This was the scene the other day at the LGBT Center at a Harvey Milk Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Democratic Club meeting in support of Community Choice Aggregation.
Here’s a report from KPIX Channel 5 (if you can handle a commercial beforehand.)
Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, Supervisor David Campos, Carole Migden, Paul Fenn, John Rizzo, Chris Jackson, and Eric Brooks, among others, were all there:
The fight over Proposition 16 is hotting up, certainly.
Via ActionNewsSF, you might search to find a KGO-TV bit covering the traffic-disrupting venting steam pipe at McAllister and Larkin today – it’s more steam than usual, that’s for sure.
But this area of Civic Center right in front of our Asian Art Museum (this year, it’s Shanghai) is basically steaming all the time, right?
HC SVNT DRACONES:
Click to expand.
This intersection is usually steaming, unless it’s flooding. Like this:
Oh well.
As per usual, it all happens on (or near) McAllister Street, Gateway to the Golden Gate Park Panhandle and home of the Snickerdoodle bike path (Route 20), your best way of getting over Alamo Heights while avoiding the abysmal, Hayes Valley NIMBY-designed Octavia Boulevard 24-7 traffic scrum.
San Francisco’s Harvey Milk Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Democratic Club is hosting a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) Town Hall tonight at the LGBT Center on the corner of Market and Octavia. CCA is:
“a system adopted into law in the states of Massachusetts, Ohio, California, New Jersey and Rhode Island which allows cities and counties to aggregate the buying power of individual customerswithin a defined jurisdiction in order to secure alternative energy supply contracts. Currently, nearly 1 million Americans receive service from CCAs.”
The special guests will be Assembly Bill 117 (2002) author Carole Migden, District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, District 9 Supervisor David Campos and San Francisco Bay Guardian Executive Editor Tim Redmond.
The whole shebang starts at 6:45 PM:
STOP the PG$E Power GRAB!
That’s okay! Former State Senator Carole Migden, author of the Community Choice Aggregation legislation, and many others will be at this special Milk Club PAC Forum to help explain these issues and show you how to educate our communities and take DIRECT POLITICAL ACTION!
This event is OPEN to the PUBLIC!
Please invite EVERYONE YOU KNOW to attend this SPECIAL FORUM and STOP PG&E!
Special Guests Include:
Former State Senator Carole Migden, San Francisco
Supervisors David Campos & Ross Mirkarimi, San Francisco
Featured Presenters:
Paul Fenn, John Rizzo, Chris Jackson and Eric Brooks
Moderators:
MILK Club Political VP Linette Peralta Haynes
SF BAY GUARDIAN Editor-in-Chief Tim Redmond
Convener:
Tom Taylor, Milk Club Environmental Caucus Chair
HISTORY + ACTION = PROGRESS
Harvey Milk Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Democratic Club
Celebrating 35 Years of Progressive Political Action and Fighting for our Communities
Here’s some fresh video from YouTubes’s doghousefm. It seems that the famous incident started when Epic Beard Guy Thomas Alexander Bruso boarded an AC Transit bus so he could go “to Frisco to get some weed.” His original plan for his mother’s funeral:
“I’m going to wear a powder blue fucking suit, and a white shirt and a red tie and a fucking breast cancer pin…”
Comes now the fight loser “Michael” (who appears to be on a first-name-only basis with DJ “JV“):
“First of all, I’d like to aPOlogize to AC Transit…”
It goes on and on, Black History Month, 5150, bygones, veterans, arthritis, murder, parole, apologies, brothers, stolen money, leaking, ass kicking, Strike Force(?) Showtime TV, 10,000 kids, cocaine - it goes on and on.
Can’t remember which morning-zoo / dawg-pound joint this screengrab came from. Oh yes, it was from WILD 94.9 FM:
And here’s more information about the now-cancelled plans for a rematch.
We’re approaching endgame on this one…
[UPDATE: Tom speaks out on video.]
Now-famous 62-year-old Bay Arean Thomas Bruso (aka Epic Beard Man, Tom Swift, and Tom Vietnam) picks fights as he rides AC Transit in the East Bay, of course, (incident video now available in high def) but he also has been known to take BART to visit San Francisco from time to time. For example, here he is near Market Street back when he was just 48, as seen by Caliber photographer Troy Holden:
“Back in 1996, I was working at the intersection of 2nd & Market. Each and every day the man pictured above would walk by my shop, wave a loaf of sourdough in my face, and scream obscenities about the San Francisco 49′ers.”
Good times, via Troy Holden
This guy is as strong as an ox and quite onery to boot, needless to say. So, could Tasers help the SFPD control and handcuff Tom (the next time he’s off his meds) and people like him should the need arise?
Let’s find out, courtesy of footage of Tom at an Oakland A’s game last year. Is this a proper use of a Taser? I don’t know. It ended up being a time-saver for the cops, certainly. Would they have felt justified in shooting Tom with bullets at that moment? Obviously not. The question after any Taser discharge is what would you have done if you didn’t have the Taser, right?
If cops view using a Taser as a first resort, you end up with a tragedy like that of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International.
Speaking of Tasers and the East Bay, check out this excellent report from Demian Bulwa about how the BART Police Department ran the initial stages of its Taser program.
That’s a poorly-run operation. What about the California Highway Patrol? They seem to do be doing better with Tasers these days. For them, a Taser is just another arrow in the quiver. Check it, a CHP officer on San Francisco’s Octavia Boulevard with his two primary weapons, a Smith & Wesson Model 4006 semi-automatic and a TASER International X26:
So why shouldn’t the SFPD have Tasers? We already trust them with handguns and assault rifles, right? We’ll end up with a few more lawsuits but with fewer dead civilians. Sounds like a win, overall.
And finally, let’s hear from the RAND Coporation. They pondered the use of Conducted Energy Devices (CEDs) for the NYPD and had this to say:
“Our key less-than-lethal force recommendations:
We reviewed reports of about 455 NYPD shootings from 2004 to 2006 and identified 25 cases where we judged that had a less-lethal weapon been available, officers may have used it to subdue suspects instead of using their handguns.
We also note that when other departments have deployed Conducted Energy Devices or CEDs, commonly known by the brand name TASER, injuries to both suspects and officers have declined.
We recognize that some groups have criticized the deployment of CEDs, raising issues of safety, overuse, and misuse. As such we recommend that the NYPD undertake a pilot program for the deployment of CEDs.
Such a program should allow patrol officers in selected precincts to be trained and equipped with CEDs that can incapacitate suspects from a distance. We believe there is evidence that if NYPD officers had access to this device, some number of officer-involved shootings could be avoided, and injuries to both suspects and police officers will decline. A carefully designed pilot program conducted over six to 12 months in a few select precincts would give the department enough information to determine whether the devices would alter the way the NYPD officers apply force and whether the weapons could be used properly.”
So, it would seem a well-executed Taser program could be a good thing for the SFPD.
Oh and yes, an apology from videographer Iyanna, after the jump
It took a while, but this photo is clear evidence of an A2B electric moped from San Francisco-based Ultra Motor USA apparently being used by a regular San Franciscan. Heretofore, I’ve only seen A2Bs being borrowed by tourists for short-term rentals, or by riders on test drives, or by employees trying to promote the brand, stuff like that.
So this is progress, of a sort.
Let’s see here, yes, that’s an overweight, overpriced A2B Metro being used as designed in San Francisco. Finally.
And here’s something else that’s new – an endorsement from Jay Leno. Check the short video with dressed-for-success(!) (in a camo tank, Daisy Dukes* and high-heeled boots) Ultra Motor “Sales Manager” Shelby Nielsen at advertising-choked JayLenosGarage.com:
Let’s see here. Jay Leno:
Clearly doesn’t understand the concept of voltage. [Conferre this huge 6-volt lantern battery with tiny 9-volt battery next to it - which has more power do you s'pose? Discuss.]
Thinks the weight of 73 pounds (or is it closer to 90 with the optional $650 battery you can see behind the seat?) ”isn’t bad.” [Actually, it is bad.]
Thinks it’s practical to pedal a moped.
Thinks it’s practical to carry a moped up and down stairs on a daily basis.
Doesn’t care about the price
Believes in helmets for people on motorcycles but not on mopeds, despite the fact that he needed to wear a helmet during his test drive on public streets under CA law.
Here’s the thing – A2B mopeds, like all mopeds, are basically manifestations of license-and-registration scams. Moped owners don’t have to deal with all the hassles involved of owning a scooter or a motorcycle – that’s the reason for the ridiculous design compromises.
So that’s how it’s going for the first year of these mopeds in the 415.
And to close, let’s review The Law:
24016. (a) A motorized bicycle described in subdivision (b) of Section 406 shall meet the following criteria:
(2) Operate in a manner so that the electric motor is disengaged or ceases to function when the brakes are applied, or operate 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.
(b) All of the following apply to a motorized bicycle described in subdivision (b) of Section 406:
(1) No person shall operate a motorized bicycle unless the person is wearing a properly fitted and fastened bicycle helmet that meets the standards described in Section 21212.
(2) A person operating a motorized bicycle is subject to Sections 21200 and 21200.5.
(3) A person operating a motorized bicycle is not subject to the provisions of this code relating to financial responsibility, driver’s licenses, registration, and license plate requirements, and a motorized bicycle is not a motor vehicle.
(4) A motorized bicycle shall only be operated by a person 16 years of age or older.
(5) Every manufacturer of a motorized bicycle shall certify that it complies with the equipment and manufacturing requirements for bicycles adopted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (16 C.F.R. 1512.1, et seq.).
(c) No person shall tamper with or modify a motorized bicycle described in subdivision (b) of Section 406 so as to increase the speed capability of the bicycle.
27802. (a) The department may adopt reasonable regulations establishing specifications and standards for safety helmets offered for sale, or sold, for use by drivers and passengers of motorcycles and motorized bicycles as it determines are necessary for the safety of those drivers and passengers. The regulations shall include, but are not limited to, the requirements imposed by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 218 (49 C.F.R. Sec. 571.218) and may include compliance with that federal standard by incorporation of its requirements by reference. Each helmet sold or offered for sale for use by drivers and passengers of motorcycles and motorized bicycles shall be conspicuously labeled in accordance with the federal standard which shall constitute the manufacturer’s certification that the helmet conforms to the applicable federal motor vehicle safety standards.
*In the “accepted vernacular“
The Tragedy Collection by toban nichols speaks for itself, below.
It’s on display upstairs at the LGBT Center on Market and Octavia.
I thought this piece might be called “Queen of the Harpies” but actually it’s “Crawling With Kids.” Click to expand:
I thought this one might be called “Reality Used to be a Friend of Mine” but actually it’s “Look Into My Eyes.”
The Manifesto:
Which alpha female would you prefer to have staring down while you eat breakfast?
Mmmm….
Have you heard about a lot of problems regarding accidents at problematic intersection of Market and Octavia Boulevard lately? I haven’t.
It’s still no picnic out there of course, but the City has done a reasonable job of fixing the original problem of numerous car vs. bike accidents.
And now, with giantesses Sonia and Rykiel watching over us, well, we’re safer than ever. See?
One of these days, I’ll get out there to see how many cars make the illegal right in an hour of morning drive time.
Imagine it’s much lower than before, so that’s a Good Thing.
Thanks City (and State) workers!
Get up to speed first.
Now, here are the debut menus for Baker & Banker. Click to expand:
The neighbors, like Ashley H., seemed pleased, anyway:
“I live right around the block from Baker & Banker, and when I saw that a new restaurant was opening I was so excited to try it out, so I went for opening night, and it was great!
The inside decor is pretty nice and simple with low lighting and mirrors on the walls. To start I had a salad with goat cheese, pomegranate, persimmon, and I think pear, which was super delicious. It was a nice light way to start out the meal. For my main course, I had the scallop dish with brussel sprout leaves and sun choke puree, and it was superb! For desert I had the cheese cake apple crisp, and as a cheesecake expert, it was a great mixture of a traditional cheesecake with apple in the middle – I totally recommend it!
For me this place is a really cute neighborhood restaurant, and I definitely plan on going back. I also think it’s definitely worth a trip even if you aren’t in the neighborhood – it’s great!”
