Posts Tagged ‘masonic’
Monday, November 11th, 2013
Boy, if I parked an aging Honda like this and then came back to find part of its right side all stove in like this, I’d think, “Gee, maybe some ped got mad and kicked my car right where s/he wanted to walk.”
And the I wouldn’t park on the fucking sidewalk anymore.
As seen on Masonic, home of absurdly wide (22 feet(!) in some places) sidewalks filled with not too many pedestrians and a whole bunch of cars:
Click to expand
Tags: 2013, auto, bay area, blocked, blvd., boulevard, california, car, Honda, ilegal, masonic, park, parking, ped, pedestrians, peds, red, San Francisco, sidewalk, street, walking, wide
Posted in cars | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, October 30th, 2013
I don’t know, what kind of business could you run to cover the $4 per square foot per month rent on this foggy, windblown section of Fulton across the street from the Lucky?
Click to expand
Back in the day, it looked like this on the weekends, with college kids barfing up here and there:
Of course, back in the day the business that actually made money on this side of the block was the quite active whorehouse called Gabin. These days, it’s world famous Papalote what’s earning the dollars with their expensive burritos.
But what kind of restaurant would you put in to meet your payroll and pay the rent of $1000 a day in this out-of-the-way location?
I’m clueless
Tags: 1700, 1751, 1751 fulton, 1751 social club, 2013, assocation, available, ave, avenue, block, cat house, central, fulton, gabin, Gavin, graffiti, lucky, masonic, Michael Chidamburam, nimby, nimbys, NOPA, nopna, north panhandle, open, Paplote, poleng, Poleng Lounge, prostitution, rent, restaurant, social club, Starbucks. coffee, storyville, street, supermarket, Taqueria, university of san francisco, USF
Posted in food and drink | No Comments »
Monday, October 14th, 2013
Well, you know, the rich, home-owning, millionaire NIMBY ladies of NOPNA (the number one homeowner’s association in the Western Addition) had steam coming out of their ears a few years back when they realized how hopeless their plan of keeping Tar-ghey from infecting their “NoPA” neighborhood was becoming.
Good times.
Oh well.
Mervyn’s Heights is now Target Tor and NoPA (North of the Panhandle) is now SoTA (South of Target). See?
Lots of produce here – a surprising amount.
And the amount of traffic is up, way up. Just like people said would happen. We’ll have to see how things shake out. I myself saw a fender bender on Masonic that prolly wouldn’t have occurred but for the Target Grand Opening yesterday.
Oh, and the traffic lights have been jiggered with, for better or worse. These days, peds at Masonic and Anza need to wait for a looong red light and then after that they need to wait for southbound traffic to turn left. In effect, the peds are going “last.” This kind of thing was considered unacceptable by the SFBC down at Masonic and Fell not too long ago. Mmmm…
Anyway, I can’t figure why some chain stores in SF are good and others are bad – I can’t find consistency in Planning is what Im saying,
But here it is.
Enjoy.
Expect more, pay less.
Tags: 10pm, 2010, 2013, 21st, 2675, 7am, Adam Miller, alamos quare, Alioto-Pier, architect, B.R.T., bay area, blog, board, california, candidate, chain, city center, Communcations Manager, community, county, crowded, district, eric mar, five, fix, geary, grand opening, heights, hours, John Dewes, july, july 21, kat anderson, KLA, KLA Geary L.L.C., L.L.C., mall, masonic, meeting, mervyn's, michela, nimby, nopna, north of the panhandle, one, Regional Development Manager, ross mirkarimi, San Francisco, Sarah Bakken, SoTA, South of Target., Square, store, stores, Supervisor, target, Target Tor, the square, Thom Lasley, two
Posted in bidness | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, September 11th, 2013
Toyota Prius drivers have been the worst in town for the longest time now, but 2013 is bringing a change.
Take this driver for instance. Repeated lane changes allowed her the ability to totally tailgate an unsuspecting Prius driver.
Click to expand
This isn’t such a great crime but it’s about the fifth or sixth bad thing she did in a mile or so.
Let’s see if Tesla driver behavior can beat the bad accident and police ticketing rate of the Prius driver…
Tags: 2013, bad, bay area, california, car, electric, hybrid, jerking, jerks, masonic, model s, out jerking, police, prius, San Francisco, tailgating, tesla, toyota
Posted in cars | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013
Well, gee, this is new.
First of all, I’ve never seen the SFPD driving around in one of their new-fangled Ford Taurus POLICE INTERCEPTERS*
And second of all, I can’t recall seeing the SFPD using handheld radar guns pointed out the rolled-down window of a radio car,** in all my years.
An officer “likes” his Kustom Signals Directional Talon Radar Gun, pointed southward on Masonic Boulevard over the Labor Day weekend:
Click to expand
A bystander on one of the gratuitously super-wide sidewalks of Masonic said that this cop using radar on this street was, “an outrage, an illegal outrage.”
Which I don’t think is true, actually.
The SFPD has said for a long time it uses radar for speed enforcement, but its spokespeople are cagey about it, I don’t know why.
Now I’ll tell you, this scene was south of Fulton (which of course has a much higher maximum speed (35 MPH at least in the Richmond)), compared with Masonic’s 25 MPH) betwixt Hayes and Grove and most of the speeding goes on north of Fulton, in the hilly area south of Anza, where there are just two signals and they are more or less synced.
Anyway, in a land where we can’t put up proper cell phone towers, the police are allowed to point radar guns at you from cars.
Go figure.
*Which is just a ridiculous name for a car. Intercepter actually can mean something in a military*** setting, but using the term for a regular old police car is 100% marketing. How about “heavy-duty” or “police special” instead, Ford, you know, for your ugly, ugly big-on-the-outside, small-on-the-inside Taurus?
**Radar carts, sure, and the motor patrol, sure, but not from a parked car.
***Yes, the US Coast Guard is a branch of the military, the smallest branch, AAMOF.
Tags: 2013, blvd., bouilevard, boulevard, car, ford, grove, gun, guns, hayes, inc, kuston signals, masonic, NOPA, park, police intercepter, radar, SFPD, Station, talon, western addition
Posted in cars, crime | 2 Comments »
Monday, August 12th, 2013
Tags: 15, 16, 17, 2013, 3.0, august, bay area, california, categoriues, center, centre, city target, Employees, employment, fair, geary, hire, hiring, job, jobs, mall, masonic, member, openiong, San Francisco, store, targe, team, titles
Posted in employment | No Comments »
Monday, July 29th, 2013
I’ll tell you, the “average,” the typical user of Masonic will in no way benefit from spending eight figures worth of taxpayer dollars on a 3000 foot stretch of Masonic betwixt Fell and the new City Target Store up on Mervyn’s Heights at Geary.
And that’s sort of funny ’cause this recently-greenlighted project was billed as being “accommodating” to “all users,” as something that would benefit all.
Now myself, perhaps I’ll end up benefiting from the changes, we’ll see. But I live too close to Masonic to feel right about advocating ‘n stuff. Seems selfish. (I’ll tell you, I sure feel sorry for those living in the West Bay, out there in the Fog Belt.)
But you, if you use Masonic to get from one place or another, you’re going to be fucked during the AM and PM drives. That’ll also include car drivers, and passengers, and bus drivers and passengers, etc. Cyclists will benefit but for peds, well, it won’t really matter. Abutting property owners will probably appreciate the new trees on the new useless medians. And that’s about it.
Where all the traffic will go during the morning and evening drives, well, we’ll see.
Anyway, here’s the latest:
Joshua Calder was pretty drunk when he killed Nils Linke, but the other driver, the one who killed the purported “jaywalking” ped, wasn’t he DUI as well? (I’ll point out that both these deaths happened outside of the rush hours.)
Anyway, here are some more deets from the rebel forces:
“San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agencyis planning to remove all parking along Masonic Avenue from Fell Street to Geary Boulevard, reduce the travel lanes during rush hour so there will only be two lanes in each direction at all times (except the West (southbound) side of Masonic for the block between Hayes and Fell, which will be three lanes), install a concrete median strip with trees in the middle of the street, and install bike lanes at both curb lanes (concrete cycle tracks, above the roadway and below sidewalk level). There will be bus bulbouts, so when buses stop to load and unload passengers, only one travel lane will be moving. In order to cross Masonic and to access the bus stops, pedestrians will have to cross the cycle track. MTA estimates the project will cost $18.2 million. The actual final cost is anyone’s guess.The Masonic cycle track project will have the following impacts:
Be dangerous for cyclists and for drivers pulling out of driveways. Drivers’ ability to see cyclists will be limited. Also, cars pulling out of driveways on a busy street such as Masonic can only do so when motor vehicle traffic is stopped by a red light. Some cyclists don’t always obey traffic signals, vehicles could be pulling out of driveways when they don’t expect any traffic, only to hit an unexpected cyclist. Because some cyclists don’t use lights, this will be even more dangerous at night.
Result in the loss of around 167 street parking spaces. The actual number may be more because MTA counts 20 linear feet as a parking space, but some of the parking spaces along Masonic between driveways are less than 20 feet and may not be included in the count. Also, residents of Masonic will no longer be able to park across their driveways.
Increase congestion on Masonic, especially during rush hour.
Increase traffic on nearby streets, as some drivers avoid the increased traffic on Masonic.
Increase pollution in the area, as drivers circle further and longer in search of parking, and as traffic on the nearby streets is increased.
Jeopardize public safety by slowing down emergency response time.
Make it much more difficult for residents on Masonic to: load/unload people and packages; have items delivered; have visitors; move in and out of their homes; and have construction, maintenance, painting and other work done.
Make it harder for businesses to get deliveries of their products.
The major parking loss will especially hurt seniors and disabled people, who are limited in how far they can walk and how many streets they can cross. It will also make it more difficult for them to have home visits from caregivers, Meals on Wheels, physical, respiratory, occupational and other therapists, and repair services from wheelchair repair companies.
Increase the personal safety risk at night for residents returning to their homes and visitors returning to their cars after visiting friends, as they will have to park further from their residence or their friend’s home. The risk will especially increase for the most vulnerable – women, seniors and disabled people.
Currently, vehicles going eastbound on Geary turn right onto southbound Masonic using a dedicated right turn lane before Masonic, thus avoiding having to go all the way to Masonic. The project will remove this lane, so both vehicles turning southbound and those proceeding straight on Geary will have to go all the way to Masonic. Congestion will increase, especially with the additional traffic from the Target store.
Create a chaotic, congested mess on Masonic and the surrounding areas during the 18 month construction period.
Motor vehicle traffic on Masonic was over 32,000 vehicles per day in 2010 (measured by MTA at Masonic at Fulton). Because many automobiles carry more than one person, more than 32,000 people ride on Masonic on a typical day. With the new Target store at Masonic and Geary slated to open, this volume will increase dramatically. In contrast, per SFMTA measurements, during the PM rush hour there were only 20 bikes per hour at Masonic/Golden Gate and only 32 per hour at Masonic/Fell. (And some of those at Masonic/Fell may have been proceeding along Fell, not Masonic.)
Masonic Avenue can be improved without creating these dangers, impacts and hardships, and without spending $18.2 million. More trees can be planted along the sidewalk, lighting can be improved and bus shelters added. And rather than encouraging cyclists to bike along one of the busiest North-South streets in San Francisco, a better and safer North-South bike route can be created that includes the existing bike lanes along Baker, just a few blocks from Masonic. See updates page for more information.
Click here for a description of an alternative bike route.What can you do to help save Masonic? The MTA Board of Directors approved the cycle track project in September 2012. It will happen unless you get involved! It’s imperative that you contact Mayor Ed Lee, the Board of Supervisors, Supervisors London Breed, Eric Mar and Mark Farrell, the MTA Board, Director of Transportation Ed Reiskin and potential funding sources, and ask them to stop this disaster in the making. It’s also critical to attend meetings of the Board of Supervisors and the MTA Board.
See updates page for more information.
Tags: 2010, 2013, 350 Masonic, accidents, Allan, Allan Jacobs, Allan B. Jacobs, architecture, avenue, award, bay area, Berkeley, boulevard, Boulevard Book, Boulevards, california, central, community, community workshop, day, department of public works, design, Design of Multiway Boulevards, dpw, dr. masonic, Elizabeth, Elizabeth Macdonald, evolution, fliers, flyers, freeway, fucking trees, History, Jacobs, Macdonald, market, masonc avenue, masonic, Masonic Avenue Street, Masonic Avenue Street Design Community Workshop, masonic boulevard, movement, mta, Multiway, octavia, octavia boulevard, offramp, onramp, phd, pink, Rofé, San Francisco, San Francisco Day School, save maonic, school, SFMTA, silver, street, street design study, students, The Boulevard Book: History, traffic, trees, UC, university, university of california, windshield, workshop, Yodan, Yodan Rofé
Posted in cars | No Comments »
Thursday, June 20th, 2013
“Afonso Salcedo from The Haight said via Nextdoor for iPhone:
Just wanted to share some details on this accident. It happened right in front of me during my walk earlier this evening.The car turned left onto Oak from Masonic, and the Muni bus going North on Masonic crashed into him.
They immediately went off-road and went through the panhandle all the way to the Fell corner with Masonic.
I immediately came to the car door, and with two other guys, we made sure the driver was safe and helped him get out. The door was stuck in, but was opened with some force.
Everyone in the bus was safe. The bus driver was in shock and the three of us picked him up and moved him outside to lay him on the ground. One of the guys with me was a random nurse who happened to be on his bike nearby, so that was great.”
Tags: 8007, accident, Afonso Salcedo f, bay area, bike, black, bus, ca 49819, california, car, crash, DPT, driver, fell, fmta, golden gate park, heart attack, hospital, masiniuc, masonic, Muni, munis, nextdoor, oak, panhandle, path, San Francisco, SFPD
Posted in transit | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, June 19th, 2013
Should Masonic Avenue be designed for travelers or residents?
Click to expand
IMO, it should be designed for travelers.
JMO.
Tags: 2013, bay area, california, cars, illegal, masonic, parking, San Francisco, sidewalk
Posted in cars | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, June 11th, 2013
Golden Gate Park Panhandle, Saturday, June 8th, 2013.
Note the wireless headphones:
Click to expand
You know, like this from last year.
Tags: 2012, 2013, ashbury, bandshell, bay area, california, dj, djs, fell, frisco, gif, golden gate park, Golden Gate Park Panhandle, haight, headphones, imated, masonic, nimby, nimbys, oak, panhandle, panhandle bandshell, San Francisco, silent, Silent Disco, Silent Frisco, street, upper, Upper Haight
Posted in events | No Comments »
