Well here’s what it looks like IRL, on “MACALLISTER” Street near Scott at a barely-used, windblown parking lot owned by a nearby church.
And here’s what it looks like on your iOS device:
Will this company ever make money?
I don’t know.
Will this company ever make money from me?
Hell no.
Anyway, check out how they’re doing in the white part of the Western Addition northeast of the Panhandle – the DivCo they call it. Looks like somebody’s been knocking on doors lately…
1. THE TOP OF HAYES STREET HILL _ISN’T_ THE HIGHEST POINT OF THE BTOB FUN-RUN. JUST CHECK THE ROUTE PROFILE:
“Here’s your route profile, starting from the SoMA near the bay going all the way to the breakers of Ocean Beach. See that big incline just before mile marker three? That’s the vaunted Hayes Street Hill. (And actually, the highest part of Hayes Street on this part of the course is near Pierce, not “at Fillmore and Steiner“ and not ”between Fillmore and Sutter.”)
And actually, that part of Hayes peaks at around 260 feet, not 215:
Now, here’s your winner. It’s the 270-something foot high saddle on JFK Jr. Drive betwixt Prayer Book Cross and Stow Lake / Strawberry Hill, where ”Kennedy” is written:
2. THE BTOB FUN-RUN IS A 12K, AND YET IT’S NOT A 12K – THE CLAIMED “WORLD RECORDS” ARE NOT, IN FACT, WORLD RECORDS
“Race organizers and media have reported that the course records set by Sammy Kitwara in 2009 and Lineth Chepkurui in 2010 are also world records at the 12 km distance;[31] however, the International Association of Athletics Federations, the international governing body for the sport of athletics/track and field, does not recognize world records or world bests in either an indoor or outdoor 12 km.[32] The Association of Road Racing Statisticians, a non-regulatory group that collects road running data, does recognize world records in the outdoor 12 km provided that the race course meets certain criteria.[33][34] In order to rule-out the possibility of wind assistancein point-to-point courses, the ARRS stipulates that the course must have “not more than 30% of the race distance separation between that start and finish”, or 3.6 km for a 12 km race.[34] Given that the Bay to Breakers is run on a point-to-point course in which the start and finish of the event are approximately 10.5 linear kilometers apart, the ARRS recognizes two other marks as 12 km world records: Kenyan Simon Kigen‘s 33:46 in Portland, Oregon on May 19, 1985 and Chepkurui’s 38:10 at the 2010Lilac Bloomsday Run.[33][nb 2]
3. MOST PEOPLE _DON’T_ PAY THE ABSURDLY HIGH REGISTRATION FEE. MOST PEOPLE YOU SEE ARE “BANDITS”
HERE’S THE OFFICIAL ESTIMATE: “…more than in the hundreds but less than tens of thousands.” THE REAL NUMBER IS TENS OF THOUSANDS.
“The Bay to Breakers is known for the large number of unregistered runners, or “bandits”, who participate in the race. Ross Mirkarimi, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, reported that over half of the 60,000 participants in the 2010 Bay to Breakers were unregistered.[19] San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom was among the runners in 2010 who did not pay the registration fee to obtain a race number.[19][22] Registered participation was 24,430 in 2010,[23] 43,954 in 2011,[24] 23,072 for 2012,[25], and approximately 20,000 for 2013.[26]“
I believe Bagdad By The Bay has the latest on our Bacon Bacon saga at Ashbury Market near the corner of Frederick in not-so-scenic Ashbury Heights.
Well this wacky story just went national today on Saturday Night Live – here’s Weekend Update co-host Amy Poehler, via Brock Keeling of SFist:
Perhaps not that funny but at least now more people are mocking attorney Ryan Patterson and his unknown client(s).
At least now there’s an upside to this flagrant NIMBYism.
So feel free to add this incident…
…to the time this Kramer-esque sign hung off the back of nearby 1965 Page…
…and, for that matter, Kramer’s famous run in:
Cosmo Kramer vs. Kenny Rogers Roasters, Inc.
On It Goes…
I’ll tell you, I’m not exactly sure when the tow away signs went up for this year’s historic Bay to Breakers street party – maybe it was today.
No matter, hundreds of cars are going to get towed this Saturday and Sunday.
It’s going to be epic.
Here are the streets to not park your car upon.
Sometimes they give you a week’s notice, but not this year I don’t think.
Click to expand
Let’s review.
Before we can have this…
…or this…
From hard-working Steve Nguyen
…we’re going to have to have this:
(I remember it as if it were just two years ago…)
“The Great Tow of 2011:
One car gets away in the nick of time, but three others aren’t so lucky:
Ted and Al’s had like ten yellow tow trucks ready to go late Saturday night, in the driving rain. (Note how Bank of America is protecting its windows – the IndyBay crowd got to them, smashy smashy, about a year or so back, unrelated to Bay to Breakers.)
Now, speaking of prêt-à-porters, this is the main body, this is the largest array for the Golden Gate Park Panhandle:
And here’s the second-biggest grouping, along Masonic:
And there are some on the other side of Fell, typically in groups of six on some of the blocks.
But that’s it.
Not sure where B2B is hiding their 1000+ portable toilets claimed for 2011, at this point, just hours before the Kenyans take off on their winning runs.
Oh well.
And there’s no sign of the fencing neither, except for what they have every year.
We’ll see.
The Great Fence of B2B100 is supposed to have upon it either images of Christ hand-selected by P. Anschutz or photos of people who ran the race before white NIMBYs moved into the Western Addition. (You’ll have to tell me about it…). Anyway, here’s the baby fencing they have on scene already along with, and isn’t this cute, a message from San Francisco Natives for a Fun and Buzzed Bay to Breakers. Apparently, the cops can’t arrest for an open container in San Francisco…
And doesn’t this just break your heart – this Vespa scooter has been forgotten on the slopes of the famed Hayes Street Hill, the second highest point on the “racecourse.” Will Auto-Return charge $700 for its return?
Remember, Transit First.
All right, have a great Bay to Breakers 100!
These were the final two I saw after just passing three others ALL walking/jogging west to get to Trader Joe’s. This is my personal best, after all those years.
Oh yeah, I know all about the history of jaywalking and about Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the Red Car and so forth. So what. How does that kind of stuff help us here? Answer: It doesn’t.
Moving on….
Click to expand
Here’s what I said about Trader Joes #100, a half-decade ago, on the old blog:
“Of course, everybody needs to be on the lookout for all the Frogger-like jaywalkers carrying their groceries across six lanes of parked and moving cars. (Somebody is going to get hit one of these days.)”
Now that got a bit of attention from TJ’s Corporate. (I know because I saw the logs indicating such.)
So what the reaction? Nothing, basically.
Stuff like this is what the TJ’s people spent their time on instead, it would appear.
Now this is what occurred last year. Actually, it’s the one-year anniversary of the death of 25-year-old Suzanne Monaco.*
Did the San Francisco Planning Department plan things well? No, obviously.
Is the SFMTA doing anything about this particular block? No. They have plans to put a whole lot of useless trees and a useless median south of Geary but they don’t seem to care about where TJ’s parkers park and where they walk.
Yes these jaywalkers are illegally crossing the street and yes they are 100% responsible for their deaths when they get killed but what can be done to prevent future deaths right here in this one location?
I don’t know, a parking garage, an enforcement action, a ban on parking on the east side of Masonic on that particular block of Masonic, a traffic signal and crosswalk, opening up Emerson Alley to allow shopper parking on the roof, you know, just throwing things out there.
This situation is one giant FAIL for SFGov.
You should all be ashamed, SFGov.
Srsly.
Leaving you with one reaction, from Jessica Levin:
“I saw the flower memorial outside Trader Joe’s, and if that is the spot where she crossed, then she must have had a death wish. That’s a busy high speed corridor in both directions and she crossed near a blind crest. She didn’t deserve to die, but if anyone gets the blame, unfortunately it is the pedestrian. I parked across Masonic exactly once (and I did jaywalk to get back to my car) but I was careful to cross at the crest where I could see traffic coming from quite a distance, and even then I was extremely nervous. That was two years ago, and I have never done it again.”
*Was she really carrying “an armful of groceries” while heading “west” back to the store? Probably not.
Get all the deets from Vicente Patino here.
“If the tentative hearing indeed takes place on May 17, a follow-up SFMTA board meeting would likely be scheduled for Tuesday, June 18. According to Paul Rose, press officer for the city agency that oversees parking, traffic, and transportation planning in San Francisco, these new measures may be passed. The board’s approval in June could mean that all-day parking would be gone by the end of summer 2013.”
Oh, you are a sucker. Well, then be my guest – pay $48 for a number. And actually, and you’ll enjoy this, sucker, it’s already too late to get a good deal on registration for 2013. Prices be higher now.
Most people who aren’t professional runners don’t pay and here’s a good reason not to pay:
Your money goes directly to “Christian Billionaire” Philip Anschutz.
And then he takes your $$$$$ and uses it to, over the years, oppose the concept of evolution and fund anti-gay efforts.
(It’s funny that he even took an interest in this historic fun run and street party but he likes running so there y0u go.)
The reason that organizers won’t say how many “bandits” show up for the party is because they don’t want you to think that most people don’t pay.
But, IRL, most people don’t pay.
If you don’t believe me then take a NSFW look right here.
How many bibs do you see? Every year they say they will eject all these people and every year they don’t actually do it.
Now the San Francisco Nike Womens Marathon is different. You see, they give out coveted awards and people just can’t help themselves. And then stuff like this happens; “NO BIB NO BIB NO BIB!”
But B2B aint like that.
One difference this year will be a limit on the size of the bags you might carry.
It’s like the size of Fook Mi’s backpack, best I can imagine.
Click to expand
All right, have a great 2013 B2B.
And if you want to pay money to somebody, just take whatever your reg fee is and give it to Pride or whatever.
End Of Line.
I’m not finished yet.
Look at this official Bay Area Air Quality Management District staff car. What powers it? Gasoline. Evil, evil gasoline.
Now let’s leave aside the half-assed parking job directly in front of the latest Polk Great Streets Complete Streets “Improvement” Meeting. Oh wait, let’s not. Parallel parking involves being parallel, right? Work on that, BAAQMD. And should you have left your ass hanging over the official SFMTA red zone? Have you no respect for The Law, BAAQMD?
Hey BAAQMD, where’d you come from to get to the corner of Bush and Polk? Tell me and I’ll then tell you which crappy SFMTA bus line you all could have used to get to the meeting. I myself came up Sutter from the office ’cause it’s relatively flat. See? I’m loaded with info!
Conveniently using one of the many parking spaces it wants to eliminate in the Polk Corridor. Let’s call this shot The High Cost of Free Parking:
Click to expand
Hey BAAQMD! Do you pay the meters when you park you gasoline-powered cars about town on the weekends? I think we had a big deal about this issue just last year, right? Oh no, you just leave the meter flashing EXPIRED EXPIRED while you tend to your bidness for hours? OK fine.
Oh well.
The BAAQMD isn’t an Air Quality Management program, it’s a jobs program.
It’s a jobs program for the people who work for … the BAAQMD.
Just saying.
OMG, would you look at this?
I mean check out all these deadly, beastly automobiles parked on Polk, the very same street that the SFMTA is trying to “complete” don’t you know:
Click to expand
I know, why don’t you take out all these spaces and replace them with a separated bike lane or something, SFMTA?
After all, Transit First, right?
Oh, what’s that? These are the spaces that the Board of Supervisors and their aides park in for free every day so that’s where you just happened to end your campaign of completion?
But don’t you care about safety, SFMTA?
Mmmmm….
“This project seeks to implement aesthetic and safety improvements for all users of Polk Street between McAllister and Union Streets. In accordance with the City’s Transit First policy, improvements will primarily be focused on people who walk, use transit and ride a bicycle along Polk Street. The project is funded by Proposition B General Obligation Bonds and is part of an overall citywide effort to curb pedestrian and bicycle collisions and to provide a safe north-south connection for people on bicycles. Pedestrian and bicyclist collision and injury data on Polk Street point to a corridor in need of safety improvements for all those who share the road. In fact, the southern portion from Sacramento to McAllister Streets is part of the 5% of San Francisco streets that have more than half of the City’s most severe pedestrian collisions.”
Organizing people to support whatever the SFMTA wants to do? Yes.
Now, does the SFMTA give lots of money to the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition?
So what does all that money buy?
The SFMTA has just announced it will be holding the third official Polk Street Improvement project meeting series on Saturday, April 27 from 10 am to 1 pm and Tuesday, April 30 from 5 to 8:30 pm at 1300 Polk St (at Bush) at the First Congregational Church Fellowship Hall. Please take a moment to read what’s at stake at these meetings. For a year, the SFMTA has conducted widespread community outreach and has developed proposals that will address the urgent safety needs on Polk Street (where once a month someone on a bicycle AND walking is involved in a collision).
If you support safety improvements to Polk Street, it is critical that you attend one or both of these SFMTA Community meetings on April 27 or 30 and speak up for the improvements proven to make biking and walking safer and bring more people to a commercial corridor.
RSVP below so we know that we can count on you to come to the April 27 or 30 SFMTA Community meetings to speak up for safety on Polk Street:
Polk Street Meetings RSVP
Now, could the SFMTA drum up support directly?
I don’t think so. BART, for instance, got in trouble for doing this type of stuff.
But what’s the difference if the SFBC functions as an arm of the SFMTA?
Hey SFMTA, what’s sample bias? Is it this?
“The SFMTA is looking to get input on how the proposed options for Polk Street meet your needs when you’re traveling on Polk Street. Click here to take SFMTA’s survey. and speak up for safety improvements that matter most.”
I think so. Let me Google that for you.
And actually, all the polling you do has sampling bias. Did you know that, SFMTA?
Maybe you don’t:
“Officials seemed taken aback by the anger at the Middle Polk Neighborhood Assn. gathering. Every seat in the Old First Presbyterian Church’s community room was filled. The crowd stood several deep along the walls and spilled out into the corridor.Audience members jeered when Edward D. Reiskin, the city’s transportation director, couldn’t say how many of the 320 curbside parking spots along Polk could be taken out under the plan. “I don’t have that data,” he said to loud boos, before going with “something like 170″ maximum. The response from the crowd was more of the same.”
All right, SFMTASFBC. Enjoy your staged meetings on April 27th and 30th!
