— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
This is Obama's America, folks: instead letting us be free to make our own medical decisions, the socialist takeover of the healthcare industry means we now have to accept tostadas for prescriptions while still paying ridiculous insurance premiums for a side chips.
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Chipotle, America's “feel good” Taco Bell and 5th best carne asada burrito manufacturer in San Francisco, is closing in on the hallowed grounds of the Mission District. According to Grub Street, McDiego's tenth SF location is set to open in mid-2013 at Church and Market—a mere 5 blocks away from La Cumbre, where burritos are claimed to have been invented some 43 years ago.
But this is no boring old Mission Street taqueria. They're improving upon that stale taqueria experience with a big ass outdoor patio, beer and margarita service, fountain soda for days, and a variety of salsa.
Chipotle's spokestaco filled in Grub Street on that this means for the company's future:
“Our locations so far in the Bay Area have been in high-traffic areas or more suburban areas, and this marks the start of a move into more urban neighborhoods which we're really excited about.”
I'm not exactly sure what that means, but they're probably not planning on plopping down location #11 in Union Square.
Oh, in case you were wondering…
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Apparently the wheel of misfortune won't stop landing on bankrupt for the poor folks at the Chronicle, considering the lack of proofreading that went into their front door signage.
(But I heard they started printing in full-color or something a few years back, so there's that.)
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
That's what Starbucks' Pascal Rigo has to say about everyone's preferred morning bun purveyor in a rather mouthy interview with SF Magazine:
“[San Francisco] is the only place in the world where a bakery will make money by having bread at five o’clock in the afternoon. And it’s what—40 or 50 loaves, and each one costs seven bucks? It’s good, yes, but to call it a bakery … it’s bull-sheet.”
Read on for his thoughts on foodie bloggers, his “fuck nos” to the seasonal/locavore/organic-types, and other such nonsense.
[via Grub Street | Photo by Zoe Banks]
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Following last week's story about Supervisor Scott Wiener's unfortunate plan to help erect “affordable by design” shoebox apartments in SoMa, the Chronicle spoke to the Berkeley-based developer spearheading the project. In the interview, he reiterated the claim that he expects young techies to flock to the 150 square foot apartments that'll cost a bargain price of $1,300 - $1,500 monthly:
Patrick Kennedy of Berkeley developer Panoramic Interests hopes to build the micro-units in SoMa on the site of a former guitar store at Ninth and Mission streets - “right in the thick of the new Twittersphere there.” He anticipates housing young tech workers, fresh out of college, newly relocated to the city, unencumbered by possessions.
… His planned 160-unit building, now in the entitlement process, will have lots of common areas: a huge lobby, a lounge on every floor and a rooftop deck. It will also have some larger apartments. It's designed for car-free living; the only parking will be for bikes, with a City CarShare spot outside.
The ultra-efficient efficiencies will go for $1,300 to $1,500 a month, he said. Per city regulations, 15 percent of the units will be allocated as below market rate for low-income residents; he thinks those would rent for around $900 a month.
The current average rent for a San Francisco studio apartment is $2,075 a month, according to real estate service RealFacts. Those studios average 493 square feet, making the per-square foot price $4.21. Kennedy's proposed units, at 220 square feet, would rent for $5.91 to $6.82 per foot - a big premium.
This, of course, supports the theory that developers are pushing smaller apartments as a way to maximize profits, rather than provide a legitimate housing option for scrappy young folks. And the folks at BeyondChron suspect this isn't even a “housing” play, at least in the traditional sense:
In fact, what concerns me the most about these “shoebox” apartments is that they won’t become the hip urban-style housing for young professionals that Patrick Kennedy is billing them as. Instead, they will be short-term corporate housing for professionals who just moved here – or pied a terre apartments for people who occasionally come in on business trips. Worst-case scenario, they will just be illegal hotel rooms rented on the black market. How does that bring down escalating rents?
… This past Saturday, I was in my building’s elevator at Symphony Towers – when a man asked me for directions to Haight-Ashbury. Knowing that he was a tourist, I asked if he was staying with one of my neighbors. “No,” he replied. “I rented an apartment here for five days.” In other words, my building is becoming a hotel. I have no problem with condos being rented out, but only to actual residents – not tourists. He was a nice guy, but I said I was very nonplussed at the situation.If this can happen in a building with 400 square-foot studios, imagine how much more abuse we will see in unregulated private buildings with “shoebox” apartments.
Well those AirBnB customers need somewhere to stay too. Where else are they supposed to go? Hotels? I don't know man, those places are small and expensive.
— By Brian Hickey |
Hyperbolically large consumer electronics company Apple's decision not to seek EPEAT certification for it's computer products precludes the City of San Francisco from ordering new Apple products for city employees.
Wait, what?
EPEAT or the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool is a standards group funded by the EPA. Basically, they score consumer electronic devices on their impact on the environment. Municipalities all over the country have instituted rules that say that city agencies must purchase devices that are certified by EPEAT. This is easier than tasking each individual employee to research and purchase an environmentally safe product.
Apple currently has 39 EPEAT certified computers, monitors and devices. As they focus more and more on designing thinner, lighter, better, faster devices, it is less likely that the materials they need to use will fall under EPEAT's standards. As such, they've asked EPEAT to stop listing Apple products all together.
This lead to city officials with the San Francisco Department of Environment to announce that they will be sending letters to all 50 city agencies informing them that “Apple products no longer qualify for purchase with city funds.” It's not impossible for a city employee to get a non EPEAT product, it's just incredibly difficult. If someone decides they really need a Mac, they can apply for a waiver.
Now, with that said, this is sort of a non-issue because, according to a recent report, only 2% of city computers are from Apple and only affects future purchases.
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
From the looks of it, the Ron Paul neckbeards have abondoned internet comments in favor of spraypainting walls on Caledonia Street. And what developing style they have, too! (Just don't listen to them.)
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Not totally sure what the business name is—I think there's something about that on near the bottom or wherever. But you should really check them out on Yelp.
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
This Muni bus driver doesn't think he makes enough, being forced to take on the job of multiple other professionals and what not. Let's see how much this fella should really be paid:
That brings his grand total to $432,000 a year. Seems fair, no?
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
I've been seeing these billboards around the Mission for a few weeks now, with one notably placed along Valencia Street—the venerable public urination ground zero of the well-watered Mission District. And it would therefore be quite easy to get mad at Tecate, with all their encouraging of young drunk guns to unkink their hoses and allow their sprinklers to go tooka-tooka-tooka-tic-tic-tic-tic-tic in one of many dark alleys in the neighborhood.
But then I bother to Google Translate the latter half of the ad—It's easy to be a man of character. Is this… irony? Tecate, are you seriously trolling us right now?
I, for one, will not be patronized. Either you cut it out with the wisecracks, or I'm just going to keep on drinking Tecate.