Or so they say:
“This morning from 10-11 am a large military watercraft will arrive on Ocean Beach. This is part of an exercise and is only a drill.”
“This morning 11am-1pm there will be an exercise w/2 helicopters at Sunset Blvd & Lake Merced Blvd. Noise will be elevated. It’s only a drill”
Looks as if we got our weekly Tuesday Noon Siren Test in early when some of San Francisco’s emergency sirens went off today at 3:45PM to … mark the end of Sunday Streets Chinatown?
Take a look:
“The siren signified the end of Sunday Streets this week in Chinatown. We apologize for any concern.”
So more than just the one siren went off and that was the mistake?
Why should our City Family be horsing around with the emergency sirens in the first place?
So we should call them San Francisco’s Emergency/End of Sunday Streets sirens?
Anyway, it sounded like this:
Here’s an update from Tom Prete of Ocean Beach Bulletin:
“A siren from San Francisco’s Outdoor Public Warning System sounded at about 3:45 p.m. Sunday, but a City Twitter account stated that the siren was activated accidentally.”
And here comes Johnny-come-lately AlertSF.org:
“The sirens were activated citywide inadvertently this afternoon. There is no emergency in San Francisco.
Thank you,
Alert SF”
Here’s the news of the day from our Presidio Trust, or perhaps it was last week’s - I’m kind of slow on the the uptake sometimes:
“PRESIDENT OBAMA TAPS BUSINESS, CIVIC LEADERS FOR PRESIDIO TRUST BOARD – NANCY BECHTLE RE-APPOINTED BOARD’S CHAIR
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.”
Mark your calenders:
Sunday, July 29 at 2 p.m.
Stern Grove, 19th Avenue and
Sloat Boulevard, San Francisco”
How it looked last year:
Get all the deets at Odette’s Ordeal.
All right, see you there!
(Arrive early, like super early, like sometime in the AM – make a day of it why not?)
Casting for the Sunday, July 29 performance at Stern Grove can be found here: http://www.sfballet.org/
“Stern Grove – Sunday, July 29, 2012 – 2:00 PM
SCOTCH SYMPHONY
Choreographer: George Balanchine
Composer: Felix Mendelssohn
Conductor: Martin West
Yuan Yuan Tan, Davit Karapteyan
Nicole Ciapponi
INTERMISSION
SPINAE
Choreographer: Myles Thatcher
Composers: Phil Kline and Mary Ellen Childs
Lacey Escabar, Lauren Parrott, Emma Rubinowitz
Alexander Reneff-Olson, Wei Wang
Jeanette Kakareka, Mimi Tompkins
Aaron Renteria, Devon Carbone, Max Cauthorn
PAUSE
SOLO
Choreographer: Hans van Manen
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Conductor: Martin West
Gennadi Nedvigin, James Sofranko, Hansuke Yamamoto
NUMBER NINE
Choreographer: Christopher Wheeldon
Composer: Michael Torke
Conductor: Martin West
Frances Chung, Pascal Molat
Vanessa Zahorian, Garen Scribner
Sarah Van Patten, Ruben Martin Cintas,
Sasha DeSola, Vitor Luiz
In the event of injury or illness, casting is subject to change”
And don’t forget your kilt…
Courtney Elizabeth in Balanchine’s ‘Scotch Symphony’ – Photo © Erik Tomasson
Gee, what’s wrong with appointed Supervisor Christina Olague, you know, if she can’t even get endorsed by her own Assemblymember?
Anyway, here’s the news of the day:
“Assemblymember Tom Ammiano Endorses John Rizzo for District 5 Supervisor
SAN FRANCISCO — Longtime San Francisco activist and California Assemblymember Tom Ammiano has endorsed John Rizzo for District 5 Supervisor.
Ammiano has served San Francisco for three decades as a teacher, civil rights leader, SF School Board President, Supervisor, and Assembymember. He cited Rizzo’s leadership experience, both with City College and as a Sierra Club leader, as well as his commitment to finding creative and effective solutions to today’s biggest problems.
“In the years I’ve known John Rizzo, he has proven his dedication to public education, a greener San Francisco, and civil rights,” said Ammiano. “He’ll bring the kind of progressive policy solutions we need to City Hall, and has the experience to get them passed.”
“I am honored by Assemblymember Ammiano’s endorsement,” said Rizzo. “We have always shared values on issues such as education and the environment and I’m proud that he supports my bid for Supervisor.”
The endorsement comes at a great time for Rizzo’s campaign, which has been building momentum through an intensive field program that has seen campaigners on the ground in the District every day.
John Rizzo is also endorsed by Senator Leland Yee, Supervisor Eric Mar, the Sierra Club, and other elected officials and community and business leaders.
John Rizzo was twice elected to the Community College Board and is the former chair of the San Francisco Bay Chapter of the Sierra Club. He has a proven track record as an effective leader in government and education, in protecting the environment, parks and Muni, and in bringing jobs to San Francisco. Some of his accomplishments include spearheading adoption of the GoSolarSF program which quadrupled the city’s solar capacity and created hundreds of jobs, and creating a “local hire” initiative at City College, which ensures that San Franciscans are put to work on taxpayer-funded construction projects.
As a 27-year resident of District 5, John raised his daughter through San Francisco public schools and is a dedicated MUNI rider. He is committed to fighting for our neighborhoods, our schools, and our city.
So, add that to this list of Endorsements:
The Sierra Club
Leland Yee, State Senator
Eric Mar, Supervisor
Jake McGoldrick, Former Supervisor
Milton Marks, Trustee, College Board
Natalie Berg, Trustee, College Board
Chris Jackson, Trustee, College Board
Steve Ngo, Trustee, College Board
Mark Sanchez, Former President of the Board of Education
Mary Hernandez, Former President of the Board of Education
Robert Varni, Former Trustee, College Board*
Julio Ramos, Former Trustee, College Board
Dr. Carlota T. Del Portillo, Former Dean, City College Mission Campus
Bob Cheasty, Former Albany Mayor, and Citizens for East Shore Parks.
Andy Katz, East Bay MUD Board of Directors
Larry Fahn, Sierra Club National Board of Directors and Former President
Sanjay Ranshod, Sierra Club National Board of Directors
Michele Perrault, Former President National Sierra Club Board of Directors
Trent Orr, Earth Justice
Former Planning Commissioner Espanola Jackson
Dude, I remember Windows 3.0. And, after that one, I remember Windows 95, 98, 98SE, Me, XP, Vista, and, of course, Seven.
And I’ll tell you, I wasn’t reverse to using any of them.
I even got a Vista box from Dell, even though many people were (and still are) sticking with XP. I didn’t care.
But Windows 8* is a big no-go.
So, say it now, aloud: “I Will Not Buy Windows 8.”
Again: “No Voy a Comprar Windows Ocho.”
Buying Windows 8 is muy prohibidado. (I wrote that it in Spanish because that’s how exotic and not allowed it is.)
Now here’s everything you need to know about W8:
Fear and Loathing and Windows 8 (Or: Why Windows 8 Scares Me — and Should Scare You Too)
Well, maybe that’s a bit too much, but how about these primary conclusions:
1. Windows 8 is not Windows, it’s a new operating system with Windows 7 compatibility tacked onto it.
2. Although Windows 8 looks pretty and is great for tablet-style content consumption, I question its benefits for traditional PC productivity tasks.
3. Big OS transitions like this one traditionally cause users to reconsider their OS decision and potentially switch to something else.
4. Microsoft has worsened the risk that people will migrate away from Windows 8, by disabling some key features of Windows 7, and mishandling the consumer “preview” program.
OK then.
Oh, remember that Farhad Manjoo, that writer who hated the Sunset District so much he just had to move away?
Well, he hates Windows 8 even more than he hates the foggy, foggy Sunset.
OK then.
So here’s what you do, you get a 16 GB, 2TB ZT Systems from the Costco.com (or from Walmart online or something) for like $600. That’ll come with Windows 7 and that’ll last you a good long time. And then you’ll be ready for Windows 8 Plus or Windows 9 or whatever shakes out.
OK then.
*Now maybe they’ll offer W8 (rhymes with wait – get it?) on a phone or a tablet or something what uses a touchscreen and maybe that’ll be OK (depending on the price, of course). But if you want to get something done with a PC, then why not just stick with W7?
The Center for Biological Diversity is crowing about more room being designated for the Western Snowy Plover along the west coast.
San Francisco isn’t getting more space for these critters but they already have as much as they need here now, not that some area dog owners agree with the way things are these days.
Anyway, here are some San Francisco Snowy Plovers and the also the deets of the new agreement with the Feds are below.
(Oh, and remember, as always, plover rhymes with lover.)
A snowy plover on Ocean Beach _not_ being harassed by a dog:
Now, Ocean Beach Dog, ooh, somebody over there got an off-leash ticket from the Feds a looooong time ago. (Can you guess what year by looking at the website design? Sure you can.) Oh well. Well, the Feds don’t like Ocean Beach Dog and people what behave like Ocean Beach Dog. The Feds consider us Whacko City, USA because of outfits like OBD, oh well.
Most dogs don’t bother the boids, of course. Can you see the snowy plover?
But some dogs do harass the birds. (These aren’t actually snowy plovers near Lawton and the Great Highway but the dogs don’t know or care about that.)
(Get those Ocean Beach birds, good boy!)
And here’s the sitch up in Crissy Field:
See the birds, see the unleashed dog?
Is is surprising to you that an unleashed dog could find and chase these plovers? What was surprising to me was to hear that this particular boid flew up from Morro Bay (where it was banded and which is like way south of here) all the way up to the Marina District:
Keep on keeping on, plovers:
“More Than 24,000 Acres of Critical Habitat Protected for Western Snowy Plover
PORTLAND, Ore.— In response to a Center for Biological Diversity lawsuit, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today designated 24,527 acres (38 square miles) of critical habitat to protect the Pacific Coast population of threatened western snowy plovers in Washington, Oregon and California.
“Protecting critical habitat will help this lovely shorebird continue on the path to recovery,” said Tierra Curry, a conservation biologist at the Center. “Species with federally protected habitat are more than twice as likely to be moving toward recovery than species without it, so this puts a big safety net between plovers and extinction.”
Western snowy plovers breed primarily on beaches in southern Washington, Oregon, California and Baja California. Today’s designation includes four critical habitat units in Washington (covering 6,077 acres), nine units in Oregon (covering 2,112 acres) and 47 units in California (covering 16,337 acres).
Snowy plovers were listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in 1993, when the coastal population had dropped to 1,500 birds and plovers no longer bred at nearly two-thirds of their former nesting sites. That Endangered Species Act protection allowed the population to increase to more than 3,600 adults by 2010.
Plovers are recovering but still face many threats, including widespread and frequent disturbance of nesting sites by humans, vehicles and off-leash dogs; crushing by off-road vehicles; global climate change; pesticide use; and habitat loss.
The western snowy plover was first granted 19,474 acres of critical habitat in 1999. In 2005 the Bush administration illegally reduced the critical habitat to 12,145 acres, eliminating protection for thousands of acres scientists believed necessary for the snowy plover’s survival and abandoning key habitat areas crucial for recovery. In 2008 the Center sued over the unlawful reduction of the plover’s habitat protections, leading to a settlement agreement with the Service and today’s revised designation.
Today’s final rule includes the reinstatement of habitat areas identified by government scientists as essential that were improperly withdrawn in 2005; inclusion of some areas not currently occupied by plovers but important for their recovery; and addition of habitats such as back-dune systems in an attempt to offset anticipated effects of sea-level rise caused by climate change.
The western snowy plover is a shy, pocket-sized shorebird that weighs less than two ounces and lives for three years. Plovers forage for worms, insects and crustaceans in wet sand and in kelp that has washed ashore. The word “plover” is thought to come from the Old French”plovier” or “rain bird” because plovers were seen on sandy French beaches during spring rains.
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 375,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.”
Oh, and also remember that San Francisco is for Plovers:
Three Reasons Why You Were Foolish to Have Registered for the Bay to Breakers:
1. Your money goes to Philip Anschutz, the Christian Billionaire – see below.
2. You don’t get a refund even if the Philip Anschutz people decide to cancel the race – you agreed to that in the oppressive agreement you made on the Bay to Breakers website when you signed up: “…all Race entry fees are non-refundable, even if Race is cancelled…” See after the jump for details on that.
3. Most other participants don’t pay, so why should you? Take a look right here, this is early on during the first hour of the 2012 event - how many registrants can you spot?
Click to expand
I’ll tell you, I see just one soul with a “racing” bib. Do you think any of these people cared about getting a “racing” time that shows how long it took them to run the BtoB? Do you think any of them were arrested by the SFPD? Do you think any of them were ejected from the “race” course by “race” organizers? I don’t.
Those were just Three Reasons Why You Were Foolish to Have Registered for the Bay to Breakers.
Sucker!
Often identified as “Christian billionaire Phil Anschutz”,[26] he is a Republican donor who supported George W. Bush‘s administration. He has been an active patron of a number of religious and conservative causes:
The Discovery Institute is a think tank based in Seattle, Washington that also promotes intelligent design and criticizes evolution.[28]
There he is this morning, #21, on the right, already breaking away from the pack halfway through the Golden Gate Park Panhandle on Fell:
Click to expand
Get all the deets on the high-placing runners right here at Fog City Journal from Luke Thomas.
Now I’ll tell you, I didn’t register for the 101st running of the Bay to Breakers, so that means I haven’t signed away my right to ever in my life “attack, embarrass or disparage” San Francisco’s littlest TV news station, KRON-TV.* Therefore, I have the freedom to ask, “What the hell, KRON? You start broadcasting the race at 8:00 AM after all the winners have crossed the finish line?”
Is this the smallest BtoB in recent memory? Seems that way. The past week the Philip Anschutz people couldn’t even give away registrations. Oh well.
LinkedIn won, once again, in the Centipede category:
(The Philip Anschutz people used to call this category “Human Centipede,” with hilarious results.)
Back in the day, there were hundreds of thousands of people out there on Bay to Breakers Day, and no fences, and everything seemed to work out. But in this day, of uptight rich white NIMBYs living in the Western Addition and Hayes Valley and district elections affecting the behavior of San Francisco Supervisors, things are different. OK.
OK fine.
*It’s true. It’s in the waiver you assented to – you can’t ”attack, embarrass or disparage” any Sponsor and KRON’s a Sponsor so there you go.
