An arresting ad from The Richmond:
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Posts Tagged ‘richmond’
Your Federal Stimulus Money at Work: Half-Million-Dollar SFMTA MUNI Ticket Kiosk at Geary Marred with Graffiti
Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013
Three Things You Don’t Know About the Bay to Breakers
Monday, May 20th, 20131. 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, 2013I’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.
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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!
Sucker Watch: Most Participants Won’t Pay to Enter the 2013 Bay to Breakers Fun Run So Why Should You?
Tuesday, April 30th, 2013Oh, 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.
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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.
Learning From Japan, 2013: Internet Service What’s 100-1000 Times Faster But Also Cheaper Than Yours in San Francisco
Wednesday, April 17th, 2013Well, I don’t know if the people at Google Fiber should feel ashamed, but check it:
SONY-BACKED ISP SHAMES GOOGLE FIBER, LAUNCHES 2GBPS SERVICE IN JAPAN
That’s like what, about a thousand times faster than your AT&T ADSL connection for less than what Google charges for Google Fiber?
You know why we don’t have this here? Because of politically-connected monopolies like Comcast.
JAPAN DON’T HAVE NO COMCAST, YOU DIG?
Of course, the Japanese pay waaaaaay too much for rice, on account of bad policies having to do with mom and pop farmers, but they’re doing lots better than us with the internet.
Obvs.
And did you know that there are people living out there west of San Francisco, all the way out there in the Outer Richmond and the Outset (the Outer Sunset) who can’t get cable internet or DSL at any price? Yes, in this day and age, in 2013, there are people in this so-called World Capital of Innovation who go online with a dial up modem because they have no choice.
Poor devils.
Poor, poor West Bay devils. (At least they have Ocean Beach.)
In closing, the Comcast monopoly ought to get shut down and Sony should start selling us internet for cheap.
Attention Comrades! Please Attend Glorious JFK Drive Bike Lane Re-Education Camp Tonight – Attendance Mandatory!
Thursday, February 28th, 2013From the Richmond District Blog comes news of tonight’s Richmond District Democratic Club meeting regarding the horrible new bike lanes on JFK Jr Drive in Golden Gate Park.
Longtime area cyclist and capitalist running dog Steven T. Jones typifies the type of person who will most benefit from re-education via the corrupt SFMTA and the messianic San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. See?
“New JFK bike lanes are bad for everyone“
I’d post a photo but the SFMTA has me watching an educational movie, you know, A Clockwork Orange-style.
And they DID admit that some fine-tuning possibly might be in order.
And my restraints are actually quite comfortable.
Maybe these horrible, one-of-a-kind bike lanes aren’t so horrible after all.
In closing, I Love Big Brother.
A 2013 Update for Albert Bartal, the Firefighter Seriously Injured after that Jack in the Box Fight in 2011
Wednesday, February 27th, 2013And when I say fight, I mean he ended up getting run over by a car on Geary near the infamous late-night Jack in the Box of the Inner Richmond.
Here’s the update:
“Elizabeth got to visit her Daddy on 1.18.13.”
I’m ignorant of the disposition of this case so I wouldn’t necessarily be protected if wrote about what I think of all this.
But why don’t you look into things and draw your own conclusion about what happened?
And then, why don’t you make a contribution?
Detailed Report from The Bay Citizen re: San Francisco’s Sub-Par Taxi System – Going to the Sunset? Well, “Good Luck!”
Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013Turns out that San Francisco’s cab system is more akin to “Crazy Taxi 3 WestCoast (San Francisco)” than not.
See if you agree after perusing this lengthy bit from transportation writer Zusha Elinson
Hey, it’s the video game version of Levi’s Plaza. Check it.
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And I’ll tell you, the reason why your cabbie doesn’t want to take you way the Heck out there to the West Side in the Richmond District or the Sunset District is that if s/he does then s/he will have less cash in his/her pocket at the end of the shift.
Probably.
Like $3 or $5 or $10 less.
Oh well.
It’s like if you’re a “chicken and water” customer at a restaurant, you dig? You and your three buds look down at the menu and spot the cheapest entree (chicken, at the one chain I’m thinking about) and then the cheapest “drink” (water, natch). You all are just as much trouble for the waitress as regular customers* and yet at the end of her shift, she’s walking home with $10 or $20 or $30 less than she would if she had had more typical customers plus she may very well get chided by her supe for not trying hard enough to “upsell” and whatnot.
So that’s why hacks generally don’t want to take you to 46th and Ortega. ‘Specially when the City is hopping.
*Or more, as chicken and water people have a reputation of being more demanding than average.
