Google and other corporate shuttles have been disrupting life in the Mission, SOMA, and other neighborhoods easily accessible by the 101 for some time now.  But, despite the oft-repeated claim that they help reduce congestion, pollution, and allow employees to go car-free, it's being found that they're just displacing the congestion from the highways and moving it into our neighborhoods.  Tony Kelly, president of the Potrero Boosters Neighborhood Association, reports in today's Chronicle:

[People driving around the Mission] are commuting here, parking their cars for the day, and then biking, walking or hopping on a private shuttle bus to their jobs. For them, the Mission is their free public parking lot.

San Francisco's parking enforcer, the Municipal Transportation Agency, tells us that on a typical day more than 80 percent of the cars parked on crowded northeast Mission streets arrive from elsewhere.

The situation is particular pronounced in the northeast Mission, where historically industrial streets are not covered by residential parking permits.

The parking crunch would have traditionally lead to a new resident parking district, allowing residents to park (for free) all day long, with commuters having to move their cars after 1 to 2 hours.  As Kelly puts it, “that's been a key part of San Francisco's 'transit-first' policy, which is designed to keep residents' and commuters' cars at home.”

However, the city is instead looking to blanket the northeast Mission with parking meters, both on commercial and mixed-use residential/commercial streets, with hourly prices that fluctuate based on demand.

Kelly accuses the city of “turning its back on decades of transit-first policy” at the expense of Mission residents.  But, really, it seems that MTA is just looking to cash in on the commuter's laziness.

[SFGate | Photo by The Tens]

Taking this whole “slow food” thing a bit too literally, the folks behind Local Mission Market are half a year past their originally-planned opening date—and their forthcoming 22nd and Harrison market is still enshrouded in plywood.  But they're nevertheless working hard on opening, and knowing better than to let a fresh plate of foodie buzz go cold, they laid out exactly how the future of Mission District markets will look to the critical eye of The Weekly:

How will the store be laid out?

It's going to be a full-service grocery store. There will be a produce section, a butcher, a fishmonger, and cheesemonger, all from the same sources we use at Local Mission Eatery and Local's Corner. A bulk section, wine and beer (if we get the permits), candies, brittles, dried fruits and local nuts. Everything you would expect to find at a European grocery store, we'll have here. Tomato sauce, apple sauce, ketchup, mustard, pasta, crackers, breads — all house-made from scratch, just like we do at the restaurants.

What is going to differentiate you from the other stores and markets around town?

From the initial concept, it was clear that we needed to make this convenient. Bi-Rite is one of the great grocers in the country, but it's hard to shop at Bi-Rite. We're not going to have more parking, so how can we make it easier to buy the food that we want to get to people? We are going to have an online web store that will make it easier for people to buy what they need. It will reflect what is in stock, and we'll have a pickup area to make it more convenient.

Oh man, just the other day I was in Bi-Rite dropping a small fortune on clementines and I was all, “Damn, this would be so much easier if I could order these with my phone in Dolores Park and pick 'em up at will call so I could ensure they don't sell out before I walk half a block.”  Great minds!

[SF Weekly | Photo by Nat]

looks like the morning shift at Mission Cliffs slept in; about 23 people standing around outside. I wonder if we can still have yoga.

— Lillie Chilen (@lilliealbert) February 21, 2013

If you don't mind, please RT that news about @missioncliffs to help reach folks en route to the gym. Lot of people just standing outside.

— We Built This City (@TheRealWBTC) February 21, 2013

Today the Mission's more vertically-inclined population proves once and for all that, yes, exercise nuts are just like drug fiends: cut them off from their sweet, sweet supply of adrenline and free weights and watch as they waywardly kick the ground, curl up on the sidewalk in smelly warm-wear, and bemoan their indignation through their quivering fingers.  And this went on for 47+ minutes.  Godspeed.

Well, that’s it.  An end of an era.  The neighborhood’s last tolerable bar that empowered us to puff our way through intoxication has banned the very act.

We’re sure this news isn’t a big deal to many of you, our health-conscious readers of pristine lung capacity.  But we welcomed the bar’s casual “fuck you” to the law.  Besides, where else could we make-out with girls we have an increased chance of outliving?

Now what’s left of the place?  Pool, cheap drinks, a great jukebox, and that east coast dive feel ever so lacking in SF?  Balderdash.  Cigarettes were the blackened glue that held the joint together.  And now?  Nothing.

[Photo by Ledjee L.]