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......

We love it when events combine movies and music! So check out The Orchestra of Piazza Vittorio, a documentary about the creation of a multi-ethnic world music orchestra from Italy. Diverse residents of the Piazza Vittorio neighborhood in Rome banded together and created the multi-ethnic world music orchestra in an attempt to save a historic movie theater from destruction. The movie then follows the orchestra's unlikely rise to success and the various musicians' stories.......

Did you see (video footage) all that smoke (pictures) yesterday? A fire at 17th and Noe Street between the Mission and the Castro at around 6:30 yesterday evening displaced at least 14 people, and sent seven to the hospital for smoke inhalation. One man had to be rescued off the roof. The fire spread to the building next door too, but firefighters managed to put it out before that building was too damaged. The SFFD......

--A source passes along these pictures of Gavin Newsom and Carole Migden at a Pride event some time back. We saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus! --Steve Jobs speaks at the Apple Conference today. --They say the real estate market's cooling off -- but the average single-family home in Noe Valley went for $1.4 million in April. Curbed SF gives you the analysis. --There's a new Tales of the City book coming out tomorrow. --The Police......

This story's so weird that we're not even saving it for tomorrow's Blotter! (We'll be cursing this decision as we frantically try to find a third Blotter item later tonight.) Mark Pope, the guy who co-founded Quark Software, was working in his Pac Heights mansion last week when he heard some weird noises and looked out the window and saw a car (a red BMW convertible) that was exactly the same as his, only in......

SFist Rita is out of town for work, so we are donning our tiara and gown for this weeks Swells analysis. Tra-la-la! Total number of people pictured in this week's Swells society column: 57. Total number of people pictured whom we recognize/know: 23. This high number is because of the SF Library event with lots of writers, including Amy Tan, Vendela Vida, Dave Eggers, Stephen Elliot, Ben Fong-Torres, Michael Lewis, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Sam Barry,......

In a totally shocking expose, the Examiner reports that there's not a lot of enforcement out there of speeders. Considering there's not enough enforcement of parking scofflaws, sidewalk parkers, illegal handicap parking stickers, and pretty much everything else, this can't be considered a surprise. The reasons cited: not enough cops...blah..blah...blah...no money....blah...blah...blahbity...blah. ...

Greetings from the great beyond! We've just died and gone to blog heaven after this explosion of every single thing we're obsessed with over on the Chronicle's Culture Blog. RIP, us! Okay, so let's see, what do we have here... a 1) Catherine Bigelow-penned blog entry featuring 2) Britney Spears's bald head grafted onto the bodies of 3) local politicians and 4) Pac Heights celebutantes!! Over on our beloved former co-editor's new online adventure, with......

Quick -- which one of those pictures above is of Valencia Street in SF and which is of Williamsburg in Brooklyn? Bay Area blogger Overstated has put together his list of what New York neighborhoods correspond to which San Francisco ones. Check out his list, and let the great debates begin! Here's some calls we agree with: --Totally Williamsburg is the Mission. Last time we were on Bedford Avenue, honest to God we thought......

Remember last year when they did the ski-jump in Pac Heights and there was some big fracas because some politically connected lady was having her reception nearby and it could ruin her wedding? But they did it anyways after a compromise was struck? Well, the Icer Air thing is happening again this weekend, except at Mays Field (that's AT&T Park) this Saturday. Which means there'll be ski jumps and DMX tricks and wakeboarding thrills and IT'LL BE EXTREME, dude!!!!!!!!! ...

We know the rest of you will be just as shocked as we are to hear of other elections going on besides the District 6 race (except for you, commenter poormojo!). Well, David Kiddoo, the write-in candidate for District 2 (Pac Heights, the Marina) running against incumbent Michela Alioto-Pier, has graciously agreed to submit to an SFist interview and tell us what they're worrying about up there north of Market. Thanks, David! Who are you,......

Divide the District 6 election by three and what do you get? That's right -- Michela Alioto-Pier's Pac Heights/Marina District 2, the former district of Gavin Newsom, which is considered a bastion of proper San Francisco conservative (equivalent to: mainstream Democratic party) values. Alioto-Pier (our reigning champion in the SFist Hottest Supervisor contest) is basically running unopposed, with only one declared opponent, Vilma Guinto Peoro, whose interview with the Chron was tactfully described as "free-wheeling,"......

In response to all the killing going on around here, Gavin has finally come up with a solution-- enforce laws passed years ago. The law? A curfew for children under 13 between midnight and 5 AM, a law that was passed in 1990. Actually, that's not all of it. The measure will also increase police presence in crime-riddle neighborhoods and will send authorities to the homes of school-cutting scofflaws. All of this was announced after huddling with aides, judges, probation officers, and police. ...

Our Little Ms. Possible Future Speaker of the House is up for a very special election today on Wonkette, the Congressional Catfight Contest. The point of the vote is to determine, via brackets and seeds, just who is "The Biggest Beeatch" in congress. ...

Well, if those gloomy housing forecasts weren't enough, it's now official, folks -- the San Francisco real estate bubble has burst. "Kiss of Death" Al Gore has bought a house here. Al and Tipper bought a unit in the new St. Regis Tower, which is right between the MoAD and the SFMoMA on Third and Mission, above the hotel units. Folks are guesstimating that the Gores spent $2 million on the condo. $2 million! Why, you could get 2 actual bedrooms in Pac Heights for that price! Act now, folks, only twenty condos left! Don't you want to go to homeowners' association meetings with Big Al? Intriguingly, the Gores' press release mentions casually that they'll be living around the corner from none other than that other Democratic spoiler, Gavin Newsom, who they claim lives at the Four Seasons. Look, Care Not Cashers, Gavin lives in a hotel too! ...

Well, we suppose you might need something to lift your flagging spirits in that circumstance -- three replacement workers hired by Sutter while the Cal Pacific workers remain on strike have just been fired after getting busted stealing Viagra from the hospital supply room. Speaking of union protests, so many firefighters, teachers, and nurses showed up to protest a fundraising dinner being thrown for the governor by a retired Dreyer's ice cream executive in Lafayette that Schwarzenegger didn't even show. Fifty protestors were expected but over 400 showed up for over 2 hours. Gosh, we hope the gov's baked Alaska didn't melt! ....and lawlessness. Lawlessness! Residents of Pac Heights and Cow Hollow resentfully hired security guards to protect their bazillion-dollar real estate investments from ski bum riffraff. They also complained that the valet service they were promised for their cars wasn't very good. "You changed my radio station!" Also -- is that MARIJUANA they smelled during the afternoon? Hooligans! Two skiiers also wiped out on the melting snow, requiring medical assistance, and a number of people suffered heat exhaustion as well....

Man, we're running out of pictures and titles for the ongoing ski jump saga in Pac Heights. So the big day's tomorrow! Skip work and watch Jonny Moseley zip by multi-million dollar homes and their angry occupants! (If you go with a digital camera, send us your pics!) Today's latest outrage: the amps are coming back! Previously, the city entertainment committee (that's gotta be a fun committee to be on, like "social committee" for your dorm) denied Moseley a permit for loudspeakers and music, with a vote of 3-3. Based in part on the quieter noise levels, the transportation subcommittee approved the request to close off the streets for the jump. But -- oho! Much like with Superintendent Ackerman's pay raise, the entertainment committee then called a special meeting to reconsider the issue on a day where one more committee member was available. This time, the vote passed unanimously. Kick up that bass! Angry, angry! Pac Heights residents have hired an attorney, who tried to appeal the decision but found out there is no appeal right for a traffic commission decision. The attorney has found out that the company sponsoring the jump is not in compliance with corporate regulations in Nevada, and the company that was hired to clear out the snow is in default on a civil judgment against it. ...

So now that Laurie Beijan had her dream wedding at Flood Mansion uninterrupted by cries of "Tubular!" from outside -- what's going on with Jonny Moseley's ski jump plans now? The good folks of Pacific Heights called a public meeting yesterday, where some interesting things were said. On the one hand, there was the angry resident at Fillmore and Green, who says, "For my 30th birthday, I went to Mexico, got drunk, and learned how to surf. It didn't affect anyone." (Huh. Mexico.) On the other, there was the passionate Iranian immigrant who asked, "I can't help but wonder if there is a starving child in Africa or Taiwan who will watch this event and be drawn to San Francisco to make it their home." (Taiwan is actually doing OK on food these days, but thanks for asking). However, everyone agreed that no matter what happened, San Francisco is at least better than the rest of the country: "It is events like this that distinguish us from Kansas City, which is flat in every way," said one person, who said we had to have the jump so our city wouldn't be "boring." And all agreed that no matter what happened, it was probably the city government's fault as well. "This company went through San Francisco and got the proper permits. We should be angry at The City, not this company," said another resident. Icer is hoping to have the ski jump in Pac Heights still, on Sept. 29. ...

Boy, have we got some bad Cow Hollow ideas for you! Have you guys been following the whole "turning Fillmore Street into a ski slope" thing? So Icer Event Management has decided to shave enough ice (12,000 cubic feet of it) on Aug 27 to turn Fillmore Street from Broadway to Green Street (and Vallejo from Steiner and Webster) into ski jumps. (A 14 foot lane will be left open for emergency vehicles and for people who live there to get home.) This is all for Jonny Mosely's 30th birthday, and to film footage for a video game. Hilarious! But wait -- it gets even better! Wait until you hear how everyone's reacting! There's a Hindu temple on that stretch of Fillmore -- and right outside their meditation room, the event planners are setting up the apres-ski lounge, sponsored by Otis. What's more: the monks don't drink. The Pac Heights neighborhood association isn't very happy either, especially because the weekend right after the skiing one, the Grand Prix is coming into town next. "People are incredibly disrespectful of private property at these events. It's a real intrusion. We view this in the same class as street fairs," fumes the neighborhood associate president. (Aw, come on, everyone loves a street fair!) They've tried protesting to (hottest supervisor") Michela Alioto-Pier, but she's told them there's nothing she can do, because the ski people have already gotten all the necessary permits. The ski people are slightly confused by the reaction. "We really, really do not want to upset the neighborhood," the organizer told the Chron. "This thing is going to be done well and in a first-class way." And -- here's our absolute favorite part -- "We want to show San Francisco as an exciting place to visit, as opposed to a place with a lot of homeless." What goes on up there North of Market??? ...

We take a rare spin to the North of Market crime scene and relate the Examiner's tale of woe about a "high-flying" Pac Heights couple who came back to their apartment on Fillmore and Pacific to find that someone had stolen $100,000 worth of uninsured jewelry from a safe that they had failed to lock. The jewelry included a $25,000 engagement ring engraved with the words "The Love Of My Life" and a $11,500 wedding band. The rich, they're different from you and us. Have you seen a fluffy doggie wandering around SFO, just like in Homeward Bound 2: Lost in San Francisco (only without Michael J. Fox)? A championship bichon frise named Ryland was reported stolen from the cargo area Tuesday morning. Ryland, who was traveling from Sacto to China, was last reported seen being carted off by a man wearing a tan shirt and jeans who then jumped in his white Toyota 4Runner and then took off "at a high rate of speed." $3000 reward! And last night, the SFPD found a dead body in a burning car in McLaren Park, after responding to a report of shots being fired. The SFPD reports that it is investigating the incident as a homicide. You cannot slip anything past the SFPD! ...

The Bay Area is home to so many diverse viewpoints -- Democrats, Republicans, Greens, pro gay marriage, anti gay marriage, pro Chris Daly, anti Chris Daly, dog lovers, cat lovers, everyone! -- and vigorous debate is what we do best. But here at SFist, we think what unites us all is that -- biting into a fingertip in your chili from Wendy's is dis-GUSSSSSS-ting! Eeeeeeeeeeeeugh!!! The woman in question, who'd visited the Wendy's on Monterey Road in San Jose, bit into the severed finger (complete with manicured nail) before realizing what it was, and then vomited several times afterwards (sure). Wendy's did a spot check of its employees and everyone had all digits present, so now the investigation turns to the hands of the chili manufacturers. For what it's worth, Santa Clara health officials callously (ha!) maintain that the woman faces no risk of disease because the finger was cooked so thoroughly. Eeeeeeeugh. Meanwhile, bad puns continue to abound ("finger food," "finger-pointing at Wendy's," "all hands on deck," "caught red-handed," etc.) as the authorities now try fingerprinting the digit to identify its owner. Yuck. Well, in other crime news, everyone loves a crime blotter! (the second link has a story about someone setting fire to a portable toilet! Yeah!) For those of you in San Francisco who crave more crime coverage than what we get on the TV news or in the Examiner, check out the SFPD's blotter reports, labeled "community newsletters." The Mission, the Northern Division (Western Addition, Pac Heights, J-Town), Potrero and Bayview, and Richmond pump 'em out. We'd especially recommend the hard-boiled prose of the Northern Division's newsletters -- they're in .pdf but so worth it! (You can also read excerpts in regular format, as mirrored on sfwall.net). ...

DCist forwarded us an article from Roll Call (paid subscription required) entitled "Q: Where Is Nancy Pelosi Not a San Francisco Liberal? A: San Francisco." We love it when DC politics realizes that, like, there's a whole country out there! Really! And it's full of constituents! Not all of whom like their elected representatives! Of course, this information is basically a re-hash of the same arguments surrounding her accension to House Minority Leader. San......

Bay Area crime roundup...