Who Are The People in Your Neighborhood -or- An Afternoon With Janet Reilly and Leland Yee…

One thing that continues to astonish many people I know in town is how you really can get to just about anywhere on the Muni if you do your homework. It’s most noticeable in people who talk about “the environment” but have yet to step out of a car and on to a bus, even if it’s just to the corner store. It’s like I have some Jedi power or something – when I really don’t. I guess one has to take what praise they can.
A few weeks ago I attended a very well attended neighborhood meeting for Assembly Candidate Janet Reilly and Assemblyman/Candidate for State Senate Leland Yee at the Twin Peaks home of the Linnenbach family – easily one of the best places to take in the view of the City and the Bay, as far as I can tell!
Some people were surprised that I took the bus to the event – located just under Sutro Tower in one of San Francisco’s finest neighborhoods. Yet it was actually faster for me to jump on a 43, get off at the Laguna Honda station, cross the street, and take a 36 than it would have been had I drove and tried to find parking in a car. Plus I got a nice brisk walk up the hill and a great view once I got to my destination. And I even beat my friend who drove to the event by about 30 minutes – which was quite a surprise.
My point is not to be one of those haughty psuedoenviro types who lords over their alleged supremacy to all -rather it is simply to make a point that if you think things through you can avoid the hassles of parking in San Francisco without a lot of effort. I’ll let others quibble about this or that with regards to The Earth – all I know is that I can’t stand parking, parking tickets, or a hassle, and if there’s an easy way to avoid both, I will!
Although I’ve written about Janet Reilly at my other, soon to be retired blog, I was mostly interested in her campaign because she’s running for office, and yet when the discussion of the proposed rapid transit expressway on Geary Boulevard came up, she didn’t opt for the easy way out – lots of nebulous talk without anything of substance – and instead came out forcefully for a real, long term solution, and not a band-aid approach we’re used to.
It’s that kind of straight talk that we could use, especially when it comes to city transit issues, after years of broken promises and empty rhetoric. Maybe it’s time we reward people who speak clearly and honestly, for a change, eh?