Mission Mission

While the city giveth us green bike lanes, they also taketh away: behold the bicycle crackdowns on the Wiggle.

The blossoming of bike lanes and Gavin with a paintbrush are great, but is the city now cracking down on cyclists? Junior seems to think so:

I’m kind of worried that they are a precursor to beginning widespread bicycle ticketing around the city.  You know, like back before the Critical Mass days.  I’m all for cyclists obeying the rules of the road, but the interpretation of those rules is at issue, and the price of those tickets has increased to around $300 nowadays, which can be the same as a paycheck!  But I try to stay out of politics . . .

And behold this ominous San Francisco bicycle ordinance!

Oh crap, that’s from 1903, sorry.  Scanologist Eric Fischer brings us this century old news.

But some things haven’t changed — sections 1-4 are regularly ignored in the Mission.  And as Eric notes, “Speed limit 6 mph. A $500 fine then would have been like $10,000 now.” We certainly would not have survived that era. (But we certainly need to bring back the practice of “scorching”. And I am going to work in “Machines of Similar Character” into everyday conversation.)

1895 regs — biggest difference is a concern about transporting children on bikes.

As for irony, the first “good roads” campaigns were pushed by cyclists in the late 19th century.

As bicycle outings surged in popularity, riders everywhere shared a common burden — hazardous roads. Soon [Albert] Pope began speaking across the country about the need for good roads. “The high point to be aimed at,” he said back in 1889, “is the recognition of the importance of the whole situation by the national government.”

Then Henry Ford came along.

Some historical context on the conditions of roads in the late 1800s is available in old San Francisco municipal reports.

The city struggled to keep up with the surge in popularity of bicycles. I found this 1894 report amusing.

BICYCLE ROAD EXTENSION

Your Commissioners have always borne in mind the fact that the public is made up of separate human beings with separate tastes, whose comfort and convenience demand regard.

Keeping this in view, the bicycle road was constructed last year exclusively for the use of patrons of the wheel, and a further extension of this road is proposed during the coming year to run parallel with the main drive.

The rapid development of the present interest in bicycling among all classes is something astonishing, and as the Park is a favorite haunt of the cyclists, it is incumbent upon your Commissioners to attend to their interests and wants.

That first line is pretty much SF in a nutshell.

Readers over at SFist recently voted on what they feel should be the motto of San Francisco, and the winner by plurality was “Not Smug.  Just Better,” with “Back Door! BACK DOOR! Step Down! STEP DOWN!” coming in a close second.  This got me wondering, does the Mission have a motto?  Does it even need one?  If so, what would it be?

What do you think, guys?  How does “PBR and Jameson” sound?

[Photo by Emmanuelle via SFist]

Dolores Park Works got a letter from the SFMTA indicating that STOP signs on 19th and Dolores are inappropriate:

“STOP signs are primarily used to define right-of-way where it may be unclear. This intersection is presently controlled by a STOP sign on 19th [on Cumberland], thus vehicles on this street must stop and yield…installation of an all-way STOP could also lead to incomplete stops and increase potential for rear-end and collisions.”

So STOP signs are inappropriate because there is already a STOP sign on 19th and Cumberland, two streets that are actually parallel. Is this an elaborate math problem in which we are to assume Dolores Park exists in a non-Euclidean space?

Furthermore, STOP signs aren’t appropriate because the assumption is that cars generally don’t stop at them and the ones that do will get into rear-end accidents. Things really must have really gone downhill since I took my written drivers license exam when I was 15 and a half. I guess it’s time I got a new DMV handbook.

Get the full scoop at DPW.

Lighting up at Valencia near 15th.

Is this even normal?  I was always under the impression that as long as you didn’t try to go to this place during the ridiculously crowded weekends, you would be okay.  Instead, perhaps owing to the welcome afternoon sunshine, the spot was packed with a waitlist at least ten-deep, so $4 mimosas had to be replaced with the $6 ones down the street at Revolution Cafe.

At least it meant that we got to hang out at the 22nd Street Parklet with these guys:

Previously:

Boogaloos: New Menus Means New Prices

Bike Racks For Boogaloos (and Friends)

22nd Street Parklet to Include Big-Ass Marimba

Mission Local published a provocative article today suggesting that the 24th street corridor from Valencia to Potrero has a severe rat infestation on its hands, as three of its restaurants have been forced by the City to temporarily close due to vermin.  Super China Fun, purveyor of the questionable strategy of pricing food by the scoop, was one of the victims and will soon be replaced by a new Thai place, Chilli Cha Cha.  This has prompted some to ask the question of whether restaurants should be required to reveal that they have been shut down in the past for health violations.

It’s a tricky issue:  diners should have some sense of security that the food they are eating hasn’t been contaminated, but owners probably also shouldn’t be forced to wear a scarlet letter for the rest of their business lives if they’ve resolved the problem.  Rats are definitely an issue in the Mission, as they’ve contributed to the prolonged closure of one of our favorite margarita pitcher-slinging spots, La Rondalla (20th and Valencia), where it used to feel like it was Feliz Navidad everyday.  Similarly, local blogger Generic left his apartment in the Tokyo Go Go building because he was tired of an unending rodent infestation, and that was way over on 16th.

What about the rest of us?  Tell us, residents of the Mission:  Are you menaced by rats?  Are they IN UR HAUS, eatin ur granola?  Do you think anything should be done about it (can anything be done?), or is this just life in the Mission?

UPDATE!!!! Clever insight by commenter Elina:

The stupid landlords need to start allowing tenants to have pets. No rats or cock roaches in apartment with cats and dogs.

 Is it just that easy???

[Photo]

If lo riders get to have their own song, what do you think these guys should get?  Perhaps something by Vanilla Ice?  ABBA?

Spotted on Potrero at 24th.

Oh, good!

Photo by dana dana.

Previously:

Love Will Tear Us Apart

Laugh all you want, but last time things didn’t turn out so well!  Just mere meters away from where the last sinkhole wreaked havoc on 24th Street, the nascent formation of another begins, bending space and time (and concrete).  I would hate for anything to get in the way of everyone’s favorite tortilleria, with its fresh, plentiful supply of huaraches, gorditas, and those delectable nopales (cactus) tortillas, but I’m starting to worry about a pattern here.

Still not impressed?  Well, it does look a little more sinister from the other direction:

But how deep does it actually go?  Do your best Jules Verne impression after the jump:

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