Save the Portrowl
Living in Potrero Hill as long as we have, we started naming stuff we grew in our garden after the hood. So tomatoes became potretoes, lemons became potremons. Hence the Portrowl. This is of course the combination of an Owl with Potrero, and yes we have them here. They swoop over the big green soccer field at Madera and Arkansas. The problem is the city is planning to put astroturf over the top of the field, killing all the natural life and endangering the Owl and Hawks that eat the small rodents in the field. Living between the two freeways (101 and 280 surround Potrero Hill) you’d think we have enough artificial turf just in terms of pavement!
The real issue is the city needs a way to monetize all the dog walkers in the park. The baseball teams pay fees, therefore they typically get priority in city planning. But in reality the park is used by dog owners way more than sports teams. Surely we can find a way for dog owners to help generate revenue for the city? I saw this one tv show that a woman had invented a vending machine for dog toys that the city could put in the park. Just think, a mini pet store in the dog park itself. Talk about an impulse buy. I don’t know a single dog owner who would not be willing to buy a few chew toys a month to help keep the park clean and dog friendly. Once the city sees the money they can make off us pet owners…..well, they’ll see the light.
First a Whole Foods….
Potrero is going to get super crazy in the coming years. I just read in the Potrero View that the UCSF Mission Bay campus and surrounding businesses are expected to generate 100,000 jobs in the coming years.
The University of California, San Francisco, as well as an estimated 20 biotechnology companies, are expected to generate more than 100,000 jobs in Mission Bay.
That is kind of crazy when you think about the fact that everybody is talking about a recession because nationally we lost 80K jobs in the last month. It puts it into perspective. Potrero is the epicenter, and any time is a good time to buy in this neighborhood. Long time residents have mixed feelings about the change. On the one hand, it validates our love of this area. We also get new restaurants and Whole Foods, and the neighborhood has changed so much in just the last 15 years. It use to be that you needed a car to really do anything but now you can pretty much walk to anything you need, so long as you don’t mind huffing it up De Haro with groceries 