It could be gone as early as July.

Despite current owner Vivian Walsh’s efforts to spruce up the place, the city has not renewed the permit for Martin Macks’ parklet. Unless he appeals in the next 15 days, it will have to be taken down.

We reported back in February that there was some confusion over whether the responsibility to remove the parklet would fall on the city, or the new owners – who, if you remember, were not the same owners to install the parklet in the first place.

Well, according to the Examiner, Martin Macks can take it down themselves, or the city can demolish it and send them the bill.

The Examiner also reports that Walsh was unable to do any work on the parklet during the ongoing legal struggles between he and the former owners. While Walsh ultimately wants to keep the parklet and turn it into a more inviting public space, he’s stuck with the current structure until the litigation is resolved.

No word yet on whether Walsh plans to appeal. We’ll keep you posted.

There are some changes in the works for San Francisco’s Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum.

The City will be reviewing this summer the arrangement it has with the San Francisco Botanical Garden Society, the private non-profit established in 1955 to work collaboratively with the city’s Botanical Garden.

The SFBGS has, by the city’s reckoning, been responsible over the years for providing fundraising and management support for the garden, as well as for propagating plants for the garden sale and the garden itself.

The SFBGS also operates, currently, as the private contractor responsible for collecting admission fees from nonresidents, a revision to the garden’s open-door policy instituted almost two years ago on a trial basis by the Board of Supervisors. (In the past two years they’ve collected about $1.3 million, $750,000 of which went back to the SFBGS as reimbursement for collecting the fees.) The nonresident entry fee ($7) is set to expire this September.

Flickr/Topher.

Currently, though, it looks like the City is ready not just to extend the fee but to offer the SFBGS a 10 year contract (with 2 potential 10 year extensions) to lease additional space and build a new 10,000 square foot plant nursery. You can review the terms of the contract over here.

The plan seems to be an attempt on the city’s part to establish the Botanical Garden as a more sustainable enterprise in the face of the kinds of financial pressures faced by large, public parks everywhere.

So far there’s been a small base of very vocal opposition to the plan. This is the only place the conditions of the new contract are being publicized, and the only place publicizing the fact (which is true) that the SFBGS is shelling out as much as $15,000 a fiscal quarter for a lobbyist.

At the same time, a few crucial things to make clear:
1) the SFBGS already leases a bunch of space from the Botanical Garden; the contract is for an expansion of their space.
2) Most of the opposition is apparently positioned against the single major difference scheduled to take place, which is the expansion of a new plant nursery into the surrounding area, which by one reckoning involves felling numerous trees and by the city’s language involves expanding into surrounding concrete (look for yourself).
3) The plan would not involve leasing the entire 55-acre park to the SFBGS, but only expanding their extant lease of sales, ticketing, nursery and educational space and adding a new nursery building.
4) The plan is apparently for the SFBGS to assume a large part of the garden’s administrative and management responsibilities, which may or may not reduce the financial burden of paying City administrators to operate the park on tax dollars.

Oh, we might also mention, it looks like the SFBGS is hiring a development director. We didn’t ask how much they pay.

Anyway, whaddya think? Should the garden go back into city-only management? Should the nonresident fee get the kabosh? We’re undecided. If you have feelings you need to contact your Supervisor ASAP.

That’s right, this weekend the neighborhood will be seeing an impact from that other foot race San Francisco does: the marathon.

The return course runs smack down Haight, so first of all, plan on not parking your car overnight or driving through in the morning, and if you want to cross it you’ll have to do it Frogger-style.

Good news is, the full marathon starts at 5:30 AM, which means the major crush should be well through by the time you’re up from your Big Saturday Night.

Details about the race course this year are right here, and for you hardcore girls out there, there’s still time to register.

So go hang out, root for any friends you have crazy enough to run it. The course begins and ends at the Embarcadero.

If you’ve ever said “I love piroshki SO MUCH that I would LITERALLY PAY MONEY to have a piroshki place in the Haight,” have we got an opportunity for you.

AйDa Tvelova started her piroshki business, AйDa Piroshki, in Bernal Heights 2011. Via Kiva Zip loans (a loan crowdsourcing site), she was able to purchase a vehicle and expand into catering. Now, she’s running another Kiva Zip loan to move to Haight Ashbury where there’s more foot traffic than Bernal.

AйDa is backed by La Cocina, San Francisco’s incubator kitchen, as well as Centro Community’s Entrepreneur Readiness Program, and you can read more about her story at Centro’s newsletter. She’s looking to raise $25,000 (Kiva’s largest zip loan to date) by September.

If you’re interested in helping her out, you can kick in some cash here. If you donate before 6/21, your amount will be tripled, so now’s a good time to do it.

Good luck, AйDa! If you need us, we’ll be over here, dreaming of a little piroshki shop to call our own.

The San Francisco Architectural Heritage has nominated Aub Zam Zam as one of 25 new “Legacy Bars and Restaurants.”

Back in April, the organization named the first 25 bars and restaurants across the city to make the list. It contained places like the Balboa Cafe, the Tonga Room, Tosca Cafe, and the Cliff House.

Now, on the second list, Zam Zam joins the ranks of such establishments as the Gold Dust Lounge (no word about whether they’re into the old location or the new one), The Philosopher’s Club, The Homestead, and Elixir. There’s a handy map with the full list here.

Considering Woody Allen shot part of his new film there back in August, Zam Zam seems to be having a pretty awesome year. We propose a toast! Leave yours in the comments.

In the past couple of weeks it turns out that not one but two local schools will be looking to expand their facilities in the ‘hood before long.

First, the French American School will be moving an off-campus facility into the San Francisco Unified School District facility at 1155 Page Street. (You’ve probably walked by it, it’s that sad-looking abandoned thing lurking quietly between Baker and Broderick.

The arrangement for the French American School is to re-use the building, which has been out of commission for six years, as its early childhood development center, a satellite location to its central 150 Oak building. The land will be leased from the SFUSD and used to build a nine-classroom, one-story building to house the French American School’s pre-K and kindergarten classrooms. Questions can be fielded to 1155pageproject@frenchamericansf.org.

Second, the Urban School is working to expand into a plot of land it just leased from Saint Agnes Parrish. The lease, contracted for 95 years, give the Urban School use of two parking lots on Oak Street. The artist’s rendering, shown above, is NOT a plan for the space (the plans have yet to clear the city planning commission) but simply a potential imagining of the site.

Kristen Bailey, speaking for the Urban School, said the plan is to move the small building in the center of the Oak Street parking lots (below the church, on Oak and Masonic) to keep it adjacent to the church’s other buildings, and to then build a 2-level underground parking structure with an above-ground gymnasium with 8 or 9 classrooms attached. This would allow the varsity program to hold games on campus instead of at Kezar Stadium, as they do currently, and would turn the gymnasium currently used on Page Street into a performing arts space.

The goal, overall, is for Urban to better fit the number of students already attending, as well as to build into the future and allow for gradual expansion over time.

Asked whether the community was raising any concerns about the new facility, Ms. Bailey said there had been remarkably little opposition thus far, largely, she thinks, because the plans are able to provide school space without eliminating city residential or parking space–in fact, it will add parking space to the lot currently in use.

The plan is to have city permitting in place within a year.

If you have questions about the expansion or want to know more, Urban is hosting a community meeting–open to anyone–on June 18, at 6PM in St. Agnes Church at 1025 Masonic.

Today, we present a photo roundup of yesterday’s Haight Street Fair for those of you disinclined to brave it in the flesh.

Whether you had the cops come tell you the neighbors were drinking on your roof and they had to get off, or you got to pet the shoulder-high black-and-white Great Dane and have him drool on your shoe, of even if you simply got to see Snake Lady making her rounds, we think it was a pretty good day. No medevac, no smashed bottles, no fires.

We’re running a contest. Pick your favorite (or submit a late add before noon today, so we can post it), take your vote (via comments) and we’ll holler at the winner with a free official HASF 2013 poster.

A:

Instagram/katact

B:

Instagram/radicaldame

C:

twitter/@Lizzettmich

D:

Instagram/pipersshoeparlor

We’ll publish the submissions, and you guys can vote for your favorite tomorrow.

tips [at] uppercaing [dot] com

There will be a nice little prize for the winner. Hit us with your best shot!

It seems like we’ve heard a lot about this kind of thing lately from one place or another, but this week the person to watch on twitter is our own Supervisor London Breed.

We present the following recent twitter exchanges more or less without comment simply to keep you politically up on District 5 happenings.

We will say, however, that it seems awfully hard to conduct civic engagement in a medium that encourages instant response and has a merciless, perfect memory.

First,

Then,

In answer to one question, yes, Supervisor Breed’s public twitter account does predate her tenure as District 5 Supervisor. It was also, however, the account used during Breed’s campaign for supervisor.

At the time of this posting we’re waiting for an official response from Supervisor Breed’s office.

If you have questions for Supervisor Breed about this or anything else, she’ll be holding office hours on Saturday, June 22 at the Ice Cream Bar from 12 noon to 1:30 PM.

Are you ready for the Haight Ashbury Street Fair?

For those of you who do things like make weekend plans, we feel that now’s the time to tell you that this coming Sunday, June 9 is the 36th annual Haight Ashbury Street Fair. If you haven’t been, it’s worth at least a walk-through. It often looks something like this clip captured by a partygoer last year:

It’s also a non-profit organization dedicated to celebrating arts, culture and commerce in the Haight. Like most of San Francisco’s street fairs it involves lots of merchant tents and those chicken teriyaki guys. Quoth the HASF mission statement: “The Haight-Ashbury Street Fair is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the cultural and historical significance of this district by sponsoring the annual community celebration and in supporting community programs that incorporate the neighborhood’s spirit of diversity, cooperation and humanism.”

This year’s winning poster is by Casey Castille, as below:

Festivities are officially from 11 AM to 5:30. If you have a car, we recommend parking early and parking well. Fortify yourself with sunscreen and those big goofy headphones you were saving for lounging about in, and maybe an extra beer or three.

See you out there, kids.