A temporary Tumblelog for San Francisco's Ocean Beach Bulletin, a news organization for the far-western neighborhoods of San Francisco near Ocean Beach.
Look for a full website soon at http://oceanbeachbulletin.com.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Funston.
should be aware of before they head out to the beach.
