17 posts tagged “crime”

You can still ride for free on BART during Spare The Air days -- but only until 1pm, and I couldn't be happier about that. The transit agency said that between all the complaints from regular riders and the increase in petty theft on those days that enough was enough. I've had the occasion to ride on two free BART days so far and I vowed to swim across the Bay and then walk to my destination before I'd consider doing it again. Crowded, late trains turned into instant rolling asshole conventions thanks to bored teenage kids with nothing better to do. No thank you.

SFGate: Spare The Air trims will limit free rides

Also joining in on the 1pm cutoff are Caltrain, Altamont Commuter Express and all ferry operators. All other transit agencies will continue to allow all-day joyrides.

Bringing new meaning to the term Ugly American is a recent visitor to Nuremberg who somehow thought a naked tiptoe through das tulips was appropriate. Local police said nein and fined him 200 euros for the image burned forever on the retinas of traumatized residents.

Welcome to the family: Julie Jenkins of Arkansas bit off part of her new son-in-law's ear the other night.

Viagara cures jet lag! At least, if you're a hamster on an eastbound jet it does.

All the rage in the UK: Designer vaginas.

MUNI means business: Nat Ford sent out a diplomatic (and leaked) memo to his management team requesting "that everyone participate in representing the best interests of our organization, the City, and our patrons by following SFMTA's standards for performance." In the business world, this are usually the type of memo that arrives a few months before mass firings begin (at which point everyone realizes "oh shit, management means business" and real change occurs).

Bay Area foodies are kinda-sorta-yes-really pissed off at Slow Food maven Carlo Petrini for slamming the organic wares of the Ferry Building's farmers market as being tailored for "a clientele whose social status was pretty clear: either wealthy or very wealthy".

In the why-bother department, a major hotel chain approached Rosas Farms about using their organic and grass-fed beef in that chain's restaurants. All went well until they demanded all incoming meat be irradiated as part of "a risk management thing." The Rosas showed the hotel executives the door and Erin Rosa wrote some informative words about irradiation.

Democrats may be the Congressional majority (by a slim margin), which at least allows us some point-and-laugh room

when the more shrill of the wingnuts start ranting. This time, Sadly, No! mocks the latest utterances of Debbie Schlussel -- she's some sort of columnist, I guess -- who has decided that Muslim doctor = medical terrorist. Stay classy, Debbie.

And speaking of things that make wingnut conservatives scream, read an excerpt from Al Gore's upcoming book The Assault On Reason.

In the latest chapter of the ongoing serial known as Oh My God Best Buy Sucks, the kids over at Consumerist feature a letter from the latest happy customer victim of the Big Blue Box. It's titled Best Buy Stole My Computer and I think you can figure out the contents on your own.

This Link Lounge is not brought to you by Dee's Nuts, the salty snack treat that's been filtered through a pair of breasts.

Masked men break into the DMV's Oakland office, steal a bunch of registration stickers and disabled permits that are within weeks of expiring.

NYT asks "Why are so many chefs at all price points — who wouldn’t dream of using vanillin instead of vanilla bean and who source their organic baby vegetables and humanely raised meats with exquisite care — using a synthetic flavoring agent?" The additive in question is truffle oil which, as it turns out, doesn't actually contain truffles.

Controversy! Debate is raging over whether San Diego burritos are better than Mission-style burritos served in San Francisco. According to the comments, the Mexicans cooking in San Diego (land of the horrifyingly disgusting and tragically overrated "fish taco") are more authentic than the Mexicans cooking in San Francisco.

There be whales in Sacramento. The Marine Mammal Center is trying to figure out why the pair of humpbacks is attempting to reach the state's capitol. Maybe they want to have a chat with Arnold?

All those newer housing projects San Francisco put up in the past ten to twelve years are falling into disrepair because the Feds keep cutting the Housing Authority's budget. Mayor Hairball wants local money to make up some of the shortfall. Supervisor Chris Daly notes he floated a similar proposal a few weeks ago, and Newsom refused to support it.

Puleng is an amazing and bittersweet animated short by Ali Taylor, and worth three minutes of your time.

SOMA residential hotel "catering to the poor" is pinpointed as Ground Zero for a nasty, drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis. In the name of keeping others safe, the SF Dept. of Health refuses to name the hotel, even though it spends nearly $4 million every year to fight the disease.

Don't feed those birds: The parrots of Telegraph Hill get special protection from the Board of Supervisors, banning public feeding of the red-cheeked conures in city parks. Advocates say the birds might lose their ability to forage and sustain themselves if they rely on handouts from strangers.

On a related note, I'd like to address whoever put up those banners on Columbus: The name of the neighborhood is Telegraph Hill. It has not, nor will it ever be, known as TelHi by anyone other than you and your silly-assed lamp post hangings. Furthermore, the Financial District is not FiDi, North Beach is not NoBe and Chinatown will never be anything other than Chinatown. If you're too lazy to pronounce anything with more than two syllables, I propose you make your way to the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge -- sorry, the GoGa -- and see if you can fly.

Boston's crime-fighters get over themselves, drop "terrorism" charges against the Mooninite sign posters. Typical of law-and-order types, it took a little while for the concept of "you're over-reacting and making the entire town look silly" to sink in.

What the hell? Tacoma police found a dead fawn dressed up like a baby and left on the steps of the Pantages theater, complete with a bib reading "You think I'm cute? You should see my aunt."

Gavin Newsom loses control of the Police Commission as progressive is elected its president. Former president and Newsom supporter demonstrates his administration's "my way or the highway" attitude and quits in a pout; vote was apparently a tie broken by another mayoral appointee. Pot-meet-kettle moment: Newsom supporters questioning the political ambitions of those who didn't vote for his chosen candidate.

Before and after allegedly getting drunk and starting a fire that rendered a family of twelve homeless, Rogelio Nieto is reported to have said he had a grudge against those who lived there. Family response: Rogelio who?

SOMA developers get an overdue bitchslap from the Board of Supes. Who knew they'd have a problem with builders creating studio condos for the rich abusing a post-Loma Prieta rule designed to ensure ample housing supplies for the poor. On the other hand, one might make the case that a $350K studio condo is affordable housing in San Francisco.

Tenderloin residents march on City Hall over crime issues. Less crime is always a good thing, but after my own experiences in trying to get the City's attention in a pre-dotcom SF for similar problems in the Mission, I hope you'll pardon my jaded response that the only reason TL residents get press coverage and official attention is that the number of professional white people living there has reached a critical mass.

In a surprising and unexpected revelation, one of MUNI's most complained-about drivers allegedly ignores passenger safety, continues driving without alerting police or activating emergency strobes when muggings and assaults occur on his runs. ABC7 interviewed the driver for this story, and in my opinion he comes across as a liar.

Wondering why it's going to cost you ten bucks to get into the KFOG Kaboom festival this year? SF Party Party says it's because Gavin Newsom's administration has increased usage fees by 100 percent. Some say this is the latest assault from the Mayor's anti-fun brigade that's killing off street fairs and park events left and right. While I think the trend is somewhat alarming, I have to wonder if there was anything to the fees being too low to be fair to San Francisco. If someone has to pay for all the bridge-and-tunnel types to have a grand time in The City, I'd rather it be the users of the event, thanks very much.

Train robbery: Gang stands on tracks, stops train and beats up the engineer when he confronts them.

Look but don't... look: Antwerp's zookeepers would rather visitors not stare at the chimpanzees.

Hotdoll: A sex doll for dogs. Yes, really.

Debt did them in: All the same, 1,428 years is an impressive lifespan for a company.

Jim Meko is an SF Entertainment Commission member and also on the Western SOMA Citizens Task Force, and he's trying to get venerable South of Market bars The Eagle and The Hole In The Wall shut down. From what I've read of Mr. Meko, he seems to be believe he's a Planning Commission of one, and the community should probably step out to remind him he's not the only, or the deciding, voice in such matters.

SF Gate blogger is really, really sorry that she joked about Gavin Newsom having oral sex with a KTVU microphone.

SFist would like to know what it takes for local queers to make Out's A-list, and I must resist making a wiseass remark that starts with "Who do you have to blow..."

Critical Mass bikers call bullshit on Susan Ferrando's's minivan terror story, say she tried to pull a hit and run.

Samson Wong, the editor who green-lighted Kenneth Eng's shit-stirring "Why I Hate Blacks" op-ed at AsianWeek, has been demoted to consultant with a weekly column.

The last day for Cody's Books in San Francisco: April 20.

The Craigslist ad said "everything free for the taking," and take everything, they did - even the window frames. Unfortunately, the ad wasn't placed by the home's owner. Who would have done such a thing? The owner's sister, say some.

Don't littler in front of Montreal's Claude Landry:

VP Dick Cheney appears to have lost his mind, demanding that reporters in a mid-air press conference not identify him in his stories by name, but as an unidentified senior administration official. And that's just the start of the crazy.

Shrill human sideshow with a minority party fanbase calls John Edwards a faggot.

Quick! Name all 50 states in ten minutes -- from memory, no cheating.

Afghanistan's first riot grrl band? (YouTube)

Even more YouTube goodness: Low-level flight over the Swiss Alps in a fighter jet. The flight "climbing" the Matterhorn is amazing.

HAHAHAHAHAHAH. Oh, San Francisco I love you so much.

So there were some recent stories -- damned if I can actually find them now -- about how gay neighborhoods are being diluted, and that some gays and lesbians don't see the need to live in "a ghetto." While I'm all for mainstreaming, I'd like to remind some of my more progressive brothers and sisters that they live in a bubble of privilege and denial.