Posts Tagged ‘save’
Friday, April 26th, 2013
OMG, would you look at this?
I mean check out all these deadly, beastly automobiles parked on Polk, the very same street that the SFMTA is trying to “complete” don’t you know:
Click to expand
I know, why don’t you take out all these spaces and replace them with a separated bike lane or something, SFMTA?
After all, Transit First, right?
Oh, what’s that? These are the spaces that the Board of Supervisors and their aides park in for free every day so that’s where you just happened to end your campaign of completion?
But don’t you care about safety, SFMTA?
Mmmmm….
“This project seeks to implement aesthetic and safety improvements for all users of Polk Street between McAllister and Union Streets. In accordance with the City’s Transit First policy, improvements will primarily be focused on people who walk, use transit and ride a bicycle along Polk Street. The project is funded by Proposition B General Obligation Bonds and is part of an overall citywide effort to curb pedestrian and bicycle collisions and to provide a safe north-south connection for people on bicycles. Pedestrian and bicyclist collision and injury data on Polk Street point to a corridor in need of safety improvements for all those who share the road. In fact, the southern portion from Sacramento to McAllister Streets is part of the 5% of San Francisco streets that have more than half of the City’s most severe pedestrian collisions.”
Tags: 2013, aide, aides, bay area, bicycle, bicycle coalition, bike, board of supervisors, bus, businesses, california, CEO, david campos, David Chiu, district 1, district 10, district 11, district 2, district 3, district 4, district 5, district 6, District 7, district 8, district 9, ed reskin, eric mar, free, Jane Kim, john avalos, Katy Tang, lanes, London Breed, Malia Cohen, Mark Farrell, Muni, Neal Patel, Norman Yee, parking, Polk, polk street, Polk Street Improvement Project, San Francisco, san francisco bicycle coalition, save, Scott Wiener, sfbc, SFMTA, space, spoaces, street, Supervisor, supervisors
Posted in cars | 3 Comments »
Friday, April 26th, 2013
Organizing people to support whatever the SFMTA wants to do? Yes.
Now, does the SFMTA give lots of money to the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition?
Yes, certainly.
So what does all that money buy?
It buys this kind of thing:
The SFMTA has just announced it will be holding the third official Polk Street Improvement project meeting series on Saturday, April 27 from 10 am to 1 pm and Tuesday, April 30 from 5 to 8:30 pm at 1300 Polk St (at Bush) at the First Congregational Church Fellowship Hall. Please take a moment to read what’s at stake at these meetings. For a year, the SFMTA has conducted widespread community outreach and has developed proposals that will address the urgent safety needs on Polk Street (where once a month someone on a bicycle AND walking is involved in a collision).
If you support safety improvements to Polk Street, it is critical that you attend one or both of these SFMTA Community meetings on April 27 or 30 and speak up for the improvements proven to make biking and walking safer and bring more people to a commercial corridor.
RSVP below so we know that we can count on you to come to the April 27 or 30 SFMTA Community meetings to speak up for safety on Polk Street:
Polk Street Meetings RSVP
The SF Bicycle Coalition wants to know that you will attend the SFMTA meetings on Saturday, April 27th from 10 am to 1 pm and/or Tuesday, April 30th from 5pm-8:30 pm in support for safe biking and walking on Polk Street. Both meetings — hosted by the City, not the SF Bike Coalition — will be at 1300 Polk St (at Bush) at the First Congregational Church Fellowship Hall.
* Required
Now, could the SFMTA drum up support directly?
I don’t think so. BART, for instance, got in trouble for doing this type of stuff.
But what’s the difference if the SFBC functions as an arm of the SFMTA?
Hey SFMTA, what’s sample bias? Is it this?
“The SFMTA is looking to get input on how the proposed options for Polk Street meet your needs when you’re traveling on Polk Street. Click here to take SFMTA’s survey. and speak up for safety improvements that matter most.”
I think so. Let me Google that for you.
And actually, all the polling you do has sampling bias. Did you know that, SFMTA?
Maybe you don’t:
“Officials seemed taken aback by the anger at the Middle Polk Neighborhood Assn. gathering. Every seat in the Old First Presbyterian Church’s community room was filled. The crowd stood several deep along the walls and spilled out into the corridor.Audience members jeered when Edward D. Reiskin, the city’s transportation director, couldn’t say how many of the 320 curbside parking spots along Polk could be taken out under the plan. “I don’t have that data,” he said to loud boos, before going with “something like 170″ maximum. The response from the crowd was more of the same.”
All right, SFMTASFBC. Enjoy your staged meetings on April 27th and 30th!
Tags: 2013, bay area, bicycle, bicycle coalition, bike, bus, businesses, california, CEO, ed reskin, lanes, Muni, Neal Patel, parking, Polk, polk street, San Francisco, san francisco bicycle coalition, save, sfbc, SFMTA, space, spoaces, street
Posted in cars | 3 Comments »
Friday, December 7th, 2012
Hey look, Kaiser Permanente is coming to Potrero Hill.
But some people are highly upset:
Selfish,*
YEP. Pretty much.
Petty-Bourgeois,
YEP
White,
YEP. I’d be surprised if they weren’t.
Property-Owning,
YEP. Obsessed with real estate they are, my precious.
NIMBY
YEP. “Oh yes, Kommandant we totally support your mission of expanding your concentration and extermination camps, but couldn’t you select a more “appropriate” site, perhaps in East Auschwitz, or maybe even Auschwitz Annex? As the saying goes, property values uber alles.”
Millionaires
YEP. “Well, I’M not a millionaire, ” they lie.
Sorry, little nursey, your kind just isn’t welcome on “The Hill.”
Via stepsaheadlearners
And hey, where’s our helipad, you know, that other thing what was supposed to have “destroyed” property values in PH.
Let’s bring the pain, bring the sanctimony, let’s write canned letters to all these people, why not:
The CEO and Board of Directors of Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente (George C. Halvorson)
LNK Partners (Phil Marineau)
Kaiser Permanente (Christine Robisch)
Kaiser Permanente (Robert Pearl)
Kaiser Permanente (Gregory A. Adams)
Kaiser Permanente (Bernard J. Tyson)
Kaiser Permanente (Randy Wittorp)
Kaiser Permanente (Jay Murphy)
Kaiser Permanente (Cameron White)
SF Planning Department (Wade Wietgrefe)
SF Planning Department (Susan Mickelsen)
SF Planning Department (John Rahaim)
Malia Cohen
Megan Hamilton
Andrea Bruss
Kaiser Permanente Board Member (J. Eugene Grigsby)
Kaiser Permanente Board Member (Edward Pei)
SF Planning Department (Sarah Jones)
SF Planning Department (Ben Fu)
*I’m srsly. Do these people sincerely care about “historic” corrugated steel buildings? No, not at all. So how stupid do they think we are?
Tags: 2012, bay area, Ben Fu, Bernard J. Tyson, Board of Directors, board of supervisors, california, Cameron White, CEO, Christine Robisch, doctors, Edward Pei, George C. Halvorson, George Halvorson, Gregory A. Adams, helipad, hill, hospital, J. Eugene Grigsby, Jay Murphy, John Rahaim, LNK Partners, Malia Cohen, medical, Megan Hamilton Andrea Bruss, millionaires, nimby, nurse, Owning, Petty-Bourgeois, Phil Marineau, plann ing commission, Planning, potrero, potrero hill, property, Randy Wittorp, Robert Pearl, San Francisco, Sarah Jones, save, save the hill, Selfish, Supervisor, Susan Mickelsen, Wade Wietgrefe, white
Posted in health | No Comments »
Thursday, November 8th, 2012
No, not at all.
So why did people hold a rally about former Interim Supervisor Christina Olague saving rent control?
On the steps of City Hall:
Click to expand
I know not.
Now, if you wanted to say that renters as a group, overall, would have been better off with a Christina Olague, or a John Rizzo, or a Julian Davis as Supervisor of District Five, well then you might have something…
I s’pose it doesn’t matter now.
Tags: 2012, bay area, california, Christina Olague, City Hall, d5, district five, John Rizzo, julian davis, London Breed, rally, rent control, renters, San Francisco, save
Posted in politics | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, May 9th, 2012
I haven’t heard word one about the long-promised lawsuit what was going to overturn SFGov and re-install the old tenant as the operator.
“The civil lawsuit begins March 2012 and will expose the truth about all the many laws that Rec & Park broke in order to bring in an out-of-state chain, with no boating experience to take over this historic boating recreation site.”
Oh well.
Just saying.
Ah, Stow Lake:
Click to expand
Oh, and the early reviews are in. And they’re pretty good, those reviews.
Leave us close this chapter of wealthy, white, real-estate-obsessed, dingbat, millionaire homeowner Preservationists vs. the Boathouse at Stow.
Tags: 19th, 2010, 740, accessible, am, armand, armand ortega, august, bathroom, bay area, blue skies, boat, boat house, boathouse, boats, Bruce McLellan, budget, building, cafe, california, chronicle, chuck, coalition, community, County Fair Building, department, dept., district, enterprises, Family, fm, frank klein, free, golden gate park, Hall of Flowers, historic, hoist, indoor, inner sunset, January 26, January 26th, kcbs, lake, lead, meet, meeting, Nevius, new mexico, Nick Kinsey, ortega, ortega family enterprises, paint, park and rec, park and recreation, parks, picnic, pink, popcorn, rachel gordon, radio, recreation and parks, restaurant, rfq, row, rowboat, San Francisco, Sandy Weil, save, save stow lake, Save the Stow Lake Boat house, Save the Stow Lake Boathouse, Save the Stow Lake Boathouse Coalition, seating, shane ortega, stow, Stow lake, Stow Lake Boathouse, STSLBC, sunset, Suzanne Dumont, Suzanne R. Dumont, swan
Posted in parks | 2 Comments »
Monday, January 30th, 2012
I don’t know, when you have like just one member of the public show up at a meeting hosted by Rec and Park, would you call that a successful joint?
This was the scene for last Thursday night’s big PowerPoint presentation. You had people there from the new tenant and the new tenant’s Marin operation and RPD and etc.
Is this low turnout due to the fact that grand battle has already been won by the new tenant, or is it due to the fact that there was zero publicity for this particular meeting,* or maybe a combination of both reasons?
Click to expand
Anyway, the latest developments at Stow are detailed here by Rachel Gordon.
And oh, the lawsuit against the City from the old tenant should have some activity soon, maybe something is scheduled for Superior Court in March 2012.
And the latest from the absurdly-named Save Stow Lake Coalition has to do with paint with lead in it, which, Gentle Reader, I’m sitting two yards from right now. And, this is true for you too, G.R. You know, ’cause paint with some amount of lead in it is everywhere. Simply everywhere. (If it turns out that this coalition is some long-running anti-NIMBY performance art project, I won’t be surprised…)
Not with a bang, but with a whimper.
Enjoy your upcoming rain-free, vernal paddle-boating season, everybody…
*I don’t know, was this meeting posted on the internet anywhere at all? NTMK.
Tags: 19th, 2010, 740, accessible, am, armand, armand ortega, august, bathroom, bay area, blue skies, boat, boat house, boathouse, boats, Bruce McLellan, budget, building, cafe, california, chronicle, chuck, coalition, community, County Fair Building, department, dept., district, enterprises, Family, fm, frank klein, free, golden gate park, Hall of Flowers, historic, hoist, indoor, inner sunset, January 26, January 26th, kcbs, lake, lead, meet, meeting, Nevius, new mexico, Nick Kinsey, ortega, ortega family enterprises, paint, park and rec, park and recreation, parks, picnic, pink, popcorn, rachel gordon, radio, recreation and parks, restaurant, rfq, row, rowboat, San Francisco, Sandy Weil, save, save stow lake, Save the Stow Lake Boat house, Save the Stow Lake Boathouse, Save the Stow Lake Boathouse Coalition, seating, shane ortega, stow, Stow lake, Stow Lake Boathouse, STSLBC, sunset, Suzanne Dumont, Suzanne R. Dumont, swan
Posted in paranormal, parks | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012
Here’s the word on the street:
“The Recreation and Park Department and Ortega Family Enterprises are hosting a community meeting to discuss the upcoming renovations of the Stow Lake Boathouse. The work will include creating an indoor seating area so that the building is open to the public for the first time, adding an accessible bathroom, upgrading the building systems as well as upgrading the general condition of the building.
Date: January 26, 2012
Time: 7PM
Location: Hall of Flowers (County Fair Building)”
But, am I getting punk’d here? ‘Cause I can’t find any evidence of this meeting online.
Now, I can find the Save Stow Lake insanity* webpage, right here.
And, I can find the Official Twitter for Stow Lake Boathouse LLC, right here.
But, to review, I can’t find any evidence of this meeting online.
Oh hey, look, it’s Ortega Family Enterprises’ Armand Ortega hisself, at the last big Boathouse meeting (the last one that I know of, anyway) at the Hall of Flowers.**
Click to expand
Oh well.
*Uh, Ortega Family Enterprises has “boating experience” now, doesn’t it? You might want to change that. And do you want the City and County poking about buildings in your real estate empire looking for paint with lead in it? I’d bet they’d find some. Oh no! And shrillness-wise, you’re giving us a 9. How about giving us a 3 instead? All right, take two, roll film, action.
**Yes, that’s the actual color of the interior of the Hall of Flowers. I call it indescribable green.
Tags: 19th, 2010, 740, accessible, am, armand, armand ortega, august, bathroom, bay area, blue skies, boat, boat house, boathouse, boats, Bruce McLellan, budget, building, cafe, california, chuck, coalition, community, County Fair Building, department, dept., district, enterprises, Family, fm, frank klein, free, golden gate park, Hall of Flowers, historic, hoist, indoor, inner sunset, January 26, January 26th, kcbs, lake, meet, meeting, Nevius, new mexico, Nick Kinsey, ortega, ortega family enterprises, park and rec, park and recreation, parks, picnic, pink, popcorn, radio, recreation and parks, restaurant, rfq, row, rowboat, San Francisco, Sandy Weil, save, save stow lake, Save the Stow Lake Boat house, Save the Stow Lake Boathouse, Save the Stow Lake Boathouse Coalition, seating, shane ortega, stow, Stow lake, Stow Lake Boathouse, STSLBC, sunset, Suzanne Dumont, Suzanne R. Dumont, swan
Posted in food and drink, parks | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011
[UPDATE: Bagdad by the Bay just looked into things.]
Well, everything’s going great at your new and improved yet-pretty-much-the-same-except-for-the-food Stow Lake Boathouse in Golden Gate Park.
Here’s what it looks like these days:
Click to expand
Just check the Yelp for early reviews. They’re almost all highly positive.*
But what’s this? Some “brother” from Oakland, “Les. L,” is not happy, not one bit! He’s the only Yelper giving a less than positive review.
I’ll allege that Les is not some youngish dude from Oakland, but rather a wealthy, white, preservationist-minded, NIMBY-mentalitied, real-estate-obsessed, highly-opinionated woman of a certain age who lives in the West Bay.
Let’s check it out her one-star report:
“What happened to the cool local people that worked there?”
Um, this is an improbable start to a Yelp review. Gee, maybe they busy themselves with sock puppetry on Yelp these days, just like you, “Les L?”
“Everyone we saw was white, which is weird for SF. We drove over from the East Bay to rent boats with my 2 kids and my mom.”
Oh what’s that, Les? There’s not enough flava for you over here in the West Bay? That’s funny? Did you know that all the people behind the old boat house and the Save the Boat House Coalition are white, or pretty much? What were you expecting?
“The kids couldn’t reach the pedals in the boat we rented. How’s that? It’s for kids, right?”
The old boats, the ones sold off for $500, maybe they were inappropriate for adults? Maybe the kids can just come along for the ride? A paddleboat is a paddleboat, pretty much.
“After a unhappy boatride, my mom tripped on the crappy stairs in front of the boathouse. She was bleeding, the kids were crying, and no one bothered to help us.”
What were you unhappy about, Les? That Bruce lost his lease? It happens. Or you were unhappy because there were too many Whities about?
“An old man sitting on a bench helped us and said the boathouse was just taken over by a New Mexico chain. We won’t be back.”
More improbability. Oh well.
Oddly, Les L., straight outta Oak-Town, also has a big beef with Chicago Title Co. in lily-white Campbell, CA, the wealthiest(?) part of the South Bay.
And, oddly, “his” dentist, with whom “he” also has a big beef, is clear all the way in the burbs of the West Bay.
On It Goes…
*Perhaps too positive. “Ashley c.” is a another one of those Yelp fraudsters, it would appear.
Tags: 1946, 2011, asphalt, august, Bagdad by the Bay, bay area, bicycles, bikes, blog, boat, boat house, boathouse, Boathouse Dog, boats, booats, Bruce McLellan, cafe, cal tilden, california, chuck, Cloudless Skies, coalition, com, community, department, dept., district, electric, enterprises, facebook, Fair Trade, Family, frank klein, free, golden gate park, historic, hoist, hot dog, hot dogs, inner sunset, interim, Jeff Fones, lake, Let's Be Frank, levy, mclellan familty, meeting, menu, music concourse, Nevius, new mexico, october, org, ortega, ortega family enterprises, paddle, park, park and rec, park and recreation, parks, parkwide, picnic, pink, popcorn, radio, rec, recreation and parks, rent, rental, Reopen, reopening, restaurant, Restoration Time, rfq, row, rowboat, rpd, San Francisco, Sandy Weil, save, save stow lake, Save the Stow Lake Boat house, Save the Stow Lake Boathouse, Save the Stow Lake Boathouse Coalition, savestowlake, SaveStowLake.org, sock puppet, sock puppetry, stow, Stow lake, Stow Lake Boathouse and Café, STSLBC, sunset, Sustainable, swan, twitter, yelp, Yelp fraud
Posted in food and drink, parks | 4 Comments »
Friday, October 14th, 2011
Well, lots of things are pretty much the same these days at the Stow Lake Boathouse, which was reopened by the new tenant on Wednesday, October 12th, 2011.
See?
Click to expand
Check the new photo gallery – it’s quite complete.
But, here’s something new. It’s a sign in honor of boathouse founder Mr. Cal Tilden & the McLellan* Family, 1946-2011:
(Quite civil to post this sign, if you ask me.)
Get more deets via Aaron Sankin - here’s Huffington Post San Francisco going long-form on this issue: Stow Lake Boathouse Fight: A Battle For the Soul Of Golden Gate Park. Or there’s this here, if you want to click through the lengthy history over the prior months and years…
Le mise-en-scene:
If anything, the pace of life is even slower than that of the era of the prior tenant. Nobody’s hurried at all. And there’s more room, more benches for “old people” to lollygag about.
And here’s your new Boathouse Dog, which is from a better supplier and which is being sold at a cheaper price:
Yes, pink popcorn from Wright’s:
All the players:
And what’s this, new paint, finally, after all these years? These guys started working on Wednesday:
So there you have it.
*Yes, that’s a rapping raven, a confabulating corvid at the end of the first video, calling for a boycott of the boathouse.
Tags: 1946, 2011, asphalt, august, bay area, bicycles, bikes, blog, boat, boat house, boathouse, Boathouse Dog, boats, booats, Bruce McLellan, cafe, cal tilden, california, chuck, Cloudless Skies, coalition, com, community, department, dept., district, electric, enterprises, facebook, Fair Trade, Family, frank klein, free, golden gate park, historic, hoist, hot dog, hot dogs, inner sunset, interim, Jeff Fones, lake, Let's Be Frank, levy, mclellan familty, meeting, menu, music concourse, Nevius, new mexico, october, org, ortega, ortega family enterprises, paddle, park, park and rec, park and recreation, parks, parkwide, picnic, pink, popcorn, radio, rec, recreation and parks, rent, rental, Reopen, reopening, restaurant, Restoration Time, rfq, row, rowboat, rpd, San Francisco, Sandy Weil, save, save stow lake, Save the Stow Lake Boat house, Save the Stow Lake Boathouse, Save the Stow Lake Boathouse Coalition, savestowlake, SaveStowLake.org, stow, Stow lake, Stow Lake Boathouse and Café, STSLBC, sunset, Sustainable, swan, twitter
Posted in parks | 7 Comments »
Wednesday, October 12th, 2011
At long last, it’s here. It’s the interim menu for our Stow Lake Boathouse & Cafe.
Is this menu too foo-foo yuppie for you? Is $3.25* too much for a “Let’s Be Frank“ grass-fed beef** hot dog?
As always, You Make The Call:
Click to expand
*Well, I’ll tell you, that’s cheaper than what the former tenant was charging. Here’s some more from the clinically-absurd SaveStowLake.org crowd:
“Seniors will no longer be able to gather freely at the boathouse. Prices will be more than doubled on all food items. Middle class and low-income families will be driven out of this spot that is designed to be for all…not just the wealthy.”
I’ll tell you, everything that the Save Stow Lake people have predicted has turned out to be shrill, alarmist bullcrap. JMO.
** “These snappy dogs are loaded with flavor, not junk! Using premium cuts from cattle raised on pasture in California (naturally high in healthy Omega 3 fatty acids!) and organic spices, we’ve crafted a delicious dog that’s lower in fat, calories and sodium than conventional franks. No nitrites, nitrates, hormones, or antibiotics, ever.”
Tags: 2010, 2011, 6, asphalt, august, bay area, bicycles, bikes, blog, boat, boat house, boathouse, boats, booats, Bruce McLellan, cafe, california, chuck, Cloudless Skies, coalition, com, community, department, dept., district, electric, enterprises, facebook, Fair Trade, Family, frank klein, free, golden gate park, historic, hoist, hot dog, hot dogs, inner sunset, interim, Jeff Fones, lake, Let's Be Frank, levy, meeting, menu, music concourse, Nevius, new mexico, october, org, ortega, ortega family enterprises, paddle, park, park and rec, park and recreation, parks, parkwide, picnic, pink, popcorn, radio, rec, recreation and parks, rent, rental, Reopen, reopening, restaurant, Restoration Time, rfq, row, rowboat, rpd, San Francisco, Sandy Weil, save, save stow lake, Save the Stow Lake Boat house, Save the Stow Lake Boathouse, Save the Stow Lake Boathouse Coalition, savestowlake, SaveStowLake.org, stow, Stow lake, Stow Lake Boathouse and Café, STSLBC, sunset, Sustainable, swan, twitter
Posted in food and drink | 4 Comments »
