No Sleeping Allowed Here-Update #2

September 16, 2010-Either the homeless encampment have escalated or the sky is really falling, because this morning walk I noticed on the 1800 block of Powell Street businesses got more intriguing.

Annabella's, the ladies fashion boutique at 1821 Powell Street:

They have added not one but two large potted plants looped around the crisscrossing chain link.

Double Punch, the Japanese toys store at 1821 Powell Street; the originator of the chain link innovation:

They have inserted a wooden barricade to the chain link.

The Wizard surmised that the homeless culprit must have place a blanket over the chain link innovation and unitize it like a hammock, or I missed the latest posting that the City was holding a "Best Business Doorway Blockade Design Contest."

No Sleeping Allowed Here-Update

September 12, 2010-This morning on my early walk around the neighborhood, I noticed that "Annabella's" at 1817 Powell Street with the short iron gate:

The business have succumb to the chain link method too, plus an added measure of wrapping the chain link around a potted plant.

The lone homeless must be one very persistent individual or better yet..."DEFIANT TO THE END!"

No Sleeping Allowed Here

September 10, 2010-The City of San Francisco governing infrastructure and most of it's citizenry are well known for their  liberal & progressive views. Questions usually arises when the problem and solution just do not seems to work out as planned or stated. One of the City biggest problem is the large number of homeless in the City streets and parks. Why does the City have so many homeless---because of the numerous assistance and service available to the homeless and the lenient "General Assistance" payment requirement.  Our current Mayor Gavin Newsom initiated his "Care Not Cash Program." which moved the homeless to city assisted care and less dependant on the City dole. Helping the homeless is the humane way a civilize society should act, but any services or payment program require the basic funds to sustain its existence. Who pay---the taxpayers! Homeless advocates always cite that the Federal Government should do more to help the homeless. Sadly the taxpayers ends up paying for that too! Now with the down economy the City must decide whether more money should be allocate for the services to homeless or for the services to the taxpaying residences.

San Francisco and other large urban cities in America are usually struck with a large homeless population. Why...because rural and small America cities have stricter police enforcement that tends to coerce the homeless toward the big cities...since they can afford it and better equipped to handle the problem. The old "pass the buck" ideology! San Francisco District Attorney have a revolving door policy for homeless infractions, since they are treated as misdemeanor---arrested---cited---back on the street---maybe at least two days later---arrested again---cited---back on the street. Now if you happen to get caught shooting an innocent bystander...don't worry---you get a "Free pass-Get of Jail" due to lack of evidence!

There are three basic types of homeless: unfortunate, harden and mental. The "unfortunate homeless" are the ones that just lost a job, financial crisis, a divorce, family crisis or medical crisis. These are the ones or families that take the assistance hoping it would only be temporary and everything be back to normal as soon as possible. The "harden homeless" are the alcoholic or drug dependency ones...no matter how many rehabilitation programs he/she attends---it would never works if he/she do not have the self esteem to change for the better---it would just be a entitlement of handouts forever. The "mental homeless" are the society outcasts---person with mental health issues. These are America Health Care poster child...there use to be ward or center for the mentally ill patients, but now health care providers and hospitals are profit-driven entity, therefore person with mental health symptoms requiring long term residency---it's better to kick him/her out on the street to free the space for cosmetic surgery patient. The "unfortunate" hoping for betterment, the "harden" don't give a damn, and the "mental" sadly think sleeping out in the street as the best thing in his/her life.

Earlier this week the City homeless got nationwide TV and press coverage about the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood McDonald's franchise owner decided to drop the "Dollar Menu" in favor of the $1.50 menu. The local homeless were outraged about the 50 cents increase, since it meant longer panhandling to get a meal now and corporate America way of punishing the homeless. Two months ago I got my garbage bill from the City mandatory residential garbage can rule with a price increase because of a cost of living adjustment. The cost of living increase is not for me but the company's workers I presume, but I didn't see no press outrage...I forgot, food is a basic necessities, while waste is just the by-product. This week the price of coffee beans reached a 12-year high on the Futures Exchange, therefore massive pickets should occur in all Starbucks in the coming months when the price of a cup of coffee increase ten cents!

The problems of the homeless doesn't hit home until it affect a person personally. In my North Beach neighborhood street we get an occasionally homeless sleeping along the sidewalk or nearby doorway. The corner laundromat attract the homeless crowd during the cold weather and on warm days the homeless crowd would just congregate along the sidewalk...smoking, drinking and carousing. The problems occur when they decided to leave the area---litters, vomiting, urinating and defecating. I go out and clean up the mess, but some of my neighbors are hoping the City would take care of it. I am not a big fan of the species called coprophagous.

For the last 12 months during my morning walk around the neighborhood, I was able to witness how the businesses on the 1800 block of Powell Street cope with homeless sleeping in front of their doorway. Any neighborhood with plenty of social amenities would have a good share of homeless clientele---thus North Beach is one such neighborhood. This block of Powell Street is located next to Washington Square Park with open space, park benches and public restroom; St. Peter & Paul Church with free sandwiches for the homeless; Joe DiMaggio North Beach Playground with open space and public restroom; North Beach Library with comfy chairs and reading materials...at night the Library exterior ledge becomes a homeless sleeping encampment; several liquor stores; several stores that offer fast & cheap eateries; Northpoint Shopping Centre with Safeway supermarket, Walgreens drug store and public restroom; and finally Fisherman's Wharf...panhandling paradise.



The businesses on the 1800 block of Powell Street first step to prevent homeless from sleeping in front of their doorway was to post the green "NO TRESPASSING" "REQUEST FOR ENFORCEMENT OF MUNICIPAL POLICE CODE SECTION 25" signs:

First, how many homeless bother to read posted signs? Secondly the sign clearly stated the following:
A violation of Section 25 is an infraction. A second violation within 24 hours (Section 26) is a misdemeanor.


I hereby request that the San Francisco Police department enforce the above Municipal Police Code Sections on my behalf and in my absence.


Thirdly, these posting expired in 6 months. Finally the question of enforcement...I have noticed during the early morning hours of police officers in squad cars stopping by business with homeless sleeping in the doorway not citing the person but just having them move along. The police officers knows with the nice District Attorney office that it's better to use good judgement than arresting the violator and within a few hours after all the wasted time & paper works he/she be set free back on the street. In order words, these green signs have no teeth!

"Beauty House Of May,"at 1811 Powell Street, a beauty salon have the green signs posted in the door and front window.

My next question since police enforcement is just minimal, what happen to the local help...North Beach Citizens only accept homeless willing to achieve a better life not harden homeless. North Beach Chamber of Commerce is only concern about where to hold the next North Beach Festival. North Beach Merchants Association is concern about two things---no franchise chain store allowed here and listings of property owners not renting vacant storefronts.  The businesses at 1800 Powell Street is basically on their own!

"Annabella's," at 1817 Powell Street, a ladies fashion boutique and one of longest business tenure on the block have short iron gate in the front.

The gate was not installed to deter homeless from sleeping in the doorway. The original owner over 6 years ago had flower plants within the center of each side of the gate, thereby when the gate sprung open each storefront window display would have a flowery decoration below. Unfortunately I noticed one morning a homeless sleeping inside the gated area, but usually it remain empty since the pointed arrow on top of the gate is a very good determent...homeless do not have the luxury of always having a flashlight handy at night.

The first business on this block to stop homeless from sleeping in the doorway was "Double Punch" at 1821 Powell Street, a Japanese toys store. This store either later last year or early this year first attempt was taping a large cardboard box in the center of the entrance with a note "Please Don't Sleep Here!" The attempt was not successful, therefore led to the following drastic innovation:

Large eye hooks inserted on all four corners of the entryway with a chain link crisscrossing the lower half to deter anybody from sleeping by the doorway.

The Wizard surmised it must a sole homeless, whom have a special attachment to this block or could it be the ambiance of the block. The homeless found sleeping arrangement at other business on the block, therefore this Summer "Jeffrey's Natural Pet Food Company," at 1841 Powell Street, a pet store installed the chain link innovation too:

During this time "Optometrist-Richard J. Chong, OD" at 1833 Powell Street installed the chain link  innovation too, but I noticed they used it only one attempt. It could be the hassle of looping the chain in the evening and then in the following morning unlooping the chain to enter the premise. I noticed they tried the large cardboard box method one day and then the yellow "Caution" tape wrapped crisscrossing in place of the chain link. The result was on August 22, 2010:

The homeless return to the favorite sleeping post.

They returned back to using the chain link and on August 28, 2010:

The homeless slept outside by the sidewalk and used the doorway to store supplies.

On September 3, 2010, they devised a different innovation:

A plastic garbage can flush against the door held by a chain link. A speedier solution but more costly would be to iron gate the complete front entryway.

The problems of the homeless is very prevalent in my neighborhood---North Beach, Downtown, Tenderloin, Civic Center, Golden Gate Park & Embarcadero, because they are among us.  Those that are living in nice quiet residential neighborhood have only one motto: The homeless is no problem, because they are not in my neighborhood!

More DPT Antics #3

September 8, 2010-Yesterday the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) approved the installations of 1340 new parking meters in 10 neighborhoods. On Monday-Labor Day holiday many drivers park in meter spot was rewarded with a $55 parking ticket, because the City needs revenue changed free holidays parking to only three holidays---New Year, Thanksgiving & Christmas. The TV and newspaper media had citizens crying of this ticket outrage, but the holidays parking enforcement been effective for several years. The City parking meters are all digitalized...therefore they are programmed to read "FREE PARKING" on days or time there are no need to feed the meter, but if the meter is flashing "EXPIRED" it meant you better pay or maybe it meant it's time to toss old food!

The enforcement division of the MTA is the DPT---Department of Parking & Traffic, the dread Parking Control Officer (PCO). I have written about prior incidents with these PCO's that ignored their boss memo to follow the rules they are supposely to enforce...well this morning at 9:20 AM at the corner of Pacific & Grant Avenue I encounter this:

The DPT scooter is parked in the red zone. Several months ago I parked my car in the spot right in front of this DPT scooter in the afternoon as I dropped my wife to visit her doctor in the 700 block of Pacific Avenue. When we return back to the car, I noticed a DPT scooter parked right behind me in the red zone. I had a hard time getting out of the parking spot since the scooter had me blocked in the rear...must be the same law-abiding worker!

It must be breakfast time in Chinatown, because on the adjacent block of 1000 Grant Avenue was another DPT scooter parked in the yellow meter zone---"Commercial Vehicle Loading"

They have a old saying of trouble comes in the three's, well as I walked up to 1300 block of Stockton Street...I noticed the third DPT scooter parked in the yellow zone but before I could get a picture the Oriental PCO got in the scooter and made a U-turn on Stockton Street. The Wizard surmised that the other two DPT scooters PCO are Oriental too, using an old fortune cookie proverb: "He who follow the rules, unless written in Chinese!"

Eggs Recall Or Not!

August 18, 2010-Yesterday as I was viewing the latest news stories in my computer, I noticed a mention of eggs being recall because of Salmonella. The article mentioned "Lucerne" a brand of eggs from 'Safeway,' which I happened to purchase a dozen the day before at the 15 Marina Blvd store. The article listed dozen and 18 count egg cartons with Plant ID# 1026, 1413 & 1946 with the Julian dates 136 to 225. I went to my refrigerator to check and just my luck I finally in my lifetime got an item that was involved in a Nationwide recall.

Today I visited the same store customer service window to return the recalled eggs, the clerk checked the date with his list and confirm it was one of the recalled eggs. He placed my carton of eggs with the other 8 stack of recalled eggs carton on the back counter.  He asked if I wanted to get an replacement dozen and return back to the window in exchange. I went to the eggs section and all the eggs were the same batch I brought two days ago---Sell by 09/05/10 P1026 219. I was not going to replace a recalled eggs with another carton of recalled eggs, therefore I asked another clerk why this store still have recalled eggs in the shelves, he claims that's a good question. He offer to go to the back storeroom and get me a dozen without the P1026 219 code on the carton. He returned with a carton labeled---SEP 15 229 36 P1776. 

I brought the carton of eggs to the customer service clerk and asked him why there is still P1026 219 eggs in the shelves. He replied that those eggs was cleared by FDA today as a different shipment from the recalled eggs. He looked at my carton of eggs and said mine was from P1776. 

The answer seems a bit strange. I got home checked the FDA---U.S. Food And Drug Administration website at www.fda.gov and they just mentioned causally about potential Salmonella in shell eggs with the brand names but no listings of the recalled products code. The site did listed other sites for further information. I checked www.eggsafety.org and got a better understanding why foods safety in America is not a big concern until at least 2 or more people dies!

This site stated that on August 13, 2010 Wright County Eggs of Galt, Iowa issued a press release...voluntary recall of their shell eggs that have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. They listed Plant ID# 1026, 1413 & 1946 with the Julian dates 136 through 225. Remember the press release wording of "potential to be contaminated" nobody died yet, but over 250 people have gotten sick from eating their eggs! The FDA are in the process of investigating Salmonella in eggs---no death so far, therefore just inform the consumers to cook the eggs correctly and refrain from eating raw eggs.

August 18, 2010 Wright County Eggs of Galt, Iowa issued an updated press release...expanding voluntary recall of their shell eggs that have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. They listed Plant ID# 1720 & 1942 with the Julian dates 136 through 229. 

The Wizard surmised that maybe someone in this Safeway store misread the latest press release without reading the word "expanding," thinking only the last two Plant ID# was being recalled and the others are now safe...or is this just wishful thinking.

I checked all the latest or updated listings of product codes for "Lucerne" eggs still listed Plant ID 1026 with Julian dates 136 through 225 as recalled eggs, there were no mention that some or any were exempted. It could be just a case of 'rotten' employer, 'scramble' employee and 'over easy' regulator!

Driving Antics #2

August 5, 2010-I forgot to add one more category of drivers:

#4-Professional Stupid Drivers-These are the drivers that must know the rules of road, because their livelihood depends upon it...Muni drivers, taxi drivers, limousine drivers, airport shuttle drivers, tour bus drivers, grocery delivery drivers, parcels drivers, construction vehicle drivers and truck drivers. 

I place almost 75% are bad drivers, while my chatting buddies claims only 50% are bad. When we broke it down into the different types of drivers we all came to some agreement...taxi drivers 75% bad---I can recall a taxi driver once told me that the police overlook some of their illegal driving maneuvers because they know they must make a living. I doubt that very seriously, since I have seen California Highway Patrol pull speeding taxi heading to and from the airport. Try telling the family of a vacationing Ohio couple, that the taxi driver taking them from the airport to the City claims smells something burning in the car but instead of pulling over in the freeway to investigate, he continue on and ended up hitting an off ramp pillar and killing the two passengers because he had no brake. The driver survived!

Muni drivers we are almost in agreement, they claims 90% but I placed it at 97% are bad drivers. Why? They had no accountability...get into an accident, the driver most likely not going to get fired and the City ends up paying thousands in litigation fees. Some blame it on the powerful Union and I too concurred, since the Muni drivers just got a 5.75 percent pay raise. All other City employees had agreed to wage cuts to help balance the City budget deficit, but the Muni employees refused concessions. The City Charter guaranteed the driver wages to be the Nation's second highest paid transit operators. One of the Muni operator told in a TV interview that the pay raise was necessary to help cover the increase in their health premiums. How come other City workers or workers in general cannot claims that same perks? I forgot we are not listed in the City Charter---cannot wait until the upcoming November election, when the mad public citizens revoke that provision of the City Charter.

Today at 9:20 AM on my walk back home at my favor corner---Green/Columbus/Stockton:

  

The bus was completely over the crosswalk and pedestrians are walking beyond the crosswalk to pass the bus. The driver excuse---none---just plain stupid. There are no police officer nearby and the Muni inspector stationed down the block in his car cannot see behind him either!

City pedestrians and tourist...welcome to my world!

Driving Antics

August 5, 2010-Learning to drive and having a car is one of the Top Five Dream Items for most youths in America, the others being---true love, endless allowances, no homework, and college scholarship. The problem is too many people treat driving as a right, when in fact it is really a privilege. Over half a century of being either a driver or pedestrian I came to the conclusion there are three categories of drivers in the City of San Francisco:

#1-Scare Drivers-60% of the City drivers...following the rules of the road and hoping not to get into an accident or get a traffic/parking citation---because it would incur loses in monetary (fines) or time (court appearance, traffic school or doctor visits).
#2-Stupid Drivers-30% of the City drivers...majority of these drivers knows the rules of the road but would rather break the rules for self-convenience. These are usually the arrogant drivers who think they are the best drivers while the rest are bad drivers. These are the drivers that double park on busy street to get a latte or runs errand. The last minute lane changer or cut-in driver while impeding the flow of traffic on others drivers. The blocking of driveway driver because he/she knows a police response can take up to 2 hours to arrive. The opportunistic driver since there is no way a police officer would be station at every corner.

#3-Affluent Drivers-10% of the City drivers...during commuter time with out-of-towners the percentage can reach as high as 20%. These are the drivers of expensive luxury cars-people with wealth or political influences. These drivers can run red light, speed or get a ticket...because they can talk themselves out of a ticket,  afford to pay the ticket or hire a good lawyer to white-wash any incident. They are the King/Queen of the road, while the rest of the populous are just peasant drivers.

There are also two types of pedestrian:

#1-Normal Pedestrians-The ones that stand on the sidewalk until the green signal light flashes, and then looks both ways before crossing the crosswalk. In a uncontrolled crosswalk being very wary of inattentive drivers and never assume the driver would stop in time.

#2-Stupid Pedestrians-The ones that think he/she have the right of way as long as he/she is within the crosswalk---jaywalking, crossing on red light, or not paying attention to the surrounding.

This bring me to this morning at 8:15 AM,  as I was walking up the 500 block of Columbus Avenue and approached the corner of Green Street or better known for just that block as Beach Blanket Babylon Blvd. I had the green "walk" sign to cross the street and I can hear a car engine revving---speeding toward me by the crosswalk. It was a gentleman in a white Audi, he stopped at the crosswalk and I knew he was in a hurry to cross the intersection. Usually in the morning commute time the 500 block of Columbus is a big bottleneck due to three sets of signal lights and buses making turns into Stockton Street, a short-cut would be to take Green Street and back onto Columbus Street. I turned and watch as he allowed another lady behind me crossed the street and then he tried to bolt into Columbus Street while he was on the red light, forcing other pedestrians to go around his car.

I listed this driver as one of my #3-Affluent Drivers, since he must be in a hurry to get to his job at the Financial District...too busy looking to his left to get into traffic and not paying attention to the light:

No right turn on red and the arrow was clearly red, but paying a fine is much better than being late for work. I almost forgot what the chance of a motorcycle cop on that corner---nil!

Latest Corn Shucks Update

August 2, 2010-Yesterday morning I visited my local Safeway store at Bay Street, since the Sunday August 1st ad had "Platinum Sweet Brentwood Corn Exclusively at Safeway" at Club Price of---6 for $1. I wanted to see what new gimmick this store 'produce section' had come up with this time. 

The surcharge for $1.19 for shucking the corn have disappeared, someone must have turned them in on such an illegal practice. They still have the sign for "please no shucking" but they came out with a new one  too:

The new posted  sign is "Limit 6 Corn!" I didn't see that in the Safeway ad. The reason could be two-fold, number one corns sale is very popular selling points in this store, number two produce clerks cannot keep replenishing the corns stock since its too much work.

I have shopped at many Safeway stores in the City and this store have the worst produce in-stocks and clerks I ever encounter. Either the produce manager have no concept on what or how many to order and the clerks are very terrible to certain type of customers. Many of my buddies are constantly asking me why I am so obsessive with this produce section...because I worked almost half a century in jobs dealing with the public. If you cannot deal with customers, why take a job that makes you miserable; plus the customers is the ones that help paid your salary!

This morning I visited the Bay Street Safeway store and I observed an incident between the tall Causcian produce clerk and a elderly Oriental lady by the corns bin. The clerk was working at the other end of the produce section and he suddenly headed to the corns bin to tell the lady to stop picking corns from the middle of the display pile but from the top, because he said they are all the same and it might cause the pile to tip over. The clerk was incorrect in the statement that all corns are the same, since corns come in different shape and size. Majority of the customers would try to pick ones that are plumb, since there was no sign stating "picking is illegal." The lady was about 5' tall and the corns were stacked almost 6' high---why? I overheard that same clerk telling another clerk several weeks ago that he put out all the corns so he don't have to deal with it the rest of his shift. I watched as the lady can barely reach the top of the corn pile but she was afraid of that clerk as I watched her looking back at him. My buddies asked me why I didn't say anything to that foolish clerk...because I wanted to stay incognito to watch this clown.

I have observed this clown on many occasion treating Oriental customers very different than treating other ethnic customers. A Oriental man was sorting through plastic bags of grapes to make a larger bag, he told the man he cannot do that...these bags were not seal and some had bunch of rotten grapes in them. A Oriental lady was going through the boxes of cantaloupes to find whatever and he told her to stop making a mess of his display. Then one day I noticed a Caucasian lady was opening the plastic container holding strawberries and taking larger strawberries from other plastic containers to replace the smaller strawberries in her container---he saw it but said nothing. This is a lesson I learn from watching a local TV produce guy who said to always weigh a pint of strawberries to make sure it's really a pint, because sometime people do sample or take item from the container. I thought maybe he was a "ladies man" but then one day I noticed a African American man sorting through bags of cherries just as he scold the Oriental man for doing the same with  grapes; this time the clerk was helping the man opening the bags. This clerk is a piece of work. I have only one dealing with him when I asked him if he had any yellow corns and his reply was a stern---white corns only. One of the other store clerk told me that store employers took all the yellow corns in the back because they were sweeter. In another store I asked if they had any yellow corns and the clerk would reply if they had any in the back he/she would bring some out or the shipment of yellow corns are usually limited.

I just love watching the customers buying 6 corns at one checkout clerk and then going back and buy another 6 corns at another checkout clerk. It meant the customers had to make numerous trip and the supply of corns would still be diminishing. Then the no shucking policy is another big joke...just look at the several corner City public trash cans---full of shucks and silks. As I left the store I watched a lady standing by the City trash shucking the husks, all because the Safeway clerks are too lazy to clean their own mess!

DPT Noncompliance

August 2, 2010-The City Department of Parking & Traffic (DPT) is motorists Public Enemy #1, because these are the old "meter maids" now refer to 'Parking Control Officer' or 'Parking Management Specialist' that hands out parking citations. The past few months the Department got some very bad press and videos of DPT officers breaking rules that they were sworn to enforce. The Head of the Department claims he would restate the Department policy of no "double standards in enforcement." Maybe the policy have a Statue of Limitations of 2 months, because today at 8:43 AM I noticed a DPT officer driving northbound along the 1300 block of Stockton Street deciding at the middle of the block to make a U-turn across a double solid yellow lines and parked his vehicle southbound in the red zone. The officer took off his baseball cap and process down Broadway to a restaurant for breakfast. I can imagine what would happened to your car if you did the same actual situation:

                         Illegal U-turn                     $154

                         Parked at a Red Zone          $90

                         Towed & Storage                $385.75

                         Priceless                           Look on your face!

ICE Invades Chinatown

August 2, 2010-

This was taken today at 8:33 AM by 1418 Stockton Street:

6 ICE officers are surrounding two petite Oriental young ladies. The one in white is handcuffed from behind and another officer is interviewing the lady in pink who’s crying.  Passersby are wondering what’s the deal and a local shopkeeper asked me if I knew what happened. I noticed the ICE tagged and told her that it must be illegal immigration issues.

This was taken from ICE official website:

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative agency in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Formed in 2003 as part of the federal government's response to the 9/11 attacks, ICE's primary mission is to protect national security, public safety and the integrity of the U.S. borders through the criminal and civil enforcement of federal laws governing border control, customs, trade and immigration.

ICE boasts approximately 19,000 employees in over 400 offices worldwide and an annual budget of more than $5 billion. The agency's law enforcement authorities encompass more than 400 U.S. federal statutes that ICE is responsible for enforcing in its commitment to ensuring national security and public safety.

The website claims 19,000 employees and today six of them are at San Francisco arresting 2 Oriental ladies while at this very moments thousands of illegal are entering the borders of United States by land, air and sea! I forgot a job duty in the City is much better than working in the hot desert, isolated cold mountain ranges or breezy seashores!

Composting Gone Amok

June 30, 2010-Today is my neighborhood weekly garbage pickup day. At 8:00 AM the first garbage truck came to take the black (landfill) cart and the blue (recycle) cart. Then at 9:00 AM another truck came to pickup only the green (compost) cart.

The city of San Francisco has a mandatory compost law---requiring all residences & businesses to compost their organic waste. I was waiting for the Republican Party and the newly formed Tea Baggers Party to start demonstration of more government regulation on personal liberties, since “compost police” would be going through the black (landfill) cart to ensure compliance or fines would be assessed on non-compliance.

I stood outside chatting with one of my neighbor, as the brand new garbage truck came by with the new company logo of “Recology” on its side. I watched as the lone driver stopped and rolled the green cart to the rear of the truck and pull a lever to shake the cart twice into the holding compartment. The driver finished the block and it was time to retrieve the green cart. My neighbor left to retrieve his and called me over…his neighbor compost:

A pile of food scraps right in the middle of the street. We watched the driver dumped each of the green carts and didn’t notice him missing the rear compartment nor any other sight of compost left on the street either. My neighbor inquiry why didn’t the driver notice the mess he left. I replied most likely he didn’t see it or if he did in his job description---roll cart and push lever to dump compost no mention of pickup compost off floor. The only thing we can surmised was the truck had a design flaw, which every 10-12 pickups a secret opening emerged to slew the waste back onto the street!

The neighbor and I got out the broom and water hose to clean up the mess, since calling “Recology” or the City for clean up would only benefit the swamp of flies.

Shuck Corn Update

June 20, 2010-The other day my neighbor and I was glancing at the latest “Safeway” ads for the week of June 16-22; she noticed the ‘RED HOT WEEKEND!’ specials for Saturday & Sunday on “Sweet Corn 4 for $1” and her grandkids are coming over Sunday for Father’s Day and they loved roasted corns. I informed her that the nearby “Safeway” store add a surcharge of $1.19 if she shucked the corns. She asked me when they started that policy and I told her since the last few big corn sales. She usually shucks the corns to check if they are not rotten inside. I told her to blame it on discriminating and lazy produce workers.

I got early Saturday morning and visited the 350 Bay Street store to see if indeed the “surcharged” signs were posted on the corn. The time was 6:30 AM and no sign was posted on the front main corn bin, maybe it was too early for the lazy produce workers. At the normal produce corn section, the old handmade “Please do not shuck the corn” is still attached to the mirror from last month, this sign made no mention about the surcharge if someone shucked the corn.

I visited the store on Sunday morning at 6:15 AM and the “surcharged of $1.19” was only posted in the front main corn bin. They added a new sign with a stern warning: “You will be charged $1.19 for any shucked Corn”

My neighbor claimed that she would speak to the store manager of the policy and I told her good luck. I asked a produce worker and his reply was he had no clue who placed the sign…must be the work of the Anti-Corn Shuck Fairy! My neighbor might be more persuasive since she just got a brand new copper-colored Titanium walking stick.

Busted By The Noise Cops!

June 17, 2010-This morning I read an article on the San Francisco Examiner “Complaints tune out merry music makers” and I just had to caulk this up as another fine example of the powers of the San Francisco Police Department.

 “A large Chinese philharmonic ensemble that serenades the public in the afternoon at a major intersection connecting Chinatown and North Beach is vulnerable to a police crackdown.

 A group of up to 20 musicians who sit at a new public plaza at Broadway and Columbus Avenue and play their wind instruments, usually on Friday afternoons, have been cited for the noise. Neighbors have made several complaints to the local police station, and officers have no choice but to break it up, police Lt. Franklin Lee said.

 “I’m not sure how many or where they’re from, I just know they’ve been getting a lot of them. The dispatchers tell us where to go,” Lee said.

 The mysterious complainers could cost the classical orchestra its permit for playing in the public space while police consider the impact of their tunes. The orchestra already canceled last week’s concert for fear of another ticket.

 Organizer Howard Wong co-chair of the coalition A Better Chinatown Tomorrow---helps book the events that have gone on since May 2009.

 “They’re not making money off this,” Wong said. “They’re just there to enhance cultural ambience.”

 He said he has welcomed a conversation with whoever is irked by the sound, and at the same time tried to quiet the orchestra down by restricting amplifiers…”

The whole incident seems very odd to me, since the intersection of Broadway and Columbus is a very busy and noisy area. Four way of heavy traffic flows which includes the occasion car horns and the shrieking tires; MUNI buses, tour buses, delivery trucks, fire trucks; this is the entrance to the nightclubs area---bright neon lights, gunshots several months ago, car chasing incidents, rowdy partygoers. What about the several months last year when at the very same intersection both Broadway and Columbus had underground street repairs, which included the development of the new public plaza in question…why the neighbors did not complaint about the constant jack-hammering? Maybe the truth is someone just doesn’t like Chinese music!

I can recall one weekend I encountered the orchestra setting up at the plaza, and the musicians were mainly string type instruments, not the brass trumpet or drums. They had microphones to amplify the string sound, sure not as loud as those drummers along Market Street or the full band playing by Fisherman’s Wharf begging for tourist’s charities. These were older musicians and I doubt they would play pass nightfall to the ensuing cold San Francisco night and the young rowdy partygoers crowd.

I loved what Lt. Franklin Lee quoted that he had no choice because lots of complaints and therefore he had to cite them for noise and made them move out of the plaza. I thought they had a permit and how was the noise level judged? I didn’t know that all patrol cars are equipped with a “noise measuring device,” since the Police Code listed “ambient” noise level for inside a residency cannot be over thirty-five dBA and outside cannot be over forty-five dBA. Or it could be the police officer doesn’t like Chinese music too!

The police officer has several choice; one-check out the situation and reports it as a flimsy incident. Second-have the dispatchers get the name and address of the complainer or complainers. Then have the police officers visited the residency and check to see if indeed the noise level is unbearable or not. Third-take the simple route---bust the orchestra, since Chinese musicians would not form a protest march to City Hall that the totalitarian police force is discriminating on Chinese music!

This incident reflect on what ‘C.W. Nevius’ wrote in the San Francisco Examiner June 10^th entitled “Fight brews with bogeymen of North Beach” about the problems at Washington Square Park with homeless drunks and aggressive dog owners; how the local police responded. I remember the following quote very well:

 “We cannot do selective enforcement,” said Lt. Nicole Greely of Central Station, “and that’s what the residents want. I can say we are out there…every day.”

 I wholeheartedly think citing a cultural event is “selective enforcement.” The orchestra organizer claims next concert is scheduled at 6:30 PM Friday. That is the same weekend of the annual North Beach Festival to be held at Washington Square Park. I live over three blocks away from the park but I can hear the stage music and master of ceremonies intro very clearly at the house. Maybe I should call the police department to complaint about the noise level, since I know that is sure more that forty-five dBA, but I forgot police choice number four-no police response, because the noise offender(s) have political clout!

I forgot to mention several years ago a tenant living behind the St. Peter & Paul Church located across from the Washington Square Park, complained and even gone to court on the case of the hourly church bell chiming too loud! Maybe that person decided to start a new campaign against loud Chinese music!

What memo?

June 11, 2010-San Francisco civil workers have concurred several black eye incidents this year...”San Francisco Examiner” newspaper had written several articles on the accountability of city gardeners---some are not at the assigned park location cutting grass. The precious MUNI drivers voted down the latest labor concessions, which other city trade unions had accepted to help the troubled City financial crisis. The City Charter guarantee annual salary increase to ensure the drivers to be the Nation 2nd highest paid, while ridership suffer service cutbacks---longer waiting time between buses, pack buses if they do arrive or the worst...buses that pass stop!

Finally last month in May the city parking control officers made into “You Tube.” One video had two parking control “Interceptor” vehicles each parked in front of red zone/fire hydrant on adjacent corners during a personal timeout. The second video was widely broadcasted by the local TV stations of another parking control vehicle parked in a yellow zone, while the officer was shopping at a Thrift Store.

“San Francisco Chronicle” newspaper asked the Municipal Transportation Agency for comment. John Haley, the MTA’s director of transit operations responded:
“...it is against agency policy for employees to park illegally...he plans to reissue the policy to remind employees of the rule...We wouldn’t tolerate a double standard and we wouldn’t want the public to think we do.”

Today at 8:55AM on the corner of Stockton & Pacific I noticed a parking control vehicle parked at the red zone/fire hydrant. By the time I came back around at 9:03AM to take the picture someone placed black floor mats on the left of the vehicle to cover the fire hydrant. The parking officer was nowhere in sight tagging vehicles around the area (the ticket issuing scanner on vehicle front dashboard), therefore the Wizard surmised that the officer is either shopping or eating breakfast. He/She just didn’t get John Haley memo---it is against agency policy for employees to park illegally!

Introduction - About Me

Welcome to my Blog! I am a native San Franciscan with over seventy years of ranting rage. I would write little notes of things I see, read or heard that vent my frustration. One of the youngsters suggested for me to start a Blog. I told him I could hardly remember doing the waltz how would I keep up with these new dance movements. He told me that blogging is the new Internet age of people expressing their thoughts to the whole world. Since my fellow old cronies sometimes hates my bitching and complaining, instead of pretending to be listening to me or nodding to sleep, some would just walk away while I am talking. This blogging is a lot better, since if you don’t like what I am saying all you have to do is press “delete,” and you would not have to see me sticking my nose at you!

I love writing and again the youngster suggested I get an apple. I asked him how would eating apple help my writing! The younger generation phrase “out of touch” sometimes does ring true. Then came the digital camera, sure beats the old Kodak roll film---wait until all 36 pictures are taken, to the corner drugstore to get it develop, wait a week and when you get back the pictures…almost half is blacken, because you forgot to take the camera lens cover off! Now I have instant pictures.

These are all my personal opinions and observations. Plus this is quite cheaper than seeing my monthly therapist since I recalled one visit as I was leaving she told the receptionist: “What a raving fool!”

The Wizard

© 2010 Raving Corner

Can I park here?

May 13, 2010 I observed this postal truck parked in the pedestrian crosswalk at the corner of  Lombard & Mason Street at 12:15 PM. Let’s do some logical deductions; there are occasion when a postal vehicle is parked this way---to pick up outgoing mails from blue collection boxes or to drop off sacks of mails to be placed in the corner green relay boxes for walking route letter carriers. Not this time since there weren't any blue collection box or green relay box at this corner.

Maybe the driver is delivering a parcel nearby? Nope, since I stood there taking several pictures and finally left at 12:35 PM I didn’t noticed no uniformed postal workers around the area.

The parked postal vehicle was not a temporary situation, since the “emergency” yellow flashing lights was not on.

There were plenty of metered parking spaces along the adjacent block of Columbus Avenue the driver could have parked.

So what did the Wizard surmised happened…I checked the parked postal vehicles at the local post office nearby and the truck belonged to another postal delivery zone, therefore the driver is technically off-route. He-as I ascertains by inspecting the vehicle front cab area from the outside, must have either lives or have friends around the area and decided to visit them during lunchtime.

Are postal employees allowed to do that? No! Then why did this occur? Number one---too many postal employees in the City of San Francisco and supervision cannot be everywhere. Number two---driver has a belief of entitlement!

Are postal vehicles exempt from the State of California Vehicle Codes? Nope! Majority of the postal drivers assume they are exempted, but the truth of the matter they are not. There are certain parking situations where police or parking control officers have given postal vehicles leeway, but this truck was parked at the crosswalk for at least an hour!

If you---General Public citizenry did the same actuality what would happen? A ticket costing $90 and a possibility of having your vehicle towed away!

Did you noticed in the above picture that on the corner curb had a wheelchair ramp cut-off, which the tail end of the truck is blocking. If you asked the driver of this truck his reply would be…it wasn’t painted blue!

The main question I would ask the public…how would you feel if you had to step out into on-coming vehicle traffic to cross this corner?

The answer---hope you have a good health plan or your family can sue the Postal Service on your behalf!


© 2010 Raving Corner

To shucks or not?

May 28, 2010-The giant California based grocery chain stores “Safeway” Memorial Day ad for the week of May 25 thru June 1, 2010 listed a “4 Day Sale! Friday 5/28 thru Monday 5/31 Only!” on “Sweet California White Corn 5 for $1 Club Price.” I visited the “Safeway” store at 350 Bay St and noticed the following sign by the special produce front sale of corn bins:

If you shuck the corn to remove the husks and silks it would be an additional surcharge of $1.19 each! Wow! I seem such signage among Chinatown’s produce stands along Stockton Street telling customers if they shuck the corn it would be a higher prices.

The reasoning being shucking create a big mess and these storefronts are located outdoors, lots of customers traffic and the City littering fines are not cheap. Therefore many stores would rather shuck the corns and sell them in sealed cellophane packaging. There is no such thing as customer satisfaction, if you do not like the pricing or packaging too bad. Majority of these stores holds the motto---right to refuse service!

“Safeway” is an indoor store, so what’s the deal? I checked the normal area where the corns are located in produce section of this store and it too had a sign:This sign made no mention about the $1.19 surcharge if you shuck the husk!

I was very intrigue to discover what’s the deal with ‘shucking surcharge.’ I could have called Michael Finney “7 On Your Side” the champion of consumer watchdog or I could go get some exercise. Therefore I visited the “Safeway” store at 15 Marina Blvd and noticed customers shucking corns with a large garbage bin nearby. I didn’t see any sign forbidding shucking. I walked to another local “Safeway” store at 145 Jackson St and there were some loose husks ontop of the corn bins but no sign forbidding shucking. I called a friend who lived in the Sunset District and he had just brought some of the sale corns at the “Safeway” located at 2350 Noriega St and he claims there were no sign forbidding shucking at that store too. So what’s the deal?

First some insight into ‘shucking corn.’ I recalled watching the “Food Network Channel” how some of the cooks recommended leaving the corn in the husk to roast over a bar-b-q pit or storing unhusk corn in the refrigerator help to retain its moisture content. The main reason customers want to shuck the corn is to ensure the kernels are not rotten or to prevent a big mess at home.

“Safeway” is a store that pride itself on ‘customer satisfaction.’ I have told by many of their employees how true they are to that motto. Take for example their lines of “Rancher’s Reserve” meat products, which in their own website states the following:
“With Rancher’s Reserve, you can feel confident you’re serving the most premium, tender beef available anywhere. Guaranteed, or your money back.”

An employee told me how a customer brought back only the Styrofoam meat packaging with the original receipt and said the meat was too tough and “Safeway” customer service rep would refund the full amount to the customer no question asked. A wine clerk told me how a customer brought back an empty bottle of expensive wine claiming the wine just didn’t fit the ambivalence of the elegant evening dinner. “Safeway” promptly refunded the customer.

The Wizard surmised that the “no shucking” policy is a this store only policy that “Safeway” corporation management are not informed about. The posting of these signs had to be approved by the Store Manager with the assist of the Produce Manager, or could this be the works of the produce employee’s ingenuity?

The “Safeway” ad never listed two pricings for the corn and shuck corn. I forgot the old proverbial---prices are subject to change, but I checked the ad fine print and there were no mention of that statement. Why no customers complained about the high surcharges or what the Store Manager verbal response for the surcharges…I was instructed by Regional Headquarters memo!

The cashier clerk in the checkout line must input the produce code for the corn in order for the cash register to calculate the correct pricing. The coding is by the Head Office of “Safeway,” and I doubt there is a code for ‘shuck corn’ which would automatically ring up $1.19, therefore each cashier clerk had to enter it manually as “special” and enter the amount $1.19. How was the amount of $1.19 decided for ‘shuck corn.’ Was the amount decided by “Safeway” headquarters or was the amount just someone random numbers. What happened if a customer refused to pay the surcharge of $1.19 for each shuck corn? Do the produce clerk place the shuck corns in the special “shuck corn section” priced at $1.19 each. Therefore who would pay $1.19 for shuck corn, when the customer can buy no shuck corn at 20 cents!

Did you notice that the sign was written in English, Spanish and Chinese? There were no additional Spanish translations for the $1.19 surcharges. The normal corn section sign did not state a shucking penalty; therefore a customer would be within their right to refuse to pay the penalty if they mentioned where did it stated that I have to paid $1.19 if I shuck the corn! Why wasn’t the sign made in Braille or voice-activated for the impaired customers. There are too many oddities to this whole situation, but the truth of the matters this store is managed and worked by some very strange work ethics.

Why my mean conclusion, because one morning June 26, 2009 at this very same “Safeway” store of 350 Bay St I noticed this sign at the corn bins:That was last year without any mention of shucking surcharges. I asked several employees what the deal. Most had no clue there was a sign in the corn section. A senior cashier clerk finally told me that the produce department was complaining how the Chinese customers were making a mess of the place when corn goes on sale. The store had provided garbage can in the past by the corn bins, but shucking corns can leave a big mess with all the husks and silks all over the floor. Why do other stores are able to clean up the mess but not these so-called “golden” employees. The other two “Safeway” I visited and called my friend had large influx of Chinese customers too; maybe this store is ripe for a discrimination corn-shucking lawsuit.

The irony to this whole incident is the “Safeway” store located inside the ‘Northpoint Centre Shopping Center.’ The customers are not allowing shucking the husks, but once out of the store I watched customers shucking the corn and leaving them at the mall garbage cans. Venture outside the building by the corner City public garbage bins are full with corn husks and silks. Maybe the mall and the City should bill “Safeway” for the clean-up costs since their workers don’t think it’s their job in the first place!

© 2010 Raving Corner