Posts Tagged ‘Muni’
Thursday, March 18th, 2010
Here’s the scene this morning at the official ceremony kicking off all the Divisadero Streetscape Improvements and the Cafe Mojo Parklet at 639 Divisadero betwixt Hayes and Grove.
BIKE NOPA has all the deets for the new parklet in front of popular Mojo Bicycle Cafe, where you are beseeched to “ride in – hang out – get your fix – ride on.”
Of course District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimiwas there* – he was working the crowd and expressing his appreciation for improved bicycle and pedestrian safety on the Divisadero Corridor. He also pointed out the success of the nearby Divisadero Farmer’s Market, which is no longer seasonal. It’s open every Sunday from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM year-round these days.
Mayor Gavin Newsom addressing a large crowd on the tiny parklet:
Click to expand
And all the while, the honking yellow Hummer of Main Contractor Synergy Project Management was discretely parked across the street, as discretely as possible given that it’s a honking yellow Hummer:
I’m on the record as not being a big fan of all the changes, but oh well.
SocketSite has more info about Divis and Curbed SF has all the history, as you’d expect.
Brand new median trees and old-school streetlamps for as far as the eye can see:
These days, it’s Mojo a gogo. A fixie bike mounted outdoors as art:
Welcome to the New Divisidero.
*Wearing the same drip-dry suit he was wearing at the recent opening of the Hamilton Recreation Center and Pool.
All the deets, after the jump
(more…)
Tags: 19th avenue, 2009, 2010, 24th street, 639, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, architecture, ARRA, Balboa Street, Berenio Lumber, bicycle, bike, Bison Innovative Products, board of supervisors, bulb out, cafe, cafe mojo, cars, ceremony, Cesar Chavez, cycklists, cyclists, debut, department of public works, director, district 5, district five, divisadero, Divisadero Great Streets Project, Divisadero Streetscape Improvement Project, dpw, Ed Reiskin, Feeney, Flora Grubb Nurseries, gavin newsom, geary, great streets, grove, hayes, hummer, Improvement, inc, kick off, kickoff, lamps, Leland Avenue, lights, Lower Polk Street, management, median, mojo, Mojo Bicycle Cafe, Muni, OEWD, Office of Economic and Workforce, park, parking, parklet, PAVEMENT TO PARKS, paving, program, project, refuge, repaved, repaving, Rg, RG-Architecture, ross mirkarimi, San Bruno Avenue, San Francisco, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, sewer, SFMTA, SFPUC, sidewalks, space, stimulus, street, streetlamps, streetlights, streetscape, Studio Upwell, Supervisor, synergy, Synergy Contractors, synergy project management, TLC, traffic, Transportation for Livable Communities, trees, valencia, van ness, Waller, wide, widen, widening
Posted in streets | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
Things were worse back in aught-seven, back when drivers waiting to fill up at the always-cheap ARCO station on Fell Street in the EaPA would queue up in the bike lane. But it’s no picnic these days neither, as you can see in this shot from a few days ago:
Well, comes now award-winning Michael Helquist of BIKE NOPA to learn us about planned changes:
“‘We have a design hashed out to take out parking on the south side of Fell Street,’ James Shahamiri, MTA Assistant Traffic Engineer, told BIKE NOPA. The new design would designate the former parking spaces as a curbside queue for motorists awaiting entry to the gas station.”
(IMO, that’s a painfully obvious solution that any other town in ‘Merica would have implemented years ago when the issue first cropped up. But oh well.)
So, you see them cars parked on the left side? You know, the Porsche 944 (or 968?), the Saturn S-Series, and the Honda CR-V cute-ute SUV? They’re parked in spaces that could soon be the ARCO queue.
What’s that, NIMBY? Over your dead body you say? O.K., well, I think this cake is already baked, but maybe you’ll be able to hear more about all the deets at this meeting:
Thursday, March 18th
7:00 pm, visit with neighbors
7:30 pm, meeting begins
9:00 pm , meeting ends
Change is Good, huh?
Tags: 1775, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 76, arco, area, Assistant, association, automobiles, autos, bicycle, bike, BIKE NOPA, block, blocking, BP, cars, cyclists, divisadero, divisidero, EaPA, east of panhandle, engineer, fell, fulton, gas, gasloline, golden gate park, intersection, James Shahamiri, jannah, lane, Line, meeting, metropolitan transportation agency, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, michael helquist, mta, Muni, neighborhood, nimby, NOPA, nopna, north of panhandle, oak, panhandle, parking, queue, San Francisco, SF, sfist, SFMTA, Station, street, traffic, union, vehicles, wait, Waiting
Posted in bikes, cars | 8 Comments »
Monday, March 15th, 2010
Sunday Streets 2010 kicked off yesterday – it’s maturing as an event, so now it seems more organic and “natural,” similar to something like Critical Masswhich just sort of happens without a whole bunch of organization. Of course, shutting down the Embarcadero northbound involves a lot of people and organization ‘n stuff, but you didn’t see volunteers and the SFPD all over the place yesterday the way you did at Sunday Streets in the past.
Here’s what it looked like.
These people from Ing Er Land were busking away like champs at the Northern Terminus of SS in Fisherperson’s Wharf. For a little while, they appeared to be the main attraction, but it was hard to tell if they were an official part of the festivities. Walking on a rubber ball with your sister Sporty Spice on your back:
But let’s start at the beginning of the day, when the combination of Sunday Streets and St. Patrick’s Day festivities totally pwned our pathetic, slow-on-the-uptake MUNI bus service, once again. MUNI Denial, stage four, Acceptance:
But now we’re back on the Embarc, where shutterbugs can always get a friendly tow:
And where kids can ride a carousel contraption…
…powered by cyclists:
And here’s local reactionary and sensational writer Matt Smith at the helm:
TCHO Chocolate gave out free samples to the throngs:
Cheers for this tyke who made the best of his defective parasitic bike:
And it wouldn’t be a Sunday Streets without seeing RollerSoccer’s Kizzle and ZachDaddy putting on a display:
and seeing the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition’s Dan Tan-Nguyen ’s 7-seat bike rolling along:
The next SS will be in Golden Gate Park and the Great Highway near Ocean Beach – it’ll be on April 11 and in conjunction with 1000 Cities, 1000 Lives.
See you there!
Tags: 1000 Cities, 1000 Lives, 11, 14, 14th, 2010, april, bicycle coalition, buskers, chocolate, department, dept., Embarcadero, ferry building, fishermans, march, Muni, police, rollersoccer, San Francisco, sfbc, sfgov, SFPD, streets, sunday, sunday streets, TCHO, volunteers, wharf
Posted in bikes, events | 1 Comment »
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
From District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi comes this newsletter update concerning floats at the upcoming 2010 ING Bay to Breakers footrace. Certainly appears as if last month’s plan to start floats only at Divisidero and then stop them 1.2 miles later in Golden Gate Park is dead.
The new idea is having two staging areas for floats to enter the race – at the beginning in eastern SoMA and at Civic Center. Deets below.
These mariners will need a place to sail their float again in 2010:
Oh, whoops, they abandoned their stripper pole-equipped vessel in the Golden Gate Park Panhandle last year. Oh well.
Bay to Breakers Update
The 99th Bay to Breakers will be run on Sunday, May 16th. Last year’s race saw a significant reduction in problems and impacts on the neighborhood, although there is still more work to do be done. Plans are still being developed for how floats will participate this year. Race organizers initially proposed having all floats start on Divisadero; however, this raised concerns with both neighbors and with float advocates. Supervisor Mirkarimi organized a meeting with the race organizers, the Mayor’s office, float advocates, and neighborhood representatives. We are still waiting to hear the organizers’ revised plan, but they have indicated that they now plan to have two staging areas for floats: at the beginning of the race and at Civic Center.
We are encouraged to hear that the organizers plan to adopt Supervisor Mirkarimi’s suggestion to implement a registration system for floats. This will generate additional revenue to pay for the impacts of the floats, and also create a new level of accountability for floats that are abandoned on the streets. Despite the improvements last year, the impact on the Panhandle area was still unacceptable. Supervisor Mirkarimi remains committed to changing the practice of floats celebrating in the Panhandle for hours after the race has passed. Ross continues to encourage the race organizers to provide an end-point for floats in Golden Gate Park. He believes creating an event in the Park that encourages floats not to stop in the Panhandle will significantly reduce the impact on the neighborhood.
More information:
- www.baytobreakers.com
- Float registration information (to be posted soon)
Tags: 12k, 2, 2008, 2009, 2010, 5 fulton, 7, 97th, 98th, alcohol, alix rosenthal, annual, anschutz, b2b, bad, Bay, bay to breakers, bay2breakers, beer, body, breakers, cars, carts, channel, Chepkurui, chris fox, citizens, Conor Johnston, cops, corrals, CPBB, crawlsf, cups, david scott, David William Scott, department, dept., destroyed, direct, district, divisadero, divisidero, dj, dpw, dumpsters, edelman, Edward Sharpless, Elite, eventbrite, facebook, fell, floats, footrace, footstock, foto, fundraiser, gabe, garbage, gavilanes, Gavin, glass, golden gate park, good, Greater Body Expo, haight Ashbury, howard, ing, John, John Gray, Jon Dishotsky, kegs, Kelsey Nagie, kgo, KGO-TV, Kipsang, Korir, Lineth, liquor, Liz Brusca, map, Matt Seliga, Men's, Mike Moscuzza, Muni, naked, nat ford, Newsom, nimby, nimbys, nude, paint, panhandle, photographs, photos, plastic, police, police department, pr, preservation, public relations, purple, recycling, red, richmond, roe, ross mirkarimi, sam singer, Sammy Kitwara, San Francisco, SFPD, smoove, store, street, sunset, tickets, towed, trash, TV, ugly, vehicles, Wilson Ling, women's, zaq, zero tolerance
Posted in events, sports | No Comments »
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
From San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Jose Herrera comes news of the Bayview Merchants Association’s Third Street Corridor Project – how would you like to earn $6000 just for creating 6-10 iconic images illustrating the Lower Third?
Get all the deets below. And after you get paid, be sure to forward ten percent to me, your new agent. (Affirm our agreement by reading this sentence - welcome aboard.) But get cracking, as your first deadline is March 22nd, 2010.
You can’t win if you don’t play!
Introduction to the Project
The 3rd Street Corridor project is searching for local artists to create a series of 6-10 iconic images to represent the Bayview Hunters Point District of San Francisco. These images will be stylized illustrations of local landmarks that capture the spirit of this part of the city and will be used on a series of street banners and other collateral such as T-shirts. An example of a similar campaign is artist Michael Schwab’s series of prints for the Golden Gate National Parks.
Final selections for scenery will be communicated to the artist at the time of the commission. These scenes may include:
- Bayview Opera House
- T-Line
- Quesada Gardens
- View of Downtown from 3rd
- Shipyards
- Candlestick Park
- Local Art and Murals
- MLK Municipal Pool
- Bayview Library
- Industrial Buildings
Candidate Selection
The ideal candidate for this commission will be a local artist who lives and/or works in the Bayview Hunters Point District of San Francisco and can bring his or her personal style into the project and offer an authentic view of these neighborhoods. The artist must also be able to work within the established color palette of the 3rd Street logo (red, yellow, green and black- see samples for reference). To be considered for this project please submit three (3) JPEG images of your past work that best communicates your style. If you are selected as a finalist you may be commissioned to create one sample illustration before the final contract for the rest of the series.
Compensation
The selected artist will receive a $6,000 stipend for the final series of images. Artwork and reproduction rights will become property of the Third Street Corridor Project. In the event that finalists are asked to create a sample illustration as part of the selection process then they will be compensated $500 for their time.
Application Deadline
To be considered for this project, please email three JPEG samples of your work, a brief description of your background and a written statement of why you think you would be an ideal candidate for this project to bayviewmerchantsassociation@gmail.com no later than
MONDAY, MARCH 22, 12:00pm.
Project Schedule
March 22: Artists application deadline.
March 24: Artist finalists selected.
Mid April: Final selection of artist. Work on final illustrations begins.
May 24: Final illustrations complete.
June 11: Public unveiling of art on 3rd Street.
Questions/Details?
Call Ben Kaufman, Outreach Coordinator of the Bayview Merchants’ Association, at 415-647-3728 x407 if you have any further questions.
Tags: 6000, advertising, agent, art, arts, banners, Bayview, bayview merchants association, Ben Kaufman, black, buildings, bus, bvhp, candidate, Candlestick, city attorney, commission, corridor, dennis herrera, district, dollars, downtown, eat, green, hunters point, Industrial, landmarks, library, live, local, lower third, mlk, Muni, municipal, murals, neighborhoods, Opera House, Outreach Coordinator, park, pool, project, Quesada Gardens, red, San Francisco Arts Commission, Shipyards, shop, stipend, street, streetcar, t, t shirts, T-Line, third, third street corridor project, view, willie brown way, Work, yellow
Posted in advertising, art | No Comments »
Friday, February 26th, 2010
What makes San Francisco’s monthly Critical Mass an illegal bicycle parade is the fact that nobody gets permits. ‘Cause getting a permit is hard - it would entail doing stuff that costs a lot of money and it would make you a magnet for lawsuits, so who needs that, right?
The thing is that corking intersections and running red lights as a group (hallmarks of Critical Mass going back to the mid-1990’s), those things are obviously illegal, so the SFPD could start issuing citations whenever it wants, of course. And that’s true no matter how they roll in the Empire State. (Actually, I question how the New York decision affects us here in San Francisco at all, but oh well.)
I’ll tell you, the biggest shock that drivers have when they get stuck at an intersection is that they get no sympathy from the cops. Drivers without criminal records tend to stay by their cars and watch the parade of bikes.
OTOH, drivers with criminal records, well, Critical Mass is a test of their ability to maintain. Some fail.
Do I think San Francisco has the will to kill Critical Mass? No. But do I think Police Chief George Gascon is planning on shaking things up, in the coming months, you know, when rain no longer threatens* and the number of cyclists is bigger? Yes.
“Hey, man, we don’t have any “leaders,” man. The City can’t do nothing to us, nobody’s in charge of CM, man.” Yes, roger that. I don’t think anybody’s going to stick you with a bill for $35,000 or anything, but changes are a coming…
Collateral damage from Critical Mass - MUNI vehicles stretching to the horizon in both directions. (Is that on the DO list or the DON’T list?) This kind of thing is one of the reasons you don’t see CM listed at the SFBC website calendar anymore.
Where’s Waldo, Cagney and Lacey on a recent Critical Mass ride:
The wonder of encountering an unexpected Critical Mass for the first time. Out-of-towners Rachel and Monica were delighted:
To Be Continued…
*Actually, tonight looks to be clear as a bell, Mel. But the forecast was for rain so tonight’s should be a smaller ride.
Tags: 2009, 2010, biclcye, bike, bus, chief, commute clot, confrontation, cops, cork, corked, critical, critical mass, cyclists, delay, department, dept., friday, fridays, George Gascón, intersection, Judge, last, market, mass, month, monthly, Muni, new york, parade, police, Police Chief, rain, San Francisco, sexy, SFPD, stalled, tacoed, transit, trolley, Wheel
Posted in bikes, crime | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
[UPDATE: Word on the street is that, for 2010, floats will be confined the 1.2 mile stretch betwixt Divisadero Street and Arguello Boulevard. Is that a fact? No se, hermana/o. And people, use your words - this new rule ruins B2B because....]
Let’s see here, the Citizens for the Preservation of Bay2Breakers (Bay to Breakers) are upset about not being consulted with a change to where the floats start at the 2010 ING Bay to Breakers coming up on May 16th?
Today’s Beef of the Week:
“Even with an organization of more than 25,000 members built in just a couple of weeks in 2009 to fight AEG’s bans and preserve the traditions of the race, AEG did not approach CPBB or any of its officers to discuss the new 2010 restrictions prior to their announcement. AEG did not approach Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi’s office or the Board of Supervisors to discuss the new 2010 restrictions. AEG did not approach Mayor Gavin Newsom’s office to discuss the new 2010 restrictions. AEG did not approach the North of Panhandle Neighborhood Association to discuss staging floats in their neighborhood instead of at the start of the race.”
All right. Spokesman Sam Singer is saying that the rules will be the same as last year, except for the float starting point. Actually, I thought people were mad in 2009 when they were required to start their floats down in the SoMA starting area. Oh well. Won’t this all get worked out when the permits get issued, and during the ISCOTT hearing ’n stuff? I mean the Third Sunday in May is three months away, right?
Haven’t run this photo in two or three months, or something. Click to expand:
Maybe changing the float starting point is a bad idea, I don’t know. There are pluses and minuseses.
This change wouldn’t seem to be enough to be able to “destroy” the B2B race though…
Tags: 12k, 2, 2008, 2009, 2010, 5 fulton, 7, 97th, 98th, alcohol, alix rosenthal, annual, anschutz, b2b, bad, Bay, bay to breakers, bay2breakers, beer, body, breakers, cars, carts, channel, Chepkurui, chris fox, citizens, Conor Johnston, cops, corrals, CPBB, crawlsf, cups, david scott, David William Scott, department, dept., destroyed, direct, district, divisadero, divisidero, dj, dpw, dumpsters, edelman, Edward Sharpless, Elite, eventbrite, facebook, fell, floats, footrace, footstock, foto, fundraiser, gabe, garbage, gavilanes, Gavin, glass, golden gate park, good, Greater Body Expo, haight Ashbury, howard, ing, John, John Gray, Jon Dishotsky, kegs, Kelsey Nagie, kgo, KGO-TV, Kipsang, Korir, Lineth, liquor, Liz Brusca, map, Matt Seliga, Men's, Mike Moscuzza, Muni, naked, nat ford, Newsom, nimby, nimbys, nude, paint, panhandle, photographs, photos, plastic, police, police department, pr, preservation, public relations, purple, recycling, red, richmond, roe, ross mirkarimi, sam singer, Sammy Kitwara, San Francisco, SFPD, smoove, store, street, sunset, tickets, towed, trash, TV, ugly, vehicles, Wilson Ling, women's, zaq, zero tolerance
Posted in events | No Comments »
Monday, February 15th, 2010
Can you make sense of this scene at San Francisco’s Justin Herman Plaza near the Embarcadero Ferry Building? (Perhaps a black-and-white, slo-mo Raging Bull-style video or this official 1080p will help.)
Click to expand:
via christopher*
It was the Yelp-rated Great Valentine’s Day Pillow Fight of February 14th, 2010! This joint went down yesterday despite a threatened crackdown from San Francisco’s Park Rangers and an ominous warning from San Francisco Director of Public Health Mitchell Katz - he fretted about the risk of “corneal abrasions, penetrating injuries, and even orbital fractures.” Captain Bringdown, M.D. documented 17 injuries from last year that were serious enough to require medical attention at emergency rooms. Hope 2010 was safer.
christopher*
Let’s take a look from the beginning. Just hop on the BART…
ekai
…don a disuise to protect your identity…
christopher*
…or your corneas…
renedrivers
…allow our gorgeous (red hair, blue feathers) media types (SF Station – what’s that?) time enough to give the command to roll cameras…
renedrivers
…and leave us commence:
AliThanawalla
A chicken fight with goose feathers – is that allowed?
AliThanawalla
Beefcake, BEEFCAKE!
renedrivers
Some took a defensive posture…
renedrivers
…while others went mano a mano, no holds barred:
renedrivers
Verily, it was the Great Valentine’s Day Pillow Fight of 2010:
christopher*
See you next year!
[Update: Mission Local has some good shots as well.]
Tags: (BART), 14, 14th, 2010, best, club, corneal abrasions, crackdown, crnea, damage, day, department, dept., director, doctor, emergency room, eye, eyes, feathers, feb. february, ferry buidling, fight, flash, great, health, injuries, Justin Herman Plaza, katz, MD, mitch katz, mitchell katz, mob, Muni, orbital fractures, park, penetrating injuries, photographs, photos, pics, pillow, pillow fight, police, public, rangers, San Francisco, sf staion, SFPD, sfstation, shots, valentines, Video, videos, yelp
Posted in events | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
Today’s groundbreaking for our new subway was quite the affair. The Central T will open for business sometime in 20xx – that’s pretty much an inevitability now.
Of course back in the day, we had naysayers. But they’ve given up. After all:
“‘This is not going to become the Big Dig.”
All right, I’ll bite. This is not going to become the Big Dig because….? Because why? That remains unstated, unarticulated.
The scene this morning, under a SoMA freeway:
via anglisa
So, yes, of course Boston’s disastrous Central Artery/Tunnel Project isn’t San Francisco’s Central Subway Project. But will there be massive overruns? Sure, I mean they’re pretty much baked into the cake, right? Interested parties would love to see cost overruns – that’s the primary reason why these things happen.
Will San Francisco be better off with this subway than without? Probably.
Will San Franciscans use it? Sure.
All right, thanks for our new subway, America. We’ll get more use out of it than people up north got out of the Everitt Memorial Highway. (Your federal tax dollars paid for that one too. Oh well.)
Let’s Hope It All Works Out.
All the deets, after the jump
(more…)
Tags: 'This is not going to become the Big Dig, 2016, 2018, 4th, big dig, Big Dig West, boston, Central Artery, Central Artery/Tunnel Project, central subway, central t, chinatown, mta, Muni, project, SFMTA, soma, street, t, third, Tunnel Project
Posted in transit | 1 Comment »
Saturday, February 6th, 2010
Yesterday’s announcement of a sinkhole affecting N-Judah service in the Sunset District didn’t sound like any big deal at first:
“Feb 5, 2010 to Feb 7, 2010 - SF Muni N-Judah Line Delay: On Saturday, February 6, SF Muni reports delays on the inbound N-Judah Line at Judah and 29th Avenue due to a street closure involving a sinkhole near the inbound tracks. N trains are turning back at Judah and 19th Avenue and bus shuttles are being provided until further notice.”
And, in fact, the actual sinkhole location itself looks unremarkable, excepting for all the signs all around it.
But check it – appears as if work crews might be spending the next two weeks onsite at 29th and Judah:
”WE WILL TOW,” says MUNI. No doubt.
People riding the N Judah buses this AM seemed relatively unaffected* by the loss of the trolleys, but that probably won’t be the case on Monday if the tracks aren’t usable.
Or, maybe, the City’s taciturn work crews will be able to get a quick fix in this weekend and then work on a better job over the next week or so? Perhaps there’s an ongoing issue there anyway and this whole deal is a big nothingburger with a side order of nada?
MUNI probably has a pretty good idea on what will occur but they aren’t officially saying anything yet.
Only Time Will Tell.
Le mise-en-scene ce matin:
An avid radio fan, call-sign Star Scream (srsly, perhaps ironically), hepped me to when the supervisors would show up this AM, and lo, he was spot-on. (Radio – it’s like the Internet but without pictures.)
Note the cracks nearby the purported sinkhole…
…and then compare them with these nearby bits (could we call them railroad ties?) that appear to be waiting to go:
Good luck, MUNI!
[UPDATE: If you believe what Next MUNI is saying, then the trolleys will be rolling across the sinkhole spot by this afternoon, February 7th.]
*So people trying to get to MUNI’s Town Hall Meeting today (maybe it’s still going on) should be able to make it. MUNI likes these kinds of meetings because they disunite riders (because of infighting over the preservation of service on particular lines) and they unite the disparate elements of MUNI. (Is the state of California really “taking away” money from MUNI or just not giving as much money to MUNI?) Regardless, if enough people hammer on the importance of one particular line, that can make a difference…
Tags: 19th, 2010, 29th, ave, avenue, bridge, crews, department, dpw, feb, February, judah, meeting, mta, Muni, n, n judah, public works, SFMTA, shuttle, sink hole, sinkhole, street, town hall
Posted in transit | No Comments »
