Links of Interest: Other Blogs All Along the N-Judah, and More!

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!

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