[UPDATE: Senator Leland Yee is on the case this AM - he's doing a presser involving this latest allegation. (I guess it's too late to call this an October Surprise, and frankly, it's not all that surprising neither. Let's call it a November Expectation. Brace yourself for more.) Oh, and Leland is onto some Chinatown voting sting operation as well.
And there's this: "Statement from Chiu Campaign on Money Laundering Allegations - SAN FRANCISCO (November 2, 2011): Addisu Demissie, spokesman for the David Chiu for Mayor campaign, released the following statement about a San Francisco Chronicle report of potential money laundering by supporters of Mayor Ed Lee:
"This is now the fourth allegation of illegal conduct by Mayor Lee's supporters, and it should be investigated fully by the District Attorney and appropriate authorities,” Demissie said. “With six days to go before Election Day, it will be up to the voters to decide whether this kind of bullying, pay-to-play politics is what they want to see at City Hall for the next 4 years. David is going to spend the last 6 days of this race talking about why he represents a new generation of leadership for San Francisco that will stand tough against the special interests and shake things up at City Hall."
Paid for by David Chiu for Mayor 2011, P.O. Box 641541, San Francisco, CA 94164, FPPC##1337108]
“Too many of Ed Lee’s supporters act as though they’re above the law — on money laundering, on ballot tampering, and more – and Ed Lee isn’t strong enough to stop it.
Amen.
Earlier this year, Ed Lee was picked unanimously to be an Interim Mayor. He wasn’t picked to be a Reformer. He’ll never be a Reformer.
Is Ed Lee Breaking Bad? Has the City Family corrupted him? Or has he corrupted the City Family? A little of both?
Click to expand
All the deets:
“Herrera calls on FPPC to join D.A. in investigating new Ed Lee campaign money laundering charge - CitiApartments’ former eviction goon led reimbursement-for-donation scheme, suggesting political payback for City Attorney’s 2006 tenant-protection lawsuit
SAN FRANCISCO (Nov. 2, 2011) — City Attorney Dennis Herrera this morning called on the state Fair Political Practices Commission to join District Attorney George Gascón in reviewing new allegations reported in today’s San Francisco Chronicle that Ed Lee’s mayoral campaign received donations that appear to have been illegally laundered to skirt San Francisco $500 per donor contribution maximum.[1] Andrew Hawkins, a property services manager whose harrowing tenant intimidation tactics were central to Herrera’s lawsuit five years ago against the Lembi Group landlords’ once high-rolling CitiApartments empire, promised reimbursements to at least sixteen employees in exchange for maximum contributions to Ed Lee’s mayoral campaign at an Oct. 18, 2011 fundraiser, according to the Chronicle.
It is the second major allegation of campaign money laundering to benefit Ed Lee’s campaign. The first, involving GO Lorrie’s airport shuttle, is the subject of separate investigations by Gascón’s office and the FPPC, the state commission responsible to investigate and impose penalties for violations of the California Political Reform Act. Such schemes have been prosecuted as felonies in California for conspiring to evade campaign contribution limits, and for making campaign contributions under false names.
“I think San Franciscans have now seen enough,” said City Attorney Dennis Herrera. “Too many of Ed Lee’s supporters act as though they’re above the law — on money laundering, on ballot tampering, and more — and Ed Lee isn’t strong enough to stop it. If this is how they behave before an election, just imagine how they’ll behave after the election, if Ed Lee wins. This scheme is clearly a bid for political payback by CitiApartments henchmen for my litigation to protect tenants five years ago. It is patently illegal, and I call on the FPPC to join the District Attorney in investigating.”
Hawkins is listed in Ed Lee’s campaign disclosures as the owner of Archway Property Services. As the one-time head of CitiApartments’ “tenant relocation program,” the gun-carrying Hawkins is reported to have coerced more than 2,500 tenants out of their rent-controlled units, and once boasted in civil court testimony, “I run people out of their apartments for a living. It’s what I do.“
Several recipients of Hawkins’ email invitation to an Oct. 18 event on Russian Hill made contributions to Ed Lee’s campaign on the same date. All contributed the maximum $500.
Herrera sued the CitiApartments residential rental property behemoth in Aug. 2006 for an array of unlawful business and tenant harassment practices, which sought to dispossess long-term residents of their rent-controlled apartments. The coerced vacancies freed the company to make often-unpermitted renovations to units, and then re-rent them to new tenants at dramatically increased market rates. The illegal business model enabled CitiApartments, Skyline Realty and other entities under the sway of real estate family patriarch Frank Lembi to aggressively outbid competitors for residential properties throughout San Francisco for several years — before lawsuits and a sharp economic downturn forced the aspiring empire into bankruptcies, foreclosures and receiverships.
A 2009 San Francisco Magazine feature story on the Lembi real estate empire[2] described Andrew Hawkins as “a burly former nightclub bouncer who headed up CitiApartments’ relocation program.” Hawkins reportedly led teams as large as 14 full-time employees, according to the report, and the company estimated that “Hawkins relocated more than 2,500 tenants.” An earlier exposé in 2006 by the San Francisco Bay Guardian[3] cited civil court testimony in which Hawkins boasted to one tenant’s family member, “I run people out of their apartments for a living. It’s what I do.”
Now, last year, back in 2010, the rides were free, so people were lining up at 3:00 AM. But this year, the cost will be $29, so that will certainly cut down on the riff-raff, and therefore surely shorten the queue.
(And oh, our friends from up in the Great White North just told me that they will be highly disappointed if Edwin Lee, San Francisco’s once (and future?) Mayor chickens out, if he blows off his obligation. Other Mayors have done it and it all worked out fine. See below for one example…)
Hours: Open daily (7 days a week!) from 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.*
Price: $29 (all ages)
Age: 6 years+
Weight: 65lbs – 275lbs
First come, first serve
All guests are required to sign an Assumption of Risks and Release of Liability Agreement (coming soon) before zipping. Under 19 requires signature by a parent or guardian.
The ziplines are gravity fed, so guests do not have to worry about controlling their own speed. Guides are stationed at each tower to connect (launch platform) and disconnect (landing platform) each and every guest. Age restrictions apply and guests must weigh more than 65 pounds and no more than a maximum of 275 pounds.
When: Summer 2011 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. *
Where: Justin Herman Plaza at Embarcadero Square, San Francisco, California
* times may vary on certain days”
Will you have the guts to climb a temporary tower (80 feet tall!) just like this one from 2010 to earn the right to tell your friends you rode the Justin Herman Plaza Zip Line?
But first, you’ll need to wait in line next to the abysmal Vaillancourt Fountain, sign a waiver, and get harnessed up.
Le mise-en-scene.
You’ll ascend the 80 foot tower and encounter a friendly Canadian guide at the top. If you need a pep talk, you’ll get one:
You’ll soon be steadying your nerves by glancing at your jump buddy…
…and then you’ll be off, into the wild bleu.
Sisters doing it for themselves:
Can you see the nervous giggles? There’s your team bonding right there.
And this is what it felt like last year. Everything zooms by with a quickness, and there’s a loud buzzing above your noggin. Some people go upside-down even.
And they’ll totally let you bring a camera to make your own YouTube:
You owe it to yourself to try.
Don’t dissappoint lovely Ashleigh. She brought her Olympic Gold all the way down here last year just so you’d consider Vancouver as the starting point for your next vacation:
And yet, almost 1000 souls enjoy its charms every day. Mmmm. It wasn’t impossible for allthose people to ride, right?
(In other news of the day, here are NBCBayArea’s random photos of Playboy bunnies and Hooters Restaurant employees. That’s got to be pure gold, trafficwise, in’nt.)
Are we saying to get there way early in the day? I think that’s what we’re saying.
Irregardless, NBC’s accounts of when people got into line and when they were able to ride that day (if ever) are enlightening. And, agreed, it’s probably not a good use of time to drive all the way up from San Hoser just to try to go for a 20-second zip.
But this zipline is leaving on April 18th, 2010, so don’t delay.
Get on down there. This could be you:
Clicque to expand
But first, you’ll need to wait in line next to the abysmal Vaillancourt Fountain, sign a waiver, and get harnessed up.
Today’s mise-en-scene. From the left: the temporary Peter Pan (opening April 27th!) tent from England, the temporary zipline tower from British Columbia, and the permanent(?) Vaillancourt Fountain from the bowels of Hell:
You’ll ascend the 80 foot tower and encounter a friendly Canadian guide at the top. If you need a pep talk, you’ll get one:
You’ll soon be steadying your nerves by glancing at your jump buddy…
…and then you’ll be off, into the wild bleu.
Sisters doing it for themselves:
Can you see the nervous giggles? There’s your team bonding right there.
And this is what it feels like. Everything zooms by with a quickness, and there’s a loud buzzing above your noggin. Some people go upside-down even.
And they’ll totally let you bring a camera to make your own YouTube:
You owe it to yourself to try.
Don’t dissappoint lovely Ashleigh. She brought her Olympic Gold all the way down here just so you’d consider Vancouver as the starting point for your next vacation:
Will you have the guts to climb this temporary tower (80 feet tall!) down near Embarcadero Station to earn the right to tell your friends you rode the Justin Herman Plaza Zip Line?
Just asking.
The fun starts tomorrow, April 8th around lunchtime and it’ll stay all the way ’til April 18th, 2010.
“The zip line will start from a launch tower 80 feet off the ground and will carry users 680 feet to a 30-foot-tall landing tower. The zip-line will be free to the public and open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. through April 18. Thursday’s launch event is scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. and will include performances by the Le-La-La Dancers, an aboriginal dance troupe from Vancouver Island.”
Those people in British Columbia, they like to have fun. So, in order to get you to think about taking your next vacay up in the Great White, they’re going to install a 600 680-foot-long zip-line* in Embarcadero Square and run it for eleven days starting April 8th, 2010. And, assuming you meet their physical requirements (it looks like I’ll qualify, but 280-pound Epic Bearded Man Thomas Bruso probably won’t), you’ll be able to harness up and go for a 225-yard ride FOR FREE.
Imagine zooming over the giantwhite tent they’re constructing for Peter Pan (opening April 27th!) at neighboring Sue Bierman Park. You can fly, Wendy, you can fly.
Justin Herman Plaza Zip-Line! Justin Herman Plaza Zip-Line! Justin Herman Plaza Zip-Line!
You’ll also be able to look down over this $1000-a-day monstrosity. (Try not to tell our friends from western Canada the actual name of “Vaillancourt Fountain.” Shhhhh….)
See you there April 8th. (Can you already visualize people using their iPhones to Tweet about how long they have to wait for their free rides? I can. If not for our generous Northern Cousins, this kind of thing should cost about $100 American (or Canadian, don’t think there’s much diff these days)).
“When: Thursday, April 8 – Sunday, April 18th 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. What: The British Columbia Experience, featuring: – Free 600 ft. Urban Zipline: Open to the Public. Note: There are no age restrictions, but guests must weigh more than 65 pounds and no more than a maximum of 275 pounds. The ride will be free of charge. Where: Justin Herman Plaza at Embarcadero Square, San Francisco, California”
“VICTORIA – One of the most popular activities during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games is heading to San Francisco as part of an exciting tourism marketing campaign, announced Kevin Krueger, Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts. From April 8 to 18, a 183-metre (600-foot) zipline will be set-up in Embarcadero Square in San Francisco as part of the BC Experience showcase. The showcase will feature the Whistler-based Ziptrek Ecotours zipline, free public dance performances by the Le-La-La Dancers – a world-renowned Aboriginal dance group – an interactive video display featuring videos and beautiful images of B.C., a 3-D art installation and an updated version of the “You Gotta Be Here” advertising campaign in subway stations throughout the city.“We’ve just finished hosting the largest and most successful celebrations in the world and the zipline in Robson Square was obviously one of the most popular public activities during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games,” said Krueger. “We want to bring that excitement to San Francisco, a city that is one of our key markets for attracting new travellers, to show people the diverse range of travel experiences they can find in B.C. and invite them to visit.”The Canadian Tourism Commission is also hosting their annual US Media Marketplace in San Francisco April 12-14, at which over 150 US-based travel writers and editors will meet with Canadian tourism representatives.To help launch the BC Experience, two gold-medal winning Olympians, Canadian ski cross racer Ashleigh McIvor and US speed skater Shani Davis, will be among the first to try the zipline and participate in a public autograph signing.As a result of the Olympic marketing campaign, the number of Americans in the target demographic considering a leisure trip to B.C. has nearly doubled. This increase represents nearly nine million more potential U.S. visitors. Approximately 14 per cent of US visitors to B.C. come from California.The BC Experience is part of a post-Olympic North American consumer marketing campaign that will use online advertising, social media and search marketing to reach potential visitors. The campaign will reach out to consumers who have already expressed interest in travel to B.C., and present customized offers based on their interests.The campaign will focus on a range of experiences, including golf, food and wine, and outdoor adventure to create a greater depth of interest in experiencing B.C.’s tourism products.”
For more information on B.C. tourism opportunities, please visit www.HelloBC.com.
Leaving the final words with Alex P Keaton - in re: British Columbia, “You Gotta Be Here.”
This is how outbound Market Street appeared in San Francisco this morning as Best Buy sent a parade of expensive $2500 A2B electric scooters (the Worst Consumer Products of 2009) and also inexpensive E-Zip bikes up the street. E-Zips went for $350 last year at some Wal-Marts (not that I could tell, having never set foot in one) and now $500 (and up) at Best Buy.
E-Zip in the background, A2B in the foreground. Were there a dozen or so riders in this mini, corporate Critical Mass? Something like that:
Click to expand
What do you get for you $350? Well, you don’t get high tech batteries, that’s for sure. But that’s part of the reason why it’s cheaper than the obscenely overpriced A2B and the Trek Ride+, which is being tested out these days by some of San Francisco’s elected officials. Costco also has a few dogs in the e-bike hunt, upon occasion.
Will you say “Engine*, yes. Gas No”?
Only Time Will Tell.
*Not an actual “engine” – the marketing cookies of Best Buy mean motor, but oh well.
Well, here they are - they’re the new (to America, anyway) Ride+ electric bikes from Trek.
First off, check out the SF Streetsblog to see yesterday’s scene of San Francisco Board of Supervisors President David Chiu and Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi and Eric Mar test driving these rigs at City Hall in the presence of Marin County biking legend Gary “Bury My Heart At Pine Mountain”Fisher.
See? It looks exactly like an electric bike, right?
So let’s talk about what this Trek E-Bike is not. It’s not a ridiculous, overweight, overpriced electric bike from Ultra Motor. Witness that yellow full-suspension rig on the left in this photo from Golden Gate Park? That’s an A2B:
The A2B is, basically, an electric moped. That means the whole concept is kind of an insurance/regulation scam where the pedals are mostly there to show regulators how this thing is not an electric motorbike. So, the A2B is limited to 20 MPH under Da Law.
“Electric Bicycles are defined by the California Vehicle Code. In summary, electric bicycles are to be operated like conventional bicycles in California. There are several exceptions to this. A person must be at least 16 years old, and anyone riding an electric bicycle must wear a bicycle helmet. The e-bikes must have an electric motor that has a power output less than 1,000 watts, is incapable of propelling the device at a speed of more than 20 miles per hour on level ground, is incapable of further increasing the speed of the device when human power is used to propel the motorized bicycle faster than 20 miles per hour, operates in a manner so that the electric motor is disengaged or ceases to function when the brakes are applied, or operates in a manner such that the motor is engaged through a switch or mechanism that, when released, will cause the electric motor to disengage or cease to function. Driver’s licenses, registration, insurance and license plate requirements do not apply. A motorized bicycle is not a motor vehicle. A motorized bicycle shall only be operated by a person 16 years of age or older. Drinking and driving laws apply. Additional laws or ordinances may apply to the use of electric bicycles by each city or county.”
So, most people using an A2B would never really pedal. Personally, I’ve never seen an A2B in the wild, being used by somebody for something more than a test drive or a day rental. Oh well.
But here’s the thing – the bike itself, a 7.3 FX, costs $600-something and the electric bits from Bionx or someplace similar go for $1200 retail, so why doesn’t this ebike cost $1700 instead of $2200?
The World Wonders.
Is this bike 140% better than a Costco eBike? We’ll see.
In other notes, the 32 x 700c Bontrager Race Lite Hardcase tires will probably keep you relatively free from flats on the mean glass-strewn Streets of San Francisco but you might want to get rid of those quick-release skewers. And no front (see comments) fender and no disk brakes, Trek? For $2200, really? (And what would a new battery go for, pray tell? Well, I s’pose we’ll get all the deets soon enough.)
Let’s leave the last word for Gary Fisher:
The new bata bike will go on sale in only a few shops in aug for $2200. This bike hauls ass and can be Luged up stairs.5:41 PM Jul 14thfrom Twitterrific
Perhaps you could “luge” it downstairs, but certainly not up. As far as lugging is concerned, GF is correct. Unlike the heavy A2B, the new Trek is luggable.
All’s that left to do is to see how many supes buy these things when the test drives are over.
