The N-Judah Chronicles

For the last few days I've been getting up super-early to get all my work done so I can enjoy these warm January afternoons. I have found them to do more to make me feel good than just about anything else. (It is also nice to send pictures of the thermometer on Irving Street to all those folks back east in the blizzard that rag on SF).

Yesterday I took a ride on the F Line, and ended up staying on all the way to Fisherman's Wharf. Normally that's not my kind of place to hang out, but I took some nice pictures of the boats and stuff. I also pulled a prank on that annoying "Bushman" guy who makes loud noises behind some branches. Now, normally I ignore such people as the kind of irritant one has in Our Fair City, but while taking pictures of fishing boats, I noticed he did his trademark nonsense that scared the crap out of a small, developmentally disabled child.

So, in a bit of Street Justice, I walked past him and before he could do anything I leaned in slightly, waved my arms and shouted "BLEAHHH!" (but not in a threatening manner). The tourists who were standing around saw this and were both shocked and amused.

Yeah, I know, right? Maybe it was a "had to be there moment."

I ended up taking the cable car home, and decided to try out my phone's video camera. The video I shot was so-so, but what made it fun at all was the fact that an 80 year old gentleman named Hubert boarded at Union Street who was really nice. He wanted to stand on the outside, but the conductor insisted he sit down, so he exchanged places with a kid from Australia. We soon got to learn a lot about SF from Hubert, who grew up in Chinatown. It was one of those "Why San Francisco is an awesome place to live" moments, for sure.

At the end of our ride, Rigo, our conductor, gave a short talk about how the brakes work for some tourists so I shot that too.

Overall it was nice. Today I haven't been so fortunate to get out of the home office like I wanted, but I hear we've got maybe one more day of this weather, so tomorrow I'll try and get out and do one last roundup of pictures and videos, iPhone battery permitting.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 2:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Since I knew today was going to be another one of these amazing January days of sun, I got up early and got all my work done as fast as I could so I could go out this afternoon and take some photos and just enjoy the sun (since we may not have any this summer).

I started out taking the N to Ocean Beach, where the N was having a beach party for 3 trains all stacked up waiting to return downtown. On a whim, I decided to take the 18 to the Legion of Honor and take some more photos, so I got on the bus when it showed up.

As we were leaving the Outer Sunset (and I dare anyone at the Times to call it "bleak" today) a woman tapped me on the back and said "excuse me, can you help me with something?" I assumed she was going to ask for directions, as that is the most common thing I tend to be asked, and it looked like she had a map or something in a folder.

Instead, she was asking for help with her ESL homework. Now I have to say, in my entire life, that has to be the most unusual thing anyone has asked me on a bus, or anywhere. So, I figured what the heck and she showed me what she was working on. From what I could tell, the assignment was to read an essay that uses metaphors, and a bit more abstract language, and then write about what it meant.

I took a look at her notes and she had actually done fairly well so far, but there were certain words that she couldn't decipher, and some of the phrases as well. Now, being the writing critic I tend to be, I have to say, whoever wrote this essay should have been edited a bit because some of the sentences, in an attempt to sound big and artistic, just sounded stupid. But I pushed that aside and we went over a couple of words.

For example, one of the words was "instructive." So I asked her "well, do you know the word 'instructor?" and she said yes. One we established that I wrote down the words:

- instructor - someone who tells you what to do

- instruction - something you read that tells you what to do

- instructive - how you describe something that tells you what to do

Obviously these are simplified, but hey we were on the bus! If we had more time I'd explain this is from a Latin word, etc etc etc.

Once she saw that then she got it. I showed how all these words have the same root, and the modifier changes the word ever so slightly. She had that "lightbulb" moment when I explained how many words are like this so it's easier to figure out what they mean.

We did a few more and then I said "you're doing fine, but remember this- English borrows words and grammar from many langauges, and sometimes uses the same words for different meantings, or worse two words that sound the same that have nothing to do with each other. That's why it's not an easy language to learn - every rule has an exception."

She looked at me and said "You said it!"

We then tackled one last thing - a terribly worded sentence about memory and so on. This is when I did something that will blow my high school English teacher's mind, and will be waved around by English teachers (what few that even do this) around the country:

I diagrammed the sentence.

Now this wasn't an according to Hoyle diagram, but I was showing her how the two halves related to create a sort of paradox. It was perhaps more of an equation than anything else, but once we went through it , she got it.

Before the bus got to the Legion she had to get off, but said "Thank you so much! I think you explained this English to me more here on the bus than I learned in class the other day!"

And with that, she was off.

I never really thought of teaching English, but I have to say it was kind of fun in a way, especially when you basically tell people "hey, English is a great language but it has some crazy ass rules" it seems to make them lighten up a little and realize that they're not going insane.

I spent the rest of the afternoon at the Legion, then took the 18 back, getting off at Balboa. My original plan was to buy a soda and take a 31 to the 44, but it was so nice out and I was feeling great so I ended up walking from way out there to 7th to grab the 44 instead. It was a nice walk, very quiet, and I took some pictures of the more interesting buildings and whatnots out there.

Overall a great way to spend one of these non-blizzard, non-bleak days in Not New York.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 6:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Our friends at the Ocean Beach Blog had a great post today about the annoying squeal of the N Judah LRVs as they make that epic turnaround at the end of the line. They did their homework and confronted Muni and the SFMTA about this state of affairs.

Those of us in the Inner Sunset, however, have been facing a similar problem at 9th and Irving and 9th and Judah. Trust me, as someone who lives literally 2 doors down from the 9th and Irving stop, I'm well aware of the siren song of the N as it makes a turn. Now, in some ways I've been able to avoid it as I accept that given where I live, there is going to be noise no matter what. At the same time, this is one of those stories that needs a trip to via the Wayback Machine to the Golden Years (allegedly, as told by folks in 2011) of the Willie Brown Years.

That's because the Breda cars you see today running along the LRV lines were chosen not for their techonlogical advantage or suitability for San Francsico's rail lines, they were chose primarily based on politics under Fomer Mayor (and Regally impaired) Mayor Willie Brown. The SF Weekly chronicled this entire frak-up 13 years ago (funny how the Guardian did not) started with the fact that the replacement for the failwhale Boeing cars ended up going to a company with no business making our current ones.

Add to the fact that they were too heavy for the rails to begin with, had to be lightened up, and oh, get this, the Breda folks used SF as a guide to build cars for Boston (which ended up spending more time in repairs than in service) and you realize, this was one of those epic frak ups with long term consequences. Meanwhile in the year 2011, we mythologize the Brown era as being effective, when in fact it was ONLY effective at delivering boom year cash to his pals, and ending with a landslide 87-13 election of Chris Daly and an epic win of the progressive movement. I mean, how bad do you have to screw up to elect THEM?

So, back to the point:

We have this problem because once again, unto the breach, Muni's decisions were not made based on what was best for the system or best for the owner/rider back in the 1990s, instead it was based on cronyism and bullsh!t. So when you hear that migraine-inducing turn, be it at 9th and Irving, 9th and Judah or the end of the line, just know that it didn't have to happen.

And also know the elections have consequences. Stop listening to soundbites and mail pieces and start asking some tough questions. It's YOUR Muni. Start acting like an owner.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 6:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

This week I had a unique opportunity to promote the blog and our proposed "Ride Muni with Mayor Lee" event with Scoutmob, one of the latest iterations of the "really good deal" websites. This was a chance to reach many people who perhaps haven't already seen the blog, and to promote our idea for pushing Muni issues higher up the agenda for the folks at City Hall.

There's no cash involved in this deal, it's more of a light promo kind of thing, but I figured it was a good idea, and I do like Scoutmob over some of the others. For one, they have deals in all parts of San Francisco, not just the Mission and tourist spots. For another, they've had some amazing deals right here in my part of the neighborhood, including a 50% off coupon at Pacific Catch, and others at Cha Cha Cha, Social Brewery, and more. And, unlike other such sites, I'm not getting daily emails about spa treatments and nail salon deals.

So, if you're already a Scoutmob person, note our spot in the daily newsletter this week. If you've not already checked out Scoutmob, please do so. They have apps for all the major smartphones, but even if you don't have a smartphone, you can still use the site's deals!

Anyway, check it out, and if this ride with Mayor Lee thing works out, maybe we should do it with all the candidates for mayor in 2011, or perhaps the new Supervisors. Could be a fun ongoing feature!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

To everyone's surprise (but mine), the SFMTA Board withdrew, without discussion, a proposal to make the MTA and Muni's employees pay for parking, the way every single San Franciscan does, instead of enjoying taxpayer-subsidized free parking. This, as the MTA wants to jack up parking ticket revenue like crazy and jack up meter rates.

Listening to the whining of Muni's employees was bad enough. But even worse was that SFMTA Board Chair Tom Nolan withdrew this from discussion, without allowing other board members to comment on it at all. He later said his reasoning was based on how the MTA's employees were "feeling."

News flash, Mr. Nolan: you're supposed to be serving the people of San Francisco, not the well paid employees of a dysfunctional transit agency. Mayor Newsom isn't around to pull your strings anymore, so you do have the option to act in the public interest once in a while. But, as a former suburban politician who has made poor decisions since you were first appointed, one wonders if perhaps it's time you resigned so that Mayor Lee can appoint someone more qualified to the job.

Folks, this is why it is SO important in 2011 you select a Mayor who will do serious things about transit, and other Really Big Issues That Need To Be Dealt With, instead of showboaty politics like we've had for the last seven years. Muni doesn't have to be a national joke - it is that way because we've elected people who don't care, or simply aren't qualified to serve in office. Let's try something different for a change.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 8:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I just realized I forgot to post two fun events coming up tomorrow! Oops!

First off, Pearl Gallery at 839 Irving Street is having an "Artist and Customer Appreciation Day" from 4-7pm. If you've not yet stopped in at Pearl, you really should stop by and check it out. They have a unique mix of art, photography and other nice things that make for great gifts or decor for your home. Stop by and say hi!

Also, the first Games Night of the year at the House Formerly Known as Yes We Can (502 Irving Street) from 7:30-11:00pm. Bring your favorite board game or just stop by and join in one and meet your neighbors! These events are always fun and you always end up meeting someone new!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 3:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Is it possible to have a rational discussion on parking, Muni's budget, and public safety in the City That Knows How?

Judging by the latest demagoguery via the politicians, their allies in the press, etc. I'm thinking "no." Instead, people use bits and pieces of fact and fiction to fan the flames of rage and prejudice to accomplish their own narrow goals. Meanwhile, getting something of substance of done, such as a rational policy that works for the City, is lost by the wayside.

Let's take on the hot topic this week: The Parking Tickets Are Too Damn High. In a PR blunder worthy of Enron, the MTA basically stated that to make more "money" for the agency, they would need to get more revenue from parking tickets. WTF?

Now, that's not quite what the agency said (although it was close) , but that didn't stop certain well-paid columnists from fanning the flames of screaming Gate commenters and screaming ex-politicians to revive the "Muni sucks and drivers are being picked on" meme. And today we have a mayoral candidate fanning the flames some more with a bullshit "petition" with more misinformation, all to get votes and look popular with the voters. Meanwhile this choose-up-sider rhetoric creates a false "us vs. them" conflict that ensures rational discussions cannot be had.

So, let's inject a dose of rational, calm, reality about all this. I'm sure the politicians and their PR people won't go for this, and dead-tree media allies won't listen, but at least it will be out there on The Google in case anyone's reading.

First off, as I have said over and over and over and over, and over again, relying on parking ticket fines for a primary income source is wrong, morally and fiscally. They are to be used to punish bad behavior (or worse dangerous behavior) and regulate the use of public space for the common good and move traffic along. THAT IS ALL.

Trying to make up the enormous hole in Muni's revenue caused by years of looting by Gov. Schwarzenegger and the Democratic legislature, as well as Ex Mayor Newsom's looting via phony "work orders" will not be made up with parking tickets. That's like fishing for change in the couch cushions to make up for the fact 30% of your income was stolen from you by a thief.

It is simply not a stable source of "revenue" that can be relied on, year to year. Just this last year we've seen a drop in citations, in part because parking control officers had to be redirected to other duties for things like Giants games (and celebrations! yay!), and we had to stop hiring so many people because of budget woes.

More to the point, as you raise tickets to punishing levels, people will get the message, and behave properly, thus not getting a ticket. Thus, the original intent of said tickets, correcting bad behavior, has won out. That should be considered a victory by everyone since it means people are obeying the law. This is especially important if illegal parking is blocking cars and Muni, making sidewalks impassable for seniors and the disabled, blocking fire hydrants, and so on.

Let's not forget that the MTA has been working on some ways to improve parking meters, making it easier for people to pay upfront, and manage parking based on actual demand (which in many ways might end up with people paying less during certain times). Again, this is common sense. Better to simply collect what's owed, and allow people to obey the law and pay their fare share. Right?

Otherwise, you end up with a bizarre system where the MTA has an incentive to punish people vs. persuing common sense, and doing so through the criminal justice system. By the logic of "parking as revenue," I suppose we should simply red-stripe the entire city, and have people play a game of cat and mouse with the DPT, artfully dodging tickets or getting nailed with a $500 ticket for a meter that's expired for five minutes.

However, the people you need to blame for this state of affairs isn't at the MTA - it's the last 15 years worth of politicians who have encouraged this type of policy behind closed doors because they don't want to pay for Muni via taxes.

This way, they can play Santa Claus and make it seem like there aren't as many taxes in San Francisco as there are - they just call 'em fines and fees. It's dishonest - but it also makes voters feel good too.

Meanwhile, finding a stable, honest funding mechanism that makes us less dependent on Sacramento's BS is out the window, and the politicians can run away when they get elected to higher office. I've no sympathy for scofflaws who flout the parking rules, and they do need to be punished.

Relying on a decreasing number of scofflaws, however leads to this kind of destructive cycle that serves no one well. We need a fully funded MTA and Muni that is running efficiently and sans foolish spending, but we also need to ensure it has the money to do the job in the first place.

Part 2 will be posted tomorrow

Posted by Greg Dewar at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Mayor Ed Lee is in fact an interim Mayor until a new one is elected in November 2011. This we all know.

However, it's not like Muni and the MTA are in a holding pattern - things are happening RIGHT NOW that affect your commute and your daily life. Is this the time to allow Muni and the MTA to act on behalf of the few, the bureaucrats and the do nothings?

NO!

That's where you come in. Next week I want to feature short, snappy posts from you, the owner/riders of Muni in addition to the day-to-day posting we have here at the N Judah Chronicles to ask Mayor Lee (whom we've already asked to ride Muni with us!) answers to the questions that vex the Muni Owner/Rider. This isn't the province of the "gotcha" question - instead this is a chance to see what will happen in the next year, and influence whomever becomes the next Mayor after the election in 2011.

So, it's on you, my fellow Muni owner/riders! I'll have my own questions, to be sure, but for now, let's ask Mayor Lee when he'll be riding Muni with us, and what he wants to do to make Muni better NOW!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 12:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A while back, the MTA announced some proposed improvments at Carl and Cole to improve pedestrian safety and speed up boarding. This is one of those issues I've been following, but not writing about because towards the end of last year Things That Have Nothing To Do With Blogging began to get in the way of me posting things in a timely manner, which for me is very frustrating. (Not being paid full time to do this has its drawbacks.)

Fortunately, Streetsblog SF was on the case, and reports that after some tinkering to alleviate neighbor concerns, a plan is to be voted on next Tuesday by the MTA Board. If you take a look at the proposal, there's nothing radical about it, and it would help safety and improve boarding times at one of the busier stops (inbound and outbound).

Yes, a few parking spots will be lost. But let's be realistic - losing 3 spots is not going to end anyone's business - this is already an area with very little parking to begin with. It is foolish to think that every single patron of every business is driving, parking a block from the business area, and patronizing the businesses. Just the patrons of the Kezar Bar and Restaurant would take up all the parking, and there'd be spillover all over the place. And yet, despite these and other realities, there's a few busybodies who would rather endanger others and decrease efficiency for the entire line, based on nothing more than rhetoric and "beliefs."

I wouldn't be behind this if after all the research and reading I've done I thought it would do nothing, or worse, be something that would damage a neighborhood I very much like and whose businesses I patronize and damage the N as a whole. That's why I urge folks to email the MTA board, and ask them to try and do the right thing in this case, and continue the ongoing commitment to safety for pedestrians and owner/riders on the N, as they have done on Irving St.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 5:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

January 11, 2011

Mayor Ed Lee
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 200
San Francisco, CA 94102

Dear Mayor Lee:

Congratulations on becoming the new Mayor of San Francisco! You bring decades of public service and hard work on behalf of the people of San Francisco to office, and although the challenges the City faces in 2011 are difficult, I am sure that as many have said on your behalf, you'll work to do what's best for all of San Francisco.

Muni and the SFMTA aren't just political footballs to be kicked around, the way some have done in the past. Instead, it is a transit system and agency that was established with the unique prospect that transit agencies should be run on behalf of those that own it - in this case the people of San Francisco. Thus, Muni's unique in that it has literally hundreds of thousands of "owners" who ride the system daily.

Running a system for such a diverse group of owners isn't easy - but it is also a necessity. It is also an agency with severe, systemic problems that can't be solved overnight.

Therefore, I am extending an invitation to you, as our new Mayor, to carve some time out of your busy schedule to come ride the N-Judah with myself and other transit/urban life bloggers.

However, while we'd be honored with the privilege of speaking with you, I would prefer most of all that you ride with and listen to the people of San Francisco who rely on Muni to go to work, attend school, take care of their families, and enjoy living in the greatest city in America.

I think if we spent some quality time up and down the line, you'd get a chance to hear people's stories about Muni's successes, its failures, and the hope in all of Muni's owner/riders that City Hall can put aside politics and make a functional Muni something everyone can be proud of. Who knows? Perhaps if this works out, we could have a "Mayor on Muni" in other parts of San Francisco too!

Sincerely,

Greg Dewar
The N Judah Chronicles

PS: I noticed this afternoon you've invited China's President, Hu Jintao, for a visit to San Francisco sometime this year. May I humbly suggest that perhaps all of us- you, me, the President, and assorted friends of a great transit system all take a ride together, if possible? It would be a way to showcase the many diverse neighborhoods that the N-Judah line serves, and a chance to showcase our city to the world in a way that's never been done before.

As always, email me and let me know. Thanks!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 4:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

You can read the Chronicle's account of what happened at yesterday's City Operations and Neighborhood Services Committee of the Board of Supervisors, but you won't really hear what actually happened there. Yes, you get the party line from Muni management, in particular John Haley, the Director of Transit. You can watch the spectacle online at SFGOVTV.org

What you didn't hear about, however, was the fact that said Director of Transit not only was poorly prepared for the hearing, he often refused to even bother to answer questions of the two supervisors on the committee, Supervisor Carmen Chu (also comittee chair) and Supervisor John Avalos. Several times during the hearing, one or both would have to call BS and demand, more than once that their questions actually be answered.

Also, another typical Muni tactic was employed during the "presentation" - the use of stale facts to reinforce their facade that "everything is ok." In this case, they used only a few months of data from September-December 2010 to somehow gloss over the fact that a) short turns are a problem and b) we've had a ton of meetings and a lot of promises about this problem that Muni has failed keep, and led to this hearing in the first place! Another tactic: using only SF311 calls to count complaints, essentially saying to anyone who used any one of a number of ways to contact Muni (via a Supervsior, etc) "we're stacking the deck against you." Fail, fail fail. And on it went.

Overall, though, what I came away with after sitting through this hearing was a distinct lack of faith in Muni's management. It's very clear that their so-called "policy" of not short turning trains only when there's a train five minutes behind is just words on paper - anyone dumped off late at night who has to walk to La Playa from 19th Avenue knows that. But when even a Supervisor can't get an answer out of Muni management, how the heck can we, as the mere owners of Muni, expect any respect?

However, the meeting also had some highlights, too. For one, we saw what it's like when Supervisors aren't passing useless "non binding resolutions" and headline grabbing BS, and instead working for the good of the City. Supervisor Chu, in particular, deserves praise for staying on top of this issue and not just letting it slip by after past bogus meetings. Supervisor John Avalos also deserves some praise for being ready to get in Muni's face about their promises, their lack of responsiveness and making a basic point - we can't expect people to use a transit system that's unreliable, and then turn around and start talking about things like congestion pricing that would essentially discriminate against those in the west and southwest of the city. Sitting in the audience, I realized THIS is what it's like when City govenrment represents the people for a change, and it sure felt good.

It was also nice to see some members of the public speak out too, many of whom read the blog, and all of whom used a variant of the term "owner/rider" in their comments. I finally got to meet my twitter friend Katie, who gave a concise and eloquent account of the effect short turns have on the disabled. In a bitter, ironic twist, she was short turned at West Portal on the way home from work later that evening. No, really.

Going forward, I think there's a few things we can do to try and keep this issue on the minds of the well-paid folks at Muni management. One is to flood 311 and every email inbox we can find for Muni and the Supervisors and the Mayor every single time this happens. The other is to start asking our new Mayor to consider cleaning house at Muni. We have already passed a difficult proposition that will, over time, bring some sanity to work rules and the like. Now it is time to take a hard look at the well paid management, in particular, Mr. Ford, and evaluate if we're getting value for the money we're spending up there.

No one "hearing" can solve anything, but it's good to know that Sup. Chu will be keeping this issue alive as we go forward in 2011, with a new Mayor, a new Board, and the potential for another new Mayor this fall.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 4:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Yes, you read that right. Supervisor Carmen Chu is holding a hearing as chair of the Board's City Operations & Neighborhood Services Committee to ask the perennial question all riders of the N-Judah and the L-Taraval ask - why the frak does Muni insist on dumping people out at 19th Avenue outbound with no prior warning?

The hearing will be held on Monday, January 10th at 10:30am in Room 250 in City Hall. Because it's during working hours, many people are likely to not be able to attend (I will try but I may have a conference call for work at the same time). Naturally, SFMTA boss Nathaniel Ford won't be there, but John Haley, Director of Transit, will be, to listen and get a talking to from the supervisors.

Now, let's be clear, this issue has been talked about for a long time, and so far, every time we get the MTA bosses to make promises, and nothing happens. For fun shall we review a few past posts?

2007: Reader Mail from Eve Batey (then of the Chronicle, now of the SF Appeal) , Reader Mail from N Rider Jeff, Follow Up to Jeff's Complaint, How a Bad N Judah Line Hurts the Poor, Yet Another Reader Mail complaint, Big Promises Made to Assemblymember Fiona Ma and the Sunset District Neighborhood Coalition (via Reader Mail), More Big Promises Broadcast In the Press

2008: After All Those Promises of Firings, The Turnarounds Continue, And Continue

2009: Reader Warren's Complaints about the Same Operator Doing Turnarounds

You get the idea. This doesn't even include the bazillions of Tweets made by frustrated commuters over the years.

Now, telling tales of how this kind of unreliability is a royal pain in the ass is important, so that perhaps someone at the MTA or Muni might have a Grinch-like heart-growing experience and decide to do something for a change. It goes almost without saying how traumatic this kind of unreliability is for seniors or the disabled living on the west side - but let's face it everyone relying on Muni on the westside is screwed in one way or another and it's unacceptable, period.

Just as important, however, is demanding very specific dates and promises of what will be done to fix the problem once and for all, and what the MTA and Muni need to do so.

Recall that in 2006 at a town hall meeting, Nathaniel Ford made promises to fix the 9th/Irving & 9th/Judah signaling problems that were endangering people. Soon afterward, in 2007, the MTA quietly backed off their promises. It wasn't until a woman had her legs cut off by a train in 2008 that the SFCTA stepped in to pick up the slack and build a system to try and prevent this.

Because the timing of this meeting means you may not be able to attend, I would urge you to please email Supervisor Chu (and CC your own supervisor if you don't live in District 4 since these kinds of FAILs can affect people on all Metro lines) and describe in brief how these turnarounds affect you, and demand that the MTA commit to producing an action plan with specifics. You should also CC your comments to the SFMTA, and/or hit them on Twitter at @sfmta_muni now, and every time they screw up, in the hopes they might one day listen.

There's no magical solution to all of this, but it's time the MTA and Muni be told what to do by the owner/riders, and demand specifics as to what they will do (not plan to do) to fix them. We've talked too much about this already - playtime is over, it's a new year, and it's time to do something.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 4:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Earlier this week Loyal Readers and Twitterfriends were kind enough to elevate me in the online "interim mayor" poll to first place. Woo hoo!

Today, however, I am asking for Loyal Readers and Inner Sunset residents to come out in support of a project that actually has some impact on our daily lives - support for a parklet on 9th Avenue in front of Arizmendi Bakery.

The always-active Adam Greenfield, who's always out there promoting community building events for the neighborhood, has been working with a dedicated group of folks to bring a "parklet" to 9th Avenue. Many such parklets have been established around town already, and if you've ever seen a Park(ing) Day temporary parklet, you get the idea.

The artist's rendition of the propsed parklet for 9th Avenue looks great. However, it needs your vocal support so that the folks in City Hall realize this is something people will value. There will be a hearing (date TBD) but for now it's important you write to Supervisors Elsbernd and Mirkarimi in support, and sign the online petition. We all know how City Hall will, left to its own devices, get in the way or otherwise cause problems, but we also know if enough people speak up, they tend to pay attention.

When you consider the many neighborhood improvements residents (not bureaucrats) have established in the Inner Sunset, it makes sense that we should expand public space where people can enjoy their neighborhood, and this proposed parklet would be a great addition to the area. Let's do something positive for our community!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 1:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Wow. I can't believe it. What started as a funny joke amongst friends ended up becoming a 24 hour Twitter phenomenon. Thanks to all of you good people out there, I came in first at SFMayorVote.com 's online poll of politicians and mayoral wannabes.

Obviously it won't mean I'll get the appointment from the Board, but it was kinda fun to see my name move up in the polls so quickly. The good folks at SF Weekly were kind enough to interview me on this momentous occaision while I was riding the F line to a meeting this afternoon.

Anyway, it was fun. If I had a zillion dollars and was really running for mayor, if nothing else my parties would be fun to attend, and I'd do my best to make the debates kinda fun.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 3:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Whilst sitting here at home watching SFGOV TV's coverage of the Board of Supervisors Rules Committee (awaiting their vote on an MTA nomination), some friends and I came up with a side project for fun - running in the online poll for Mayor Newsom's successor in Room 200!

It's pretty simple - a site has been set up by concerned citizens at SF Mayor Vote.com where you can "vote" for anyone you like, via your Twitter account login, and your vote will be broadcast to the site and to your Twitter friends.

This isn't scientific, or binding, by any means, but it would be kind of funny to see a blogger move up the list ahead of some of the City's politicians. So (to paraphrase comedian Will Durst from his mayoral run in the 80s) - vote for me, or don't vote for me, but vote!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Let's face facts, 2010 sucked. Well not completely, because the Giants won the World Series, and a few other good things, but overall things kinda sucked. The economy continued to suck. San Francisco's carnival of lost souls known at City Hall continued to suck. And Muni? Do I even have to go there?

Despite that, I actually have a small bit of hope that things might not be as bad as they could be. Small, minuscule, nano-sized hope, but hope nonetheless. But first, a quick review of 2010 is in order.

Three things characterized Muni's ongoing drama this year: the cynical manipulations of a so=called "Green Clean" Mayor (and the overpaid leadership known as Nathaniel Ford), the ongoing fetish of Soon To Be Ex-Governor "Climate Change" Schwarzenegger and his Democrat allies to defund all transit with shell games, and the treatment of Muni as a political football by So-Called Progressives.

Re-reading the 2010 archives, it's clear that all the hype and PR shenanigans about being "green and clean" by Ex Mayor Newsom didn't match up with his policies in San Francisco, especially when it came to living up to that "transit first" thing everyone says.

I can't imagine any "interim" Mayor being any worse than Newsom, but then again, when one of the prospects is Sup. David Chiu, who knows. You'll recall he championed a so-called "progressive" Muni reform bill, only to toss it aside as part of a political deal cut with Newsom. The result was a commission where people blabbed on about Muni, but of course didn't do anything. So much for "progressives" being good on transit issues. But we won't know until the political games are done sometime next week.

The other PR football tossed around was of course the discussion of cuts. The MTA board (appointed by Newsom and approved by the Board) was congenitally unable to come up with anything but fare hikes and service cuts, some crippling certain lines, or ending others. They tossed out a $4 million study that basically laid out what needs to happen to make Muni work in favor of short term budget nonsense. Then we had the back and forth of up and down cuts, all with misleading percentages to make you think you were getting something more for your money - when in fact it's short term patches that won't hold up for the long term.

We also had a rather raucous discussion about how Muni operators are paid. As I repeatedly said, the concept that "driver pay" is the only thing hurting Muni was patently ridiculous - and I was initially against what become known as Prop. G.

However, after doing all that research for the piece I co-wrote with Joe Eskenazi at the SF Weekly, I realize that it was a painful, but necessary fix to cure some inefficiencies with regards to overtime and that whole "pay people to sit on their ass" problem that we can't afford anymore. Nevertheless, the campaign got nasty and some of the most dishonest political mail I've seen in my life played every emotional card in the book to dissuade people from voting for this.

It passed in a landslide.

That said, there was a sense on the "yes" side that perhaps some of the rhetoric about "fix Muni now!" might end up elevating expectations, when in fact it will take several years for the full effect of this measure to have its presence felt. Thus, if anyone was expecting Jedi-like miracles to transform Muni overnight, well, they were deluding themselves.

It is important, though, to remember that not everything sucked all the time. Muni took us to the Giants games and the street parties and the victory parade afterwards. Urban improvements like the "parklets" popping up around the city, and events like Park(ing) Day set a new record for participation (and those of us in the Inner Sunset bravely held our ground on Irving despite the fact that it was extremely foggy and cold that day). This year I got to hang out with fellow Muni bloggers, SF bloggers and the awesome people at Market Street Railway and help decorate the historic streetcars for the holidays. And, on days of Muni Win, we talked about it on Twitter and the blog.

And, not to toot my own horn, but the Muni Rider Voter Guide project had some modest success in flushing out which candidates knew anything about muni (or even rode it) and which ones did not (and getting me yelled at in the process, haha).

It's this last point that gives me a little hope that things at Muni might get a little better, or at the very least, we'll have some people who will try to do something, and not grandstand on the issues. Scott Weiner is a regular rider of Muni to his job at City Hall, and Mark Farrell is a native San Franciscan who's been riding the system for decades. Sup. Jane Kim has to represent a district that's particularly reliant on Muni, and serves a diverse population. All three did very well on the issues, and I want to tip the hat to Scott Weiner for being especially willing to listen to my views on Muni, and I don't even live in his district.

Likewise, we have an opportunity to break free from the Era of Charisma, and elect someone in 2011 who might actually want to do the work of running the city, instead of running for higher office. I am already working on a much more comprehensive plan for the voter guide so that you, the owner/rider of Muni, can ask tough questions of the (many) candidates running. I am hoping to even work out terms of a debate, one that is not a bunch of "2minute1minute" questions and quips, but instead an honest discussion by those who say they want to serve us as SF's Mayor. (and if you have suggestions, feel free to email me with 'em.)

Whomever is made "acting Mayor" is going to have a lot of pain to administer to just about everyone in the City, and whomever that is needs to start talking to the people, and not rely on the echo chamber of pundits, PR people, and City Hall denizens who think they own the City.

I will continue to do my best, as I have in the last 5 1/2 years, to keep on top of this as best I can, but as always, it's listening to you where I find out the most about what's going on every day. This past year was not a great one for me - I didn't make as much money as I normally do (which subsidizes my time working on this project), and I had a number of other outside issues, unrelated to "blogging" or "Muni" or whatever, that required my time. (All I can say is, if you get a health scare, don't freak out and all that until you're really sure you've got some horrible illness.)

Rather than quit, however, I'd rather stay on and just work an extra job or whatever, since in the end, what I've valued most is meeting a diverse group of some of the most wonderful people in a great city, all of whom share a common sense view of things and who are out there, every day, doing something to make our City the best it can be. That's why in the end, as dark as they days have been, and will likely to be for some time, I still think there's some hope that it doesn't have to be all bad.

I realize this is probably sounding like wishful thinking, but if we didn't have wishful thinkers, we never would have had San Francisco in the first place.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 6:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)