So, just as the horrible SFMTA recently conducted focus groups on the future of Polk, 6th Street is getting its turn.
I’ll tell you, if I were in charge of making 6th street safer, I don’t think I’d put “Slower Cars” at the top of the list.
How about “Less Untreated Mental Illness” instead?
Anyway, our blessed SFMTA will be hosting ”an interactive activation project on 6th Street (between Market and Stevenson)” on May 18th, 2013.
And Twitter will be there too, sort of.
In a better world, Twitter would participate because it wants to, not because it’s contractually obligated to do so.
(And Twitter would pay its fair share of taxes under the rules signed into law by that wild job-killing radical, Gavin Newsom, all the way back in 2004. Twitter, just give me your tax returns and I’ll figure how much more you should have paid and then you can write a check for the difference and send it in to the General Fund.)
NEWSFLASH: The people from the residential hotels you don’t like on 6th Street aren’t going anywhere.
By law.
Oh, and lots of people working at Twitter would still prefer to labor in northern San Mateo County, just saying.
Safer 6th Street is a collaboration between SFMTA, District 6 Supervisor’s Office, Twitter, Neighborland, SPUR, URBAN SPACEship and other community organizations to address the issue of safety in the 6th Street corridor, and gather further input from the local community as to what can be done to create a safer area for residents, workers and passersby alike.
There is an on-going community process to implement safety measures in the 6th Street corridor, including:
In alignment with this process, we ask – how can we, as a community, create a safer 6th Street?
On Saturday, May 18th, between 12-6pm we will be hosting an interactive activation project on 6th Street (between Market and Stevenson), to engage the community and gather ideas and feedback towards this question, with the aim of envisioning a vibrant area and helping to prioritize treatments to the 6th Street design.
Pick your medium – we’ll have a Neighborland board for you to freely write on, a Twitter photo booth, and a collaborative mural installed by ArtIsMobilus.
Until then, share your ideas and comment on others here or on Twitter using the hashtag #safer6th. Through a new integrated platform between Neighborland and Twitter, your tweets will display on the Question page. Any tweets that start with “I want …” and contain the hashtag will auto-magically become ideas on the Question page.
Come join and take part in creating action on the ground!”
“Embarcadero Substation. Built in 1973, this monochromatic, cast-concrete building on Folsom Street features slightly exposed aggregate that is not detectible to the human eye from across the wide street. Discoloration from smog helps accentuate its subtle curves and makes the building read as even more massive and brawny.”
Click to expand
Oh, what’s that, PG&E? You’re not the worst large utility in America? Oh yes you are.
Oh, what’s that, PG&E? At least this monolith hasn’t killed eight people through your gross incompetence? Well, I’ll give you that.
Oh, what’s that, PG&E? You want to charge what to the ratepayers instead of your shareholders? Oh, everything?
Well, sure, why not? Let’s give all our money to PG&E else they’ll kill even more people.
So, I’m struggling to understand how the City Family’s all-knowing, all-seeing Dear Leader Ed Lee, whose primary qualification for getting appointed appears to have been pleasing Willie Brown whether Willie Brown was doing something good or Willie Brown was doing something bad, is so obviously steering us in the right direction.
Will Twitter (the so-called “Mid-Market phenomenon”) ever employ 6000 souls in San Francisco? Hells no. So why do we base our planning around that prediction?
That’s the kind of thing I think about these days.
All right, enjoy your brekky at the Hilton, everybody, while I wonder who writes stuff like this:
“Cranes are in the air, office and residential towers are rising and San Francisco’s real estate market is red hot!”
“Join us for your tour of San Francisco’s future!”
Ooh, I have one too. It goes like:
“Let’s take the Golden State Warriors away from pathetic Oakland – It’s like stealing candy from a baby!”
Oh, and this:
“Let’s not talk about the failed America’s Cup anymore! At least not today.”
All right, back to “reality.” Here’s the invite. Enjoy:
This annual event takes a sweeping look at developments transforming San Francisco’s landscape, and the vision for the future. Our all-star lineup of real estate and community leaders will share inside information on the pipeline of projects: the Mid-Market phenomenon; sports team-led developments; Moscone Center expansion; key waterfront developments; what’s ahead for Mission Bay, and San Francisco is rapidly becoming the innovation capital of the world. Join us for your tour of San Francisco’s future!
Speakers:
*Mayor Ed Lee, City of San Francisco
*Rick Welts, President & COO, Golden State Warriors
*Carl Shannon, Managing Director, Regional Director – Northern California, Tishman Speyer
*Joe D’Alessandro, President & CEO, San Francisco Travel
Partnering Associations: BOMA San Francisco; SPUR; ULI San Francisco
When:
Friday, September 14, 2012, 7:30am-10:00am
Where:
Hilton San Francisco Union Square – Grand Ballroom B
333 O’Farrell Street
San Francisco, CA 94102″
[UPDATE: Oblvious, as expected. Who's the cheerleader now?
Presidio of San Francisco (August 14, 2012) — President Barack Obama has named two prominent Bay Area leaders — Paula R. Collins and Alex Mehran — to the Presidio Trust Board of Directors. The White House also re-appointed Nancy Bechtle as board chair. Ms. Collins and Mr. Mehran are replacing outgoing board members J. Michael Shepherd and Bill Wilson.
Paula R. Collins is the chief executive officer of WDG Ventures, Inc., a real estate development company in Northern California, and president of Portfolio Real Estate Consulting.
Part of the original project development team for the Moscone Convention Center, Ms. Collins is a founder and director of Presidio Bank in San Francisco, a member of the national board of the Automobile Association of America and has served as an appointee to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Visiting Committee for the Department of Urban Studies and Planning. In addition, she is co-chair of the Board of Directors for the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, a member of the board of the Special Olympics for Northern California and has served on the Board of Directors of the BRIDGE Housing Corporation. Ms. Collins has been awarded the prestigious Silver Spur Award by the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research organization, in honor of her dedication to improving the quality of life and economic health of San Francisco; and has been honored by the National Coalition of 100 Black Women and the San Francisco Business Times. She graduated cum laude in urban studies from Mt. Holyoke College in Massachusetts and received her master’s degree in city planning from MIT. Ms. Collins replaces Mr. Shepherd on the board.
A Bay Area native, Alex Mehran is the president and chief executive officer of Sunset Development Company, a San Ramon based real estate development, investment, construction and management company founded by his father almost 60 years ago.
Mr. Mehran is chair of the Contra Costa Economic Partnership, a trustee of the San Francisco Ballet and a member of the University of California, San Francisco Chancellor’s Associates. In addition, he is a past chairman and current executive committee member of the Bay Area Council and is a former trustee of the Urban Land Institute and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Mr. Mehran received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, where he graduated with honors. He earned a law degree, also with honors, from England’s Cambridge University. Mr. Mehran replaces Mr. Wilson.
“Alex and Paula are joining the board at a very exciting time – the Presidio Trust is now financially self-sufficient and we are seeing the benefits of a decade worth of investments in the park,” said Craig Middleton, Presidio Trust Executive Director. “Alex and Paula will be instrumental in helping us expand the public benefit of the Presidio to the local community and the nation.”
A fourth generation San Franciscan, Nancy Bechtle grew up across the street from the Presidio, and, as a child would scale the base’s walls to play in Julius Kahn Park. Once, she was even kicked out for riding her horse on the base. Appointed to the Trust’s board by President George W. Bush in 2008, Ms. Bechtle was first elected chair in 2009. She is chairman of the board of the Sugar Bowl Corporation, serves on the board of directors for the Charles Schwab Corporation and is a former chief financial officer and director of J.R. Bechtle and Company. A past president and chief executive officer of the San Francisco Symphony, Ms. Bechtle has served on the symphony’s board of governors since 1984 and has also served on the board of the San Francisco Opera Association. In addition she has served on the board of the National Park Foundation, holding the board’s citizen chair from 2005 to 2007. Ms. Bechtle recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco and has received a Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award from the California Arts Council and the Investment in Leadership award from the Coro Foundation, among her many other honors.
“I am pleased to welcome these very talented and accomplished people to the board,” said Nancy Bechtle. “The experience that Paula and Alex bring will be great assets as the Trust expands its public-serving programs while continuing to keep an eye on ensuring the park’s self-sufficiency.”
The Presidio Trust is governed by a seven-member board of directors. Six members are appointed by the President of the United States. The seventh is the U.S. Secretary of the Interior or his designee. An executive director reports to the board and oversees a staff with expertise including environmental science, historic preservation, operations and maintenance, landscape design, planning, resource management, real estate development, public affairs and programs, law, and finance.
Biographies of all Trust board members are available at www.presidio.gov
The Presidio Trust was established by the United States Congress in 1996 to administer the Presidio of San Francisco, an urban national park site that is located at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. The areas overseen by the Trust include expansive open space and spectacular views, a 300-acre historic forest, and rare and endangered plants and wildlife. The park comprises nearly 6 million square feet of buildings, including 469 historic structures that contribute to the Presidio’s status as a National Historic Landmark District.”
You see, my new moral compass app will crawl through the website of SPUR (San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association) to find out its election endorsements. Then it will advise you to vote the opposite.
And on the recent Prop B. SPUR told you to vote for the RPD.
My moral compass app would have advised you to favor both props. See how that works?
D’Accord? D’Accord.
Hey SPUR! Maybe everything our City Family wants isn’t “good?”
Hey SPUR! Maybe you have nothing at all to do with promoting “Good Government.” Maybe you just like promoting the government we have.
How wrong you are, University of San Francisco bus ad:
Click to expand
All right, what aboot the next election coming up, mmmm. Hey SPUR? Why not let’s fix the mistake our City Family forefathers made with Hetch Hetchy? How does that grab you?
Now, realize, SPUR, I’m not saying that it would be easy or cheap for San Francisco to change things at the Hetchy Hetch, I’m just saying, you know, maybe, at least as a goal for the far off future, maybe we could think about taking a look at what we did to the Yosemite area. Yes, we were able to bully other municipalities a century ago, but was that fair? You know, cause the New York Times and the Sacramento Bee and the LA Times and a bunch of others favor looking into changing things at Hetch Hetchy, right?
So don’t you want to think about this? You know, use your own in-built moral compass?
God damn, SPUR, you don’t have any moral compass at all.
Who the Hell put you in charge of Good Government in the 415?
Oh well.
In closing:
SPUR, you suck!
Anyway, here’s some more on Hetch Hetchy, Dear Reader. Leaving you with this:
“PRESIDIO’S ANNUAL REDMOND KERNAN LECTURE EXPLORES ROLE OF PORT IN SF’S DEVELOPMENT
Presidio of San Francisco (November 15, 2011) — Historian and author Michael Corbett recounts the rarely told story of the Port of San Francisco in the Presidio Trust’s annual Redmond Kernan LectureThursday, November 17 at 7pm at the Golden Gate Club. Admission is free.
Corbett uses historic images to trace the physical development of the port and its central role in San Francisco’s growth and prosperity from the 19th century to World War II. The port’s familiar piers and warehouses, created through monumental works of engineering, are now some of the most desirable urban real estate in the United States. Corbett not only chronicles the heyday of the port as a flourishing hub of shipping and commerce, but places it in a contemporary context as well.
“Before his talk, Corbett will be signing copies of his latest book, Port City: The History and Transformation of the Port of San Francisco, 1848-2010, which was released in February. An independent architectural historian who has been writing about San Francisco since 1973, Corbett has authored several books including Splendid Survivors: San Francisco’s Downtown Architectural Heritage (1979), the influential survey that formed the basis of the downtown plan and remains a standard reference on San Francisco architecture.
The lecture, Fundamental San Francisco: The Creation of the Port and the Development of the City, is the last in the inaugural season of the Presidio Trust’s new series, Contemporary Historians at the Presidio: Voices and Views. The series, which features some of the nation’s pre-eminent historians, explores a wide range of issues, some of which are specific to the Presidio, and others which delve into larger themes in American and world history that help put the Presidio’s extraordinary past into context as a former military post and now an innovative national park.
The Redmond Kernan Lecture is presented annually by the Presidio Trust. It honors the late Redmond Kernan, a former Army officer and long-time Presidio advocate. This year’s lecture, Fundamental San Francisco: The Creation of the Port and the Development of the City, takes place Thursday, November 17 at 7pm at the Golden Gate Club, 135 Fisher Loop in the Presidio, and will be preceded by a book signing at 6:30pm. Admission is free.
The Presidio Trust was established by the United States Congress in 1996 to oversee the Presidio of San Francisco, an urban national park site located at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. The Presidio was established in 1776 by Spain and is the birthplace of San Francisco. In 1846, it became a United States Army post and eventually was the headquarters for the 13 U S Army forts that encircled San Francisco Bay and that today make up the heart of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The Presidio was named a National Historic Landmark District in 1962 and it became a national park site in 1994. Today, more than 8,000 people live and work in the park, setting this park apart from other national park sites.”
“Who won, who lost and how did the ballot measures fare? Guest host Scott Shafer takes a look at results in Bay Area elections including analysis of ranked-choice voting and the political clout of Asian-Americans.
Host: Scott Shafer
Guests:
Corey Cook, assistant professor of politics and director of the Leo McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good at the University of San Francisco
David Lee, executive director of the Chinese American Voters Education Committee (CAVEC)
Willie Brown, former mayor of San Francisco
Corey Marshall, good government policy director for San Francisco Planning and Urban Research
Omar Khalif, parent and co-chair of Families for Neighborhood Schools, which supports Measure H
Steven Hill, designer and supporter of the ranked-choice voting systems in San Francisco and Oakland and author of “10 Steps to Repair American Democracy”
“The November 2011 election promises to be one of the most exciting in recent memory. What will the election results mean for San Francisco, and who will be our next mayor? In one of SPUR’s best-loved traditions, join political analysts Alex Clemens and David Latterman for our post-election recap.”
*”Spur?” I love it. Oh yeah, that’s right. It doesn’t go as far north as it should, or as far south neither. And it’s too deep. Maybe it just doesn’t make sense, as things stand now, except as a political payoff.
Well, here it is, coming up at 10:00 AM on October 27th, 2011:
“Hearing on the recently published 2010-2011 Civil Grand Jury report entitled “Central Subway Too Much Money For Too Little Benefit.”
Leave us review why the Central Subway sucks so much:
It has a pattern of increasing cost estimates.
San Francisco will be responsible for any cost overruns which could be substantial.
The addition of a new subway line will add to an existing operating deficit and could stretch the existing maintenance environment to the breaking point.
There are no plans to address existing problems on the Stockton corridor before project completion.
There is no effective transfer to the Muni Metro and BART systems.
It ignores service to the Financial District.
It ignores current transportation trends
So, the reply from the Central Subway people is that these criticisms are the same old thing. But they’re still valid criticisms, right?
A premature celebration?
Save Muni will be on the scene at City Hall, looks like:
“SaveMuni strongly condemns Mayor Ed Lee’s careless and highly inaccurate response to the Grand Jury’s carefully researched report on the Central Subway
On October 27, the Board of Supervisors Government Audits and Oversight Committee will consider the results of the Grand Jury’s seven month investigation of the Central Subway debacle. SaveMuni will support the well reasoned conclusions of the Grand Jury’s report and provide new information about the Central Subway and its failings.
SaveMuni will also expose and rebut the MTA’s weak response to the Grand Jury report, which consists mainly of vague generalizations intended to defend the status quo at all costs. Because of MTA’s and Mayor’s inadequate responses we will call upon the Board of Supervisors to table the matter until such time as the MTA and Mayor Lee have provided detailed and well thought out responses to each of the Grand Jury’s findings and recommendations.
Government Audits & Oversight Committee
Civil Grand Jury Report: “Central Subway – Too Much Money For Too Little Benefit”
Comes now SPURious establishmentarian Stephen L. Taber to sneer at those who don’t don skirts and wave pom poms for San Francisco’s very own, quasi-federally funded Subway to Nowhere, or Big Dig II if that prior terms offends. Read his words and a brief retort below.
But first, let’s check in with “Auntie Rose” Pak, who looks like she’s celebrating the Central Subway already:
Or, maybe people oppose the corrupt Central Subway because it sucks air, instead of because it’s new? Isn’t that at least a possibility? I think you’re jumping to conclusions, SLT. They call that a dicto simpliciter, don’t they, counselor?
A small band of shortsighted naysayers has emerged with the irrational notion that a subway line would be slower than traffic-choked bus lines and that merely adding more slow buses would solve the problem.
They would let the $1.3 billion in federal and state funding be sent to other cities to solve their transit problems, leaving San Francisco without a similar opportunity to correct our dysfunctional transit system for decades to come.
Uh, does free federal money “solve problems?” Really? Sometimes not. You see, what the Grand Jury is worried about is how dysfunctional the rest of MUNI is now. The Grand Jury, in its wisdom, knows all about the free money from Uncle Sucker, but that doesn’t mean that the Central Subway is good for San Francisco.
These opponents have called this project a “Subway to Nowhere.”
Well, that’s a reference to Sarah Palin’s Bridge to Nowhere, aka the Gravina Island Bridge. Now that particular project had mindless boosters as well, just like the Central Subway has SPUR and corrupt Chinatown “leaders.” And the idea of building a Golden Gate Bridge to an island with 50 people on it was a boondoggle too. So why are you bringing this up, dude?
It is an offense to our Chinese community, whose historic Chinatown, a vibrant and bustling commercial and residential neighborhood, is certainly “somewhere” and clearly warrants rapid transit service.
Uh, I think you mean Chinese-American, right, in the parlance of the day, right? And I think you’re being too touchy there, dude. But all right, how about Big Dig II or Big Dig West? I’m an opponent now and that’s my name for your corruption. Does that offend?
Conspiracy theorists argue that the Central Subway is simply the result of a political deal.
Well now you’re talking. Yes, yes, it’s the result of a political deal. Don’t you know? Let’s let John Diaz of the San Francisco Chronicle take over now: “A vigorous debate about the Central Subway inevitably would lead to a focus on interim Mayor Ed Lee’s relationship with ex-Mayor Willie Brown and Chinatown powerbroker Rose Pak, two chief proponents of the project, and their allies who have enjoyed a slice of the contracts to date.” Am I a conspiracy theorist? I don’t know, not generally, like I think Oswald alone when he killed JFK, for example. As far as the CS is concerned, of course there was a political deal – this is common knowledge about town.
But this claim overlooks the real history. The Central Subway was a key component of the “four corridors plan” developed by a citywide citizen’s committee and approved by the voters as part of Proposition B in 1989.
Doesn’t this 4 Corridor plan go back much farther than that, per the Grand Jury? Are you familiar with the Grand Jury’s recent report? They go on and on about it, FYI. It’s like you haven’t read it, like you haven’t acknowledged it…
Because Muni will retain the No. 30 bus line in order to provide local service, the critics will not have to ride the Central Subway, but can sit on an uncrowded 30-Stockton bus while the bulk of the travelers speed past them underground.
No, don’t you get it, the Central Subway is too much money for too little benefit, right? A few riders will benefit from the CS, but most of the benefit will accrue to the builders and their allies, the Powers That Be. Overall, this subway will be a burden on MUNI. Hey, why don’t we call it Solyndra II?
Stephen L. Taber is chairman of the SPUR Central Subway Task Force, a former SPUR board member and current member of its advisory council. He is a San Francisco native and an attorney at Meyers Nave.
Oh, you’re a San Francisco Native. Well, why didn’t you say so? Now that changes everything. All hail Stephen L. fucking Taber who had the god-damned foresight to be borned in the 415. Withdrawn, forget my reasoned reply.
Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown, San Francisco’s corrupt Chinatown.
Talking Points:
It has a pattern of increasing cost estimates.
San Francisco will be responsible for any cost overruns
which could be substantial.
The addition of a new subway line will add to an existing
operating deficit and could stretch the existing maintenance
environment to the breaking point.
There are no plans to address existing problems on the
Stockton corridor before project completion.
There is no effective transfer to the Muni Metro and
BART systems.
It ignores service to the Financial District.
It ignores current transportation trends
