The N-Judah Chronicles

It's been one heck of a week in All Things Muni Related. First we find out that the big accident at West Portal was a world-class failwhale hatched by BOTH Muni management AND the operator, and cost us all a lot of cash (that could have been spent on, oh I don't know RUNNING THE SYSTEM), the Muni operators' union "leadership" continued their suicide course and don't seem to mind who they take with them, and so on.

So, to lighten the mood a little I thought I'd link to some other blogs that are all along the N-Judah line. This is by no means a definitive list - if you know of one I should list, please post it in the comments. Eventually after the site redesign is done, I plan on making this its own page so people can find it easier.

- Haighteration has been with us about a year or so, and is a welcome addition to the constellation of blogs all around San Francisco. If you live in the Lower Haight, and aren't reading it, you're missing out. And if you don't live in the Lower Haight, and aren't reading it, well you should. If nothing else if you're planning a night out, Haighteration is the blog you want to read so you don't miss out on anything fun going on around there!

- Cole Valley Alley is a newer blog as well, but again, this is the blog to be reading if you are living in Cole Valley. I had the pleasure of meeting one of the writers for this blog at the Other Cafe event at the JCC last month, and he was a cool guy.

- Proof that Cole Valley is a vibrant place to live, it also has ColeValleySF.com, which has a history angle to it in addition to neighborhood news. You may wonder how it is that a smaller neighborhood like Cole Valley has so many blogs. Think about it though - it's a nice area that's been around a long time, and it's wedged in between several other neighborhoods so there's going to be some crossover between events Elsewhere and in the Valley. As a former resident of Parnassus Avenue, it's no surprise to me we have so many writers in this area, in the shadow of UCSF.

- Sunset Style proves once again that when outsiders blabber on about how "boring" the Sunset District is, they don't know what they're talking about. She has an amazing collection of photos showing the unique properties of the area. She even has some pictures of my apartment's garden!

- I'm not sure where the line goes from "blog" to "local newspaper", but whatever you want to call it, the Ocean Beach Bulletin has great news and history, and is edited by Tom Prete (whom if you've not met, you should because he's a nice guy and he's smart). Reading the OBB I'm reminded of all those local community papers that used to dot the landscape of the City and the Peninsula more than anything else. Lately it has been on top of some pretty important stuff, such as the tsunami warning, the boat that ran aground at the beach, and so on.

A few other links worth noting include:

- We all know the SF Appeal is awesome. But did you know they compile links of Muni related news from all around town every day? You didn't? Well now you know. It's a wonderful new feature and it makes my life a bit easier, since now I can find links faster than my Google News Alerts (sometimes).

- California Streets is a great blog anyway, but they have compiled a detailed plan to go from San Francisco to Los Angeles - using nothing but local transit. Sure it takes 30 hours. Yes, you have to stay overnight in Santa Maria. Some enterprising band of folks I'm sure will take up the challenge, and hopefully document it on video. THAT would be AWESOME.

Finally this: Courtesy of Lisa Katayama's Tokyo Mango blog, there's this wonderful, hella gone viral video that documents the debut of a high speed train in Kyushu. Now, this line opened up on March 12th, one day after the earthquake that devastated much of the east coast of Japan. The ad itself didn't appear until much later.

You can't help but watch this and admire the spirit of unity and pride the people of Japan have in this new train. While we in the US are mired in know-nothingism, choose-up-sidery, NIMBYism, whiny entitlement BS, here you have Japan, which gets hit by a major disaster, and people are still out there doing things. The diversity of all the people along the line cheering this new HSR line along just makes you feel good. Didn't we used to be like that once?

Happy Weekend!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 2:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In early March, the N-Judah crashed into a car, and the person driving the car is the grandmother of Reader David. In the aftermath of said accident, David's grandmother suffered significant injuries. Now, in an attempt to better understand what happened, David's family is searching for more information from eyewitnesses who saw the accident and can shed some light on the sequence of events. If you know of any information, please contact him at the email listed in his email. Thanks!

Almost two months ago, on March 3, 2011, my grandmother's car collided with the N Judah light rail train at Judah and 24th Avenue.

As a result of the accident, she sustained a skull fracture, broken bones (collar bone, sternum, and four ribs), and deep lacerations on her legs. She was hospitalized at San Francisco General Hospital for nearly four weeks, and has only recently returned home. Her life has permanently changed, as she now needs constant supervision when eating, walking, and using the bathroom.

As far as I can tell, the only media coverage of the event is this SF Examiner article and this SF Appeal article. To better understand what happened on March 3, our family is searching for any witnesses of the accident.

Were you in the immediate area of the N Judah accident on March 3 (or do you know anyone who recalls the scene)?

Were you on board the outbound N Judah Muni train on March 3 (or was anyone you know on board the Muni train)?

Do you live near the intersection of Judah and 24th (or do you know anyone who lives in this area)?

If you've answered yes to any of the above questions, please contact me at david.s.drabkin@gmail.com. Thank you for your attention to this urgent personal appeal

Posted by Greg Dewar at 8:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today, we read in our esteemed Fourth Estate that Muni's union is holding a "strike authorization vote" amongst its members. Now, for those not versed in union terminology, an "authorization vote" is usually required amongst its members before its leadership can have the ability to call for a strike later on. The idea is that it has to be something a majority of the members want, instead of something imposed on them by their leaders. It doesnt mean that anyone's striking just yet.

There's just one problem - while the huffing and puffing may make TWU Local 250-A feel good, at best it's more ridiculous posturing. It's the same as Muni's management (via $100,000 spokesfolks) saying they're taking away paid lunch hours. Since neither side is particularly sophisticated, both seem content to escalate, attack, lie, cheat, and more to get their way. This, before negotiations have even started? Brilliant.

In the case of a "strike authorization vote," TWU Local 250-A's "leaders" know full well that strikes are for all city workers under the City Charter. This was passed after a strike by both San Francisco's police and firefighters during a wage increase dispute during Mayor Alioto's reign in the 1970s. They can pimp some junkie logic to the media about how this isn't the case, but they know internally that any strike they attempt would not only be illegal - it'd likely mean the end of the employment of a lot of people.

As always, when this kind of crypto-bullshit rhetoric is unleashed, howler monkeys on SFGate are screaming the usual nut-wing nonsense, Muni management and TWU are screaming like bratty kids on the playground, and the rest of us sit here and wonder where we can get jobs that pay well and don't require us to do anything productive.

However, the question we should be asking is: where are the adults in San Francisco to step in and calm things down so we get a fair system that benefits everyone? We have St. Mayor Ed Lee, who gets lavish praise from his PR department at the Chronicle, saying that Muni isn't important, and instead is focusing his efforts on giving a billionaire free land so that other billlionaires who don't pay taxes can have their little boat race in the future, and who takes orders from his behind the scenes masters like a good waiter.

We have many people aspiring to be Mayor, and they rank as follows:

-One who voted for the massive cuts to Muni while serving in the Legislature
-One who is crowdsourcing his platform
-One who likely never rides Muni
-One who should be our Muni rider advocate, but we haven't heard from in a while (we miss you, you-know-who!)
-One who is too busy playing political games in his first term in office to pay attention to Real Things of Important
-And one, to be fair just jumped in, so we can't really say much about him. yet.

(Did I miss anyone?)

As for us, the Owners who are also Riders, we were told there was a union for us - but instead it is a wannabe arm of One Side's Political Machine and has TWU on its board!

Won't someone please think about the children?

Won't someone PLEASE speak up for people of all ages, ethnicities, income levels, private workers, public workers, union worker, nonunion worker, senior, disabled rider, those of us Without Cars, and well the CITIZENS OF SAN FRANCISCO who rely on a functional Muni for our daily lives?

Anyone?

Anyone?

Posted by Greg Dewar at 4:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

As someone who supported Proposition G, watching the opening salvos in the media, from both TWU Local 250 A (operators' union) and the $100,000 PR folks the MTA hired (who never send us any of their press releases, hint hint) has been an extremely depressing experience.

That's because the huff-and-puff rhetoric on both sides ensures a sh!tstorm for the next few months, and the likelihood that whatever we end up with won't serve anyone. Employee morale? Improved service? A contract that is fair to all (owner/riders, operators, taxpayers, the agency)? Fuggedabout it.

That's because the agency is taking the tack that "driver pay" is the Only Thing Killing the Agency (not true), and the union is taking the attitude of "it's not our job to care about the agency's problems, unlike other unions who made sacrifices" (also, not true). The end result is well-funded antagonism, a flurry of stupid blog comments, and once again an agency that is adrift, leaderless and not being honest with themselves, the public or its employees.

There is no doubt that there are things in the current Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the agency and the union contains legacy clauses left over from decades past, and all sorts of weird clauses that cause the infamous "pay me not to show up to work" situation, and so on lead to significant costs to the agency, and any sane person would agree they shouldn't be there. No one is served by them, and the promise of G was simply that under collective bargaining (you know, that thing everyone supported in Wisconsin?) there'd be a way to negotiate these out, or take them to an impartial arbitrator. Anyone who thought G was a Magic Cure-All to all the agency's problems was smoking ground up unicorn dust. Fixing these problems is merely one of many Big Changes the agency needs if it is to function properly.

Think about it like this - if there was one cure for cancer, cancer would be cured. Likewise with Muni and the MTA - if there was, in fact, only one cause for its woes, then yes, we could fix it easily.

Let's push aside the crazy for a moment and look at this thing called "history" and see how we got into this mess. For anyone to deny that the illegal looting of hundreds of millions of dollars, first by (thank GOD) ex-Governor Schwarzenegger and his Democrat allies in the Legislature, via the stolen gas tax money had no effect on the MTA, is to deny a basic truth.

If I were to pull out a gun, and go up to someone and steal 1/4 or more of their salary, then ask them to keep making their house payments, sans income, one would say that would be cruel, yes? And yet, the agency, particularly in the form of longtime board members whose background is primarily in suburban politics, deny this and refuse to consider a serious replacement for that stable revenue.

Relying on regressive and unpredictable things like "parking ticket fines" shows just how buried in the sand the collective leadership of the MTA and City Hall seem to be in right now. Such measures won't work in the long term. Likewise, expecting to make up a huge gap (not to mention restoring all those cuts Nat Ford bragged about while Prince Newsom was "mayor") solely from parking tickets and worker concessions isn't going to work. Alas, whenever you talk about such issues using reason and not BS, no one wants to listen.

In the end, it's a Battle of the Titans. The agency, via its $100,000 PR contractor, will amp up the rhetoric and be sure to fire up the editorial writers to demonize the operators. The union, via its various apparatii, will continue their mix of "f*ck you" and "poor picked on me," which has been working oh so well. Meanwhile the public will think that there's a magic Jedi crystal that will solve all the agency's problems, all the while watching management pick up big pay, and watching drivers text on their devices.

No one wins, and those of us who backed Prop. G in good faith will likely see another good idea get garbled by the dysfunction that is San Francisco politics.

PS: I have yet to hear one mayoral candidate speak out on any of this, or present any sort of vision on what they'd do as Mayor. It's almost May and you hear little from these folks besides begging for money via the Internet. I sure would like to hear something substantial from one of these folks, but I'm not holding my breath. I'll try and revive the Muni Rider Voter Guide this year, but it's a project I sure could use some assistance with, so if you're interested, please email me.

PS 2, Electric Boogaloo:I'm also challenging the MTA (via in house or outside PR operation) and TWU's spokespeople to a) put me on their email list and b) be willing to answer questions once in a while as things go forth. I have my opinions, and we all know what they are, but I also won't rewrite quotes or other nonsense that happens sometimes. I'm just curious to hear why either side has the moral high ground here - so far I've heard nothing from either side that's making me have a lot of faith in 'em.

PS 3:Here's an old example of how wiring this kind of stuff into the City Charter is a bad idea, and one of the reasons for passing Prop. G. Way back in the Olden Days, streetcars needed two people to operate the cars safely. Eventually a requirement that all streetcars have 2 operators was wired into the Charter. As technology changed, and 2-man crews were no longer necessary, moving personnel to other functions was impossible. In the end the rule was changed, but it took a lot of work to do so. Legacy rules that aren't cleaned out serve no one well.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 4:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was all set to cook dinner when I realized I was missing an ingredient, so I decided to head to the corner store and buy it, when I heard sirens. Whenever I hear sirens, I'm always one to look and see if said fire engines and ambulances are headed my way or not. In this case, they were. I also noticed the N inbound stopped and the operator directing traffic around the streetcar. My first guess was that somehow the N had lost power, and that the emergency vehicles would have to pass it to keep going. As it turned out, the N WAS the intended destination, due to a medical emergency on board, and the operator was out there directing traffic and flagging the emergency crew.

Fortunately for those of us in San Francisco, when an emergency happens, the response times in this city are pretty spectacular, and the emergency folks were able to help a passenger in distress who, while not well, wasn't dead or anything. Watching this, all I could think of was how this Muni operator and the owner/riders stepped up and helped a fellow citizen in distress, instead of ignoring it (or worse). All I could think of was how great San Francisco was, and how as always, Muni, the MTA "management," and TWU's "leadership" will never recognize this operator for his good work in helping someone out.

Oh well.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 6:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I've attended this event on and off over the last few years, and every year it just seems to be getting better and better, and it started out as awesome, so that's a bonus.

This year they'll be featuring a wide range of events for both dogs and people, and will also host a raffle and silent auction. All of this goes to support science, the arts, and literacy at McKinley public school, located in the Castro. Let's face it, public schools have been taking it on the chin for decades now, and it's only with these kinds of events that our schools can survive and give kids the knowledge and experiences they need. How could anyone say no, right?

If you're feeling especially adventurous, why not help TWO worthy causes (and still have fun)? April 16th is also "Foursquare Day," and Pacific Catch, located at 9th and Irving, is once again hosting a special event for the day and offering you a chance to earn a special badge on Foursqaure. This year, they are dedicating the day to raising money for relief efforts in Japan, in parternship with Sapporo Beer. You can't watch the continuing crisis in Japan and not want to do something, so here's one (of many) opportunities to do so. As residents in an earthquake zone, we have a special duty to help others, since we know how chaotic any quake can be - the one on Japan was really severe. So if you're in the area, or just taking a lunch break from Dogfest, hop on the N and take it to 9th and Irving and check it out.

As part of a revival of sorts, I've resurrected the N Judah Chronicles Photo Group, so if you're at either of these events and see something photo-worthy, feel free to submit a photo to the group! Or if you just see something photo worthy on Muni or around town you feel others might enjoy, submit that too! I'll start featuring these on a regular basis going forward!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 1:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Consider the latest "OMG WTF" moment with Muni - a faulty door that wouldn't close while passengers were on board in the tunnel downtown. This is a serious safety issue, and if anyone had fallen out the door or something similar, Muni would have millions of dollars in lawsuits on its hands. This is in the wake of the California PUC slamming Muni for safety violations. Worse (for Muni), Supervisor Scott Weiner just happened to be riding the train (he being an Actual Muni Owner/Rider in office, unlike most) and made some observations, which were later aggressively challenged by Muni Operations chief John Haley.

If this sounds familiar, its the same new, aggressive "best defense is a good offense" PR strategy used at the hearing on unannounced turnarounds a while back, and with the PUC's complaints. The attitude over at Muni management has gone from passive agressiveness to an up front contempt for the people who own the system, and is a new low in public sector services, even for San Francisco.

In light of this new, aggro tone, it was curious to see that Muni's beloved, well paid managers decided that in addtion to the many well paid PR people they have in house, they had to spend another $100,000 for an outside PR firm, just to handle the media for the upcoming labor negotiations with the Muni operator's union, Local 250-A. What...the...F*CK?

Seriously. This is SOP for not just the MTA, but for the city - put lots of people on the payroll at six figures to do "press," and then hire more people on the outside as well. If the people in-house can't handle the job, fire them and hire new ones, don't spend more money on outside consultants, who have no accountability to the folks paying the bills. Or, better yet, hire me to do the job. I'll do it for lower fees, and frankly I'd kick ass. (Sorry, but as someone who is struggling to pay the bills seeing folks get all these big government gigs, I can't help but think I'd do as good a job, and I actually ride Muni.)

The fun keeps on coming with Muni. Management now claims that they're going to actually use the Transit Effectiveness project they paid $3 million for (sound familiar?), but as always, they have to invent new ways to blow it. In this case, we apparently can't implement anything until after several years of endless hearings and whatnots.

Bullsh*t. The TEP was created after several long years of hearings, meetings, and more. This thing is DONE. There is no reason for more endless talking, and spending of money on consultants and hearings and PR. It is time for the agency to create a new funding plan to implement and DO IT. I realize that getting things done isn't the norm at the MTA, and given how aimless the agency, and the City are acting these days, I don't expect much to happen. Basically, the MTA has known what it has had to do - its leadership has been either too incomptent or too timid to implement it.

Operators continue to do no favors for themselves - once again we have a story of an operator texting while driving, and employing Muni's new "f*ck you!" PR strategy, told the owner/rider he was an "asshole". Naturally he only faced a 3-day suspension for potentially killing innocent passengers. Brilliant. All on the eve of labor negotiations that matter? BRILLIANT.

Not to be outdone, TWU's leadership got their weekly "ain't my job" comments in, when the subject of fare evasion, as we find out once again that fare evasion is costing the agency a lot of money (gee, where have we heard this before?). And, of course, the union's leaders chimed in with their classic "ain't my job" response when asked why this is the case.

Really? Listen, genius, it IS your problem because the agency is facing cuts. I realize that to some Supervisors, and to certain political factions, stealing fares from the poor is considered something worth celebrating, but when people steal fares, they are in fact hurting those that can afford it the least when fares go up. Even if Muni only collected HALF of what they're owed, they'd be doing a lot better. I guess asking people to be honest in San Francisco is asking too much, at least in some cases.

Finally, an enterprising Muni owner/rider came up with a single-serving site that's not only funny, but has some useful information. How F*cked is Muni? popped up around the blogs a week or so ago, and it's actually somewhat helpful. Try it out sometime.

Finally, Friend of the N Judah Chronicles, A Streetcar Named Taraval has a Muni Drinking Game that sounds rather fun. If nothing else, it's something to do as you give your regards to the Earth's Core during your morning commute.

It's kinda fun while you're commuting on your way to give your regards to the Earth's Core.

UPDATE: If you are curious as to how Muni management views your safety, not to mention the TWU leadership, look at this coverage following up on the incident whereby a driver was illegally texting while driving. It's to be expected that union leadership backs a bad apple who committed a crime (texting while driving is illegal, obviously) and endangered lives. What's more shocking is that Muni management, under John Haley, initially took the driver's word over that of the Muni owner/rider, and had to be shamed into doing something only KTVU broadcast the video.

If you have a phone that can shoot video, always try and use it to document an incident, since clearly Muni's management doesn't take safety seriously, and will use their new obnoxiousness to bury it, otherwise.

Shameless Appeal For the Blog: If you've ever considered buying a shirt, or other item from the store, now is the time to do it. We are going to be making some significant changes to the items we sell fairly soon, including the discontinuation of some, and the addition of some new designs. I'm also looking for a local vendor to start producing them so that we could offer these in local store (and at a significantly lower price than Zazzle). Buy now!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)