— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
It took three squad cars and six officers to take care of this pillowcase full of needles yesterday afternoon. And for the 45 minutes in which they collected evidence, I, predictably, was not offered herb, truffles, gannnnnnnnnnnjjjaah treats, special cookies, cold beer, or cold water.
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
As many will likely recall, one of the biggest concerns about the Department of Recreation and Park's decision to commercialize Dolores Park was where exactly the department planned on placing the food trucks. People pointed out that putting the trucks on or near heavy use areas would upset the vibe of the park, others worried that putting it too close to 18th and Dolores would add further traffic and pedestrian stress to the commercial corridor. As a compromise, the department agreed to place any food trucks on the paved section by the playground, two blocks away from the most trafficked area of the park.
However, this solution created its own problem. When the renovation fencing went up recently, Chaac-Mool's truck was largely sealed off from the rest of the park. The department recognized this problem months ago and Nicole Avril, Director of Partnership and Resource Development for Rec. & Park, proposed a temporary location that would not cause food carts to be put in the middle of the park. From the Oct. 7th commission meeting minutes:
I also want to discuss what will happen when the playground undergoes renovation, sometime hopefully next year. As this playground renovation will occupy a large part of the southern portion of the park including the identified location for Blue Bottle Coffee it was necessary to find an alternative location during construction and due to uncertain construction logistics we haven’t identified exactly where that will go but we are proposing that it go against what is going to be a construction fence. It’s also on this map, it’s hard to see but it’s the top white box. This is almost 1000 feet away from 18th Street and Dolores.
Subsequent meetings and dialogue reiterated this proposition and assurance that food trucks would be kept away from high-usage area until it was generally accepted as fact. And while this may not seem like the biggest deal in the world (the truck is still on pavement, not parked on the corner of 18th and Dolores, and who cares about that nice view of 19th?), situations like these continue to erode the credibility of anything Rec. & Park tells us.
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
There's a new mural in progress by the Dolores Park footbridge with subject matter breaking new ground in the world of San Francisco murals: busty worms, dead smiley faces, and a penis smoking a joint. Either this is one of the most elaborate pieces of graffiti I've seen in the park, or someone pulled one over on the Department of Rec. and Park and got a this phallic trip approved. Regardless, I'm sure we can look forward to some neighborhood rage aimed at getting this removed.
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
The Dolores Park Playground Renovation is now underway and a long segment of chain-link fence is closing off a large segment of the southern end of The Park for revilers and potential Chaac-Mool customers. And while this deals a horrifying blow to our intoxicated late-night swing set sessions, the choice of fence signage is pretty shitty given the recent closure of the DP bathrooms. Are we to now assume we can drunkenly drop our drawers and deposit a dirty deuce at the foot of these 1-800-toilets?
And for the curious, these fences block off a lot of the park. They pretty much take away half of the usable area of the southern section:
— By Ed Stevenson |
After seeing all these “die hipster scum” and “kill yuppies” tags around the Mission over the last few years, it is a refreshing change to see graffiti artists who don't paint with contrasting colors building consensus and bringing it back to the good olde days of hating hippies. Opinions may be split on our thoughts of hoodies, questionable tattoos, bad haircuts, and the public consumption of PBR, but I am sure we can all agree that Dolores Park drum circles are a dreadful development of late.
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
I thought one of the perks of having a bike was not having to take Muni? Regardless, awesome.
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
This was probably one of the most adorable things I’ve ever seen in Dolores Park: a hulking cholo holding a miniature pinscher in costume while his young daughter pulled them through the park.
Then some naked dude rolled up and made me retch.
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
If you're in need of cheap bike parts that aren't stolen, this is the event for you. Setup is at the portapottie party by the 19th Street bell.
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Curbed fills us in on the latest effort to clean up Dolores:
On Saturday, Supervisor Scott Wiener, SF Rec & Park, Recology and Mission Neighborhood Centers, Inc. kicked off the start of increased waste and recycling services at Dolores Park. As every SFian knows, the abundance of visitors that Dolores Park gets on a daily basis results in an increased amount of liter in and around park trash bins. An extra park attendant will be added during peak park visitor hours to monitor and empty trash bins that have reached capacity. The program will also add 386 clean up hours at the park on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays through the summer months and ending in September 2011.
Sounds good. Let's just hope this just gets the neighbors off everyone's backs.
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
I don't feature a lot of graphic design stuff over here. That's not to say I don't appreciate good design, because I do, I just happen to also own a pirated copy of MS Paint and therefore hold design work to a high standard. With that, this new work from Caryn Kesler is pretty rad. Some may even throw that art word around.
Also, I don't happen to know if this technique is called pixelation or not. I also happen to not give a shit.
[Link]
