Posts Tagged ‘red’

Look at How the City of San Francisco and the Housing Department Treat Old Glory – How Much Abuse Can One Flag Take?

Tuesday, May 21st, 2013

This was the scene down on MACALLISTER Street in the Western Addition PJs last year, on govmint land of course.

…and here’s the same scene these days:

Let’s see here:

“When flags of states, cities, or localities, or pennants of societies are flown on the same halyard with the US flag, the US flag should always be at the peak.”

NOPE! Believe it or not, that rat tail you can see at bottom is our Stars and Stripes. Above it is the flag of the State of California. (You can still see the bear a little bit.)

“The flag may be displayed twenty-four hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.”

NOPE!

“The flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner as to permit it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.

NOPE!

I could go on…

There’s a little black spot on the sun today
It’s the same old thing as yesterday
There’s a black hat caught in a high tree top
There’s a flag pole rag and the wind won’t stop

Three Things You Don’t Know About the Bay to Breakers

Monday, May 20th, 2013

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]

Beware, Car Owners: The Great B2B Tow of ’13 is a Coming This Weekend – Hundreds Will Get Towed by SFGov – Will You?

Friday, May 17th, 2013

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!

How I Go Up Masonic, How I Come Down Masonic

Tuesday, May 14th, 2013

This shot shows the real steep block of northbound Masonic, just above Fulton.

Dude here uses the bizarrely-wide sidewalk, the way I and most other people do. Good times: 

Click to expand

And you should too, that’s what I’m saying.

Now, going south on Masonic is different. You should stay on the street ’til the cross-street Turk (which has a higher speed limit than Masonic, go figure). Then you go onto the sidewalk for one block (taking care to avoid the illegally parked cars put there by area homeowners who actually own garages, go figure). Then at Golden Gate, you cross and wait for the light to turn red.

Then you have two whole blocks all to yourself, if only for a few moments

Thusly:

That’s How I Go Up Masonic, How I Come Down Masonic.

The Lies of the SFHA: “San Francisco Housing Authority Does Not Transfer Any Family…Because of Race…”

Thursday, May 2nd, 2013

Well here’s the statement:

The San Francisco Housing Authority does not transfer any family to any particular apartment, community, neighborhood or development because of race, color, sex, religion (creed), disability, familial status, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, marital status, source of income, or age.”

Of course it’s not true, but that’s the statement.

The point of it is to discourage transfer requests, that’s true.

But they could have phrased it differently, that’s all.

 Alemany (938 Ellsworth Street)
 Alice Griffith (207 Cameron Way)
 Bernal Dwellings (313 Kamille Street) (HOPE VI)
 Great Highway
 Hayes Valley (401 Rose Street) (HOPE VI)
 Holly Courts (100 Appleton)
 Hunter’s Point (90 Kiska Road)
 Hunter’s View (112 Middle Point Road)
 North Beach (455 Bay Street) (HOPE VI)
 Ping Yuen North (838 Pacific Avenue)
 Ping Yuen (795 Pacific Avenue)
 Plaza East (642 Linden) (HOPE VI)
 Potrero Terrace & Annex (1095 Connecticut Street)
 Randolph & Head (200 Randolph/409 Head)
 Robert B. Pitts (1150 Scott Street)
 Sunnydale (1654 Sunnydale Avenue)
 Valencia Gardens (390 Valencia) (HOPE VI)
 Westbrook (90 Kiska Road)
 Westside Courts (2501 Sutter Street)

Public Housing Project, McAllister Street, Western Addition (aka The Fillmore), San Francisco, 2012:

Click to expand

Sucker Watch: Most Participants Won’t Pay to Enter the 2013 Bay to Breakers Fun Run So Why Should You?

Tuesday, April 30th, 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.

Arresting: “Mike Jackson” Via Photographer Dallis Willard

Friday, April 26th, 2013

Once again, it’s Scissor Fight:

 Click to expand

Orange Bridge, Blue Sky, White Airbus: A Very Nice Graphic From JetBlue

Thursday, April 18th, 2013

Don’t you think?

Click to expand

Oh, and white clouds.

Photographic Evidence of Official San Francisco Corruption: Free Parking for SFGov Employees Attending Giants Games

Monday, April 8th, 2013

I didn’t take these photos, but I’ll tell you, I’ve seen a lot of corruption regarding free parking for SFGov employees in the SoMA area, so I believe them.

Here’s a photo essay with captions from Jim, who went on a walkabout yesterday.

Take a look:

“There are the People who pay up front to park in a lot, $25-$70. There are the people who feed meters but many of those wind up paying $72 to the City long after the last pitch. And there are those who play the system and possibly cheat and pay nothing for parking in a “red zone” with the help from “winking and nodding” SFMTA Parking Control Officers.

All these photos were taken within a 50 foot circle near 2nd & Townsend at 2:15 P.M. on Sunday April 7, 2013 during the Giants/St. Louis Baseball game.

1) Number 1 shows what the average slug must pay for parking for the Giant’s game at 2 in the afternoon, i.e. $70.

,

2) Number 2 shows a Handicapped placard vehicle getting free Giants game parking in the “red zone” of the SFFD at Second & Townsend. Handicapped placard holders may not park in “red zones.”

3) What appears to be several private vehicles of S.F. firefighters parked in the “red zone” claiming to be working by their Official Papers on the Dash. Is it mere code for “don’t ticket a fellow City employee?”

4) Several motorcycles getting ticketed (TC27, 219) for expired meters by the PCO who just drove by the “red zones” without seeing cause to stop.

5) Photo of SFFD Headquarters at 9:30 A.M., Sunday April 7, 2013 in case you think a lot of people work there on a Sunday.