Although it's money and politics fueling Muni's labor dispute, we're going to gloss over those subjects for a minute and talk about what's really on your mind right now: how the hell are you going to get home tonight?
You don't want to be stuck in the misery you were in this morning when some 200 Muni workers called in "sick", leaving commuters stranded citywide. Cable cars were shut down and buses were running way off schedule, with commuters waiting up to 70-plus minutes for a bus.
We're hearing this "sickout" might last another few days -- and apparently, Muni's leaders are hearing the same thing. The transit agency fired off some necessary bus information and tips on how to survive the commute home this evening -- and beyond.
Here goes:
Rescue crews are searching for at least one person off the Marin County coast after a sailboat sank Monday morning. As of this afternoon, no body had been recovered, according to Lt. Sean Kelly of the Coast Guard.
Supervisor London Breed has told SF Weekly that $2 million in city funds and a shade under $500,000 in federal money have been freed up to repair 172 dilapidated public housing units -- and begin moving in homeless families.
"The city never invests money into public housing because the feds do. But this is a better way to get 172 families housed," Breed says. "What better way to invest this kind of money than to get these families out of shelters and into this housing?"
The thing about the "disruption" economy is that it isn't. The tech companies that move fast don't really break things as much as they improve on an existing model (or profit by bypassing an existing model's regulations).
The tech industry has responded to the Drug War the same way it's dealt with taxi and hotel service: by letting it be.
All marijuana legalization needed to become a reality in California this year was money -- $2 million would have done the trick. Some tech billionaires ponied up a few hundred thousand dollars that went toward the 2010 failed legalization measure, Prop. 19. But this time around, with better polling and a much better shot to, you know, do something, Silicon Valley was silent.
High-decibel left-wing radical labor activist Steve Zeltser is a ubiquitous presence during public comment at government meetings, early morning weekend gatherings of fellow left-wing radical labor activists, or anywhere labor strife and placard-waving converges.
The ubiquitous activist's ubiquitous message? Tax the billionaires, tax the developers, tax the bankers, and nationalize the banks.
Whether one agrees with that message or not, it's an easy one to tune out when it comes so readily, so predictably, and so often -- even when it's shouted into one's ear from a mere meter away. But, today, the city is ensnarled in a massive public transit SNAFU courtesy of a "sickout" orchestrated by Muni drivers, disgruntled over contentious labor negotiations. Muni management is reporting that some two-thirds of its scheduled runs were not made today due to a sudden and massive outbreak of Muni Monday Malaise.
Packed buses resemble transports out of Saigon. Seventy-minute or more waiting times are par for the course. Proud non-car-owning San Francisco types are cursing themselves and summoning Uber.
So, when Zeltser called for an afternoon press conference today, people showed up. And, this time, they listened. His solution:
Update: SFPD says they have detained the man involved.
San Francisco police have descended upon the Bayview where an armed robbery suspect has barricaded himself inside a building.
The story is unfolding as we type, so details are scarce right now. However, Officer Albie Esparza tells us the cops are at the 1300 block of Hudson Street where they're setting up a perimeter and calling for a shelter in place.
Another update, 6:35 p.m.: The FBI has confirmed Chamberlain has been taken into custody. News outlets are reporting that FBI agents went to the Mad Dog in the Fog bar in the Lower Haight earlier today and questioned bartenders; they believed he might have been drinking at bars in the neighborhood. His car was later found at Crissy Field where he was arrested this evening.
Update: Ryan Chamberlain posts an online addendum, claiming no wrongdoing. See end of article.
"...This is the end of the line for me," reads note from political operative turned FBI fugitive
We wrote earlier about Ryan Chamberlain, the San Francisco political operative now the subject of an FBI manhunt, after explosives were purportedly discovered in his apartment following a raid.
Today a long note appeared on Chamberlain's Facebook page. The timing was automated via "a Hootsuite delay ... I wasn't around to stop it from posting."
The note begins ominously: "You're reading this. That means we probably don't know each other anymore and I owe everyone an explanation."
Chamberlain is considered "armed and dangerous" by the FBI. His whereabouts are unknown and, none too surprisingly, he hasn't returned calls and messages from SF Weekly.
In his note, he claims he's been suffering from depression throughout his life. He has experienced "dark moments" including "getting left out of the Newsom win" -- Chamberlain served as a field manager in Gavin Newsom's successful mayoral run in 2003.
This mental state wasn't helped, he continues, by poor luck in love and a succession of "half-ass job(s) that didn't work out." As such "my mental state got more stressed and more panicked. ... When 2013 came, it did me in. I've been fighting and fighting to get out of it.
" But it wrecked me. And it led to what happened today."
A Stanford University professor was reportedly arrested at LAX recently after TSA screeners located a grenade in his luggage.
But the grenade wasn't exactly something to fret about. According to a KTVU report, Gary Walter Cox had been carting souvenirs from his late father's home, which included the World War II-era grenade.
We reported on Friday that this was possible: Muni drivers have allegedly initiated a massive sickout this morning, which means major delays for commuters across the city.
The SFMTA has taken to Twitter this morning alerting commuters of the mass delays and encouraging them to find other ways to work. KTVU is reporting that more than 200 Muni workers called in "sick" this morning, shutting down cable cars and leaving transit officials scrambling.
