The San Francisco Citizen

That could be the only reason why this Parking Control Officer tagged each one of these illegally cars parked in the middle of the damn street on Fulton in Civic Center yesterday. A passerby from some do-good organization shared a few words about how DPT doesn’t tag cars parked in this fashion on Sundays.

The PCO said she was doing as she was told, and then proceeded to write $60 citations in this target-rich environment.

Can you see one of the tickets? Can you see the PCO?

Whenever you feel that parking laws don’t apply to you because you’re part of a special group and DPT has a tradition of non-enforcement, you shouldn’t feel angry when the rules all of a sudden start getting enforced.

You should be happy about all the tickets you avoided when you parked for free all those many weeks, months or years. Plus, it’s a piece of cake parking legally for free in Civic Center on Sundays.

Well the concrete slabs are starting to stack up in the Civic Center - it’s a parking garage/retail space project. The 1200 students at vaunted UC Hastings School of Law (the oldest and largest law school west of St. Louis, or something) have enjoyed discounted parking at the Civic Center Garage for years.

Changes are afoot in front of historic McAllister Tower:

It’s nice to see these kids will be pulling their own weight soon. The whole idea is to make the place more “student friendly.” 

We’ll see.

Fiat justitia

It’s on! It’s fantastic. It’s you. It’s Power and Glory: Court Arts of China’s Ming Dynasty running through September 21, 2008 in the first floor Lee, Hambrecht, and Osher Galleries at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum. Take a look at the show here and learn more about it here, courtesy of kultural kommissar Kenneth “you need me” Baker.

You see, all this stuff isn’t merely decorative, it actually means something. That’s why the  heavy accompanying book costs $18 to ship from Amazon - this whole show is just chock-a-block full of culture. To wit, check out cover boy Prince Zhu Youyuan in his ceremonial uniform. His shoulder patches represent the moon and the sun, and you can also see green dragons blue vessels, green algae, red fire, white rice, blue axes, and blue bows. Dude’s got more icons than an iPhone 3.0. Click to expand:

Click on this one and see that they played golf in China back in the day, LPGA style. Court ladies in the inner palace, by Du Jin (active middle 15th century). Handscroll, ink and colors on silk:

Ming bling wasn’t just muddy red or brilliant blue on white - we’ve got a whole palette here:

So what’s your move? Get on over there before it closes next month. The only rational way to beat the crowds on August 3rd, 2008, Target First Free Sunday, would be to get in line before they open at 10:00 AM. But then you’d miss the opportunity to get in on the docent tours offered on all non Target Sundays at 10:30 AM,  12:30 PM and 1:30 PM.

Here’s what you do if you go on a day when you actually have to pay admission: Arrive early to check things out on your own and then take the free one-hour tour with a docent like Anthony Pan:

There’s lot’s of stuff to learn at The Asian’s best show ever. See you there!

The Asian Art Museum special exhibition Power & Glory: Court Arts of China’s Ming Dynasty really packed them in yesterday. Target First Free Sundays might have had a role, but this thing appears to be popular even on days when you can’t get in for free. And remarkably, Kenneth Baker likes it!

The line to get in yesterday went down Polk, Grove, Hyde (pictured), and McAllister. It was phenomenal, perhaps 500 people waiting? The museum is claiming 10,000 people dropped by on Sunday.

Click to expand:

See you there!