $162,666 as of June 30.

Chu, who represents the District 4 Sunset and Parkside neighborhoods, faces no opponents in her re-election bid. Chu was appointed to the Board of Supervisors in 2007 and successfully ran for election in 2008.

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Lands End parking lot to close for remainder of 2010

The parking area in Lands End adjacent to the USS San Francisco Memorial, near Fort Miley, will close for renovation starting the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 3.

According to the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, renovations will start Monday, Aug. 9 on the lot, which is marred by numerous potholes in some areas. The lot off El Camino Del Mar will be closed through December.

The main Lands End parking lot at Merrie Way, overlooking Sutro Baths, will remain open. The Coastal Trail, which hugs the San Francisco coast at Lands End, will remain open as well.

The parking area is known for the memorial monument at its northwest corner, honoring the sailors and marines of the WWII-era USS San Francisco. According to the USS San Francisco Memorial Foundation, the San Francisco, a heavy cruiser built at Mare Island, lost 106 sailors in fighting with a superior Japanese force off Guadalcanal in 1942.

More information about the USS San Francisco is available from the U.S. Navy.

Image courtesy Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.

#San Francisco #GGNRA #NPS #GGNPC #Richmond District #Lands End #Fort Miley #USS San Francisco #parks #development #planning

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More from my walk on Irving Street this week.

#Irving #irving #Irving Street #sunset #sunset district #san francisco #photo #shops #businesses #graffiti #street

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A tour of outer Irving Street

Went for a walk on Irving Street on Wednesday, July 28. My favorite part was stumbling on the workshop of Moon Editions, a small print shop. According to their website, they did printing for Trouble Coffee on Judah Street. Will definitely have to be in touch with those guys. Also had a great conversation with the woman at Cassidy Locksmith next door to the print shop.

Like many other parts of the Ocean Beach area, Irving Street has some great new businesses mixed in with old-school standbys and homes. It was interesting to note particularly that Irving Street's coin-op laundries have some great old signage inside, some of it clearly custom-made. I'll have to go back and get permission to take pics later on. The driftwood motif that shows up on outer Judah Street is also present on Irving Street, though less often. Mollusk Surf Shop is a good example of it.

More photos later.

- Tom Prete/Ocean Beach Bulletin

#Irving #Irving Street #Sunset #Sunset District #photo #shops #businesses #graffiti #San Francisco

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New rules for Ocean Beach fires

Those all-night bonfires on San Francisco's Ocean Beach will disappear like so much smoke this summer.

Starting Aug. 1, all bonfires on Ocean Beach will have to be out by 11 p.m. under new rules established recently by the Golden Gate National Recreation area, the arm of the National Park Service that oversees Ocean Beach and other nearby parks and beaches.

The GGNRA already has installed new signs noting the 11 p.m. fire curfew at stairwells on the Ocean Beach promenade, and a representative said GGNRA staff will be educating visitors about the rule.

The curfew is the only aspect of the rules governing Ocean Beach Bonfires that has changed, according to the GGNRA. Fires are still allowed only in authorized fire pits in the northern part of Ocean Beach, and the beach is still open 24 hours a day.

#Ocean Beach #fires #fire pits #GGNRA #NPS #National Park Service #bonfires

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This is the Ocean Beach Bulletin's Tumblr blog. It's only temporary, so don't get too attached. We're working on a full website for the Ocean Beach Bulletin, but in the meantime, look for more news about San Francisco's Ocean Beach and surrounding neighborhoods on Twitter at http://twitter.com/obbulletin.