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| Valley Candidates
for the People
Two Visitacion Valley residents recently
announced their candidacy for the County Central Committee Democratic Party,
12th District.
A teacher for more than 26 years in both the San Francisco Unified School District and at City College, Tran spearheaded an initiative to greatly expand ESL classes in Visitacion Valley to its present six classes, helping thousands become U.S. citizens. "I want to be the voice of the people," Tran explained of her desire to actively help residents be involved in a government accessible to them. A San Francisco resident for more than 50 years, Williams has received numerous awards while working for the federal government, holding titles of EEO Manager, Personnel Specialist, Handicap Program Manager and Career Development Specialist. She currently assists the community through Visitacion Valley Job Education and Training (VVJET) and Dynamic Development Associates, which provides consultation service. "We need real people to deal with real
issues and concerns," said Williams, who wants to be in a position to create
change in the structure while being the voice and vehicle of her neighbors.
Visitacion Valley Playground
Demolition is scheduled to begin Apr. 13 on the clubhouse located at the northeast corner of Visitacion Valley Playground. Removal of the structure was deemed necessary to prepare the area for a new playground and clubhouse. Long a graffiti-covered eyesore following its closure years ago, the small one-story structure will take approximately five days to dismantle by contractor Bluewater Environmental. Work hours will be between 7:30 a.m.
and 3:30 p.m. Street parking adjacent to the clubhouse will not be allowed
until demolition is completed. Sidewalks along the clubhouse will be temporarily
closed.
St. Luke's Hospital
Launches
St. Luke's Hospital has launched a three-month campaign to educate local residents about the availability of comprehensive health services for women of all ages and economic means. The campaign is the result of a survey of residents in neighborhoods near St. Luke's that showed little recognition of services available at its Women's Center. "Nearly 30 percent of women surveyed said they didn't realize that as a privately insured, Medi-Cal or Medicare patient they can use our services," explained Duane Oshinomi, director of community relations. Although the program routinely cares for more than 500 women each week, Oshinomi said many people mistakenly believe their only choice is the county hospital. "We intend to change that through an aggressive education program," he said, noting that "this is just the first in a series of initiatives aimed at letting people know that St. Luke's is alive, well and a vital part of the San Francisco medical community." A television and radio campaign aimed primarily at the Hispanic Community (which is literally in St. Luke's backyard) was launched earlier this month and will continue through June. The campaign includes advertising on television stations 14 and 48 and radio stations KSOL and KIQI. "We believe the St. Luke's Women's Center is an incredible community resource that more women should know about," explained St. Luke's Health Center Acting CEO Vince Oliver. "We currently provide a full menu of services for teens through senior citizens, including annual check-ups, pap smears, family planning, pregnancy testing and complete OB/GYN care." The Women's Center was founded by a group of physicians in 1979 and purchased by St. Luke's three years ago when the physicians retired. Women's services are provided at three separate locations: 1650 Valencia Street, 1580 Valencia in the Monteagle Medical Building on the St. Luke's Hospital campus, and in Noe Valley at 3700 24th Street. "If someone walks into our clinic and has no money or insurance, one of our community health aides will work with them to help qualify them for Medi-Cal or one of many other programs offered," Oliver noted. "That includes the State Only Family Planning Program, which provides comprehensive family planning services to women. "I believe we run a state-of-the-art Women's Center," said Oliver. "Our drive to serve women of all means is clearly part of St. Luke's mission, established in 1871 to provide first-class health care services to everyone regardless of their ability to pay." St. Luke's, a non-profit community hospital, last year ended talks with potential merger or alliance partners when the Board of Directors determined the hospital could provide better service to the community by remaining independent. Pilot Program Will
Soon Provide
Thanks to a pilot program, many San Franciscans will soon have the convenience of having used motor oil picked up at their curb for recycling. On Mar. 26, the California Integrated Waste Management Board selected the City and County of San Francisco to receive $276,000 in grant funds to implement a curbside oil pick up program in many of the City's neighborhoods. The program will begin in the southeast portion of the City in late 1998, providing service to residents of Bayview/Hunters Point, Bernal Heights, Crocker Amazon, the Excelsior, the Mission District, Portola, Potrero Hill and Visitacion Valley. "We're pleased to be able to offer our residents this service," said Paul Horcher, director of the San Francisco Solid Waste Management Program. "This service will be particularly valuable to residents in the southeast portion of the City, where there are a disproportionately low number of used oil drop off sites. Many gas stations and auto supply stores have closed down in there neighborhoods, leaving residents without adequate service for oil recycling." Dumping oil down the drain is a major source of oil pollution in harbors and waterways. The used oil from as few as 350 oil changes is enough to contaminate San Francisco's entire daily water supply. USF to Host Computer-Ed
When Computer-Ed High Tech Camp began
in Boston in 1982, the idea of replacing the traditional camp icons of
tents and bug juice with computers and web pages seemed a little odd. However,
computer camp has become one of the coolest ways to spend the summer.
Computer-Ed High Tech Camp offers a computer savvy generation of 8-17 year olds cutting-edge classes combined with sports clinics, art workshops, recreation time and weekend and evening trips. Computer-Ed encourages pulling apart technology in classes like Build and Repair a PC, in which campers take apart computers, figure out how each microchip, coil and cable contributes to the computers' functioning. Hosted locally by the University of
San Francisco (USF), Computer-Ed is both a day and residential camp. An
extended day option is also available. Meals are provided by the USF cafeteria,
while residential campers live in the USF dormitories. Campers and staff
have come from all over the country and the world to experience a computer
filled summer, including Jamaica, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates,
But this residential camp is not limited to kids from outside the Bay Area. Many San Francisco residents choose to live on campus because of the fun dormitory atmosphere, weekend trips, evening lab time, and to experience "living away from home." A diverse, accommodating Computer-Ed staff includes teachers, college students, Internet experts, athletes, artists, former campers, and business professionals. There will be two sessions this summer, the first from June 28 to July 10, and the second from July 12-24. Campers can choose to attend either or both sessions. New this year is Web Broadcasting--a brand new technology where camper-written radio shows will be transmitted over the Internet. Of course, Web Publishing remains popular, as many campers want to learn the skills that will enable them to be part of the high-demand web site design field. For those with an artistic side, campers can compose pieces in Computer Music, or create a gallery of artwork, digital photographs and animations in Computer Art and Graphics, Image Processing and 3-D Modeling. Because Computer-Ed is a "high-tech" camp, classes go beyond PCs. You'll find camper-built Radio Controlled Cars zipping around the sidewalks and homemade rockets soaring overhead. A Legotechnics class teaches engineering by dropping eggs out windows, while the Electronics class cooks hot dogs with a battery. All major programming languages are
taught, including Basic, Pascal, C, C++, HTML and Java.
For information, please call 1-888-2COMPED or e-mail camp@computered.com. The San Francisco site director, Elissa Bradley, can be reached for inquiries of any sort, day or evening, at (415) 522-1848. Compost and Worm Bins
A revolutionary new worm bin made of post consumer recycled money from Australia (no typo--their bills are made of plastic, and they turn the old ones into compost bins) and the famed Earth Machine backyard composter will be available to City residents during a one-day event sponsored by the San Francisco Recycling Program. Both the Wriggly Wranch worm bin and the Earth Machine backyard compost bin will be available to San Francisco residents at the subsidized rate of $19.50 (80 percent below retail coast) on April 25 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Goodman Lumber parking lot, 445 Bayshore Blvd. The compost bins are part of SLUG's home composting initiative aimed at reducing the vast amount of organic waste (fruit, vegetable and yard trimmings) going to the landfill. More than 11,000 bins have already been distributed to local residents, and the City has a goal to distribute 10,000 more before the millennium. "Home composting is taking off across the planet," said Carl Grimm, SLUG's education director. "People see how much it help their gardens grow and saves them on their garbage bills." In this country alone, cities and counties
in nearly every state have home composting programs. "It is one of the
most ecological and economical ways to keep material out of our landfills."
VISITACION VALLEY COMMUNITY BEACON Free After School Youth Spring Programs
Adult and Family Programs
Additional Information
Remembering Luman C. Drake Visitacion Valley neighbors were saddened to learn of the Feb. 6 death of Luman C. Drake, 64, a Brisbane environmentalist who fought for decades against development of San Bruno Mountain. He also opposed adjacent garbage company expansion and a threatening proposal in the late 1970s to install a nearby incinerator for the burning of trash. A friend of the Community Center and its founder, Florence Friedman, Drake is remembered by one local resident as "a leader in the true sense. Many friends knew him and loved him." Witnesses Shocked by Sunnydale Killing Sunnydale residents on Blythdale Avenue
were shocked to witness the murder of a man on Mar. 31 as he was getting
into his car.
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