Pardon the dust.  We’ve been having some troubles here at the The Avenues Blog.  Techinical difficulties have started creeping into our midst, so we are going on a bit of a hiatus while we exterminate the bugs, do some upgrading, and maybe, just maybe come back with an all new rockin’ design for the blog. 

In the meantime, if you need to get your SF real estate fix – sign up for The City Update(TM) – San Francisco’s Friendliest Newsletter!

See you in a few weeks!  And if you miss me – call me at 415–307–1392 or email me.

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Urbia Adventure League kicks off the first Saturday of Summer!

View the city from secret hilltops where butterflies delight via a new adventure booklet

What: Unveiling of new sense-of-place seasonal treasure hunt for San Francisco families

When: This Saturday, June 27th, drop-in between 10 a.m. and noon to pick up a free adventure packet

Where: Starting at the bottom of the colorful mosaic stairway at 16th Avenue and Moraga Street

This summer, a staycation opportunity debuts in the form of a new series of outdoor “sense of place” treasure hunts for families. Urbia Adventure No.1 is being offered for free and guides you to numerous surprises as families work as a team to solve riddle-like clues in a booklet titled “Islands in the Sky.” Adults and children together sharpen their abilities to read the natural landscape features easily missed in this urban environment and enhance their future travels in the city or out in the wild.

Unlike traditional guided tours, Urbia Adventure League offers themed, seasonal adventures-by-mail that allow you to decide when to go and who to bring along. The tools: an adventure booklet, a pencil and a team’s collective wits and senses. The rewards: serendipity, a deeper “sense of place” in San Francisco, and fun team-building. Each journey is an experience to treasure, and a hidden box at the end contains an added reward for finding your way by solving the clues in this new booklet.

Following his recent outing, travel writer Larry Habegger remarked “Finally I discovered that amazing wild land in the heart of the Sunset and got to explore it with my family. My girls can’t wait for our next Urbia adventure.”

Upcoming booklets will explore rocky outcrops near Twin Peaks and a unique „green‟ corridor in the Mission District. Subscriptions to the Urbia Adventure League benefit San Francisco non-profit Nature in the City.

For more information about this new San Francisco tradition, please visit www.urbikids.com or contact Damien Raffa by calling 415.992.8141, or email@urbikids.com.

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I just received the Taraval Police Station Crime Report For Wednesday, July 30, 2008.  And I have to say, this particular incident gave me a chuckle.  I’m guessing the commentary at the end was Captain Chignell’s addition. 

07/30/08        1:55 am                                        12th and Irving

A woman looked out her window and observed a man driving a car, crash into a parked car, stumble out of his vehicle, start arguing with his passenger, and then get into the car and drive one block away but then stop again as his vehicle was inoperable. The woman called the police with Officers Jordan King and Justin Erb arriving on the scene. The officers made contact with the driver, who was quite inebriated. He stated that he had not been driving at all and that he was feeling “euphoric”. The suspect, who lives on the 1400 block of 48th Avenue, failed field sobriety and chemical tests. He was arrested for drunk driving and hit & run. His euphoria may have dissipated.

Case #080795518

To get your own copy of the Crime Report, email the captain and request one. 

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What a week.  Some of you readers know I’m a REALTOR, some don’t. 

As a REALTOR, I’ve started a fabulous new SF real estate newsletter that features new listings, recently sold listings, pocket listings (San Francisco properties that are NOT on the market to the public, but are available to The City Update(TM) readers, San Francisco real estate market updates, charts, reports, and all sorts of rants and raves written by yours truly.

I’ve been working the last few kinks out the the new system that will keep the New on Market and Recently sold data that I provide to readers of The City Update(TM) under virtual lock and key. 

And – after a long and hard battle, I’ve persevered, and am once again providing The City Update(TM) readers with all of the secret MLS data. 

Feeling left out? Sign up by going to the site.

Oh – and have an awesome weekend!

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It’s that time of year for me again. It’s time for summer vacation. And as I do most years, I am heading up to Lake County for some fishing, boating, kayaking and general relaxation. This year, I’ll add smoke inhalation to the list thanks to all the fires that are burning, but I digress.

I’ll be back in town on the 12th Of July, and will resume the usual semi-frequent blog posting schedule when I return.

If you really miss me, you can follow me on Twitter where I might pop in occasionally to say “hi.”

When I come back, I’ll be ready to jump back into The Avenues Blog (and back to wrestling the San Francisco real estate market), so if you have things you want to talk about when I get back, holler!

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I consider The Avenues Blog to be a community forum in addition to being my own personal soapbox from which I can spew information that interests me. 

I’ve tried to adopt a fair stance about sharing information about events in the Sunset District, whether or not they are something that I’d be interested in attending.

So, when I posted an event a few days ago that involved a campaign kick-off for Eric Mar for District 1, I apparently put folks under the impression that I support the guy (even though I mentioned in the post that I knew nothing about him.) 

So, to set the record straight – Eric Mar gets no support and no endorsement from my end, period.  In fact, so far, what I do know about the guy is that he is anti-TIC, and that’s like being anti-SF real estate ownership in my book.  Being that San Francisco real estate is my passion and my livelihood, he’s not on my “nice” list.  (Yes, like Santa, I have a naughty & nice list – it’s just much shorter.)  He’s also a little too far left for my taste (and yes, there is such a thing as TOO far left).

So – that being said, if you have something happening in The Avenues, I’d like to hear about it.  Hell, I’d like to post it for others to read, even if I disagree with the purpose of the event or fundamentally disagree with the cause or candidate. 

Why? 

Because I’m not running a dictatorship, and even though I like my own opinions and deep down know that they are right *wink*, everyone has a right to make up their own mind about the issues that surround San Francisco and The Avenues.

So there.  Hope that clears things up a bit.  Now keep those local events coming my way – and I’ll keep posting them!

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