Mission Mission

Although the best spot to incinerate your desiccated Christmas tree is obviously Ocean Beach, with your living room being a close second, who’s to say that the sidewalks of the Mission can’t get in on the fun too?

(Thanks, Charlie!)

A dear reader writes in with a harrowing tale from last week:

i was on my motorcycle, riding south down guerrero toward 22nd st. when a white SUV pulled a u-turn from the right lane in front of me.  I braked, but slammed into his left side with the right side of my body, and then it drove off.  this was right in front of The Liberties (and one of their staff, a woman with long blonde hair, was one of the first people at my side) around 10pm on Tuesday night.

I am writing this for two reasons:

one — to see if anyone has seen a white Jeep Cherokee with damage on its left side?  if the other driver is not found, then i am out of pocket for all expenses for my health and to fix my moto, and i do not have much in my pockets.

two — to thank the people who stopped to help me, the staff member from the liberties, the police and EMTs who took care of me on the scene, and the nurses, x-ray techs, and doctors at SF General’s ER who were so kind, calm, and helpful.  they made a very scary situation bearable, and i appreciate all of their skill and wish to thank them from the bottom of my heart.  these are the real heros of the city.

Glad to hear she’s alive and well, but hopefully someone will be able to provide more information that brings the driver to justice because this is a really sucky situation.  Anyone who has more info should reply in the comments and she will get back to you.

A promising development seems to be afoot in some of the city’s newer taxi cabs, which I noticed for the first time the other day as I was stepping into the shiniest, cleanest cab I’ve ever seen around here.

Oblivious taxi passengers exiting the vehicle have long been a constant menace to cyclists on Valencia and other streets with bike lanes for some time, so let’s hope this addition becomes more widespread and actually encourages clueless folks to check before carelessly flinging open their door!

The one redeeming quality of all this rain is that it creates ideal conditions for some curious sidewalk cultivation.  Just don’t eat any!

[Photo by eminent botanist Lauren B.]

Our pal Sarah recently “retired” to Oakland but realized that the only way she could get her SF friends to visit would be to educate them about all the rad things the East Bay shares with the city, so she constructed this comprehensive compendium of comparisons between the various bars, restaurants, and other fun that each side has to offer.  Even your groceries are covered:

Rainbow Grocery (The Mission) / Berkeley Bowl (Berkeley)

Can you imagine Rainbow but twice as large, half as expensive, and with a fantastic meat and seafood selection? If not, go visit Berkeley Bowl, or its newer location, Berkeley Bowl West. The Bowl is an East Bay staple, and can satisfy every hippie, health nut, hipster, and politically conscious bone in your body.

She’s got an Oakland answer for everything from Bender’s and Bi-Rite to Toronado and Tartine, so if you’ve ever been the slightest bit reluctant to venture to the other side, please do read on.

We’ve got more bummer news to report in 2013, although not quite on the same tragic level as the earlier fire and fatal car crash, but at least this one comes with a delicious reward:

I figure it’s a longshot, but someone stole my beloved bright-yellow green glow-in-the-dark bike while I was out at dinner tonight! The bike was kind of my baby/I had it locked to my older crappier one and a railing in my apartment building.

If you/your awesome readership and friends could keep on the look-out for it, I’m offering a cash reward/eternal gratitude/a lifetime supply of homemade ginger beer for it’s safe return!

That’s a lot of Moscow Mules!  Let’s hope it turns up!

Even if the world ends today, there still probably won’t be as much fire in the Mission as there was when the Giants won the world series.

Thanks to Saturday’s arctic downpour, the Mission saw far less Santacon participants than is typically the case, with only scattered packs wandering aimlessly around the neighborhood. Those that did make it out were easily separated from their groups, making them much easier to pick off one by one, thus culling the herd.

Grinchcon 2012 wins this round!

Enjoy it while it lasts, because there’s going to be some serious rain coming any minute now!

Also, try to do a better job of parking your sweet ride next time.

Residents have been questioning the design that DPW has proposed for the new park set to blossom at 17th and Folsom since the first draft was revealed, and although many of their concerns have been addressed in subsequent revisions, one of those qualms continues to stand out. Quite literally, actually, in the form of an 8-foot fence surrounding the park:

The original concept design was even more inwardly focused, though it did address access to the future affordable housing to the north. Most egregiously, it set the 8-foot-high fence right at the park’s edge, making the 10-foot-wide sidewalk feel even more constrained…

The inflexible, over programmed design remained inwardly focused and lacked any integration with the urban fabric and immediate neighborhood community, which features many arts organizations. By most measures of good urban design, it was still a very unsuccessful design…

A low fence, such as the one at the nearby Mission Playground, can provide safety for small children without such a defensive and negative feeling.

[Link]

So, do you agree that DPW is totally completely it when it comes to building this park?  And just how high does a park fence have to be in order to keep all the good stuff inside while not looking like a prison from the outside?

Previously:

• Potential New Park On 17th And Folsom
• Breaking: Proposed 17th and Folsom Park Will Be Green
• Future Park at 17th and Folsom Will Probably Take a While