Personally, I’m thinking the SFPD could have done a better job with the photos they released of the two suspects in last week’s tragedy in the Sunset District. Anyway, find an effort at enhancing the photos below.
The very wide and usually quiet Moraga Street:
Here’s Polly’s versions of the SFPD-released captures:
Click to expand
That’s it, there aren’t any official updates for this case.
*Moraga Avenue isn’t in the Avenues, it’s in the Presidio, for some reason.
Yesterday’s announcement of a sinkhole affecting N-Judah service in the Sunset District didn’t sound like any big deal at first:
“Feb 5, 2010 to Feb 7, 2010 - SF Muni N-Judah Line Delay: On Saturday, February 6, SF Muni reports delays on the inbound N-Judah Line at Judah and 29th Avenue due to a street closure involving a sinkhole near the inbound tracks. N trains are turning back at Judah and 19th Avenue and bus shuttles are being provided until further notice.”
And, in fact, the actual sinkhole location itself looks unremarkable, excepting for all the signs all around it.
But check it – appears as if work crews might be spending the next two weeks onsite at 29th and Judah:
”WE WILL TOW,” says MUNI. No doubt.
People riding the N Judah buses this AM seemed relatively unaffected* by the loss of the trolleys, but that probably won’t be the case on Monday if the tracks aren’t usable.
Or, maybe, the City’s taciturn work crews will be able to get a quick fix in this weekend and then work on a better job over the next week or so? Perhaps there’s an ongoing issue there anyway and this whole deal is a big nothingburger with a side order of nada?
MUNI probably has a pretty good idea on what will occur but they aren’t officially saying anything yet.
Only Time Will Tell.
Le mise-en-scene ce matin:
An avid radio fan, call-sign Star Scream (srsly, perhaps ironically), hepped me to when the supervisors would show up this AM, and lo, he was spot-on. (Radio – it’s like the Internet but without pictures.)
Note the cracks nearby the purported sinkhole…
…and then compare them with these nearby bits (could we call them railroad ties?) that appear to be waiting to go:
Good luck, MUNI!
[UPDATE: If you believe what Next MUNI is saying, then the trolleys will be rolling across the sinkhole spot by this afternoon, February 7th.]
*So people trying to get to MUNI’s Town Hall Meeting today (maybe it’s still going on) should be able to make it. MUNI likes these kinds of meetings because they disunite riders (because of infighting over the preservation of service on particular lines) and they unite the disparate elements of MUNI. (Is the state of California really “taking away” money from MUNI or just not giving as much money to MUNI?) Regardless, if enough people hammer on the importance of one particular line, that can make a difference…
Once again, our little town is getting some attention from the Roberts Court – an order just came down from the U.S. Supremes about their temporary ban on broadcasts of Perry vs. Schwarzenegger, San Francisco’s Proposition 8 / gay rights case.
It’s interesting to note that vaunted Vaughn R. Walker, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, was working on this very issue of cameras in the courtroom just few months back.
San Francisco City Hall Examiner Sweet Melissa Griffin makes a point as Judge Walker looks on, as seen last year:
The Future is Coming, of course, so we’ll have federal trials on YouTube sooner or later…
Filling up the void of information comes attorney Ted Olson. Get his punta de vista from this morning below.
UPDATE: And get the text of his opening statement after the jump.
Ted Olson to Make Opening Statement in Prop. 8 Trial/Avail Info
Trial on Unconstitutionality of Prop. 8 Begins in U.S. District Court; Plaintiffs To Testify First For latest information, visit equalrightsfoundation.org
The federal trial over the unconstitutionality of Proposition 8 will begin Monday, January 11 with an opening statement by attorney Theodore Olson, who with David Boies is leading the legal team assembled by the American Foundation for Equal Rights to litigate the case, Perry v. Schwarzenegger. Opening statements will be followed by testimony from Kris Perry, Sandy Stier, Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo, who comprise two couples who wish to be married but who were denied marriage licenses because of Proposition 8.
– For courthouse access information, visit:
https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cand/09cv2292/
– For information about remote viewing locations, visit:
http://www.equalrightsfoundation.org/news/watch-prop-8-trial-live/
– Visit http://www.equalrightsfoundation.org/ for updates regarding
potential broadcast of trial, photos, any available footage, court
filings, live tweets from the courthouse and more.
– Plaintiff’s case is outlined at
http://www.equalrightsfoundation.org/legal-filings/plaintiffs-trial-brief/
Olson and Boies notably represented George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore respectively in the 2000 Supreme Court case that decided the presidency.
At trial, Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker of the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, will weigh witness testimony, a multitude of documents and other evidence, and arguments presented by some of the nation’s most distinguished attorneys.
“This unequal treatment of gays and lesbians denies them the basic liberties and equal protection under the law that are guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution,” the plaintiffs’ suit states.
According to the suit, Prop. 8:
– Violates the Due Process Clause by impinging on fundamental liberties.
– Violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
– Singles out gays and lesbians for a disfavored legal status, thereby
creating a category of “second-class citizens.”
– Discriminates on the basis of gender.
– Discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation.
Olson and Boies will also point out the “crazy quilt” of separate, unequal and unconstitutional classifications of people that Prop. 8 has compelled the California government to create:
– Opposite-sex couples who have full marriage rights
– Same-sex couples who have no marriage rights
– Same-sex couples married between May and Nov. 2008 whose current
marriages are recognized, but who will be unable to remarry if widowed
or divorced
– Same-sex couples married in other states who may petition California
for recognition.
The defendants have the burden of demonstrating that Prop. 8 is narrowly drawn to serve a compelling government interest. Olson and Boies will demonstrate at trial, however, that the initiative fails to advance even a single legitimate interest. Tellingly, when asked by Chief Judge Walker at an Oct. 14 hearing to identify any harm to opposite-sex marriage that would result from marriage equality, the defendants’ attorney answered “I don’t know.”
The case against Prop. 8 has proceeded with uncommon speed toward trial. In an order issued after the first hearing in the case, Chief Judge Walker stated: “Given that serious questions are raised in these proceedings … the court is inclined to proceed directly and expeditiously to the merits of plaintiffs’ claims. … The just, speedy and inexpensive determination of these issues would appear to call for proceeding promptly to trial.”
“More than 30 years ago, the United States Supreme Court recognized that marriage is one of the basic rights of man,” the suit states, referring to the Court’s decision in Loving v. Virginia.
Chad Griffin, board president of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, noted that near the time when the Supreme Court struck down interracial marriage bans with its 1967 Loving v. Virginia decision, a Gallup poll found that 73 percent of Americans did not approve of interracial marriage.
While Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown were named defendants in their official capacities, along with other state and county officials, Prop. 8 is being defended in court by a prominent conservative organization, the Alliance Defense Fund. Gov. Schwarzenegger earlier filed a brief that did not dispute the unconstitutionality of Prop. 8, and called for swift action by the courts. Attorney General Brown, the state’s chief law enforcement officer, filed a brief agreeing with the plaintiffs’ position that Prop. 8 is unconstitutional.
The ACLU, Lambda Legal, and National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) are participating in the case as amici (friends of the court) in support of the plaintiffs. The City and County of San Francisco, led by City Attorney Dennis Herrera and Chief Deputy City Attorney Therese Stewart, are supporting the plaintiffs’ team as co-counsel, with a specific focus on the negative impact Prop. 8 has on government services and budgets. Herrera and Stewart led the legal battle toward the California Supreme Court decision that struck down California’s previous same-sex marriage ban.
The American Foundation for Equal Rights Advisory Board, which was announced January 9th, includes Julian Bond, Lt. Dan Choi, Margaret Hoover, Dolores Huerta, Cleve Jones, Stuart Milk, David Mixner, Hillary Rosen and Judy Shepard. For more information, see http://www.equalrightsfoundation.org/press-releases/american-foundation-for-eq ual-rights-names-advisory-board/.
Olson is a former U.S. Solicitor General and is widely regarded as one of the nation’s preeminent constitutional lawyers, and has argued 55 cases in the U.S. Supreme Court. Boies ranks as one of the leading trial lawyers of his generation, having secured landmark victories for clients in numerous areas of the law. This is the first time they have served alongside each other as co-counsel.
Kris Perry and Sandy Stier have been together for nine years and are the parents of four boys. Perry is Executive Director of First 5 California, a state agency that promotes education and health for children under five. She holds a BA from the University of California, Santa Cruz and an MSW from San Francisco State University. Stier is Information Technology Director for the Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Services Agency. She is originally from Iowa and is a graduate of the University of Iowa. Perry and Stier first tried to marry in 2004, after the City of San Francisco began issuing licenses. They live in Berkeley, CA.
Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo have been together for eight years. Katami is a fitness expert and business owner who graduated from Santa Clara University before receiving his graduate degree from UCLA. Zarrillo is the General Manager of a theater exhibition company. A native of New Jersey, Zarrillo graduated from Montclair State University. Having wanted to marry each other for more than two years, they considered options including traveling to other states for a “civil union,” but felt any alternative fell short of marriage. They live in Burbank, CA.
They have issued the following joint statement: “We and our relationships should be treated equally under the law. Our goal is to advance the cause of equality for all Americans, which is the promise that makes this nation so great.”
Source: American Foundation for Equal Rights
Web Site: http://www.equalrightsfoundation.org/
Hey, why not try all three solutions at the same time?
As here, on Judah, near 19th Avenue:
Click to expand
The flying rats are everywhere. When will they leave us?
This is how it goes when you’re a little less than cooperative and you’re arrested for burglary on Duboce near Steiner in San Francisco. You’ll have SFPD ten cops sitting around waiting for the paddy wagon.
When the van arrives you’ll get picked up by four of them and get carried away horizontally and face down.
Click to expand:
That’s the difference between an arrest and a Terry Stop, which one officer can do all by his lonesome.
And oh yes, feel free to use the term mother fucker as a noun of direct address as you get spirited away.
It’s your right as an arrestee, after all.
Until recently, there were two bus stops on the same side of this short block of Hayes Street near Masonic. See?
But a few of the stops had to go away to comply with the new changes that came about on December 6, 2009.
The remaining stops got a bit of sprucing up last week, with red paint and what not:
Click to expand.
Of course there’s no shelter to replace the ones that got taken away, but you can’t have everything in Life, right? You can’t expect a minor bus line to have four stops just for itself within a 200 foot radius forever, right?
Hurray.
He also lives across San Francisco Bay up in Marin County - at San Quentin, on Death Row.
Kill some people and you just might get a few acolytes spray painting your visage all over town .
Click to expand
UPDATE: Or Lou Reed. Something like founding the Velvet Underground will get you some attention too. See comments.
They call it Bus Stop Consolidation and it’s happening right now this morning on the #21 Hayes line. A crew comes along and the next thing you know, your favorite bus shelter is rolling down the street and into oblivion.
But amazingly, this block will still have one stop left (after losing two!) and then there are other stops close by. It’s sort of ridiculous to have one or two (on the same side of the street!) stops on every block, right?
Click to expand
Hurray!
Thanks, MUNI. (Seriously.)
As promised, San Francisco’s federal judges hosted a conference this afternoon at the Old Federal Building that focused on the changing nature of the news media. Check it:
“How Blogs, Twitter and Social Media are Changing Legal Reporting“
Today’s draw was famous legal commentator Sweet Melissa Griffin, who kicked things off by revealing to the judges a surreptitious recording that she had just made.
Melissa holding up her small recording device. So tricksy:
Click to expand
That led into an interesting conversation covering new media and our courts. (I’ll link to the video after it gets posted – these bits from John Steele and Kimberly A. Kralowec) should hold you until then). Be sure to listen for Judge Susan Illston talk about how she worked hard to be media friendly when preparing for the Barry Bonds trial and how she wonders just who the media is these days.
Speaking of which, there was a ton of media there, so you’ll be sure to hear more about this conference in the coming days.
It’s nice to see all the people in the federal court system working on these issues. Hurray!
