By Ariel Soto

The EcoCenter at Heron's Head Park groundbreaking ceremony was held yesterday, April 22, in San Francisco's Bayview/Hunters Point. The EcoCenter will be the first LEED-certified building in the southern part of the city and first building to run completely off the grid. Heron's Head Park was opened in 1999 to provide an open and natural space for the communities nearby, and since then more than 1,200 volunteers have helped restore the area by removing invasive plants and trash and replacing them with native plants. With the continuous support and effort of the Port of San Francisco and Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ), the EcoCenter will finally open, giving students the opportunity to learn in hands-on programs about issues such as clean air and water, renewable energy, healthy foods and open space restoration. (To get involved in the Heron's Head Park project, contact Laurie Schoeman at: lcprojectmanager@lejyouth.org) Here's some pics from the event.

The entrance to Heron's Head Park with the old PG&E plant in the background that's in the process of being demolished.

Goats are used in Heron's Head Park as a natural method of weed control.

Volunteers gather at Heron's Head Park before the beginning of the groundbreaking ceremony.

A Scrophularia californica, or Bee Plant, is just one example of the many native California plants that will be re-introduced into Heron's Head Park.

Beautiful Heron's Head Park.

Milton Reynolds, a member of Literacy for Environmental Justice, started the day's events at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new EcoCenter at Heron's Head Park.

Continue reading "Pics: Goats and green at Heron's Head Park" »

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Posted by Marke B. at 03:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

By Ariel Soto

On April 16, members of the thirteen immigrant community organizations that make up the San Francisco Immigrant Legal and Education Network (SFILEN) met at City Hall today in an effort to advocate for more community resources for immigrants. Immigrants represent 40 percent of San Francisco's population and the event was an opportunity for members of SFILEN to call attention to the need for more legal and educational programs, and to speak with City Supervisors as a continuation of making San Francisco a true sanctuary for all immigrants.

Members of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC) on the steps of City Hall, supporting San Francisco's Immigrant Family Day.

Supporters gathered at City Hall for Immigrant Family Day, asking City leaders to continue supporting immigrant programs for their communities.

Members of the community came out to hold signs and show their support to keep San Francisco true sanctuary for immigrant communities.

Members of Mujeres Unidas at San Francisco's Immigrant Family Day.

Ben Younes Ouanane (left), an immigrant from Morocco, spoke about the help he has received from the African Immigrant and Refugee Resource Center (AIRRC), one of the cities many immigrant rights organizations involved in the Immigrant Family Day. Joe Sciarrillo, a paralegal at AIRRC, translated from French to English for Mr. Ouanane.

Continue reading "Pics: Family Immigrant Day 2008" »

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Posted by Marke B. at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Guardian photographer and writer Charles Russo sent over these pics of this afternoon's Olympic torch protests and rallies:

Tibetan-born Lobsang Lama (center left) traveled from his home in Portland, Oregon to protest China's human rights violations in Tibet and its hosting of the 2008 Olympics.

Tibetan Tagudh Youndoung engages in debate with a pro-Chinese supporter along the Embarcadero while waiting for the Olympic Torch procession.

After the huge crowds outside the Ferry Building and Justin Herman Plaza realized the Olympic Torch route had changed, the previously cordoned-off Embarcadero became a logjam of confrontations between Tibetan and Chinese supporters.

A pro-China demonstrator seeks to keep a torn Chinese flag aloft after it had been ripped by Tibetan activists.

Jack Kornfield (right with sign) and Ashin Nanikabhivamsa led a huge peace walk of Burmese monks and activists across the Golden Gate Bridge in solidarity with Tibetan protestors.

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Posted by Marke B. at 06:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Video photojournalist Ariel Soto reports from Tuesday's Tibet vigil with Archbishop Desmond Tutu (he's busy!) and Sup. Chris Daly:

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Posted by Marke B. at 04:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We've invited fab local photog Darwin Bell to share some of his photos with us throughout the next month, and tell us what the heck he was thinking when he took them.

Fighting With Each Other

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Darwin Bell: "This was taken in The Mission and it is really just a picture of blockage sawhorse with a warning light on it in front of a dumpster. But the colors were so contrasting that it caught my eye -- all I had to do was compose it to make it look more graphic."

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Posted by Marke B. at 04:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

We've invited fab local photog Darwin Bell to share some of his photos with us throughout the next month, and tell us what the heck he was thinking when he took them.

Study in Curves

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Darwin Bell: "This is probably my favorite building in San Francisco, located at First and Market. The curves and lines are just amazing and so fascinating to photograph. "

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Posted by Marke B. at 04:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Photojournalists Lisa Pickoff-White and Rhyen Coombs put together this nifty little vid for us of last weekend's 10th annual wild Brides of March downtown invasion:

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Posted by Marke B. at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We've invited fab local photog Darwin Bell to share some of his photos with us throughout the next month, and tell us what the heck he was thinking when he took them. And hey, it's "wear orange for prisoner awareness" day, so the following pic is perfect.

Dreamcicle

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Darwin Bell : "This is the first photograph I took that could be considered abstract and is really the first picture I took that made me really interested in photography. It's a shot of part of a white and orange cubic sculpture on 3rd Street (the cross street escapes me) in downtown SF. I think it's actually the corporate logo of the building it stands in front of."

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Posted by Marke B. at 09:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We've invited fab (and acclaimed!) local photog Darwin Bell to share some of his photos with us throughout the next month, and tell us what the heck he was thinking when he took them.

Metallic Rainbow

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Darwin Bell: "This is the outside of the new(ish) De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. This is another fascinatingly designed SF building and definitely a challenge to photograph. Because of its size and shape, it is difficult to photograph as a whole, so I favor photographing fragments like this."

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Posted by Marke B. at 04:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We've invited fab local photog Darwin Bell to share some of his photos with us throughout the next month, and tell us what the heck he was thinking when he took them.

Redily Available

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Darwin Bell: "I LOVE colors, especially if it is all one color with different layers. And bright colors at that. Nothing beats the outside, weirdly painted red patchwork panels of the Zeitgeist bar on Valencia."

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Posted by Marke B. at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We've invited fab local photog Darwin Bell to share some of his photos with us throughout the next month, and tell us what the heck he was thinking when he took them.

Blinders

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Darwin: "Ok, let’s start with how utterly insane the new Federal Building on 6th and Mission is. And insane in the best possible way. I don’t even understand how anyone would come up with that design, but for me it totally works. Except, it is hard to take pictures of that gives the viewer a sense of what the building is about. Except for the blinds on the back side of the building. I could take pictures of those all day long. They just lend themselves to being photographed. And the colors rock!"

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Posted by Marke B. at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We've invited one of our favorite photogs Darwin Bell to share some of his extraordinary local snaps with us, along with what the heck he was thinking when he took them.

A View From the Ground

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Darwin Bell: "This photograph taught me to always look up. I went down this driveway on Pierce Street, off Hayes, to take a picture of a rusty lock -- and happened to look up because I heard a Blue Angel plane flying overhead. I saw this blue cross between the white buildings. Always look up!"

Ed note: Which reminds us of a zinger from a much-loved poem by Frank O'Hara, where the sun says to him: "I know you love Manhattan, but you ought to look up more often." Except, you know, Frank got run over by a jeep on a beach on Fire Island. Be careful!

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Posted by Marke B. at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)