My Opinion about Outside Lands - Not So Bad After All

There's been a mixed reaction about Outside Lands and while my blog used to be the hotbed of controversy when the event had its first year, The Richmond District Blog of San Francisco got over 170 comments, and it was pretty heated.

There's a handful that says, it was fine, others argued it wasn't fun because the noise was so bad. Even one of my friends who lives in University Park North (a.k.a. Stonestown Apartments) could hear the bass, and that's a far distance away from the park.

The Sound
As for me, life wasn't so bad in the Outer Richmond. Last year, I could hear some of the bass rumbling my walls and my ears, but this year, I didn't hear anything. That's a little odd, or maybe it's because the stage and speakers on the Polo Fields was facing east instead of west. I did notice some sound when I was on Geary and 19th walking around having some Joe's ice cream, but I surely didn't hear any music when I was inside earlier having curry at Volcano.

Traffic
Traffic wasn't that bad to go north and south. There was some rumor mill that Great Highway was closed all weekend, but that wasn't true at all.

I took my car on Friday and traveled along Great Highway in the morning without any difficulties. Going back around 6PM was a little troubling with heavy traffic between Lincoln and Fulton, but this was normal traffic people would expect on a weekend during a gorgeous day (those who wants to enjoy a day at the beach).

On Saturday, I decided to go out for an evening at the movies. Things went quite smoothly because I left my house at about 8PM and returned around 11:15PM encountering no traffic; only just a few stragglers walking around for a bus stop.

Muni
I'd have to say that Muni was my only major complaint for this entire event. I took the 38L inbound with no difficulties to reach Japantown for the Nihonmachi Street Fair.

Going back was a total hellhole. I just missed the 38L and looked at the Nextbus sign for the next vehicle. It said the next limited bus would be nearly 25 minutes. I waited and waited while four 38 local buses passed by, each one packed to the maximum capacity. I finally hopped onto a limited bus for a horrendous bus ride to Arguello to stop at the bank. I then had to wait for the next limited... the next one was packed, and so was the next few local buses. Muni had a bunch of out of service 60 foot articulated buses just buzzing by, and finally had to force my way on the next limited bus just so I could get home.

I knew most of the passengers on the bus was Outside Landers because they wore a green wristband, and a huge wad of them got off at 25th and 33rd Avenues.

I'm curious of why they took the Geary lines. More direct service is provided by the N-Judah, 71-Height Noriega, and 5-Fulton. I knew Outside Lands rented the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, but it looks like a lot of people went cheap and didn't opt for the express shuttle service. What's strange is the Geary lines are much further away from the Civic Auditorium at Civic Center than the other lines people can take that goes closest to the site in Golden Gate Park.

What did you think of Outside Lands? Leave a comment.

Lastly, regarding the photo, I couldn't find anything amusing to use, so I used a Muni training bus accident photo.

Half of Ocean Beach Parking Lot Closed for Outside Lands - Only One Vehicle Used Lot

It's Outside Lands time again, and for us folk of the Outer Richmond and Sunset districts, we're at war.

Let's face it, there's another year on their agreement with the city to host this monstrosity, so let's get our ear plugs or run to some other festival like this weekend's Nihonmachi Street Fair in Japantown.

What Parking?
Yesterday, I commuted via the Great Highway to and from my job at SF State, and I noticed something, half of the Ocean Beach parking lot was blocked-off, which meant about a good hundred or two cars can't use that part of the parking lot.

I knew that last year, I called the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) and they had to contact the city to find out who blocked-off a large section of the parking lot. They called me back and told me it was for Outside Lands.

And for the last couple of times they've blocked the parking lot, the blocked-off portion was BARELY USED.

Just yesterday afternoon on my drive back home, there was only one vehicle parked in that huge section, a big rig truck. That's it. Just one big truck. There wasn't any security, nor signage indicating the reason why such a huge portion of a public parking lot was shut down. Here's a snapshot of the truck and the huge empty lot:

Closing off a huge section, especially on the weekend is not a great idea. Surfers park there, beachgoers with family parks there, and it's used as an overflow lot for the Beach Chalet. If Outside Lands has no purpose of blocking off a huge portion of a parking lot, open it up for the public and shut it down when you truly need the space.

What's the Hurry on the Upper Great Highway?

The Upper Great Highway, a place where driving is easy, gets closed on occasion due to flooding and sand from the beach piling up on the road, and very little traffic to fight over. It's been my normal route when I have to drive to work because driving on Sunset can be a little stressful, especially worrying about pedestrian right-of-way and traffic cops waiting to nab you.

Just today on my regular drive on Upper Great Highway going southbound, I was driving along and noticed a car pass me on my right going 45, and the one behind me deciding to tailgate me, get upset, and pass me too (I was driving the 35 MPH speed limit). The first car that passed me also decided to cut-off other cars so it could be in front of the convoy (I'll explain about the convoy in a moment), but because of the driver's speeding, had to slam his/her brakes upon reaching the red light.

In other instances when I drive on that stretch of road, especially in the evenings, I find a lot of arrogant drivers who feels it's absolutely A-OK to run all the red lights and speed the hell out of the stretch.

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My dad told me a long time ago, the Upper Great Highway never had signals, and that became a hot spot for drivers to drag race their cars. But once the signals was installed, things changed.

These days, the traffic signals are all timed so drivers who drive about 33-35 MPH gets green lights with no need to hit the brake, those who go slower may eventually get a red light, while others who drives too fast will eventually have to hit their brake to stop at a red light and wait for a moment to turn green.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of people who just feels the need to speed; what's your damn hurry? For those who wants to drive super fast and cut cars off, they will eventually get caught with a red light. Those who wants to be the leader of the convoy (cars driving within the signal cycle) also realizes that speeding means using their brakes more often for red lights, while other cars who are in the other lane driving the speed limit zooms by because they can time the signals just by driving a certain speed, or if going a little fast before the signal turns green, can just adjust their speed very slightly and won't need to hit the brake at the next signal.

There are days when I wish the police was keeping a better eye on that stretch of road. The worst drivers decides to break all the rules by speeding and blowing through red lights. Others decide to stop at a red light and just proceed through while it's still red. I've only seen a couple of occasions when police officers pulled over a driver for running the red, including once instance where I was in the left lane and in the right was a red light runner that blew a signal while a US Park Police officer's patrol car was right behind the driver (that driver definitely got nabbed!).

Even if cops can't patrol the stretch, it would be nice if the city could re-install the missing 35 MPH speed limit signs to remind drivers that going 45 is unacceptable.

Car Crash at Great Highway & Lincoln - Akit Warned SFPD 2 Hours Earlier of Signal Problems

I am not impressed with the slow response of SFPD and the irresponsibility from the city government on the handling of Upper Great Highway.

Loyal readers of my blog knows I write about Upper Great Highway and when the stretch of roads closes due to flooding or too much sand on the road. When the city government or the police closes a road, they are responsible for switching the signals at Lincoln (Southbound closure) and/or Sloat (Northbound closure) to four-way stop. When the city FAILS to do it, I call 311, DPT signals, or SFPD dispatch to warn them the signals are operating normally (red-yellow-green cycle). Read this story to understand why failing to switch the signals to 4-way stop can be a problem.

What happened today?
Southbound Upper Great Highway was closed today at Lincoln due to the rains from last night. How do I know it was closed today? I drove northbound at about 11:15PM last night after the Giants game, and southbound traffic was flowing normally.

At 3PM, I drove my car along Great Highway to enter the "Upper" stretch at Lincoln, but I noticed the metal barricades indicating a closure, and the signals was not operating on 4-way stop.

I had no choice but to turn left and drive along the "Lower" Great Highway, which is the alternate parallel street when the road was closed. I pulled my car over and called SFPD at 3:07PM (see proof below).

I told the dispatcher about the road closure and the signals not switched to 4-way stop. I also told the dispatcher that there is a very high chance a car may collide with another vehicle because some drivers turn left on the red arrow, and risks getting t-boned with northbound traffic. I also warned the dispatcher that without the 4-way stop, four lanes of traffic southbound must turn left into just two open lanes; local residents know that when there's a 4-way stop at the intersection, all drivers merge into the left turn lanes and follows the 4-way stop rules.

THE ACCIDENT
At 5:30PM, I was on northbound Upper Great Highway and noticed police cars and a fire truck at Lincoln. There was a collision of two cars, a grey luxury car's front bumper was smashed into a blue compact car's rear right corner. I had to go around the scene and was able to take a photograph of it:

Akit is Very Unhappy
I WARNED SFPD two hours ago about the potential risk of an accident where two cars will collide due to the road closure of SB Upper Great Highway at Lincoln AND the failure to switch the signals to 4-way red.

There is blame to share, one of the two drivers did not follow the signal or someone ran the red light.

Also, SFPD, DPT signals, and any other city agency is to blame for FAILURE to switch the signals to four-way red/stop. I have called 311, DPT, and SFPD dispatch numerous times throughout the years of the failure to switch the signals when the road is closed. Sometimes they do it, many times NO.

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This is a WARNING to the city government, DO YOUR JOBS and make sure to switch the signals to 4-way stop whenever you shut-down Upper Great Highway at the cross-street of Lincoln.

Someone could have been KILLED or seriously injured if the accident was much worse.

UPDATE: Someone fixed the signal to 4-way stop sometime after the accident. I noticed it from the top of a hill at about 9PM.

Reckless Driving at Ocean Beach Parking Lot

When I have to drive my car to work, I normally drive downhill going past the historic Cliff House and along Great Highway (southbound), and always pass by the large parking lots for the people wanting to enjoy the beach. The segment I am talking about today is the Ocean Beach/Great Highway parking lot nearest to Balboa & Great Highway.

One of the issues I regularly see is when drivers decide to skip the stop sign at Balboa by taking the turn-off before Balboa to enter the parking lot, drive straight through at full speed (speed limit on Great Highway is 35) and take the parking lot exit that continues along southbound Great Highway (basically, taking an illegal shortcut).

If you remember your driver's education, driving in a parking lot is limited to 10 MPH (please correct me if I'm wrong) and that's because of many people walking around the lot loading and unloading their cars, and the risk of vehicles slowly backing out of their space.

By speeding in a parking lot, and using it as a shortcut to avoid skipping the stop sign at Balboa, it could be considered reckless driving as defined by the California Vehicle code, section 23103(b):

"(b) A person who drives a vehicle in an offstreet parking facility, as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 12500, in willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property is guilty of reckless driving."

Something needs to be done to stop people from taking this shortcut, and the possible risk of a person getting hit and killed or getting into a car wreck. Since the lot seriously needs new parking stall stripes, can they also install some speed bumps?

To make it visually understanding of what I'm talking about, I've used Google's street view to help me out:

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This is the entrance to the parking lot if a driver is going southbound and just recently passed the Cliff House. I see drivers decide to cut through the parking lot at this point to avoid the stop sign at Balboa (below).


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This is the stop sign location at Balboa & Great Highway. Since there is nothing ordering drivers to stop if they drive in the parking lot, they just go full speed just to save themselves a few seconds.


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The blue car in the middle is yielding to approaching traffic. Many who decide to shortcut just bolts right through if there's light traffic and gets away with it.

Upper Great Highway Closed - No Reason Why from City Officials

UPDATE: SF Appeal reports it was pranksters who shut-down southbound Upper Great Highway. Thanks Eve! Hopefully, the city will confiscate the cones so nobody can pull this stunt again.

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(Original posting)

If you commute on Upper Great Highway, you know the road can be closed for issues such as sand on the road due to high winds or a bad rainstorm flooding the intersections. More often, southbound between Lincoln and Sloat gets frequently shut-down because they are next to the beach, while northbound is closed less frequently because of the protection of the beach plants that keeps the sand off the roads.

The general rules the city follows during a closure in either direction is to lock the metal barricades that prevents vehicles from entering the road, and switch the signals at either Sloat (northbound) or Lincoln (southbound) to 4-way stop so drivers can turn away from the closure safely and use Lower Great Highway.

This morning, southbound Upper Great Highway was closed at Lincoln, but it's a little bit odd. The metal barricades was in the open position, and there was only a bunch of traffic cones blocking the entrance to the stretch. Also, the signal was still running on red-yellow-green cycle when it was supposed to be operating in 4-way stop. The signal problem alone forced four lanes of traffic to turn left into two lanes and raises the risk of a collision.

I called 311 this morning to find out information, and the lady on the phone could not find any information about why the road was shut-down. I soon after called the Taraval SFPD station to find out if they knew anything, and they are usually told by the city if that stretch of road is ever closed. The nice sergeant informed me an officer is going to take a look into what's going on.

After this little fiasco, there is only two reasons why this road closure happened with all the oddities:

1. A prankster thought it was funny to shut down a major road.
2. Incompetent city officials failing to lock the metal barriers, switch the signals to 4-way stop, and failure to inform the police.

Thanks for making me arrive late to my destination. Grumble...

Will the City Ever Reopen Great Highway Southbound from Sloat to Skyline?

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It's been nearly six months since the southbound stretch of Great Highway between Sloat Boulevard and Skyline Boulevard has been shut-down due to massive erosion of the shoreline from the winter storms (SF Gate & KPIX).

The articles stated the roads may re-open during the "Summer" and now it is the Summer months and the stretch of road has not been reopened to traffic. Even more odd is for the past couple of months, I have not seen a construction crew working on the closed stretch. It makes me wonder, when will the city ever reopen the road?

Since the city shut-down the southbound stretch, drivers who need to reach Skyline must turn left from Upper Great Highway to eastbound Sloat, and turn right onto southbound Skyline. Since the closure, drivers have been driving like aggressive maniacs (Vietnam flashbacks?) on eastbound Sloat:

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1. Just today, I saw a driver pass me on the left lane at 45 MPH when the speed limit is 35 MPH (as stated in the city's transportation code, section 702, subsection "B," bulletpoint #32).
2. The same driver (above) and many other drivers aggressively cut their way into the right lane. Eastbound Sloat from Great Highway to Skyline has three lanes; the right lane is dedicated to the turn-off to Skyline while the middle and left lanes continue eastbound on Sloat after Skyline. The driver I witnessed today was in the far left lane, and sharply cut into two lanes of traffic while failing to signal.
3. I fear the safety of pedestrians who cross the street on Sloat. I stop for them as per "right of way" laws, but the additional traffic and speeding has contributed to those refusing to stop.
   
4. Due to the long-term closure of Great Highway, the city painted a white stripe so both lanes of Great Highway can safely turn left onto Sloat, thus preventing sideswipes and collisions by the far left lane illegally veering into the right lane of Sloat. It turns out I continue to witness near collisions and blatant disregard of the white stripe by left lane idiots who feel its OK to simply go past the white line so they get into the right lane first.

Get the Great Highway reopened. It's a matter of time until someone gets hit and killed on Sloat.

Bad San Francisco DPW... Go to Time Out!

Since yesterday afternoon, the city closed down Upper Great Highway in both directions from Lincoln to Sloat. While I haven't heard any reasons why, it's likely due to the heavy winds from Sunday and Monday that caused the beach sand to pile up on the roadway. At this time, both directions are still shut down and most are taking Lower Great Highway.

As usual procedure, if DPW must shut down either direction (or both) of the Upper Great Highway portion, the city must always put Lincoln and Sloat on 4-way stop. They do this so drivers become aware of the steel barricades closing-off the road.

When the city fails to do their job and keeps the intersection signals on a three color cycle, it puts drivers at higher risk for collisions and cars making the left turn going west on Lincoln to go south on Upper Great Highway won't notice the barricade until it is too late (a huge blind spot).

I've warned the city multiple times of the dangers of not switching to 4-way stop when that road is closed, and it happened again. When it was closed yesterday afternoon, I called the DPT hotline and the call was forwarded to "public safety" where I informed the lady why I was calling and expected someone to fix it as soon as they can.

When I arrived at Great Highway & Lincoln at 8AM today, the signals were still running on three colors and many cars were running the red light to make the turn. I called DPT again and got someone from the signal shop to explain the issue. Even then, the guy didn't even believe me that both directions of Upper Great Highway was shut down and he said that DPW is responsible for fixing the signals in the event the road must be closed.

For the love of god, I've had to tell the city over a dozen times in just a year about this exact problem. This city government is an insult and there are no excuses for continuously screwing up.

Sunday's Marathon Signage on Upper Great Highway makes NO SENSE to Drivers

The Upper Great Highway in San Francisco is one of my favorite roads to drive on. There's never any traffic jams, never too many cars going bumper to bumper (unlike 19th Avenue and Sunset Boulevard) and the signals are always synchronized so you can drive a smooth 32 MPH without stopping.

So this Sunday, the Kaiser Half Marathon will be happening in the morning hours until about 12 noon. The SFMTA says the event will close northbound Great Highway including the "upper" portion from Sloat to Lincoln and the [regular] Great Highway portion from Lincoln to Fulton. (See race route map)

The city also placed signage on southbound Great Highway to tell drivers it is OK to drive southbound, but drivers will be unable to turn left on Fulton and Sloat due to the marathon routes.

Well... here's the problem. The city says no left turn on Sloat from Upper Great Highway during the marathon, but for the past few weeks, all drivers going south on Great Highway are FORCED to TURN LEFT onto Sloat because of the massive shoreline erosion happening on Great Highway between Sloat and Skyline.

That doesn't make any real sense. So I can drive southbound on Upper Great Highway during the marathon, but I can't turn left on Sloat, nor can I continue driving south towards Skyline due to the road closure? Our city government officials are a total bunch of idiots for forgetting the beach erosion road closure.

If the city was to really not allow people to make left turns onto Sloat, the city would then have to close southbound Great Highway all the way from Fulton to Sloat during the marathon, making the road literally useless.


Who else but to ask the experts? (Uh-huh)
I asked 311 on Twitter, and they are not the smartest bunch of city employees who can provide answers. Take a look at the conversation: My initial question, their response, my feedback, and their lazy response.

In response to their total stupidity and basically telling me to f-off, they gave me the number to the Taraval police station. I gave them a ring and the officer on the phone was really a cool guy. I explained to him the entire situation and he totally understood that the signage is totally wrong. He asked his fellow officers if they knew about this and who installed the signs; he told me it was not them. He told me to call the DPW.

Screw it, I'm not making any more phone calls or tweets. F.U. DPW and SFMTA. Use your pea brains once in a while. At least the city's intellectuals (like myself) and the police are smart enough to understand when something stupid is happening.

Tour of California - Closing roads TOO EARLY?

It's a wet day on my commute this morning from my home in the Outer Richmond district to SF State University. Although it is a major holiday for the governments, it is not for this university (it's a long story).

So I left my home at about 7:45AM and I always take my normal route that goes along the Great Highway (via Pt. Lobos (Cliff House)) and the police and DPT shut down the road for the "Tour of California" bike race. See my 'normal' route below:


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If you have been watching the morning news or reading the Chronicle, everyone knows that the bike race won't even enter the city limits by 8:45AM, which asks the question, why did the city shut down so early?

I called San Francisco "311" and asked. The guy on the phone said that based on their permits, the bike race folks requested a shut-down at 7AM. REALLY? 7AM? What is the purpose of shutting down a major North/South thoroughfare at that early in the morning? The 311 staff member REFUSED to note down my comments/complaints of the early shut-down.

Where is the common sense of both the event organizers and the city for closing the road that early in the morning? They knew that the bike riders won't even leave Sausalito until 8:30AM, so why spend 90 minutes shutting down a major corridor?

People like me still have to commute to work and we are forced to take a completely different route, which involves driving through flooded sections of Golden Gate Park and taking Sunset Blvd. See the route I took below:


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And just to show just how ticked-off I am this morning, here's a statement from the Department of Parking and Traffic:

The Tour will be in San Francisco beginning at approximately 8:40 AM and be at Hwy 35 by 9:15 AM.

The route will take riders off of the Golden Gate Bridge onto Lincoln Boulevard to El Camino del Mar into Lincoln Park onto Legion of Honor of Drive and leaving the Park onto Clement to Seal Rock Drive and out to Pt. Lobos Avenue and The Great Hwy.

Between 8:30 AM and 9:15 AM, traffic will be detoured or delayed in the area as the bicycle riders and associated vehicles pass by. Local access will be allowed for residents in the area with some delays expected.

WAIT A SECOND. The city just clearly said in writing, 8:30AM is the closure of roads and the use of detours. SO WHY DID THEY SHUT DOWN AT 7AM? Why did they mess-up my commute? The city gets another frowny face sticker.

I wonder how many people of Daly City and Pacifica at Highway 35 (Skyline Blvd.) got their commute screwed-up as well when the race won't even enter their area for a while.