Richmond Roundup

Mental health money restored
The SF Board of Supervisors has restored most of the money that was proposed to be cut from the the Richmond Area Multi-Services, Inc. (RAMS) budget to provide mental health services for Richmond District residents, including many in the Chinese, Pacific Islander and Russian communities.

According to Kavoos Bassiri, president and CEO at RAMS, the proposed $383,000 budget cut proposed in Mayor Gavin Newsom's budget would have resulted in the elimination of services for 350 to 400 clients.

RAMS, founded in 1974, is located at 3626 Balboa St.

Fines double for traffic violations on 19th Ave.
In an effort to help protect pedestrians along San Francisco's dangerous 19th Avenue and Park Presidio Boulevard, a bill was signed into law to double all motor vehicle fines on between Junipero Serra Boulevard and Lake Street for a period of five years.

Starting Jan. 1, 2009, base fines for unlawful passing and overtaking, excessive speed, reckless driving, drunken driving and other similar moving violations will be doubled - raising tickets ranges from approximately $140 to $2,700, depending on the violation.

There have been 786 accidents, resulting in 1,205 injuries and 12 deaths, between 2000 and 2005. There were five pedestrian-related deaths in 2007.

Motorist sting nets 652 violators in 3-months
According to Richmond Station Capt. Tony Fotinos, the on-going Traffic Safety Program in the Richmond has been operating since April.

To date, there have been eight separate operations conducted, with an emphasis on pedestrian right-of-way violations in the Geary corridor.

As of presstime, there were 652 citations issued for motorists not yielding and an additional 203 for speeding, 22 for driving on a suspended or revoked license, 41 stop sign violations, three red light violations and five unlicensed drivers. This is in addition to the 200 to 300 citations written weekly by patrol officers.

'Friends' wants to plant more trees in Richmond
The Richmond District has had hundreds of street trees planted along Anza, Balboa and Cabrillo streets, from Arguello Boulevard to Ocean Beach, by the SF Department of Public Works. The department will take care of the trees for the next three years until they can largely survive on their own.

In an effort to green other streets in the district, the Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF) is currently organizing many areas of the Richmond for neighborhood tree-plantings. The subsidized cost for everything is $165. According to Friends, for a city resident to plant a tree on their own would cost at least twice that amount, costing about $150 just cut the concrete sidewalk for a tree basin.

For more information, contact Suzanne at the Friends of the Urban Forest at (415) 561-6890, ext. 101, or e-mail suzanne@fuf.net.

Students graduate, earn honors
This summer, a number of students hailing from the Richmond District celebrated graduations. Local students earning their "sheepskin" were: Sydney Eve Meckler earned a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology at Trinity College; Brandon Loughridge earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science at Boston College; Adam Chang Jiang earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Asian studies and minor in biology at Bowdoin College; Nora E. Handsher earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in art and art history at Amherst College; and Peter Caldwell Oberndorf earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political economy at Williams College.

In addition, other Richmond District residents who made the spring semester 2008 dean's list at their respective universities are: Kyle Gunn-Graffy at Northeastern University; Mackenzie H. Moll at Connecticut College; Sodam Kim at DePaul University; and Svetlana Guz at Clark University.

Local playwright's operetta to open
Richmond District playwright Gary Aylesworth has collaborated with Peter Newton to create a new play, "The Ballad of Edgar Cayce."

The "bluegrass operetta" will be performed by Construction Crew Theater at A Traveling Jewish Theater, located at 470 Florida St., from Aug. 8 through Aug. 30. Shows will be performed on Thursdays through Sundays.

For more information, go to the Web site at www.constructioncrewtheater.com.

District-wide cleanup
Volunteers working with the city's Community Clean Team scoured the Richmond District July 12, working to clean Ocean Beach, Park Presidio and Geary boulevards, and the Argonne Community Garden. A focus at the beach was removing graffiti from the seawall.

The clean team is comprised of volunteers from the SF Department of Public Works, National Parks Service, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, SF Recreation and Park Department, SF Parks Trust, Green Connect and the SF Unified School District. Sunset Scavenger provide several large trash bins for the drop-off of recyclable and bulky items.

Dance studio expands
The Genesis dance studio at 404 Clement St., run by Edyta Sliwinska and Alec Mazo, two stars on the television program "Dancing with the Stars," has opened a second location in Walnut Creek.

Mazo was the winning dancer in the television show's first season, and Sliwinska was a semi-finalist last season. Genya Mazo, a U.S. champion dancer who also dances on "Dancing with the Stars," is also on staff.

The dancers at Genesis are planning to tour the state urging youth to live healthier and to find activities they like as part of the Presidential Fitness Challenge. Youth are encouraged to exercise at least 30 minutes to one hour a day, five days a week, to stay healthy.