I never have coffee or any other drinks to-go as if I’m in a hurry I just sit down for 5 min, drink, and then go. So one of my pet peeves is places that give you paper or plastic cups even when you emphasize that you’re going to drink it there. And it bothers me even more when I see that they have actual non-disposable cups hidden behind the counter. This is enough for me to X-list a place, as I find this practice unacceptable in such an environmentally-aware city as San Francisco, where plastic bags are not allowed, composting is compulsory and the city has detailed guides on what green products people should by. Beyond the green side of things, using paper/plastic cups also interferes with the taste of the drink. Even if it’s in a minor way, for places that pride themselves in having amazing gourmet coffee it’s a baffling issue.

So what’s up with you, coffeeshop owners and baristas of San Francisco? Why are you so fond of using paper and plastic? Are you allergic to dishwashing or what? Would you toss out your cups and plates from every meal at home? Maybe some of you do, which is kinda terrifying.

Pictured here you can see the waste produced by a meeting hiphapa, humin and I had the other day at Jebena (at least the plate was not throw-away, I guess it could have been worse). And as much as I love Little Bird, I also have to point a finger at them as one of the offenders in this despicable disposable cup trend. If you don’t want to be green, then at least be smart about your money. If I’m eating in, give me the option of a proper ceramic or glass cup so that you don’t have to buy new cups all the time, thus saving money for your business.

Anyways, back to our regularly scheduled Loin…

In finding out if you can toss kitty litter in the compost (you can’t it turns out) I came across this article on SF Weekly mentioning that semen is not to be composted. Finding this out is going to hit all the XXX movie houses and strip clubs in the area that were hoping to go green, of which I’m sure there were endless scores.

(Just a reminder that it’s time for Moan for the Money Monday at the New Century!)

Tis new phonebook season!

Living in San Francisco has made me all too aware of being “green”, so when I saw these sitting in the lobby of my building I couldn’t help but wonder how useless/wasteful these are. I know they’ll just sit there for god knows how long, the kids in the building will play with and destroy them, and will eventually end up in the trash or on the street. Does anyone even use phonebooks anymore?

Some might argue with me that Hallidie Plaza (that hole in the ground outside the Powell Station) isn’t part of the Loin. I say that it very much is and that if you go to the right, where the escalators are, it’s the gateway to Union Square. You go to the left where the stairs are (and me walking up the stairs not making eye contact with the Street Sheeters), it’s the gateway to the Loin. In fact, it’s the perfect manifestation as to how San Francisco regards these two districts. Properly Done vs. Good Enough. No one really has been able to deal with the fact that this plaza is a complete disaster. If you haven’t read it, this article by John King from nearly four years ago is an excellent breakdown of what exactly is wrong with the Hallidie Hole and how it can be fixed:

When Hallidie Plaza opened in 1973, named in honor of cable car inventor Andrew Hallidie, the idea was to create a sunken plaza that could be a gathering place, a multilevel celebration of urbanity shielded from traffic and throngs.
Oops! We’ve learned since then that urbanity includes traffic and throngs. The commotion is part of the scene. By telescoping the plaza downward, its users were pulled out of sight and out of the action.

King went on to say that the other part of the plaza, which just seems like an afterthought anyways, should be done away with. I couldn’t agree more. And in fact, moving the visitor’s center up to the top is probably the best thing that could be done as any visitor that comes to visit me has no idea that it’s there, given that it’s on the leftward, Loiny side of the plaza.

Of course I can’t really see this happening with our current political mess. We’d end up with Chris Daly pushing for affordable housing to line the exit of Powell (which would look something like the prison cell scene in 12 Monkeys.) Then we’d end up with Newsom erecting a statue of himself over the entrance, standing with his legs apart so that we’d have to stare at his junk every time we would use the station. Whomever voted for Daly should have to live in his pet projects. Whomever voted for Newsom should have to spend time in a locked room with him.

But, my god, here’s one “small” idea that could actually work: a resevoir. Basically, as King was saying, give up on that extension bit. This has so many pluses to it, that I assume it won’t work in San Francisco due to it being firmly grounded in sensibility. First, it doesn’t have to be gorgeous or have artwork saluting some indigenous peoples. Second, it creates almighty surface area for development. Third, there’s the reservoir which it turns out will save the city money. I had no idea that the sound of rushing water I heard in Powell was actually the sound 44 million gallons of water a year being wasted! All this water is pumped out of the station to stop it from flooding when it could be used to fill up the various street cleaning trucks and other city vehicles that need water as well as washing away Newsom’s hubris on a daily, or as-needed basis.

While I’m pissed that this idea hasn’t come about before in a city that claims to be so green, I’m happy that at least now it’s being thought about and, aside from public officials not getting in to a hair pulling fight, it could actually happen.

God I’m tired of these trees. I mean, I’m all for saving them, but I can’t believe I actually wrote three articles about them. It’s probably just that the one article stayed up for like two months and I was probably more sick of seeing it than you were.

Apparently, it’s all done though. The trees stay. You can read more about it by someone who actually gets paid to write in the “newspaper”. Sorry, but the quotes are necessary because the point at which the Examiner ran their Bastards! headline on September 12, 2001, they ceased being a real publication, which would explain why they’re covering an article that a blogger has been writing about.

I’m a bit late with this, but Transbay Blog (which is totally awesome by the way) posted a recap of PARK(ing) Day this year which includes a picture of one of the PARK(ing)s in the Tenderloin, featuring bales of hay on Leavenworth between Turk and Golden Gate.

Apparently the event is really taking off down in places like the Mission where things like this often take off due to “in-ness” and people being able to blow off work (if they work) in the name of said “in-ness”. Because, we walked around the Loin and the displays were pretty sparse as well as taken down quite fast. There didn’t seem to be one that was in to being around the whole day. I suppose we’ll just have to live with our half day attitude around here and bury our faces in a bowl of cheap tikka masala for comfort.

As was mentioned and then left to sit there for two months (more on that later), the trees on Polk Street are still in danger of being chopped down for no other reason than to uglify the crap out of the street. There’s probably some liability wank in there as well, but I never buy that.

For those who can, attend the hearing on September 30th (yeah, this Wednesday) at 5PM in City Hall, Room 416.

I’m hoping that someone there will take the lead as to what you do at these things, seeing as how I’ve never been to one due to the fact the Academy of Art never had to put up anything for public review. If you want more details, you can read all the signs that are up at Bush and Pine. Heroes, this is one instance where we can indeed make things better in our beloved Loin. See you there unless I fall in to a deep, dark bar beforehand.

When you think of nice sections of San Francisco, the one thing that they usually have in common is an abundance of trees lining the street. Whether it’s Upper Hyde, Upper Fillmore, Pacific Heights, etc., it’s a no-brainer. Have some trees and people like. Tear out all the trees and people don’t like. Such is the case with the vast majority of the Tenderloin. There are no trees which in addition to removing nature’s air purifiers, it makes all the streets look like crap. Every piece of trash stands out more and the street’s ass is exposed. I don’t care who you are, but an exposed ass in never a good thing.

Naturally, whenever I see a sign that they want to rip out trees in a specific place, I am annoyed. Sure, people are allowed their due course as an owner, but those sidewalks in front of their buildings are not theirs. They are ours and it’s more than a little frustrating that simply the threat of possible legal action by some ambulance chasing lawyer some day in the future due to some unknown future person walking by who might hit their head on a branch that doesn’t exist yet, will make people want to tear out the trees in front of their buildings.

It seems I am not alone in this and some concerned citizen put up notices that a couple of trees on Polk street between Bush and Pine (the ones pictured above) are set to be cut down. Here is the notice on the Polk Street trees:

There was a bit of information in these notices, but since seeing the one that I did on Post Street and going back the next day to take a picture, they have since all been removed. If anyone has any information on this campaign, please leave it in the comments section. I’ve seen far, far too many trees removed in the Loin to sit by idly and let more get taken out just in the name of whatever lame excuse people have to remove them. Oh yeah, bug David Chiu. It’s about time he did a bit more on the ground for his district in this area.

I was greeted by this tome telling all AoA students just when and where their classes would be for the coming academic year. Some would call this a class schedule. I call it a tremendous waste of trees. It’s something like 500 pages long, weighs a ton, packaged in thick, non-recyclable plastic sleeve, and was sent via UPS for some damned reason (tuition money to blow by the AoA I assume.) I guess putting it online would be like soooo 1998 or something.

Of course, if you have to include information with the classes such as which side of the jeans to wear your safety pins and your required Angst Level to attend a session, I suppose I can understand the length. Also, along with the empty princess limos they drive around the same path as the SF Muni lines, the poorly paid staff, the highly paid owner of the school, the illegal conversions of hotels in to student dorms, and their general “Fuck you and your little dog too” manner of doing business, it’s not a surprise that the AoA would take a dump on our forests as well. It wouldn’t be a shock if these schedules were also printed in child sweatshops just to, you know, round out the overall evil. All hail the red plague!

It never really ceases to amaze us how much crap gets dumped in the streets of the Loin; especially furniture. This is just pure, asinine laziness at its best. Why is that? Because you can have a limited number of large items picked for free at your address. All it takes is the miraculous ability to use the freakin’ phone. That’s it.

And in case you were wondering, this particular piece of sad abandonment is sitting by the 27 stop on Sutter at Leavenworth. If you prefer something a bit bigger and slightly more impregnated with sin, there is a couch down at Hyde at O’Farrell which had a couple getting their drink, as well as their love on. We’re sure that one will be extra delicious by morning. And again, use the freakin’ phone. It. Is. Free. Don’t toss this stuff in the street.