I don't think this is the kind of community-provided bench the SF Chronicle was talking about today in its article

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/mystery-benches-sidewalks-20418145.php

Yes, there were other articles--many grim, sad, alarming--but this was the one I focused on!  

 

San Francisco is still trying to create safer streets. So far this year four seniors, walking, have been killed by cars, so when I was asked to speak for Senior and Disability Action at a safe-streets-Vision Zero event Supervisor Melgar called at City Hall, of course I mentioned that. I also mentioned the concern many seniors express about not feeling safe on sidewalks because of bicyclists and scooters whizzing by them even though they're supposed to be in bicycle lanes. I related my experience with courteous bicyclists in Golden Gate Park too, and afterwards three bicyclists from the Bicycle Coalition told me that pedestrians often expressed surprise to them too that they were courteous, and they were definitely making an effort to make all cyclists aware of the importance of obeying rules and being courteous. Others who spoke were Supervisor Melgar, former Supervisor Norman Yee, Supervisor Mahmood, Robin Pam, and Jodie Medeiros.

 

 

At the 1906 earthquake commemoration in San Francisco on April 18, Laura Ackley, the author of  San Francisco's Jewel City: The Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915,  distributed handcrafted commemorative garters.   But I don't know what the significance of the 5 is!

 https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/great-highway-park-sunset-dunes-20262237.php

 https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/revolution-naked-woman-sf-20277918.php

In Tony Bravo’s “45-foot-tall nude sculpture in SF sparking controversy,” Rebecca Camacho is quoted as saying “What is disappointing and confusing about this is the city allowing private money to come in and commandeer very public space.”  My visceral response to R-Evolution was very positive, and so is my visceral response to the idea that we could allow private money to come in and help very public space at Hallidie Plaza, where there is no ramp and no working elevator.  (People in wheelchairs had no access to an important press conference held there last year.  I have a picture of them at the bottom of the stairs they couldn't get up.)    And what about the public space where transit needs to go?  Could we use private money to salvage Muni and BART?  Could one of our billionaires make such a generous endowment that we could keep public transportation going on the interest of the endowment?

 

The L-Taraval OWL got me to the R-Evolution statue at 4:27 am, when I hoped to see it illuminated.  But it wasn't.  The yellow-green tint is reflection.  But it was still worth seeing before the April 18th ceremony commemorating the 1906 earthquake.  

Here are two good articles about this statue, the first by Sam Whiting, and the second by Tony Bravo.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sculpture-of-a-naked-woman-lands-sf-waterfront-20257701.php

https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/revolution-naked-woman-sf-20277918.php

 

Transit Riders, founded in 2010 by Dave Snyder, celebrated its 15th anniversary at SOMArts on Brannan Street right next door to Trader Joe's.