Apparently there was another spree of anti-gentrification vandalism along Valencia Wednesday morning (which, apparently, was completely cleaned up by lunch and obviously Not A Problem).  This time, the attackers posted their manifesto of sorts on IndyBay, claiming solidarity with some people up north:

San Francisco Yuppies Attacked In Solidarity With Pacific Northwest Grand Jury Resisters

In the early morning of August 22 in San Francisco's Mission District, we joyfully attacked all presence of gentrification and yuppie windows we could find. These malicious acts were done in solidarity with those in the Pacific Northwest resiting Grand Jury's. New and old condos, cafes, BMW's, Porsches, Mercedes, antique stores, fine restaurants, modern furniture stores, among many others, had their windows permanently etched with (A), DIE, Die Yuppie Scum, Fuck Off Yuppies, Yuppies Out!, and a variety of other obscenities.

To our companions currently facing or who do face Grand Jury's in the future: SAY NOTHING! You have waves of invisibles behind you ready to coalesce from the woodwork and attack at the ready.

The people and businesses we attacked, with smiles and laughs, have for decades and still continue to actively displace and destroy the generations of families in The Mission while continuing the project of capital by commodifying and compartmentalizing all modes of existence and ways of being. This project of capital is enforced and backed-up in every regard with the constant harassment, beatings and murders of the San Francisco Police Department. In this regard we send our warmest regards to those who recently rendered unusable SFPD and OPD vehicles - We see your actions, are inspired and continue the attack. It's so easy!

It's curious that these attacks continue happening along Valencia, probably by folks in Oakland (or LA).  After the May Day Riots, in which the police were able to do nothing to stop/arrest them either during or after the attacks, you have to wonder if these black bloc protesters see Valencia Street as an “easy” place to make a message, without any threat of consequence.

(Also, not completely sure what Mission gentrification has to do with some dissenters in Portland but heyyyy good for you.)

[Photo via the Examiner]

I wonder what new restaurant he's visiting?

Following last week's story about Supervisor Scott Wiener's unfortunate plan to help erect “affordable by design” shoebox apartments in SoMa, the Chronicle spoke to the Berkeley-based developer spearheading the project.  In the interview, he reiterated the claim that he expects young techies to flock to the 150 square foot apartments that'll cost a bargain price of $1,300 - $1,500 monthly:

Patrick Kennedy of Berkeley developer Panoramic Interests hopes to build the micro-units in SoMa on the site of a former guitar store at Ninth and Mission streets - “right in the thick of the new Twittersphere there.” He anticipates housing young tech workers, fresh out of college, newly relocated to the city, unencumbered by possessions.

… His planned 160-unit building, now in the entitlement process, will have lots of common areas: a huge lobby, a lounge on every floor and a rooftop deck. It will also have some larger apartments. It's designed for car-free living; the only parking will be for bikes, with a City CarShare spot outside.

The ultra-efficient efficiencies will go for $1,300 to $1,500 a month, he said. Per city regulations, 15 percent of the units will be allocated as below market rate for low-income residents; he thinks those would rent for around $900 a month.

The current average rent for a San Francisco studio apartment is $2,075 a month, according to real estate service RealFacts. Those studios average 493 square feet, making the per-square foot price $4.21. Kennedy's proposed units, at 220 square feet, would rent for $5.91 to $6.82 per foot - a big premium.

This, of course, supports the theory that developers are pushing smaller apartments as a way to maximize profits, rather than provide a legitimate housing option for scrappy young folks.  And the folks at BeyondChron suspect this isn't even a “housing” play, at least in the traditional sense:

In fact, what concerns me the most about these “shoebox” apartments is that they won’t become the hip urban-style housing for young professionals that Patrick Kennedy is billing them as. Instead, they will be short-term corporate housing for professionals who just moved here – or pied a terre apartments for people who occasionally come in on business trips. Worst-case scenario, they will just be illegal hotel rooms rented on the black market. How does that bring down escalating rents?

… This past Saturday, I was in my building’s elevator at Symphony Towers – when a man asked me for directions to Haight-Ashbury. Knowing that he was a tourist, I asked if he was staying with one of my neighbors. “No,” he replied. “I rented an apartment here for five days.” In other words, my building is becoming a hotel. I have no problem with condos being rented out, but only to actual residents – not tourists. He was a nice guy, but I said I was very nonplussed at the situation.

If this can happen in a building with 400 square-foot studios, imagine how much more abuse we will see in unregulated private buildings with “shoebox” apartments.

Well those AirBnB customers need somewhere to stay too.  Where else are they supposed to go? Hotels? I don't know man, those places are small and expensive.

Scoring a point for the perception of football players, it seems as though a rather one-sided fight broke out on Tallboy Terrace yesterday around 6pm when some people asked a group of terrible players to move along, according to a thread on Reddit:

So, I was in Dolores Park today, and I was sitting on the north side, near the center, beneath the trees. I was with six other people, three girls, three guys.

Some guys had been throwing a football around all day, but they were throwing it right by us and they kept hitting us with their football. We'd asked them to move but they just waved us off. Eventually, when one of us got hit with the football again, we told them we'd only give it back if they promised to move down to the field so they wouldn't be hitting us (and everybody near us) every time they missed a catch. They didn't respond to this, they just started wailing on me (I was holding the football when they started). Two of the guys I was with got up and started fighting back, but we were no match for these guys. I was hunched over and they were kicking and punching me on the ground.

About 5 minutes after they left, the cops showed up, took my statement, all that, but they just left.

The victim got a black eye and a bloody nose and claims the attackers were a couple of buff dudes in flat-brimmed hats.