“Think barring your doors with 2x4s will keep your stuff safe in Oakland?”
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Posts Tagged ‘dept.’
Haight Ashbury Street Festival Cavalcade of Photos
Sunday, June 9th, 2013Well it’s the morning of the second Sunday of June, so that means it’s almost time for the Haight Ashbury Street Festival.
Lets take a look at some photos from recent years.
Look up…
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…and down…
…and all around:
From Bluoz: Upper Haight is for Lovers:
Let your freak flag fly, baby. From the Eastern Stage:
And here’s one from Chris Witte:
There’s a feeling I get/
when I look to the West…
…and the East…
…on Haight Street on the Second Sunday in June.
At least the Yelpers like Frank:
This ganga guy in purple will sue you for $1000 if you take his photo, or something:
And Obama in a Giants cap, just the way they had it at the recent Union Street Festival:
You know who loves the Haight Street Fair? Parole agents
A mass of humanity:
Hookahs! Get your hookahs! It’s Hookahs.com
A dancing baby grooving on Haight Street:
Can you see the superfluity of nuns in white approaching the Fair? Also note the F430 Ferrari supercar (sans license plates), one of many exoticars that made the journey to the Upper Haight today. Also note the sign: “No Open Containers of Alcohol.” Too bad.
Of course, all you need to get around the alcohol ban is a gallon jug of overproofed white rum and a giveaway “water” bottle. As seen on Ashbury.
Former District Five Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi on the scene
Poorbot looking for handouts:
“SHOW US YOUR BOOBS… please.” “FABULOUS PRIZES.” “DON’T WORRY (WE’RE GAY)” These inebriates residing above the Ben & Jerry’s at the corner of Ashbury were true to their word, tossing down trinkets to all flashers male and female.
You kmow why this San Francisco Native baby is better than you? Cause he had the foresight to be born in San Francisco, that’s why. He won the lottery/ when he was born.
And There You Have It.
Some Fair Points are Made Here by SFPD Police Chief Greg Suhr: “SFPD Response to ACLU Arrest Racial Disparity Report”
Wednesday, June 5th, 2013Not exactly sure which “local newspaper” San Francisco Police Department Chief Greg Suhr is referencing today, so this bit from Chris Roberts posted yesterday in the San Francisco Examiner will have to suffice:
Report: Blacks Arrested Four Times As Often As Whites For Marijuana
Looks like the ACLU report applies to the whole country, Vermont, Iowa, Illinois:
Anyway, here’s the response from Chief Suhr:
“SFPD Response to ACLU Arrest Racial Disparity Report.
In one of the local newspapers this morning, it was stated that African Americans are arrested at a far higher rate than whites, according to an ACLU report issued today. This is not so. The San Francisco Police Department does not racially profile. No one is arrested in sufficient numbers for marijuana possession here in San Francisco to substantiate such a claim. In fact, the article even states that there were only 11 people arrested for misdemeanor marijuana possession in all of 2011, Chief Suhr’s first year as Chief.
To put this number in context, in 2011, the SFPD made over 23,000 arrests, of which 14,000 were classified as misdemeanors. Today, Chief Suhr reviewed all 11 misdemeanor marijuana arrest reports from 2011. All 11 misdemeanor marijuana charges were secondary to other charges, e.g., outstanding warrants, weapons possession, drunk in public, for which the person (four white males, three black males, two black females, one Hispanic male, and one white female) were arrested and booked.
It is evident that the misdemeanor marijuana arrests cited in the article were made using sound police procedure pertaining to criminal activity and not by racial profiling.
http://sf-police.org/index.aspx?appType=5&recordid=685
San Francisco Police Department
sf-police.org”
Does somebody want to look into these arrests, to see if the SFPD is using sound police procedure pertaining to criminal activity and not by using racial profiling?
Well, be my guest and let us know how it goes.
Until then, it looks like ACLU 0, Greg Suhr 1.
OMG, the City of Pasadena is Selling Folding Bikes for Just $215? Isn’t This Program Better Than the SFMTA’s Bike Share?
Monday, June 3rd, 2013Word comes from the San Francisco Examiner’s Mike Billings of the City of Santa Monica’s new FoldnGo program.
So, Pasadenians will be able to buy a small Dahon folding bike for $214.99?
Isn’t this a lot cheaper, you know, per bike, than the SFMTA’s / BAAQMD’s expensive bike sharing scheme?
Hell yes. Plus, you, Fellow San Franciscan, end up with a bicycle of your own.
Hey, where’s my almost-free Dahon bike, SFMTA?
You know who’s excited about Pasadena already? Dahon Girl 2009, that’s who:
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Oh, what’s that, giving away bicycles ala Santa Monica is NOT a jobs program? Because most of the money would necessarily go into bikes instead of salaries and benefits and pensions?
And the SFMTA is really an employment agency instead of the (very slow, slowest in America) transit agency it claims to be?
Oh, so I guess, for that reason, we won’t be getting a Pasadena-style program up here in the 415.
‘Cause I’ll tell you, SF’s new bikeshare program is of zero interest to me, as a supposed user. And I’ll tell you, most of the money for San Francisco’s bike share program will end up paying the employees instead of paying for the large, heavy, expensive, undesirable equipment for the program.
Last time I checked. the San Francisco Fire Department spends 91% of its budget on salaries / related expenses and just 9% on equipment. Will our bike share program end up with that kind of percentage after it ends? We’ll see.
Of course, when you’re giving away or heavily subsidizing a bike program as Pasadena is doing, you’re going to run into corruption and fraud type of problems.
But guess what, we going to have these issues* with Alta Bicycle Share in our taxpayer-funded program as well.
So what’s the diff?**
Oh well.
*And vandalism. Don’t forget about theft and vandalism. Oh, you have the GPS to fight theft? Guess what, it’s sending out its signal from, say, underneath Pier 2. Who’s going to fish it out? We’ll see.
**One big diff will be that any issues anyone has about the bike share program will be met with a pitch for more money. More and more and more money.
OMG, It’s Another New Sport in Golden Gate Park: “Footbag” Hacky Sack – Memorial Day Tourny in Peacock Meadow
Tuesday, May 28th, 2013All I know about this is from FunCheapSF – see below.
A quick scrimmage before yesterday’s big final in GGP:
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All the deets:
“Footbag is an alternative to alternative sports, combining volleyball nets with tennis-like scores, and balls like hacky sacks you play with your feet.
Monday, May 27, 2013
Final Day & Awards | 2013 Green Cup: “Footbag” Hacky Sack Tournament2013 Green Cup Schedule | May 27, 2013
Peacock Meadow, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
- 11am – Open Doubles 5-8 Playoff
- Noon – Semi-Final – Open Doubles – 1 vs 4
- 1:15 pm – Semi-Final – Open Doubles – 2 vs 3
- 2:30 pm – Bronze Medal Match – Open Doubles
- 3:45 pm – Championship Match – Open Doubles
- Green Cup Presentation and Awards
- 8 pm – Player Party (location TBD)
Three Things You Don’t Know About the Bay to Breakers
Monday, May 20th, 20131. THE TOP OF HAYES STREET HILL _ISN’T_ THE HIGHEST POINT OF THE BTOB FUN-RUN. JUST CHECK THE ROUTE PROFILE:
“Here’s your route profile, starting from the SoMA near the bay going all the way to the breakers of Ocean Beach. See that big incline just before mile marker three? That’s the vaunted Hayes Street Hill. (And actually, the highest part of Hayes Street on this part of the course is near Pierce, not “at Fillmore and Steiner“ and not ”between Fillmore and Sutter.”)
And actually, that part of Hayes peaks at around 260 feet, not 215:
Now, here’s your winner. It’s the 270-something foot high saddle on JFK Jr. Drive betwixt Prayer Book Cross and Stow Lake / Strawberry Hill, where ”Kennedy” is written:
2. THE BTOB FUN-RUN IS A 12K, AND YET IT’S NOT A 12K – THE CLAIMED “WORLD RECORDS” ARE NOT, IN FACT, WORLD RECORDS
“Race organizers and media have reported that the course records set by Sammy Kitwara in 2009 and Lineth Chepkurui in 2010 are also world records at the 12 km distance;[31] however, the International Association of Athletics Federations, the international governing body for the sport of athletics/track and field, does not recognize world records or world bests in either an indoor or outdoor 12 km.[32] The Association of Road Racing Statisticians, a non-regulatory group that collects road running data, does recognize world records in the outdoor 12 km provided that the race course meets certain criteria.[33][34] In order to rule-out the possibility of wind assistancein point-to-point courses, the ARRS stipulates that the course must have “not more than 30% of the race distance separation between that start and finish”, or 3.6 km for a 12 km race.[34] Given that the Bay to Breakers is run on a point-to-point course in which the start and finish of the event are approximately 10.5 linear kilometers apart, the ARRS recognizes two other marks as 12 km world records: Kenyan Simon Kigen‘s 33:46 in Portland, Oregon on May 19, 1985 and Chepkurui’s 38:10 at the 2010Lilac Bloomsday Run.[33][nb 2]
3. MOST PEOPLE _DON’T_ PAY THE ABSURDLY HIGH REGISTRATION FEE. MOST PEOPLE YOU SEE ARE “BANDITS”
HERE’S THE OFFICIAL ESTIMATE: “…more than in the hundreds but less than tens of thousands.” THE REAL NUMBER IS TENS OF THOUSANDS.
“The Bay to Breakers is known for the large number of unregistered runners, or “bandits”, who participate in the race. Ross Mirkarimi, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, reported that over half of the 60,000 participants in the 2010 Bay to Breakers were unregistered.[19] San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom was among the runners in 2010 who did not pay the registration fee to obtain a race number.[19][22] Registered participation was 24,430 in 2010,[23] 43,954 in 2011,[24] 23,072 for 2012,[25], and approximately 20,000 for 2013.[26]“
Beware, Car Owners: The Great B2B Tow of ’13 is a Coming This Weekend – Hundreds Will Get Towed by SFGov – Will You?
Friday, May 17th, 2013I’ll tell you, I’m not exactly sure when the tow away signs went up for this year’s historic Bay to Breakers street party – maybe it was today.
No matter, hundreds of cars are going to get towed this Saturday and Sunday.
It’s going to be epic.
Here are the streets to not park your car upon.
Sometimes they give you a week’s notice, but not this year I don’t think.
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Let’s review.
Before we can have this…
…or this…
From hard-working Steve Nguyen
…we’re going to have to have this:
(I remember it as if it were just two years ago…)
“The Great Tow of 2011:
One car gets away in the nick of time, but three others aren’t so lucky:
Ted and Al’s had like ten yellow tow trucks ready to go late Saturday night, in the driving rain. (Note how Bank of America is protecting its windows – the IndyBay crowd got to them, smashy smashy, about a year or so back, unrelated to Bay to Breakers.)
Now, speaking of prêt-à-porters, this is the main body, this is the largest array for the Golden Gate Park Panhandle:
And here’s the second-biggest grouping, along Masonic:
And there are some on the other side of Fell, typically in groups of six on some of the blocks.
But that’s it.
Not sure where B2B is hiding their 1000+ portable toilets claimed for 2011, at this point, just hours before the Kenyans take off on their winning runs.
Oh well.
And there’s no sign of the fencing neither, except for what they have every year.
We’ll see.
The Great Fence of B2B100 is supposed to have upon it either images of Christ hand-selected by P. Anschutz or photos of people who ran the race before white NIMBYs moved into the Western Addition. (You’ll have to tell me about it…). Anyway, here’s the baby fencing they have on scene already along with, and isn’t this cute, a message from San Francisco Natives for a Fun and Buzzed Bay to Breakers. Apparently, the cops can’t arrest for an open container in San Francisco…
And doesn’t this just break your heart – this Vespa scooter has been forgotten on the slopes of the famed Hayes Street Hill, the second highest point on the “racecourse.” Will Auto-Return charge $700 for its return?
Remember, Transit First.
All right, have a great Bay to Breakers 100!
Heh: Rincon Hill Blogger Jamie Whitaker Pwns RPD Director Phil Ginsburg Using Math – And He Shows His Work
Monday, May 13th, 2013Comes now the passionate and brusque Jamie Whitaker of Rincon Hill to totally pwn Recreation and Park Department Director and UC Hastings grad and Gavin Newsom lackey Phil Ginsburg.
“One issue that I am hopeful someone will take up is the claim by the Recreation and Parks Department’s Director Phil Ginsburg that “We want as much open space as possible, but we also need to have a way to care for it.” That was his quote in reference to why the City’s Recreation and Parks Department is unwilling to accept the donation of the park built in front of the new Rincon Green Apartments at 333 Harrison Street. Read the article here (hopefully, the shared full article will appear: http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Creating-new-park-no-picnic-for-broke-city-4490422.php?t=27ec6d327d3f99889e
“This is a lie from Phil Ginsburg and it should infuriate everyone who lives in the Rincon neighborhood or nearby. Why do I say it is a lie?”
Read the rest of this over at “Rincon Hill, a san francisco neighborhood blog.”
Hey, speaking of Gavin Newsom lackey Phil Ginsburg, a few years back he had a total boner for this nearby project at Justin Herman and yet NOBODY HAS EVER USED IT EXCEPT FOR OCCUPY SF FOR A FEW MONTHS.
Gavin Newsom lackey Phil Ginsburg must be aware, I mean he’s not stupid, that this bocce thing was/is a big fat waste, but he’s afraid to acknowledge this because then he’d have to get a job in the real world.
Oh well…
Sucker Watch: Most Participants Won’t Pay to Enter the 2013 Bay to Breakers Fun Run So Why Should You?
Tuesday, April 30th, 2013Oh, you are a sucker. Well, then be my guest – pay $48 for a number. And actually, and you’ll enjoy this, sucker, it’s already too late to get a good deal on registration for 2013. Prices be higher now.
Most people who aren’t professional runners don’t pay and here’s a good reason not to pay:
Your money goes directly to “Christian Billionaire” Philip Anschutz.
And then he takes your $$$$$ and uses it to, over the years, oppose the concept of evolution and fund anti-gay efforts.
(It’s funny that he even took an interest in this historic fun run and street party but he likes running so there y0u go.)
The reason that organizers won’t say how many “bandits” show up for the party is because they don’t want you to think that most people don’t pay.
But, IRL, most people don’t pay.
If you don’t believe me then take a NSFW look right here.
How many bibs do you see? Every year they say they will eject all these people and every year they don’t actually do it.
Now the San Francisco Nike Womens Marathon is different. You see, they give out coveted awards and people just can’t help themselves. And then stuff like this happens; “NO BIB NO BIB NO BIB!”
But B2B aint like that.
One difference this year will be a limit on the size of the bags you might carry.
It’s like the size of Fook Mi’s backpack, best I can imagine.
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All right, have a great 2013 B2B.
And if you want to pay money to somebody, just take whatever your reg fee is and give it to Pride or whatever.
End Of Line.
Where Will YOU Be on 420 Day? In Golden Gate Park or at 420 Day Street in Noe Valley? Plus, an Awesome Vapor Cloud Photo
Friday, April 19th, 2013Golden Gate Park be getting all crowded these days on annual 420 Day, so why not head on down to Noe Valley and light up at 4:20 PM at 420 Day Street instead?
The neighbors will welcome you interloping potheads with open arms. I’m sure!
Actually, Noe Valley is the locus of NIMBY – it’s filled with asshole millionaire homeowners and concomitant neighbor feuding.
Here it is, 420 Day, or close enough. Check out the comically large Planning Commission NOTICE OF HEARING notice on the front gate and the comically small recycling bin out front. (No black garbage can? A point of pride, I’m sure)
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Oh, here we go, here’s real 420 Day, not too far from the Haight Street McDonalds on Stanyan.
That’s not fog, that’s a cloud of exhaled Mary Jane:
An excellent capture from world-famous Broke-Ass Stuart.
All right, Happy 420 Day 2013!
