Subject: Jim Herd

• Supes Punt MTA Budget Imbroglio To Special Meeting Next Wednesday

  Oh, they're dragging this out...The ongoing rancor over the Municipal Transportation Agency's woeful budget has transformed into quite a cliff-hanger: First Board President David Chiu fired a shot across MTA and the mayor's bow by crafting legislation allowing the supes to scuttle the budget. Then, at the last minute, Chiu signed off on a tepid compromise -- earning the enmity of his peers. Then said peers resurrected the threat of voting down the budget and Supervisor John Avalos marched over t

  May 19, 2009

• So, the Disabled Cable Car Has Been Replaced With a Bus (Again). Do You Still Need to Fork Over $5 To Ride It?

  Call the bus! A disabled cable car is towed up California Street.Imagine the disappointment: You trek to San Francisco from Paris or Prior Lake or parts unknown hoping to ride on our city's iconic cable cars. And yet, upon reaching your destination, you discover that the cable cars are on the fritz -- you'll have to settle for a ride up the hill in a noisy old Muni bus. You wanted to leave your heart in San Francisco. Instead, someone has left something wholly other on the seat next to you. The

  May 7, 2009

• Your Water Rates May Be Going Up -- But the PUC Will Still Happily Give You a Cartoon Map of City Reservoirs For Free

  Sure, many of us harbor troubling notions about hikes in the water rates, or what Hetch Hetchy Valley looked like before we opted to make it our principal water source. But if you're a sucker for cartoons, maps, and have a soft spot for recently deceased Farley creator Phil Frank -- well, then the Public Utilities Commission has a hell of a deal for you. The PUC will gladly send you -- gratis -- three Frank-created maps: One (pictured above) portraying all the city's reservoirs and water tanks;

  May 7, 2009

• MTA Budget Showdown Leads To ... Wait For It ... A COMPROMISE!

  Jim HerdThat sound you heard earlier today was every City Hall journalist in San Francisco slapping his palm on the table when the Board of Supervisors vote over the controversial Muni budget was continued. And continued again. And more time went by. And now ... after several hours of behind-the-scenes intrigue, a compromise budget has been announced. Chris Roberts at SF Appeal has been live-blogging this thing -- a Godsend for those of us chained to our desks -- and SF Weekly's Peter Jamison is

  May 12, 2009

• Budget Analyst Takes 100 Pages To Tell Us What We Knew: Muni Could Generate Money Via Fare Inspector Program, But Isn't Organized Enough To Keep Track

  Jim HerdMore good news for Muni...This morning, the Chronicle reported that the city's budget analyst, Harvey Rose, released yet another damning report on Muni -- and this only hours before the Supes meet to determine -- this time, definitely! -- if they'll approve the Municipal Transportation Agency's budget. The report runs to 100 pages -- and, sadly, it isn't on the budget analyst's Web site, so we haven't read it. But, based upon reporter Marisa Lagos' summary, it appears Rose has more astut

  May 27, 2009

• Just What You Always Wanted: A Webcam Capturing the Nonstop Action at -- the Farallones?

  Jim HerdWebcam, ahoy!Longtime listeners to San Francisco Giants broadcasts will be familiar with KNBR radio's ubiquitous catchphrase touting its broadcasting might: "From the Farallones to the Rockies..." Many a fan has probably stopped to wonder who, exactly, is catching those ballgames out on the Farallones? Whales? Don't be silly -- they like soccer. Perhaps its the lonely researchers from the Point Reyes Bird Observatory. With a lifetime that solitary, baseball on the radio could become an u

  June 8, 2009

• City's Restroom Taskforce Wants You To -- Ahem -- Sit Down And Offer Your Input

  Jim HerdAs noted before, this public restroom in the Panhandle cost as much as a 16,200-square-foot mansion in the midwestDoes this city have a taskforce on taskforces? It doesn't appear to -- but just you wait, now someone will bring it up. In any event, all excretory humor aside, we do have a restroom taskforce. Before you laugh, however, be informed that the restroom taskforce has the chance to piss away a serious amount of city money, if things go badly.Last year, city voters approved $11.4

  June 29, 2009

• Who Owns Muni's Arrival and Departure Times? That Depends on Whom You Ask.

  Jim HerdIs the city having a NextBus meltdown?It was Benito Mussolini who was credited for making Italy's trains run on time -- even though he didn't, and the notion of an Italian train running on time is rather novel. The notion of San Francisco trains running on time is quaint as well, which is why it's a good thing we've got NextBus.com to tell us when to sprint to the station and when to saunter. But the question of who owns the actual arrival and departure data for the trains isn't as strai

  June 25, 2009

• Confessions of a Composting Bandit

  Jim Herd'Scuse me ladies, I've got to slip this bag of rotting vegetables in your green bin -- and run!I'll admit it. I've been running a quasi-legal operation out of my kitchen. You can tell something ain't right from the smell. But I'm not producing meth. I'm making methane. Yes, I'm a composting bandit -- after visiting "The Pit" where all San Francisco's waste is dumped late last year and reading a study revealing two-thirds of the crap in that vast maw of rotting refuse could have been recy

  June 25, 2009

• 'Huzzah!' No More -- Renaissance Faire Abruptly Nixes August Golden Gate Park Event, Blames City Parks and Rec Department for Inducing Organizational Black Death

  Mr. Tudor is not amused...Less than a month before Renaissance Faire organizers hoped to transform Golden Gate Park from a haven of drunken debauchery into a haven of period-piece drunken debauchery, an e-mail today from Renaissance Productions today announced that the Aug. 1-2 event has been nixed. Who's to blame? Saracens? Huns? Ottomans? Nope -- the San Francisco Parks and Recreation Department, if you believe the faire organizers: Ongoing challenges with the San Francisco Parks and Recreat

  July 7, 2009

• Surely You Joust: Canceled Renaissance Faire Organizer Explains Why City Compelled Her To Throw In Ye Olde Towel

  Jim HerdHuzzah! Raise yer hands if ye think San Francisco's permitting process has gone a wee bit awry...The notion of jumping through the increasingly exacting hoops demanded by city government when creating a Renaissance Faire fantasy world celebrating a distinctly less ordered time is somewhat amusing -- but not for Marti Miernik. As we reported yesterday, Renaissance Productions abruptly canceled the scheduled Aug. 1 Golden Gate "faire," citing a litany of unworkable scenarios insisted upon

  July 8, 2009

• Muni Looking to Declare War on Fare Evasion -- Will This Be Nat Ford's Vietnam?

  Beware fare-evaders everywhere!Stating that fare evasion is rampant on Muni is akin to noting that the weather in San Francisco is sometimes hot, sometimes cold, and usually in-between. It's a statement of fact -- and there's little anyone can do about it. Or is there? At a recent public meeting Muni CEO Nat Ford promised a "crackdown" on fare evasion (yes, again). SF Weekly has spilled plenty of real and virtual ink regarding Muni's Sisyphean efforts to deter fare-jumpers. During the protracted

  July 16, 2009

• Muni Union Head: Early Switch to Manual Power In Train Tunnel, Fingered for Weekend Crash, an 'Understood Practice' Among Drivers, Management

  Jim HerdA pair of culprits have emerged as the potential causes for the weekend's nasty Muni crash at West Portal station: Sources within Muni have told the media that the veteran driver reported he blacked out -- which wouldn't have been a problem if the driver didn't shift his train from automatic to manual operation while coming out of the tunnel, an apparent violation of Muni policy. Irwin Lum, the president of the Transit Workers Union, confirmed to SF Weekly that the driver told him he bla

  July 20, 2009

• Media War: Blogger Criticizes Mainstream Media Worker's Bicycle. Ahhhh -- It's On!

  Jim HerdYes that is Matt Smith tuning up his bicycle built for four...We mainstream media workers have suffered incessant pelting from bloggers, citizen journalists, pamphleteers, and others who seem delighted by the meltdown of the industry that employs us. Up until now, however, the critical onslaught has been (mostly) gentlemanly and businesslike, generally pertaining to mainstream media workers' performance on the job -- we're too left, too right, too reactionary, not reactionary enough, etc

  July 21, 2009

• Lawyers: Muni Crash Case Could Be Tailor-Made For Extraordinarily Massive Payout By City

  Jim HerdA handful of trial attorneys with years of experience litigating against public transportation agencies, train systems, and Muni told SF Weekly that elements of this weekend's West Portal train collision could come together to form a legal perfect storm that drains many millions of dollars from the city's coffers. On Monday, SF Weekly broke the story that the Muni drivers' union claims train operators routinely flouted safety rules in the subterranean tunnels by switching off the automat

  July 22, 2009

• Muni's New Solution: Make Rules *and* Follow Them. Problem Solved!

  Jim HerdMuni's 'No dumping oil on Geary Boulevard' rules will be enforced ... from now onWe were enthused yesterday to learn that Muni has responded creatively to a collision purportedly caused by drivers routinely flouting safety regulations -- and management allegedly providing tacit approval. It's no longer good enough to make rules. Now the transit agency plans on following them. This is fantastic news for Muni ridership. We should all breathe a bit easier -- unless, of course, you're sittin

  July 23, 2009

• Muni Tax Shelter Deal Could Lead to More S.F. Rail Carnage

  Jim HerdDid promised millions froma shady tax shelter deal blur Muni's judgment?​A month before investigators began to sift through train wreckage to determine the cause of last week's Muni light rail crash, officials examining deadly transit accident in Washington D.C. discovered a defect that could eventually lead to problems with San Francisco trains. According to Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, and other outlets, Washington transit officials failed to replace worn-out rail cars be

  July 28, 2009

• The Clogged Bus-Only Lane Theory of Policing: Cite More Motorists and the Rest of the Public Safety Picture Will Fall Into Place

  Jim HerdHere's another way of keeping drivers out of bus lanes​In Mexico, a visitor will quickly get the sense that society isn't working quite right when she's asked for a bribe by police. In Saudi Arabia, the same conclusion becomes obvious when a woman is arrested for prostitution simply because she's at a restaurant in a group that includes men. And in San Francisco, a visitor might get a sense that the rule of law has broken down upon seeing motorists clog with impunity downtown's ubiquit

  August 13, 2009

• Morning Muni Delays Don't Bode Well For BART Strike

  ​​Jim HerdNot so fast​While Muni spokesman Judson True was in and out of meetings this morning regarding the looming BART strike, a bevy of delayed Muni trains were making a helluva lot of passengers late for work. True explained that there was a problem with the control system at Montgomery station, which happens occasionally and causes significant rolling delays. "It's a challenge getting to it to fix it because of the morning commute," True said. "It's not a perfect picture."

  August 14, 2009

• The Day Culture Rolled Into Bernal Heights: Novel Concept for Yellow City Buses -- Riders!

  Jim HerdYou saw it: The last two foreign tourists to be bewildered by the Culture Bus (and not get on). ​It turns out there are more efficient ways to rob tourists than charge them five times the going rate to ride on the bus. That's what the Municipal Transportation Agency found out via its ill-fated Culture Bus -- which cost $7 at its inception and 10 bucks after the markup. But 10 times zero is still zero (the Culture Bus was boarded by hundreds of riders a day; one MTA survey showed its ri

  August 18, 2009

• Number of Muni-Related 311 Calls Going Down, Down Down -- But Service Is Still Billing Muni Same Amount ... For Now

  Jim Herd​When it was disclosed in April that the 311 call center was charging the transit system millions of dollars for those "When's the next 38 Geary? I'm Cold!" calls, Muni boss Nat Ford pledged to begin pushing riders to begin calling the state-funded 511 line instead of the (Muni-funded) 311. Data obtained via by SF Weekly via a trio of public records requests -- to 311, 511, and Muni -- indicates that this is exactly what has happened. Muni-related 311 calls are way down while Muni-rela

  August 21, 2009

• Asked to Change His Name Tag, San Francisco Cop Instead Changed His Name

  Jim HerdSergeant Carl T -- really​If you click on the above shot recently snapped by ace photographer Jim Herd, you'll observe that the policeman's name tag actually reads "Carl T." While first-name, last-initial is par for the course with restaurant servers, Sigmund Freud case studies, or Rollerball players, it's a bit unusual for members of the San Francisco Police Department. In fact, a call to police headquarters revealed that SFPD personnel are required to have either their full names, fi

  September 14, 2009

• Just In Time For Monday's Commute: The Muni Pain-O-Meter

  Jim Herd​Pain Level: 0.5 -- Train or bus you run like hell to reach goes out of service. 0.7 -- Muni time arrival readout arbitrarily jumps from "2 minutes" to "19 minutes".1.5 -- Disruptive "service animals" on vehicle. 1.9 -- "Service animals" fight each other on Muni vehicle.2.3 -- "Service animal" users fight each other. 3.2 -- Fellow rider loudly talking to him or herself ... 3.5 -- Singing to him or herself...3.6 -- Singing songs he or she can't remember and/or humming ... 3.8 -- Singing

  October 5, 2009

• Safe Bet: Newsom's Pot Shots at Longer Parking Meter Hours Mean You'll Be Suffering More on Muni

  Jim HerdWhoosh! There goes your parking revenue! ​As first reported on Streetsblog and then this morning in the Chronicle, Mayor Gavin Newsom has made clear that he's no fan of alleviating Muni's revenue headaches by extending parking meter hours. Muni's pledge to study the merits of extended parking meter hours was one of the only takeaways for progressives during the painful Muni budget dustup from earlier this year; let Newsom's current behavior be a warning to anyone else who sees fit to s

  October 5, 2009

• Few Show For California Redwoods' Football Opener -- But Fans Still Manage to Have Fun (Legally and Illegally)

  Jim HerdThere is grandeur in this view of life...​Text by Joe Eskenazi. Gorgeous photos by Jim Herd. In the many months between when we first reported the inception of the San Francisco-based United Football League up to the moment we wandered into a largely abandoned AT&T Park for the Saturday night home debut of the California Redwoods, we never did figure out the league's "mission statement." The UFL, it reads, "was developed to fulfill the unmet needs of football fans in major markets

  October 19, 2009

• Autopsy Forthcoming For 37-Year-Old Man Found Dead on Muni Bus

  Jim Herd​The San Francisco Medical Examiner's office moments ago told SF Weekly that the autopsy for the man discovered dead on a bus in a Muni yard is scheduled for today or tomorrow. Christopher Feasel, a 37-year-old San Franciscan with no fixed address, was found lifeless in the back of a No. 5 bus at 12:45 a.m. on Saturday morning at the Muni yard at 949 Presidio. There were no signs of any foul play. KTVU-TV reported that it is unclear whether Feasel expired on the bus during its run or w

  October 19, 2009

• It's 4th Down For California Redwoods In San Francisco -- Already

  Jim HerdCory Ross and the Redwoods apparently know the way to San Jose​On Saturday, we stopped by the California Redwoods' first game in San Francisco. If we knew the expansion United Football League's San Fran era would potentially be so fleeting, maybe we'd have picked up a signature plastic cup. Damn -- they didn't have any. Don't get us wrong, it was a decent football game. Sure, you could have switched the rosters of the home Redwoods and visiting New York Sentinels just before opening ki

  October 22, 2009

• U.S. Sues San Francisco Over 2005 Muni Fuel Spill

  Jim Herd​UPDATE: City, DOJ, EPA Agree on $250K settlement, see details here.U.S. Department of Justice attorneys filed suit against San Francisco in connection with a 2005 bus yard fuel spill that released as much as 54,000 gallons of diesel gasoline into San Francisco soil and sewers -- with some of it ultimately reaching the Bay.According to the complaint, filed on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency, personnel at the Municipal Transportation Authority's John M. Woods Motor Coach f

  October 29, 2009

• Cement Contractors Baffled By Muni's Delays on N-Judah Line Fix

  Jim Herd​Among San Francisco neighborhoods, the Outer Sunset is high on the list of places you could conceivably land a spaceship with no one noticing. And yet denizens of the area certainly noticed that Muni's weekend repairs to the N-Judah rails were not confined to the weekend -- hence they were riding a bus to work today. Muni's official explanation for the delay is that "the concrete being used in the project is not hardening as quickly as designed." At the moment, neither Muni nor contra

  November 16, 2009

• On Time -- Ha! -- For Your Commute: Muni Pain-O-Meter V. 2.0

  Jim Herd​See Original Version Here! Pain Level: 0.4 -- Your Muni driver makes "Derail -- is de thing de train run on" joke. 0.8 -- He makes that joke -- and you have to deboard your derailed train. 1.1 -- I've never sat next to someone eating with chopsticks on the bus before...1.4 -- Hey! Once you drop the won-ton into my crotch it's mine.1.7 -- There's no better place to choose the ring tone for your cell phone than a crowded train full of surly, 8:15 a.m. commuters...2.1 -- Hey, it's 42 deg

  November 18, 2009

• San Francisco-Libs

  ​PRINT IT OUT AND PLAY ALONG! Chapter One: A Quick Spin Around Our City! Welcome to San Francisco, the most (adjective) __________ city in the world. If you've got money and you're willing to (action verb) ________ it, and (same verb) _______ with abandon, come here. We need you to. Please. We don't know how to do anything else but take your money. Most newcomers to our city (verb)  _______ at San Francisco Airport. Others may (verb)  _______ at the Greyhound terminal or take a bre

  November 19, 2009

• Bayview Activists Threaten To Recall Sophie Maxwell. Yes, Again.

  Jim HerdSupervisor Sophie Maxwell -- she of the Barack Obama purse -- gets a warmer reception here from Nancy Pelosi than she is currently receiving from activists in her home district​Supervisor Sophie Maxwell's vote to help the Navy circumvent a citizen's advisory group has gotten the usual suspects back on the "Recall Sophie" bandwagon -- even while she has just a year left of office.  The vote pertained to subject we covered earlier this year: the Navy's dissolution of the Restoration

  November 19, 2009