Posts Tagged ‘Rose Pak’

Two Men Punch Falun Gong in Chinatown – They Opt for “Community Court” – Sentence: Apology Letters

Wednesday, August 29th, 2012

San Francisco has Neighborhood Courts? News to me.

Anyway, if you go down to Chinatown, I don’t know, maybe around Grant Ave. and Washington, and you start punching the Falun types, well, you just end up in Community Court and then be forced to write insincere apology notes, and to attend Anger Management courses, and to keep away from Grant Ave. and Washington.

So says the house organ for area Falun Gong, the Epoch Times Newspaper.

Check it:

“Yongyao Wu (right) assaults Falun Gong practitioner Derek Wang in San Francisco’s Chinatown on June 10. Wu was found guilty by a Neighborhood Court on Aug. 13. (Courtesy of anonymous bystander)”

Click to expand

So, I sort of knew about this sitch, but I didn’t know how things turned out.

LONDON CALLING: London Breed Goes Off on Rose Pak and Willie Brown and Luke Thomas Gets It Verbatim

Tuesday, August 21st, 2012

I think District Five Supervisor wannabee London Breed is still a little pissed off about not getting appointed Supervisor earlier this year, just a little:

You think I give a fuck about a Willie Brown at the end of the day when it comes to my community* and the shit that people like Rose Pak and Willie Brown continue to do and try to controls things.  They don’t fucking control me – you go ask them why wouldn’t you support London because she don’t do what the hell I tell her to do.  I don’t do what no motherfucking body tells me to do.”

Hey, you think maybe she’s been watching YouTube, just a little?

Hey, you know, the two times when Mayor Ed Lee did a little independent thinking since Willie Brown and Rose Pak got him appointed Mayor are when he appointed the fairly stupid Christina Olague to replace Ross Mirkarimi and when he advocated for the complete non-starter “stop and frisk program.”

Perhaps he should just do what he’s told 100% of the time instead of 90% of the time?

*The northeastern part of D5, one presumes.

For Some Reason, Willie Brown Needs More Money So This Part of Stockton St. is Shut Down for 5 Years

Thursday, August 2nd, 2012

Is this what the busy intersection of Stockton and Market is going to look like for the next five years?

Apparently.

Click to expand – looking north from Market and Fourth Street. 

Who would design a political system that would assign more power to a former Mayor than the current Mayor?

It’s a mystery…

Anyway, let’s hope the ridiculous three-way light setup at this intersection is now back to two-way light so Market Street traffic won’t be choked as much as it’s been up ’til now.

Should San Francisco Be Making Trade Deals With China, In Light of Its Bullying of Vietnam, the Philippines, and Others?

Tuesday, July 24th, 2012

So today’s the day of the big ceremony with elements of the single-party state known as the People’s Republic of China announcing some kind of trade deal with the City and County of San Francisco.

So let’s check the international news. Seems as if the Chinese Navy recently went down to the Philippines to establish a new “city” called Sansha. I think it was yesterday.

Check it:

Beijing’s planned deployment of a military garrison to Sansha brought a swift response from President Aquino. He said, “If someone entered your yard and told you he owned it, would you agree? Would it be right to give away that which is rightfully ours?” Protesters hold banners while chanting slogans during an anti-China protest along a street in Hanoi, July 22, 2012. ​​Vietnam has also criticized the establishment of Sansha, calling it “serious violation” of Hanoi’s sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly chains, which it claims as part of Danang city and Khanh Hoa province respectively.”

Here’s a map of territorial claims in the oceanic area betwixt Vietnam and the Philippines. Do you see which county is farthest away? That’s right, it’s China. And do you see which country has the biggest claim? That’s right, it’s also China. Why is that?

Historically, other countries have had imperial ambitions in this part of the world, of course. But these days it’s all China all the time.

Is that a good thing?

Now let’s hear from Chinese Consulate advisor / Mayor Ed Lee advisor Rose Pak – perhaps she could shed some light:

When asked what message she would like to convey to the Chinese government, Pak said, “On what moral ground do we have as United States citizens lecturing what China should do when our own President would drum up falsehoods and bomb Iraq back to the stone-age, killing several hundred thousand innocent Iraqis.”

“Look at all the problems in the world, (they) are all created by Western countries with their phony-baloney moral standards,” Pak added.”

OK fine.

San Francisco Corruption Revealed on the Floor of the House – Central Subway to Nowhere – A Short Speech

Friday, July 6th, 2012

The Subway to Nowhere. House Chamber, Washington, D.C. June 27, 2012. Remarks by Congressman Tom McClintock (R-CA).”

“Mr. Chairman:

This amendment forbids further federal expenditures for the Central Subway project in San Francisco.

The project is a 1.7 mile subway that is estimated to cost $1.6 billion –– and those cost estimates continue to rise.  Its baseline budget has more than doubled in nine years and shows no signs of slowing.  The current estimate brings the cost to nearly $1 billion per mile.  That’s five times the cost per lane mile of Boston’s scandalous “Big Dig.”

It was supposed to link local light rail and bus lines with CalTrain and Bay Area Rapid Transit, but it’s so badly designed that it bypasses 25 of the 30 light rail and bus lines that it crosses.  To add insult to insanity, it dismantles the seamless light-rail to BART connection currently available to passengers at Market Street, requiring them instead to walk nearly a quarter mile to make the new connection.  Experts estimate it will cost commuters between five and ten minutes of additional commuting time on every segment of the route.

The Wall Street Journal calls ita case study in government incompetence and wasted taxpayer money.”

They’re not alone.  The Civil Grand Jury in San Francisco has vigorously recommended the project be scrapped, warning that maintenance alone could ultimately bankrupt San Francisco’s Muni.  The former Chairman of the San Francisco Transportation Agency has called it, “one of the costliest mistakes in the city’s history.

Even the sponsors estimate that it will increase ridership by less than one percent, and there is vigorous debate that this projection is far too optimistic.

I think Margaret Okuzumi, the Executive Director of the Bay Rail Alliance put it best when she said,

Too many times, we’ve seen money for public transit used to primarily benefit people who would profit financially, while making transit less convenient for actual transit riders.  Voters approve money for public transit because they want transit to be more convenient and available…it would be tragic if billions of dollars were spent on something that made Muni more time consuming, costly and unable to sustain its overall transit service.”

This administration is attempting to put federal taxpayers – our constituents — on the hook for nearly a billion dollars of the cost of this folly through the “New Starts” program – or more than 60 percent.  We have already squandered $123 million on it.  This amendment forbids another dime of our constituents’ money being wasted on this boondoggle.

Now here is an important question that members may wish to ponder:  “Why should your constituents pay nearly a billion dollars for a purely local transportation project in San Francisco that is opposed by a broad, bi-partisan coalition of San Franciscans, including the Sierra Club, Save Muni (a grassroots organization of Muni Riders), the Coalition of San Francisco Neighborhoods, and three of the four local newspapers serving San Francisco?

Why, indeed.

I’m sorry, I don’t have a good answer to that question.  But those who vote against this amendment had better have one when their constituents ask, “What in the world were you thinking?”

# # #

This amendment to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act (HR 5972) was approved by the House on June 29th.  The legislation next goes to the Senate.

Here It Is: Video of Interim Supervisor Christina Olague Collecting $46K from Ed Lee, Willie Brown, and Rose Pak

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012

OMG, it’s so-called Progressive Supervisor Christina Olague collecting a ton of cash in Chinatown!

Accidental Mayor Ed Lee on Christina: “She knows who her friends are.”

And then she thanks corrupt Chinatown Power Broker Rose Pak, you know, for the $46k.

Here you go, from Table 22, you know, upstairs at that place you’ve spent* far, far, too many hours in, watching the room-temperature plastic bottles of Canada Dry ginger ale spinning on the lazy susans:  

The City Family wanted a compliant, so-called Progressive to represent District 5.

The City Family found Christina Olague.

*Oh, wait, I meant to say “I’ve spent…”

Shanghai Metro, the MUNI of the Largest City in the World, Tells Women to Dress Primly – Protest Ensues

Monday, July 2nd, 2012

First of all, MUNI* sucks, let’s just get that out of the way.

Second of all, look what happened when Shanghai Metro over there in the People’s Republic of China used its Tumblrish/Twtterish microblogging website to lecture women about how to dress, you know, to decrease the chances of getting groped and whatnot.

See? It’s all:

“乘坐地铁,穿成这样,不被骚扰,才怪。地铁狼较多,打不胜打,人狼大战,姑娘,请自重啊!”

Now it’s been a while since my days at Hereford, but I think that means:

“Subway, dressed like that, and not be harassed, strange. More subway wolf, playing numerous fight the war of crying wolf, girl, please behave!”

Get it? If you dress like a ho, you’ll get treated like one, by the subway wolves.

And here’s the photo that Shanghai’s subway agency grabbed to make its point:

But now there’s a quiet protest going on.

Like right here.

Like people are wearing burkas to say, “What do you want to do, impose Sharia Law?”

What a burn.

I’ll tell you, one thing the Red Chinese hate, just hate, is underground protest movements. They can’t abide.

Like remember this one from a few years ago? It seems that a group of people wanted to Stop the Killing in Tibet so they had this gal suspend herself from the Chinese Consulate right there at Geary and Laguna.

Thusly:

Man, the people inside the consulate went berserk over this one. They ended up going to the roof to cut her down. (Lucky for her she was just 15 feet above a balcony – if she had fallen to the sidewalk below, it could have been fatal.) And then they blocked the SFFD from taking her to SF General to get her leg injuries treated. (You know, back then, the PRC was kind of a pariah nation.)

Anywho, my point is that the Chinese Communist Party can’t abide** protest, even little ones about proper dress codes, so it will be interesting to see what happens when Democracy finally finds its way to China. Perhaps the CCP would end up the winner in a fair election. Who knows.

But little things, like “underground” performance art protests, have a tendency to turn into bigger things.

Sometimes.

We’ll see.

*I mean I don’t think you should ever broach the topic of the SFMTAMUNIDPT without saying up front that MUNI sucks, that MUNI has lots and lots of room for improvement. This kind of constructive criticism displays the fact that you don’t think that MUNI is the Best Darn Agency in the World or something like that. So you could say, “Of course MUNI sucks, but I think that we should keep on building that horrible Central Subway.” That would be interesting, huh? That would show at least that you acknowledge reality and also that you feel that paying the Feds back their $200,000,000 or so would be a burden on the City and County. And then somebody else might counter with, “Yeah, we should make a deal with the Feds not to spend good money after bad  - maybe  let’s just forget the whole thing and let’s not require repayment of the money back to the US Treasury. That would be a win-win for San Francisco and all the taxpayers of America.” Or something like that.  Now you’re on the trolley!

**Hey, now let’s hear from Mayor Ed Lee “advisor” / Chinese Consulate “advisor” Chinatown “Power Broker” Rose Pak, you know, from back in the day, after she descended from her taxpayer-financed, below-market condo penthouse in District Six:

“When asked what message she would like to convey to the Chinese government, Pak said, ‘On what moral ground do we have as United States citizens lecturing what China should do when our own President would drum up falsehoods and bomb Iraq back to the stone-age, killing several hundred thousand innocent Iraqis. Look at all the problems in the world, (they) are all created by Western countries with their phony-baloney moral standards,’ Pak added.”

OMG, It’s the Great San Francisco Structures Map 2012! 134 Buildings Under Construction, Approved, Etc…

Monday, June 25th, 2012

But don’t tell the San Francisco Bay Guardian, oh no. They won’t want to see certain buildings, like 8 Washington,* on this list.

Anyway, here it is, via Claudia Siegel, the San Francisco Business Times San Francisco Structures map 2012.

What an odd pattern of development, non?

Click to expand

Those West-side NIMBYs sure are strong, huh?

All the places, as of June 2012, after the jump.

*Putting 8 Washington/Rose Pak on the ballot this Fall? Sure, why not? 

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OMG, MUNI Sucks Even More Than You Know: Central Subway – Hush-Hush Revenue Bond Vote Coming May 1

Monday, April 30th, 2012

If San Francisco could magically get the “Subway to Nowhere” Central Subway installed today for free it would still be a bad deal for San Francisco, mostly owing the very small amount benefits it would provide to a very small number of people and the very large hole it would put into MUNI”s annual budget.

But unless the Feds help out San Francisco by cancelling funding, politically connected players such as AECOM are all set to make a mint off of this project. Oh well.

Anyway, San Francisco officials are still trying to reassure the Feds about how great this horrible project is going, so, as of tomorrow, we’ll be on the hook for another $100,000,000, or so, to make up for the fact that California doesn’t want to chip in the money.

Check it out, from SaveMuni.com:

“On May 1, 2012, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) Board will be asked to approve Central Subway revenue bonds, of undetermined amount, to plug a large hole that has developed in the Central Subway budget. This is a very risky course of action.

A shortfall of between $61.3 million and $140 million has now appeared in the project budget. In order to make up for this substantial loss of previously anticipated State of California funding, the MTA staff is asking its Board and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to approve a revenue bond sale of undetermined amount. On the agenda of the May 1, 2012 MTA Board meeting, the bond authorization is scheduled as Item 10.4 which is unaccountably included under the Board’s consent calendar rather than its regular calendar. In the Agenda packet, the staff attributes the need for the revenue bond sale to “uncertainty regarding HSR in California.” This statement is false and misleading, for the reasons set forth below.”

Here are the deets:

“SaveMuni.com
April 30, 2012

MTA’s Stealth Maneuver to Commit Additional City Funds to the Central Subway

On May 1, 2012, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) Board will be asked to approve Central Subway revenue bonds, of undetermined amount, to plug a large hole that has developed in the Central Subway budget. This is a very risky course of action.

MTA Board Agenda, Tuesday, May 1, 2012: See Item 10.4.

Particulars

The cost of the MTA’s Central Subway project has ballooned from $647 million to the current estimate of $1.58 billion.i The original plan was for $983 million of this total to come from the federal government, $471 from the State of California and $124 million from San Francisco’s Prop K sales tax fund.

In attempting to sell the subway to the public, MTA has repeatedly called the public’s attention to its “success” in leveraging a mere $124 million City & County contribution into a $1.58 billion subway.ii However, a shortfall of between $61.3 million and $140 million has now appeared in the project budget.

In order to make up for this substantial loss of previously anticipated State of California funding, the MTA staff is asking its Board and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to approve a revenue bond sale of undetermined amount. On the agenda of the May 1, 2012 MTA Board meeting, the bond authorization is scheduled as Item 10.4 which is unaccountably included under the Board’s consent calendar rather than its regular calendar. In the Agenda packet, the staff attributes the need for the revenue bond sale to “uncertainty regarding HSR in California”. This statement is false and misleading, for the reasons set forth below.

The MTA is caught between a skittish Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) appropriately worried about the MTA’s financial ability to handle the Central Subway project and a huge shortfall in the non-federal share of the project budget. The MTA apparently believes the solution to this problem is to skim millions of dollars a year from already overburdened Muni revenues, in order to sell revenue bonds as necessary to make up for the loss in State capital—all in hopes that the action will reassure the feds and therefore put the hoped-for federal grant back on track.

The best that could be said of the MTA’s plan is that it is extremely risky. By far, the most important element of that risk is that the costs of servicing the revenue bonds, coupled with an indeterminate amount of project overrun (estimated by CGR Management Consultants to be as high as $422 million), could result in unacceptably high Muni fare increases and/or unacceptably damaging Muni service cuts.”

Ever more deets after the jump

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A Plea From San Franciscans to Congressional Republicans: Please Save Us From the Corrupt, Useless Central Subway

Friday, March 16th, 2012

I’ll tell you, I don’t exactly know how San Francisco managed to get (basically) free water and (basically) free electricity through flooding half of the good part of the Yosemite National Park area, but somehow, through bribery, corruption or whatnot, we got a sweetheart deal to take advantage of Hetch Hetchy in perpetuity.

Of course the right thing to do would be to start sharing the benefits of Hetch Hetchy with the rest of California, or at least pay market price for what we’re getting, or just tear down the damn dam altogether. Something like that.

But the single-party state of San Francisco doesn’t want to do anything like that. The single-party state of San Francisco wants to hold on to the Hetch Hetchy deal for as long as possible. Maybe some Republicans can help us find the right path…

Speaking of which, the federally-funded Central Subway [cough, BIG DIG II, cough - and you know, Boston's Big Dig is different because it had a chance to actually benefit people] project is useless and horribly corrupt. It will burden San Francisco for decades, whether it gets used or not.

Why don’t we stop this thing [cough, BRIDGE TO NOWHERE, cough] right now? And Feds, why not just call it even? So we won’t pay you back the $200,000,000 but you all will end up saving big bucks.

It’ll be up to you, Congressional Republicans, to save us from wasting money on the Central Subway [cough, ROAD TO NOWHERE, cough - hey, I bet you didn't know about that one!]

The Central Subway to Chinatown is the replacement for our long-dead Embarcadero Freeway to Chinatown. And somehow, calling the Central Subway the Subway to Nowhere is considered racist and hurtful, but calling the Embarcadero Freeway the Freeway to Nowhere, well, that’s good times. See?

Click to expand

Off we go:

“YOUR TURN!  RE-SCRUTINIZE THE CENTRAL SUBWAY BOONDOGGLE.

Everyone should re-scrutinize the Central Subway—in light of growing Muni deficits and cutbacks.  The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) hasn’t granted final approvals.  And Congress has a mandated 60-day review period.  Instead, let’s shift hundreds of millions of dollars into citywide Muni.

PETITION:  http://tinyurl.com/No-to-CentralSubway 

The Central Subway means more Muni service cuts and fare/ fee increases. 

The Central Subway Project has drained over $500 million of state and local funding from the citywide Muni system.  Facing a $19.6 million deficit in 2012 and $33.6 million in 2013, San Francisco’s Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) threatens more service cuts and fare/ fee increases—after cuts/ increases in 2009 and 2010.  SFMTA projects $1.6 billion in budget deficits and $25.4 billion of capital needs over the next twenty years.  While Muni infrastructure crumbles, Muni’s $1.9 billion in deferred maintenance is a ticking nuclear bomb.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/transportation/2012/01/sfmta-identifies-24-billion-long-term-project-needs

Muni wouldn’t have budget deficits—if scarce dollars were used wisely.

The Central Subway Project has usurped over $500 million of state/ local funds from system-wide Muni needs—exacerbating system meltdowns and rider discontentment.  Service cuts, fare increases, parking/ meter rate hikes, painful traffic citations and frustrated Muni riders have subsidized the Central Subway Project.  No degree of service cuts and fare/fee increases will offset Muni’s mismanagement of assets and existing funds.

PROP K 2003 has higher, legally-mandated citywide Muni priorities.

http://www.sfcta.org/content/view/11/27/

Instead of the tiny 1.7 mile Central Subway, hundreds of miles of Transit Preferential Streets can be created with the Central Subway’s existing state/ local funds—benefiting all Muni riders, taxpayers and neighborhoods.

With its uniqueness, character, Mediterranean-scale, geographic beauty and topographic splendor, San Francisco’s northeast quadrant is a natural pedestrian realm.  The distance from Downtown to Fisherman’s Wharf is 1-½ miles.  Columbus Avenue is 1 mile long.  Washington Square is 1 mile from the Powell BART/Metro Station.  Chinatown is ½ mile from Market Street.  As seen in cities throughout the world, these are distances opportune for a pulsating street life.

From an urban planning perspective, robust pedestrian and surface transit assures wider economic vitality—with very efficient costs and more immediate jobs.

The Central Subway’s own reports depict an abysmal project.

http://tinyurl.com/CS-Charts  .

CPUC (California Public Utilities Commission) cites pervasive Muni safety Issues. 

In the 3-6-12 SFMTA Board Agenda:  “Conference with Legal Counsel:  Existing Litigation—Investigation into the Operations, Practices and Conduct of the SFMTA Regarding Ongoing Public Safety Issues, California Public Utilities Commission, I. 11-02-017, Issued on 2/24/2011.”

CPUC PRESS RELEASE:

http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/published/News_release/131263.htm :

“The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today began penalty considerations based on CPUC staff allegations of pervasive safety concerns regarding the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s (SFMTA or Muni) light rail system. This action was taken after CPUC safety inspectors found numerous safety violations on Muni’s light rail system in San Francisco. In their report to the CPUC, the inspectors have alleged that SFMTA has been chronically unresponsive to alleged violations and other findings.”

PUBLIC SENTIMENT:

http://www.gjel.com/blog/san-francisco-muni-faulted-by-california-puc-for-safety-violations.html :

“If you’re a regular Muni rider, you know that delays are common on weekday commutes to and from work. You might not know, however, that San Francisco’s transportation agency has routinely fallen short on safety inspections for the past year and a half, according to a report released this week by the California Public Utilities Commission.”

DON’T LET LOBBYISTS OVERRIDE YOUR INTERESTS.

If the Central Subway were truly a sound transportation project, than politicians, public officials and lobbyists wouldn’t be needed to twist the arms of the public and decision-makers.  Instead, a multi-million dollar media campaign has pitched the Central Subway like snake oil and subprime derivatives, using Muni funds to lobby Muni’s own customers, governing bodies and officials.

CITIREPORT:  “Lobbyists Turn Millions into Billions”:

http://www.citireport.com/2012/02/lobbyists-turn-millions-into-billions/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Money+and+Politics+The+Year+That+Ended&utm_content=Money+and+Politics+The+Year+That+Ended+CID_99d18a4d35f8a81996ebeb6e950a1883&utm_source=Email+Newsletters&utm_term=Influence+Peddlers+Make+Millions+at+City+Hall

“Money Follows Controversy

The top ten clients who promised payments for lobbying surfaces some of the most controversial issues at City Hall.

California Pacific Medical Center promised the most in payments for lobbying, at $750,985. Aecom, which is leading the Central Subway and other projects, ranked second at $360,000. Third was Millennium Partners, also at $360,000.”

 NEW YORK TIMES:  “Out Of Office, but Not Out of Things to Say”:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/15/us/willie-brown-remains-a-san-francisco-power-broker.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1330078166-8/XmgibML60WcphWNXyz4g

“His [former Mayor Willie Brown] law firm represents prominent clients, among them Aecom, an engineering firm involved in San Francisco’s central subway project, and the California Online Poker Association.”

EPOCH TIMES:  “San Francisco Mayoral Debate gives Glimpse of Chinatown Politics”:

http://epoch-archive.com/a1/en/us/sfo/2011/10-Oct/06/A3_20111006_NoCA-US.pdf

“CCDC [Chinatown Community Development Center} also gets a juicy subcontract related to the Central Subway project, including $30,000 a month to spend on ‘community outreach’.”

WALL STREET JOURNAL:  “The Billion-Dollar-A-Mile Subway Makes Perfect Sense”:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904583204576542691025904076.html?

NOTE:  Even while the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is evaluating the Central Subway project, the FTA Administrator defended the project in the Wall Street Journal—responding to an Editorial that blasted the Subway Boondoggle. The conflict of interest is worsened by transit data that shows the Central Subway decreasing transit service levels and travel times for tens of thousands of riders.

Instead of Muni service cutbacks, fare/ fee increases and crumbling infrastructure, imagine how the Central Subway’s hundreds of millions of dollars in existing state/ local funds could revitalize the citywide Muni System.  Political leaders do pay heed to well-reasoned arguments of their constituents.

Join with SaveMuni.com in lobbying Washington and Sacramento.

www.SaveMuni.com

And if the blue sky mining company won’t come to our rescue
And if the sugar refining company won’t save us
Who’s gonna save us?