Here’s how things looked last night on Market Street, with all the streetlights and giant snowflakes turned off for some reason.
Oh, baby, that’s dark:
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Could it have something to do with the jury-rigged, frat-house-style wiring our City Family uses?
I know not.
When, oh when, will our Path of Gold glitter once again?
[UPDATE - Here's the official spiel:
"Icebreaker makes Outdoor, Running, Cycling, Travel, Kids, Underwear and Lifestyle apparel from handpicked merino wool born in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. It's non-itch, easy to wash, lightweight, versatile, easily packable and no-stink (because merino is naturally anti-mircrobrial, you can wear it for days ow weeks without a wash).
Sustainability has been part of Icebreaker's ethos since the start. It has strict animal welfare and farm standards, and has a traceability program (called "Baacode") that enables people to use a unique code sewn inside their garment to trace the fiber back to the sheep stations that grew it all the way through its supply chain."
And OMG, it's "Ramotaur" and "Nature Girl" on the streets of SF:
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And one last thing:
"Ramotar will be appearing next weekend Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 12/2-12/4, 12pm-3pm, fliers in key SF locales, Union Square, Embarcadero, Ferry Building, etc. Also Friday and Saturday, 12/9-12/10, 12pm-3pm in the same locales."
O.K. then.]
So Icebreaker is that fashionable merino wool store from New Zealand where actor Orlando Bloom goes shopping for woolens…
… sometimes along with his gf, model Miranda Kerr:
Well guess what, this was the week that Icebreaker opened its first “TouchLab” store in Northern California. It’s down at 170 Post in Union Square.
See?
OMG, is that a wool chandelier?
All right, find out about the landlord, Grosvenor Americas, after the jump.
See you there!
Well, first there was this:
And then there was this:
Via Louise Macabitas – click to expand
So. now there’s this:
“President Yudof launches initiatives to address policing and protests
University of California President Mark G. Yudof moved on two fronts today (Tuesday, Nov. 22) to address policing issues in the wake of the pepper spraying of UC Davis students and other incidents involving law enforcement officers and protesters.
Acting in response to a written request from UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi, Yudof agreed to conduct a thorough review of the events of Nov. 18 on the Davis campus.
As a first step, Yudof reached out to former Los Angeles police chief William J. Bratton to undertake an independent fact-finding of the pepper spray incident and report back the results to him within 30 days.
Bratton, who also led the New York City police department, now heads the New York-based Kroll consulting company as chairman. He also is a renowned expert in progressive community policing.
“My intent,” Yudof said, “is to provide the Chancellor and the entire University of California community with an independent, unvarnished report about what happened at Davis.”
Assembly Speaker John A. Perez also had made a request to President Yudof and UC Regents Chair Sherry Lansing for an independent investigation.
Under the plan, Bratton’s report also will be presented to an advisory panel that Yudof is forming, again at Katehi’s request. The panel will consist of a cross-section of students, faculty, staff and other UC community members.
The advisory panel, whose members will be announced at a later date, will review the report and make recommendations to Chancellor Katehi on steps that should be taken to ensure the safety of peaceful protesters on campus. She will present her implementation plan to President Yudof.
On a second track, Yudof appointed UC General Counsel Charles Robinson and UC Berkeley School of Law Dean Christopher Edley Jr. to lead a system-wide examination of police protocols and policies as they apply to protests at all 10 UC campuses.
This effort will include visits to campuses for discussions with students, faculty and staff, and consultation with an array of experts.
The review is expected to result in recommended best practices for policing protests across the 10 UC campuses.
“With these actions,” Yudof said, “we are moving forward to identify what needs to be done to ensure the safety of students and others who engage in non-violent protests on UC campuses. The right to peaceful protest on all of our campuses must be protected.”
Just after we lose San Francisco’s so-called Twitter Tax (you know, the one former Mayor Gavin Newsom signed into law back in aught-four), comes today’s big announcement.
Deets below.
It’s time to party at Yelp:
“Yelp Files Registration Statement for Proposed Initial Public Offering
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 17, 2011– Yelp Inc. announced today that it has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) relating to a proposed initial public offering of its Class A common stock. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined. A portion of the shares will be issued and sold by Yelp, and a portion will be sold by certain stockholders of Yelp.
Goldman, Sachs & Co. will be the lead bookrunning manager and representative of the underwriters for the offering. Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Jefferies & Company, Inc. will be joint bookrunning managers, and Allen & Company LLC and Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. will be co-managers for the offering. This offering will be made only by means of a prospectus. A copy of the preliminary prospectus, when available, may be obtained from Goldman, Sachs & Co. at 200 West Street, New York, New York 10282, Attention: Prospectus Department, by calling (866) 471-2526 or by e-mailing prospectus-ny@ny.email.gs.com; Citigroup Global Markets Inc. at Brooklyn Army Terminal, 140 58th Street, 8th floor, Brooklyn, NY 11220, by calling (800) 831-9146 or by emailing batprospectusdept@citi.com; or Jefferies & Company, Inc. at 520 Madison Avenue, 12th Floor, New York, NY, 10022, Attention: Equity Syndicate Prospectus Department, by calling (877) 547-6340 or by emailing Prospectus_Department@
A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the SEC but has not yet become effective. These securities may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.”
I know some people who have been just waiting for this kind of thing from Icebreaker, that fashion dahling of the Hahvard Business Review.
Best of all, each piece of clothing comes with its own Baacode, so ewe can trace your purchase back to the Southern Alps of New Zealand.
All the deets here, and below.
Who’ll win this one? She has the reach but his posture tells you he wants it more:
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“Icebreaker Brings a Touch of New Zealand to the Heart of San Francisco - New Zealand merino wool apparel company’s first San Francisco store will launch November 21, prior to the grand opening of a full build-out in March 2012
Wellington, New Zealand (7 November 2011) – Icebreaker, the New Zealand company that pioneered the merino wool adventure apparel category, today announced it would “break the ice” in San Francisco with the opening of a retail store in San Francisco on November 21, 2011, just in time for the holidays. The Icebreaker store will be located at 170 Post Street, between Grant and Kearny Streets, just one block from Union Square.
San Franciscans will be in introduced to Icebreaker in two phases. The 1600 square foot location’s initial iteration will feature the complete Icebreaker line, showcasing its Outdoor, Running, Cycling, Travel, Kids, Underwear and City collections, all made from handpicked merino wool born in the Southern Alps of New Zealand.
In March 2012 the space will be fully built-out as a “TouchLab” store. A TouchLab store enables shoppers to touch Icebreaker raw merino fiber, as well as the various weights of apparel Icebreaker makes, and experience the pleasure of pure, soft, breathable merino, which offers instant warmth, coolness in the summer, is sun safe and antimicrobial and can be machine washed.
“People in San Francisco love the outdoors and have a great appreciation for nature and natural products, so this area is the perfect location for our newest TouchLab,” said Jeremy Moon, Icebreaker’s founder and CEO. “San Franciscans are our ideal customer: savvy shoppers who appreciate apparel that looks as fantastic as it performs.
“Icebreaker is perfect for the Bay Area climate. Merino wool performs beautifully anywhere, be it on the slopes of Tahoe, during a bike ride through Wine Country or on a summer evening in the city.”
Natural, sustainably produced Icebreaker merino regulates body temperature in all climates, is highly breathable to prevent the clamminess associated with synthetics, and protects wearers from the sun’s harmful rays. It’s also no stink, resisting odour and wearable for days – sometimes weeks – without washing.
Icebreaker opened its flagship TouchLab store in New York City in December 2010 and also has TouchLab stores on the West Coast in Portland, Oregon (home of its US headquarters) and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It also has a TouchLab in Montréal, Canada. The Icebreaker San Francisco pop-up store will be open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m.- 8p.m., and Sundays, 11 a.m.-7 p.m., (415) 399-9615.
“New Zealand’s merinos produce a wool that has a very fine diameter, which makes it soft and breathable yet with high insulation value for warmth.”
– TIME magazine
“The thin construction leverages wool’s breathability and natural wicking properties, so you don’t suffocate when a run heats up.”
– Runner’s World
“It wicks like a champ and is as comfortable as cotton.”
– Backpacker magazine
Icebreaker Clothing
Launched in 1994, Icebreaker was the first company in the world to develop a merino fibre layering system for the outdoors. It was also the first outdoor apparel company in the world to source merino directly from growers, a system it began in 1997. The Icebreaker apparel system includes underwear, mid layer garments, outerwear, socks and accessories. There are outdoor, technical and lifestyle categories, each with its own specific fabrics and design details. Icebreaker is sold in more than 3000 stores in 43 countries.Based in Wellington, New Zealand, Icebreaker uses only pure merino handpicked from 140 high country stations in the country’s Southern Alps to create adventure clothing for women, men and kids that combines nature’s work with human technology and design. The company is committed to sustainability, ethical manufacturing and animal welfare. In 2008 the company launched “Icebreaker Baacode,” a pioneering supply chain transparency and traceability program. Each Icebreaker includes a unique Baacode, which enables customers to trace the garment online from rearing the sheep through to each stage of the supply chain process.”
This was the scene yesterday on Market Street near Gough:
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Is the National Labor Relations Board involved with something to do with McRoskey Mattress Company, that longtime manufacturer of absurdly expensive mattresses, as well as absurdly expensive pillows and, well, you get the idea? I think so.
Anyway, if you ever want to buy a cot for $2000+, or a twin bed for $3600 (plus tax of course), well, just push past the protesters and shop, shop, shop.
[UPDATE: And here's Dan Schreiber's take. And here's Ron Russell. And oh, check out below for PG&E Currents' take - appears as if a great deal of our "City Family" was on hand at this fiasco.]
[UPDATE II: And here comes Joe Eskenazi to rip the cover off of the ball:
"Lee presided over a heartwarming, press-friendly event featuring kiddies, baseball, and the company that blew up the adjacent town."
Mercy! Take the next three days off, Joe. You deserve it. Oh, and readers, don't miss this part:
"Mayor Lee's comments praised PG&E's support of a literacy program -- period," said Lee spokesman Tony Winnicker.
Uh no, maybe that's he meant to do, Icky Renown Nit (do the math, kids that's "Tony Winnicker" rearranged - it means, well, forget about what it means - "wonky" is in there too but I couldn't get the rest of the letters to cooperate), but, in fact, what he did was call PG&E "a great local corporation" and "a great company that get's it." Spinning too much, as you oftentimes do, Tony, well, that's called "lying."
But, prove me wrong. Tell me, when, exactly, did Ed Lee ever "hold PG&E accountable" for its lies about the issues at hand, you know, the ones that have just recently come to light? Ever? Recently?]
ZOMG. In the words of Hannibal Lecter, what could be more inappropriate?
Per “Interim Mayor” Ed Lee and via writer Amy Crawford:
“Isn’t that a wonderful contribution from a great local corporation?” Lee said. “They’re a great company that gets it.”
WTF?
Now, truth be told, this “gets it” language comes straight from the Gavin Newsom administration – this was one of Gavin’s pet phrases for the City’s public-private Corporation of the Day. So it’s understandable how it could sneak into Ed Lee’s brain.
But, again, WTF?
Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job:
Via David Yu - click to expand
Anyway, here’s the pouncing. so far.
From City Attorney Dennis Herrera:
“Herrera criticizes Ed Lee’s lavish praise for PG&E on eve of one-year anniversary of San Bruno blast
Against the backdrop of devastating findings by NTSB earlier this week—a day after another gas line blast in Cupertino—Lee calls PG&E ‘a great company that gets it’
San Francisco – City Attorney Dennis Herrera today criticized interim Mayor Ed Lee for poor judgment and insensitivity to the families of San Bruno blast victims for participating in a PG&E public relations event yesterday, and praising the state’s largest utility for being “a great corporation” and a “great company that gets it.” Lee’s quote was reported in this morning’s edition of the San Francisco Examiner, which also questioned the timing of Lee’s participation with PG&E-sponsored corporate publicity just days after the National Transportation Safety Board issued devastating findings that blamed the utility for the deadly explosion of a gas transmission line in San Bruno, Calif. last, which resulted in the loss of eight lives and the total destruction of 38 homes.
The one-year anniversary of that tragedy is coming up next week, on Sept. 9.
“Ed Lee’s lavish praise for PG&E as ‘a great corporation’ on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the San Bruno tragedy, just days after federal regulators blamed the utility for a ‘litany of failures’ that claimed eight lives, is unconscionable,” said Herrera. “It shows insensitivity to victims’ families, and poor judgment for allowing his office to be used as a corporate PR tool. No less troubling, it ignores the serious work my office and others have done to protect San Franciscans from PG&E’s negligence, to prevent further explosions like those in San Bruno last year and in Cupertino on Wednesday. The interim Mayor should reassess his laudatory view of PG&E, and apologize to San Bruno victims’ families.”
PG&E, which according to its most recent annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission generated $13.8 billion in revenue in 2010, donated $250,000 to a local youth program at a corporate PR event yesterday.
PG&E runs three major gas transmission lines whose integrity and safety has come into question under nine high-population-density neighborhoods in San Francisco, where hundreds of thousands of people live and work. One of those includes the very same line that failed catastrophically in San Bruno last year, and another that dates back to the 1930s. Major facilities threatened by the failure of these inadequately inspected transmission lines include numerous schools and recreation centers, San Francisco City College, and San Francisco General Hospital, which typically contains more than 5,000 acute care patients and visitors, medical professionals and staff. Significant stretches of Highway 101 and Highway 280 additionally run over the antiquated lines.
On July 14, 2011, Herrera took the first step toward suing state and federal regulators for not reasonably enforcing gas pipeline safety standards against PG&E as required by the federal Pipeline Safety Act. Herrera’s notice of intent to sue is a legally required precursor to civil litigation by San Francisco, which will seek a federal court order to compel the CPUC and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to enforce federal pipeline safety standards in an effective manner against the utility giant.”
And from Supervisor John Avalos:
Statement from Supervisor John Avalos on Ed Lee Calling PG&E is “A Great Corporation”
I was frankly astonished to read Mayor Lee praising PG&E in the newspaper this morning, mere days after the National Transportation Safety Board found that the 2010 blast in San Bruno that killed 8 people and destroyed 38 homes was the result of PG&Es “multiple, recurring deficiencies” which were “evidence of a systemic problem.”
Ed Lee called PG&E a “great corporation” yesterday–a great corporation who spent $50 million last year trying to pass a ballot measure that would ensure their monopoly in places like San Francisco instead of repairing and inspecting pipes like the one that caused this terrible destruction. Now this “great” corporation want its customers to foot the bills for its negligence and bad practices? Ed Lee says that this corporation “gets it.” PG&E seem to “get” that a symbolic donation to a charity at the height of their unpopularity might help their rate-payers forget the catastrophic results of their negligence and bad practices.
The residents of that neighborhood in San Bruno will not forget. The families of those who lost their lives that day will not forget. And anyone who fought to defeat Proposition 16, in an effort to maintain a city’s right to produce their own power won’t forget the blatant cynicism of this corporation.
I’m deeply disappointed, and I would like Mayor Lee to tell San Franciscans what makes this corporation “great” and what it is besides insider politics and business as usual that PG&E “gets.”
##
ABOUT JOHN AVALOS:
John Avalos represents San Francisco’s District 11, including the neighborhoods of the Outer Mission, Excelsior, and OMI. He is a third generation Mexican-American, the son of an ILWU longshoreman and an office manager. He is one of seven children. John earned a master’s degree in social work from San Francisco State University. He and his wife, Karen Zapata, a fourth-grade teacher at San Francisco Community School, own a home in the Excelsior. Their young children Rene and Emiliano attend San Francisco Community School, a District 11 public school.”
Here’s the old title of this bit:
Dear Mayor Ed Lee: Just Because PG&E Supports Your Political Faction Doesn’t Make It a “Great Local Corporation”
But then I got these releases so I changed it.
Anyway, how much of a bubble is Ed Lee in? How long did that take, less than eight months? Doesn’t he know how the real world perceives Rose Pak? Doesn’t he know that PG&E just got busted by the Feds for it’s behavior before, during and after the San Bruno pipeline explosion?
“Holding court at the party for the opening of the new airport terminal, Rose was seated at the table with interim Mayor Ed Lee and his wife, Anita, and a host of other local officials.
“I want every one of you to call his office and tell him he should run for mayor,” Rose told the table. “And do it right away so that there’s no misunderstanding.”
Then she turned to the architect David Gensler.
“Didn’t you do this terminal?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said.
“Didn’t you remodel this terminal before?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Then your firm should raise a million dollars for his election campaign.”
Poor Gensler, he didn’t know what hit him.”
And here’s PG&E’s view of the affair:
“San Francisco: With Support from PG&E, RBI Program Goes to Bat for Literacy at Bessie Carmichael School
An innovative program that helps improve the reading skills of students at Bessie Carmichael Elementary School in San Francisco got a boost from PG&E on Thursday, Sept. 1.
San Francisco RBI, in a partnership with Major League Baseball, was created in 2010 to help ensure that local at-risk youth in underserved areas of the city can learn essential life skills and the fundamentals of baseball and softball. San Francisco RBI provides year-round programs to the students at Bessie Carmichael School, with a focus on literacy, the arts, health, nutrition, and baseball and softball skills.
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee reads to students at Bessie Carmichael School on Thursday.
On Thursday, PG&E contributed $250,000 to the program at an event at the school and the adjacent Victoria Manalo Draves Park baseball diamond in the city’s South of Market neighborhood.
Local leaders, including San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr, Recreation and Parks Department General Manager Phil Ginsburg and Board of Education President Hydra Mendoza, read to the students. San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Carlos Garcia and sports media personalities Vern Glenn (KRON-TV) and Kevin Radich (KGO radio) also took part in the event.
“These are challenging economic times and it is important for us to unite as a community to support the children of San Francisco as they learn and grow in our schools and on the field to become the leaders of tomorrow,” said San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee. He thanked San Francisco RBI and PG&E for partnering with the city “to offer a unique investment in our youth as they prepare to compete in the 21st century workforce.”
After throwing out a first pitch to Jim Messemer, executive director of San Francisco RBI, Mayor Lee told about 200 kindergarten and first-grade students to follow the group’s credo: Reach. Believe. Inspire.
He also praised PG&E for its involvement in the project and the community.
“PG&E is a great local company who gets it,” Lee said. “A great corporation has given a grant to RBI to help local kids.”
The partnership with San Francisco RBI is a good example of PG&E’s efforts to support the communities where it provides power and where its 20,000 employees work and live.
“As a longtime member of the San Francisco community, we are proud to team up with San Francisco RBI and Bessie Carmichael School to give these students the resources they need to succeed,” said Chris Johns, PG&E’s president and a board member of the PG&E Corporation Foundation. “Expanding the reach of this exciting literacy program is critical to ensuring that we are developing the young minds that will help shape our future.”
School principal Jeff Burgos spoke to the students in three languages – English, Spanish and Tagalog – while Police Chief Suhr told them, “The better you read, the safer you can be.”
From Vic Wong of Mission Mission comes this security tip from the Mission Bicycle Company.
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Looks good to me.
And it’s much better than this method, seen in the SoMA:
Remember the former mayor’s P.O.S. Chevy Tahoe with an engine bigger than that found in the city buses from the failed CultureBus program?
It was necessary for his safety or something. Oh, here it is, parked in a bike lane for an hour or two on a Healthy Saturday, or a Healthy Sunday, or a Healthy Holiday – mem’ry fades…
Anyway, that machine is long gone so here’s the new ride for our new “interim” Mayor – it’s a Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid.
See? Mr. Pig’s Wild Ride:
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All right, Remedial Ed:
“The Chevrolet Volt is Not an Electric Car – Repeticion: El Chevy Volt No Es Un Coche Electrico“
Are we on the same page now? Good.
Let’s see here, even if you keep this rig charged up and topped off with juice all the time, it’s going to burn fuel from its gas tank, right? I mean at least some of the time. (The people at Government Motors recommend a half a tank of fuel for people who intend to drive around mostly in electric mode.)
Regardless of what anybody tells you, this machine will burn gasoline – it has to, by design. It’s programmed to do so, actually.
So avert your gaze here:
“The Mountain Mode option gathers an energy reserve in the lithium-ion battery so that the car has the full power of both the gasoline engine and the electric powertrain behind it for, say, navigating a series of San Francisco inclines.”
Or I don’t know, just drain every last drop of gas from the tank and fill it up with sawdust and then see how far you and your Volt make it, I don’t care.
Or, just get a Nissan Leaf – that probably would have been the better move, considering the stated parameters.
Oh well.
Anyway, those are the differences between the old and new mayors so far – nothing else has changed.
All right, here’s what you need to know about the Stow Lake thing (oh, more here as well):
The vote against hanging on with the existing tenant, the one what’s filed a lawsuit, was five to zero from those people who poured over all the competing bids.
So, the question to the hysterics at SaveStowLake is why did the existing tenant lose 5-0? Do you wanna say that the five were hand-picked recruits for ghastly pursuits, well, then, come out and say it, allege it. I mean, there are reasons the existing tenant lost, right? They have been detailed, in authentic-looking, hand-written notes. If you want to find corruption, I invite to look there.
(And of course, Supervisor Eric Mar, who seldom finds himself “in the pockets of the corporations” or wherever, stabbed you in the back or something. Fine.)
Oh, in other business, this statement from the Northside rag is a lie:
“The Ortegas even offered to more than double their yearly base rent to $315,000 and run the boathouse as-is, but Ginsburg’s cash-strapped department turned them down.”
I know where this idea comes from, it comes from the end of a hearing at City Hall, but you can’t quote a clause as a complete sentence, that’s the basic problem with that.
All right, first some duckies from Stow Lake, and then, after the jump, all the deets on why Ortega won the contract.
Enjoy.
