Caltrans did its job!?!?

​The upper deck of the Bay Bridge is back open this morning, 24 hours ahead of schedule. This is newsworthy if for no other reason than the fact that Caltrans never does anything on time, much less ahead of schedule.

But Caltrans says it was the good weather that motivated the speedy construction work, which was planned to continue through tomorrow morning. The bridge closed Friday night to allow demolition and construction on the new, sleek eastern span, which is scheduled to open next year. At 7 p.m. Sunday, crews began removing the orange cones, and the first cars were passing over the upper deck by 8 p.m.

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It's on the Meter Facebook

"We bloody did it!"

​ You might notice a smashing black taxi cab traversing the streets of San Francisco this week -- but don't even think about trying to hail it. Three Englishmen will be driving Hannah, a 19-year-old British black taxi, through our fair city as part of their journey to make it in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest taxi ride.

 Paul Archer, Johno Ellison, and Leigh Purnell will drive Hannah more than 300,000 miles of open road and "inhospitable terrain," as they pass through Europe, China, Australia, and the United States.

The taxi is scheduled to make its way through San Francisco on Tuesday and Wednesday, although no word on where the taxi might actually stop. The trio only said "like all taxis, it is where you want it to be, at the appointed time."

That's true, unless of course you are in San Francisco.

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Peter, you just might fit right in here in San Francisco

​A few weeks ago we regaled readers with parking drama over in Bernal Heights -- as you might recall, two neighbors were hoping to resolve their parking problems with really passive-aggressive notes. No word on how that saga ended, but here's more parking excitement from the pleasant hamlet of Bernal Heights.

Peter, a random dude from Santa Barbara, got a real taste of San Francisco beyond the regular tourist traps. As Bernalwood notes, the former East Coast resident decided to travel the nation to find which city he might call home next. While road-tripping through California, Peter made the foolish mistake of parking his car in Bernal Heights for a few days while he flew to a wedding in Boston.

Much to Peter's surprise and disgust, he found his car gone -- towed away -- when he returned from his delightful trip from the East Coast.

Based on this horrific parking experience, Peter decided San Francisco wasn't for him. But he sure as hell wasn't going to leave without giving us San Franciscans a piece of his mind.

Here's Peter's note to us, per the Bernalwood Press:

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Readers might recall the disturbing incident earlier this week when a shuttle bus ran over a man as he was crossing the intersection of Eddy and Leavenworth. The victim was stuck under the bus for more than 20 minutes, while paramedics worked to get him out. Fortunately, he is okay, but suffered a lot of broken bones.

This TL security camera filmed the entire incident, which was then released by the KRON 4 news team.
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That's the kind of greeting he gets in San Fran

​Even if you aren't a political person, you should probably care about the presidential campaign today, if for no other reason than it's going to screw up your commute.

That's right, the president is coming to town, and while we don't expect there will be any local pol to greet him with a rude finger-wagging in his face, we do expect some street closures.

According to news outlets, the president and First Lady Michelle Obama will be landing in San Francisco at noon today for a slew of fundraising events, where he's expected to rake in some $3 million. First on his agenda is a press event at the San Francisco Intercontinental Hotel at 2 p.m. Yes, Howard, between Third and Fourth streets, will be closed off for most of the day.

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Follow this guy, and be sure to miss the sobriety checkpoints

​Last week, Twitter users were outraged by the company's new policy to allow censorship country-by-country -- not that this will have any influence in places like China or Iran, where tweeting is entirely blocked.

In any event, the new policy is getting its first real test after Brazil filed a lawsuit against the San Francisco company. The Brazilian government is less than pleased with Twitter for allowing users to tweet locations of upcoming sobriety checkpoints, giving drunk drivers a chance to elude the cops. 

According to Gizmodo, more than 300,000 users are following the Twitter account that posted the locations of the DUI checkpoints as well as locations of police radars, and Brazil says that's essentially promoting drinking and driving.
 
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Get in where you fit in

​For all its greatness, San Francisco certainly brings out the absolute worst in us when it comes to parking. A late Muni train will make you cranky, but a stolen parking spot? Well, that can make the meekest lady go bat-shit crazy.

Which is why when we read of this recent parking fracas in Bernal Heights, we weren't really surprised. Entertained, yes, but not at all shocked that two neighbors were sending each other scathing missives about parking spots.

Here's a closeup of a written point-counterpoint between the dueling neighbors, which was posted to a telephone along Folsom Street near Ripley:More >>

Be careful

​San Mateo County authorities identified 27-year-old David Zaki Hanna as the San Francisco man who was killed in a tragic hit-and-run accident Saturday morning.

Police say Hanna's Toyota Camry hit a soundwall on the right shoulder of the highway at about 4:30 a.m. Saturday. When he got out of the car, he was hit by another vehicle that fled the scene, according to the California Highway Patrol.

"He gets out of the car and moments later, he is struck by a vehicle, and then struck by several more vehicles," said CHP spokesman Tony Tam. "We don't know how many.... We're just looking for people who may have been driving in the area."

North County Fire Authority personnel responded to the scene and located Hanna's body under one of the car that had hit him and stopped at the scene.

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The vehicle of oppression.

​Drivers in San Francisco may rightly suspect they are merely rats in a giant SFMTA experiment designed to make them spit up as much money for parking tickets as possible before breaking down and buying a bike. Meeting went 10 minutes over? Ticket for you, buddy. Caught on camera blowing a red light? Your ticket is in the mail. Didn't turn you wheels toward the curb on an incline? It's all downhill for you.More >>

Don't they teach people how to drive in Sebastopol?

​Police arrested 40-year-old Scott Mitchell on suspicion of driving while intoxicated after he got his SUV stuck in the Muni tunnel just in time for the the morning commute to start.

Officer Albie Esparza couldn't explain why Mitchell drove into the underground tunnel at Church and Duboce, but he noted that he isn't a resident of San Francisco, which means he might not be familiar with the city.

Mitchell, who lives in Sebastopol, drove into the tunnel shortly after 6 a.m. He continued driving down the light-rail tracks for roughly two city blocks before he got to the Van Ness station.
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