Mission Mission

From the Borderlands blog, here’s the deal:

In November, San Francisco voters overwhelmingly passed a measure that will increase the minimum wage within the city to $15 per hour by 2018.  Although all of us at Borderlands support the concept of a living wage in principal and we believe that it’s possible that the new law will be good for San Francisco — Borderlands Books as it exists is not a financially viable business if subject to that minimum wage. Consequently we will be closing our doors no later than March 31st.  The cafe will continue to operate until at least the end of this year.

Many businesses can make adjustments to allow for increased wages.  The cafe side of Borderlands, for example, should have no difficulty at all.  Viability is simply a matter of increasing prices.  And, since all the other cafes in the city will be under the same pressure, all the prices will float upwards.  But books are a special case because the price is set by the publisher and printed on the book.  Furthermore, for years part of the challenge for brick-and-mortar bookstores is that companies like Amazon.com have made it difficult to get people to pay retail prices.  So it is inconceivable to adjust our prices upwards to cover increased wages.

Just can’t win. Read on for more of the story.

(Thanks, Jeremy.)

[Photo by Google Maps]

Andrew Dalton, for SF Weekly, takes a look at some changes coming soon to one of them:

On a Wednesday night in January, in the cafeteria of a private high school just across Interstate 280 from the Balboa Park BART station, a group of 100 or so neighbors and activists gather to discuss the future of the neighborhood. Specifically, they come to deliver their opinions regarding what should be done with the Balboa Reservoir, a nearly 18-acre plot of city-owned land next to the City College of San Francisco.

The Balboa Reservoir is an odd space, not least because it doesn’t look much like a reservoir at all. It’s an open and flat parking lot (unusual for the area) smack in the middle of a neighborhood mostly populated by single-family homes. The reservoir sits, sunken a few feet below the surrounding area, between Mt. Davidson to the north, CCSF to the east, and a new low-rise condo building with a ground-floor Whole Foods to the south. New residents of the complex, which fronts Ocean Avenue, can look straight out their third-floor windows and enjoy a view of the three-story earthen dam that separates the reservoir from the quaint Westwood Park neighborhood to the west. On a recent Saturday, the parking lot that serves as the reservoir’s asphalt bottom was empty save for a man on a recumbent tricycle pedaling laps around the perimeter while a woman waited for him in the passenger seat of a parked Prius.

Read on for lots more background and astute reporting. (Also, take a walk around this area if you get a chance. I was there a lot when I was a CCSF student in ’03 or so, and there’s heaps of history and geography and interesting vibes around there. Randy’s Place, am I right??)

[Editor's note: Pop's Bar, at 24th and York, is now programming musical entertainment every night of the week! For instance, as you can see in the artwork above, every Thursday, they've got a DJ from BFF.fm, the award-winning and Mission-based radio station.]

2/2/15 MONDAY

MOM at POPS: Motown on Mondays

It’s only Monday if you treat it like one.

M.O.M

8PM START, 1:30AM end

The most talked about night in town.

Hey!

Check out my

M.O.M.

Mondays at Pops

DJ GORDO CABEZA, TIMOTEO GIGANTE, THE CAPTAIN AND WEEKLY GUESTS

PLAY ORIGINALS, EXCLUSIVE REMIXES

AND CLOSE RELATIVES OF YOUR FAVORITE

MOTOWN SONGS…

2/3/15 TUESDAY

“Quality Latin BASS”

Every Tuesday at POPS BAR

Music: FREE (Local BayArea DJ`s)

Salsa Lesson: FREE (Instructor La Muerte)

Time: 9pm – 2am

Tropicana is BACK in town! Every TUESDAY night for the WINTER season. Bringing “Quality Latin BASS”, by playing some of the latest – up to date latino music genres.. of course respecting the classics…

With Tropicana Nights, our purpose is to create space for cultural diversity and environmental awareness. Community and music can do a lot of great positive impact in society.

Music by local BayArea DJ`s, such as Stepwise, El Kool Kyle, Mr. Lucky, Mr. E, J Boogie and more…

Salsa I LatinHouse I Latin HipHop I Moombahton I DubCumbia I Merengue I Bachata I Dancehall I LatinReggae I and more…

2/4/15 WEDNESDAY

Happy Hour 6-9PM

Come have an early one with your boy Al Lover. Spinning punk, post punk, dub, soulful rock steady, sleazy 70s trash, earthy funk and soul, hip hop, electro, kraut and world psychedelia.

Wu Tang Wednesdays

9PM-1:30AM

Every Wednesday Night at POPS BAR

Razor Sharp Sounds sliced by DJ Kevvy Kev

Classic 90s Hip Hop

No Cover

2/5/15 THURSDAY

6-9PM Happy Hour Entertainment

Alabaster’s Record Collection. ALL VINYL ALL THE TIME. Electoc, Rock & Roll, Punk, Indie, 80s & Whatever.

BFF.FM Night

Rotating DJs from BFF.fm radio! This week: Pro Fans – Katie & Marisa spin goddamn every danceable jam!

9PM-1:30am

No Cover!

2/6/15 FRIDAY

Happy Hour Entertainment 6-9PM

Uncle Rifkin is a 4 piece, mostly acoustic, homegrown San Francisco band. Their style ranges from stripped down country to blues, rock & folk, all with a funky edge and storytelling vibe.

SOUL SLAP

A funky new party at Pop’s Bar spinning classic funk, boogie and soul all night long with DJs SPANK BANK & Honeyknuckles.

9pm-1:30am / free

2/7/15 SATURDAY

DJ Rick of RICAN/NICAN Productions playing old school R&B, dance jams of the 60s, 70s, 80s & 90s.

9pm-1:30am / No Cover

2/8/15 SUNDAY

Bushman’s Bash Open Jam

Join us for an open Jam at Pop’s!

6-10PM

No Cover

POPS BAR

2800 24th Street @ York

San Francisco, CA 94110

www.popssf.com