MONTHLY MERCHANT MEETING

July 21st - 3rd Tuesday 12 noon- 1:30pm SFPD-Mission Station Community Room Corner of Valencia & 17th Streets Rachel Kagan from SFGH:  giving an update on the hospital's huge rebuild and impact on nearby residents and merchants. John Vitti from Mobile Spinach: Mobile Spinach helps promote small to medium sized local businesses like restaurants, bars, hotels, spas, bakeries, museums, clothing stores, grocery stores, cafes, wineries, health and fitness, laundry and tailors, salons, theater and events through mobile technology and Tastemakers. Valencia Streetscape Project Begins  Alex M. Murillo  Scheduled to begin the week of July 20, 2009 take about 9 months to complete.   Department of Public Works 415-437-7009 Direct Alex.M.Murillo[at]sfdpw.org SFPD-Mission  Captain Stephen A. Tacchini [invited] Our host - Sign up to get his Newsletter or come to his monthly  community meeting [more]

Sandwiches & Drinks will be provided - We welcome your participation and ideas.

IN THE NEWS

 MMA Requests Increase in Metered Parking for the Mission

At the last MMA meeting on June 16, Jerry Robbins of the Parking and Traffic Division of SFMTA returned to update the group on various proposed changes.  Effective July 1, metered parking rates were raised to $2.00 per hour.  Still pending is a proposal to extend meter hours to evenings and Sundays.  In addition, Jerry wanted feedback from MMA members on a proposal to change Mission Street, from the waterfront to the Excelsior to have meters on both sides of the street.  He also wanted feedback regarding a proposal to add meters to Hoff Street, between 16^th and 17^th Streets.  There was discussion about the hardship to residents who park on the street in the hard-to-park area of Hoff Street.  While no consensus was reached on either proposal, there was general agreement that the meters should be changed from 1 hours to 2 hours.  A motion was made and passed at the meeting to increase parking meters and extend the time on the meters throughout the Mission District.  

2009 Payroll Tax Prepayment Tax Bill

San Francisco’s Office of the Treasurer and Tax Collector recently mailed out the 2009 Prepayment Payroll Tax Bill.  Per Proposition Q, which raised the payroll tax exemption level from $166,667 to $250,000, there should be no prepayment due by August 1 for small businesses.  The Office of the Treasurer and Tax Collector will be contacting the business that received a 2009 Prepayment Payroll Tax Bill and whose payroll tax falls within $166,667 to $250,000 to ensure that they are aware of the new payroll tax exempt level and that no prepayment is required.  Businesses that received the 2009 Prepayment Payroll Tax Bill and are able to establish that the prepayment will be more than the total anticipated tax liability for 2009, a lesser amount can be paid.  Requests for prepayment reduction must be made in writing and must clearly explain the facts and circumstances relating to the anticipated reduction in 2009 payroll expense tax liability. The Office of the Treasurer and Tax Collector encourages taxpayers to provide as much detail as necessary to explain the situation (e.g. detail about the taxpayer's actual payroll expense tax liability thus far in 2009 due to work force reductions, as well as the taxpayer's total anticipated payroll expense tax liability for 2009). Any change in prepayment amount will be effective only upon written approval by the Office of Treasurer and Tax Collector. Until that time, taxpayers must pay prepayment amounts on a timely basis, based on the amounts this Office has calculated.  In order to apply, please write a letter to Business Tax Section, Account Services Unit, P.O. Box 7425, San Francisco, CA 94120. In your letter, please be sure to clearly indicate your business name, address, and business registration number.

 Livable Streets Possible in S.F.
8 July 2009 By STEFANIA ROUSSELLE
Enrique Penalosa: ex Mayor of Bogata, Columbia came to town recently singing the praises of removing cars from the urban landscape.

“ We need a charismatic person like Peñalosa [former Mayor of Bogata, Columbia]who has the power to move things forward,” said Orianna Sarac, who just finished an MBA in sustainable management and is the founder of Neighborhood Fruits, a web site where community members can share the fruit grown in their backyards. “ You really need a torch and he provides that inspiration”.

Longtime MMA Member Joins Board

MMA welcomes Peter Glikshtern to its Board.  Glikshtern, longtime nightclub operator (Pink, Liquid on 16th near Capp) and longtime Mission business advocate, is a past president (2000 & 2001) of the MMA. 

Mission Merchants Association

WEB SITE NEWS: MissionMerchants.com has completed its main round of 2009 directory updates and will be freezing new data additions until the joomla software update is completed. We are now testing new features for missionmerchants.com. Find an archives of 2009 newsletters and a sign-up list for email at missionmerchants.org For newsletter items send info to: ShirleyCWang[at]hotmail.com This newslettter was produced by Chris M. Collins the MissionMerchant.com webmaster who has been working very hard on upgrading our database website with new features

June/July Neighborhood Calendar
Sunday Streets Event Rocks the Mission By Jonathan Farrell,

New for July from these recent college grad is a map to what stores are hip if you are cool above the tag line "Avoid the crowds on Valencia" See if you made the grade.
Both Mission and Lower 24th Street, the longtime urban bastions of working class immigrant bastions have been attracting young innovative startups giving their neighborhoods a more eclectic personality. Yelp's July 1st Neighborhood Spotlight: 24th Street This in turn could be compared to the GetLocal Participants Google map

Reinventing Journalism in the Mission DistrictPITCH: The Stories Behind Empty Storefronts
Mission Street Businesses See New Investment

As we consider the stalemate on the new Zoning for the Mission corridor we are reminded by the above two maps that the only thing constant is change and the people trying to prevent it

TOP POSTS:

Happy Looking Dead Pig

Mission Eats by vegansaurus.com blog
featuring the wit of
 Laura Dern

Philz Coffee
vs.
Rodger's Coffee and Tea!

Philz: Good. I like it. Kinda like your grandma’s living room if your grandma was kinda crazy and into the internet.
Rodger’s Coffee and Tea: Good. I like it. Kinda doesn’t seem to know if it wants to serve hipsters or yuppies so hey, let’s hit up both!