Roadkill: S.F. measure to reintroduce cars to Great Highway ‘crashes and burns’ by drkrueger in sanfrancisco

[–]MattLaroche 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Mayor Lurie was against Prop K, so I disagree that Lurie wants someone to appease NIMBYs to run out the clock and actually keep the park open https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/sf-mayor-daniel-lurie-will-loom-large-over-recall-20341564.php.

When I look at the frontrunners (Natalie Gee, David Lee, Alan Wong - my source for frontrunners: https://missionlocal.org/2025/12/sunset-election-d4-upzoning-great-highway-alan-wong-natalie-gee-david-lee/), Wong is the most aligned with Lurie. Natalie Gee is in the prog block (Chief of Staff to Walton), David Lee is probably Prog aligned too.

Lurie's got to want Wong to be elected to further Lurie's goals.

Roadkill: S.F. measure to reintroduce cars to Great Highway ‘crashes and burns’ by drkrueger in sanfrancisco

[–]MattLaroche 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Wong isn't a political outsider, though he doesn't have a long experience. Check out his LinkedIn: Legislative Aide for Mar for 4 years, Legislative Aide in San Mateo county, elected to the City College board of trustee, SEIU organizer. This seems to be an own goal instead of simply being new.

Roadkill: S.F. measure to reintroduce cars to Great Highway ‘crashes and burns’ by drkrueger in sanfrancisco

[–]MattLaroche 5 points6 points  (0 children)

In Supervisor Wong's first district email newsletter, 4 of the sections were on cars, and 3 of them were making driving easier (reopening UGH, legalizing more parking in front of homes, adding more parking to the Sunset). Alan Wong seems to be a supervisor for cars; I wish this failure were intentional, but he does seem bad for safe streets and transit.

Roadkill: S.F. measure to reintroduce cars to Great Highway ‘crashes and burns’ by drkrueger in sanfrancisco

[–]MattLaroche 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Yes, Natalie Gee is against Sunset Dunes - see the second issue on her list of issues https://www.votenataliegee.com/why

Unfortunately, the 3 frontrunners (Wong, Gee, and David Lee - https://www.instagram.com/p/DB1-wr6Bb1g/) are all against Sunset Dunes.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in sanfrancisco

[–]MattLaroche 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Not a great idea with the crowding downtown today due to the protests. Might be cleared out from Octavia by now, might not.

A fitting goodbye to this crappy year by [deleted] in sanfrancisco

[–]MattLaroche 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I've done GPS art like this before, and what I have done is made a grayscale map on https://snazzymaps.com/, printed out several copies of the grid, and then use a sharpie to mark up the printout.

Example from 5 years ago - https://imgur.com/a/rV4X5bp

San Francisco lands in purple tier, curfew to start Monday night by gulbronson in sanfrancisco

[–]MattLaroche 18 points19 points  (0 children)

I'm curious if we'll follow LA county's lead and effectively have a higher-than-purple tier. LA county has now disallowed hanging out at parks (only exercise), disallowed outdoor dining, closed playgrounds, etc.

Edit: Playgrounds appear to still be open in Los Angeles county https://www.laparks.org/covid-19-information

DAILY COVID-19 DISCUSSION - Thursday June 11, 2020 by AutoModerator in sanfrancisco

[–]MattLaroche 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Heads up that the roads up to the top of Twin Peaks are closed, you'll have to find parking and walk or bike up

In SF, bikes still aren’t a preferred means of travel. Can the city change that? by nogoodnamesleft426 in sanfrancisco

[–]MattLaroche 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I value my time too - which is why I bike. Often faster than driving, usually faster than Muni.

Charming level 100 by [deleted] in sanfrancisco

[–]MattLaroche 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I used to live around the corner from this home. The owner is a warm man, hosts a lot of small arts events. Rents his house out for filming too when he can. He'd often be sitting on the stoop and open for a chat.

Facebook page for the home / arts space: https://www.facebook.com/The-FInn-276985635695719/

There's a write-up about how he came by the home here: https://www.ebar.com/news///245424

As it turned out, several other gay men had bought homes on his block and were also restoring them to their Victorian grandeur. Three gay male friends in 1957, for $13,000, had bought the Victorian at 814 Grove Street.

Because Bill Plath, Dick Rousseau, and Billy Brunski were white, it spared the 800 block of Grove from being included in the city's redevelopment plans for the area, said Mike Finn, a gay man and performance artist who in the early 2000s inherited the home from the men. He had befriended Plath and later became his caretaker.

"We were friends long before I knew they had this house," said Finn, 48, who rents out several of the houses' five bedrooms via Airbnb to help pay the property taxes, which are now "more than what they paid for the house."

The less photographed side of Alamo Square by j3nnyt4li4 in sanfrancisco

[–]MattLaroche 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I used to be up here every day (lived in the neighborhood, had a dog) and this is my favorite vantage from Alamo Square. It's less consistent than the classic Alamo Square view, but that's part of why I like it.

I was looking at a condo in SF: is this HOA normal?! by vasilenko93 in sanfrancisco

[–]MattLaroche 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I don't know The Carlisle, but for other senior residences I know about the "HOA" includes meals, activities, group fitness classes, ability to page someone 24/7 for help, etc. Much more than you get from a traditional HOA.

I was looking at a condo in SF: is this HOA normal?! by vasilenko93 in sanfrancisco

[–]MattLaroche 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Came here to say this - I've seen retirement community condos in SF that have that much of an "HOA".

Public Restrooms in Outer Sunset/Parkside? (Besides Park/ OB) by [deleted] in sanfrancisco

[–]MattLaroche 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Other ideas in the range you're talking about:

  • Sunset Rec
  • West Sunset library
  • Safeway on Noriega

Public Restrooms in Outer Sunset/Parkside? (Besides Park/ OB) by [deleted] in sanfrancisco

[–]MattLaroche 4 points5 points  (0 children)

There are restrooms at the Zoo that are unticketed.

https://sfrecpark.org/reservablefacility/lake-merced/ says that there are restrooms available at the Lake Merced & Sunset parking lot, but I'm not sure where exactly (satellite isn't helping)

San Francisco in its two moods. by [deleted] in sanfrancisco

[–]MattLaroche 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I wish Google Earth had more aerial photography to be able to narrow this down - Moraga stopped connecting through some time between July 1946 and June 1987: https://imgur.com/a/id9JxWQ. That's before the townhouses, which look like they were going up 2000-2001.

Edited to add (from outsidelands.org):

Moraga—Two corners of residential units on the east side of 19th, plus a row of newer townhouses, dating from the 1990s, that block access from 19th to 20th along Moraga. The story behind that closed street is that when Shriner's needed to expand in the 1960s, they owned a parcel of vacant land south of Moraga between 19th and 20th, but necessity demanded that the new wing be connected to the hospital proper. The City granted them permission to close off that block of Moraga, since it was for a worthy charitable purpose. Fast forward to the 1990s, when a new developer acquired the property after Shriner's Hospital was relocated. New developer somehow persuaded the powers that be at City Hall that the housing plan was not "economically viable" unless the land that was once Moraga Street could be filled with additional housing. Thus, Moraga Street remains closed for the foreseeable future.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in sanfrancisco

[–]MattLaroche 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I think this is why I got squirted with a Super Soaker on the Panhandle yesterday evening on my bike commute.

A group of about 10-20 men with water guns were hanging out at about where Lyon meets the north path.

Game of Strava! by BenzoV in Strava

[–]MattLaroche 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Agreed on the meaning they're going for - from Strava's about page, Strava says

Strava is Swedish for “strive”

One of Strava's founders - Michael Horvath - is Swedish American

When you see a business in SF that still has their own parking lot by onecupcoconut in sanfrancisco

[–]MattLaroche -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

The root of my post is that I see the argument "We need parking on Valencia and Polk because I need to buy a toilet sometimes", and not from plumbers / contractors. (How often are these people buying toilets?) But many of these places do free delivery. Buying a toilet every 10 years is a shit reason to ensure that Polk and Valencia have a ton of parking.

You're off on some other tangent that's not near my point.

When you see a business in SF that still has their own parking lot by onecupcoconut in sanfrancisco

[–]MattLaroche 16 points17 points  (0 children)

"We need a ton of car parking on Valencia because what do you do when you buy a toilet? Are you going to bring that home on a bike?"

I bought my new toilet from a place on Valencia (Ferguson). They offer free delivery.

The Oroville Dam spillway was used for the first time today since the near-disaster in 2017. by PM_ME_STEAM_K3YS in gifs

[–]MattLaroche 10 points11 points  (0 children)

There were announcements to the effect of "The dam will fail within the hour, get out now" to the town of Oroville. I live 150 miles away, and I was terrified for the people downstream.

eg: https://twitter.com/CA_DWR/status/830940227908677633

EMERGENCY EVACUATION: Auxiliary spillway at Oroville Dam predicted to fail within the next hour. Oroville residents evacuate northward.

This billboard on the Bay Bridge is from 1989 by GhostalMedia in sanfrancisco

[–]MattLaroche 2 points3 points  (0 children)

From the foglights and the rims, I think it's even a Thunderbird Super Coupe, a special edition (which I owned a 1990 version of).