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Still Bicycling!

There’s something odd afoot and I’m not sure what to make of it…a mini-PR offensive was launched last week that had some contradictory components. Following the shocking death of two racing cyclists in the South Bay hills, run over by a cop or sheriff who fell asleep at the wheel, also badly injuring a third cyclist, most bicyclists felt that maybe, just maybe, the local authorities might start paying attention to how unsafe it is to cycle around here. The Comicle rushed in to the save the day. They published this hilarious article which puts the blame for 2/3 of all bike-car accidents squarely on the shoulders of the bicyclists. The source? Why it’s that always objective and reliable California Highway Patrol and local police records. What a joke!

Anyone who has bicycled regularly for any length of time around here has had the experience of seeing a fellow or sister cyclist get doored or driven into or worse, or come upon a cyclist sprawled on the ground, and seen how the police routinely take statements from anyone at the scene EXCEPT other bicyclists! The presumption at all points of contact between cyclists and motorists is that the cyclist is at fault. It’s quite difficult to even insert into the record a contrary point of view.

This coming Monday night I’m going to be on a radio show with the Bike Coalition’s Leah Shahum, the MTA’s Bridget Smith, and anti-bicycling crank Rob Anderson:

On Monday 3/31/08, 7:00pm to 8:00pm, the topic for City Visions Radio (91.7.FM) will be: “Planning for San Francisco’s Growing Biking Population” Call in during the show at 415/841-4134 or e-mail us.

I hope you cyclists will call in and demand a thorough and radical alteration of our city streets in favor of safe cycling, traffic calming, and reduced car access wherever possible. It might get weird and even ugly with Anderson on there, since he’s the guy who filed the lawsuit that stopped the current bike plan in its tracks, ostensibly because inadequate environmental review was done before it was implemented.

Continue reading Still Bicycling!

March 28th, 2008 | Category: San Francisco news | One comment

Springing Forward

Nowtopia is back from the printer! You can now order copies here, and you can visit the website I put together for it here. I have an ambitious calendar of appearances scheduled already too, so I hope to see everyone out there somewhere! Big opening party at CounterPULSE April 9, 7:30 p.m.

Obviously I’m behind on blogging these days. My birthday passed last week, and I had the pleasure of discovering that I share a birthday with John Ross. John threw a septugenarian poetry slam at Cafe La Boheme at 24th and Mission a week ago. Here he is early in the proceedings:

He writes semi-regularly for the SF Bay Guardian and Counterpunch, and has a manuscript looking for a publisher about Iraq, where he went at the start of the current war to act as a human shield in Mosul. He just sent out a short piece about that, so if you want to get on his email list write him. I interviewed John a year ago about his late 1960s/early 1970s experience with the Mission Tenants Union and the Mission Coalition Organization, incredibly important episodes in San Francisco history that are largely forgotten… hope to get the clips up on the Shaping SF archive collection soon.

History jumps out at me from my rides and walks around the city. Here’s a piece of public art gracing the MUNI “barn” at Presidio and Post, a nice 30s aesthetic:

Up on Potrero Hill where I was strolling last weekend, spring has sprung, but I was also surprised to find this memorial stencil on 19th near Vermont Street, a most unlikely place for such a thing:

Some folks I know put a lot of hope into Bhutto’s return to the fray in Pakistani democracy, but as usual, I didn’t think it was such a big deal. Her martyrdom is sad–she was apparently an interesting person who had once had quite a joie de vivre, but she must have known her odds of surviving were pretty darn low. Tariq Ali, who was both her friend and a fierce critic, wrote several good pieces about her, here’s one.

Here’s a couple of spring flower shots for all you far-away friends and family yearning for San Francisco at its best:

The ceanothus go crazy at the beginning of spring. Here’s one on the slope below McKinley Square on Potrero Hill with such an intense blue-purple color, I don’t think the photo can quite capture it.

Continue reading Springing Forward

March 18th, 2008 | Category: My Writings and Appearances, Public Space, San Francisco news | Leave a comment

Wiki World

OK, sorry to have been gone so long… a whole month has passed! Sheesh!… up to my eyeballs in a variety of things, especially booking a lot of upcoming appearances. (next Friday March 21 I’ll be reading from After The Deluge at Inside Story Time) More later.

There’s been a flurry of interesting articles about Wikipedia lately. This is particularly interesting to me since one of the things that’s absorbing me these days is the painfully slow creation of a wiki version of Shaping San Francisco (if you want to help, please contact me)… I’ve been thinking and working for a long time on the notion of an open, living archive of San Francisco history. I’m glad I don’t have to answer to the problems besetting Wikipedia, but as we ramp up to our own mini-wiki on local history, we’ll probably face some similar issues.

On one hand there’s the exciting thought that lots of people will contribute their own recollections, memories, and opinions to our shared history. One idea I’m particularly enthusiastic about is having multiple accounts of events that have happened in our own lifetimes. The best example we’ll have of this right away (when we “go public”) is about 5 different versions of the White Night Riot (that links to my account, but there are several others in the current Shaping SF, and more to come). But you can imagine that the sky’s the limit when it comes to parallel stories, often contradicting each other, just as real history is experienced by multiple people with different points of view.

Continue reading Wiki World

March 14th, 2008 | Category: History | Leave a comment
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