It's been a busy few days in the Castro, and with a lot to report, it's time for a rare mid-week roundup to get you up to speed.
Memorial for Anastasia
On Saturday, February 7th from 3pm to 6pm, the Eagle at 398 12th St. will be holding a benefit beer bust to help cover the costs of a memorial planned for Anastasia, the homeless person whose death we reported last month. The memorial will be held at Sullivan's Funeral Home with a date that has not yet been set. Sullivan's is donating its chapel for the memorial.
Donna Merlino, an activist with Margaret Cho's "Be Robin" campaign, has been organizing the memorial and coordinating with the SF Medical Examiners office and the Mayor's homeless czar, Bevan Dufty, at HOPE. Merlino told Hoodline that Dufty was able to negotiate with the Medical Examiners office to release the remains of Anastasia to Merlino. Merlino said that the benefit at the Eagle is hoping to raise $1,250 to cover the costs of the the memorial and an urn to house Anastasia's remains. Any money donated over that amount will go to the Homeless Youth Alliance.
If you'd like to help Merlino out by fronting some of the costs for the beer bust benefit (specifically covering food costs) or would like to donate ahead of the event to Anastasia's memorial fund, you can email Merlino at donnamerlino [at] gmail [dot] com.
Supervisor Wiener to chair Transport Board
Yesterday, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority Board elected our very own District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener to chair the 25-year old agency. The Transportation Authority spearheads strategic planning and allocates funding for transportation-related projects in San Francisco. In addition to his role in expanding the city's bike share program and pushing the pedestrian safety program Vision Zero, Supervisor Wiener is one of the very few supervisors who actually uses our beleaguered public transportation system each day.
As Streetsblog reported, Supervisor Wiener successfully challenged Mayor Ed Lee last November with a referendum tying the Muni's failing budget to population growth after Mayor Lee reneged on a promise to support a ballot measure increasing the local Vehicle License Fee to help pay for Muni infrastructure upgrades (like new and more trains) and maintenance costs (like fixing broken trains).
Cookie Dough back in US, being treated for meningitis
We reported this past weekend on the hospitalization of Cookie Dough, a local drag personality who suffered a brain edema while in Puerto Vallarta reprising her role as Sophia Petrillo in the drag rendition of The Golden Girls.
Cookie is back in the United States and under the care of her primary care physician at Kaiser Medical Center. Doctors at Kaiser have diagnosed Cookie with meningitis, a diagnosis in which time of treatment is of the essence. In a post on Facebook, Pollo Del Mar expressed frustration that the diagnosis didn't come sooner:
"I do not personally know much details about this illness, its progression or how it impacts the body, but DO know for certain it was not one of the MYRIAD of bullshit scenarios we were told here she suffered. (Sorry, I am frustrated she laid in a very nice Mexican facility, completely mis-diagnosed for days.)"
The GoFundMe campaign set up to help cover the medical and travel costs has blown past its $40k goal and is on its way to a new goal of $100k at just over $50k.
Local Castro man gets lucky on The Price Is Right
One local Castro man, Stephen Kling, made it on the long-running television game show The Price is Right in an episode which aired. Kling went home with a treadmill and two motor scooters, but missed out on the BMW grand prize by one number. Check out the video here:
h/t DowntownDonna, Dennis
