Serialized gem / siren song Tales of the City drew many folks to SF. Well, it brought us here, anyway. And the character of Mary Ann Singleton acted as a temporary stand-in until many of us arrived. To wit: Mary Ann Singleton was twenty-five years old when she saw San Francisco for the first time. She came to the city alone for an eight-day vacation. On the fifth night, she drank three Irish coffees......

WE LOVE IT WHEN ROSS MIRKARIMI SAVES THE DAY!!!!!! Remember when he stopped a robbery? And then when he saved the life of a guy in Buena Vista Park? And today, he caught two people involved in a drive-by shooting!!! (Thanks to commenter Rah for calling our attention to the story!) Ross Mirkarimi, the supervisor for the Western Addition/Lower Haight's District 5, was out for a jog this morning around 9:45 a.m. (guess Ross doesn't......

This year, the Street Fair in trouble is the Haight Street Fair. The reason why it's in trouble is for the usual reasons-- too much drunkeness with a debate on booths thrown in for good measure. Not mentioned, however, were those magic medicinal brownies SFist once bought that made little leprechauns dance around our heads while singing Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Relax." The Interdepartmental Staff Committee on Traffic and Transportation recently put a permit that was requested by fair organizers on hold for two weeks so they can figure out what to do. ...

Folks who voted before work were smiling and nodding at each other on public transportation today (in part because -- really, these red "I Voted! Ya Vote!" stickers they're giving out in SF today are awesome) -- if you haven't yet, sneak out of work early this afternoon, or make sure you're at your polling place by 8 p.m. If you've forgotten where to go, you can either go to your City Hall or check here (here for SF). So how was the franchisement process for your faithful SFist staffers? Well.... our well-caffeinated SFist Jeremy reports that his polling place, in the heart of District 8, took 3 minutes, and he got to work early. Damn the efficiency of the Noe Valley voting process! He was disconcerted that the friendly pollsters didn't find it necessary to check his ID or validate his claims of residence in any way. Other than that, smooth as a baby's ass. Everyone's favorite registered socialist, SFist Jackson, used his best handwriting to strike a blow against the man in District 11, reporting: "I relished my opportunity to participate in a democratic system today -- take that, Prince Charles! While Edward Champion had some problems this morning, my experience couldn't have gone smoother. There were six polling places and no line. Maybe it was too early, but sadly there was no bake sale to support Buena Vista Elementary this year. I proudly wrote in Anthony Faber for City Assessor, and also wrote in somebody for City Attorney (let's just say she's a fellow blogger). Now I have a nice "I voted!" sticker to wear with my smirk." Hear about SFist MattyMatt's absentee voter experience, the vigilant pollwatchers at SFist Jon's voting place, and how non-citizen SFist Ced wants to participate in the American Experience after the jump! And staffers and readers, share your voting experiences in the comments as you come back. (Did anyone get exit-polled? We never get exit polled.) ...

Did you look up the other day and see that big Green R rotating slowly in the sky? That's the Mirkarimi-signal! To the Ross-cave! We'll take the Prius-mobile! Remember when District 5 supervisor Ross Mirkarimi stopped a robbery in progress a few months ago? Well, the Examiner reports today that our superhero supe is safening up the Haight yet again: on Sunday, Ross was enjoying the beautiful weather in his district with a walk in Buena Vista Park. Suddenly -- "help! help!" Ross and his friend raced down the hill and found a man in need of medical attention. Ross performed CPR on the man as they waited for 911 -- and then Ross helped the EMTs get the man into the ambulance when it got there. The Examiner doesn't say how the man's doing now, but does note, "There's no word on whether the man was a voter in District 5." To be fair, the last time this happened, Ross seemed kind of embarrassed about the attention, asked people not to make him into some kind of "caped crusader," and said, "Anyone would do such a thing." Like Mariah Carey says, the hero lies in yooooooooooou. Maybe we'll name Ross the head of SF's Office of Emergency Services now! ...

Bad karma, man! Someone stole an SF Fire Department SUV while its legitimate driver was responding to a medical call early Monday morning. SFFD policy is to leave the cars in the ignition so they can leave the lights on (maybe time to revisit the policy), but lock the doors (which the firefighter forgot to do). The 'jacker hit five other cars before abandoning the SUV at Fillmore and Golden Gate and running off with a bag of medical equipment. Roll these up and smoke 'em: A pound of pot found in a jauntily-attired teddy bear (check out the picture!) in Rohnert Park, and Barrett Robbins arrested again for pot possession while awaiting trial on attempted murder charges. The reward fund for the 10 ducks killed at the car wash has grown to around $10,000. They've used the money to start a tip line, at (408) 866-2729. ... and so much news, the Blotter goes to four paragraphs today! It's kind of busy over there at the SFPD: a body found in Chinatown, a body found in Buena Vista Park, and the cops found a rocket launcher in an abandoned car at Pier 70 in Dogpatch. ...

Just when you thought your mom was menopausal, you find out about her cache of frozen embryos, and out pop three new sisters. That's right, the 'ist network is welcoming three new cities to the fold (we also have an illegitimate brother in New Zealand to report, but while he shares a striking family resemblance, he's not invited to the reunions). So say 'Ni hao' to Shanghaiist, 'Bonjour' to Parisist and 'Yo' to Phillyist.......

San Francisco's favorite but least read Q&A columnist, the Essefficist, pours sweet sweet Irish Coffee in your ear. Or lies....

SFist was so proud when we broke it to good friend Susan Mernit that she had scored a Bloggie nod in the "Best-kept Secret Weblog" category. Hers is the smartest blog you're probably not reading. When she's not in New York working with her consulting group 5ive (no, not Merlin Mann's hilarious site of lists -- we'll get to him later) to get somebody's business into shape, she's toodling around the South Bay hobnobbing......

Nothing like getting fired right before the holidays, huh? Okay, we know The Apprentice was filmed months ago, but a local film programmer and staff weren't so lucky. Neither were Tim Hudson or Mark Mulder. And the Governator is aiming to be the Grinch who stole your lunch break. In other words, business as usual. Gotten any of your Christmas shopping done? We've done our best to single out a few local businesses for you......

Does anyone in San Fran not know about the Buena Vista Cafe? I know, I know -- today's hip, cultured SFist wouldn't be caught dead so close to the wharf. But there's some really cool stuff down there; places from the past that have stood the test of time -- and the Buena Vista tops that list. Okay, here's the nutshell version: The Buena Vista is a bar down near the wharf that was founded......

Bay Area crime roundup...