If you’re looking for something unique in MUNI-related apparel, something you can only get in person, well then you’re in luck. The guy who does the Sexpigeon blog came up with some really unique MUNI line-related T-shirts, ones unlike any others out there.
From noon until 4 in Dolores Park, you can pick one up for only $15. Check out his site for the exact location and check ’em out!
Unrelated News: Don’t forget that today is San Francisco’s city-sponsored bike rally downtown at 6pm. The un-permitted monthly event, which receives free police escort, and pays for no costs associated with delays on MUNI buses and such, is in fact today.
Even though this whole thing has jumped the shark long ago, and is more like a rote Civil War Protest re-enactment than any sort of effective political or social statement, expect delays. And remember – the City will happily kick a few lindy hoppers out of the park and demand they pay the Man for some permits, but these precious little dears will always get their way, and you get to pay for it in these tough times.
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I think a mass of pedestrians should start walking in the bike lane. After all, we’re the ones -really- getting hosed when the cyclists decide to block major transit routes.
Aw.. tell us how you *really* feel, Greg.
FWIW, I own property in the city and am happy to spring for the police activity needed for CM. Very happy.
@Sean: what’s constantly hosing pedestrians (and bikers) in this city is not bikers taking over the streets for an hour or two each month (OMG! scandal!). It’s cars and car friendly traffic planning.
@bm: ha ha. Ok, smartypants, answer me this: why is it fair that the Critical Mass people get to run around with no permits and have taxpayer funded police escorts, while these kids, who did nothing wrong, had fare inspectors and the cops harassing the crap out of them for the crime of riding MUNI as paying customers: http://is.gd/1Wrm9 ?
Why is it fair that a group of people lindyhopping in the park on Sunday, a day when we close the streets off to cars and are harming nobody, get kicked out and forced to pay for a pricey permit?
I’m no fan of autos – hell I haven’t owned one in 5 years now and it’s great. And I have no quarrel with bicycle people in general – hell, my brother is an avid cyclist on the peninsula and I’ll defend his right to safe streets to the end.
However, I do dislike unequal treatment by the law. It’s not fair when a bicyclist gets hit by a car and the car driver goes unpunished. Likewise it’s not fair one group gets their little party subsidized, monthly, and everyone else is paying higher permit fees. Fair’s fair.
Oh and I still say that if they pulled Critical Mass in say Oakland, or the Peninsula I would totally support it because a) it would take way more guts to do so, and b) I’d like to see how that works out when you don’t have John Law on your side, and have to take a stand.
@bm
Pretty much everything Greg said, but I’d add that there’s an element of the cycling community which seems to have a disdain for pedestrians. I don’t know when the movement went from working towards acceptance of bicycles as a valid form of transportation to being pro-bike and anti-feet, but there are quite a few individuals who seem to view themselves as superior than everyone else.
This is pretty much the segment that blows through red lights and crosswalks when there are pedestrians clearly using them. I was in a crosswalk near my office when two cyclists sped up and came within 6 inches of either side of me. I protested a little bit, when one slammed on his break, and followed me over to the sidewalk where I was at that point. He didn’t say anything, but whipped his bike around and pointed out a sticker that read “ONE LESS PEDESTRIAN” before speeding off.
And it’s the same segment that flips you off, tells you to fuck off, etc…, all while ignoring right of way at a crosswalk.
So yes, please forgive me if I look at a mass event that encourages this behavior with a little disdain.
I also don’t own a car, so don’t think I’m coming at this from the point of view of a pissed-off cager. I’m all for cycling assuming the laws are followed.
@Sean: An element? Try most of them. Take a walk down Market street sometime. If you’re on the sidewalk you’re dodging bicycles, if you’re in the crosswalk you’re dodging bicycles. It’s ugly.
Critical mass is just a distillation of this arrogance. The last time I made the mistake of trying to walk in SF on a critical jackass evening, I watched as a swarm of bicycles ignored the traffic signals. Dismayed I finally set foot into the intersection (after all, I had the little man indicating it was safe to walk, right?) only to have the bicycles swerve but not stop.
Greg, I don’t think you’re getting anywhere with the equality argument. A “cyclist” and a “pedestrian” are not different types of people, they’re people using different modes of transportation. The same guy can ride a bike, drive a car, get on a bus, and walk.
The treatment may change depending on the mode of transportation used, but that does not mean the individual person is being treated differently.
I agree that there is a segment of the bicycle population that is a serious problem – mostly guys and mostly fixi riders from my experience. As a pedestrian and a bicycle rider I don’t have a problem with the once a month CM ride. It should be easy enough for people in cars to avoid the area but somehow they don’t. Whatever. I do think that pedestrians have a responsibility too. Everyday I see dozens of pedestrians cross streets against lights when cars are coming, stand out in the street waiting for the light to cross, wander aimlessly into traffic, etc. The elderly, who seem to complain the loudest, are some of the worst offenders. We should all be more aware of our surroundings.
I have thought for a long time now that cyclists should be licensed (including a safety course of 4-8 hours) and placarded before they can ride downtown. A yearly registration fee of $50 would be a start toward offsetting the costs of bicycle-related improvements and accommodations.
A large percentage of SF cyclists feel that they have paid their dues to society simply by riding their bicycles around town. What are they smoking? When I hear something like “the roads are filled with 3000 lb death machines for which they were never designed” I have to wonder, since when where the 3000 lb death machines not on the roads? Since when was a road in San Francisco *ever* designed – primarily or even at all – to accommodate bicycle traffic? Does that fact that bicycles are only accommodated in a limited way suggest that perhaps most people aren’t interested in sharing the road with bicycle traffic, and that they have definitively cast their votes that way for decades and decades?
I’d ban bikes from Oak and Fell in a heartbeat (# ONE on my list). 19th likewise. Much of Geary. Columbus. There are numerous other streets that offer much safer routes with little or no added distance or inconvenience. I do appreciate that people do try to get around the city on bicycles (I do from time to time) but I wish they would accept some kind of discipline, some kind of shared responsibility, and a little compromise.
But every Friday when the Massholes show up, well, all that goes out the window.
Whatever!
… Additionally I’d have zero tolerance enforcement of stop sign and other traffic regulations for cyclists *in the Mission* (Good God Almighty the crazy hipster f—ers there!) and at certain “cyclist entitlement” intersections like Church and Duboce where bikes are always blowing through the stop signs and crosswalks like pedestrians shouldn’t be in their way. Slap them with the $200+ fines just like the rest of us humans.
Require cyclists to carry *proof of insurance* when riding downtown, cite them if they don’t have it, and seize their bikes after they get enough “points”. Seriously, if they want to f— with the rest of us, at least give them a dose of reality.
It took a long time for me to start seeing Rob Anderson’s side of the equation, but after more than half a decade of putting up with the inconsiderate, childish actions and worse attitude of SF cyclists, I’m more than halfway there.