Monday, March 21, 2016

Valencia Street Corner: From Blight to Bland - What's Next?


Around Christmastime, I made my first complaint to the City's 311 system about the graffiti blighting the former Volvo repair shop at the corner of Valencia Street and Clinton Park, near our home.

Nothing, except more paint from taggers applied to the exterior, happened with the site and in early February I filed another 311 complaint. The City mailed a letter to the owners, who live in the East Bay, demanding they remove the graffiti.

When March roared in and still the blight was unsightly, I sent two letters to the owners and copied everything over to the Department of Public Works and Department of Building Inspections.

On Saturday, March 19, the graffiti was gone and a thick coat of dark gray paint was applied to the entire facade facing Valencia Street and a bit along Clinton Park but not covering the artwork commissioned by the Volvo repair operation years ago.


This note from one of the former owners hit my inbox this afternoon: "I was informed by the prior owner of 235 Valencia Street that you had sent 2 letters to let them know about the graffiti on the building. Please know that I sold the building in October of 2015. Please contact the appropriate owner of record for this property."

Not sure who the current owners may be and the Assessor-Recorder's files may be out of date, but the main matter of ridding our small piece of San Francisco of graffiti has been accomplished. For now.

That new gray paint sure is an inviting canvass. It's also a very valuable piece of real estate and I wonder what's next for the site.

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