 Henry's Hunan owner Eddie Zhu and District 11 Supervisor John Avalos Each year during Small Business Week, San Francisco highlights the critical role that small businesses play in our local economy and in our neighborhoods. On Tuesday, May 15, 2012, the Board of Supervisors took time to commemorate the occasion by honoring one extraordinary small business in each district. This year, District 11 Supervisor John Avalos honored Eddie Zhu of Henry’s Hunan Restaurant, exclaiming “I am proud to have this gem of a restaurant in our district!”
Established in 1974, Henry’s Hunan Restaurant was founded by Zhu’s grandfather to weave the distinctive flavors of Hunan Province cuisine into a family-oriented dining experience for San Franciscans. Zhu himself was born in Hunan, China and immigrated to the United States in 1982 to join the family business. His first job in the restaurant business was as a dishwasher in Chinatown. In 2010, Eddie opened the Excelsior location of Henry’s Hunan at 4753 Mission Street at the site of the historic Granada Café.
Since Zhu and his family have taken over the former Granada Café, they have brought life back to this community institution. “We opened locations in other parts of the City,” explained Zhu at the Board of Supervisor’s ceremony on Tuesday, “And it was always just business. As soon as my family moved to start a business in the Excelsior, we really felt something different. We felt such a strong community embracing us, and we really felt the love out here. Receiving this honor has made me feel that much closer to the City.”
Although he has only been in the neighborhood a short time, Zhu has proven to be a generous and stalwart advocate for the Excelsior community. Whether it is opening up his restaurant for community meetings, contributing food to neighborhood events, or participating as a Steering Committee member in the Excelsior Action Group, Zhu constantly finds ways to support community efforts.
In addition to its community advocacy, Henry’s Hunan also serves up a mean meal! The successful chain has earned high praise from the New Yorker magazine and a four and a half star rating on Yelp.com. “It’s a place where I go when I want to celebrate,” Kathryn Kathman, Excelsior Action Group Steering Committee Chair remarked, “But it’s also a place to go when I’ve had a hard day. I know I can find comfort food for the heart and the soul at Henry’s Hunan! I’m so glad the restaurant was chosen for this award, Eddie and his family really deserve it!”
 Fellow EAG Steering Committee Members Angie Minkin and Tom Kirvin congratulate Eddie Zhu at a Small Business Week reception
From 2005-2007, the Excelsior Action Group worked with the San Francisco County Transportation Authority to develop a community-based transportation plan. The Mission-Geneva Neighborhood Transportation Plan identifies transportation improvements that can be implemented in the near- to mid-term to address key neighborhood transportation-related concerns. Although some of the recommendations outlined in the plan have come to fruition since it was authored in 2007, EAG is advocating for funding to implement the comprehensive improvements outlined in this plan through the Road Repavement and Street Safety Bond. Show your support for the Mission-Geneva Neighborhood Transportation Plan by signing our online petition to Mayor Ed Lee and spreading the word among your friends and neighbors in the Excelsior.
 | Mission-Geneva Neighborhood Transportation Plan | | File Size: | 1735 kb | | File Type: | pdf |
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 It's time again for EAG's quarterly community-wide meeting. Please join us May 7th for updates from EAG Subcommittees, a Community Design Activity, and a Presentation from Livable City about Sunday Streets in District 11 this coming October 21, 2012. Sunday Streets will be a companion event with the annual Excelsior Art and Music Festival! We look forward to seeing you there.
The Excelsior Action Group unveiled the parklet located at 4754 Mission Street in front of Mama Art Cafe. This community effort was backed by Out of Site Center for Arts Education, the City of San Francisco, along with vendors who donated materials to build the student designed structure. The event attracted well over a hundred community members to enjoy the company of their neighbors, the food of local restaurants , the rhythms of an interactive drum circle, and of course, the Excelsior's first parklet! Local photographer Stephen Heraldo documented the event. Click here to see photos of the event!Stephen Heraldo is a freelance Designer and Photographer. He is a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo alumni with a Bachelor of Science in Graphic Communication. He provides photography as a service (corporate events, portraits, editorial). He also co-founded Stellar Photographie with Alisa Orozco. Heavily influenced by photojournalism, the duo captures natural family moments (events, weddings, portraiture, family sessions). Please visit stephenheraldo.com and stellarphotographie.blogspot.com to learn more about his work.
In Fall 2011, a group of San Francisco State University students wrote, produced, and directed "The House We Live In," a documentary highlighting the history, demographics, and needs of the community here in the Excelsior. Many thanks to Frank Du, Deodor Tronco, Michael Ramos, Bryan Vo, Peter Lee, and Chiam Tang for your hard work on this film and dedication to neighborhood revitalization and social justice.
It takes more than 2,000 poll workers to conduct an election. Although the Department of Elections has already recruited many poll workers, we are seeking to expand a pool of available workers for the 2012 election cycle. Poll workers operate polling places on Election Day, and assist voters in every part of the voting process. They must attend a training class prior to the election, in which all duties are explained in detail. Applicants must be United States citizens, age 18 or older, and registered to vote in California. All positions are one-day assignments and pay between $125- $170. Individuals interested in serving as poll workers may complete the on-line application at http://www.sfelections.org/pw/or call us at (415) 554-4395.
 Join the Excelsior Action Group, Out of Site Center for Arts Education, and fellow Excelsior community members for the public unveiling and ribbon cutting of the first Excelsior parklet on Friday, April 20th. The event will be taking place at 4:00pm at the parklet location, 4754 Mission Street in front of Mama Art Cafe.
There will be representatives from EAG, OOS, the City of San Francisco, and numerous other parklet contributors who volunteered their time to help with construction or who donated materials. And of course, there will be plenty of representatives from the Excelsior community there as well, the people who the parklet was built for, You! Join us for a fun afternoon event of good food and good people!
(San Francisco – April 3, 2012) The Excelsior community is abuzz in front of Mama Art Café (4754 Mission Street), marveling at the work of two local nonprofit organizations that have joined together to bring the neighborhood its first public parklet. Harnessing the creativity of San Francisco public high school students and the overwhelming support of community members and local government, Out of Site Youth Arts Center and Excelsior Action Group have made this student-designed parklet a reality. The Out of Site Youth Arts Center, which offers free after school, weekend, and summer programs in visual, literary, and performing arts to public high school students, engaged approximately 50 students over the past year in both the design and construction of the parklet. The Excelsior Action Group, a community and economic development organization that works to revitalize the Excelsior’s commercial corridor, provided seed funding for the project with a grant from the Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD). The organization has also engaged the participation of Mama Art Café, as well as completed a robust campaign of community outreach to vet the project and the design with Excelsior community members. In partnering, both organizations have lent unique focus and expertise to this project, which has amplified its incredible success. The initial concept for the parklet sprung from the recurring complaint among community members about the lack of public space on the commercial corridor. “The commercial corridor feels inhospitable! On the whole ten block stretch, there is not a single place to sit down,” observed one community member in Excelsior Action Group’s 2010 needs assessment. Situated near the midpoint of the corridor, the parklet aims to establish a creative and green gathering space for the Excelsior’s diverse community, which increases pedestrian activity and fosters a sense of pride in the community. “Before we even completed construction, the parklet was doing everything we hoped it would,” remarked Excelsior Action Group’s Corridor Manager Nicole Agbayani, “The community settled into the space immediately, sitting on the unfinished seats to enjoy their coffee and chat with their neighbors. This parklet will have tremendous benefits for the surrounding businesses and really enhance the quality of the pedestrian experience on our commercial corridor. Most importantly, the fundraising, design, and construction of this parklet has truly been a community building experience, bringing multigenerational stakeholders to the same table and challenging them to work together to improve their surroundings.”
Throughout this project, the youth involved have showcased their extraordinary creativity, determination, and leadership. They've gained invaluable experience as artists and architects, demonstrating real leadership in going through an exhaustive design process, writing and receiving a grant through the Youth Empowerment Fund (YEF) to support their work, and working on a team to construct the parklet. Most importantly, Out of Site youth living and working in the Excelsior have used their creativity to build something that will have a permanent and positive impact in the community. "Teenage youth in our neighborhood want to be involved," commented Beth Rubenstein, Executive Director of Out of Site, "They want to be recognized as smart, engaged community members. What keeps them motivated? As one of our Out of Site youth leaders says, 'we have the power to make real change in our neighborhood!'"
Despite the rainy weather over the past few weeks, Out of Site students have labored hand in hand with community volunteers from the Excelsior Action Group to construct the parklet. Instrumental in bringing this project to fruition was designer Craig Hollow of Sagan Piechota Architecture, who planned and supervised construction in collaboration with Out of Site instructor Raffaella Falchi. In addition to funding from OEWD and YEF, the production of the parklet was also supported by many generous benefactors, including Escheguron Slate, Ashby Lumber, Heritage Salvage, Walter Mork Company, Pagoda Arts, and over 60 individual donors who attended the Excelsior Action Group's Parklet Fundraiser. Finally, this project has received immense support and guidance from local government agencies, including OEWD, the Planning Department, MTA, DPW, and District 11 Supervisor Avalos's office.
“We applaud the students and local organizers for creating a unique space that everyone can use by building the first parklet in the Excelsior community,” said John Rahaim, Planning Director. “Community-driven initiatives like this have taken up the challenge of the ‘Pavement to Parks’ program, bringing vibrancy and life to San Francisco’s public realm.”
Conversing with customers at the parklet in the afternoon sun, owner of Mama Art Cafe Paulo Cabezas exclaimed, "I speak on behalf of my team and my customers when I say that we are humbled and grateful that Mama Art Cafe has been selected to be the site of the first parklet in the Excelsior. Our community parklet will be a site of inspiration, improving the overall atmosphere of our corridor on Mission Street, making the Excelsior a better place to live and work!" On Friday, April 20, 2012 at 4:00 PM, the Excelsior Action Group, Out of Site, and Mama Art Cafe will sponsor an Excelsior Community Block Party at the parklet, inviting all to honor and celebrate the incredible work that has gone into creating this new public space for the Excelsior.
As you may have noticed, the intersection improvements in the vicinity of Mission and Geneva are finally nearing completion.
The sidewalks have been widened on Mission Street and the free right-turn lane on the northwest corner around the gas station has been reconfigured to provide a new public open space.
The final step of this project will be to reconfigure the traffic lane striping on Mission Street to accommodate the left turn pockets and to relocate the bus stop in front of Popeyes to a new location across the street where the sidewalk is wider.
 The Excelsior Action Group and Out of Site Youth Arts Center will be starting construction on the first Excelsior public parklet this upcoming Saturday, March 24th and continuing through March 31st. This will be the culmination of a year long community design process and collaboration between EAG, OOS, and Mama Art Cafe.
We encourage all interested residents to come out and view the construction effort or, better yet, lend a helping hand! Email or call us to find out volunteer times and sign up to help build the parklet, no experience is necessary. Contact EAG at (415) 585-0110 or Excelsior.AG@gmail.com for more information!
When: Saturday, March 24th -- Saturday, March 31st. Times will vary day to day but will generally be between 11am - 4pm.
Where: Parklet installation will be taking place in front of Mama Art Cafe, 35 San Juan Avenue.
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