We will be holding our first quarter Bernal Business Alliance meeting on Thursday, March 9th at 3:00 in Bernal Star’s back cottage at 410 Cortland Ave and hope you can join us!

Topics we will cover:

• Kayren Hudiburgh from Good Life Grocery will review conditions for constructing two new 3-story buildings adjacent to her store at 436, 434, and 432 Cortland, which is planned to begin building this year. This construction is estimated to take at least two years and will impact all our businesses. The SF Planning department is scheduled to review the design and construction plans and any concerns we may have on Thursday, March 23rd, beginning at 1:00. This is our chance to be informed and prepared as a business community before this major project begins.
• BBA organization update – We finalized the paperwork to become a 501C-6 non-profit organization officially and should receive our certification next week! With this certification, we can open a new bank account, begin collecting membership dues and join the San Francisco Merchant Association to stay connected and eligible for future grants for our organization.
• We are very grateful to those of you who have agreed to serve on this new BBA board with me and Mike from Understanding Commerce, Alan from Bernal Beast, Kate from our artist community, Jing from Therapy  Vega representing our restaurants, and Amanda representing our residential community. We can have up to 9 board members, so please let me know if you are interested.
• Earth Day Stroll – we can organize an Earth Day Stroll for Saturday, April 22nd, from 11- 4:00. If folks are interested in participating and potentially inviting environmentally conscious organizations to join us along Cortland, let’s discuss this at our meeting.
• Bernal Connect website – Mike is working on a new website, bernalconnect.com, that will link to and from our BBA website to showcase local businesses and help people find one another. He will feature all BBA members and their businesses over the coming year, which will be a great resource for our community.
• Marketing: An encouragement for advertising our businesses from a fellow merchant got me thinking about a fun interactive campaign that would work on social media. I know it’s not original, but “Better in Bernal” could be a short # with great photos of our restaurants, stores, views, organizations, etc., starting with Instagram and continuing with posters, postcards, merchandise, bus sides…brainstorm away!

I look forward to seeing everyone and getting your thoughts on these ideas. Until then, stay warm and dry and hopefully open! Laurie

Laurie Kanes

[email protected]

415-829-8292