Archive for September, 2009

The Guardian wonders what a Department of Public Works contractor is doing with a City office and email address.

People are talking about the City’s plans for the Transit Center District, including John King and the Chronicle’s Editorial Board.

The City is back with a new plan that may blow a hole in your Bubble Yum.  That’s right.  In these tough economic times anything can be hit up for a fee.  On the heels of the tobacco fee’s success, Mayor Gavin Newsom and the Department of Public Works are exploring a chewing gum fee to keep the city’s streets pristine.

So you’re feeling a bit down?  So you need a pick-me-up?  Watch this video, and Poof go the blues, I promise.  Here’s the backstory - about 175 Canadian students showed up for school, met each other for the first time, learned their parts on the fly, and filmed this wonderful video, lipsynching along to the Black Eyed Peas’ I Gotta Feeling.  And they did it in Just One Freaking Take.  If this doesn’t make you smile, please check your pulse - if this unfettered ode to joy can’t make you happy, you might just be dead.

City folks and business owners get together to talk about the feasibility and practicality of harvesting wind power in urban San Francisco.  No, there won’t be a wind turbine on every block - but Twin Peaks?  Treasure Island?  Ocean Beach?  Sure.  (Maybe even on top of City Hall.)

November’s relatively lackluster election has resulted in few political dollars flowing about the town.  The Examiner’s Josh Sabatini looks at who’s raised what, what’s getting spent by whom, and why it is what it is.

The Excelsior neighborhood is getting a new cultural center at Geneva and San Jose avenues, much to the delight of local residents and elected officials alike.

San Francisco was on the cusp of landing its first television drama to be filmed here since Nash Bridges. Now, the plug has been pulled on Trauma.

Donald Fisher, co-founder of the Gap and lifetime San Francisco resident, passed away yesterday.  A preeminent businessman and generous philanthropist, Mr. Fisher has left a remarkable legacy in our city and around the world.  He will be missed.

Officials at the San Francisco Zoo are questioning how a young man managed to climb into the grizzly bear grotto.  Thankfully, neither the man nor the animals were hurt, but a valuable lesson was learned (again): stay away from large animals that can eat you.

A new report by the San Francisco Fire Department shows that response time is unequal in different parts of the city.

It’s behind a paywall but the Wall Street Journal has a piece on Bevan Dufty, the city’s homeless czar.

Is Supervisor Dufty’s recent interest in Muni a sign of his eventual mayoral race platform?  The SF Weekly thinks so.

The Department of Rec and Parks and the SFPD team up to address illegal drinking, unpermitted events, fights, and other generally unsavory activity going on at Dolores Park.

Planning Department Smart Fellow Dan Sider has released a report that suggests ways to make things easier and more streamlined for merchants in our commercial corridors.  Might these new rules spur new investment by entrepreneurs?  We’ll see…

Today, SFMTA officials may receive some tough questioning on its plan to add parking meters in a hearing called by Supervisor Mark Farrell. My question: why won’t the meters take my pennies? Are they too good for pennies?

Three Bay Area folks are amongst the newest crop of MacArthur Genius Grant recipients.  A computer scientist, a biologist, and an artist have been granted a cool half million bucks with No Strings.  (Must be nice to be smart…)

Well, just feel happy that Mr. Tom Perkins paid more for his.  Honest, he did.  (And something tells me that even though he just paid $9M for some glass and poured concrete in the sky, he won’t be forced to visit Ikea to furnish it.)

So, just like you, I went to work in a tank top and cutoff denim shorts yesterday, well prepared for the heat wave.  But wait - WHAT HEAT WAVE?  It was warm, sure - warm-ISH.  But not the surface-of-the-sun temperatures we were told to prepare for.  Damn You, Meteorologists - I was off trend for fashion yesterday, all because of you!  (Picture me shaking my fist at them, please.)

The Chron and Ex report on the Oscar Grant settlement deal and what BART board members have to say on the $1.3 million pay out.

There will be no new bars on Polk Street (mostly). Now, the fight will move to parking spaces versus bike lanes on Polk Street. Although, if everyone on Polk St is drinking, maybe they should get rid of both parking and bike lanes and let the new taxis have a white zone (see the post on the left). #safedriving

Local dry cleaners are seeking more time from the Department of the Environment to make the switch to more environmentally friendly cleaning practices.

Congratulations are in order to Mayor Gavin Newsom and Jennifer Siebel Newsom on the arrival of their little girl, Montana Tessa.  Mazel tov!

SFO unveils its new Climate Passport kiosks, which are equipped with user-friendly touch screens that determine how many pounds of carbon dioxide your trip produced and allows fliers to purchase certified carbon offsets on-site.  Revenues will go to reforestation or the SFCarbon Fund.