Hey there, San Francisco. 

Earlier today, I hung out with Vincent Yuen, the Inner Richmond resident who started a volunteer trash pickup group last year. It’s called Refuse Refuse. 

We met in the Trader Joe’s parking lot on Masonic Avenue, where Yuen has been documenting the impact of his group’s work. 

When they cleaned Masonic (between Geary and Euclid) in May 2021, Yuen said he and his volunteers picked up 2,500 pieces of trash. They continued their pickups in the area once a week for six months. Then, in December, a second tally found less than 500 pieces of trash. Meaning, the area they were looking after was staying cleaner. 

“I'm not doing hardcore analysis, but it’s pretty clear it works,” Yuen said. “It does change things if you keep coming back.” 

Yuen’s an inspiring guy, and if you hang out with him long enough (like I did this morning), you’ll walk away feeling like we, the residents of San Francisco, can actually solve our city’s trash problem. Or, at least make a major dent in it. 

“You can continue to say, ‘Let’s throw money at the situation.’ Or, you can go do something about it,” Yuen said. “I think it’s a better long-term solution, to be active and civically engaged.” 

If you’ve always wanted to help pick up trash in the city, but aren’t sure how to get started, I’d highly suggest going out to one of the many trash cleanup events put on by Refuse Refuse. You can see their full events schedule here. 

And with that…onto the news… 

Quick bits: Bite-sized news stories

• 😔 An encampment fire in Glen Park early Wednesday morning left one person dead and three others critically injured. On Twitter, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who represents the area, said: “It is deeply wrong and infuriating that a City as wealthy as ours…still fails to provide the bare minimum of safe shelter for those willing to take it.” (SFist) 

• 👀 The first school board meeting since last week’s recall election was cut short after 90 minutes Tuesday night due to the district not properly posting the meeting's agenda online ahead of time, which is required by law. The board will hold a special meeting on Thursday where it will likely decide whether to lay off more than 300 school staff members. (Chronicle) 

• 🎆 On Tuesday night around 7:45 pm, a group of 10 to 15 cars stopped traffic on the Bay Bridge to…set off fireworks. A video of the rogue firework display can be seen here. (SFist) 

Food news: News about food and drink 

• 🙌 A new bakery in the Castro serving Hot Buns (“boutique cinnamon rolls”) and Dough Boys (“focaccia-style” personal pizzas) has opened. It’s called Chadwick’s, and it’s located on Market Street (near the Chevron station). (Tablehopper) 

• 🍕 Square Pie Guys is bringing its Detriot-style pizza to Ghirardelli Square this summer in what will be its third brick-and-mortar shop. “We walked into the space and we were like, ‘Holy crap, this is gorgeous,’” co-founder Danny Stoller said. (Eater) 

• 😭 On Wednesday, 48hills food writer Tamara Palmer shared her recipe for making at-home garlic noodles, which, she says, rival some of the best in the city. (48hills) 

What else I’m reading: Links to browse

Natural wine is now Millennial bohemia, raves, vibes. This S.F. bar embodies it all (Chronicle) 

‘When We Were Bullies’ lands S.F. filmmaker Jay Rosenblatt an Oscar nomination (Examiner) 

These ‘Jungle Steps’ in San Francisco Have Calming, Big Branch Energy (Bold Italic) 

And finally… Flower stand photos 🌸

I’ve driven by this flower stand countless times on 19th Avenue (and always thought the prices seemed super reasonable), but I’ve never stopped or taken the time to learn more. 

It’s called Brothers Papadopolous Flower Shop and this week, RichmondSunsetNews.com ran a nice photo series of the flower stand taken by local photographer, Jeremy Word. 

Here’s a link to the piece. 

As Word writes, the stand at 19th and Quintara Street opened in 1978 and is the only remaining of the three original Brothers Papadopolous locations. 

That’s all for today! Thanks so reading y’all and I’ll see you back here tomorrow! - Nick B.