Posts Tagged ‘San Francisco’

How to NIMBY: NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING, 731 Market Street

Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013

(I was going to post this public hearing notice legibly, but I don’t want to make things too easy for the shakedown artists to come out of the woodwork.)

If you have some time to kill and you’d like a potentially lucrative hobby and you’d like a purpose in life and you’d like people to pay attention to you, then you should adopt the preservation of this old office building near Third Street.

Don’t let the owners change anything for any reason, not without a fight!

You know, if you want:

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Travis Bickle 94108: Busking at the Central Subway Boondoggle Apple Store Construction Site – “Fuck You, Pay Me”

Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013

An arresting figure at corner of 4th and Market:

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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

“NO WALL ON THE WATERFRONT” – Catching Up with the Fate of that Horrible 8 Washington Project – Vote Coming

Tuesday, May 21st, 2013

Well, here’s the word on the street:

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But I guess if you’re unregistered political lobbyist Rose Pak or one of her stencil voters, you prolly want to vote yes on waiving a five-decade-old waterfront height limitation.

In that case, you’re going to want to go here, at the laughable and brand-new Open Up The Waterfront website.

(If Goebbels could have made up websites, he’d have had Open Up Alsace-Lorraine and Open Up The Sudetenland, you know, talking about how pedestrians would benefit after the Third Reich took over.)

Uh, Rose Pak, didn’t we already help pay for your taxpayer-subsidized condo in District 6? Isn’t that enough?

This has been your ”NO WALL ON THE WATERFRONT” 8 Washington update.

Oh, and look at all the SPUR losers what actually want this thing built:

Executive Director
Gabriel Metcalf
Urban Center Director
Diane Filippi
Vice Chairs
Lee Blitch
Mary McCue
Bill Rosetti
Jim Salinas, Sr.
Lydia Tan
V. Fei Tsen
Treasurer
Bob Gamble
Secretary
Tomiquia Moss
Immediate Past Chair
Tom Hart
Advisory Counci l
Co-Chai rs
Michael Alexander
Paul Sedway
Board Members
Carl Anthony
David Baker
Fred Blackwell
Chris Block
Margo Bradish
Larry Burnett
Michaela Cassidy
Charmaine Curtis
Gia Daniller
Oscar De La Torre
Kelly Dearman
Shelley Doran
Oz Erickson
Norman Fong
David Friedman
Gillian Gillett
Chris Gruwell
Anne Halsted
Dave Hartley
Mary Huss
Chris Iglesias
Laurie Johnson
Ken Kirkey
Travis Kiyota
Patricia Klitgaard
Florence Kong
Rik Kunnath
Ellen Lou
Janis MacKenzie
John Madden
Jacinta McCann
John McNulty
Chris Meany
Ezra Mersey
Mary Murphy
Paul Okamoto
Brad Paul
Chris Poland
Teresa Rea
Byron Rhett
Wade Rose
Victor Seeto
Elizabeth (Libby) Seifel
Chi-Hsin Shao
Raphael Sperry
Bill Stotler
Stuart Sunshine
Michael Teitz
Will Travis
Jeff Tumlin
Steve Vettel
Debra Walker
Brooks Walker, III
Cynthia Wilusz-Lovell

Hurray! The Memphis Minnie’s “Big Pig” Van is Back on the Road, After Being “Destroyed” in a Giants Victory Riot on Haight

Tuesday, May 21st, 2013

Remember when our San Francisco Giants won the World Series the time before last?

It was back in 2010. Good times. I celebrated by climbing on top of the Memphis Minnie’s Barbeque Joint And Smokehouse Ford van parked on the street in the Lower Haight.

There I was, looking fierce bouncing up and down in my little black dress and orange pumps, along with bunch of other people.* We few, we Band of Brothers, we Baseball Furies.

Anyway, as the above link to Haighteration shows, the Big Pig, she got messed up.

But here she is back on the road in 2013, wavy roof panels and all:

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I don’t know, I think this ride is worth more than it would have been without the battle scars from aught-ten.

I think this rig is now a historic artifact worthy of preservation.

Keep on keeping on, Memphis Minnie’s.

*Oh, not really. Actually, after watching on a friend’s big screen (’cause I don’t I have cable ’cause I want the Comcast monopoly to die die die) I had to ride my bike on up to Pac Heights. The city was electric, all over, not just in the Mission and in the Haights.

Photo of the SFPD Investigating the Death of David Hamzeh at 2030-2040 Fell Street – Bay to Breakers 2013

Monday, May 20th, 2013

Erin Sherbert has the details:

Transit Porn: The Newest Govmint Website is “MyStreetSF.Com” – SFCTA Shows Where It’s Spending All Your Money

Monday, May 20th, 2013

That’s what they’re calling it, MyStreetSF.Com, but all that URL does now is point you to http://www.sfcta.org/mystreetsf-map, which is also new.

Check it, SFCTA is EV ERYWHERE:

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This image is just a snapshot. What you should do is click on over and then start tapping on the interactive map.

[Call and response, like when you were an activist before you became a typical selfish millionaire property-owning NIMBY-type] Whose streets? _MY_ STREETS!

Now you’re on the trolley. In fact, you’re paying for one, right…here. See?

All the deets:

[Click on this link to go directly to the MyStreetSF Projects Map.]

From signals to streetcars, bicycles to boulevards, from pedestrian safety to paving, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) provides funding for hundreds of transportation projects citywide. The MyStreetSF interactive map shows all projects currently underway that are funded by, or prioritized for funding by the SFCTA, as well as those for which the SFCTA provides some level of oversight, in our role as Congestion Management Agency for San Francisco.

Most of these projects are funded with Prop K sales tax funds matching other federal, state, or regional funds. We also provide funding through the Prop AA Vehicle Registration Fee and the Transportation Fund for Clean Air  programs.

The MyStreetSF interactive map allows you to search for projects by location, Supervisorial District, project type (e.g., bicycle, pedestrian safety, transit rehabilitation), project sponsor, or timeline. Click on a project on the map to see key information (e.g., short description, schedule, cost) and a link to the project page and/or project sponsor’s main page. The map page also includes information on city-wide projects and programs like Bicycle Education and Outreach.

We’re still beta testing the map and continue to work on new features, such as displaying already-completed projects.

Please let us know what you think. Your comments are invaluable in helping us correct, refine, and improve the map.

Disclaimer This map only shows transportation projects funded or prioritized for funding by the SFCTA, as well as those for which SFCTA is responsible for some level of oversight, acting in its capacity as Congestion Management Agency for San Francisco. SFCTA does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information shown on the map.

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]

Finally, a Happy Time at the DMV: Third Annual Slappy Contest Today at 3:00PM – Skateboarding is Not a Crime

Sunday, May 19th, 2013

Except when it is a crime.

Actually, just riding your bike through the Fell Street DMV parking lot is a crime unless there’s a sign saying it’s OK to do so and, sadly, there’s no such sign.

Anyway, today’s show must go on:

It looked just like this in 2012, at the second annual. Good times:

Hurray!

Bacon Bacon NIMBYs Make Saturday Night Live: Client(s) of Ryan Patterson Now a National Laughingstock

Sunday, May 19th, 2013

I believe Bagdad By The Bay has the latest on our Bacon Bacon saga at Ashbury Market near the corner of Frederick in not-so-scenic Ashbury Heights.

Well this wacky story just went national today on Saturday Night Live – here’s Weekend Update co-host Amy Poehler, via Brock Keeling of SFist:

Perhaps not that funny but at least now more people are mocking attorney Ryan Patterson and his unknown client(s).

At least now there’s an upside to this flagrant NIMBYism.

So feel free to add this incident…

…to the time this Kramer-esque sign hung off the back of nearby 1965 Page…

…and, for that matter, Kramer’s famous run in:

Cosmo Kramer vs. Kenny Rogers Roasters, Inc.

Bacon Bacon ‏@BaconBaconSF: ”Apparently bacon bacon on SNL tonight!! Weekend update. Here we go folks. Here we go.” #baconbaconsf#snl

On It Goes…