First Impressions-Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008

The sun glints off the glass of the new T Third Street stop and the smell of barbecue and hot dogs fills the air. Police have cordoned off the street for San Francisco’s “Sunday Streets,” and people are walking and biking up and down Third Street at a Sunday pace.

Antoine, a young man standing with two friends in front of the corner store on Third and La Salle, says that along with the facelift, the T Third St. project has brought more police.

“They stop and harass folks, try to bring me in for loitering when they know I have a job. They’re trying to bust people for parole violations. We can’t just hang on the corner and pass the time.”

He said rents are going up and some of his friends have moved to Vallejo and Antioch to find rents they can afford.

A block up the street, two women are frying plump, juicy-looking hot dogs on a sidewalk grill and giving them out free to passersby. The sidewalk is clogged with smiling people eating or waiting for dogs.

“I’m just out here trying to give a little back to my neighborhood by giving them some of my good cooking,” said Shamauda Bishop, owner of “Simply Fabulous” salon. Bishop said she heard about the “Sunday Streets” program and decided to give away food for fun.

Bishop’s friend, Diane Wesley Smith,another Bayview local, runs the Obama campaign office on Third Street. Bishop said they were the first office in San Francisco, and their job is to get as many people they can to register to vote. Today, they are giving out free barbecue to anyone who registers.

Smith’s old friend Bernard Williams stops by to say hello. He has lived in the neighborhood since 1963 and attended elementary school with Smith. He sees the recent upgrades to the neighborhood as positive.

“It was due for a change. It’s nice to see people out riding bikes with kids and families. People are going to create stuff, positive or negative. It might as well be positive,” Williams said.

Aside from the Sunday Streets activity, the only loud noise in the neighborhood comes from pastors giving Sunday services. There seems to be a small storefront church on every block with gospel singing swelling out from many of them. Almost all the businesses are closed. The Upper Crust Deli is the only thing open for blocks.

“This is one of the last neighborhoods in San Francisco where everyone knows everyone else and almost everyone grew up here. It’s a really warm neighborhood with a lot of good people,” said Ray Gheith, owner of Upper Crust Deli.

Gheith started the business last year and it has been steadily growing. He lives in Daly City and owns another store in Pacifica. The people in Pacifica say they think he’s nuts to own a business in Bayview, Gheith said, but he finds the people friendly here.

“What sucks is that you have a small number of people ruining it for everyone. I would love to do food delivery, but it’s dangerous after 8 p.m., so we don’t,” he said.

A female police officer directing traffic on Third Street said that patrolling the Bayview is more challenging and more dangerous than patrolling in other San Francisco neighborhoods. Sometimes she feels that she is making a difference, but often she gets discouraged. She has been patrolling Bayview for nine years.

Sidney Polk and Albert Harrison are sitting on a bench in front of the Opera House. They both have jovial attitudes and it’s difficult to believe they are homeless. They agree that there haven’t been any real changes in Bayview.

“I grew up over on Hudson Street. I was born and raised here. I don’t see any improvements. All I see is the metro rail,” Polk said.

Both he and Harrison stay at Mother Brown’s shelter on Van Dyke Street at night and sit on the benches during the day.

“We are homeless,” Harrison said. “Why is it so hard for homeless seniors? I’m 69 and Sidney is 63. I worked for Muni for 25 years and my pension isn’t enough to pay my rent.”