“CDF’s Black Community Crusade for Children (BCCC) led to the creation of the CDF Freedom Schools program in 1995, offering children enrichment through a reading curriculum that seeks to foster a love of learning and to empower children to make a difference in their families, communities and the nation. In the summer of 2007, CDF Freedom Schools sponsor partners served over 8,300 children in 61 cities and 25 states (and D.C.), including over 1,750 children in the Gulf Coast Region (AL,LA,MS,TX). Since 1995, over 64,000 children and families have been reached through the CDF Freedom Schools program experience.”
I guess I know why the SFMTA, America’s worst and slowest large transit agency, wants to spend millions and millions of taxpayer dollars to improve its image. So it will then be able to obtain and spend even more of our money, of course.
But I’m mystified as to the thought process behind its marketing.
For example, here’s a happy meter maid saying, ”I am a single mom working to send my child to private school. I am SFMTA.”
Click to expand
So the San Francisco Unified School District is that bad, huh?
OK fine.
(TRIGGER WARNING, Lookism: And she’s not a model, she’s a Real Person, an actual DPT Parking Control Officer? Latina/a, just a guess. Very attractive/appealing, huh? How did she get selected? Does someone at at the SFMTA’s in-house agency thumb through a bunch of PCO headshots saying, ” …pooch, dog, I-don’t-think-so, oh-now-here-we-go?” Is that how it works, something along those lines? Funny that, SFMTA.)
If I were the SFMTA, I’d take this ad down and never run it again.
Yes, everything that ever happens in your life has to do with your ethnic heritage, apparently.
That’s the conclusion you might come to after reading this tale from area attorney Rodel Rodis. It started up ten years ago and ended up involving a former Assistant City Attorney by the name of Scott Wiener.
All right, Rodel, the SFPD took you into a station after thinking you were trying to pass a fake $100 bill, but actually it was real, so look sad, come on, sadder, sadder, cleek:
And I’ll tell you, if you ever find me with a $100 bill, I’ll know exactly where I got it from.
And you’d think somebody could have entered the phrase “1985 $100 bill” into the Google earlier in this process, back in the day, but oh well. (And IRL, a teller supervisor at a bank in the pre-Internet era could examine a bill and then contact the feds in a New York minute, you know, to check the serial number.)
And if Walgreens ever sends me a giant bouquet to turn my frown upside-down, I’d tell them they should have simply handed over the bouquet money directly to me.
But, In mitigation, you went to the former New College of Law and then, unlike most of its graduates*, you passed the CA bar exam. So good on you. Srsly.
And you escaped the college board before City College came crashing down, so that was a good move as well.
All right, let’s look forward to this incident’s 20th anniversary in 2023, when we’ll surely hear this tale again…
*Such as your fellow area minor celebrity, the ivory-white “Ivory Madison.”
“About the Project – The primary goal of the Masonic Avenue Street Design Study is to identify how Masonic Avenue between Geary Boulevard and Fell Street can safely and efficiently accommodate the needs of all roadway users, including but not limited to … motorists.”
ALL RIGHT, EXACTLY HOW DOES THIS PROJECT “ACCOMMODATE THE NEEDS” OF “MOTORISTS?” OH, NOT AT ALL? THOUGHT SO. MOVING ON.
Objectives:
1. Engage representatives of all constituencies within the community who would be impacted by changes to Masonic Avenue…
ALL RIGHT, WHICH REPRESENTATIVES OF THE “MOTORIST” “CONSTITUENCY” WERE “ENGAGED?” ANY AT ALL? YOU KNOW, THE OCTAVIA BOULEVARD PEOPLE “ENGAGED” MOTORISTS AS FAR AWAY AS MONTEREY BOULEVARD, OUT THERE WITH CLIPBOARDS AND EVERYTHING. DID THE MASONIC AVENUE PEOPLE DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT? OH NO.
2. Improve transit operation.
THIS PROJECT WILL UNIMPROVE TRANSIT OPERATION ON AND AROUND MASONIC – THERE’S NO QUESTION ABOUT THAT. IT’S GOING TO SLOW DOWN THE BUSES THAT USE MASONIC, INCLUDING THE OCCASIONAL #5 FULTON AND #21 HAYES.
3. Improve pedestrian and non-motorized access to transit.
SO TRANSIT USERS WILL HAVE “BETTER ACCESS” TO REDUCED BUS SERVICE? I DON’T GET THE BETTER ACCESS PART – YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT A BUS STOP? ALSO, WHAT’S “MOTORIZED ACCESS TO TRANSIT?”
4. Increase the safety of pedestrian crossings.
YOU KNOW, THE PRIOR PROJECT MANAGER IS ON THE RECORD AS STATING THAT THIS KIND OF THING IS BAD TO DO LIKE NOW BECAUSE IT WOULD HURT THE CAUSE OF PUSHING THE ENTIRE PROJECT THROUGH. KIND OF SAD, REALLY.
5. Increase motorist compliance with traffic rules and regulations.
UH, WHAT, WITH TREES? IF I WANTED TO INCREASE COMPLIANCE WITH TRAFFIC LAWS, I’D JACK THE SPEED LIMIT UP TO 40 MPH. NOW, THAT WOULD HAVE SOME SIDE EFFECTS, BUT IT CERTAINLY WOULD REDUCE THE INCIDENCE OF SPEEDING, RIGHT? OR, HAVING HOURS-LONG TRAFFIC JAM UPS DURING THE MORNING AND EVENING DRIVES WOULD REDUCE SPEEDING, IS THAT WHAT YOU’RE GETTING AT?
6. Reduce the number of vehicular collisions, especially those involving pedestrians and bicyclists.
HOW? BY PLANTING TREES? WE’LL SEE. HEY DIDN’T THE RECENT OCTAVIA BOULEVARD / MEDIAN PROJECT INCREASE THE NUMBER OF VEHICULAR COLLISIONS ON OCTAVIA? YES IT DID. HOW WOULD YOU EXPLAIN THAT?
7. Support neighborhood vitality by creating a more inviting and accommodating public realm.
BY PUTTING IN A MEDIAN AND PLANTING TREES? SO, LET’S TAX AMERICA, CALIFORNIA, AND SAN FRANCISCO TO CREATE A “REALM” ON 3000 FEET WORTH OF STREET PRIMARILY FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE WEALTHY PROPERTY OWNERS AND PRIVATE SCHOOL(S) WHAT ARE ON THE STREET? ALL RIGHT.
You see, Octavia used to be a regular old street until Redevelopment (a bad idea from the 20th century) and the failed Octavia “Boulevard” experiment (a bad idea from the 21st century) came along.
(Or you could say college campus, since they only teach one subject here.)
Usually, the place looks like two office buildings next to each other.
Anyway, here’s the largest (for now) and oldest law school west of the Mississippi, mas o menos, with a larger-than-average number of stus milling about:
1. Your name is Ivory Madison for real? Oh. Really? How theatrical.
2. I think you mean former friend, right?
3. [Sanctimonious line reading but otherwise within the bounds of reality.]
4. I think I’m going to call bullshit on this one. That’s just your opinion, IM.
5. So you “contacted the police on her behalf” but without her permission? And in a maladroit fashion to boot, one might add. Like using your personal iPhone to do so, “anonymously.” You’re not that sharp, are you, IM?
6. [Sanctimonious line reading but otherwise within the bounds of reality.]
7. All right, I’ll bite. How does suspending Ross Mirkarimi protect victims of DV?
8. Uh Madison, I don’t think you can declare victory before a process ends, right? And it turns out that Christina Olague’s vote didn’t matter nohow. You understand that, right?
9. You didn’t want to get involved? Are you fucking serious – who’s going to believe that, Huntress?
10. Voters need to know what Olague did? Don’t they know already? Mmmm…
11. Is Ross Mirkarimi a “convicted batterer” like in real life? What does the word “batterer” mean? What does the word “batter” mean? Oh, what’s that, you didn’t actually have a chance to learn that in colledge because you thought a high school diploma would suffice when applying to Stanford Law? That might have worked for Daredevil Matt Murdock in the comix but I don’t think that kind of thing works IRL.
12. Um, I think Ross Mirkarimi is your Sheriff because your neighbors voted for him, like overwhelmingly, right? Didn’t you host a fundraiser for him?
13. Does Christina Olague really think “it’s OK to abuse your wife?” Any support at all for this, you know, outside of this particular vendetta? Wow.
Hey Ivory. You talk about law school so much, why not just sign up for the state bar exam and study for it? You could pass if you applied yourself.
The headline says it all, but here’s the entire release:
“SAN FRANCISCO DISTRICT PTA LEADERSHIP AGAIN URGES STATE PTA TO MAKE A DUAL ENDORSEMENT ON PROPS 30 AND 38
San Francisco — The Second District (San Francisco) PTA leadership recommended in July a dual endorsement of state ballot measures, Propositions 30 and 38, to the California State PTA after hearing from PTA members across the City that funding education was a high priority. At that time, the State PTA held its “Yes” on Prop 38 and voted to approve a “Neutral” position on Prop 30.
In light of recent public polling and campaign dynamics with both initiatives, and again with the encouragement of its members, the District PTA leadership is re-recommending the State PTA take a “Yes” position on Prop 30 to add to its current “Yes” on Prop 38 at the State PTA Board of Managers Meeting October 27.
It is critical that education be funded at a higher level, or at the minimum, maintain current funding in order for all of California’s children to be prepared to be successful in college, career and life. Either Prop 30 or Prop 38 must pass for this to happen. The District PTA also strongly encourages both campaigns to refrain from negative messaging about the other to increase the possibility that at least one measure will receive the required 50% + 1 votes.
Prop 30 would prevent further cuts to K-12 public schools and higher education funding through an increase of around $6 billion per year for 7 years to the state’s general fund budget. Prop 38 would increase funding to K-12 schools, early education and school bond debt payments by $10-11 billion per year for 12 years. Prop 38’s increase in funding would greatly mitigate the result of state education budget cuts of over $20 billion statewide and the laying off of over 40,000 educators over the last three years alone.
