The last bohemian friendly valet operation in North Beach was unceremoniously shut down last week to make way for a more “professional” though troubled company that insists on time cards, good grooming and smart uniforms.
Lorenzo Petroni, the owner of North Beach Restaurant lost the lease on a nearby parking lot forcing him to sign a contract with the new company, Liberty Park Management, which has access to a parking garage several blocks from the restaurant.
On March 24, the staff of six valets relinquished the white zone in front of the restaurant at Stockton and Columbus where for 35 years dozens of artists, poets, actors, iconoclasts, free spirits and the confused were able to etch out a living as outrider valets.
San Francisco non-profit tech do-gooders, the Internet Archive, are now providing free Internet services to public housing projects. According to a press release issued by the Archive on Thursday, Valencia Gardens Housing, with 240 units, will be the first building connected at 100 megabits per second. In case megabits means nothing to you, that’s fast. Really fast. Phone companies offer service that connects at around six megabits per second.
The Internet Archive is able to achieve this high speed by connecting the San Francisco municipal fiber optic network, which runs through the public housing developments, to an Archive switching center, which connects to the Internet.
Over the next eight to ten months, the Archive hopes to wire over 2,500 units.-Andy Wright
There’s a whole lot of government happening this week, kids. I know that terms like “special use district” make you turn to the numbing solace of animals on YouTube, but hey, that’s what the officials you elected care about (except for the urban hipsters among you – we both know you didn’t vote). So here’s my proposal: SF Government InAction is now a drinking game: any time a zoning term comes up, do a shot.
You might as well: that’s what I do writing it.
Fasten your seat belts and pass the bottle, because it’s a good week for a hangover.
Monday, March 31, 1 p.m. – Land Use & Economic Development Committee
Here’s probably the only funny story about zoning you’ll ever hear. A few months ago, Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval proposed banning new “Head Shops” in the Excelsior. He said this would be legal because the city already restricts new liquor stores there. But, as it turns out, the liquor store regulation he was talking about was one of his own proposals that still hadn’t gotten out of committee yet.
I’m calling this “Quantum Zoning Causality” – where future zoning is used to justify present zoning, which is then used to justify the zoning of the future. It’s brilliant: you can’t protest new zoning, because it’s ALREADY BEEN ZONED – you just don’t know it yet.
String theorists might want to take note: both measures justifying each other are on the agenda of the Land Use committee this week. If they collide at high speeds, we might be able to see the way the universe was first zoned just milliseconds after the Big Bang.
WHAT IM SEEING has an interesting interview with local skater, author, and Chronicle contributor Travis Jensen, formerly known as The SF Masher. The best part is Jensen's memories of trying to find an apartment in S.F. in 1997:
"The City had less than 1% vacancy at the time, so finding an affordable place to live was literally next to impossible. I stayed in a couple shady crack, heroin and flea infested hotels and couch and floor surfed for almost a year before securing a sectioned off hallway space in a rundown flat in Lower Haight. It was like living in freakin’ coffin. For real, the walls were so narrow that my hand-me-down futon mattress folded up on both sides resembling a taco shell. I couldn’t have been happier at the time. I was just stoked to have a space to finally call my own. I ended up living in that hallway for almost two years before I finally scored my own bedroom. Times were rough. I have definitely paid some dues to live here."
Listen to today's Democracy Now! coverage of Cesar Chavez Day, including a clip of Chavez speaking at San Francisco's own Commenwealth Club.(pic from Cesar Chavez Student Center, SFSU)-Andy Wright
Male birth control is no longer limited to vasectomies and condoms, according to an article in the Washington Post. Dudes can now go on a version of the pill that couples progestin, which is found in female birth control pills, and testosterone. An international consortium of physicians have declared the efficacy of the male pill on par with getting a vasectomy. The Male Contraception Information Project (MCIP), which is - surprise!- based out of sex positive SF, says that the argument that men "aren’t willing to participate is clearly out of date." So if the pill exists and men want to take it, when will it be available? Three years. Or never. Until pharmaceutical companies see proof that male birth control pills have the potential to rake in the big bucks, they have no incentive to produce them. No worries, though, guys. Hop over to the MCIP Web site where you can read about methods that utilize electrical shocks and rubber bands!-Andy Wright
The New York Times had an article in Sunday's Fashion and Style section that described the trend of hipsters in the Bay Area moving to new digs in New York and vice versa. It starts out with the story of Eve Levine, a 34-year-old Bay Area defector who runs the lamentably named workshop 'Homebuying for Hipsters' and it just gets better from there. Apparently, "there is a young, earnest population that is beating a path between artsy, gentrifying neighborhoods in Brooklyn and their counterparts in the Bay Area, especially East Oakland and the area south of Market Street in San Francisco, or SoMa." Some dude named Richard Florida wrote a book called The Rise of the Creative Class which ranks San Francisco number one on what he's dubbed the "creativity index." New York ranked a lowly number nine. But that hasn't kept the kids from flitting from coast to coast. (click 'more')
Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross wrote in their Sunday installment about the most recent developments in the Olympic torch debacle. Apparently Supervisor Tom Ammiano thinks Newsom is going to be forced to make a choice between heeding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's counsel that he speak out against China's dismal human rights record or following the advice of Senator Dianne Feinstein who is arguing in favor of discretion. And here's the terms in which Ammiano has decided to describe the debate:
"Gavin's situation kind of reminds me of that kids book, 'Heather Has Two Mommies,'…Only in this case, the moms are Nancy Pelosi and Dianne Feinstein - and they're pulling him in two different directions.What's a boy to do?"
What better way to discredit female politicians and their opinions than to compare them to carping, finger wagging mommies? Women in power. They're so controlling and they just love to infantalize their male counterparts. And what better way to kick sand in Newsom's eyes then to reduce him to a little boy that gets picked on by the girls? Hillary Clinton tears up and she's a weak, wussy, ineffective leader. Feinstein and Pelosi dare to offer their opinions to the mayor and they're overbearing "moms" who "pull" at their charge. What's a girl to do? -Andy Wright
Three men were shot dead between the time of 2 am and 2:30 am Saturday. From the Chronicle article:
San Francisco resident Derek Butch, 23, and Daly City resident Jason de la Cruz, 31, were fatally shot just before 2:30 a.m. at 19th and Irving streets in the Sunset District, according to San Francisco police.Police said that both men were pronounced dead at the scene…Police responded to reports of a shooting just before 2 a.m. at Excelsior Avenue and Athens Street. One man was pronounced dead at the scene and a second was taken to San Francisco General Hospital in critical condition, according to police.The names of those two victims have not yet been released by the police.
The weekend also saw one fatal shooting in Oakland and one in front of a Richmond church.-Andy Wright
Every week this baseball season, the SF Weekly news blog 'The Snitch' features 'Blue in the Bay,' a series featuring thoughts on the Giants/Dodgers rivalry, from the perspective of SF Weekly contributor and Dodgers fan, Oscar Pascual. For your hating pleasure, let's begin with the season preview. -- Oscar Pascual
I hope that image got your attention, because I've got something to say to all Giants fans. You know that little Dodgers/Giants rivalry that's been burning up your hateful soul all your life? Well, it doesn't exist. That's right, I said that petty grudge you've devoted your entire existence towards isn't worth all your Halloween Orange apparel combined.
I know what you're thinking -- "Stupid Dodgers fan, what sort of nonsense is this?" I used to hate the Giants, but then I heard baseball guru Peter Gammons say that your San Francisco Giants are only concerned with beating the Dodgers, whereas the Dodgers are only concerned with winning championships. And that's what the Blue Crew intend to accomplish this year.
Craigslistblog posted this item about an Oregon man today:
Patrick Lee Ryan, 33, faces charges of buying or selling a child, disorderly conduct and committing a computer crime. He is being held on $35,000 bail.The Craigslist ad appeared on the Web site on Monday and someone contacted police to report it.The ad was an offer to sell a baby for $1,000 and the message said the person needed the money because they were out of ‘tweak.’
The only thing is, the baby wasn't real. Police now believe the ad was a fake. But they can't just chalk it up to a dumb joke, because in Oregon it's a felony to advertise a baby for sale. Actually, that is pretty funny.-Andy Wright
Yesterday Google added a dozen new cities to their Street View feature, including Anchorage, Tampa and Nashville. They also expanded their street views of several other cities, including San Francisco. "Now you can visit the majestic Redwoods" boasts their blog. I have used Street View for another purpose. I present to you my all time favorite taqueria mural: a mean chili pepper with a gun chasing after a nerdy taco at the intersection of 24 St. and Mission. –Andy Wright
Bush handed out a round of presidential pardons on March 24 and, perhaps not surprisingly, a number of them were drug dealers. Five to be exact, according to the blog Legal Trade. One was distributing a mysteriously unnamed "controlled substance", one was selling pot, one was importing heroin, one was selling crack, and one over-achiever was in possession of both cocaine and marijuana. Do you think Bush offered to let these dudes crash on his couch for a couple days after he freed them? My favorite pardon went to a pair of criminals, Jerry and Thomas Moldenhauer of Colorado Springs, who were convicted of "knowingly selling migratory bird parts." Ew. –Andy Wright
San Jose Police are warning women to be careful of a group of purse snatchers they've dubbed with the catchy name "The Rippers", according to an ABC 7 report. (Perhaps this is in honor of famous fictional Bay Area resident, Jesse Katsopolis and his band, Jesse and the Rippers?) The robbers appear to target solitary Asian women. Why?
Police believe the suspects are targeting Asian women because they tend to carry cash.
Uh, really? Even if this is the kind of broad generalization that the robbers beleive, it seems a tad odd that police would validate it if only for the fact that would-be criminals might be taking notes.–Andy Wright
Over at Maximum Strength Mick, the always-entertaining Chron movie scribe Mick LaSalle asks his readers "What Is the Smartest Thing You Ever Did?"
Comments are hilarious and plentiful -- even (gasp!) a little thoughtful. Plus, you get a good 50 comments deep before the proceedings spin wildly into self-consuming rants, as threads of this sort always do.
These are almost touching, for comment board fodder:
"I learned the value of not defending against lies while in a custody case, hoping to gain reasonable visitation rights to my youngest child. Although my attorney disproved all the false charges with hard proof, I didn't have to play that game. While under cross-examination, I never took the bait when opposing counsel tried to get me to say that I thought the mother of my child was inadequate. I said only positive things. The judge rewarded my self-possession by granting me more time with my daughter than I had asked for. And I left behind a court record that my daughter can read as an adult and not think the worst of her father."
"Ended a relationship with someone i was hopelessly in love with."
"The smartest thing I ever did was getting clean and sober in 1992, and accepting Jesus Christ as my Saviour and committing to following Him. Made all the difference in a ruined life."
An Oakland pot candy maker has plead guilty to conspiring to manufacture and distribute marijuana, according to an article in today's Chronicle. The article dwells on the high-larious names of the goods offered by confectionist Michael Martin that play off the monikers of poplar sweets:
Buddafinga
Mr.Greenbud
Stoners
The article then goes on to talk about the 2006 raid on a similar enterprise called Beyond Bombs. Their offerings? (click 'more')
An article in today's Chronicle reports that 71-year-old Rodolfo Carson was beaten to death Thursday on Mission St., just east of Mary St., in the SoMa neighborhood.
"A security guard witnessed the beating, shouted at the attacker from across the street and then called police.The guard said the assailant had beaten Carreon and gone through his pockets before running west toward Sixth Street."
No arrests have been made. A homeless woman was beaten to death outside a Soma nightclub earlier this month.-Andy Wright
Today marks the anniversary of Juan Bautista de Anza's "discovery" of the Presidio. The former army headquarters have gone through several changes and is due for a few more. If you are unlucky enough to belong to one of the bowling leagues that meets at Presidio Bowl, you know you have about a year left to enjoy the out-of-the-way venue. Because in 2009, billionaire Don Fisher, founder of the GAP, is going to put a big white box where the bowling alley used to be. Fisher's plans to build a museum to warehouse his art collection were approved in January and the design, by architect Richard Gluckman, kind of looks like a big refrigerator. It's been a source of controversy ever since, and in an article that ran last week in the Chronicle, Gluckman admits that "People complain the building looks cold and white and stark. In those images, it does." He will unveil brand new plans next month. There are a lot of complaints surrounding the approval of the museum, not the least of which is the corporatization of the Presidio. The museum will sit only a parking lot away from the new Disney offices. But the biggest loss to the city will be the Presidio Bowl. Presdio Bowl makes up exactly half of all the city's bowling alleys. (click 'more')
The city of San Francisco pays over 8,000 employees over $100,000 and the Chronicle has a helpful database set up to let you figure out who they are. At the very top, with $350,324 is Christian Kitchin, a Special Nurse with the DPH-Community Health Network. Kitchin is a county jail nurse and his base pay is $117,262. He made $216,277 in overtime and $16,785 in "other pay", which is classified as "compensation for special working conditions or one-time pay-outs of unused vacation and sick leave to employees leaving the city." Next in line is Nathaniel Ford, General Manager of Muni, who makes $325,452 (no overtime, but he scored $27,453 in "other pay".) Third place goes to David Kushner, Department Director for Investments of the SF Employee's Retirement System, who makes an even $289,479, no overtime, no other pay. Three SFPD employees occupy the seventh, eighth and ninth slots, all of whom nearly double their $100,000+ salaries with overtime pay. Supervisor Aaron Peskin will introduce an ordinance on Tuesday asking that the city eliminate staff positions whose base salaries are $150,000 or higher- but that only takes into account salaries, not overtime and fringe benefits. Our city's deficit stands at $338 million. According to an article in yesterday's Chronicle, the city paid more than 1,317 employees more than $150,000 in overtime in 2007. -Andy Wright
So slap on something stupid (the stupider the better) and get your ass down to Justin Herman Plaza at noon for all kinds of stupid activities and more stupidity than any self-respecting human being should ever have to confront. For a taste of the coming stupidity, check out Scott Beale's pics from last year's parade. (via Laughing Squid)
Comcast has been in hot water recently with fans of BitTorrent, the popular file sharing site. Ever since it was revealed that the Internet provider disrupts BitTorrent downloads in the interests of freeing up bandwidth, subscribers who like their free files have been fuming. But the fight may have been resolved. According to an article on TorrentFreak today, Comcast will team up with BitTorrent:
It now seems that Comcast saw the light, and wants to invest in more Internet gateway capacity after all. BitTorrent Inc. announced today that it will work together with the ISP to optimize their software, so that it puts less stress on the network.
There’s no such luck for "heavy users" of bandwidth, though. Comcast will still decide when you’ve had enough and limit your usage accordingly. -Andy Wright
San Francisco Art Institute's current exhibition, Adel Abdessemed's "Don't Trust Me" -- originally slated to run through May 31 -- has been yanked in its entirety after an uproar over video depictions of animal cruelty in the show. The Examiner reported earlier this week that the Institute was holding fast and planned to keep the show running, but apparently they've changed their tune.
The offending bits (see video still above) include clips of six animals, among them a sheep, ox, pig, goat, and (aww!) doe being bludgeoned to death with a sledgehammer. More after the jump ...
The LA Times ran a story on March 17 implicating Sean Combs, aka P Diddy, aka Puff Daddy, in a 1994 assualt on Tupac Shakur. The Times was like, "Our bad," after confirming that the documents used to support the article were not so much true as totally fake, according to an article in today's Guardian UK. And probably forged by the prison inmate with a "history of exaggerating his place in the rap music world" who supplied them. The documents in question were supposed to originate from the FBI, but muckraking Web site, the Smoking Gun, pointed out that they were typed on a type writer instead of a computer and had sections blacked out. Also, they were helpfully illustrated with crayon drawings.(pic from Associated Press)-Andy Wright
RE/Search Publications is hosting the first annual Pranks Film Festival next week at the Roxie Film Center. As you might expect, the three-day celluloid extravaganza is a tribute to the "Art of the Prank" -- and many of the films deal with the courageous/insane muckety-mucks who have the cojones to pull off some truly inspiring/frightening pranks. We're talking Cacophony Society, Billboard Liberation Front and a documentary about the Doggie Diner Dogs -- if you've seen the dogs, you know. Check the schedule for a complete rundown. Purchase advanced tickets. The festival (appropriately) kicks off this Tuesday, April 1. (via Laughing Squid)
A spare tire has already been shown to contribute to an unhealthy heart, but now scientists think it may also contribute to dementia in old age. An article in today’s Wall Street Journal says that a new study has found that people with excessive belly fat have a 3.6 times higher risk of dementia. Rachel Whitmer, a scientist at the research division of Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, tossed out the vague and somewhat ominous declaration that "there is something very potent about collecting fat in your belly" while a leading Alzheimer researcher warned "it is possible the link between belly fat and dementia is better explained by some other factor". So basically, this is just another study that may or may not prove that your beer gut is going to buy you a one way ticket to the grave. Science: always trying to convince you that something, somehow, is going to kill you.-Andy Wright
Our office foodies were so busy drooling over the many fine San Francisco restaurants and chefs nominated for James Beard awards that we forgot to mention something closer to home. Former staff writer Eliza Strickland has been nominated for a James Beard journalism award for her article Burnt Chefs! The piece chronicled the boiling anger felt by many students and graduates of the California Culinary Academy down on Polk Street. Graduates complained to Strickland of admissions reps with grandiose promises and shady tactics, and, following the article's publication, they filed a class action lawsuit against the school.
The Beard winners will be announced in June. Here's a full list of the nominees. -- Snitch Staff Report
California man Bart Loshel Downey committed a prolific number of burglaries, robbing more than 30 homes over the course of 16 months, according to yesterday’s Associated Press article. The man was tried in a San Luis Obispo court and his lawyer requested a 12 year sentence. Judge Ginger Garrett didn’t think 12 years was quite long enough and instead sentenced Downey to serve 927 years. Downey has prior convictions which means that our state’s three strikes law requires him to serve all 927 years consecutively. California spends $8.8 billion a year keeping people in prison and the number is only getting higher. Thanks to an overzealous judge and the absurdity of the three strikes law, we’ll be keeping Downey in bunk beds, jumpsuits and prison food for the rest of life. -Andy Wright
San Francisco produces so many “studies” about itself that it must surely be the most looked-at place on earth. Feasibility studies, development reports, slavery disclosure evaluations, new special use district plans … given the chance to stare at itself in a mirror, San Francisco would rather do it on paper.
These studies cover a dizzying array of subjects and concerns, but they tend to have one thing in common: most of them appear to be written by college sophomores. They make classic English 101 term paper mistakes – and so are fit for little more than sitting on a shelf in a nice glossy binder.
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