Akit Already Knows Muni Won't Take Action Against an 18-46th Avenue Driver - So I Will Just Report it Here

When you ride Muni on a regular basis and strictly follow the time schedule, it's likely your bus operator will be the same person. This is especially true for me when I take the 18-46th Avenue line because it operates on 20 minute frequencies during rush hours.

But when you ride with the same driver, you start to notice certain patterns that are just inappropriate, and I finally got fed-up enough to call 311 and report the driver for poor practices. But as we well know, reporting problems to Muni just gets ignored, so I'm deciding to take another step and use the power of my blog to get a wider audience.

Before I tell you about what happened, did you know that in order for Muni to take action against a bus driver, the union rules states that you have to surrender your name and contact information? I usually call 311 and just state I refuse to provide that info, but without it, Muni can't do shit.

Here's the whole story:
Bus: 8417
Line: 18-46th Avenue inbound (to Legion of Honor)
Time: Bus leaves at 6PM at Stonestown (outbound terminal for 18 line)
Driver #: Not known
Description of driver: African American male, thin build, in his 40s.

First incident: Stop at Lake Merced & Font (SF State)
I normally ride the 6:05PM bus arrival at that particular stop because it's just a short walk from my office and it takes me close to my home in the Outer Richmond District. The same driver always picks up passengers 50 feet ahead of the yellow mark on the pavement that indicates the bus must stop there to pick-up passengers.

To make it even more amusing, I flagged the driver by standing near the yellow mark as it was about 200-300 feet away, enough time for the driver to gently hit his brake and hazard lights, but every single time, pulls fifty feet ahead of the yellow mark, thereby forcing any passenger waiting there to rush over to the front door.

Here's a streetsview map from Google:

View Larger Map

On the map image, you'll see a bench on the right side, and just in front of it on the pavement is the yellow mark indicating it's a bus stop for the 18 line. All other Muni operators who drives on this line always stops very close to the yellow mark and the bench, but the regular driver of the 6PM bus doesn't; that driver pulls up to where you see the green "Font" sign, about fifty feet ahead of the bench/yellow mark.

Second incident: Stop at La Playa & Cabrillo
The bus stop at La Playa & Cabrillo next to the Safeway supermarket is a really long bus stop of about 400-500 feet, and the passenger shelter is in the middle of the long bus stop. This stop is so big because back in the day, Muni used that long red zone as a terminus for the 38-Geary Ocean Beach branch, and those articulated buses are a good 60 feet long. These days, it's not used as a terminus stop because Muni built a terminal area for the 5-Fulton and 31-Balboa in an empty lot just across the street, and the 38-Geary Ocean Beach branch doesn't exist ever since the 18 line was forced to take over that route.

View Larger Map

Since the bus stop is so huge, the same driver always decides to pull to the very front end of the bus stop, this means the people sitting or standing near the passenger shelter has to walk about 50-75 feet just to catch this particular bus. When I ride at other times with other drivers, they stop as close to the shelter as possible, and that even includes the 31-Balboa. A lot of times, the passengers are mostly senior citizens carrying grocery bags, and making them rush to catch a bus that pulled 75 feet in front is just rude and disrespectful.

Here's what made it worse. Yesterday, the driver did the same tactic: Pull the bus to the front end of the bus stop (very close to where that white truck is). Nobody wanted to exit the bus (did not ring bell), and there was about three people sitting in the shelter. The driver slowed down upon approach to the front end of the stop, and I noticed in the window, two people standing-up wanting to catch the bus when they saw it. The driver assumed nobody wanted to board, so he picked-up speed and continued on. I took off my headphones and hollered at the driver, "wasn't there people who wanted to board?" I got no response.

By this point, I was fed-up with this driver. He doesn't give any respect to passengers pulling-up close to the passenger shelter at La Playa & Cabrillo and doesn't make an effort to stop at the yellow marking at Lake Merced & Font. Oh, but he'll allow any of his friends to board at any point along the route that's not a designated bus stop.

Now that I told my story online WILL MUNI TAKE SOME ACTION? It seems complaining to 311 just goes through the cycle of nowhere.

Need to vent Outside Lands anger? Do it HERE

Strangely... there's not many forums out there right now that are letting people comment like crazy about Outside Lands and the impact on communities. Last year, SFGate, SFist, Curbed SF, and my blog were the primary places for disgruntled people to complain.

This year, a lot of people are noting their experiences on Twitter with the hashtag "#outsidelands," some noise complaints, and Muni problems.

Just a few minutes ago, SF Appeal posted their own Friday recap. Kudos to them for posting it up faster!

Update: Want to read over 30 disgruntled comments? See SFGate's little hidden comments page about the event here. A lot of people are not happy with the sound, now with accusations that the sound management folks jacked-up the bass.

Here's some of what I've noticed on Friday:

• Gridlocked traffic going northbound on Great Highway on the [upper] portion starting at Lawton and ending at Balboa (1.3 mile backup).
• Heavy traffic going southbound on Great Highway from Balboa to Fulton (0.3 mile backup).
• Backup going southbound on Great Highway from Santiago to Sloat (0.8 miles).
• Gridlock westbound on Lincoln between Sunset Blvd. to Great Highway (0.8 miles) with illegal right turns in second right lane on westbound Lincoln at Great Highway intersection.
  
• Gridlock westbound on Fulton from at least Chain of Lakes/43rd Avenue to Great Highway.
• Traffic was clear going eastbound on Fulton and Lincoln.
• Drivers didn't realize the next east-west streets like Irving and Cabrillo was much quicker to drive through.
• Muni suffered, including lines that don't go nearby, like the 18-46th Avenue that suffered through the traffic mess on the brief drive on the Great Highway portion.
• Today, Supervisor Mar is meeting with Outside Lands organizers about the noise problem, including the bass that can be heard way beyond the boundaries of the event.
  

As always, I have my helpful survival guide to Outside Lands available to you with helpful phone numbers if things start to become a problem.


Here's some additional info I'm also going to update the survival guide with:

Your rights as a San Francisco citizen during Outside Lands:

1. You have the right to complain to your district supervisor, police department, mayor's office, or any other appropriate city agency.
2. You have the right to have your complaint heard by a competent individual and you shall expect a response within a timely manner.
3. If you need help, call 311. If you believe the information they provided to you sounds incorrect or unhelpful, either hang-up and call again, or demand a supervisor. If they refuse to take complaints on certain matters regarding the event, keep cramming it down their throats until the report is filed.
4. Any comments, suggestions and complaints filed with a city agency, including SFPD, DPT, and 311 are considered public records under the Sunshine Ordinance. Calling Outside Lands' hotline may not be considered as "part of the record."
   
5. If you notice limo or towncar drivers trying to pick-up passengers "on-demand," this is illegal under San Francisco law. Take down their plate and their unique chauffeur vehicle number on their rear bumper and call 311.
6. If you still hear concert music beyond 10PM, the end of the day's event, report it to your city supervisor and police department.
7. If you notice something shady going on in your neighborhood, don't sit on it, and give the cops a call.
   

(Screenshot taken at 6:25PM)

San Francisco's 311 works 80% of the time

San Francisco's "311" program was created by the local city government as a one stop place for citizens to call 311 for information and to report issues. The "one stop" concept is used in many places, and when it runs well, becomes a very successful way to conduct business. A perfect example is SFSU's "OneStop" Student Services center where students can see the registrar, financial aid, bursar, and get their campus ID in one central area.

From my own personal experience from calling the 311 service line, I feel they are able to resolve about 80% of the questions and problems I call them about.

Here is a list of the successfully resolved and answers found in an appropriate amount of time:

• Reporting potholes and they are patched-up within 3 days, in some cases, 24 hours! If you tell them it's a really bad pothole or a major Muni bus line keeps hitting it, they get on it quick.
  
• Answering general Muni questions, like "when is the first bus of the day for X line?"
• Removing a broken "Yield to Pedestrians" sign after the wind literally made it lean into the streets, and my car's mirror hit it, nearly making it fall off (I didn't sue).
• A small rock slide happened near the Cliff House, and it was cleaned-up the next day. But nobody reported it for two weeks until I did.
• Some cab driver flicked me off after cutting me off on Geary. The person on the phone was very pleasant to take the report.
  

So basically, when I ask very general questions or report problems, they get resolved or answered in a very quick fashion. While this is a short list, I've reported multiple potholes and other broken stuff, which accounts to about 80% of my calls.


Now, here is the list of problems that usually don't get resolved, provided inaccurate information, being hassled for more information (beyond common sense), and other similar issues:

• OutsideLands festival road closure information. One person transferred me to 511 without question, and I called 311 again to ask the question and was placed on hold for ten minutes. They claimed all the park roads were "open," when I knew that one nearby my home was closed. Their source of info: A poorly written SFMTA website advisory.
  
• Answering more complex Muni questions, like the nearest bus line to the (criminal) Hall of Justice building. It would take them a few minutes to find out, when the old "6-SF-MUNI" phone number (pre 311) would get you that answer in mere seconds.
  
• The city forgot to put the sticker on a street sign stating that street cleaning comes the 1st and 3rd week of Friday. I reported it over two months ago and it has not been resolved.
• Reporting potholes that may be under the jurisdiction of a different agency (such as Caltrans), but may be within the city limits. Sometimes they take the report, sometimes they don't even give you the phone number of the right person to call.
  
• Refusing to take a citizen's complaint about the Tour de California closing down Great Highway over 90 minutes before the bikers were to even enter the city.
• When the southbound Upper Great Highway had to be shut-down due to a storm, the city forgot to switch the signal at G.H. & Lincoln to 4-way stop (flashing red). Try telling that to the lady on the phone who asked why the signal cycle needs to be changed... I had to give a very detailed explanation of why it needs to be flashing red (by running the signals on a regular cycle, drivers heading southbound might think that the Upper Great Highway is open, and will zoom through the green and hit the security barrier that closes the road... a.k.a. LAWSUIT!). If 311 simply reported that the signals need to be on 4-way stop due to a road closure, the report goes to the traffic signal folks at DPT, and they know why in a snap. Before 311, I would call the traffic signal folks at DPT directly, and I told them very briefly of the situation and mentioning the road closure, and they said: "we got it!"
• Do you really have to ask how big the pothole is? The question of it being safe for a bicycle or motorcycle to drive over it is a simple enough question to determine priority.
• Reporting roadkill. They ask: "Is it smaller or bigger than a pigeon?" I would answer: "Does a skunk count as smaller?" (It sounds funny, but it's not a joke).
  

So this material covers about 20% of the issues that don't get resolved/answered or provides inaccurate information. It looks longer, but covers very specific incidents.

In summary, San Francisco 311's call center can answer/resolve the basic stuff, but when it comes to more complex stuff, they don't do well under the pressure and provides inaccurate answers, reports it improperly, and just simply shrugs it off their shoulder.

One note of improvement they do now, if you report something, they check their database for any similar reports before filing your request into the system. If something similar pops up, they tell you about it and confirm if it is the same problem. I could tell them a specific address or intersection, and whatever search program they use can narrow it down, even if it is off by a couple of address numbers or a block away.

Lastly, this may sound a little bit odd, but when I encounter a problem and I don't call 311 in say... a week, I find out that nobody has reported it while dozens to thousands of drivers pass by the problem area and sometimes on a daily basis. Just like that small rock slide, it was there for two weeks until I called it in.

I personally believe our city will be a better place if we simply report the deficiencies of our city as often as we can so they can be repaired in a timely manner (I don't mean snitching to the police every single time a driver doesn't use their turn signals). When people report problems and they get fixed: the better the reputation of 311, other city agencies, and the citizens will have a boost of morale!

When you experience issues with 311, post a comment or e-mail me at: complaints (at) akit [dot] org. I'll post it here at Akit's Complaint Department, where local officials do read my blog and either take action or post anonymous commments.

Akit is not happy: OutsideLands Releases 2009 Concert Dates (August 28-30)

Word from the local blogs (City Insider & SF Citizen) is the OutsideLands festival will hold their 2009 event from August 28-30, which means another three days of hell for the entire city.

So... will the city experience once again the agony of the following:

1. Loud noise heard for miles?
2. Sardine packed Muni buses and trains?
3. Missing Muni buses?
   
4. Trashing of the park, even though they claim to be a "green" event?
5. Limos and Luxury Towncars illegally trying to sell you a ride for an insane price?
6. Failure to notify city residents of park road closures and delays?
7. Drunk people vomiting all over the street?
8. Overselling the concert?
9. People knocking over temporary fences before a stampede breaks out?
10. $100K to $200K in irrigation damage in the park?
11. Idiots at San Francisco 311 who can't give you accurate answers?
12. Calling your local police station for information, but telling you that they don't know either? (Yeah, just wait until an ambulance is trying to rescue you, but can't get through because the city, once again, screws-up information).
13. And the list goes on and on...

My old postings to read:
My investigation into lack of street closure info and getting support.
A huge conglomerate of complaints from random citizens.
And the post-event report.

The city claims they will get 1.5 million dollars for leasing the land to OutsideLands to destroy, cause havoc, and sure piss-off the surrounding neighborhoods. It's not 1.5 million per day, it's 1.5 million for THREE DAYS.

And I'm going to bet that the city will spend more than 1.5 million dollars in that three days doing what they do best:

1. Police overtime
2. Muni overtime
3. Meter maid overtime
4. SF Park Service overtime
5. Sunset Scavenger extra pickups
6. Gasoline costs for cop cars, buses, and other city vehicles.
7. Maintenance costs for the vehicles above.
   
8. City Supervisors and their staff working extra hours answering complaint calls and e-mails.
9. Fixing destroyed park fixtures, irrigation lines, patches of grass.
10. Lawsuits brought forth by residents.
11. 311 needing extra people to handle the extreme number of phone calls and complaints.

And lastly, why host an event on a FRIDAY? Do they understand that Muni is already operating at capacity during regular commutes, and just adding a hundred thousand people to the mix will put the system in a wreck? If they want to win support, you don't piss off the weekday commuters trying to get home on the outbound lines that goes next to and even several blocks away from the event site (this includes, but not limited to N-Judah, 5-Fulton, 29-Sunset, 31-Balboa, 71-Haight/Noriega, any peak express buses heading west, etc.).

The concert company should start thinking about leasing as many tour buses, school buses, and literally any bus they can get their hands on to transport people to/from the event site to major transit hubs, like Daly City BART, downtown, local ferry terminals, etc. And maybe they could also lease some local ferry boats to transport those folks home across the bay after a late night concert. If they want to recover the costs, do what Bay to Breakers does, charge them for a special pass that gives them the privilege to ride the vehicles.

It's Akit's Complaint Department's Birthday TODAY!

It's a big happy birthday here at Akit's Complaint Department! Actually, its the birthday of my domain name: Akit.Org.

I started Akit.Org on February 7, 2002, and ran it through a simple Geocities web site program. But after many years, the website was total junk, and it really had no real potential.

So, on February 17, 2007, I decided to dump Geocities and started a blog on Blogger. I was really becoming an accomplished opinion writer, and was frequently getting my "Letters to the Editor" published in newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle and the Golden Gate [X]Press.

I could not really think of a name in the beginning to call my blog, but I thought... well, I do have a lot of complaints that I wanted to express, and influences like George Carlin, and Penn & Teller's Showtime program made me decide to start up "Akit's Complaint Department," literally home to San Francisco's complaints and sarcasm galore.

My first posting on February 17, 2007 was towards the local TV station I hated so much for their crappy programming... KRON channel 4. But a rookie Blogger didn't get much attention those days.

So after two years of writing and 165 postings (not including this one), what's the two most frequent topics I write about?

1. Muni
2. Translink

Public transit... if it worked so well, I wouldn't be writing about it! But since it's going so badly, there's always a good posting to write!

Here are some of my proudest moments with Akit's Complaint Department:

1. Literally being the place to read all the negative reviews of the Outsidelands festival in August 2008.
2. Making public a disgraceful letter from a condo developer and condo owners association president against a community festival in Japantown.
3. Targeting government waste, like the anti-Halloween campaign to get people to stay away from the Castro.
4. Being an "insider" of the Translink program. I was a pilot tester and knew all the ins and outs.
5. Being featured on SFist, Curbed SF, Eye on Blogs, N-Judah Chronicles, and many other local blogs.
   
6. Making a policy change on SF Muni with help from Phil Bronstein of the SF Chronicle about my article on why Muni will not accept "Muni to BART" discount coupons after baseball games. Then catching MUNI in the act ON VIDEO (see below).

I'm happy today that my blog has grabbed a lot of attention. I'm appreciative of the readers who use RSS, Feedburner, Google Feeds, and even e-mail subscriptions to read my insane and sometimes nutty opinions and thoughts.

Thank you to all you readers! Keep on reading!

And oh... I earned my M.A. degree!!!

Outside Lands Festival to return for 3 years... Is this a joke?

"Welcome to San Francisco, where GREEDY government people screws this city."

That's our new slogan because the a new report shows that the San Francisco Park and Rec department has just signed a three year contract to have the OutsideLands festival come back. The city claims they will make $1.7 million a year with this contract.
Did I hear this correctly... OutsideLands II, III, and IV? NO THANKS.

If anyone recalls from Akit's Complaint Department, I posted three blog entries during August 2008's event and attracted so much attention, I received the highest number of visitors and comments ever in a single day. Even one of my newly hired co-workers knew about these blog entries.

See articles here:
"Outside Lands Festival - No Park Street Closure Information"
"Outside Lands Festival - Muni Terrible, Complaints, Not Making Friends"
"Outside Lands Festival - Goodbye, Get Lost, and Never Come Back"

Bringing back Outside Lands? Is the city nuts? So the city raises $1.7 million dollars for each one, but the reality is the city will more than likely fry that $1.7 million and more tax dollars on police overtime, traffic officers, additional Muni vehicles, Muni overtime, trash cleanup, claims of damage by homeowners nearby the park, and plenty more.

And does $1.7 million also cover the anger the residents of the Sunset, Richmond, and Panhandle areas will suffer? Traffic jams, no neighborhood parking, people trashing the neighborhoods, urination and deification in the streets, and the loud noises? People have complained of the noise from Golden Gate Park all the way from THE PRESIDIO. Even a concert at the Polo Grounds in the 70's got complaints from UCSF HOSPITAL, and that's really far away.

Golden Gate Park does not have the appropriate capacity to host a three day nightmare. One day events that are held on a Sunday are good because of low traffic, and it doesn't put a severe impact on the surrounding neighborhoods.

But when you make it a three day event, including on a Friday, you don't just piss-off the residents, but you also tick-off the Friday commuters who have to ride sardine packed trains and buses when trying to get home, and the park road closures WITHOUT ANY NOTICE. Last year, commuters were really mad at both Muni and Outsidelands for the suffering.

And to just prove my point about the event from hell last year, here's a photo from the NextBus program that Muni participates in:


If this event ever returns, the city and event organizers will once again SCREW THINGS UP. Here's a list of things that will go wrong:

• The park will get trashed. The event's goal is to be "green." Yeah right, even the employees littered.
• It's way oversold.
• Muni can't take this kind of abuse. Drivers can't be forced to work days they are not scheduled for, and their union will probably support that.
• OutsideLands organizers will not provide money to provide additional transportation.
• Call these phone numbers and visit these websites: 311, 511, your local SF Police station, your local fire station, your local paramedics station, 511.org, SFMTA.com, the concert's website, and your city supervisor's office. They'll give you all different answers on park road closures. Just wait until you have a heart attack and the paramedics can't rescue you because they were NOT TOLD WHAT ROADS ARE CLOSED.
• Not enough porta toilets, I guess people will be doing their business in a neighbor's front yard.
• One word: STAMPEDE.

If the city still has a chance: ELIMINATE THE CONTRACT. Find a promoter that is willing to host events on Sundays ONLY (three Sundays in the row is not bad).

Send OutsideLands to CANDLESTICK. They've got one hell of a large parking lot and stadium to use.

(First two photos courtesy of Flickr user reidspice under a Creative Commons license.)

Xbox 360 Broke Down - Best Buy Replaced it for Free, but also wanted $150

It's the thing I most dread about video game systems... it breaks down and doesn't work anymore. That's what happened to me Thursday with my Xbox 360, but it wasn't the "red ring of death" (three red lights), I had an overheat signal (two red lights in left quadrant) when the system was completely cold.

So after several attempts, I totally confirmed that it does not work, unhooked everything, and packed it in the original box to send to Best Buy. Fortunately, I purchased a two year replacement plan for $59, knowing that the odds were high that my system would break down. That replacement plan sure came in handy.

So I head down to the Best Buy store in San Francisco (Geary Blvd.) with my receipt and the box packed neatly with everything. I was served very quickly by a lady, but then the long nightmare started. She asked a Geek Squad member to test out the system, and it supported my theory that the overheat mechanism was not working properly and kept shutting down the console. Then she called over a co-worker because there was some sort of problem with the registry about my purchase and I had to wait over 20 minutes to get it resolved. I eventually got my new Xbox 360 system, and it was actually an upgrade from my previous console (old console: 20 GB, new console: 60 GB with two free games).

The really bad news is that initially they told me that I could keep my old hard drive because it had all my saves, map downloads, and my Xbox Live registration. But when the new console was near ready to leave the store, I asked them about my old hard drive. The employee stated a "new" policy that forced me to leave my old hard drive and I was forced to accept the new hard drive. I was a little confused, so I asked them if it is possible to transfer the data from the old hard drive to the new one.

So the employee talks to the Geek Squad guy and comes back and says "sure" they can transfer the information to the new hard drive, for $150. I yelled out, ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS?!?! ARE YOU CRAZY? Even the folks waiting to return items were in shock. I told the employee, hell no, and walked out with the console, but I also expressed grief with the store manager when leaving.

I told the manager, "it seems a little unfair that Geek Squad wants to charge me $150 to transfer the information to the new hard drive." The manager said to me that the price seemed odd to him even though he knew that I had to get the console REPLACED, and after said "bye" to me. I was half-way pissed, but happy that I got a new system. Then I suffered 3 hours of updating the Xbox 360, including the 400 MB map pack for Call of Duty 4. I also lost all my saves, except for Call of Duty 4, which remembered my high scores and my full completion of the game.

Here's my summary of why I'm a little disturbed at Best Buy:

• They took much longer than expected to replace my console.
  
• They initally promised to swap my old hard drive with the new one.
• They backed away from the swap, attempting to scam me out of $150 to transfer the data, when the system broke down and should have been done as a courtesy, since I had the replacement plan.
• After explaining my concerns to the manager, he should have taken action immediately to find out why the price is so high, especially after giving his comment that the price that high was so odd.

Now I just noticed, 360 sells a hard drive transfer cable. They should have told me about this and let me keep the old hard drive so I can do it myself (since the old console is dead). You rip-off bastards.

Outside Lands Festival - Goodbye, Get Lost, and Never Come Back

It is such a relief that I can now post this and say that San Francisco's huge disaster festival known as Outside Lands is finally over. Criticism from the commentators of SFgate and other blog sites have noted this to be an entire disaster.

It is not just the residents surrounding Golden Gate Park (the Richmond, Sunset, and Panhandle), but all the people who experienced the nightmare known as Muni and those who had to walk miles to hopefully catch the last BART and even Caltrain back home.

Also, Jack Johnson headlining? I'm going to puke. Jack Johnson sucks. They used to play his crap on one of my favorite radio stations and I called the station to tell them to kill off his songs! And you know what, they did.

So let's look at the final comments after the entire event from the Chronicle/SFgate:

From shastasky of SFgate:
"What a difference than any other concert in GG Park?! Sound out at RadioHead a few times, trampling at the fences, long lines, over-priced items, trash inside the venue and in the nearby neighborhood, a few cars broken into, one big fight (Friday)-- missed Sunday-- I could hear the music on Sunday from a half mile away. Good music-- very poor planning. Not again next year! APE should go back to Oakland! One of the promoters owns the Independent-- let's trash that place like what happened to the park! I like one day concerts in the park. This was overboard; not like Hardly Strictly Bluegrass or Green Apple. Supes Carmen Chu and Jake McGoldrick-- was it worth it to your districts and the park? 3 day events-- go to Pier 30 - 32 where the X games were held. 150,000 fans-- don't think so. Rothbury, High Sierra, etc. were better this year. Again, the planning was horrible! I'll point fingers at Another Planet, first and foremost, then Supe Chu and McGoldrick and Parks and Rec. Never again!"

From norcalguy101 of SFgate:
"Gosh...if there were only 6,000 porta-poties and 150,000 in attendance...that works out to 25 people per porta-potty...now I'm even happier I didn't "go" there..."

From wesquire of SFgate:
"WOW - way to insult my neighborhood innerrichmond - go F yourself and thanks for giving me one more reason to complain to the City about this event. The patrons were rude, walking in the middlke of the streets where there were not cross walks, doing drugs outside my house, leaving trash everywhere in the park and in the street. What pigs people are. You may be trendy, but you have no substance."

From anderthalneal of SFgate:
"GREENWASH--eco-friendly event my a$. Thousands of pounds of plastic cups, thousands of plastic wrist bands and plastic badges, tons of plastic plates, plastic forks, spoons, knives, hundreds of dorks driving in circles for hours trying to find a place to park. Tour buses idling for HOURS. Gotta get a buzz from that diesel exhaust. How much energy was used to amplify the crappy music? The only thing organic about this festival was the hippy poop."

From shastasky of SFgate:
"this is not the first concert in GG Park-- many that came before were much better planned and executed. the music was good at Outside Lands.... APE has a lot of experience, but missed this one in a big way. i think they are the 10th or 11th largest production company for these events. can you believe that?! it was deplorable considering their experience. where was the coordination with the City and MUNI-- this was on the producers as it normally at venues. most of the crowd was fine-- but there were scores of people trashing the neighborhoods both in the Sunset and Richmond. Let's see how APE responds and cleans. It is not an event for GG Park-- so many over the years have been "stellar" and a few have missed the mark-- this one was well off base. i was there Fri. and Sat. and live in the neighborhood. bad for the park, the neighborhood, and likely the city. just saying a one day gig usually works out. this one didn't; too problematic for too many people. many on these posts were there"

From dwjsf of SFgate:
"It was noisy. There was a lot of traffic. Lot of rude folks. Hope it doesn't come back next year."


In summary of this whole fiasco, the organization of the festival was poor, Muni was not prepared for the masses (screw the union), and residents of the affected neighborhoods were not notified of park road closures or received very little information (the morons of inaccurate information at 311 and the supervisor's office, and no information posted on the event's website).

The blame and my MIDDLE FINGER goes to Outside Lands, SFMTA/SF Muni, 311, 511, Mayor Newsom, Park and Rec department, San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and anyone else who played a role in this event.

Lastly...
To the organizers of the Outside Lands Festival (concert):
Bye bye! Never come back!

Outside Lands Festival - Muni Terrible, Complaints, and Not Making Friends

The Outside Lands festival (concert) is getting some really negative reviews for its Friday evening concert, from complaints about packed Muni buses and trains, loud noise, and 30 minute waits to go to the bathroom.

First of all, I am going to post the complaint information. This is from SF 311's event calendar:

COMPLAINTS-
Outside Lands has a community hotline to respond to any issues that might affect the community during the festival which will be available 11 am to 11 pm on festival days (415) 387-1935.

Now, since this complaint line is private and more than likely the data they collect won't be released to the city government, here's some more information to complain:

• To complain about Muni, call: 311.
• To complain to your city supervisor: http://www.sfgov.org/site/bdsupvrs_index.asp and click on your supervisor for contact info.
• To complain to the Park and Rec department who issued the permit: (415) 831-3700.

NEW! PHOTO EVIDENCE OF THE INSANITY:
http://flickr.com/photos/swellkh/2788291025/
http://flickr.com/photos/swellkh/2789129852/
http://flickr.com/photos/swellkh/2789129020/
http://flickr.com/photos/chrisjb/2788177701/
http://flickr.com/photos/mimizone/2788149719/

Now readers, let us view the comments from SFgate, Curbed SF, and SFist about how the event is going. This is sorted out by categories:

For Muni's terrible service:

From Fsharp of SFist:
"I just got back from the Outside Lands festivals. DO NOT RIDE THE N JUDAH TO THE SHOW THIS WEEKEND.

Sorry for the shouting but really. We waited at Embarcadero for over 30 minutes for the first N to show up at 5PM on a completely packed platform.

Once we squeezed in, it was a nightmarish 55 minute ride to 19th ave with asses and elbows everywhere. In 22 years here I've never been on a train here that crowded.

It was another 25 minute wait to get another N out and back home. Again packed and excruciatingly slow.
We left in the middle of the Radiohead show because we were so worried about getting home on Muni. (Also Radiohead's sound kept cutting out completely in mid-song).

Ride your bike or take a cab. The increased N service is a lie.

Also, if you cab it, or take Muni anyway, go to Sunset ave not 19th like it says in on the festival web site. The entrance is a long walk from 19th."

From Greg of SFist, and author of the N Judah Chronicles:
"Folks from the air it looks groovy with lots of Ns on the line in and outbound. But reports from NJC agents indicate it's a perfect storm of drunks, cars, traffic, and a lack of DPT presence.

Ouch!"

From erik_flannestad of SFist:
"Oh, Jesus Holy Christ what a nightmare that was getting home from the Outlands concert. 2 1/2 hours from the sunset to Glen Park.

We coulda walked it in that time."

From noneyabidnis of SFist:
"I wish I would have brought my camera. My experience with Muni was miserable.

We decided to walk north and catch the number 1 at 29th and California. NextBus said 16 minutes, 39 minutes, and 39 minutes.

First bus shows up as expected, 15-17 minutes later. Completely packed. Our stop had probably 40 people at it. Bus just blew through.

So we decided to walk California inbound. Block after block of completely packed stops, everyone wondering what was going on with the buses. I'm shocked a riot didn't break out.

We walked California all the way to Maple and California (from 29th) - not one bus came on the inbound route. 4 passed going outbound.

Walked up Sacramento, and at Sacramento and Cherry there was a 43 line bus just sitting there. Completely empty, minus two people asleep in the back, and no driver. Unbelievable.

I called 311 on the treck down California and they said Muni were doing all they could. Filed a formal complaint as well. I wasn't very nice to the lady, and I feel bad now - it certainly wasn't her fault. But I did get the complaint filed... I just wish I could apologize to the nice lady I talked to.

Also sent a message to Mr. Ford, using this link:

http://www.sfmta.com/cms/acontact/formgm.htm

I'll try to get some photos of the bus fiasco.

Also, 60,000+ people in attendance friday night. Let's say 20,000 people don't take the bus, that means 40 buses can take the whole crowd if they squeeze 1000 people on a bus."

From munchkin of SFist:
"Last night I walked all the way to 22nd where the 71 turns, so a bunch of us caught it before it got to the crowd of walking people on Lincoln. It wasn't planned though- we were passed by several packed N trains."

From 99paa of SFist:
"Coming back last night from radiohead, two N trains in a row wouldn't even stop to let people on -- and they were empty! the extra muni fare inspectors were yelling at muni hq on their cell phones to make the trains, you know, actually pick people up.

then one N did stop, not at an actual stop, and opened the doors. it then started moving while the last door was still open. i'm surprised nobody died.

great job, muni!"

From looist of SFist:
"Let me sum up both Muni and Outside Lands in one word: Clusterf*ck.

5 mostly jammed busses in a row (3 had space in the back, typical Muni style) flew by Fulton and Masonic, none stopped. So we walked for a while and were lucky enough to bully our way into a cab.

On the way home there was no way in hell we were getting on a bus. Every bus that passed by was full of miserable sardines.

All of the private town cars/limos and airport shuttle vans caught on but were charging exorbitant rates, $40 for 20 blocks. And they weren't willing to negotiate down.

The show itself is really poorly organized too. Such a disappointment. I hope they get their acts together today and tomorrow. Someone will probably lose their job over this."

From skeletal_lamper of SFist:
"what an absolute fiasco.

my girlfriend and i had planned to go way early at 3 pm and already at this time, buses were not picking up hordes of people at the stops. at least six 5 buses passed us on the corners of mcallister and hyde/larkin and only one was full. there was tons and tons of space on these buses on the back and drivers refused to stop. one bus stopped to drop a passenger off and didnt open the front door.

we walked to market and decided our luck on the 71 and the first one we saw was completely packed so we decided to fuck any of the lines that were supposed to "help outside lands commuters" and get to the 38 geary, which we got on on our first try.

i just read an article that festivals pay muni up to 2000 - 4000 dollars to re-route their buses when they close down streets. and these are miniscule festivals. i can only imagine what the organizers of outside lands paid muni for to get us festival-goers to the park. and they can't even do their fucking job and stop for us when the buses are half-empty.

on the way home, and this might be useful to anyone going back to the financial district or nob hill or inner richmond tonight or tomorrow, we walked back to geary and their were hordes of people waiting for the 38 without much luck. we went to the starting point of the california 1 on geary and 33rd (it faces westbound and turns on 33rd) and were able to get on it right away. however, it did not stop AT ALL for any festival goers on the way even though our bus was NOT FULL at all. what motherfuckers."

From smiley1 of SFgate:
"When Muni said to "expect delays on the N Judah" they weren't kidding. It took me almost 2 hours to get home when it usually takes me 45 min. But hey, I heard the music perfectly from my house."

From Noeist of SFgate:
"Agree with most posters. 2 1/2 hours to get home, and would usually take 45 minutes. No cabs to be found. Got on some "express bus to Civic Center" that just dumped a lot of people in the Haight. Incredible lines. Couldn't see anything at RH - way too big. This is why I don't go to these huge shows. That said, the crowd was very, very laid-back and chill, even when frustratingly waiting for N-Judah and then shoved onto buses 100 at a time headed who knows where. If I had a 3-day ticket, I'd skip the next two days, or leave at least an hour before the end to try to beat the crowds."

From sunsetsaint of SFgate:
"Has anyone blamed Muni yet? Riding the N-Judah during rush hour is, as all locals know, unbearably unpleasant every day. Yesterday it was ridiculous -- you couldn't even board because each street car was jam-packed with people who don't live here. After passing up several of the cattle cars, I finally managed to squeeze in between a bunch of scraggly characters (Was a scuzzy appearance required for festival attendance?). It took me twice as long to get home. Clearly, there was no public transit planning; special buses should have transported the festival-goers so that locals could have just suffered as usual."

From an anonymous poster of Curbed SF:
"Left the show at 9:55pm immediately after Radiohead got off the stage. Swam through hundreds of people, walked to Judah, only to find every N Judah Muni packed to the gills. Ended up walking about 20+ blocks to catch the #6 bus to Civic Center where we caught the last train to Oakland. Got back to the East Bay at about 12:30am due to maintenance on the tracks. I suspect plenty o' people missed the last BART."

From mariesnews of SFgate:
"Before the even getting to the concert. The promoters, muni and the city said to take public transit. There would be lots of extra cars and buses. What happened? The N-Judah broke down at 4th and Irving. There were already six trains there when our train arrived and there was nobody from muni to fix the problem. We ended up walking down Lincoln with hundreds of other people. In the time we walked to the event only two 71's came by and they didn't stop. WHERE were the extra buses. Once again muni lied."

Akit says: Damn, this is just Muni alone...

Now let us look at the event complaints:

From rationalgal of SFist:
"re: chainlink fences again. I thought they had been put up to keep people out, but apparently they had been put up to "funnel" people in and out of venues as well. I saw a report on the local CBS newscast this morning that there was a near stampede when too many people got crammed between the fences, and the fences had to be breached. One attendee said that they had to hop over the fence to avoid being trampled. You're right, looist, poorly organized indeed. Heads should roll. Anyone out there who was there when this happened, who can give us a firsthand account?"

From theRichmond of SFgate:
"I've lived here for over 20 years, and these are the worst folks in Golden Gate Park ever. Screaming in the streets afterwards, throwing shopping carts down the street, running stop signs. And there is absolutely no security to be seen. Hopefully, this event will never be allowed again."

From mastermikeyb of SFgate:
"NOT GREAT. 1st, they were no way prepared for this many people-the lines that people were waiting in starting with WillCall, ID Braclets, Beer/Wine, Food, Bathrooms, anything you may have wanted to do, were HORRENDOUS. To wait for 30-40 minutes to get a drink? Come on... 2nd, this was billed through the media (and JackJohnson) as a 'Leave No Trace' Evnt, but is was nothing of the sort. There was garbage EVERYWHERE. Even the guy who was giving out ID bracelets was just throwing the wrapper that was left after he attached it onto the ground. When I asked him about the fact that this was a LNT, he just shrugged and said that it would be picked up--yeah right! 3rd. The Sound by MEYER SOUND was BAD! During Radiohead alone it went COMPLETELY out 3 x during the show. Radiohead kept playing, but no one could hear a thing. 4th. Overlapping Artists sets is bad enough, but trying to get from one stage to another was silly. I give this a 2 out of 10. They could do MUCH better!"

From mcmunchkin of SFgate:
"The multiple recycling/garbage/composting bins were well planned, but other more important considerations were not. They closed off the entire bank of 30 porta-potties near the Radiohead (main) stage. The line for the normal park bathrooms was over half an hour. The other bank of porta-potties on the Polo green was near the only narrow path to get from the Polo grounds to the Sutro stage. This thing was dangerous. The fence was down, so there was pointy metal the entire way, with people pushing through a narrow 20 foot gap, anxious to get to the next band in time. People were desperate for bathrooms. They were running past the guards through the woods just trying to find a place to pee. Anyone there for Saturday and Sunday should give themselves a lot of bathroom time, because I doubt they fixed both those situations overnight. Radiohead was awesome, except when the sound cut out twice."

From adampasz of SFgate:
"Major disappointment. It tried to be Coachella, but failed. I was looking forward to *seeing* Beck and Radiohead, and I couldn't due to the enormous crowds. Whoever was in charge of scheduling for this thing should be fired. The 1st half of the event was packed with bands, so there was no way to catch most of them; the 2nd half of the night was dedicated just to Radiohead. So you have 50,000+ people all trying to cram into the front of the Polo Fields because there's nothing else to do. There was a tiny video screen that looked about 32x32 pixels in resolution. At $100 this was a rip-off, and I would urge people not to attend if they haven't bought tickets yet. You can just sit outside the concert, in the woods, and get the same experience of hearing but not seeing your favorite bands. I agree with the other posters that the crowd was very mellow, and I didn't see people trashing stuff. I was surprised by all the smokers -- cough."

From manyboymom of SFgate:
"Just drove through GGP at 8 am and the park is trashed! Garbage everywhere. Not sure how they got a permit for the music to be so loud - I love radiohead but that was ridiculous. I think the neighborhood has had enough of these mega events. Leave no trace my a**."

From sluefootsue of SFgate:
"I spoke to the head of Park and Rec yesterday to complain. No environmental impact report was required by the city and the Parks and Rec decided that, even thoug their job is to be guardians of the parks, they would't require one either. Basically, the Parks and Rec are selling a public area to the highest bidder. And why isn't the Chronicle or other media covering the frustration and anger at the poor planning by the concert promoter? This type of greedy dismissiveness endangers the park, its wildlife, and the surrounding neighborhood. Bluegrass in the Park does a wonderful job in contrast. And it's free for the public on public lands!"

From inkandpaint of SFgate:
"This was a fail. Beck's stage was sloped downhill so nobody could see him. the narrow walkway back to the polo fields for radiohead was crammed and people tore down the fences. radiohead was good but the sound cut out. there were lines everywhere. poorly planned. i bought a three day ticket but won't be going back"

From jjups of SFgate:
"This was one of the worst put together shows ever. In comparison to Jazzfest in New Orleans which charges less and offers way more, your $100 got you nothing but headaches. Moving around the grounds was so bad that people had to start ripping down fences to move from one venue to another. I am not going to even begin talking about the lines to get anything."

From JANDEK of SFgate:
"Overall, I give the festival a 2 out of 10 as well. The audio during Radiohead cutting out twice at an event that costs what it does is unacceptable. Luckily for the concert promoters, their performance was a 10, otherwise it would have got a 1 or 0. The overlapping bands playing all over the park was the worst bit of planning, it made it impossible to see multiple bands. The trash everywhere and the ridiculous lines for everything just point to an amateur hour operation. Outlands Festival=Fired"

From jmusick of SFgate:
"Though the crowd did a good job at remaining calm - there were moments that people were on the verge of panic/fights about crushing/trampling. As the crowds left Beck and tried to push towards the front for Radiohead, there were many people at the front that were getting scared and started frantically trying to exit. Don't know what other places do in that situation, but it was by far the closest I've been to crowd-panic because of inability to move anywhere."

From Nezumi of SFgate:
"This was the LOUDEST concert in the Polo Field in over 25 years. I had to turn the volume on my TV up to around 8 (usually on 2) in order to hear anything. Why doesn't the City think about using McLaren Park for large events? Why do all these events have to impact the Richmond and Sunset districts? Spread the love, noise and mess around. Concertgoers, when you are walking back to your cars or to the veritable missing MUNI, please do not shout when talking to the person 18 inches away from you. I heard all of your conversations through double paned glass. Promoter, hire a third-party transportation company. MUNI only makes around 69% of their normally scheduled runs, adding more makes the natives angrier than they already are. FYI, MUNI stands for Maybe U Not Important."

From birdwomansf of SFgate:
"Nezumi-you must be my neighbor. I could not believe the volume. My house felt like it was shaking. Ridiculous. Think of the effect on the poor animals in the park that were freaked out. No to next year. Find somewhere else. No to night time performances. Total disregard for the neighbors, the animals and the environment. This is suppose to be a park."

From rwaring of SFgate:
"For many of the fans, the only way out was to exit the field through the two north and and south narrow tunnels. At the south tunnel, as several thousand people were pushing toward the south tunnel, many in the crowd talked about the risk of a stampede. This situation was insane and was poorly planned. Finally, the crowd knocked down some fences and streamed over the hill. A nest of bees then began to swarm and scores of fans were stung. Because of fences around where the bees were, there was no way around the swarm. My wife got stung twice. This all would have been avoided if the crowd had more exits without bottlenecks."

From jfm of SFgate:
"Outside Lands was a disaster, salvaged only by the greatness of Radiohead. Note that all complaints about the lines, the crowds, the poor planning get nearly all thumbs up. I GUARANTEE there was AT LEAST 80,000 people in there - in violation of their permit. The promoters must have decided the (understandably) weak sales for Sat and Sun (portending a money losing FAILURE) could be buttressed by OVERSELLING Friday. Ridiculous. Half the crowd we had would have been bearable. It should be about perfect Sat and Sunday, where weaker lineups will draw smaller crowds."

From thenisaid of SFgate:
"I stood in line during Beck's whole show to get a beer. That didn't matter, though, because you couldn't see him- no screens and someone placed a large white tent in a terrible spot. There were way too many people, definitely not worth $85. And leaving the event was impossible; ended up having to walk from 25th ave all the way to Haight and Masonic. Radiohead was great but that's about it."

From sftroybob of SFgate:
"Don't be surprised if this turns out to be one of those shows where people are killed by being crushed in the crowd. Despite that lesson being learned time and again, the organizers here are doing no kind of crowd control, and they're leaving the main act for one stage at the end of the night, with the audience areas not divided up and with nobody else playing at the same time, pretty much guaranteeing that there is going to be a crush of people from the very back that is going to hit the front in waves."

From hennessymade of SFgate:
"This festival was a disappointment. The scheduling was bad, the park was completely over-crowded, and the amount of people peeing all over the park (due to lack of restrooms) was disgusting. I feel sorry for the people who have to clean up after this disaster. The bands I saw were fantastic, but getting anywhere near the stage was impossible. I'm not paying for this next year."

From jcfinsf of SFgate:
"The music was terrific (save the inexcusable dropped sound during Radiohead), and everyone seemed up for having a good time. A bit on the cool side, too, but hey, it's August and the fog looked cool under the lights. But, come on, it's fair to admit that the organizers were in way, way over their heads last night. The lines were awful and the planning for moving hordes of people about insane. The path between the Polo Field and Sutro stage area was about twenty yards wide. Of course, in the middle of that path, too, was the largest collection of bathrooms. And then you had tens of thousands trying to get through that confined area with just ten minutes between Beck and Radiohead at different stages. Why? I overheard a few of the medics talking that there could be a first-class emergency there if luck wasn't on their side. Luck was: people just knocked over the fencing and hiked it every which way. And security? It needed to be doubled. I'd say this event has little chance of an encore"

From briansabeans of SFgate:
"As someone who lives on 25th and Irving, this thing sucked. No I didn't care about the noise -- I had no problem with being able to hear free Radiohead while sitting at home. No, my problem was the ridiculous crowds. You simply could not get around the neighborhood whatsoever. Parking was impossible. Utter scuzzbuckets were everywhere...or were they? Actual genuine trash wouldn't have been able to afford these tickets, so it was probably just a bunch of rich Marin kids dressed like bums and acting like criminals. I have no problem if they do this again so long as they figure out a way to keep the streets unclogged. The Sunset is simply not built to accomodate this kind of crowd."

From southbaygurl of SFgate:
"I hope the organizers read these comments. I went for Radiohead and Beck, couldn't see a thing! Beck had no screens and the screens at Radiohead were ridiculously small. The lines for IDs were stupid long (skipped them all together) and the lines for the porta potties were long, and they were nasty. Getting in and out of the park on public transport was a mess. We walked for an hour and 1/2 after the show before being able to get transport. There was no directional signage in or around the festival. So glad I didn't buy a 3-day ticket. And they'd have to have a huge headliner like Radiohead for me to consider going back next year. Someone should talk to the organizers of Coachella. It's a much larger festival (more talent, more attendees) and runs like a well-oiled machine (with clean porta potties). Sad, but maybe GG park just can't handle this sort of event."

From catalystgrrl of SFgate:
"It was truly crap. The sound went out 3 times in the middle of Radiohead's set. The crowd was aggro. Garbage everywhere. Whoever planned the event had absolutely zero forethought. After an hour's wait in line at the ATM (which one of five worked occasionally) and then an hour's wait for a beer, I was kindly told I needed to wait in the hour long line for an ID bracelet, only to get back in the hour long line for a beer, miss the entire Beck show because it was all the way across the park on the other side, through which 60,000 people were expected to pass through an unreasonable thoroughfare... Really awful. I'll never go again. To anything. Ever. [okay I'll totally be at hardly strictly bluegrass ( ;]"

From fingafing of SFgate:
"I could hear this last night & I live over 1 mile away from the Park. The entire area is one big garbage dump - who is paying for the cleanup, taxpayers or the promoter?"

From sfhinsf of SFgate:
"I live TWELVE blocks from the stage. It's clear that no one realizes that this area of the park is a bowl and like a natural loudspeaker -- much more so when it's FOGGY. is HIGH in my house with windows close. I like music and I like a lot of these bands -- but imagine THREE days (sound checks started at 1 p.m. on Friday) of this from 1 p.m.l to 10 p.m.? Plus I have to park in my driveway for 3 days -- or odds are someone will block me in. Ending at 10 p.m. means people drunk loud on street until midnight -and we're in quiet neighborhoods. Plus, I run in the pk everyday -- fences us everywhere since Weds. & will be till end of Mon. We already to Bay to Breakers, the Marathon, Hardly Strictly and many other events that are a lot of hassle in this hood. How come Hardly Strictly has to stop at 8 p.m., but these guys don't? They're right, the City doesn't care about Park or residents -- it's just TOTAL GREED -- and NO parking. I chose to buy in a quiet 'hood -- not next to PacBell Park!"

Another from sfhinsf of SFgate:
"I run in the Park about 5 days a week...past Lloyld Lake, through Speedway, 2 or 3 times around Polo Field. You have NO IDEA the destruction that these shows do. It's a nightmare -- esp. the HUGE HEAVY trucks that drive over grass and trails and leave DEEP ruts that are still there in rainy season...when the ground turns into concrete...so we end up with ridege 4 & 5" high to run over. Ruin the lawns. Golden Gate Park is one of San Francisco's greatest treasures, but because it's "way out there" on the West Side, no one gives a damn. Hello! It's the backyard for an awful lot of people -- and I'm not sure you'd like to see your backyard trashed 5 or 6 times a year Yeah, I want the Park to be used -- and I like concerts here. But one of this size, with this many acts, attacting this many people and three days long is NOT appropriate. Hardly Strictly is mostly acoustic and attracts a very different crowd."

From dumbnative of SFgate:
"it is evident that the park and reck is no better then the bus at city hall. They sell their mothers soul to the devil. I wonder what sombody got out of this? To close off that much of the park for more then three days and disrupt two residential neighborhood with traffic and noise it's not except able. Evedently the two stupervisors of the distric age sent to the park dont give a hoot about their constituents. They probably got a nice campaing contribution."

From bigthings of SFgate:
"I was attacked by a swarm of angry bees on my way out! I was stung three times. Talk about a buzz kill!"

From hawky of SFgate:
"Expect more of this type of park use from Rec & Park (Wreck the Park) They'll sell their soul to earn a few bucks and pimp out our beautiful park like a cheap whore. Pity the gardeners who will try to heal this damage to the landscape. Oh, and Chron: ask the beat gardeners about the massive damage the set-up did to the park's irrigation system. At least at the free shows there is no need for fences so no metal fence poles driven through the water lines. Will the bond put forth by the concert company even cover all the damage done? Just ask Yomi, he's a numbers man."

From luvfothaset of SFgate:
"It's a blessing no one got hurt. I was in the middle of the crowd at WOMAD when Beastie Boys came to GG Park. They had two stages that were next to each other, but fans still rush from to the other. That is when it gets ugly and people start getting crushed and panicking. Needless to say it got ugly and I literally feared for my life. I was about 5 seconds away from climbing over people. Luckily people started shouting 'Walk away!! Walk Away!!' and the crowd started to de-compact. But with this many people it is like an ocean of energy with currents and swells. Just don't get caught in a tide pool. I hate crowds now and try to avoid these types of venues where you need binoculars. I can still remember girls screaming and being trapped."

From bobsicle of SFgate:
"I'm at Geary and 25th avenue, INSIDE an apartment, and I can hear the sound. I had sort of forgotten about the festival, so I actually thought my upstairs neighbor was playing his stereo loud, which struck me as odd because he is so quiet. Only when I went outside and still heard the noise did I remember, oh, right... that festival. Fortunately, I didn't move my car. As usual, the bridge and tunnel crowd invade like a horde of Mongols, parking illegal everywhere."

From bigbite of SFgate:
"None of these bands are worth the ticket price,they should call it the RIP OFF FESTIVAL."

From AmericanMark of SFgate:
""Environmental" groups sponsoring the trashing of the park? Ridiculous. But these groups are just a business, like any other. The dollar is their bottom line."

From mailbean of SFgate:
"Some neighbors were none too happy"? Somehow I think that's a serious understatement. I live somewhere around half a mile from this thing, and yet I can still hear it. It's on the other side of the park, and yet hundreds of kids are still crowding my streets, hanging around, loitering, doing who knows what. This area is usually fairly quiet: home to a large number of seniors, working people, and young children. This ridiculous event has made a outlaying residential area look like a busy downtown area and feel like the middle of a riot zone."

From bobsicle of SFgate:
"rdframe -- "it is only a three day festival. Any damage done was minor compared to the revenue (MILLIONS) brought in by the event both from the organizers and from the associated tourist." Exactly WHAT revenue are you talking about? The promoters made their money and the bands got paid. What's left over? The tourists spent nothing that wasn't on the event itself. So what money are you talking about? As is typical for these events, the amount the city collects isn't enough even for the cleanup."

From therichmond of SFgate:
"The park is trashed. There are people screaming and fighting in the streets up here as this even lets out, and then they are trashing the houses. The public services are over taxed - no buses, police or even taxis for us locals. I doubt if the City will be able to cover its expenses. And worst of all, no one is spending money at the businesses. The regulars are staying away from the restaurants because of the crowds and no one from the event is replacing them. GOOD JOB!"

OK now, let's sum this whole crap hole up. Muni was totally unreliable with packed vehicles, scams happening with those luxury cars and airport vans charging an arm and leg for only 20 blocks worth of driving, cab drivers refusing to pick-up people in the event area, huge lines so that you can get your $7 beer, near stampedes, broken down fences, and over capacity crowds.

HEY GREG PERLOFF AND ANOTHER PLANET ENTERTAINMENT (WHO CREATED THIS PIECE OF CRAP FESTIVAL), NEVER COME BACK... EVER! THE RICHMOND, SUNSET, AND PANHANDLE DISTRICTS WILL DEMAND A PUBLIC HEARING AND YOU WILL PAY (not with money, but pure embarrassment).

Response from SF Giants - The Sippy Cups poor performance

Here's the reply from Giants Guest Services about my comments on The Sippy Cups' REALLY BAD performance at a recent San Francisco Giants baseball game I attended:

RE: sf - Other - AT&T Park Questions -Poor Reaction towards "Sippy Cups" on 4/7 game

Thank you for writing and sharing your thoughts with us. I don't believe that the Sippy Cups will be making another appearance.

Best Regards,
Giants Guest Services

-----Original Message-----
From: NOSPAM@NOSPAM.org
Sent: Sat 4/7/2007 11:04 PM
To: Customer Service
Subject: sf - Other - AT&T Park Questions -Poor Reaction towards "Sippy Cups" on 4/7 game

Hello, I wanted to comment that the Sippy Cups has to be one of the poorest and worst performances I've ever seen at this ballpark. I am also embarrassed of their very poor rendition of our National Anthem. I do not want to sound too negative, but I was also one of the thousands of booing attendees that gave them a boo when they were introduced for the 7th inning stretch. I hope that this park's management consider that the negative fan reaction should be a consideration to blacklisting them from ever performing here ever again. On a lighter note, kudos to the field club concession area for NOT playing their music during the pre-game over the PA system.

KRON 4 - A Nightmare on TV

Let's start with a hot iron and burn some folks...

KRON 4 NEWS SUCKS!
I HATE KRON4 (a.k.a. KRON channel 4 in San Francisco). Why? First of all, their news broadcasts suck big time ever since they lost their NBC affiliation and KNTV snatched it away.

(Yep, KNTV sucks too because they did not give free bunny ear (over the air) broadcasting for at least two years to a majority of San Francisco and the North Bay, just a great way to get Comcast to yank $20 a month just so us idiots can watch ER). Ha-ha, Terilyn Joe got fired for (allegedly) throwing tomatoes and veggies at a guy on a ladder trimming a tree.

So why does KRON's news broadcasts suck? Here's one thing, they use VJ's, their cheap method of getting the news and broadcasting it. They don't have two man crews out there, one person filming and editing while the other speaking in the mic. They now have a one man crew that does all the taping, voice over, typing, and editing. PLUS, THE QUALITY SUCKS! I always wondered why Vic Lee jumped ship while the rats were fleeing and went to KGO/ABC 7 news.

Here's another reason why I hate KRON news broadcasts, they don't use SPELL CHECK! One VJ did a news story about the three year anniversary of when San Francisco's City Hall granted licenses to gay and lesbian couples. He then puts a quotation of text on the screen and misspells the word: "because" and the screen says "becaus." Um, WHERE IS THE "E?"

I'm a graduate school student, do you really expect me to not spell correctly and pass with flying colors?

Here's one for that DUMMY ROB BLACK. You SUCK! I WANT TO WATCH THE 4PM NEWS, NOT YOUR LOUSY ADVICE ON HOW TO GET RICH FOR 25 TORTUROUS MINUTES. Hell, your guests on your stupid program have better advice than your stupid B.S. Can Rob Black do the weather and sports update? I think not! I would not mind doing a crank call on his show!

Here's another: who their right mind watches those "My network TV" programs? Like I want to watch some stupid program called "Watch Over Me." Watch over this! Me taking a nap on my bed.

Hail to Gary Radnich! Good for you to walk off the set during a live broadcast, especially when learning that KRON's ratings is in the toilet.

BRING BACK BAY-TV'S TAKE ISSUE on KRON! That was a great call-in show with major politicians, celebrities, and others talking about the important local issues that affect us every day. I called in several times for some very important issues. Did you know that Bay-TV was the local cable channel for KRON?

Also, where's Wendy Tokuda? Let's bring her back to KPIX and bring back good ol' Dave!


Let's summarize my rants:
Local San Francisco news broadcasts, from best to worst:
KTVU (the best)
KPIX
KGO
KNTV
KRON (dead last)

Radnich rules, I want my Take Issue, and Send Wendy to KPIX!