Mission Mission

(Massan by Macaframa)

I know everybody’s itching to hear more about my trip to Europe (Hi, Tricia!), so please revel in this: Some of my pictures and some stuff I had to say about them made it onto Bikes and the City over the weekend…

With Love From: Berlin y Barcelona

Word on the street is that Mission resident and Sexual Camel team rider Kirt Fitzpatrick won his age category as a cat 1 (read: fast people) last weekend at Mountain Bike Nationals.  Major bonus points for embodying several hipster stereotypes on the podium.

In the event he inspires you to strive for athletic glory, he has previously shared some insights regarding his pre-season training:

I found this scan of Steve Prefontaine’s notes from a speech he gave in 1974. Let’s run down how I’m doing on the ole checklist.

• My diet consists largely of alcohol and Mexican fast food
• I’m sleeping in the living room of a home that calls itself “Casa de Chaos”
• I skipped half my workouts so far this year

16th and Valencia: What we currently see and what we can expect (click to enlarge)

The San Francisco Department of Public Works and StreetsBlog brings us news that the Valencia Streetscape Improvements Project is set to kick off this week.  Unlike the proposal from June 2006, Valencia will only be renovated from 15th to 19th this time around.  Okay, we’ll take it.

Construction is expected to last 9 months and will proceed block-by-block.  From the DPW’s factsheet about the project:

A Renewed Valencia Streetscape between 15th and 19th Streets will provide sidewalk improvements on both the east and west sides of Valencia Street. Improvements include: removal of the striped center median, better spaced and more accommodating curbside loading zones for trucks, improved traffic/parking and bicycle lane alignment, sidewalk widening, bulb-outs, pedestrian scale lighting, art elements, bike racks, kiosks, and new street trees. The aim is to provide residents and visitors with safe and easy access to businesses, schools, shopping and regional transit connections, enhancing the sense of place with a unified ribbon of streetscape improvements. (link)

Most importantly, the city expects to install “bicycle oases.”  From StreetsBlog:

One feature of the project will be unfamiliar to most San Franciscans: mid-block bicycle oases. “On the mid-block bulb-outs and a few of the other corner bulb-outs, we’ve actually planned bike oases,” said Opbroek. “There’s an example of this up in Portland, where they’ve done a space on the sidewalk with rows of bike parking.”

If the bicycle plan injunction isn’t lifted before the project is completed, however, there’s a chance the bike oases could be jettisoned. In that case, “they’ll have to be installed at a later date,” said Opbroek. “If for some reason that didn’t happen – I expect that it will, but if it didn’t – that space could also be used for tables and chairs or additional merchants spilling out.” (link)

There better be palm trees.

The plan for Valencia between 15th and 16th (click to enlarge)

The plan of Valencia Street between 16th and 17th St. (Click to enlarge)

The plan for Valencia between 17th and 18th (click to enlarge)

The plan for Valencia between 18th and 19th (click to enlarge)

They are also proposing to transform the bike racks into pieces of art. Here were some concepts. How badass will it be to lock your dumpster bike up to some dancing skeletons? (click to enlarge)

(StreetsBlog coverage | the DPW’s informational page)

Previously on Mission Mission:

• Valencia Improvement Plans (81 New Trees!)
• Coming Soon: Wider Sidewalks and Slower Traffic on Valencia (With a quality discussion about the question “Will improvements curb our beloved boulevard’s fundamental charm?”)

In case you missed Sunday Streets and everyone else’s coverage of the event, I took a stroll down 24th and Valencia Streets with my crappy camera. Feel free to click any image for a larger version of it:

It only took me 3 minutes to find my first scene. While the Aztec dance demo was going on, this, what appeared to be, homeless man decided to start breaking it down. He danced for a solid 5 minutes. And what an outfit!: purple wig, multiple ties, a plastic Rancid purse, high-waisted poka-dot pants, and a hot pair of shades. He should be on Fashionist.

After stopping off at Pop's for a refreshment, I stumbled across a unicorn walking down the street along with a crazy lady chasing the mythical beast with a snake. I immediately became concerned that the bartender drugged me and I was tripping balls. After some passersby checked my pupils to confirm my sobriety, I watched in awe as the woman tried to mount the snake on the back of the unicorn, much to the apparent protest of the humans inside the animal.

For serious, there was a unicorn walking around 24th St. How awesome is that?

It would not be a social function in the Mission without the obligatory protestors shouting in your ear with a bullhorn. This time I learned about how the SFPD was racially profiling latinos by arbitrarily pulling them over while driving just to check on their immigration status. What particularly interested me about this exhibit was the depiction of the police. Until yesterday, I always thought flies spawned from my compost, not the crack of a cop's ass.

The operator of the tow truck was depicted to be a lot more cool and collected than the police. That's probably because he's smoking a spliff.

One cyclist had the style and swagger of a champion. If he showed up to any alleycat or Soil Saloon with his full Mexico kit, he'd receive an honorary award just for being a complete badass.

I was surprised to see all the pigeons that loiter at 24th and Mission not know how to handle all the people and take refuge on a neighboring roof. NYC pigeons they are not.

Some guy was rocking out from the 2nd floor of his apartment. Bonus points for rocking the aviators indoors and having a grill on your roof that was too off-camber to use effectively.

Finally, my favorite thing about Sunday Streets was watching adults completely forget how to play playground games. Fearing embarrassment delivered by the 6th graders, I played the role of the sideline recluse.

In other news, SFist's Brock Keeling noticed that "Valencia St. smelled like b.o." Unfortunately, I missed that.

Box Dog Bikes stopped by the Bicycle Film Festival’s BMX competition last weekend and took some awesome pictures.  Thanks Box Dog, now I’m pissed I missed it.

(Full Flickr Set / Blog Post)

Kati Jackson snapped this shot of the SFPD trying to decide how to deal with Streetsblog’s Summer Street Party yesterday in the wake of Sunday Streets. Says Kati:

They said they were there to help keep the bike lane clear. Then they told a couple of us that we needed to start packing up and clearing the street. Then they left immediately and never came back.

Uh, this begs the question, and maybe it was answered at this shindig yesterday, but, couldn’t we do a less-expensive version of Park(ing) Day every Sunday, when parking is free, for like miles and miles and miles?

This press release does not make a whole lot of sense, but anything involving jousting and fire merits a post and my presence:

JULY 25th
Meet:
9:00 pm at Dolores Park
10:00pm we ride

Chicken Fight Drag Racing
Foot Down
Jousting
Fire!

This collaboration has been spawned by The Derailleurs recent movie production. We will be filming scenes for our upcoming release, slated for viewing in October. We want to give a big shout out to bicycle culture in San Francisco, so you are encouraged to represent your local flavors.
Did we mention there will be prizes for the winners of the competitions?
The ending point is a rent party at FUNLAND, Cyclecide’s recent mini-putt putt endeavor on Bayshore Ave. and it totally lives up to it’s name.

Mayhem, Blood, and Glory!
See you there.
$5-10 s.s. benefit for Funland

A number of people have reported that a cyclist was hit at 22nd and Capp around 6:30pm this evening.

One reader, e., reports:

Woman in Lexus ES 300 hit a man on a bicycle at 22nd at Capp about 10 minutes ago.  First repsonders on the scene.  He was moving around, but stayed laying on the ground.  Didn’t take a picture because, well, didn’t seem right.

I checked out the scene and overheard that someone ran the stop sign, but I did not catch who it was.

Update: If someone did indeed run a stop sign, it wasn’t the cyclist.  From Mission Loc@l’s twitter stream:

“Bike accident @ Capp & 22nd in front of Copa Loca. Lexus going W on 22nd hits a biker coming off sidewalk. Biker okay, but on way to SFGH.” (link)