February 2009
53 posts
S.F. to study restricting cars on Market Street... →
Stakeholder opposition dances pretty hilariously around the fact that people are just scurred of restrictions on automobile travel.
It’s funny that opposition cycles between the trite “harming the economic vitality” and the openly classist “exacerbating the unsavory elements” (I mean, DANG, Chron, good luck in your next life) arguments, which are almost logically...
“Bedbugs had largely been eliminated with DDT, but in the late 1980s,...”
– Plan to Fight Bedbugs Includes Mattress Rules - City Room - NYTimes.com
Bedbugs are seriously my worst fucking nightmare. I’ll admit New York has had a pull on me in the past; all that postpunkBrooklyntronica, all those cousins, all that freedom and anonymity and food and trains and culture...
Ra Ra Riot - St. Peter’s Day Festival
Ride...
This is the Peter Gabriel cover of that Vampire...
“Silver continued that putting drugs like heroin or PCP in the hands of...”
– Former S.F. Supe Silver Resigns From Sheriff’s Department, Cites Desire to Legalize Drugs
I find this kind of radical action to be incomparably awesome; regardless of its relative distance from the mainstream, I believe it’s the only kind of thing that starts the shift toward policy...
“How hard would it be for a conservative- or libertarian-inclined economist to...”
– Matthew Yglesias (via southpol)
In the Continuing Saga of Beautiful Urban Decay... →
This is long overdue, just recognition for one of the richest parts of our historic fabric. Also, it’s amazing how supportive property owners can expedite the process (which ends up being a huge benefit to them in the long term anyway.)
Invincible Cities →
*immerse*
nedhepburn:
Paul Simon “You Can Call Me Al”
i’m...
“Mr. Donovan concluded by saying, “We have an enormous opportunity. It will not...”
– A Homecoming for HUD’s New Secretary
I’m optimistic and enthused about the new head of HUD. He seems to have a clear understanding of the issues and the brains and will for positive change. Wary of relying too much on the election afterglow to carry us into reform, though, considering the...
This. Is. Amazing. →
Speaking in Tongues - The New York Review of Books
“The pattern that emerges from the document is one advocating for more spending...”
– BeyondDC - Where is the old AASHTO and what have you done with them?
I was having a hopeless, disillusioned kind of day, what with the “Stimulus” fucking-over of the arts (and preservation) and my senators along for the ride, but then there was this. And I felt (a little) better.
Hehehe. →
New Pornographers - Adventures in Solitude
“Culture Monster asked Feinstein whether she agrees with the amendment’s...”
– SECOND UPDATE: Feinstein joins Senate majority in excluding arts from stimulus package | Culture Monster | Los Angeles Times
She says, as they slash funding for transit and allocate the lion’s share to highways. We are so, so fucked. As a people. Just kill yourself now.
Dianne Feinstein is a total fucking letdown. Not... →
On the chopping block:
$55 Mil (relatively small potatoes) for historic preservation, to say nothing of cuts to schools, higher education, neighborhood stabilization, and GSA.
How much did we pour into the financial services, insurance and auto industries so that their execs could (a) turn around and sue us, and (b) get bonuses big enough to feed a family of four for 10 years?
The New New...
drned:
The Dixie Cups “Iko Iko”
This was one of...
“By the time Item 12 was called, I’m pretty sure we could have put together...”
– San Francisco - The Snitch - American Apparel Planning Commission Meeting: The Play-by-Play
Andy Wright’s play by play of the Planning Commission hearing is hilarious. Kinda loving The Snitch today.
“CalTrain said it would “try” to run two cars during commute hours,...”
– San Francisco - The Snitch - Reports of Bike Activists’ ‘Win’ over CalTrain Stretches Definition of Word ‘Win’
Oh, snap SF Weekly. Oh, snap.
And further on the Oakland tip, looking good, Fox... →
Incentivizing preservation of historic buildings through tax credits: I heart u.
epilogue to the whole "I can ride a bike" thing.
So the other night I rode in the dark over to a friend’s house a mile or so from my house. As I left the house I neurotically checked my blinky lights, brakes, etc etc, still worried about “doing it right” out there on the road. I got down to 18th Street between Guerrero and Valencia, and rolled up behind a couple on their bikes, riding approximately 7 mph two abreast, no...
That's what I'm talking about!! →
No, really that’s exactly what I was just talking about yesterday. Ezra Klein is totally feeling me!
It is important to periodically remind oneself...
I’ve been so worried about fitting in on the road with my new bike. It’s been a long time since I rode a bike, owing partly to childhood scarring from overzealous cyclist dad, and I have some residual confidence issues with my ability to competently operate a bicycle. And even though I’ve long been a supporter of the whole bike culture (transit not traffic! etc!) it’s only...
“The automobile has not merely taken over the street, it has dissolved the living...”
– ~James Marston Fitch, New York Times, 1 May 1960
Take the long view, I guess.
Stimulus to Nowhere? →
via | Planetizen
Further ranting on the shortsighted imbalance of stimulus funds to highways vs. transit infrastructure. One more, then I’ll stop.
In order to effectively navigate us away from...
Just a few weeks ago, after Senator Boxer’s barely coherent Daily Show (maybe Colbert?) appearance, I wondered aloud how it is she could possibly be one of the two people in all of California we’ve chosen to represent us in the Senate. (Not that the other one is all that awesome either, but at least we have the hometown connection and I mean, dang, Boxer can’t even articulate a...
