Mission Mission

This photo reminds me of a post posted and then quickly deleted by Sexpigeon a few weeks back. Luckily, somebody reblogged it before it came down:

The book pictured here is about the incomplete and possibly Quixotic attempt to standardize wayfinding signage in the New York subway. To the systematizer, the picture above is a woeful thing. To an inexperienced patron of the trains it is a stew of new-city delirium. Its opposite is the airport: consistent, coherent, bearing no particular mark of no particular maker. Airports are pretty cool, but airports most certainly are not rad, not anymore. Rad is a matrix of cuocoo passion projects and half-baked repairs to those projects. Rad ages weirdly: first poorly, then heroically.

Rad! Read on if you like. It’s long but worth it.

[via Lily]

[via Antagonist]

Reader Marcus just got in touch via a comment on our Contact us page to recommend a video he shot over the weekend. Here’s how it all started:

‎Hey Terresina, you should totally just like, stand on your skateboard and when the train stops, you’ll like, go forward.

Was it a solid hypothesis? See for yourself:

Hey 16th St. BART: if you don’t want people skateboarding on your site, don’t build a bitchin’ skate park there.

Also see exhibit A.

[via lurk.skate.sf]

[via Everything Forced]

Our favorite irate aged mission fella brings us this news:

Last night, all the palm trees at the 16th Street & Mission BART Plazas were sawed-off — both sides. Don’t know why, but the BART website says that, back in 2009, one tree had to be removed because it was dead. These trees did not appear to be dead, but it might have been a case of vermin control — they were hosts to hordes of pigeons — in which case, blame Swan.

Anyone know the real reason why the trees were extracted? My first guess would have been coconut related injuries, but I doubt these oversized monocots were fruit-bearing.

Update:

Mr. Eric Sir took a nearly-identical picture! Is Mr. Eric Sir Cranky Old Mission Guy’s alter ego?

Update 2:

triple0 adds that this might be a part of a public works project:

In 2009 at the Mission Streetscape Public Workshops, they said that BART planted them without considering the root systems, so they were stunted and going to be removed at some point, likely in preparation for re-doing the BART station. But, that might have been 24th Street – I can’t remember.

City’s website about it: http://www.sf-planning.org/ftp/CDG/CDG_mission_streetscape.htm

Something is going on at the 24th St BART, and it’s not looking good:

[Thanks, Aaron!]

UPDATE: Mission Local reports:

A 60 year-old man collapsed on the platform of the 24th Street BART this morning. He was a construction worker, on his morning commute.

The man was dead by the time that paramedics arrived.

Read on.

So this happened around 12am this morning outside the BART station. Just like a scene from Dolores Park, people showed up en masse to Royal Gate for some Jimi Hendrix covers while brown-bagging it. Who knew?

Update: Apparently a lot of people knew this, just not me. Commenter Plumpy sent us the info on this weekly outdoor open mic night hosted by 16th & Mission.

Last week, somebody came across this orderly pile of (hopefully?) unused razors on BART. Was it an art project? Was it a public health concern? Was it some kind of terrorist plot?

Our buddy David G. wrote in over the weekend with some news:

Umm I may have an explanation

I’m not sure it’s an “explanation” exactly, but it’s pretty good. Here it is:

Margaret sent this in and said it was found at the 24th street BART.

At first this was puzzling to me. Then I realized that if you’re waiting for the T at 24th and Mission, then you’d have enough time to have a plaque made about it, ’cause it aint showing up anytime soon.