[UPDATE: Let’s hope they do a better job at 100 Gough.]
Here’s how not to run a New York-style pizza-by-the-slice place in Hayes Valley:
And another definition of a go getter is “a person who works very hard and who wants very much to succeed.”
Oh well. Go Getters in now Gone Getters…
Seems a long time ago now, but back eight years the spouse of a County Supervisor had this to say:
“To those mother fuckers at the Golden Gate Restaurant Association: FUCK YOU!”
And I thought, what an odd thing to say, but yeah, I can see where that comes from.
(Here’s just one example – this place is a member. Like, it even gets promoted by the GGRA.)
Anyway, the GGRA spends its time doing things like lobbying against simple letter grades for restaurants, ala San Diego. Which is funny, because posting simple letter grades up front has lots of benefits – like it lowers food poisoning incidents at ER’s in the surrounding area and other good stuff like that. Check it:
“A 2003 study by two economists [Yay, Stanfoo!] found that after letter grades were introduced in Los Angeles, there was a 20 percent decline in hospital admissions for food-borne illness.
But the SF Bidness Times, well, the people there must bump into officers of the GGRA all the time. And yet here it is, the SFBT now has a naughty list a mile long.
Here’s part of it – let’s start with the beginning of the alphabet
Arizmendi Bakery
1331 9th Ave.
08/28/2014: Unclean hands or improper use of gloves (Score: 73)
Ouch. If I were Arizmendi, I’d spend more time striving to get a triple digit score and less time working on buying a “parklet” from the City.
And hey, who’s in charge of AT&T these days? Is it Olympian Larry Baer? I think so:
AT&T – Cable Car Bar (Promenade) [146520]
24 Willie Mays Plaza
09/14/14: No hot water or running water (Score: 93)
AT&T – Say Hey Sausage-Room 5319 [145157]
24 Willie Mays Plaza 5.15.01
09/14/14: High-risk food holding temperature (Score: 93)
AT&T Park – Food Cart
24 Willie Mays Plaza
09/14/14: Sewage or wastewater contamination (Score: 93)
AT&T Park – Garden Table Stand
24 Willie Mays Plaza
09/14/14: High-risk food holding temperature (Score: 93)
AT&T PARK – Gotham Kitchen
24 Wilie Mays Plaza
09/14/14: Unclean or unsanitary food contact surfaces (Score: 91)
AT&T PARK – Hearth Table Stand
24 Willie Mays Plaza
09/14/14: High-risk food holding temperature (Score: 93)
And yet, all the scores appear to be similar? I’m sure there’s a reason for that, but I don’t know the reason. (Are some of these violations no biggee? I don’t know. Which violations are important and which are less so? IDK.)
There’s lots I don’t understand about how SFGov does it restaurant health grading. Oh well.
Hey SFGov, can we get simple, effective letter grades posted out front, ala San Diego? Oh no, you just don’t feel like it? Oh what’s that, the GGRA doesn’t want you do it so you won’t?
OK fine.
Via KRON-TV’s Stanley Roberts comes news of this
Here’s the story:
San Francisco Sidewalk Steak – My buddies and I were walking up to the side door to Lucky River Restaurant at 700 Monterey Boulevard in San Francisco for lunch on Friday, November 21, 2014, and we saw this guy tenderizing or trying to break apart frozen meat. Yes, that appears to be frozen, raw meat that he’s slamming on the sidewalk. Maybe it’s what makes their Mongolian beef taste so good? Would you eat here after witnessing this?
And here come the Yelpers with some fresh one-star reviews:
On It Goes…
Check the Yelp.
Well, here’s an upbeat take:
Hotel Tour : Budget Inn San Francisco CA by DieselDucy:
Compare that with Yelp – a very low one-star rating:
“I want to leave, but it’s already 1am and we are both too afraid to leave our locked room. We get 4 hrs or interrupted sleep (the walls are paper thin and the doors have cracks in them), pray that we didn’t get exposed to tuberculosis, hepatitis and/or herpes and book it out of there. Trust me folks, this place isn’t worth the $60. I’ve stayed in $15 hostels while traveling though Europe that were both cleaner and safer than this place.”
And there’s this:
” If you have less than $150 night for a decent place to stay, youre actually safer just camping at golden gate park than any of these SROs…”
And there’s the bedbug allegations, natch.
Choose wisely…
The thing about Bay Area Bike Share is that the bikes aren’t good and they cost a lot of money to rent. This is by design. (Part of it has to do with the govmint not wanting to get static from all those companies what rent normal bikes to tourists.)
Now, are there any BABS stations anywhere near the west si-iiiide of town? No, not even close.
So these people, who made it all the way Way Out West, to the farthest reaches of SF County, what are they thinking? Are they thinking, “Hey, we’re paying $28 an hour for our bikes – let’s hang out and have a picnic?” Nope. They’re thinking, “We’re paying $18 to rent these bikes all day long.”
IDK. I’m sure BABS knows, but they’re not saying. Perhaps they go easy on the tourists and give a partial refund when somebody faces a $100 rental bill.
Or maybe the tourists think, “Oh, I got a bike for the next three days and it will cost just $22 – America, What A Country?”
As seen, later on, on the western reaches of JFK Drive, pushing the old ball and chain back up through the miles it will take to get back to the nearest station:
Poor tourists!
And the workers get paid close to minimum wage? And some out of state company will end up making millions or tens of millions of dollars off of this program? If you approve of BABS, with all its issues, then you’d approve of any possible bike program that could be dreamed up by anybody. I minimize the cost to myself by never ever using it – that way, these people only get my tax money and not any of my after-tax take-home pay.
Why not instead just buy bikes with the same amount of tax money, you know, bikes that are twice as good and ten times cheaper and then simply give them away? I’m srsly.
Oh, you’re happy because more people are riding bikes? Well, walking’s good too, right?
I can understand how this program might benefit a small number of people* on a daily basis, but I don’t think the cost is justified. At all.
This is what I’m talking about:
“Let me start by saying, I had a blast when riding these bikes. We rented 6 bikes and rode them for hours. We were charged $80 per bike, so $160 per credit card as you can only rent 2 bikes per card. They DO NOT explain very clearly that you pay $9 for the day but you have to have it docked every 30 minutes or they charge you more. We called and emailed and explained everything to them (they are used to people complaining about this) they sent us a very mean email telling us that it’s our fault that we didn’t read their deceptive instructions correctly. Then have us 25% back to shut us up. What a Bay Area bike share scam! I give it 1 star as it was a blast of a day but not worth it overall. Will NEVER use again and tell EVERYONE about this horrible experience.”
“Please do yourself a favor and don’t use Bay Area Bike Share. It’s a total rip off. Husband and I paid $68 to ride these heavy, hard to use bikes for 2.5 hours. Also, customer service is a joke. They don’t care one bit, as they are truly scammers. They make it seem like you’re paying $9 for a 24-hour period. NOT TRUE. Completely misleading.”
And here’s a sample from the Yelp posts what got taken down – see if you can get the gist of Yukiko N’s beef against BABS:
“With the help 24 hours , is a place of $9 , to see the credit card debit of after one month and $ 158 in ! Many times , and also contact us by e-mail address , one week Nashinotsubute . When the phone , $ 9 in membership , ridiculous that the use of more than one hour is considered overtime answer ! Absolutely not recommended.”
That’s just a taste. Read on and on to see why the Yelp rating is so so low….
Oh well.
*People who should prolly just buy a bike and learn how to take care of it and then ride it around.
Well, this here’s a scene from Masonic in the 94117:
And I’m thinking, gee, what makes this VW “green?” Its diesel engine? Mmmm…
Anyway, I don’t know if they still advertise cars in the 415 from the 425, but, oh man, check out the Yelp, and the somewhat-hidden Yelp.
And what’s up with “TDI Motors?” What’s its relationship with Green Car Co of Washington State? Is this old wine in new bottles? IDK, but mmmm… And what’s the relationship with Volkswagen? And hey, isn’t TDI a trade name or a trademark or a service mark or something like that, you know, owned by the VW Group, or someplace like that?
IMO:
1. TDI does not equal green.
2. If somebody calls me from out of state to do a car deal in craigslist SFBay territory, I don’t think the conversation is going to last long, JMO.
