Results tagged “construction”

UPDATE: Well, that was a nice surprise. The bridge opened at 7 a.m. this morning. It's been inspected and is now safer than when it closed.

Check out the whimsical picket line angry at construction consultants On Time Budget, Inc. over at 1914 Fillmore Street. This adorable fat cat squeezing a construction worker was deflated much too soon after cops arrived on the scene and asked the person in charge to get rid of it.

Is there anyplace in San Francisco more charming than SOMA at night? No, there is not. And this President's Day, it'll be even charminger: construction and traffic reroutes on the Bay Bridge may cause a few heavy-flow days over the holiday weekend. If you're clever, you'll probably want to avoid SOMA in the late-night and early-morning hours. But then again, if you're clever, you probably already do.

Good news! The FTA says that building a Central Subway would be a great idea. The FTA, whose local website hasn't been updated in about a year, evaluated project justification, mobilitiy improvements, and land use; and they gave the project a "medium-high" to "high" rating in those categories. They're also supposed to rate alternatives analysis and local financial commitment, but those criteria aren't mentioned in Muni's chipper press release.

We got word today from an anonymous source that two residents of Bernal Heights -- including a former President of Golden Gate Audubon Society -- spotted a burrowing owl a block from their house on the southeastern side of the hill. The (sub?)species was confirmed by another Audubon-er.

Via Slog comes this excellent debate candidate. They're doing that thing again where they make the presidential contenders watch YouTube videos before speechifying, and this is possibly one of the best questions we're seen so far. You can vote for the question here.

As previously noted, one of the best weekend guides in the city is produced by Muni and sent out exclusively to the press. (The PresidiGo, meanwhile, extends that courtesy to its riders.) So, what's on Muni's radar this weekend? Some kinda Nike thing! The "Fiesta on the Hill," which sounds like the name of a children's television program! The Portola Festival, which has been celebrated since 1909 according to this hideous webpage!

Ah, beautiful Diviz. Is there no boulevard more perfect, more blissful? When we think "nice places to take an afternoon constitutional," we are drawn instantly to its divine charm. It is, simply put, an Eden. To alter it would be to play God.

Photo of the revivified roller skate area on 6th Avenue in GG Park

All of you YouTube addicts out there are probably familiar with many of the "absoludicrous"* found video clips from Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett's touring Found Footage Festival (*Mr. T makes an appearance in the "Celebrities Who Teach" series). The critically-acclaimed event will be in San Francisco tonight and tomorrow night at the Roxie Red Vic at 7:15 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. and this Sunday at the Parkway in Oakland for a 5 p.m. matinee. Every screening features Nick and Joe's live, in-person commentary. If you can't make it to the live show, you have the option to buy the Found Footage Festival Vol. 2 DVD, which features Nick and Joe's commentary and the live audience laugh track from a screening at The Heights Theater in Minnesota. Note: This event has very adult content. There is a clip at the end that will shock, titillate, and stun -- shall we say, "flopping, full frontal?"

Today we found one of many of the following flyers posted on Stillman Street, a strip of eastern SOMA where overpass construction dominates, dangers lurks, and Giants and Shitty Nights fans use as a urinal.

So, obviously, SFist can't even pretend to be neutral when it comes to Prop A. We've been covering its progress for months, and now it's evolved into a smart, fair compromise that has just about everyone on board -- everyone except a local Republican group. Our local GOP is backing the loathsome Prop H, which would, no joke, replace bus stops, trees, and bike lanes with parking garages. Could this be any more like . Puh. Leeeeeeez. And did we mention that Prop H was designed by a company that builds parking garages? Oh how terribly sly.

We used to think we couldn't stand Sean Penn, but he never really did anything to deserve our ire. He's talented; seems to have similar political to ours; married to her, wonderful her; surfs; from Southern California; lives in the Bay Area; and above all else, is attractive. Then we figured it out: we didn't hate Sean Penn, we feared him. He seems like the kind of guy who could and would kick our ass right-quick if he ever encountered us.

So many characteristics contribute to Pacific Heights’ identity: affluence on eager display, giant square parks, commanding views, boutique shopping, dogs! dogs! dogs! But, one element up here is continually overlooked. Of course, we’re talking about portable latrines on sidewalks. With home construction such a constant in this district, and with so many laborers needing to “tend to personal business” throughout the long workday, it’s no wonder Pacific Heights walkways are lined with blue or turquoise fiberglass toilets. Jackson St. between Pierce and Scott, where three of the nine buildings on the block are currently undergoing some sort of makeover, and where each construction site features its own port-o-let, demonstrates our point as well as any in the area.

Well, we suppose this is sort of like those Portraits In Grief type thumbnail portraits of murder victims we suggested to the Chron -- yesterday's paper featured a long article about Allan Broussard, a serial car burglar who was shot to death last month. He was shot clutching a car stereo he'd just stolen. A suspect has been arrested in the case, who has a long rap sheet of his own, but the cops won't say if the suspect's car was the one that had been burgled.

You think Gavin means it when he tells Ken Garcia that it's kind of freaking him out that no one's running against him? Well, there's one more down: ABC 7's Dan Noyes has the scoop that Tony Hall has dropped out of the race too.

A reader asked: "Hey guys I was wondering what is the best gym to go workout at in San Francisco? Which offers the best amenities and a friendly staff? What gym should I avoid at all cost?" We think he may have left off a word, but that's okay, we get the idea. Much as with our search for a good Italian joint for a reader the other day, we'll offer one quick opinion then open it up to the brain trust of our readership, who probably a hell of a lot more about this than we do.

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt, who has completely covered her house in mosaic tiles.

Last week's winner, the Bay Guardian. More problems with the construction at Hunters' Point (this time: asbestos). Chris Daly is on it. A construction worker falls off the Golden Gate Bridge and his employer avoids liability because they used the wrong legal name on the OSHA citations it received. Send all legal paperwork to FSist, everyone! More taxi permit shadiness. Man vs. Wild -- who cares if he stayed in a hotel, he drank water from elephant dung. KUSF! Some bands playing this week. Cover article: Photography in SF. The Guardian doesn't hate the new Mission Italian joint Farina. And an Iranian filmmaker retrospective at the Pacific Film Archive.

-- Jarring tale about employees wearing flip-flops and shorts to work? Or story about famous writers reading to employees at Google headquaters? You decide. [Chron]

You mean those train tracks are actually used by real trains? The City of Berkeley is working to implement a quiet zone to prevent the freight trains from sounding their whistles at intersections due to complaints from residents of this traditionally industrial area. While we find train horns romantic, we must admit that we might find them less so if they were not so off-in-the-distance. Though we wonder why the City didn't make the developers of these new residential buildings and conversions soundproof them adequately.

Here you see an image of construction on Stillman and Third Streets that started a few weeks ago, more or less. (What was a precocious orphanage was violently burned to the ground to make space for a much-anticipated Bed, Bad, and Beyond! No, not really. We kid you.) A new overpass is going up in place of the old one, and we’re dying to know what it will look like. (Rumor has it that...

You know you’re dealing with an isolated stretch of Montgomery St. when a driver can’t reach it without first leaving Montgomery St. And in an addressing quirk that must drive new workers at the North Beach post office bonkers, the northernmost apartment building on this block is actually 303 Greenwich, even though Greenwich as a cross street doesn’t exist here. After all, the only cross traffic up here on the precipitous eastern slope of Telegraph Hill is on foot. Stunning bay views, folial grandiosity, and hill-hugging construction schemes dominate this block of Montgomery, bookended by the famed Filbert and Greenwich steps. The street itself is a bi-level roadway divided by a tall center wall lined with numerous pine trees, not dissimilar to Lawton St. in Golden Gate Heights, or Arlington Ave. in the Berkeley Hills. It’s designed for neither speed nor mass amounts of auto traffic. Aesthetically, however, it’s nearly unbeatable.

Say hello to your new next door neighbor: a parking garage. Petitioners are currently collecting signatures for a "build more parking" petition, but the terms are insane: it wouldn't just allow developers to install big garages, it would that all new homes build on extra parking, at the expense of living space. Require! As in, the government says that you don't have a choice!

, the collection of short films by local queer filmmakers. And it was jam-packed! We had to elbow our way into the petite theater, and there was a line down the aisle just for popcorn. After thinking about it, it made sense -- who's going to be the most able to pack a theater if not your local filmmakers, and their actors and crew?

--Here's today's mini-blotter: a family murder-suicide in Tilden Park; Man hit by a BART train at Balboa Park in the late morning today; a guy drove off the side of Mount Tam [Inside Bay Area, the EBX 92510, the Chron; CBS 5; Marin IJ].

going to reopen the Macarthur Maze by Memorial Day weekend! That construction company totally deserves their $5 million bonus.

PG&E set up what they call a "sustainable pop-up cafe" in the Tenderloin last week; but it closed after a single day, so it doesn't sound very sustainable to us. It was part of PG&E's sponsorship of Hood Games 6, a skating/art fest, and featured furniture made out of debris reclaimed from the dump; coffee was supplied by Ritual Roasters; and patrons got green mugs from which to sip. And it was all offered up for free, which is probably why it couldn't be sustained for more than a few hours. (More pix from their PR lady are posted on our Flickr account.)