Meet “bitch doll“, the creation of licensed street artist Capella Parrish. It was love at first sight. Those big captivating red eyes, green appendages and an apron that reads “BITCH, BITCH, BITCH, BITCH” — who could resist? I have a pooch, so I asked Capella if “bitch” was stuffed with sausage, or if chewing might result in doggie malaise. She said no re: sausage, and that her only concern would be sequins (none present) — all good. Sold! We had a nice chat, I paid for my new find and started heading on my way.

Here’s the heart part — Capella said that she would like to give me one of her soft sculptures as gift for my dog, Didi. I’m getting all verklempt just thinking about it.

Didi now has a new toy, and I have great memories of a random encounter on the streets of San Francisco.

Check out Capella’s work at fixedgeargal — Soft Sculptures for an Asphalt World.

The exhibition Wonderland is a large, multi-sited event born of, and responding to the rich diversities of San Francisco’s Tenderloin district.  The tenor of this project is truly unique, and will call upon the collaborative efforts of the neighborhood’s residents, city organizations like the North of Market / Tenderloin Community Benefit District the exhibition’s sponsor, and a large number of cutting edge artist teams from the Bay Area and around the world.  As in his previous internationally recognized projects, the exhibition’s curator, Lance Fung is dedicated to the ideas of collaboration, community and social engagement as a means of bringing the highest level of contemporary art to audiences from all walks of life.

Given the recent articles in both the San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Times on Street Art in the Tenderloin, this is an auspicious time to engage other institutions to help fully realize Wonderland’s pioneering vision.   Thus far, the exhibitions organizers have teamed up with nearly all of the arts establishments and community groups in the area and will work with the media, art schools, and local museums leading up to and during this ambitious art event so that over the course of its month long duration, many thousands of visitors will experience the Tenderloin as never seen before. Wonderland is not merely an art project. It is a platform for our shared insights.

The exhibition is free and open to the public from October 17th, with a symposium on the 18th, and will close November 14th. [wonderlandshow.org]

The North of Market/Tenderloin Community Benefit District is sponsoring a FREE People in Plazas “commuter concert” a week from today, Thursday July 16th, 6:00 – 7:00 pm.

Drop by the plaza in front of 83 McAllister Street (cross Leavenworth) and see Blue on Green, a Celtic Blues Rock Band — electric guitars, flute, sax, acoustic bass, drums and vocals. The band’s performance blends infectious beats, original songs and Rock classics, with Celtic dance tunes to keep audiences on their feet.

Higher MUNI and BART fares giving you the blues? Stop by and enjoy the FREE commuter concert on your trek home!

Volunteers gathered early Saturday morning at Justin Herman Plaza for the Community Clean Team — Plaza Sweep Up. Individuals and organizations from all over The City pitched in to clean up a corner of district six. Volunteer teams were paired up with DPW staff, and headed out to get the job done. Yours truly was assigned graffiti removal — Eastern Neighborhoods.

Paint rollers in hand, we headed out to the freeway ramp near the ballpark. It took about 20 of us two hours to clean up a one block area under the freeway. Graffiti found and removed — mission accomplished!

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Charity: Water — Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Almost half of the people drink from dirty sources of water and about one-third of all Haitian children die before reaching the age of five years old. Because of the lack of roads, transporting supplies is extremely difficult and costly. With your help, we can earn enough free donations to bring clean water to a community that desperately needs it!

In this day and age, the statistics are seemingly unbelievable. 1.1 billion people lack access to clean drinking water, and nearly 2 million people die each year due to waterborne-related disease (90% of which are children under the age of 5). As a result, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a worldwide water crisis among the world’s poorest people. Further, the UN has declared 2005-2015 Water for Life: The International Decade for Action. [Thirst Relief International]

PLEASE TAKE A MINUTE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE — CLICK THE BADGE TO THE RIGHT, AT NO COST TO YOU!

Progressive members of the Board of Supervisors championed cutting the Police, Fire and Sheriff departments’ budgets and instead use the money to offset cuts to health services.

Supervisor Chris Daly said the cuts Newsom dealt to health services are “compromising public safety” and will lead to an “exacerbation” of problems on city streets, including an “uptick in homelessness.” sfexaminer.com

City officials are finally admitting what others have been saying for years: San Francisco is attracting huge numbers of homeless people from all over. Thousands of transient people, arriving from other counties, states and even countries, are overwhelming the city’s homeless system. – Dariush Kayhan, the mayor’s homeless policy director, makes the case that San Francisco has led the nation in innovative, and expensive, homeless solutions. By any measure, say Kayhan and Rhorer, the $190 million San Francisco spends annually helping the homeless is the highest per capita outlay of any U.S. city. sfgate.com

The Board of Supervisors is threatening to cut funding to neighborhood firehouses throughout San Francisco — our first line of defense in a fire, disaster, or medical emergency.

Please take a minute to visit saveourfirehouses.com – there is an easy-to-use form to email your Supervisor. In fact, the easiest form I’ve ever seen. Point and click on your Supervisor’s name and district, and type in your name.

We had a fire emergency in April, and the fire crews were here before I could get out of the building. See for yourself: fireintheloin

The BOS has also suggested rolling brownouts – another very bad idea.