Posts Tagged ‘porsche’

Sacramento Old and New: Willie Brown vs. the CHP, Arnold vs. the State Bar Association

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

The news of the day is bad for California’s lawyers – turns out that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ended up, after a lengthy delay, signing the bill that authorizes the State Bar to collect dues for 2010, so the shysters of the Golden State will now have to fork over big bucks by March 1st. Feel free to theorize about Arnold’s thinking here, but I think it’s safe to say that anyone having anything to do with the Bar Association will think twice before labeling any judicial nominee “unqualified” or “not qualified” or anything like that.  

Or else otherwise, this Governor or the next will step on your oxygen tube with the implicit threat of a quick reorganization for your organization. Once you start turning blue, the only sure cure for this kind of political extortion is to get Capital “O” Obsequious but pronto:

“We are grateful to the governor for signing the State Bar 2010 fee bill. He has helped us to focus on issues and matters that are important to the State Bar,” said State Bar President Howard Miller. “We also want to thank the legislative leadership that has been so supportive and forthcoming. This entire period has strengthened the State Bar and given us important missions and goals that we now can actively achieve.”

Fair enough - go forth and sin no more. But speaking of extortion, what about Willie Brown and the California Highway Patrol? We’ll have to travel back four decades for that. See below.

Willie and an admirer in San Francisco’s State Building, from last year:

 

From UC Press E-Books Collection, 1982-2004 (formerly eScholarship Editions), it’s 

Willie Brown, A Biography by James Richardson

From four decades ago, Chapter 15, Mr. Chairman:

“One afternoon Brown briskly walked into a budget conference committee meeting late and looking angry. He immediately sat down next to [Senator] Collier and asked for a “point of personal privilege.” Collier granted him the courtesy, and Brown asked to return to an item in the budget to appropriate funds to purchase guns and other equipment for the California Highway Patrol. Brown then demanded that the funds be deleted from the budget. The trust between the two was so great that Collier asked no questions, immediately complied, and struck the CHP equipment appropriation.

At the end of the meeting, [aide Robert] Connelly asked his boss what was going on with the Highway  Patrol. “He was so mad, he wouldn’t talk about it.” Finally, Brown told Connelly that he had been stopped not once but twice by CHP officers that day on his way to Sacramento from San Francisco along Interstate 80 in his bright red Porsche. Each time, the officers walked over to Brown and said, “Hey, boy, where’d you get this car?”

Connelly quickly found the CHP’s lobbyist and told him what had happened. “The guy’s eyeballs rolled clear back into his skull. He said, ‘We’ll fix it.’” By the next morning, the CHP was distributing photographs of Willie Brown to officers along the Interstate 80 corridor between San Francisco and Sacramento with orders to “memorize this face.” The CHP got its appropriation back—and more.

Brown championed pay raises for CHP officers by authoring a bill that tied their salaries to a formula based on the salaries of large municipal police forces. The measure gave Highway Patrol officers a windfall raise, and then an automatic pay raise every time one of the unionized city forces got a new contract.”

Don’t mess with Texas!

Back in the day when he was still on the road, you’d never see Willie Brown driving a Porsche or an Acura NSX Japanese Ferrari at a speed anything less than 80 on the 80. The respectful officers of the CHP just let him do whatever he wanted.

First the stick, then the carrot – that’s how it works in Sacramento….

Photos of the 2009 San Francisco International Auto Show at Moscone Center

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

The 52nd Annual San Francisco International Auto Show continues ’til Wednesday, December 2nd down at Moscone Center. It’s eight bucks, why not check it out?

The joint is sponsored by the San Francisco Chronicle - here are their photos from Wednesday night. And here’s an annotated gallery from Ryan W over at Yelp. And here are the babes.

A family decision – to buy the new Lexus hybrid or not. Click to expand:

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A passionate pink Smart Car Four-Two Passion:

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The Scions look like Matchbox Cars, right?

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A fabled four-door Porsche Panamera – the California Highway Patrol must have been high on the waiting list

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Hands up – who here has a Lexus? The SEMA boys painted this IS350 using the flattest finish known to Man. That’s not primer, it’s paint:

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I think the South Koreans are arriving a little late at the boaty chromed-up car party, but anyway, here’s your giant 2010 Hyundai Equus – ask about their bullet-proof model:

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A woody Mini Clubman station wagon, of course:

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Honda makes jets? Sort of, with a little help from GE. Buy your HondaJet HA420 starting in 2011:

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And here’s your new Piaggio tricycle scooter – ask about their hybrid model:

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And that’s your San Francisco International Car Show for 2009.

All the models, after the jump.

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Nimbies Save Presidio’s Great Northern Parking Lot – Will Burger King Now Come Back?

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

Boy, it was touch and go for a few years there, but news comes today that our beloved NIMBYs have managed to preserve the Great Northern Parking Lot of San Francisco.

See it? 700 spaces, free of charge. It’s historic, you know. When the U.S. Army wasn’t out there killing a million or so Filipinos it managed to create the GNPLoSF. Therefore, these parking spaces are sacrosanct:

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Now that that pesky modern art has been gotten rid of, a question remains over what to do with the upper end of the Main Post. You know the Burger King corporation had an outlet that served as an Army Mess on the Presidio for so many years, it would be only fitting to give it the right of first refusal to get a chance to replace the famous itty bitty bowling alley that’s up there now.  

An artist’s conception, avec just one installation of evil modern art thrown in to see if the NIMBYs can tolerate it.  

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You see, that old, historic Presidio BK was a place “where a simple guy serving his country could get an inexpensive meal with a stunning view.” Wouldn’t it be nice to honor those memories with the biggest Burger King in the world? Put it right where the museum was supposed to go.

Either that, or a Jollibee. Your choice.

San Francisco Hardware Store’s Work Truck is a Porsche Cayenne

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

This Porsche Cayenne, a straight-out-of-Leipzig, “five-seat, mid-size luxury sport utility vehicle,” might seem a little odd as the choice for an Ace Hardware company car, but there you go. If only it were a $125k Turbo S model…

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Only in San Francisco!

(Or possibly Marin, I don’t know.)

Mercedes-Driving NIMBYs Pack Presidio Trust Transportation Workshop

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

As promised, the Presidio Trust Main Post Planning Transportation Workshop went off on April 22, 2009. Look here later on to see when and if two more similar meetings will occur in the very merry month of May. (The first should deal with historic resources and the other is slated to be a kind of catch-all open-mike night.) 

122 souls sat through a presentation of answers to a dozen key questions that people have been asking about concerning transportation – signalization, fees for parking, traffic loads, etc. I vowed to leave as soon as the public speakers veered off-topic – that took about ten seconds, so oh well. Regardless, this appeared to be a more-productive-than-average public yammer session. Assemblymember Tom Ammiano sent a representative (the well-informed Noriko Shinzato) as did Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier, so it appears that interest in the plans for the Main Post remains strong.

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Fully eleven Mercedes-Benzeses were out front, or in the lot up the hill, or in the overflow lot even further up the hill near the chapel. BMW was also well-repped, and there were a least three Porsches, including two expensive Porsche Cayenne minivans and one hepped-up Neunelfer.A richer group of parking-hungry NIMBYs would be hard to find. One bicycle.

All this Powerpoint stuff should be online in the near future, or maybe it already is.

Presidi-Go is already up to 300,000 trips per year.

Should the NIMBY’s, the people of means, be given more votes on this matter than tourists from Tempe? Only Time Will Tell. 

So there you have it, To Be Continued.

4-Door Porsche Panamera Caught on the Streets of San Francisco

Monday, October 20th, 2008

Oh no! Look out BMW Gran Turismo, the Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG, Aston Martin Rapide, Lamborghini Estoque, Maserati Quattroporte, Bentley Continental GT, and Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. ‘Cause here comes der neu 4-door Porsche Panamera!

You see, they need to find out if such a fine vehicle can handle the steep streets of San Francisco. Fair enough, but doesn’t the body look all stretched out, like a 1978 “pregnant cow” Nissan / Datsun 280Z / Fairlady 2+2?

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Both photos via the photostream of Hysterical Bertha:

No front license plate, which is required in California. Minus 5 points, Gryffindor House.

It sure looks fast though.

Can it outrun a recession? We’ll find out soon enough.

Ordering an Orange Porsche is a “Harmless Form of Aggression”

Friday, May 30th, 2008

Check out the paint job on this Limited Edition Porsche Boxster. Appalling, in’nt?

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You’ll certainly attract lots of attention driving around in the orangest car in the world, much as you would walking around in a white suit, ala Tom Wolfe.

Zoom zoom.