The N-Judah Chronicles

I've been especially busy this week with a project, more so than I have in a while (hooray getting gigs as a freelancer) and sadly it means that the blog is a bit neglected, which I don't like. So A) if you want to sign up and be a Guest Blogger, please email me, and B)things should be back to normal soon.

In the meantime, our friends at the Blackthorn Tavern on Irving Street alerted us to their new Twitter account, and to a new special on Thursday Nights: "Industry Night" which features free pool, $1 off all drinks starting at 8pm, and $1 pint margaritas from 9-930pm.

Not a bad deal if you can swing by!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week much of my time is taken up by a rather big project so I can't write endless posts about Muni and the like. However, it's worth it because once this thing is done, I think people will really like it.

In the meantime, here's a picture of a Muni complaint letter I found at The Other Shop on Divisadero, framed.

The piece begs so many questions. Why would someone frame a letter from Muni circa 1982? How did it end up in an antique store?

A while back, we had this gem from the MSR days in the 30s as well. It still cracks me up with the opening "Get This!"

Posted by Greg Dewar at 1:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you want a rather eye-opening experience about the history of transit and traffic in San Francisco, then you should get yourself over to Eric Fisher's Flickr account, and take a look at the wealth of historical documents he's scanned in about proposals going back almost 100 years concerning proposals regarding Muni, BART, etc.

For example, here we see a proposed plan for a subway for Muni that would have traveled downtown, under the existing Sunset Tunnel, and outward towards the Inner Sunset , and end around 19th. Similar plans in the set include a subway station for SFSU, and an underground system for Geary Street. Geary was also supposed to be part of the BART system too, believe it or not.

Imagine if instead of riding an N Judah streetcar that has to fight traffic, double parked cars, and whatnot, taking a subway downtown instead. Sounds nice, doesn't it?

But that's not all. Eric's Flickr account also has freeway and bridge plans too! Imagine a huge freeway gouging the Inner Sunset, and feeding a freeway in Golden Gate Park. Crazy? Not really - plans were drawn up, and if completed would have meant my home would literally be next to an onramp.

I've always said that the history of transit planning and development in San Francisco and the Bay Area is a more accurate reflection of the political, social and economic climate of the times than people realize.

After reading up in history books and archives about our past, it's clear we're very good at coming up with great ideas, but then decide to go with the cheapest, short term plan possible, and leave the fallout for future generations to deal with, usually at great expense.

Anyway, check it out. It's definitely very interesting!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 5:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Stay with me on this one, folks. Trust me, the John Stewart "I'm Literally Speechless After Reading This And Am Putting My Face In My Hands" moment of silence is worth it.

So, it seems that folks in Sacramento are patting each other on the back about how they got some bill passed that would restore gas tax money to transit agencies around the state, including Muni.

Now, recall that the state raid on said gas tax money (which voters said should go 80% to roads and 20% to transit) was ruled totally freakin' illegal by the courts. Stealing is usually against the law.

To put it another way - if someone robs you of your iPhone on Muni they're breaking the law and aren't supposed to do that.

No matter, this isn't the theft of an iPhone, this is theft committed by the state so they get away with it.

Anyway.

So sure, Muni got mugged (as did every road and transit agency in the state). But today's news is no real cause for celebration. You see, they're passing a new law to make the state obey the law it broke, and restore a little bit of the eleventy billion dollars they stole already.

Put another way, a new law was passed to make the thief follow that already existing "thou shall not steak f*cking iPhones on Muni" law, and sure, they're returning your iPhone - only after they broke the glass, f*cked up your iTunes music collection, and loaded it up with lame apps.

Feel free to exclaim WTF if you must, but hold on, it gets better.

The Governor isn't sure he'll sign it into law. Because, being the mugger, he's "not sure" it's a good idea.

Even though the State Supreme Court said to not do so is breaking the law he's sworn to uphold

[Insert Stewart-esque Speechless Face in Hands Moment Here]

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Posted by Greg Dewar at 7:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Talking Muni seems to be en vogue these days. I'm not sure why it is now vs. say, a year ago or more. I have to say, the devolution of the discussion into a mish mosh of misinformation, mistakes, and mayhem has been kind of depressing to watch, and it's why I've been staying away from the computer most of the week.

However, some good folks around the Internet have been getting these things called "actual facts", and said facts are useful if anyone wants to be effective in doing anything of substance. Simply stamping one's feet, and defiantly proclaiming ignorance never got anyone anywhere.

First, Eric of Transbay Blog has two excellent posts analyzing Muni finances. One concerns proposals by SPUR and MTA staff to balance future budgets, and another about the MTA board's inability to do their jobs vis a vis funding a functional transit system.

At a time when politicians are peddling all sorts of faux "Fix Muni Quick" schemes, it's important to know what the facts are.

SF Weekly also had some interesting posts. First, they thoroughly debunk the sheer BS the TWU folks were bellowing out this week when they marched on City Hall. The Weekly (and the Examiner) also report that news that the TWU hired legendary political strategist Eric Jaye were premature (and prove once again TWU leadership doesn't know what it's doing in a rough environment).

Finally, there's a "Save Muni Summit" this Saturday at 9am at the Women's Building located at 3543 18th Street (between Valencia and Guerrero). The event has quiet a few co-sponsors from around the city. And, if you're really depressed (or really energized) by all the Muni talk, you can go to the 500 Club a block away and have a cocktail.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While it may not seem like it to you, the Loyal Reader, I've been spending a lot of time working on some changes to the site. A lot of it is technical BS (like figuring out how to migrate to WordPress from MovableType without nuking my site, commenters and permalinks in the process), and some are content related (more features), and so on. Etc. etc. etc.

A while back I experimented with the idea of having guest bloggers on the site and it seemed rather popular, so I've decided to bring it back.

Not only does it help me keep the site going when I'm busy and can't run to the computer/iPhone to blog and twitter Every Last Thing That's Going On, it's also kind of fun.

Posts can be on a wide variety of topics related, or semi-related to Muni or neighborhood type news. They should appeal to a diverse audience, be well written, etc. I'd also take photos for a guest post as well.

In the past, I've had people sign up to fill a specific Wednesday post, and it seemed to work well. If you're interested, please email me, and let me know what you might be interested in contributing and we'll see if we can work something out. I can't afford to pay people (although I wish I could) but if nothing else, I'll buy you a cocktail/beer/coffee/soft drink at the next N Judah party we have.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)