Results tagged “chron”

What with last week's cyclist-meets-Muni crash still fresh in our mind, today's Chronicle Watch hit us like a blast of B.O. from a 4-o'clock-hour bike messenger. It seems that San Francisco cyclists, the single most oppressed minority group in these our modern times, fail to pay attention to get-off-the-sidewalk signs. Although cyclists should be allowed on city sidewalks -- because they're doing God's work; really, they should be allowed to ride wherever they damn well want -- they are not. Ultra-cranky Chronicle Watch reader Bill Carroll shakes his fist, saying, "Every day I walk to Aquatic Park (and) every day I and all the other pedestrians are nearly run over by all the bicyclists on the sidewalk...The 'NO BICYCLES' sign is so small and so high that no one seems to notice. The sign should be larger, lower, and state 'NO BICYCLES ON SIDEWALK.' The bicycles are supposed to be on the street." CW forwarded old man Carroll's battle cry to the proper authorities. No word on what, exactly, will be done. Why signs are needed at all boggles the mind. But feel free to implode about it in the comments.

Alas, it has arrived. Today is the deadline for the Chronicle buyout. If the ailing publication can't get rid of 150 jobs by 5 p.m., the paper will start layoffs next month. A slew of noted journalists (surprisingly?) opted for the buyout. SFist's favorite book sniffer and City Bright, Frances Dinkelspiel, has the official word on just who on the editorial staff took management's buyout offer of up to one year's pay, plus health insurance.

We don't usually read the Op Ed pages of the Chronicle, because it's always either rehashed columnists from other papers or something like "give birth control pills to deer in Point Reyes" -- but can you believe it? The Chron actually got someone local to write about a local issue today -- if we're going to build out the MUNI underground, why not actually build it out and have a subway that runs to Fisherman's Wharf?

An unidentified person was shot and killed on the 1600 block of Russell in Berkeley last night, brining the city's murder tally to three. (The much larger city of San Francisco, BTW, is at 14.) The Chron goes on to report:

Matier & Ross were all over this nugget of news today: bronze plaques will be placed in locations where the city's homeless have died. The "memorials" will be placed in Chris Daly and Ross Mirkarimi's districts, which include the Tenderloin, Civic Center, Haight-Ashbury and Western Addition. Each will be 2 feet by 2 feet "human-shaped plaques" and "[inscribed] with details of the deceased's lives and the circumstances of their deaths," according to the Chron. Let's just hope they don't look like the mockup the Gate created above.

On Thursday, Juan Zuluaga, 26, was arrested at the SF Zoo following a run-in with a rhinoceros. It seems, according to the Chron, that Zuluaga was busted for throwing acorns at Mashaki, a black rhino:

Today a federal judge told the prosecutors to "re-craft its perjury case against Barry Bonds." The judge on the Bonds case, Susan Illston, claims that they "improperly lumped multiple alleged offenses into each of four counts of its indictment of the former Giants star." Whoops. Illston slammed the Bonds indictment, which was handed up last November, as "duplicitous." According to the Chron:

Good news: Translink will be up and running on Muni in the late fall/early winter of 2007. Or at least, that's what Muni said last year, and surprise! It's still not working. (And before that, it was January of 2007.) Translink is the work of a company called ERG, Ltd (emphasis on the "limited"); and in the decades (decades!) that it's been bandied about, lots of other cities have managed to set up Translinks of their own. No wonder Scott Schroeder, BART's controller-treasurer, wants the MTC to cut its losses and just give up on the project.

Happy birthday, Leap Day babies! Since it's leap day, there's the obligatory quadriennial articles about how people born today are 75% younger than the rest of us, and the Chron is no exception. The bissextile among us include Dinah Shore, Ja Rule (holla!), Antonio Sabato Jr., and... San Francisco fire chief Joanne Hayes-White!

When first reading the headline, "Google Gives All SF Homeless Free Voicemail" on our Digg feed, we didn't get it. Why the heck would the homeless want free voicemail? Aren't there more vital things the homeless need?

We'll 'fess up. We haven't been to the Cow Palace since the 2005 Tattoo Expo. With that said, we're a bit torn with how to feel about the possibility of the Cow Palace being demolished. With such historical events as the Beatles playing there and John F. Kennedy speaking to the masses about starting the Peace Corp, on that hand alone, we'd hate to see this place go.

Lance Farber, the 47 year old new age chiropractor boyfriend of our new city planning director John Rahaim, who last weekend set their bed on fire and smeared crushed tomatoes all over the historic landmark apartment the city had put them up in, had a brief appearance in court today, where his bail was set at $1 million. Farber would have been in court longer, except that his attorney, noted local criminal lawyer (and Matt Gonzalez for Mayor campaign treasurer) Randy Knox, said Farber's been suffering terrible migraines ever since he set the place on fire and fled the scene.

Well, here we go, folks. What was once an abstract thought is now a reality. Behold "Phil Bronstein At Large," featuring the Chron's political scribe, Carla Marinucci. It was just posted fresh for your admiration, disdain, or entertainment.

Somehow this news story managed to slip past our radar last week, but the Gate published a story on how our wonderful state of California will be spraying the Bay Area with pesticides this summer. In an effort to eliminate the light brown apple moth (aww. Aren't they so cute?), an insect potentially disastrous for farming in California, the state agricultural department will be spraying an insecticide known as Checkmate over urban areas, according to the Chron. Cities that will be included in the spraydown are: San Francisco, Daly City, Colma, Oakland, Piedmont, Emeryville, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Tiburon and Belvedere.

Oh good. Valentine's Day is just around the corner. And if the thought of next Thursday's approaching fillet mignon-for-two-free evening doesn't make you want to slice open an artery followed by nap-time in the bathtub, then how about not making Nob Hill Gazette's annual Lucky 13th Annual Eligible's List? (Yes, yes, you and your hipster S.O. are too cool to celebrate a Hallmark holiday, clearly, but what a privileged thing to decide not to do. Wow, that was bitter. Anyway.)

Wow. This is a bit depressing. Scratch that, a lot.

The Chron got all investigative reporting today and discovered that after getting raises in 2002, the Board now meets less than when they did before the raise. Let's see...more money...less work hours...how do we get that job?

It's that time of the year for all the big papers to weigh in on their choice for President and yesterday, the Chron weighed in and announced that they are going to support the guy who gives pretty, pretty speeches. You know, the Muslim dude who doesn't pledge allegiance to the flag, and just might be on the downlow: Barry Hussein Obama. And, yes, we know most of that stuff comes for a vicious, nasty email smear that's been going around and isn't in any way true, but come on, you gotta let us have some fun.

Choppy footage: San Francisco Police Department via the Chron

www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/25/SPJPUM98P.DTL&tsp=1"> get into a nasty spitball spat with Lane Kiffin. Apparently, Al is a little upset that the Raiders once again didn't have a winning season and blames himself Lane. He is also pretty miffed that Lane talked him into trading Randy Moss. It's a little unclear as to what is going on as ESPN and the Chron have differing accounts but it appears that Al is trying to get Lane to quit so he doesn't have to fire him.

Former editor of The Arizona Republic, vice president of The Cincinnati Enquirer, and top editor for the Reno Gazette-Journal and the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, Bay Area's Ward E. Bushee was just named executive VP and editor of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Image credit: Signe's Blog

Our favorite lady in San Francisco. And the future Mrs. Gavin Newsom.

Got that parapluie? The Chron reports that the skies are going to open up starting tomorrow, with not one, not two, but three separate weather systems barreling on in from Alaska. They're expecting 2-4 inches of rain in the city, possibly up to 8 inches in the hills, and a "paralyzing" amount of snow in the Sierras. There's also the possibility of flooding, so if your house is prone to it, pick up some free sandbags at the DPW yard on Cesar Chavez and right before the 101 N onramp (2323 Cesar Chavez). Friday is supposed to be the worst day, anyways, so plan ahead. (though it always seems when we actually plan for rain, it turns out to be a beautiful day.)

Behold, the tight-lipped duo who, at this point last week, couldn't have imagined the death and subsequent big-cat madness in store for them today. Under supervision at San Francisco General Hospital, due to severe bite and claw wounds since last Monday, Paul Dhaliwal, 19, and Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, were released into the wild yesterday afternoon.

Uh oh.

-- Van Halen jumps. [SFGate]

Well, have you? (And just what's on his hoodie?)

-- Watch out, SF. Last night's armed robbery spree shakes up, shakes down residents. [SF Crime, SFGate] -- Ding, ding: bike rally at City Hall. [Left in SF] -- Your Contemporary Jewish Museum. [Curbed] -- At Harvard U seasons change, feelings change. [Beyond Chron] -- "Come on feel the Noyes." [I'll Flip You] -- Top Bay Area noisemakers of 2007. [SFBG] -- This morning's police chase/fatal accident killed two, including Benjamin Bratt's nephew, Kristopher....