The N-Judah Chronicles

Today in Reader Mail, we have two entries. The first is a link sent to me by Reader James, who was one of the original readers of the site since back in the day. He is moving to the East Bay, and wrote this wonderful ode to the Inner Sunset, as he departs after almost 10 years in the area. Ironically, he first lived on 8th, next door to the building I live in now!

Next up, Reader Joel sent in a live update of a scene of bizarro Muni behavoir on Thanksgiving Eve. I would have posted it sooner, but I wanted some time off and try and be as offline as possible for a few days. It still merits posting as it describes a rather ironic situation involving a Muni driver trying to flag down a bus with predictable results.

I think with the impending demolition of Muni (which our "Mayor" had the temerity to brag about as if this was a good thing), we'll be seeing a lot of this. Which makes me wonder how much longer I'll write about it, since this was supposed to be something other than the "let's document how badly our Mayor, MTA Board, legislators, Board of Supervisors, and Muni frakked up our city." Sadly, that's more often the case.

Is it just me or is this is insane?

I caught the 71 outbound tonight at Powell Street at 5:45pm-ish. Headed down Market Street. The bus pulls over at Van Ness and Market (yep, pulled over on the side of the road) and parked. As always, no information from the driver. (This is a bus, not a train. On the trains, you expect to be left totally in the dark about what's going on.... but a bus?)

After sitting there for a few minutes, passengers start yelling "What's going on driver?" The driver then tells us that his replacement didn't show up on time and we have to wait for him. Because there's no relief driver to take over the current driver's shift when he pulled up to Van Ness, we had to wait for him. A bunch of passengers just got off and started walking (you've seen this scene before, I'm sure.) Those of us whose destinations were beyond walking distance just sat there and continued waiting. A bus FULL of people -- trying to get home after work on the evening before Thanksgiving -- just sitting there on the side of the road, waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Are you kidding me?

Then the driver sees another 71 approaching. He announces to us that he's going to flag the oncoming 71 bus down. "Everyone off the bus, I'll have this next bus stop and you can get on it!" He grabs his flashlight and we all hustle off the bus immediately in order to catch the next bus! The driver gets in the street -- Market Street -- and starts flashing (with his light) at the oncoming bus to stop -- because it's not a normal bus stop (remember, we are just pulled off to the curb Northwest side of Market at Vaness. The driver of the other bus sees the driver in the street but refuses to stop -- just keeps on going. [This is my favorite part --> I then yell at our driver "Now how does it feel to flag a Muni bus down and have it ignore you and keep going?" That comment got a lot of laughs from all us passengers standing around our parked bus.]
(emphasis added. - .ed)
Attached are picture of us (passengers) standing around, and our "driver" sitting in his seat.

Is this as good as it gets?

Pathetic, I tell you.

Eesh. Needless to say, this is a time when no one wins. Notice how the fact a bus driver failed to show up for work, for God Knows What Reason, starts a domino effect that harms his fellow driver, harms Muni owners, and escalates, needlessly. I have to say, if we could just get a handle on unscheduled driver Failure To Appears, life would be better for folks. I don't know how we can continue to afford this, and drivers do not earn friend points when they pull this kind of crap, as it makes the whole system look bad.

Remember - you are the owner of Muni, not them, or any of those knuckleheads in office. Until they all realize that, nothing changes.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 11:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Pardon the horn tooting here, but our pub trivia team, "Team Nutella," just took 1st place at the Blackthorn in Brainstormer Pub Trivia's Bay Area trivia league! Needless to say this is kinda fun, and it means we'll be advancing to the finals on December 12th.

What's particularly amazing about our 1st place finish was that our team was never a big one (only 5 people) and on several occaisions, one of us couldn't make it due to other commitments, and yet we still prevailed. One night we had only 3 people make it, and they came in 1st, beating out teams much larger than ours. Most importantly we had a lot of fun, and none of it would have been possible had I not been on a team with so many fun people. Joe, Jenny, Jennifer and Mason are awesome!

During the summer we came in 3rd in the Bay Area at the finals, and I'm hoping we'll do better this time around. However, just because the league is over does not mean trivia is over - you can play Brainstormer trivia at the Blackthorn (which this fall featured barbecues on Mondays!), and at many bars in San Francisco and the Bay Area. Other bars, such as Shotwell's, feature quizzes devised by their own staff, and are also fun.

Besides, where else are you going to find uses for all that algebra and social studies you had back in high school?

Posted by Greg Dewar at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Then by all means, go now, to the N Judah Chronicles store on Zazzle and choose from a wide variety of apparel, mousepads, mugs and more, and get a discount on Black Friday (only) using this code: ZAZZLEFRIDAY .

Use this code to get 30% off mousepads, $4 off all of our many t-shirts, and $3 off of mugs. And a a bonus, buy $35 or more, and you get free shipping!

All of these products are produced on demand right here in the Bay Area, and shipping doesn't take too long to anywhere around here. Besides, if you're doing Secret Santa, picking any of these items allows you to stand out without spending a lot of money using the code.

Enjoy!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 8:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There's a reason I returned to San Francisco after a silly detour elsewhere, and today I was sent a link to Yet Another Reason Why. That would be the video to the Muni Party last week.

Now, I'm sure that the Grampa Simpsons of the world will get their cackle on, clucking tongues at the Youth of America for being loud and obnoxious. To them I say, STFU.

Why? Because this city has long tolerated the expensive "gimme my cookie" tantrum that is Critical Mass, and those folks don't pay a dime for their use of police time and killing Muni on time reliability for their little party. Fake revolutionary actions for the FAIL!

At least these people all frakking paid up. More importantly, isn't it kinda awesome that the owners of Muni would choose to be this enthusiastic about their rail service en route to a party downtown? No one drove, so no drunk drivers, and well, this is the kind of thing we need - more people reclaiming Muni not just as a thing you endure to go to work, but one as we, the owners, use for what we want it to be.

Pictures, because it happened.

(PS, the video is kind loud so turn down those speakers, friends.)

Posted by Greg Dewar at 7:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So today was the Big Day for that Board of Supervisors hearing on Muni Crime. Predictably, mainstream outlets focused primarily on the individual incidents people spoke to in public comment, while Streetsblog put more of a focus on what the SFPD and the MTA were promising, and other outlets provided their take on the proceedings. You can also watch the show at the SFGOV TV website.

Between these, and others, you can get a good idea of what was discussed at the meeting, and you can download the SFPD presentation and read for yourself some rather interesting statistics about the most crime ridden lines and some proposed ways to more effectively deal with Muni safety. Some of it is really interesting!

Now, let's note a couple of things - the Deputy Police Chief who's tasked with things like Muni safety has only been in office about a week so to be fair, he's new (having been appointed by Chief Gascon). Also, reading at least of these solutions fall in to the "No Duh" category. (Really? Putting a real police presence on Muni deters crime? Don't wave around your iPod or iPhone in public? Who told?).

It's at least promising that someone decided to take a look at statistics and determine where best to put police in the pilot program in the Ingleside police station's part of town to better use resources. Although, as a friend of mine pointed out, as more and more SFPD officers no longer live in SF itself, there are fewer off duty officers riding the bus home who used to be able to respond to incidents too. Interesting.

However, we can read all these Big Plans, and we can have the Board of Supervisors use their (limited) role in pressuring the MTA, Muni and the SFPD to do some actual fighting of crime and ensuring of safety, we have to remember how we got here in the first place. Remember, "Mayor" Newsom was looting the MTA budget for the SFPD, and yet somehow crime was going up on Muni, and down citywide.

During that futile fight over the MTA budget, when it was revealed how much money was going to the SFPD(and other departments), with no agreement between the MTA and the SFPD about how this was going to work. People started to take a second look at this massive transfer of cash, and try and get some accountability so at least the MTA would get something for its money. Fair enough

Due to the byzantine way we run the MTA (you can vote on your neighbor's marriage rights but not for anyone directly in charge of the MTA besides our "Mayor"), it's not easy for any elected officials to intervene to try and do something.

So while yesterday's hearing was helpful in illustrating the challenges we the owners face when we use Our Muni, and it did make the SFPD disclose what they say they're going to do, the hearing was not an end in itself, but instead a first step. Frankly, it'll be up to us to keep an eye out and if things don't improve, it'll be up to us (as owners) to tell our employees (elected officials, the MTA, the SFPD) to shape up. At least now we'll have something we can hold them to, whereas before we had nothing.

And, now a note about the hearing that every news outlet, except the Examiner, missed. Reporter Mike Aldax noted the other day that during the hearing one of the committee members was not participating. Instead that member was conducting partisan political attacks on the taxpayer's dime...on Facebook. That Supervisor was of course, Chris Daly, someone we once actually liked and defended back in the day.

I think you need no better example of a dereliction of duty than this latest outrage. He lies in his Facebook updates (the SFCTA cannot run Muni directly and can only administer specific plans with Prop. K sales tax money). He was more interested in throwing an online temper tantrum than actually being productive on an issue that affects everyone, even people in his own district. Some "champion of the people." Naturally, he has nothing to say, despite being on the SFCTA board and Board of Supervisors longer than Sup. Dufty. Naturally, he has never done anything, as Supervisor or a SFCTA board member to enhance Muni, and offers nothing now, despite the evidence this is a problem. Big Surprise.

But why act like such a goofus? That's because he wanted to be SFCTA chair, but one of his own progressive allies voted for Dufty, ensuring Daly lost. That pretty much says it all. Rather than one-up Dufty with a better way to fix Muni, he'd rather lazily post crap on Facebook.

News Flash, "Supervisor" Daly, and "Mayor" Newsom - the two of you are about as useful as a football bat right now, and yet both of you have plenty of time left in office. The people of SF would be willing to forget all of your political shenanigans if you spend the remaining time in office doing something that makes a positive difference in our daily lives, instead of governing by press release and public temper tantrum. If you really don't feel like doing the job, then please quit, tend to your out-of-town interests, and let the adults take over. We'll all be better off.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 7:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'll be sort of live Twittering the hearing going on RIGHT NOW on Muni crime and whatnot. The individual testiminoy on incidents will garner the most attention with the mainstream media. However, I'll be really looking at what exactly anyone plans on doing about any of this...that's more important.

If you're curious, follow along here!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sad Sight: Buses on the N line

Posted by Greg Dewar at 1:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

That's not to make light of such incidents - why just the other night a Friend of the N Judah Chronicles was minding her own business on a bus, when a fight broke out and it spilled over, resulting in her getting an injury to her hand. That sucks, and we hope she makes a full recovery ASAP.

However, it's time to get past the press/blog freakout about the Latest Incident, and start getting something done about this in a more systemic way.

Fortunately, I had the chance to speak to my friend Boe Hayward, who works for Supervisor (and mayoral candidate) Dufty. He told me about Sup. Dufty's hearing on Monday, November 23rd on Muni crime. The hearing will begin at 11am and is in Room 250 at City Hall.

What makes this hearing stand out is that they're actively asking any Muni rider who's either been the victim of, or witness to, any form of crime to speak out. If you can attend, you can email Boe and let him know you'll be attending. They're putting the public comments at the beginning of the hearing, so you don't have to sit through the entire meeting to have your say.

Remember, the SFPD insisted Muni pay a lot in "work orders," claiming they did all sorts of work on Muni. However, as overall crime has gone down in San Francisco, Muni crime has actually gone up. The point of the hearing will be to give the public a chance to speak out, and for Supervisors and others to ask the SFPD about their plans to increase patrols on buses, and so on.

Also, I'd like to add this - I know that Sup. Dufty is running for Mayor, and I know that there are the cynical types that will simply say he's "using" the Muni issue as a hook to run for mayor and blow off this kind of hearing as meaningless theater.

I'd like to suggest otherwise. First of all, anyone staking a political future on anything Muni related is taking a Hell of a risk, and it's not like running around saying "care not cash" which was infinitely easier to "accomplish." More importantly, Dufty is willing to do something with his time in office to at least try and make things better. I can't say the same for the current Mayor, most of the MTA board, and many so-called Supervisors.

Is he the magician that can make it all better? No. But before anyone starts getting their SF-Style judgement on, let's try and work with him, and anyone who is willing to try, instead of just bitch on blogs and comment sections at the Gate. And, let's hold him and others accountable too. We win in the end.

In the end, we own Muni, and as owners, we need to demand better. These folks work for us, not vice versa!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 2:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

You have got to be kidding me.

I put off turning on the machine for an hour or so, and suddenly on Twitter I read up on a derailment at West Portal (again) and a J-Church/car collision this morning. Reports from our friends indicate the bus replacements for the KLM are insufficient, and that owner/riders are being told that the KLM lines are ending at Van Ness.

Twitter friend @wirelesschunk posted this picture of the chaos at West Portal, and this one as well. Twitterer @albertpoon got a shot of one of the (few) replacement buses.

This isn't the only report we're getting, Twitter friends @tangobaby reported problems with the N this morning and @soleilune reports the N was terminating at Hillway (!) for some unknown reason.

Wow.

Right about now is when I'd insert a "wouldn't it be great if we had a Mayor" wisecrack, but we all know Mayor Newsom has checked out. The problem is, NO ONE is in charge, and NO ONE is paying attention, and the result is you are going to see your Fast Passes and fares go up, and see not only service cut back, but see this kind of disaster on a weekly basis. To which I can only say WTF?

I'll be keeping an eye on Twitter, you can always send me a message at @njudah or email any on the scene pics to gregdewar@gmail.com .

Posted by Greg Dewar at 9:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)

Yesterday I got this email from Reader C (who wishes to remain anonymous) about a rather troubling incident on the N that raises some serious questions about what a driver can and cannot do.

Dear NJC:

I was walking down Filmore just by the N Judah, when I witnessed an assult on a girl, she was punched pretty hard; I latter saw her face - it was not a nice sight. My cell phone was at home charging and the first person I saw was an N Judah driver getting into his car; he had a blue tooth headset so I knew he had a phone. I asked him to call 911 and he told me it was not his job, I was horrified, and I said you got to be kidding me, we got into a small argument and his supervisor came over. They both repeated it is not part of their job, I said words to the effect of "we live in a society and you have a moral obligation". To which they laughed at me; I left as the couple that hit the girl were getting further away, as it happens I found the police at Safeway and they arrested the pair.

I understand that MUNI have a hard job but am I wrong in thinking that there is a duty to call 911 when some one asks? What sort of people are they?

Anway as this happened 20 minutes ago I am still a little upset and so thought NJudah Chronicles would be the best people to email, was this a good representation of the drivers who take us to and from work everyday?

In a follow up email, he mentioned that the driver in question refused to give their number to him, although he noted the date and time, etc. He also noted that he's a 20 year owner/rider of Muni, and generally likes the service, but is rightfully annoyed when this kind of thing happens. (Muni, this is someone who's a longtime fan and this is how you treat 'em? Brilliant).

This kind of "not my job" attitude, in a situation where a 911 call would not have caused the driver any harm, just pisses people off, and rightfully so. If the driver was being assaulted or robbed, and asked one of us owner/riders to call 911, should we simply say "hey, not my job?"

I don't think so. In this case, it seems the police were able to handle it anyway, but again, would it have killed anyone to make a simple call.

Muni drivers need to take note - yes we understand you have a tough job, and yes we understand you're not all jerks. But so long as you generally treat the owner/riders (we are not customers, dammit) with this kind of disdain, watch what happens when upcoming budget cuts threaten your livelihood.

Those people you show such contempt for might return the favor. And no one wins in the end.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 7:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Well this doesn't sound good : The Chronicle reported this evening that there will be delays on the repair of the N Judah rails - meaning that for Monday's commute replacement buses will be running tomorrow.

Plan accordingly, and allow for extra time. Hopefully they'll get everything done quickly...I can't imagine what a hassle this will be for the commute tomorrow...

Posted by Greg Dewar at 9:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Seriously.

He documents Muni atrocities like this and does so with the same honesty he does of Civic Center life, the SF Opera and Symphony, Palm Springs, and so on.

So go read his blog, gorramit, because he is cool.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 11:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm guessing it's a safe bet that the evening commute is going to be pretty bad, and combined with the impending closure of the N at Duboce and Church for track repairs, well, let's just say I'm glad I took today off. Frankly, they shoulda given EVERYONE a paid day off today...

And, speaking of closures, if you live on Judah Street between 19th and Sunset, and haven't already familiarized yourself with this weekend's schedule and re-routes, you really want to do that now. These track repairs are like getting one's wisdom teeth pulled - painful but necessary. The bus service shouldn't be too bad, but seeing a bus on the N-Judah line is like seeing a bus on a cable car line - sure it does the job, but it's just a little too "alternate universe/FRINGE" for me.

Finally, some site news. I am trying to go on a vacation sometime in the next 6 weeks, and since the Guest Blogger test seemed to work out pretty good, I'm soliciting Guest Bloggers once again. Please email me if you're interested in writing a short post, or want to share some photos, via the blog. If you look at past entries, they can be about pretty much anything Muni or San Francisco related, but nothing too crazy or psycho.

Finally (part II, Electric Boogaloo), I'm still looking for someone who knows how to upgrade MovableType to its latest version, and help me develop a new set of templates compatible with version 4.3. I want to change the layout to something a bit more contemporary, and add several new features, but I'm at the limits of my technical capabilities at this point. There is money involved as well as referrals from the endless stream of people who keep asking me if I know anyone who wants a lot of money to do work. No, really. Plus we may be getting another advertiser, which again, allows me to spend some money to make the site more fun.

(Side note: Yes, Wordpress, blah blah blah. I'm well aware of the fact that I should switch but doing so now, after 4+ years here, would mean losing every single link in Google to the ages, and well, I don't have time to learn an entirely new system. Unless someone can show me a way to avoid this....)

Posted by Greg Dewar at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Word is that today an inbound M train from SFSU will be host to a party tonight. Who wants to go?

Hopefully, The Man won't try and kill this one the way they did a few years back.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By now most people know about the upcoming weekends of whimsy on the N Judah Bus, and by now, most people know about the upcoming Really Big Cuts to Service that start in December. All as you pay more, of course. Whee.

However, few are aware of just how much worse 2010 is going to be if someone(s) don't step in and figure out a way to stop the death spiral that Muni started a while back, and continued during a year of crashes, and other mishaps. That's all common knowledge - what is not is that Muni is in far worse shape than anyone knows, and all the "cuts" in the world will not save it at all. (Insert "to save the village we had to burn it" citation here).

This is important for you, the owner/rider to know, because if you rely on Muni, your MTA board and Mayor are doing absolutely nothing to stop this at all. The MTA Board is incapable of making any decisions, and the Mayor has been AWOL for some time and isn't returning to work anytime soon (at least not for us).

First, you're going to pay more for Muni passes, A LOT more if you want to use BART within the city as you do now. If you're wondering why you've only heard it at Akit's blog, here, and maybe a few blogs, well join the club.

At best the MTA and Muni look sneaky, at worst, unaware of their own price increases. Some of the blame can be cast upon inexperienced Sups. Chiu and Avalos, who supported this increase and labeled it "keeping passes cheap for seniors." (Insert George Orwell citation here).

Second, and more importantly, the Muni budget is worse off than they are willing to admit publicly.

We are way past the point of cutting a few jobs or a few routes - after years of illegal looting by the Governor (and Legislature), and semi-ilegal looting by the Mayor, Muni has a revenue hole that you could drive an N-Judah through. This means that despite big cuts and big fare increases, they're still in a death spiral, which means, as always, you and I lose. And they're even taking federal money meant to save Muni's crumbling infrastructure and using it for a one-time budget hole fill.

All is not hopeless. San Francisco could take the lead in re-asserting local control over its own problems. Perhaps if the Mayor and the Board decided to put the same amount of time and energy they currently devote to issues that localities have no control over, and instead did something to show how a "world class city" could develop a decent transit system in a city that's only 49 square miles, maybe, just maybe, people wouldn't shake their heads every time they hear about the latest pronouncement from City Hall.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Just like when one gets necessary, but painful, dental work, the N Judah line has some necessary, but painful surgery coming up this month. On the weekends of November 13th + 20th, and December 4th, the N will be getting rail replacement done between 19th and Sunset Boulevard. For every weekend that the rail replacement is in effect, service will stop at Church and Duboce at 8pm, and buses will run to the end of the line at La Playa. This will be in effect until the following Monday at 4am.

Needless to say, this isn't a lot of fun, either for riders or for anyone along the line. It is, however, necessary maintenance and the best thing to do is plan ahead. In particular, no cars will be allowed on Judah St. either.

There is also some planned pedestrian improvements coming to 19th and Judah, but as of the time I publish this, I haven't found out when that is. The Sunset Beacon had a front page story that detailed the plan, except for the actual date of WHEN that will happen. (That is part of a separate project to improve pedestrian access at Judah, Taraval, and Sloat along 19th Avenue).

You can read all the details at the SFMTA website, and if you live in the affected area, you may want to give them a call at the number listed below so you can plan your weekends around all of this. Hopefully it'll get done on time and we can then move forward and deal with the cuts to service that will come just a day after this project is planned to be complete.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)