Posts Tagged ‘plan’
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009
Here’s the scene on freshly-paved Scott Street this afternoon. The greening of the “bike box” red light waiting area on Scott Street near Oak at the terminus of the famous Wiggle Bike Route has begun. At long last, it has begun.
For now, anyway. The partial lifting of the Bicycle Plan injunction isn’t a 100% thing, but the City is moving ahead anyway.
Supervisors Bevan Dufty and Ross Mirkarimi, MTA chief Nat Ford, and Mayor Gavin Newsom all got in on the fun. Click to expand:
As Our Mayor’s extended paint roller got closer to the throng of reporters Supervisor Dufty was all, ”Watch out media, Gavin’s coming your way!” And here’s the reaction – a that’s-right-laugh-it-up-funnyboy smirk and then a quick departure:
Gavin’s ill humor wasn’t helped later on when Emmy Award-winning CBS5 political editor Hank Plante started asking about Geo Fanelli wanting his recent $500 donation back. Akit’s suggestion about suing in small claims court is interesting, non? I mean, you can’t give everybody their money back, right? (After your campaign buys a copy of PhotoShop, you don’t get much change back from a $500 banknote.) However, Geo has a pretty sympathetic case to make. Mmmm.
Anyway, in all the excitement, Bevan started painted bike helmets green, making mementos to allow us to remember this Special Day. (Bro was on today with all his Ammiano-like bons mots.)
San Francisco Bicycle Coalition leader Leah Shahum and Nat Ford were all smiles today:
Supervisor Mirkarimi looked dashing on his Trek Ride+ electric-assist bike. It’s just like Board President David Chiu’s. Said one wag, “Ross, you have the right equipment.” The loud reply, from someone famous: “That’s what she said!”
All in all, it was quite a celebration.
But this isn’t all for today. San Francisco’s first protected bike lane is now on Market Street, as of this AM.
Tags: 30, alamo square, alamo square neighborhood association, bevan dufty, bicycle, bicycle coalition, bike, bikes, cancelled, ceremony, chief, cyclist, cyclists, EaPA, East of Panhandle Area, fell, gavin newsom, green, green paint, india, injunction, Judge, lane, leah shahum, Mayor, media, mta, Muni, nat ford, NOPA, oak, paint, path, photo op, photo opportunity, plan, postponed, protected, ross mirkarimi, route, San Francisco, scott, scott street, sfbc, SFMTA, street, transit, wiggle
Posted in bikes | Comments Off
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
The Lyndon LaRouche Movement of the San Francisco Bay Area is going all out against any changes to healthcare policy being forwarded by Barack Obama.
See? Click to expand.
This is right near the Financial District on Market Street - two people, some literature, and an ironing board, that’s your Movement in the Bay Area.
So, the LaRouchies don’t don’t like George W Bush, the Queen of England, and now, President Barack Obama. Makes you wonder who they DO like (besides Lyndon LaRouche).
Don’t Stop Believin’, LaRouchies!
Tags: 2nd, 3rd, adolph, ban, barack, care, change, doctors, dumb and dumber, First, health, healthcare, hitler, hospitals, la Rouchies, larouche, larouchees, larouchepac, larouchies, Lyndon, market, national, nazi-hmo, nazi-hmos, obama, pac, plan, president, san franicsco, stop, street
Posted in politics | Comments Off
Thursday, May 14th, 2009
Look out NIMBY’s - the San Francisco Bicycle Plan is coming to YOUR neighborhood, whether you like it or not. That’s the conclusion you’d come to had you made it this morning’s Bike to Work Day rally on the steps of City Hall. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition put on quite a show for a couple hundred-something in the crowd, most of whom parked their colorful bikes thusly:
The mise-en-scene:
SFBC Executive Director Leah Shahum MC’ed the rally, speaking of NIMBYs and the Bicycle Plan. The battle is joined, or it will be starting next month, probably. Get up to speed with the 2008 San Francisco State of Cycling Report put out by the SFMTA.
Lots of Supes were there:
District 1 Supervisor Eric Mar briefly addressed the crowd, talking about improving cyclist safety, mentioning the lower Haight Wiggle he uses to get back and forth from the Richmond District.
District 3 Supervisor and Board President Davis Chiu doesn’t think changes should stop with the proposed Bike Plan. He wants to Go Further. Lots of cheers for that.
District 4 Supervisor Carmen Chu showed off her fashionable fuzzy white helmet to the delight of the crowd.
District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi always makes these events - he hasn’t really gotten much sleep since the recent birth of Theo Aureliano Mirkarimi.
District 8 Supervisor Bevan Dufty cited recent changes to the streetscape, including Pavement to Parks.
District 9 Supervisor David Campos was pleased to see the outreach to people living in the Mission.
District 11 Supervisor John Avalos gave a shout out to District 6 Supervisor Chris Daly. He also said, “Bikes Rule.”
The “Big 56” will go somewhere in here. Click to expand to see a much larger version:
One Less Car, One More Bike. A young scion amused the pols.
What’s that on City Attorney Dennis J Herrera’s shirt?
“One Less Lawyer in a Car.”
O.K. fine.
2009 is shaping up to be the Year of the Bike Plan.
To Be Continued…
Tags: bevan dufty, bicycle, bicycle coalition, bike, bike to work day, board, carmen chu, Chris daly, city attorney, City Hall, civic center, cyclist, david campos, davis chiu, day, dennis herrera, eric mar, Executive Director, gavin newsom, john avalos, leah shahum, may 14, mta, Muni, nat ford, nimby, nimbys, plan, president, rally, ride, ride to work day, ride your bike to work day, ross mirkarimi, San Francisco, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, sfbc, SFMTA, supervisors, thursday, Work
Posted in Uncategorized, bikes | 4 Comments »
Thursday, April 16th, 2009
This was the scene today down at UCSF Mission Bay where the Secretary of the Interior got an earful about how San Francisco doesn’t want offshore oil drilling anytime soon. Poor Interior Secretary Ken Salazar got an earful:
“Our state is saying clearly to you today, no,” Sen. Barbara Boxer told Salazar at the opening of the hearing at the UC San Francisco Mission Bay campus. The California Democrat said the state’s coastline is a huge economic asset “just as it is.”
Logistics, that’s what the protesters had going for them today. You couldn’t miss all the furries, like this seal for example. Click to expand:
Or this polar bear, played by nine-month-old Kai Savage, assisted by Miyo Sakashita of Oakland. “23 DAYS TO SAVE ME”:
This is the what you could see on the long walk to the protest area. A passer-by ID’ed these animal’s as “shark, dolphin, whale, orca” in rapid-fire succession. Right, one of those anyway.
Dude was selling American Apparel T-shirts for just $5. What a country!
The only people not wearing shirts were selling shirts. Go figure:
The Sec-Int was prepared for all sorts of shenanigans. For example, “full body costumes” were not allowed inside, officially.
Only Time Will Tell what the Interior Department is planning.
Tags: barbara, barbara boxer, barbara lee, bears, boxer, congress, Continental Shelf, cosplay, costumes, draft, drilling, federal, Foundation, furries, garamendi, gas, Governor, grace napolitano, hearings, interior, jackie speier, jackie Spier, ken, kenneth, lt., lynn, madrina, medical, mission bay, OCS, off-shore, offshore, oil, orca, oregon, outer, pdp, petroleum, plan, polar, refiniery, representative, salazar, san franscisco, seals, secretary, Senator, sierra club, surfrider, ucsf, university of california, whales, woolsey
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Thursday, March 26th, 2009
Well the T. Boone Pickens medicine show came to town yesterday, so San Franciscans got the chance to see details of the Pickens Plan at the Commonwealth Club, the Western Hemisphere’s oldest and largest public affairs forum.
The Plan is another one those ever-popular ”public private partnerships,” which in this case has the federal government paying a couple hundred spare billion dollars to build electric transmission lines for proposed windmills in the Midwest.
Making the pitch last month with Al Gore in Washington D.C.:
via the Center for American Progress Action Fund
But what about the Phil Anschutz (yes, the very same Anschutz billionaire dude with a longtime interest in the Bay to Breakers civic event!) Plan? Let’s see:
“On July 29, The Anschutz Corp.,through its affiliate Transwest Express LLC, said it had acquired the rights to develop a proposed $3 billion, 900-mile transmission line capable of moving 3,000 megawatts of power from wind farms in southern Wyoming to markets in Southern California, Las Vegas and Phoenix.”
See? Somebody is trying to get something done without asking for hundreds of billions of your money. And that brings us to the white elephant on the white mountain up in northern Northern California.
Back in the 1950’s, the Everitt Memorial Highway on Mount Shasta was built so that the Mount Shasta Ski Bowl resort could be built. Did that project make sense?
“The old Mount Shasta Ski Bowl had been built in 1958 in a huge open cirque much higher up on the southern flank of the volcano, with a lodge at 7,800 ft and lifts topping out above timberline at 9,200 ft. However, the ski area had often been in financial trouble over the next two decades, and a massive avalanche in January 1978 which destroyed the main chairlift was the finishing blow. The Ski Bowl closed permanently after that…”
So just as the risk of this Shasta project was building an expensive road to nowhere, one of the risks of the Pickens Plan is building power lines to nowhere.
How is the Anschutz Corporation’s wind energy project working out? That’s a good thing to keep an eye on when you’re considering building a Bridge to Nowhere, or a Pickens transmission grid, or things like that.
O.K. fine.
Oh, and speaking of the Commonwealth Club, its ridiculous website’s popup ads remind us all of the upcoming Distinguished Citizen Award Dinner, coming up on Fiday, April 17, 2009 at the Fairmont Hotel. Enjoy.
Each year, The Club honors individuals who have made significant and enduring contributions to the Bay Area and California community, and who embody the principles and values of The Commonwealth Club.
The Annual Dinner is also The Club’s most significant fundraising event, raising funds to support its important nonprofit public forum mission throughout the year.
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Tags: Add new tag, anschutz, commonwealth club, energy, natural gas, phil, phillip, pickens, plan, San Francisco, t boone, wind, windmill
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Sunday, January 18th, 2009
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition called for a rally at Market and Octavia on Friday and they got quite a turnout. Right now, we can be certain that more changes are a coming to this busy intersection. The question of the week is whether the dedicated inbound bike lane will stick around.
Now you’d think that 3000 mile long I-80, the United States’ main east-west interstate, would end either north of Market Street or south of it. But for some ridiculous reason after traveling all the way from New Joisey or Ocean City, MD or wherever, it ends right smack dab on Market Street, seemingly lacking the energy to make it one or two blocks farther. That’s ancient history (involving the old grey Mayor, and a thing called (Supervisor Michael) Yaki’s Compromise, and yada yada yada) now, so oh well.
But since we’re on the subject, why not just get rid of this whole Octavia imbroglio? This would include the ridiculous, hated, overly-wide Octavia Boulevard (parking line + driving lane + median + driving lane + driving lane + big median + driving lane + driving lane + median + driving lane + parking lane = TOO DAMN WIDE = an imepdiment to transit = a scar on the land) and the “Central Freeway” glorified offramp. Bring this mother down.
But barring that happening tomorrow, we’ll have a showdown next week of the SFBC vs the city. Now the City and County of San Francisco is getting sick of getting sued whenever there’s an accident at Market and Octavia, so they think getting rid of the bike lane would help. This viewpoint is ably expressed here, via the hard-working StreetsBlog San Francisco.
Friday’s rally had inspiring words from Senator Mark Leno, Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, Supervisor Bevan Dufty, as well as a few other pols. To Be Continued…
“SAVE THIS BIKE LANE” Click to expand:
A closer look at the impressive weekday crowd of 100 or so.
A bevested and fired up Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi called for “monofocused” enforcement of the traffic laws at this intersection. He also spoke of “radiating effects,” which shows that The Boss is up to speed on the issues. Good for him.
Supervisor David Campos was the fresh face on the scene.
Everything’s gone green at the threatened bike lane, at least temporarily. The traffic island that helps define the bike lane is right behind temporary taggers.
“We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be… we shall never surrender.” Winston Churchill.
More deets after the jump.
(more…)
Tags: 2009, accident, bicycle coalition, bike, injunction, intersection, Judge, market, octavia, plan, rally, San Francisco, sfbc, street
Posted in streets | 3 Comments »
Monday, December 1st, 2008
The latest chapter in the long story of San Francisco’s Bicycle Plan began today with this filing from the office of San Francsico City Attorney Dennis Herrera. (Earlier chapters of this tale dealt with local social gadlfly and self-confessed JFK conspiracy theory crank Robert “Crazy Rob” Anderson and his successful efforts to get the city to do an environmental impact study.)
It seems that certain areas just can’t wait for the bureaucratic gears to grind, so a judge is being asked to give the city and county permission to get started sooner rather than later.
Dennis J. Herrera, San Francisco’s happy warrior:
What areas are those? Well, how about Market and Octavia for starters. But there are other problem areas as well. Try these on for size:
Polk Street between Beach and Market Streets, where 73 motor vehicle-bicycle collisions have been reported since 2003.
The length of Valencia Street, where the 65 motor vehicle-bicycle collisions reported since 2003 include a large proportion of “dooring” incidents.
The Third Street Corridor, where the 32 collisions involving cyclists and motorists reported since 2003 include one fatality of a bicyclist struck by a truck at Third and Marin Streets.
Folsom Street between 13th Street and the Embarcadero, where 52 bicycle-related injury accidents have been reported in the last five years.
Lower Market Street, from 8th Street to the Embarcadero. Some 179 bicycle injury collisions have occurred along the entire length of Market Street, from Castro Street to the Embarcadero (including the Market and Octavia intersection) over the past five years.
What will Judge Peter J. Busch make of this? We’ll have an inkling by the end of the month.
Today’s filing certainly seems like a well-tailored request…
Tags: bicycle, bike, city attorney, dennis, district 5 diary, herrera, injunction, j, market, octavia, plan, rob anderson, San Francisco
Posted in bikes | 5 Comments »
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008
Of course Apple really wants you to buy their new iPhone3G, but are you game? Last year’s debut of the 1st generation iPhone (oddly refered to as the “2G” in this leaked memo) went well enough. But that was then and this is now.
You gots to get iReady before Good Friday, July 11, 2008, right? That’s what this gal from New Orleans thought, but she recently found a decided lack of southern hospitality at her local AT&T store (despite the fact that Central Pennsylvania is the Alabama of the North).
Unfortunately, this Southern belle’s experience is not unusual.
This is what it looked like year on the Streets of San Francisco:
From the Flickrstream of Jen SFO-BCN,mmmm…SFO bacon
Of course last year, the lines moved swiftly. So swiftly that employees were commanded to hit the sidewalks to start hawking the goods. This year? Not so much. And because of the expected hassles, you’ll be able to activate and buy just one iPhone on Opening Day at AT&T stores.
All you can do at this point is to just be prepared.
So people get ready to spend a lot of time iWaiting in line on iFriday. If you want.
Tags: 3g, apple, at&t, cell, Half the Price, iFriday, iphone, iphone3g, iReady, jobs, lines, nation, plan, San Francisco, Steve, Twice as Fast
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
$700? Yep, that’s what the 16GB model will run you if you don’t want to get the two-year contract from AT&T. But let’s say you play it safe and sign up for AT&T service – some people think that the second-generation iPhone will end up costing you more money. Or maybe you already signed up for the first iPhone – will you be able to easily upgrade? It’s hard to say. (At least you don’t live in Canada, where Rogers rules.)
So much for Twice as Fast, Half the Price. Consult your phone guru for advice here. Some people might actually stick with their existing brick. Good for them.
But not you. You want the latest details on the 3G models from a fake Steve Jobs who gesticulates as if he’s one-quarter Italian. Right? You’re in luck.
Check out the new 3G here.
And if you’re already familiar with the existing iPhone, find out what’s new right here.
Excited? See you in line on July 11, 2008. Let’s hope we’ll get a greeting like this at opening time. But uh oh, are you iReady?
You bring the coffee, and I’ll bring the cupcakes.
Tags: 3g, apple, at&t, cell, fake, Half the Price, iphone, iphone3g, iReady, jobs, nation, plan, San Francisco, Steve, Twice as Fast, unlocked
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
