296. Outside Lands 2018 and the Transit Center opens

Outside Lands 2018

I’ve avoided working this concert in Golden Gate Park for two years, but my boss seemed especially short handed this year, so I took a Saturday shift. 

I think I’ve become known in my company as the “man who works Hellman Hollow,” which is the area known before Warren Hellman’s death, as Speedway Meadow. We have three -- possibly four -- dumpster locations at OL and I’ve always worked the ones at Hellman, behind the east most stage (which would be Banjo Stage at HSB). The layout of the dumpsters wasn’t quite as good as it was three years ago when I crew chiefed here for all three days -- and ended up with a repetitive stress injury to my right hand. Otherwise the work hadn’t changed: Most of the bags arriving are either close to pure compost bags (still don’t know how the group that subcontracts us manages that) or bags of recycling that are mostly contaminated with compostable cups. Those can be dealt with quickly and tossing the green compost bags deep into the compost dumpster is one of the pleasures of the job. Assuming the bags aren't too heavy.

The final class of bags are the ones that are mixed and need to be hand sorted. Most of these come from the vendors -- as always. I think it was between 10 and 10:30 that we finally managed to get caught up, including the pile of bags we had found when we arrived at 3pm. Almost immediately massive, end-of-the-night loads of fresh bags started arriving, many from the vendors, so when we left at 11:30 the bag pile was larger than it had been when we started. Such is life.

As much as I hate table sorting, there was one thing I was looking forward to as I headed to the park on Saturday... I wasn’t going to have to deal with the public. Our crew was consistently in a better mood than the other crew that was out in the crowd collecting bags. And there were no scavengers! Recology got all the aluminum and plastic cans and bottles for once. And we didn’t have a constant stream of thieves thanking us for letting them steal the recycling. My Golden Cynicism is still a work in progress.

One odd thing this year, we were told to not open the doors at the end of the big dumpsters because last year one dumpster wasn’t closed properly and the load was dumped on a street, after Recology picked it up. This is silly for two reasons, we open and secure these doors at most events we work -- it’s not rocket science. And most importantly, it’s the responsibility of the driver to make sure his load is secure. I guarantee that the driver this happened to last year -- if he wasn’t fired -- will be checking every load carefully for the remainder of his career. Anyway, someone had thrown a bunch of bags full of mixed recycling into the recycling dumpster before we arrived and I don’t climb in and out of these monsters anymore, so I opened the doors and sorted it out. Often it’s hard to get the doors open or closed properly because they get bent and otherwise damaged, but there were stacks of metal staging poles stored next to us and I used one to hammer the door closed when I was done. That puppy was not coming open by accident. (The doors are also secured by two chains... there’s nothing subtle about these doors.)

While it’s always nice to be working in Golden Gate Park, especially when you get to enjoy the sun going down, the mix of sound from a variety of stages, made the enjoyment of the music very hard. Still, I was surprised by how many Florence and the Machine songs I recognized.

For my generosity in working this event, I rewarded myself with lunch (breakfast) at the Pork Store and a taxi ride home when I got off at 11:30pm. By a miracle, there was a taxi waiting at the light when I reached the edge of the park, so I didn’t even have to call.

When I drove a taxi, I preferred a minivan as I could fit in large families or most anything else -- wheelchairs with the 9000 ramp vans -- but it was a Prius that I flagged down last night and it certainly had a lot going for it as a taxi. First off it was so nice and quiet, especially when stopped at lights. As I have speculated, the regenerative braking may be the best feature for a cab driver as it not only provides power but it saves on wear of the “brakes.” Back in 2002, our brakes were always a problem. I wanted to ask how much gas cost him per shift, but he didn’t have enough English to make conversation easy. If I were still driving I would be delighted to get to drive a little taxi like that.

The fare was exactly $20, so $25 with tip, which was more than I had expected, but very much worth it. I get off several hours earlier for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, but I might be tempted on Sunday night if I don’t feel as strong at the end as I did last year.


One aspect of table sorting we’ve lost in the move to roving sorting, at the front end of the event, is the socializing around the table. This is, I believe, considered a loss by some people, though not by me. I was working with a guy I actually like who was talking about conspiracy theories. I had a vague recollection of our having run aground on this topic before, I can think of some other cases as well. Thinking about this seeming tendency or desire to believe conspiracy theories, I can’t help thinking it’s related to the human tendency to believe in invisible sky-fairies. It’s both a way to explain things we can’t otherwise understand -- or don’t want to understand -- and a way to bond with a group. If we both believe in a conspiracy by invisible lizard overlords to run the world, we can spend hours debating if they are blue or green lizards.

Salesforce Transit Center

(Formerly Transbay Transit Center)
I toured the new facility today. It is semi-finished. The park on top is quite nice. The bus level is great for East Bay bus drivers who can now come and go without getting into downtown traffic. 

For bus riders it’s a mixed bag: You’re protected from winter rain and shaded from the sun on those rare days when it’s hot. And you can get from SF bus to East Bay bus without crossing traffic. On the other hand, there’s no view to speak of and there’s a long escalator or short elevator ride between bus levels. Greyhound and Amtrak have not made the move yet, which is awkward if you want to make a cross country to local connection. 

The first and second levels are supposed to be retail, but no one is stupid enough to open there before all the construction in the neighborhood settles down. And the train connections intended for the lower levels of the structure are a decade or more in the future. If they happen at all.

I eventually ran into someone who seemed fairly knowledgeable about the building and asked where the escalators to the train level were going to be, as it wasn’t immediately evident. I was told they couldn’t say for security reasons. Since he did say that the area had been paved over, it isn’t clear to me how this knowledge would be dangerous. My guess is that he just didn’t know. But since he made it more interesting by saying he couldn’t tell me, I raced down and figured it out in a couple minutes. It’s not like there are an unlimited number of places openings for sets of escalators could be. I was even able to confirm my guess based on something missing in the paving in those sections. 

My favorite thing at STC was the water “sculpture.” Jets of water that are triggered by buses moving on the bus level below the park. When buses arrive, you can see the jets of water approaching until the bus pulls into its bay. But this is where it gets good -- when the bus leaves it pulls out quickly and the jets resume without warning. People standing out in this area taking photos -- and it’s tempting to do this -- can then be caught by surprise. I can see myself taking a picnic down there just to enjoy the sun (ha) and watch tourists get soaked. I predict there will be sweatshirts soon, “I Got Drenched at Salesforce Transit Center.” 

On the right is the area where the water jets shoot up. And behind that is the lower part of Salesforce Tower, now the tallest building in town.

The urban view from the park isn’t bad, and it will get better as the projects approved to fund the Transit project continue to get built. By the time they are finished, I suspect the majority of commercial space in downtown will be within a few blocks of STC and there will be a significant amount of new residential as well. (Though not as much residential as I would like to see.) 

So, was it worth all the trouble and expense? Still unclear. Economically, the STC probably requires at least one of the two planned train systems to arrive to be profitable -- and to attract retail to the first and second levels. But the odds of our ever getting both trains is quite low, and even the Caltrain extension is far from certain as it requires an immensely expensive tunnel from Mission Bay to STC. And, on top of that, the entire Caltrain route needs to be electrified and all the locomotives (at least) replaced. This might “pencil out” if the cost is shared with High Speed Rail, but if they have to fund it all themselves, I have a hard time seeing it happen.


On the other hand, the saving grace of the project is all the high rise development that got approved to fund the STC. An amazing amount of land wealth has been created in the vicinity of STC and all these buildings, and their neighbors, will be paying property taxes from now on. That is really the upside of STC. The promise of trains may prove to simply be the bait that got all these buildings built in a city that likes to say “no!”

Here are some photos of the park above the bus station,

This is from the escalators that rise from street level to the bus level.

Some views of the neighborhood from the park,

I have no idea.

This is the new bus bridge that connects STC to the Bay Bridge. The section this side of a loop where that bus in the distance is, is all contraflow, which I'm sure will result in mayhem at some point. It is possible for a car to get mixed in with the buses coming off the bridge, especially if alcohol is involved, and then the confused driver has to negotiate the intersection where he should loop around and get out, but where he could also be flummoxed by the contraflow interchange and end up making a loop around the bus station going against the traffic. 

I wonder if there's a betting pool on how long it will be before that happens?

295. Goodbye to the Temporary Transbay Terminal

Microsoft vs Google

Here’s a perfect example of the idiocy of Microsoft vs Google. On my Chromebook if I get my access password wrong -- I’ve changed it twice recently so this happens all the time -- I get a little error message, but all I have to do is continue typing in the correct characters. Not so with Windows. On my Windows machine there’s an error dialog that you have to get out of by clicking “OK.” What else is going to happen at this point besides your trying the password again? Possibly this is a security measure so someone can’t just keep tossing different combinations of characters at the machine until it gets it right, but I can think of better ways of avoiding that. I think it’s just Microsoft being Microsoft.

It only took two months for people to discover my new favorite Peet’s out on Brannan. All the best seats were taken when I arrived today. I’m at a nice counter, but sitting on a stool. Still nicer here. 

Waiting for the bus, I realized I was actually across the street from another Peet’s, and a Starbucks. Unfortunately, that Peet’s has hardly any seating and that Starbucks is always freezing cold. 

Just noticed that this room has really well positioned sound absorbing panels. The ceiling is quite high, maybe 16’, and the panels are suspended from the ceiling about 4’ down. This way the bottom absorbs sound heading up and the top should be absorbing sound bouncing down from above. 

Counting and packaging pennies

“The Olympic Flame is always an adventure.”
This would be my slogan for the Olympic Flame cafe/diner here in SF, if they asked me to help with their branding. The idea of them having “branding” is a joke.

The OF is just a block too far into the Tenderloin from Union Square. The block to the east is the heart of the theater district but the next block is nowhere. It’s my regular neighborhood breakfast place because it’s cheap and the food is usually quite good. Also, since it is that extra block away, there isn’t the line of tourists you find even in the block before. But you pay a price for your bargain price and short lines.

The proprietor is an older Greek man who seems to be losing it. He is also the cook. On a normal visit, it seems that all the staff speak different, non-English, first languages and then try to communicate in English. Not sure why, but the waitresses can’t post the written orders as happens most places, instead they have to shout the order to the cook. This communication can take a while and entropy is high. 

Usually, a younger man I believe is the cook’s son is also behind the counter on weekends, but he hasn’t been present the past two weekends. So when seated, you are informed that your food will probably be delayed 10 to 30 minutes. Last weekend I was on my way to work, but had built in some buffer time so this worked out fine. Today I wasn’t in a hurry and I was ordering something really simple, blueberry pancakes. The delay wasn’t the problem.

For a long time I avoided ordering items cooked on a grill because of the likelihood of meat contamination. The effect of a bite or two of actual meat on my GI tract is dramatic. But more recently I’ve changed my mind on that and decided exposure to small amounts of meat in this way could actually give me immunity to that dire reaction. If my stomach has some of the necessary meat enzymes in reserve, it won't be forced to flush everything down the colon. We may get a bit of a test of that today as there was a good sized debris field of what I believe was hamburger at the bottom of my bottom pancake. The first bite, and taste, took me by surprise. I was still pondering the taste when the “mouthfeel” of the second bite warned me that something was very wrong. 

I then removed the offending meat from my food, but the question is, How much did I consume in that first bite and how will my gut respond? Time will tell. Fortunately, I’m home doing my laundry and other “errands” so I am at least close to the toilet. (I lucked out.)

Speaking of laundry. 
The other day, when the banks were open, it occurred to me that the last time I checked I only had $2.50 in quarters, which is exactly the amount I usually need. But then again, it frequently happens that the washer or the dryer will reject a coin for some reason, so I like to have at least one more quarter in reserve. Then I forgot about it. 

So today I discovered that my recollection was correct and that I also had no quarters in my pocket -- since I’m always giving them out as tips. I then dumped out my loose change collection and found one extra quarter. Success. But now I had a pile of pennies on my table. So I found some wrappers and started counting them out.

And that reminded me of when I first learned to do this, when I was parked with my grandmother as a young child and put to work doing everything my grandmother needed done. Counting and wrapping change was actually one of my favorite jobs -- perhaps because it didn’t require crawling around under the furniture dusting and polishing, or carrying laundry about. I also enjoyed using the carpet sweeper. I know I was under eight, but I don’t know at what age my grandmother first started using me as seasonal or part-time labor. My cousins were also enlisted when she “put up” the grape jam she made each year from grapes she grew around the garage.

Saying goodbye to the Temporary Transbay Transit Terminal, 

The new complex is opening over the weekend -- no, not the train box underneath or most of the retail -- but the bus portion and the park on top. While I am curious to see what we’ve bought, mostly I’m sad that the Temporary Terminal is going out of service. So I took a final trip on the AC F line to Berkeley for my favorite Vegan deli. More on that later. 

I did take a bunch of final pictures of the Temporary Terminal as I suspect this will be one of those things Bay Area people will be nostalgic about for generations.

By the time I did some errands and was ready to go, it was already past 1pm and I was starving, so I grabbed the 38 Geary bus to take me directly to the Temp Terminal, except that it didn’t.  SF’s Muni buses have already switched to the new terminal, because of course they would. So I had to walk several additional blocks. Didn’t matter. I still had time to take my photos before my bus arrived.

The trip to Berkeley takes forever because of the seemingly random route it follows, so I returned on BART, which was so fast it was almost spooky. This may have been because I had picked up a used copy of The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe in Berkeley, and was engrossed in reading the introduction.

Now for The Butcher’s Son vegan deli: They have moved across the street into a much larger space with lots of outside seating both in front, on the sidewalk, and in a large garden in the back, which connects with other properties. It’s really quite nice, and they seem to be able to get your order out faster now. It used to take forever. It was a serious temptation before and now it’s much worse.

Here are the photos,

213. City streets

Life resumes

My day-after-HSB rest day is now past (I really didn't have any kind of cramps or post event distress, yay!) and I started the top-to-bottom cleaning of my building. It's still a little smoky here due to all the wild fires up north, but the wind is changing now and it's getting cooler -- good cleaning weather.

There's actually a number of HOA tasks on the near horizon. End of the year documents to create, our annual fire inspection to schedule. When I get home I'm going to test our emergency lights again. Really, it doesn't amount to that much. I need a new book.

Some things that have been sitting in my notes for a while now...

SOMA

Sitting at the 4th street Peet's, needed a little oak and granite. Walked here the long way through the middle of the Financial District and the new "Downtown" SOMA. Work is progressing on Salesforce Tower and the Transbay Transit Center but neither is on the cusp of opening. 

Walking past some other projects that are still in early stages of construction, I was thinking that the best thing about the over budget Transit Center is that it gave the authorities political cover for going higher-density than SF is usually comfortable with. It's still too soon to be able to envision what this new neighborhood will look like when built out in (maybe) ten years, but it will be something new for SF.

And while I'm downtown, here's something I wrote about cities. 

Why I love cities

And by cities I mean truly urban streets. Yesterday my plan had been to eat lunch and work in a cafe out by Lincoln Park, but I had forgotten they only accept cash and I didn't have enough cash for lunch. I had enough for iced tea and a snack, and that was fine.

But today I walked down to the Peet's on Market (because I also need to buy some more septic-tank-cleaning-enzyme-stuff) and, when I got in line I realized I had even less cash and using a card for under $5 is just silly. But this is downtown and my bank has ATMs directly across Market, and there's even one of the grand, older branches a block away. In fact, I have the option of at least a half dozen Wells Fargo ATM machines within about a block radius. 

Yesterday I could have paid a fee and used a third party ATM machine if I was desperate, but in a proper city the services you want tend to be magically available thanks to the "invisible hand" of the free market. (I'm misusing Adam Smith's concept here, but just a little. And, while not affirming his theory, my variation -- that business entities, while attempting to maximize their business, end up providing services where they are most wanted, I think is true and is particularly visible in urban areas. Starbucks -- I'm looking at one directly across the street -- is the best example of this at the moment. A block from here there are two Starbucks locations directly across 4th Street from each other. One has been there forever and serves the convention trade and people flowing in and out of the massive parking garage that houses the cafe. The other is new and associated with the Target store. They both look busy every time I'm in the area.)

This is why it drives me nuts when neighborhood interests reject increased density for fear of traffic. Yes, "traffic," in the sense of cars on the road doesn't effect me personally because I don't have a car, but traffic in the sense of people, foot-traffic, on the streets is the main factor in determining the value of urban real estate. 

And, Yes, developments like La Defense are a spectacular and indefensible waste of foot-traffic density. But here, around Union Square, most of the buildings and the urban design is 19th century (pre-City Beautiful!) and the exorbitant cost of real estate has driven landlords to maximize rents by creating as much retail space as possible accessible to the sidewalks. The best example of this being the Metreon, which had to be completely redesigned to take advantage of all the sidewalk frontage they were wasting.

The worst frontage wasters in the area now are the convention center and some of the newer hotels, but even the Hilton is attempting to do what Macys did and rent out spaces on their perimeter to retail tenants. Unfortunately for them, they are on the Tenderloin side of Union Square and, for the moment, much of their foot traffic is interested mostly in their chemicals of choice and social services.

15. What I'm talking about

Previous - 14. Turnbuckles

Staycation

Before the contractors return on Wednesday I'm taking a one day staycation. I don't think I can really abuse this term any more than this. One day off isn't even a proper weekend. 

I went to The Pork Store this morning for my favorite breakfast and there was a new waitperson at the counter. He! was OK except that he brought my toast buttered. What originally attracted me to The Pork Store, besides all the great veggie options, were the wonderful waitresses. One of the original two doesn't work much anymore and the other wasn't there today either. But even the substitutes seem to do well except that it seems to be left to me to train them in not buttering the toast that comes with the vegan item on the menu. Do people not know what vegan means? 

After breakfast I boarded an SF bus on my way to the Temporary Transbay Terminal to catch an East Bay bus to take me over the bridge to Emeryville for design magazines and getting just-a-little out of town. As always, I scanned the SF bus to see where the crazy was sitting and discovered that everyone looked sane. We all have to do our bit, so I played the crazy for this trip. The voices in my head were telling me to balance my checkbook. 

I took some quick photos at Transbay Terminal before my bus pulled out. 

There used to be a freeway running between the building in the center and the row of buildings on the right but it was taken down after the 1989 earthquake.

I'm really going to miss this place when they finish the new Transbay Transit Center and operations get moved over there. I'm pretty sure it's not going to be as seamless or as pleasant an experience as this temporary facility. I hope we get to see the next crop of skyscrapers rise before we move. I suspect the odds are about 50/50.

Blacks and Blues

(Inspired by browsing too many design mags.)

When x and y were ready to grow their family they decided they needed to move to a bigger house. They immediately thought of z, an architect x had met in rehab who knew their "quirks" and had plenty of ready ideas to meet their needs.

z remembers, "The program of the house was determined by the need for privacy and sound proofing. I new that y -- an avid dominatrix -- needed a custom designed space, with a separate entrance, for her loyal clientele.

"x -- a, frankly terrifying, sadist -- needed even more privacy as he was planning to progress towards secreting a sex slave in the lower-level dungeon. I had never created a dungeon before but I had lots of ideas. My first thought had been to go with a red color scheme -- to hide the blood -- but x was keen on blues. I really think he loves the contrast of blood on all these vivid blues."

The home is furnished with an impressive collection of Mid-century Modern classics x found in an unattended house the week they moved from their old house in Aspen.

And so on...

Next - 16. How French...

5. Transbay Transit Center

Previous - 4. tl; dr

SOMA east

Today I walked around the area of SOMA that was once a wasteland and is now becoming San Francisco's "New" downtown. Not only are they building what will become the city's tallest building, but there is a neighborhood here that nobody really laid claim to so they were able to zone it for the tall residential buildings the city actually could use more of. 

The focus of the new commercial district will be the new Transbay Transit Center:

The white, horizontal structure is the new Transbay Transit Center. Behind it is a new building from last year that is a favorite of mine.

A closeup of the Transbay's metallic skin.

The structure will be retail at ground level; bus station in the middle; and park on top -- if they can come up with the funding for the park. There's space for a train station below ground if they can ever bring High Speed Rail or Caltrain this far into the City.

The building on the left is the new Salesforce Tower (both Tower and Transit Center by César Pelli) which is to be the tallest in town. Note the wide bridge connecting the Tower to the Transit Center park.

I need to go back and get more pictures. Still getting used to carrying my camera around -- it's been a long time. 

Next - The East Bay