August 2007
All entries and daily links from August 2007.
Friday, August 31, 2007
- The Mint Project
Fundraising to turn the Old Mint in San Francisco into a new visitor center and museum.
What's That Smell?
Thursday, August 30, 2007 at 9:08am 0 comments
At first I thought the smell was just the garbage cans outside the office, left in the sun all day, but that stench of sewage hung in the air all over San Francisco yesterday.
This morning's paper confirmed my suspicion, the smell was coming from the sewers.
The stench - which some described as raw sewage while others put it closer to rotting meat - could be smelled in the Financial District, South of Market and Potrero Hill. City officials believe the odor resulted from hot temperatures on Wednesday.
In the Castro, it was more like a mix of kitty litter and shit. Today is the summer's second "spare the air day" and I hope that work done through the night by city agencies to flush the system worked and we'll only have to worry about the other pollutants in the air.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
- Burning Man burns early
An arsonist set fire to the iconic figure on Monday night.
Anyone Want Free Wifi?
Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 2:08pm 2 comments
While other cities are building public wifi networks and San Francisco wrestles over touchy but important issue of building it's own or contracting it out, there's a startup has gone ahead and started building one in San Francisco.
Yesterday, the paper had a story about Meraki which is building a free wireless mesh network from the ground up. While the company is private, the network is built block by block with the help of volunteers who place a small repeater in their window (or the roof or wherever) and if willing, share a bit of their DSL or cable line's bandwidth to the network.
They'll make their money it seems from selling additional equipment and letting volunteers charge for access (like coffee shops and cafes often do) with and 80/20 revenue split. Most of what I've read has been positive and if the company does not survive, I haven't had to spend anything and just keep using my own wifi.
In order to build the network, they are giving out free mini repeaters to volunteers who sign up. I told Nick and we both signed up and offered to give some of our bandwidth to see how well this works out. Check out the coverage map and if you've tried it, let me know how well it's worked for you.
Four Point Oh
Wednesday, August 15, 2007 at 10:08pm 0 comments
Movable Type turned 4.0 yesterday. If you're an MT user, you're gonna want it.
The Golden Gate Bridge and the Suicide Barrier
Tuesday, August 7, 2007 at 5:08pm 6 comments
Yesterday I received an email from Richard at Sparkletack, a fantastic podcast about San Francisco history, asking for listener feedback by way of a vote for our three favorite episodes.
One of my three choices is The Golden Gate Bridge, a Modest Proposal. From pretty much the time it opened in the 30's, the bridge has been a suicide magnet and there has been an endless debate about whether to build a suicide barrier fence.
There are a lot of reasons given not to put up a barrier. It would be too expensive (several million dollars with all the studies), it would just lead people to commit suicide elsewhere, but there's one reason which really bothers me: it would ruin the beauty of the bridge.
I'm lucky enough, living so close, I cross it every few weeks when cycling over to Marin County, and it never fails to impress me. For everyone who makes this trip, on a bike or by foot, the first several hundred yards is already obstructed by a fence. And it's not an attractive one either. Unlike the barrier concepts which have already been developed, designed to match the art deco style and make a minimal impact on the view, it's a plain cyclone fence topped with "no trespassing" signs and topped with razor-wire.
Those who want to preserve the beauty of the bridge should be in support of a barrier fence, if for no other reason than to replace the ugly fencing which currently greets visitors as they start there trip across.
I'm not going to spoil the proposal in Richard's podcast, but perhaps a less hostile greeting to visitors could play it's own part in preventing suicide.
Public Input
Wednesday, August 1, 2007 at 5:08pm 0 comments
Stephen asked a few questions about the SFMTA's Citizen Advisory Council (CAC) in a comment on my earlier entry.
How will the Council take suggestions from MUNI riders as to possible improvements? Will there be meetings? A website?
Answering in reverse, there is already a Citizen's Advisory Committeesection of the SFMTA web site. You are probably looking for more out of the site than just minutes and agendas, but this is where you'll also find the schedules for our meetings. All meetings are open to the public and we because we don't normally get a lot of attendees, there is usually time for those who come to ask questions of the staff presenting.
We have a monthly meeting of the full CAC, normally the first thursday of the month beginning at 5:30, but this month it has not been schedule yet. Along with the full meeting are the four committees which meet throughout the month during the day and with different focusses:
- Engineering, Maintenance & Safety Committee (EMSC)
- Finance & Administration Committee (FAC)
- Operations & Customer Service Committee (OCSC)
- Planning & Marketing Committee (PMC)
You'll find the dates and times of each of these on the web site as well. My committee, the PMC will be meeting the third thursday of the month at 3:30pm. which I need to put together and agenda for.
If you have suggestions or complaints, don't forget you can contact the SFMTA directly attend our meetings or you can send me an email.
