California transportation woes

On his blog, Daniel Hernandez notes that there have been a couple really neat proposals for a proper subway system for LA.

The first one, designed by Numan Parada, would put a subway stop at 26th and Wilshire, about 2 blocks from my parents’ house. It would take two transfers to get there from LAX, which would be freakin’ sweet.

The second one would put a stop at 23rd and Santa Monica Blvd., about 6-7 blocks from my parents’ house, and would take the same number of transfers to get to LAX.

Still, they’re both fantastic ideas. One problem though, it’s highly unlikely that this will ever get built:

That led [Parada] to take a break from his studies to craft his own transit map last fall. The plan, circulated on public transit blogs and websites, would cost an estimated $31 billion to $38 billion, and add 378 miles of new rail to the existing system, he said.

Transportation experts said such an extensive network would cost several times that.

Still, one can dream.

In other news, the California High Speed Rail, may get (har) de-railed.

LA Times:
Schwarzenegger asked the Legislature in his 2007 budget to slash money for the California High-Speed Rail Authority. The governor also wants lawmakers to postpone indefinitely a $9.95-billion rail bond issue that is slated to appear on the November 2008 ballot.

Other than the fact that having a high-speed rail up and down the state would be totally sweet, safe, fast and convenient, here’s some more wonky reasons why:

LA Times Op-Ed:

There are dozens of flights each day, carrying 10,000 to 15,000 passengers, between the metropolitan areas of these two cities. Currently, one-third of the flights out of LAX and SFO are for trips of 350 miles or less. A high-speed rail system would be a viable alternative to some if not all those trips, easing traffic congestion and reducing pressures to expand local airports.

Shifting more traffic to trains would require expansion of stations and other infrastructure — as well as acquisition of rights of way. But if done properly, it would result in much less environmental impact on people than would airport expansion.

The governor has proposed a $110-billion transportation bond, mostly for highways. Total costs for the high-speed rail system are estimated to be about $35 billion, but this would be matched 50-50 or better by Washington. And the system could be up and running in eight to 10 years.

*sighs*

The only thing that looks like will happen is that within the next 12 years, Caltrain will get extended from the 4th/King terminus, going underground to the new, totally revamped Transbay Terminal. I imagine it’ll be something like the Grand Central Station of the West, but awesomer. 🙂

The design is supposed to be announced in August.

I can’t wait.

“This marvellous city, San Francisco!”

Two Years Before the Mast, 1869:

Late in the afternoon, as there were vespers at the Roman Catholic churches, I went to that of Notre Dame des Victoires. The congregation was French, and a sermon in French was preached by an Abbé; the music was excellent, all things airy and tasteful, and making one feel as if in one of the chapels in Paris. The Cathedral of St. Mary, which I afterwards visited, where the Irish attend, was a contrast indeed, and more like one of our stifling Irish Catholic churches in Boston or New York, with intelligence in so small a proportion to the number of faces. During the three Sundays I was in San Francisco, I visited three of the Episcopal churches, and the Congregational, a Chinese Mission Chapel, and on the Sabbath (Saturday) a Jewish synagogue. The Jews are a wealthy and powerful class here. The Chinese, too, are numerous, and do a great part of the manual labor and small shop-keeping, and have some wealthy mercantile houses.

Read more““This marvellous city, San Francisco!””

Two unrelated items

Josh Quittner, the editor-in-chief at Business 2.0 magazine (where I was an intern a mere three years ago), wants to be the next dean at the North Gate Graduate School of Journalism?

Also, why didn’t anyone tell me that Ted Leo & the Pharmacists are playing a $15 show at Stanford this Sunday night? I’m so there, dude.

On burritos

So today I was digging around the interwebs for some info about burritos.

Three items stick out:

1) I found this 85 burrito odyssey in the Chronicle from last September.

2) I found a possible reference to myself in UrbanDictionary.com, under the entry “california burrito”.

Guacamole may be substituted for sour cream, though this not a true Cali burrito, just an imposter (known as a Cyrus Burrito).

This is strange, because I almost always order my burritos without sour cream, and will gladly take guac when it’s offered, but I don’t make a point of getting guac instead of sour cream. Still, an intriguing entry.

3) Calvin Trillin, writing about burritos in The New Yorker (2003):

In San Francisco the burrito has been refined and embellished in much the same way that the pizza has been refined and embellished in Chicago. The San Francisco burrito, which is customarily wrapped in aluminum foil even if you have no intention of leaving the premises, is distinguished partly by the amount of rice and other side dishes included in the package and partly by sheer size. (“Out to Eat,” the Lonely Planet guide to San Francisco restaurants, describes the Mission burrito as “a perfect rolled-up meal,” and I would differ only in describing it as “two or three perfect rolled-up meals.”) It is also so good that at times I’ve been tempted to put it on my list of favorite dishes that rarely seem to be served outside their place of origin.

Serious eaters in San Francisco tend to be loyal to their own burrito purveyor. Abigail, for instance, is a Taquería La Cumbre person. In the spirit in which a rabid baseball fan from St. Louis might hand out Cardinals caps, she once presented me with a T-shirt whose front is almost totally taken up by La Cumbre’s logo—a heroic painting of a sort of Latinized Ava Gardner wearing crossed bandoliers and carrying both a bugle and an unfurled Mexican flag. My childhood friend Growler Ed Williams, who teaches Spanish literature at San Francisco State, is a Taquería Pancho Villa person. I know perfectly respectable people whose loyalty is to Taquería Cancún, which is only a few blocks from Abigail’s house. I have had terrific burritos at all three. I can understand a reluctance to leave a place within easy shooting distance of the Mission.

Farewell, Mr. Rove.

Here’s the full list, via Daily Kos.

Yes, and Mr. Seven-term Pombo (R-CA) from the 11th Congressional District of California lost!

And the Macaca race is still up in the air, but Webb is barely ahead for now.

And finally, in the most meaningless ballot measure of the night:

San Francisco was one of two Bay Area cities in which voters could call for Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to be impeached. Neither San Francisco voters nor their counterparts in Berkeley were passing up the chance — San Francisco’s Prop. J won, 59 percent to 41 percent, while in Berkeley, Measure H was ahead, 66 percent to 34 percent, in early returns.

Bay Area, I love you always, but why do you have to do such stupid things sometimes?

Anyway, rock on, Madam Speaker!

Dave Cuomo plays two nights in the Bay Area!

When I lived in New York, I was invited to get cheap drinks and attend some great live music once a week at The Underground Lounge by my good buddy and Columbia cohort Jennifer Weiss. She had a regular gig rockin’ the back room on piano and killer vocals.

Jen and I also shared a radio class together at Columbia, and after having been exposed to various musical performances at the Underground, and in dire need of a subject for a radio documentary, she suggested that I do one on Mr. Dave Cuomo (pictured at left).

After spending hours with Dave, attending his shows and chatting with him in his Washington Heights apartment, I came to realize here was someone who was living his dream. Many kids fantasize about coming to the big city with a few bucks in their pocket and a guitar on their back, ready to take on the world with their music. Dave did it, and did it with gusto and style. He’s a fast-talkin’, passionate, grungy and romantic musicmaker and is just an all-around cool guy. You can hear him in my April 2005 radio documentary: “Music Man.”

So it is with great pleasure that I’ll be hosting Dave Cuomo for the next three nights, while he continues his 2006 tour.

He’ll bring the house down Tuesday night at Brainwash (1122 Folsom St., San Francisco) at 7 pm and Wednesday night at Mama Buzz (2318 Telegraph Ave., Oakland) at 6 pm for the low price of three bucks.

LET’S GO, OAKLAND!

Best part of the game: within two minutes of the final out, the folks in the right field bleachers (where my brother and I were sitting) started chanting: Yankees suck! Yankees suck!

I can’t wait for the ALCS.

Oakland Taco Trucks

Xeni at Boing Boing brightened my day with a link to TacoTrucks.net a site devoted to Oakland taco trucks, one of my favorite places to get a cheap and amazingly delicious meal. I’ve known about Burritoeater.com and Burritophile.com, which are dissapointing because the former is exclusively focused on San Francisco, and the latter’s reviews are too spotty.

I was just at El Ojo de Agua #3 (pictured above) last night, and seriously, I don’t think you can get a better meal for $4.25 (or $6 if you include an horchata).