Supervisor Carmen Chu: Support Taraval Merchants

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season!

As we head into the new year, I am excited to announce an upcoming community event: "Tastes of Taraval." During the weekends of Jan. 15 - 16 and 22 - 23, we are encouraging everyone to dine at eight restaurants located on Taraval Street as a way of supporting our local businesses.

Simply visit one of the participating restaurants of your choice during the two weekends, and bring a coupon to receive a discount on your bill. Coupons are available starting the first week of January, and you can find them in this Sunset Beacon newspaper, at participating restaurants, Sunset Neighborhood Beacon Center (3925 Noriega St.), and our office in Room 260 at City Hall. Coupons will also be used for a raffle prize drawing.

Participating merchants include:

• Island Cafe/Sunset Taqueria (901 Taraval St., at 19th Avenue);

• Tennessee Grill (1128 Taraval St., at 22nd Avenue);

• Ninki Sushi Bar & Restaurant (1439 Taraval St., at 25th Avenue);

• Eagle Pizzeria (1712 Taraval St., at 27th Avenue);

• Kingdom of Dumpling (1713 Taraval St., at 27th Avenue);

• Parkside Tavern (1940 Taraval St., at 30th Avenue);

• Ristorante Marcello (2100 Taraval St., at 31st Avenue);

• The Riptide (3639 Taraval St., at 47th Avenue).

For this event, our office is partnering with Ashley Summers, who we recently brought on board to work with the City and District 4 residents as the Taraval Commercial Corridor Manager. If you have any ideas or feedback on how to improve the Taraval corridor, you can contact Ashley directly at: ashleyontaraval@gmail.com.

I want to thank all of the restaurants participating in this event, as they are each making a monetary contribution to fund a small improvement project on Taraval Street. This is a great opportunity for you to taste the great variety of restaurants in our district and expand your list of local favorites.

L-Taraval Track Replacement
In order to maintain and improve Muni rail service, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which operates Muni, will soon start replacing rails on Taraval Street at the intersections of 19th Avenue and Sunset Boulevard.

Construction work will take place during the weekends of: Jan. 8, 15 and 22. Construction hours are continuous from 8 p.m. on Friday until 4 a.m. the following Monday.

During the weekends of construction, the regular L Taraval service will end at the West Portal Station. From there, Muni bus shuttles will substitute for rail service to deliver passengers to the end of the line at the San Francisco Zoo. Passengers can get on and off the shuttle bus at all regular Taraval L line stops except the stops around the construction site.

In addition to replacing and repairing aging Muni streetcar tracks and track components, the project will also include long-overdue enhancements to the surrounding area, such as street repaving and restriping, sidewalk improvements and upgraded water lines. The repairs are intended to abate noise and vibrations from the streetcars.

For more information on substitute Muni bus shuttle service and traffic detours, visit the Web site at www.sfmta.com/rail or call 311. You can also contact Ha Nguyen, the MTA's project manager, at (415) 701-4296 or e-mail him at ha.nguyen@sfmta.com.

General Traffic Impacts
A number of district or citywide events that take place, such as Sunday Streets, can potentially impact your commute. We would like to provide you with the opportunity to receive regular updates regarding temporary street closures from the SFMTA. Please contact Cindy Shamban from the Division of Sustainable Streets at the SFMTA at cindy.shamban@sfmta.com to be included on the e-mail list. You can also always contact our office for any inquiries.

In District 4, the next large community event will be Sunday Streets - to take place on April 11 along the Great Highway. For more information regarding upcoming district events or any other district issues, please contact our office at (415) 554-7560 or e-mail us at chustaff@sfgov.org.

Our Web site, located at www.sfgov.org/chu, also contains more updated information regarding upcoming events. You can also request to have our office newsletter sent to you by e-mail.

San Francisco Supervisor Carmen Chu represents District 4.