Quotes
Contents |
Central Subway and North Beach
"The extension of the Subway tunnels to Washington Square to make a 'removal pit' will transform North Beach into something it mustn't be-- and permanently mar its traditional village feeling. With the extension of the Chinatown Subway into the very heart of historic North Beach, the special ambience of this fragile quarter will be greatly diminished."
— Lawrence Ferlinghetti & City Lights Books
"If they build the Subway, it will ensure major major new development at the stops in Chinatown and North Beach, and in terms of scale, these neighborhoods will never be the same again."
— Allan B. Jacobs, former San Francisco Planning Director and former Dean of UC Berkeley's College of Environmental Design
From CCC: William Penn Adair “Will” Rogers (November 4, 1879 - August 15, 1935) was a Cherokee-American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer and actor. He was the father of U.S. Congressman and WWII Veteran Will Rogers, Jr. Apropos to the Chinatown Subway aka Billion Dollar Boondoggle, Will said:
“When You Find Yourself in a Hole, Stop Digging.”
"The evidence is persuasive that we must honestly reassess our commitment to a deeply flawed Central Subway project — and that we should do so before it turns into a fiasco every San Franciscan regrets." — City Attorney Dennis Herrera
— Zack Marks, July 2011
SF without Chinatown and North Beach?
What made SF famous in the 1950's were the Beatniks on Upper Grant in North Beach and the busy poultry markets on Lower Grant in Chinatown. Sandwiched between the two distinctly colorful neighborhoods on the two Grant Avenues was Broadway, with Carol Doda at the Condor, Enrico's cafe, and many others ...
Today? Upper Grant is so "peaceful and clean," except for a few bars, and lower Grant is so quiet, that merchants wish more pedestrians would shop at their art goods stores. As for Broadway? What can one say?
Chinatown and North Beach were both recently recognized for their unique neighborhoods. Both 'hoods contribute to City Hall with a hefty yearly $7 billion in revenue from the tourist industry. City Hall takes for granted that this cash cow will survive on its own and turns a blind eye and a deaf ear on its number one green industry, instead opting for the destruction of historic buildings for a questionable Central Subway, and chasing every artist out, claiming they are "driving customers away" on Broadway!
I ask, what is SF without its street musicians, living artists, historic buildings? Will visitors ditch the cable cars, instead riding the subway all the way to Fisherman's Wharf?
— Wilma Pang, December 2013
Subway alternatives
Houston's former Mayor Bob Lanier must have foreseen the Central Subway and T Third Line:
"First they say, 'It's cheaper.' When you show it costs more, they say, 'It's faster.' When you show it's slower, they say, 'It serves more riders.' When you show there are fewer riders, they say, 'It brings economic development.' When you show no economic development, they say, 'It helps the image.' When you say you don't want to spend that much money on image, they say, 'It will solve the pollution problem.' When you show it won't help pollution, they say, finally, 'It will take time. You'll see.' " — Bob Lanier 1990
Subway curiosities
Described as “one of the city’s biggest embarrassments,” subway construction began during the early twentieth century but was halted by the Great Depression, World War Two and the rise of the automobile. Numerous attempts to revive the project have failed, but on a positive note the Cincinnati Subway conducts bi-annual tours, offering a golden opportunity for historians, photographers and urban explorers to take a look around.
(Future San Francisco tourist attraction? "See the empty tunnels 7 stories beneath Union Square and Chinatown! 50 cents (cheap)" )
Transit & Muni
Paul Page
Paul has been dubbed the "Dave Barry" of the No Dig campaign. Just when things look bleakest he comes along with a song or yarn to brighten the day.
Sittin' in a hole by the Transbay
Cost to build SF transit center rises by $300M, SF Chronicle, July 25, 2013
The $300M debacle, mismanagement and fraud calls for song, laughter and mirth.
So I've revised Otis Redding's Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay for our festivities. Between this and the Central Subway, the city is nearly a half billion in the hole. That's progress.
- Spendin' in the morning sun
- MTA will be spendin' when the evening comes
- Watchin' the dough roll away
- And I watch 'em roll away again
- Sittin' in a hole by the Transbay
- Watchin' the dough roll away
- I'm just sittin' in a hole by the Transbay
- Wastin' dough
- Looks like Muni never gonna change
- It still remains the same
- It can't do half what it's supposed to do
- So I guess I'll be late again
- So I'm just...
- Sittin' in a hole by the Transbay (refrain)
Paul Page
Ode to Muni
From: paul page
To: SF Bay Guardian <letters@sfbg.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2009 9:25 AM
Subject: Ode to Muni
Another day, another fix for MUNI. Beyond all logic, the Board of Supervisors voted on May 27 to add more fare increases and route cuts to further cripple MUNI. Since this is beyond rationality and beyond the capability of verse to explain, I have turned to a Joyce Kilmer poem.
- I think that we shall never see
- A poem as lovely as MUNI
- A MUNI whose hungry mouth is prest
- Against the city's tax treasure chest
- A MUNI that is late all day
- And prays for more parking meter pay
- A MUNI that may in summer wear
- A host of advertisements up her rear
- Upon whose seats graffiti is lain
- Which intimately causes us pain
- Poems are made by fools like me
- But only comedy can fix MUNI
Paul Page
- Taxpaying riders of Muni may look dumb with our faces squished against bus windows, but we are not stupid.
Paul Page, San Francisco Letter to SF Examiner, May 7, 2013
Tara DeMoulin
Tara is a talented singer, songwriter and poet, and is often seen and heard performing in North Beach and around SF.
The 30 Stockton Shanty
by Tara DeMoulin (to the tune of "What shall we do with the drunken sailor?")
Video of Tara singing this song
- Chinese man with an open zipper
- Grossin' out a tired stripper
- Pickin' at his toes with a nail clipper
- Earl-y in the mornin'
- Oh, hey, come on guys
- Can't believe my eyes
- Ridin' on the 30 Stockton
- Earl-y in the mornin'
- Cluster-f**k at the old back door
- Little old ladies shoving through in hordes
- They jabbed me 'til me ribs were sore
- Earl-y in the mornin'
- Oh, hey, come on guys
- Can't believe my eyes
- Ridin' on the 30 Stockton
- Earl-y in the mornin'
- Casualties of Ronald Reagan
- Homeless guys who've lost their bacon
- Freakin' out the tourists with their rantin' and ravin'
- Earl-y in the mornin'
- Oh, hey, come on guys
- Can't believe my eyes
- Ridin' on the 30 Stockton
- Earl-y in the mornin'
- Wannabe gang kids in the back
- Shouting over hip-hop static
- Say a thing, and you're under attack
- So we stare at our hands and ignore them
- Oh, hey, come on guys
- Can't believe my eyes
- Ridin' on the 30 Stockton
- Earl-y in the mornin'
- Creepy guy's crotch just brushed my side
- For the twenty-seventh time
- Hey--it's not that bumpy a ride!
- Get a magazine if you're horny
- Oh, hey, come on guys
- Can't believe my eyes
- Ridin' on the 30 Stockton
- Earl-y in the mornin'
- Fascist driver won't go forward
- If we don't move back some more
- Startin' up the 3rd World War
- Earl-y in the mornin'
- Oh, hey, come on guys
- Can't believe my eyes
- Ridin' on the 30 Stockton
- Earl-y in the mornin'
- Yeah, it's punks 'n taggers, drunken staggers
- Kids in the backseat shootin' daggers
- Lonely sadsack heel-draggers
- Earl-y in the mornin'
- Deal-seekers, daytime tweakers
- Foreign-born non-English speakers
- Standin' on the back door step in sneakers
- Earl-y in the mornin'
- When I die, if I'm not meant for Heaven
- I'm sure I'll spend all eternity gettin'
- No peace, no space--on this line I'll be standin'
- It's the worst fate I could ever imagine
- In this life and the next it is the ride that lasts forever
- All of us, we take a sort of masochistic pleasure
- Ridin' on the 30 Stockton
- Earl-y in the mornin'
Jack Hirschman
Jack is a former SF Poet Laureate who is active in the literary scene in North Beach, SF, and around the world.
No to 24/7
by Jack Hirschman (composed for and read at the Pagoda work protest August 6, 2014)
- Never mind the "legal" exception
- Winston and his wife can't
- sleep at night
- with all the clanking at the Pagoda
- site of the new subway station,
- and the moving of metal
- and the pounding after midnight and through
- the early morning hours
- We don't have to be sleepless in North Beach!
-
- No more 24/7 in North Beach
- We're a village not a jampacked train,
- at least not yet.
-
- We're a village and we want to sleep like
- village people
- who can still say Hi to each other on the
- street in daytime and evening
- and who say to the city government:
- Give your workers nights off so they can
- get some shuteye too.
- No big rush for the tourist buck.
- No two-four-slash-seven slave-labor
- work on the ol' plantation.
- We wanna see sleepers dreaming
- of mutations of heaven
- in peace and quiet
- closing our eyes to violent greedy bux.