The N-Judah Chronicles

I have been riding the N for six years, but the past year has opened my eyes to a whole new aspect of life on public transportation. First, I was pregnant and it seemed like no one wanted to give me a seat. Even at seven months, I would have to politely ask able-bodied twenty-something men if I could sit down. I finally concluded that most people were off in their own worlds or afraid to offend (what if I was just carrying a few extra pounds?).

Once I had my little girl in September, I discovered that most N Judah riders are actually big softies. Some people just smile at the baby. Others like to ask questions about her age and vital statistics (my husband says that the same elderly Chinese woman has asked him multiple times how much the baby weighs). There’s also a group of riders that I think of as the stealth parents. They look like any other commuter, with ear buds and messenger bags, but as I get on at Church and Duboce, I catch them staring at the little one, their eyes misting over. “I have a 3 year old at home,” they confide. “I remember when she was that little.” One hipster-looking dude twisted all the way around in his seat to show me iPhone pictures of his 17-month old. My favorite interaction so far, though, was actually with a Muni worker who doing some sort of quality control work, marking off the time we arrived at each stop. In between his careful notations, he told me about how his baby was all grown up now. From there, he went on to tell me about a piece of land he has back in Oregon, and his plans to retire and build a house there. It was a sweet conversation and a nice moment. Thanks, N Judah!

Debra Solomon lives in the Inner Sunset with her husband and baby girl.

Posted by Debra Solomon at 8:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today the N Judah Chronicles kicks off the first of several "Guest Blogger" posts. Today's entry is the first of a series of photos submitted to the site. (Click on the image for full size version).

Within sight of a homeless woman, Amy, and her dog Fire, and oblivious passers-by, an outbound N-Judah train squeals around the curve from Irving Street into 9th Avenue in the Inner Sunset on March 5, 2009 (Christian Goepel photo).

Guest Blogger/Photographer Christian Goepel is a freelance photographer and San Francisco State journalism student. More of his work appears at journalistcitizen.blogspot.com. He can be contacted at cjgoepel@yahoo.com.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Greetings from National Harbor, MD! If you've ever watched The Wire or Brotherhood on cable, often times a plot point is some big weird "redevelopment" deal near the water. Well, I'm right in the middle of one - an island of expensive hotels and stores across the Potomac from Alexandria. VA. It's so "new" that Google Maps just shows a big wide expanse of dirt and construction sites.

I'll editorialize on that all later. For now, I'm doing a quick update courtesy of one of the Loyal Readers, Meredith, who is also a Twitter Follower who let me know about a free puppet show on Carl St. by a foreign exchange student from the Czech Republic. She writes:

"So…the final puppet show is this coming Sunday – it’s such a pity I didn’t get this to you sooner. This blue garage is where they are right on Carl. The puppet master, Radek Tuma is from the chez republic, and he’s on a student visa.

He is working on his PHD at the University of Performing Arts in Prague. He is assisted in the theater by Michael Lee Anderson from SF. It’s a really cool event and worth seeing particularly since this coming Sunday is the last performance."

You can see by the picture that it's a rather elaborate setup in a garage on Carl (nearer to UCSF than to Cole St. I believe). Anyway, if you're in the area, you should check it out.

More Guest Bloggers will be posting soon, and we'll also have some wonderful photography that was submitted as well. Thanks to all that are helping and there will be plenty of other opportunities for you, the readers to guest-blog this year!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Next week I'm taking off for a business trip, first to Washington DC, and then to points out and about around the East Coast. Unlike other times when I've been out of town, this time around I won't be able to blog much from afar - heck I won't even be able to blog about DC's Metro system since the convention I'm going to is in some weird suburb of DC I've never heard of (they might as well have had it on the Moon, it's that remote).

Anyway, although I may be able to post a twitter here or there, I'd rather the site not go dark for a week and a half. While I'm sure I can get Mason Powell to post something here and there, he's a busy guy too. So, after consulting The Internet, I decided to open up a couple of "guest blogger" positions here to help keep an eye on all things N-Judah and MUNI related while I'm out of town.

The requirements are simple - post an observation made whilst on your daily commute, or a short commentary on the latest in MUNI related news, or pictures you might want to share with the Loyal Readers. I can't pay you millions of dollars in salary, but I can offer a free beer/coffee/whatever when I get back.

To inquire, simply send an email to me with the subject line "guest blogger." Briefly explain what you like about the site, what you might write about (or take pics of) and I'll get back to you (it helps a little if you're familiar with MovableType 4.01 but not required). I'm looking for a few folks who can take turns posting once a day (more if there's a MUNI FailWhale). The house rules here are simple: be nice, don't make up stuff, be funny in the "funny ha ha" not "funny omigod" way), and have fun!

I'll be able to approve posts and make edits from afar, and may even chime in via The Twitter depending on whether I get a break from the day job's duties.

I'll pick 2 or 3 folks - and not to worry, if you don't get picked this time, it doesn't mean I hate you or anything - it looks like I'll be taking a few more business trips this year, so there will be plenty of opportunities to guest blog.

Thanks for your support, and thanks for reading the N Judah Chronicles!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Thanks to Google News Alerts, I found out (belatedly) that today is Bus Driver Appreciation Day. I don't know if this is just a Seattle thing or what, but what the heck? We always complain about the bad ones - let's be nice to the really awesome ones today and remind them that good work is appreciated!

Also, in the news this morning, it seems Supervisors Dufty and Chiu are expressing the same kind of outrage I did a while back about the looting of MUNI by Mayor Newsom and city departments. (That post remains in the top 10 most popular posts on the site, oddly enough.)

It's worse than we thought - all that Prop. A money that was to be dedicated to MUNI only is essentially being illegally looted by the Mayor and city departments. Voters were clear they wanted to dedicate funding to MUNI to improve service - not pay out big salaries to the army of executives Gavin has hired since becoming Mayor.

Just remember, the next time Gavin twitters or facebooks at you about how allegedly "green" he is, it's his fault that MUNI's getting screwed over, and he clearly doesn't care. At least David Chiu actually rides and relies on MUNI like we do. But then again you can't take MUNI to Los Angeles or Tracy.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Word over The Twitter indicates a pretty major crash between a T-Third Line train and a Really Big Truck. Intial reports are that the truck was making an illegal turn which caused the crash.

CBS5 has some helicopter footage of the incident.
, and I'm sure we'll here more as various news outlets get on the case. In the meantime, plan your commute accordingly!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 4:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So by now you may or may not have read about all that wonderful federal "stimulus" money that's coming to MUNI. It's good news, and they're going to fund some much-needed repairs and (gasp!) ticket machines to collect money better. Yay!

Which is all fine and good, but despite the feds dropping almost 70,000,00 into MUNI, it does nothing to remedy the fact that MUNI's year-to-year funding is pretty much devastated by the State of California, after Governor "Green Arnie" and Green Legislature gutted all transit funding. Nor does it stop "Green Gavin's" authorized looting of MUNI by city departments either.

So tomorrow, on St. Patrick's Day, the MTA will be meeting to confront the budget armageddon, and try and come up with ways to fill the budget holes. Tom Prete did a great job on his site posting a piece on a proposal to tack on extra fares for express buses as well as a copy of the MTA 2010 budget proposal and related links.

There's no denying that all government agencies are going to be experiencing troubled times right now, as their revenues are pegged to sources that fluctuate wildly based on how the economy is doing. That said, politicians have been looting transit for many years now to avoid making tough choices, both locally and at the state level, and the cumulative effect of that, on top of today's tough times, makes for a MUNI that's going to raise prices and cut back service - pay more, and get less, basically. This at a time when more people than ever want to use mass transit. Ugh.

So remember all of this when you see Green Gavin or Green Arnie running around talking Big Ideas about the environment, and remember that when it mattered, both would rather wreck MUNI and mass transit than do anything to save it.

For you and I , who rely on MUNI to get around, I'm afraid that poor service is going to become the norm, not the exception, and that MUNI failwhales are going to be in season shortly. It's unfortunate, but until someone presses the "reset" button on state and local government to run better, this is our lot and we're going to have to learn to live with it. Sucks, but it's not like we have a Mayor or other elected officials who seem to want to lead on these issues.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

After yesterday's drama, I thought it'd be good to do a Fun Friday post, and hopefully push away any bad luck associated with "Friday the 13th." So first, a joke from Mason Powell, who, upon hearing the news that Roche will be purchasing Genentech, asked "Does this mean the Genenbus will be renamed the Roche Coach?"

Thank you! We'll be here all week!

And now for some events...as you all know, St. Patrick's Day is next week, which means that it's really St. Patrick's Next-Few-Days as we have tonight, the big St. Patrick's Day Parade tomorrow, and then Sunday, and Monday and...well you get the idea.

But tomorrow is not just the big parade....the famous Brides of March will be convening at the Tunnel Top at 2:30 tomorrow for their annual day out and about. You may recall we ran into them last year, along with St. Patrick's Day fans, zombies and Flickr people about a year ago at this time.

Locally, we have a few events worth noting. The always fun Inner Sunset Facebook Group, which has been holding some fun meetups locally, is going to be doing a walking tour of the neighborhood. Go to their Facebook event page, and RSVP for what looks to be an interesting tour of our neighborhood.

Also, Java Beach cafe will be hosting a family-friendly "Green Fest Block Party" in conjunction with the United Irish Cultural Center from 11am-4pm over by their new coffee shop at 2650 Sloat (at 45th). I always like Java Beach at the end of the N Judah line (where I've met many characters including this little bird), and now, they have another location at the end of the L-Taraval line.

I've also been reminded that tomorrow is Pi Day, where people celebrate that little number from geometry class. Go to the Exploratorium's site for a list of activities, and note where you are at 1:59pm tomorrow (get it? 3/14 1:59...)

Also starting up today is the annual SF Asian American Film Festival which always has some really interesting films to check out. I will be making sure to check out You Don't Know Jack, a short documentary about comic actor Jack Soo made by...Public Defender Jeff Adachi. Yes, that Jeff Adachi, who's been making some waves at City Hall because he, unlike some elected officials, seems to take his job seriously, and actually shows up to do it.

This is Mr. Adachi's second documentary - he made one a few years ago about Asian American male actors. It seems we have a Renaissance Man in the PD's office after all! Go Jeff!

Finally, for my fellow nerds out there, while you're watching the first piece of the very last episode of Battlestar Galactica tonight, why not check out this upcoming film series at the SFMOMA of dystopian futures from the past? I forgot to post this earlier, so they already had Logan's Run on last night. But more are coming along so make some plans. (Yes I know that these technically aren't happening this exact weekend, but I wanted to post a link ASAP).

That's all! Remember, if you have an event you'd like to tell others about, feel free to email me or send me a message on The Twitter (@njudah) and I'll try and include it in a future post!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Thanks to Twitter, I've been getting reports of a pretty major MUNI Metro FAIL in progress...@agentnano retweeted a report from @jonsnyder about a stuck N Judah train about 30 minutes ago. Loyal reader @rowenoftc also posted this twitpic of the failwhale bus as well.

So far, there's been nothing throughout this interruption on the official MUNI "TroubleAlert" as yet, and no news aside from what the Twitteratti are reporting. If you're out there and see something, either today, or any day, that might be worth re-tweeting, find me on Twitter at @njudah !

UPDATE: The TroubleAlert just chimed in with some basic info...just expect a lot of delays today. Eric from Transbay Blog just twittered a delay he encountered as well.

Hey, if you're stuck on MUNI and have Twitter, why not twitter your tale of woe, and then direct message one to @gavinnewsom too? Maybe he can help?

UPDATE 2: The SF Appeal did some follow up to the drama that's worth checking out.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 2:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

While nothing appeared on MUNI's official "TroubleAlert" RSS feed just yet, a Loyal Reader Twittered this first-hand account of some rather odd delays about 30 minutes ago...if you've got a first hand account, @ me a message on Twitter.

I managed to avoid said ruckus because I'm lucky enough to be working at home this morning, but unlucky in that I have to take more time off of work to go apartment hunting in the Sunset. As always, there's a small reward for anyone who connects me successfully with a new apartment in the Inner Sunset...email me if you know of an opening out there!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you've not already checked out the SF Appeal, San Francisco's newest online news source, you really should. It's a great new resource for local news, and I'm really rooting for them in these turbulent times for local news. They just started up last week, and already have some interesting news worth reading.

The Central Subway - a project that's been beset with problems since it was conceived - is experiencing some rather dramatic cost overruns as the contract to manage the project has ballooned. And oddly enough this outsourced project is going to a former MUNI boss. Hmm.

The Central Subway project continues to roll along, despite its many problems, because the MTA is accepting federal money for the project, and once a project starts to go through the federal process, you can't change it without returning the money (which hasn't been completely secured, by the way).

As it stands, the Central Subway will continue to consume more and more resources, and eventually cripple the MUNI Metro system, without really helping anyone. And any talk of it "going to North Beach" is just talk - the chance the Catholic Church and the "build nothing" crowd in that part of town would allow a massive turnound bored under the church by Washington Square Park is fairly remote.

There are other ideas to help move people more effectively in Chinatown and downtown (do recall that the Stockton Tunnel was originally built for a streetcar line that served the area), but they're essentially moot since any changes would mean starting from scratch with the federal government - and that's not likely to happen either.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

It's been a hell of a day here. Not only have I been busting backside on the day job, but we've had a little fun on the blog front as well. Let's tell a few stories, shall we?

First, and foremost, I want to praise the amazing driver of the 44 O'Shaughnessy bus today, inbound to California and 6ht. There was a respite in today's rain and I thought I'd take the chance to go grocery shopping as I needed a restock. Anyway, I got on the bus and at Lincoln and 9th, the bus took on passengers and got a red light.

A woman, perhaps in her 60s, got on but got caught in a wind/rain smackdown that ensured getting her umbrella drawn would be a chore. While doing so she seemed to lose a piece of jewelry or something.

Now, the bus driver was awsome enough to help her on board to ensure she did not slip on the wet bus floor. But he noticed she'd dropped something and in an amazing Jedi Bus Driver move, opened the door, ran outside, grabbed the thing she dropped and ran inside and told her she'd lost something.

The look on her face was priceless and I swear, right then and there, this was a Hallmark Frakking Moment. Me, being the slopoke I am, was fumbling for the iPhone to take a pic, but all I got was this, where you can't see Driver McAwesome.

This is the kind of MUNI employee you want to praise. THIS is what "union labor" is supposed to be about - superior workers treated fairly, who respond in kind with, ahem, superior service. Hey, remember those ads about "look for the union label?" Well this is what it was supposed to mean.

So I Twittered this and was feeling good after a quick, smart shopping trip that cut my grocery bill by over 25%. Then I got home and read this foolish little rant from some pissed off TWU member.

I have always invited honest debate and discussion with the various unions within MUNI. Hell, go read my archives for the last 4 frakkin' years to find that out. It's not like overpaid MUNI bureaucrats are making any friend with us, the burdened taxpayers who pay for the system.

So when I read this crapola that told me to "get a damn car" well let's just say the awesomeness I was feeling about MUNI went straight out the window and frankly, if I read tomorrow that someone shipped TWU's leadership to Siberia, I wouldn't be crying. I mean, WTF?

The open hostility and contempt shown to you and I, the citizen/owners of MUNI by an overpaid jerkoff who clearly cares for nothing but lining their own pockets, was appalling. News flash, jerk: if you want to line your pockets without regard for others, go to Wall Street and get a job doing Madoff's gig. Otherwise STFU. I and my brothers and sister citizens who ride MUNI will be happy to back you up, but only if you back us up too. Fair's fair.

Finally, there's ABC7's report regarding that smackdown administered by a MUNI bus driver last month. After watching the camera footage, I think we have a case of a "one half bad" driver.

The driver was entitled to kick some drunk jerk off the bus - this we can agree on. But taking the bait and punching him out was stupid. Yes, driving a bus can suck (Hell I hate driving in San Francisco so much I gave up a car!) and I get that.

But when a pro lets themselves take the bait from some total loser who has nothing to lose is uncool. Like those of us in non-union contract jobs, sometimes you have to let it go, go take a run, go to yoga, have a Guinness or whatever and not let that troll ruin your day.

So, to be clear: Unions are good things. Most of MUNI's workers WANT to do a good job. The TWU has to stop backing up jerks who hate us, hate those who actually pay their salaries and need to learn the concept of "solidarity" with us, the many, who pay the bills and ride the bus and just want it to work.

Kicking us in the face does nothing but make us hate those who make the system run every day. It is time to end the choose-up-sider baloney and start thinking about how we're going to save our system and our City in the face of budget wackiness that's off the chain.

That is all.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 7:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Quick post on a busy, rainy Monday: you can save $4 off our N Judah apparel today and tomorrow just by using this promotional code provided by Zazzle ( PATTYSHIRT09 ) . If you're thinking about buying one, now is a good time to get one before something happens that might keep these away in the future.

create custom t-shirts at Zazzle

Also, I mildly critiqued a certain Supervisor known for spending taxpayer time yelling at blog commenters and such. I realize now I shouldn't have as I fully expect to get screamed at for my mild critique, but I've dodged this particular politician's tirades before. It's just unfortunate that mild suggestions for finding common ground get ripped on. Ah well.

In the meantime, be extra careful as rainy weather and wet streets mean extra caution needs to be taken boarding on or off MUNI, and when crossing the street. Cars don't always realize that stop times change when the roads are slick. Be safe and have a groovy Monday.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)