Posts Tagged ‘report’
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
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:

via Lulu Vision
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.
Tags: 20, 7, alamo heights, art of the city, asian art museum, bicycle, bike, boulevard, broken, channel, civic center, cover, crosswalk, ctiy hall, cyclists, department, dept., disrupt, disruption, dpw, dragons be here, flodding, flood, hayes valley, HC SVNT DRACONES, Here Be Dragons, hic sunt dracones, hill, intersection, kgo, larkin, macallister, manhole, market, nimby, octavia, octavia boulevard, pass, path, pipe, public works, repair, report, restaurant, route, San Francisco, shanghai, snick, snickerdoodle, soluna, Steam, steaming, street, tc, traffic, vent, venting, water
Posted in streets | No Comments »
Friday, February 19th, 2010
Here’s the news from the boys and girls at Justice, below.
Patched up and riding high – the last time we saw the Cosco Busan back in 2007. Will it ever come back? She’s called the MSC Venezia these days, currently working in the Canaries.

Oh well, she’s not the first Hyundai to leak oil into San Francsico Bay, and she won’t be the last.
The full release, after the jump
(more…)
Tags: $10 million, 2007, agreement, Alameda, Assistant, attorney general, bar pilots, Bay, California Department of Fish and Game, Captain, charges, China, chinese, Coast Guard, Coast Guard Investigative Service, compliance, Cosco busan, cota, Criminal Investigation Division, department, discharge, district 11, Electronics Support Unit, Environment and Natural Resources Division, environmental, Environmental Crimes, EPA's, false, FBI, federal bureau of investigation, felony, firm, Fleet Management, Fleet Management Ltd, Hanjin, Hanjin Venezia, hing kong, Hyundai, Ignacia Moreno, Ignacia S. Moreno, Investigative Service, Joseph Castillo, Judge, justice, Justice Department, Legal Office, Ltd, management, Marine, Marine Safety Laboratory, masters, national transportation safety board, Nov. 7, ntsb, obstruction of justice, Office of Investigations and Analysis, Office of Maritime and International Law, Office of Vessel Activities, oil, Oil Pollution Act of 1990, oil spill, plea, Rear Admiral, report, Russoniello, San Francisco, san franicisco, Sector, Silicon Valley Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory, statement, Susan Illston, training, U.S., U.S. Attorney, U.S. District Court, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, united states coast guard, USCG, Venezia
Posted in environment, vessels | No Comments »
Friday, January 8th, 2010
Last year’s rape case at Richmond High School in the City of Richmond, CA is getting some attention from the solons of Sacramento.
Item 1: Senator Leland Yee doesn’t cotton to the idea of people just standing around when 16-year-olds get raped, so he authored Senate Bill 840. It requires:
“individuals who reasonably believe that they have witnessed a murder, rape or lewd or lascivious act with a child under the age of 18 years to notify law enforcement officials.”
Basically, SB840 would update the David Cash Jr. Law, aka the Sherrie Iverson Child Victim Protection Act that was authored by former Senator, current Assemblyman, and future Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson. Tom’s law already covers victims aged up to 14 years - Leland’s proposed law would add in victims aged 15 through 18.
The California Senate’s Assistant President pro Tempore at the helm in Sacramento:

Here’s a brief rundown on non-Samaritan poster-boy David Cash, from Wiki’s entry on murderer Jerry Strohmeyer:
“Sherrice Iverson’s mother demanded that David Cash, Jr., be charged as an accessory, but authorities stated there was not enough evidence connecting him to the actual crime, and Cash was never prosecuted for any offense related to the murder. In the weeks following Strohmeyer’s arrest, Cash told the Los Angeles Timesthat he did not dwell on the murder of Sherrice Iverson. “I’m not going to get upset over somebody else’s life. I just worry about myself first. I’m not going to lose sleep over somebody else’s problems.” He also told the newspaper that the publicity surrounding the case had made it easier for him to “score with women.” Cash also told the Long Beach Press-Telegram: “I’m no idiot … I’ll get my money out of this.”
So that’s Item 1.
Item 2: Assemblyman Pedro Nava has authored AB 984, which would cover victims of any age.
So, those are California’s proposed witness crime reporting bills of 2010, so far.
Here’s Senator Yee’s release from this morning, after the jump
(more…)
Tags: 2009, 2010, 9/11, 984, ab, assembly, assemblyman, assemblymember, bill, california, Child Victim Protection Act, county, david cash, high school, jerry strohmeyer, Jr, law, leland yee, nevada, pedro nava, police, rape, report, richmond, san francsico, San Mateo, sb, SB 840, SB840, Senator, Sherrie Iverson, tom, torlakson, Witness
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
I don’t know, you might find this fresh report from the RAND Corporation about leadership dynamics in Islamic Republic of Iran worthy of attention.

Anyway, the price is right – it’s a free .pdf so take a gander, if you want.
Here’s the intro:
Mullahs, Guards, and Bonyads
An Exploration of Iranian Leadership Dynamics
By: David E. Thaler, Alireza Nader, Shahram Chubin, Jerrold D. Green, Charlotte Lynch, Frederic Wehrey
The Islamic Republic of Iran poses serious challenges to U.S. interests in the Middle East, and its nuclear program continues to worry the international community. The presidential election of June 2009 that returned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power and led to broad protests and a government crackdown presents yet another cause for U.S. concern. Yet the U.S. ability to “read” the Iranian regime and formulate appropriate policies has been handicapped by both a lack of access to the country and the opacity of decisionmaking in Tehran. To help analysts better understand the Iranian political system, the authors describe
- Iranian strategic culture, including the perceptions that drive state behavior
- the informal networks, formal government institutions, and personalities that influence decisionmaking in the Islamic Republic
- the impact of elite behavior on Iranian policy formulation and execution
- factionalism, emerging fissures within the current regime, and other key trends.
The authors observe that it is the combination of key personalities, networks based on a number of commonalities, and institutions—not any one of these elements alone—that defines the complex political system of the Islamic Republic. Factional competition and informal, back-channel maneuvering trump the formal processes for policymaking. The Supreme Leader retains the most power, but he is not omnipotent in the highly dynamic landscape of Iranian power politics. The evolving role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the vulnerability of the elite “old guard” to challenge, and the succession of the next Supreme Leader are key determinants of Iran’s future direction. In light of complexities in the Iranian system, U.S. policymakers should avoid trying to leverage the domestic politics of Iran and instead accept the need to deal with the government of the day as it stands. Moreover, they must take as an article of faith that dealing with Iran does not necessarily mean dealing with a unitary actor due to the competing power centers in the Islamic Republic.
Tags: 2010, Alireza Nader, An Exploration of Iranian Leadership Dynamics, and Bonyads, Charlotte Lynch, coporation, David E. Thaler, download, Frederic Wehrey, free, guards, iran, iraq, Jerrold D. Green, monograph, Mullahs, Mullahs Guards and Bonyads, pdf, RAND, report, Shahram Chubin
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
Read below to see the message that came over the transom of this little blog yesterday, the very blog you’re looking at right now. It concerns a post from a year and half ago about an airplane crash-landing that resulted in no major injuries.
The missive, in its entirety:
“When you google Flying Vikings your false article comes up. If you do not fix your false statements. I will deal with you. My name is Celine Correa and I am a co-owner of Flying Vikings. You need to report on the many thousands and thousands of flight hours we have done. Call me and I will give you verifiable details no false hoods. You need to correct your article immediately.
Celine”
O.K. fine. If anybody wants to go through and find any of the purported “false statements,” well then have at it – that would help me out.
Otherwise, I don’t think I’ll be “reporting” on Flying Vikings’ “many thousands and thousands of flight hours” (is that a lot? My dad, currently pushing up daisies in Virginia, had five figures worth of flying hours with no accidents, AFAIK) in some sort of fairness-doctrine type of deal.
The comments are open on this post, if anyone wants to pipe up. Thanks for your help.
Here it is:
Another Accident Involving Hayward-based Flying Vikings, Inc.
Today’s headlines include news of the crash landing of a Flying Vikings, Inc. Cessna 172 in Oakland, California.
The San Jose Mercury News earlier reported that N61736 ”had a gas leak,” but now is going with ”mechanical problems” as the cause of this incident. KCBS, which labels this single engine plane the KCBS Radio Traffic Plane, is reporting the pilot claimed the oil pressure guage plummetted just before the engine conked out. This aircraft, built in 1974, suffered “substantial damage” during an incident in 1981.
The following language, written before today’s accident, appears on the Flying Vikings website:
Since Flying Vikings also has a contract with local news gathering organizations, students are offered opportunities to build time that no other school can. Fly 3 to 6 hours a day and get paid.
A visual aid to help imagine yourself staring at a motionless propeller low over the Bay Area. Click to expand:

The dash of a Cessna 172 and a view of Candlestick Park, from the incredible Telstar Logistics Flickrstream
Here’s a photo of a different Flying Vikings aircraft, a Piper that suffered a fatal accident in 2006. Readers may find this link, relating to the Piper crash, of interest, however, it might lead you to unproven speculation about the cause of that tragedy.
The Federal Aviation Administration and Cal OSHA should be able to determine the cause of this forced landing fairly easily.
A relatively happy ending to a scary situation.
So that’s the purported “false article” from 2008.
Actually, the only reason I found this incident noteworthy at the time was the number of conflicting reports about the cause of this incident. The National Transportation Safety Board investigated and concluded the problem was:
“A loss of engine power due to oil starvation. The oil starvation event was due to the failure of maintenance personnel to tighten the mounting bolts for the newly installed vacuum pump.”
Seems the pump had just been replaced three days earlier and the flight of June 30, 2008 was the first one using the new pump.
All the deets from the NTSB, after the jump.
Tags: 172, 172M, 740, accident, alan brooks, am, blog, california, cessna, crash, defamation, emergency, flying school, flying vikings, forced, hayward, incident, kcbs, landing, libel, mechanical, Metro Networks, N61736, news, ntsb, Oakland, owner, problem, radio, report, reporter, Richard Liu, SEA08LA155, skyhawk, slander, traffic, Westwood One
Posted in aircraft, law | 1 Comment »
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:

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.

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.
Tags: 2009, 22, 22nd, 6:30, 7th, analysis, Anthony, april, april 22, april 22nd, art, association, Bechtle, benz, Berkeley, bmw, board, california, camp, contemporary, contemporary art museum of the presidio, contemporary art museum presidio, cow hollow, Craig Middleton, Crissy Field, Curtis F. Feeny, Curtis Feeny, David Bancroft, David Grubb, David R. Grubb, directors, don, don fisher, doris, doyle drive, dyads, eir, eis, environmental, Executive Director, Family, Film Society, fisher, gap, Golden Gate Bridge, heights, hotel, impact, J. Michael Shepherd, landmark, lodge, Lori Brook, Main Post, marina, Mercedes, Michael Shepherd, military, modern-art museum, museum, nancy, Nancy Conner, Nancy Hellman, Nancy Hellman Bechtle, National Park Service, National Trust for Historic Preservation, nimbies, nimby, pacific, palace of fine arts, PM, porsche, presidio, Presidio Historical Association, report, Robert Burke, San Francisco, T. Robert Burke, texan, the gap, theater, theatre, tony, transportation, trust, Veerkamp, walking tour, William Wilson, workshop
Posted in museums | Comments Off
Sunday, May 31st, 2009
UCSF’s Mission Bay campus was all filled up yesterday with attentive youths, Genius Bar geniuses, and Laughing Squid’s Scott Beale, so that can mean only one thing – it must have been yet another one-day WordCamp from WordPress.
As always, the focus is “on how to be a better blogger, on the development and future of WordPress, and other topics of interest.” Just read the WordCamp Report for the deets:

But, What Does WordPress Mean To You? That’s something to ponder as you…

Get free help from WP geniuses, such as Brian Colinger, for instance.

Or peruse the Job Board:

Or proactively look for work with your name card.

Or nosh on Southern BBQ complete with ham-hocked collard greens

And steer clear of the WordPress bully boys, with their tattoos and their flashing gang signs. There was lots of stuff to do.

Plus, attendees got American Apparel T-shirts. All this could have been yours for just $25. What a bargain.

See you next year!
Tags: 2009, blog, blogger, blogging, camp, campus, conference, developer, may 30, may 30th, meeting, mission bay, photos, press, report, San Francisco, software, ucsf, word, word camp, word press, wordcamp, wordpress
Posted in events | 2 Comments »
Monday, May 11th, 2009
Your Presidio Trust has just announced another two Open House sessions concerning the Main Post. Make note of the location at Building 105, that Brokedown Palace (but I can assure you that parts of it are excellent). It’s sandwiched between Lincoln (no, not THAT Lincoln), Taylor (no, not THAT Taylor) and Montgomery (no, not THAT Montgomery). Just pop open the Google Map here. See? It’s right near where the Google Maps car got busted (or not, if you believe a certain U.S. Park Police Sargeant, who, really, oughta know).
Just get to the Building 104 Mouse House and then go downhill a skosh. There’s probably not going to be a program or anything – just drop by and yickety yack a bit…
Main Post Open House with Presidio Trust Staff
Monday, May 18, 9 to 11 am
&
Wednesday, May 20, 6 to 8 pm
Main Post Information Center, 105 Montgomery Street
There’s always room for one more:
“Please join us for informal “open house” sessions at which Presidio Trust staff members will be available to respond to questions about proposed projects for the Main Post as well as questions about historic resources, transportation and parking, visitor use , and environmental sustainability. The public comment period for Main Post planning ends on June 1, 2009. Comments may be emailed to mainpost@presidiotrust.gov.”
Tags: 2009, 22, 22nd, 6:30, 7th, analysis, Anthony, april, april 22, april 22nd, art, association, Bechtle, Berkeley, board, california, camp, contemporary, contemporary art museum of the presidio, contemporary art museum presidio, cow hollow, Craig Middleton, Crissy Field, Curtis F. Feeny, Curtis Feeny, David Bancroft, David Grubb, David R. Grubb, directors, Disney, disney family museum, don, don fisher, doris, doyle drive, dyads, eir, eis, environmental, Executive Director, Family, Film Society, fisher, gap, Golden Gate Bridge, heights, hotel, impact, J. Michael Shepherd, landmark, lodge, Lori Brook, Main Post, marina, Michael Shepherd, military, modern-art museum, mouse house, museum, nancy, Nancy Conner, Nancy Hellman, Nancy Hellman Bechtle, National Park Service, National Trust for Historic Preservation, nimbies, nimby, pacific, palace of fine arts, PM, presidio, Presidio Historical Association, report, Robert Burke, San Francisco, T. Robert Burke, texan, the gap, theater, theatre, tony, transportation, trust, Veerkamp, walking tour, William Wilson, workshop
Posted in parks | Comments Off
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.

Click to expand
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.
Tags: 2009, 22, 22nd, 6:30, 7th, analysis, Anthony, april, april 22, april 22nd, art, association, Bechtle, benz, Berkeley, bmw, board, california, camp, contemporary, contemporary art museum of the presidio, contemporary art museum presidio, cow hollow, Craig Middleton, Crissy Field, Curtis F. Feeny, Curtis Feeny, David Bancroft, David Grubb, David R. Grubb, directors, don, don fisher, doris, doyle drive, dyads, eir, eis, environmental, Executive Director, Family, Film Society, fisher, gap, Golden Gate Bridge, heights, hotel, impact, J. Michael Shepherd, landmark, lodge, Lori Brook, Main Post, marina, Mercedes, Michael Shepherd, military, modern-art museum, museum, nancy, Nancy Conner, Nancy Hellman, Nancy Hellman Bechtle, National Park Service, National Trust for Historic Preservation, nimbies, nimby, pacific, palace of fine arts, PM, porsche, presidio, Presidio Historical Association, report, Robert Burke, San Francisco, T. Robert Burke, texan, the gap, theater, theatre, tony, transportation, trust, Veerkamp, walking tour, William Wilson, workshop
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
As foreseen by the SFPD Richmond Station Newsletter, yesterday’s Police/Community Forum at Congregation Beth Shalom dealt with the relationship between bicyclists, motorists and pedestrians.
San Francisco Bicycle Coalition Program Director Andy Thornley was on hand to talk about the Bike to Work Month and everybody got a chance to see the SFPD/ Bicycle Coalition video ”Bikes belong in Traffic.”
Andy Thornley with Captain Richard Corriea. Andy was cross-examined over the number of bicycles he owns by an inquisitive community member.

And here’s the jazzy ten-minute video!
Richmond District residents should be sure to attend next month’s meeting - it’ll be all about the Outside Lands Music Festival. Should be interesting…

Tags: 2009, andy thornley, bicycle coalition, bikes, Bikes belong in Traffic, blog, Captain, community relations, Corriea, district, forum, newsletter, police, police department, report, richard, richmond, San Francisco, sfbc, SFPD
Posted in bikes | 1 Comment »