J-Church Delay Cleared, Stabbing Victim Taken to Hospital (updates) 11.30.09
Photo by Flickr user Transit Nerd
Update 3:58 p.m. Tuesday: CBS and others are reporting that the SFPD has, in fact, arrested a suspect in the case.
Update 2:48 p.m. Tuesday: SF Appeal reports that ABC 7 reports that the police have a suspect in custody. SF Appeal cannot confirm the report. we shall see whether it’s true, and whether there’s a good chance that it’s the right guy.
Update 12:36 p.m. Tuesday: SFGate has a few more details and quotes from the victim.
Update 10:58 a.m. Tuesday: KTVU has an interview the victim, as well as a sketch of the suspect.
Update 8:58 p.m.: According to SF Appeal, the SFPD will be releasing images from the surveillance video sometime soon. Let’s hope lynch mobs or vigilante committees don’t form, but that with the public aware of what the perp looks like, he is brought to justice somehow.
Update 5:49 p.m.: MTA says it handed surveillance video of the stabbing over to the SFPD. The video will be used to help the police in their investigation. There is no word on whether or when the video will be made available to the public.
Update:
As of 12:50, SFMTA says that the incident has been cleared.
Original post:
We received an alert from SFMTA that, as of 10:40 a.m., regular J-Church service has been disrupted due to police activity on an outbound J light rail vehicle on Church and 18th Street. Bus shuttles are running between Church/16th and Church/22nd Street.
The alarming part:
“According to initial reports, one female passenger was stabbed by another passenger. The female who was stabbed was transported to San Francisco General Hospital. The severity of her injuries is unknown.”
(from SFMTA).
We will keep you updated.
A musical aboard the 71-Haight/Noriega 11.30.09
Seventy-One from memetic field on Vimeo.
Memetic (coincidentally, the winner of our “Be our 1,000th follower on Twitter” contest) sent us this poignant video. It’s called “Seventy-One,” and it’s neat.
Obituary: 53-Southern Heights 11.30.09
Photo by Flickr user riz94107
Ed. note: Several Muni lines are being eliminated this Saturday. To honor these lines, we’ve been asking you to send us obituaries of these Muni routes to eulogize them in your own words. This obituary for the 53-Southern Heights is the first of a weeklong series here on Muni Diaries. We’ve received many great stories, trips down memory lane, for these buses. Be sure to check back tomorrow to read obituaries for the 4-Sutter and the 89-Laguna Honda, accompanied by some neat archival art.
The 53-Southern Heights is perhaps the greatest tragedy to occur during the Muni cuts this year. The reason that no one knows where it goes or what it does is because it serves those who are least likely to use current technology or be connected to those off the Hill - Potrero Hill - the community it serves.
The average daily ridership for the 53 is low, but it serves Grandmas and Grandpas, wheelchairs and walkers, and the people who assist them. The 53 traverses one of the toughest neighborhoods in the city, the Potrero Homes housing project, dropping down massive heights on Missouri and Vermont without the help of an overhead wire, connecting those who live by choice or by requirement at the top of the Hill down to connections to the outside world of the City at 16th and Potrero. Old ladies with their granny carts take the bus on their daily errand to the Safeway at the Potrero shopping center. The drivers of the 53 know their customers by first name and are happy to give a helping hand when asked.
The 53 is a lifeline from the high forgotten hill on the east side to the city, and the removal of the line will be distressing to many. For many Muni riders, the loss of a bus route will not truly be mourned, but for the 53 riders, there is no doubt that without this bus they will lose the social service that the city has provided for as long as one can remember. That no one spoke up for the 53 at the budget hearings nor on Muni Diaries is no surprise; it has been quietly doing its job and was an inconspicuous but necessary addition to the Muni fleet. For those who loved it, the 53 will not be forgotten.
Click here for a couple of positive reviews of the 53 on Yelp. And SFGate has a 2001 story of a “runaway” 53-Southern Heights.
Just because the deadline for sending us your obituary has passed, don’t think we don’t want to hear your story. This week is a week of mourning for the dying lines, but it’s never too late to write their story (or any Muni story, for that matter). Share your Muni stories here.
Muni Party recap, with photos 11.27.09
We got a report Tuesday about the Muni party earlier this month. Quite the rowdy scene, as the video above attests. Here it is, from the organizers’ perspective:
We are excited to say that the Muni Party (November 12, 2009) was a great success. We were greeted at the M-Train stop at 19th and Holloway with a huge crowd of people, photographers, press, and police. We boarded the two car M-Train with 150+ people, and filled up the whole space. We rode toward downtown with high spirits screaming, chanting, and even singing songs by Journey and James Brown. On the way, we even picked up some bystanders who were waiting at Muni stations. We rode all the way to Montgomery Station, and as a group walked to the Muni Party After Party at Otis Lounge, chanting all the way. We had a great time dancing and mingling at the after party. It was an awesome experience, and we are planning on doing this again early next year. This time, we are going to have a ‘secret’ Muni Party by keeping the exact location secret until the day of the event so we can have a little more freedom. The amazing part of the whole Muni Party event is that we did not spend any money in planning this event, just lots of time, and help from sites such as Muni Diaries. Thanks for all of your support and helping us make this all possible!
MUNI PARTY
Brianna & John
Muni a smoother ride than AAU shuttle … 11.27.09
… but riding either is just such a San Francisco treat. Spotted this art, signifying some sort of arts-appreciation something-or-other, on an Academy of Art shuttle Tuesday. I have to say this: It was one bumpy-as-fuck ride. At least Muni buses have shock absorbers. I think.
Muni Painting with…iPhone? 11.25.09
You’ll never guess what artist Jorge Colombo used to create the San Francisco series, including the Muni painting above. According to Apartment Therapy, Colombo uses the Brushes application on his iPhone to create these city portraits!
I have iPhone envy like you would not believe.
Also, I bet Colombo didn’t make these paintings with his iPhone on the 38. You know what I mean.
Read more about Colombo’s art on Apartment Therapy.
Blackberry Breaks 11.25.09
Photo by Flickr user rwkvisual
Editor’s Note: Rider Eric sent in this diary on the 6-Parnassus, where he couldn’t help but notice a heart wrenching exchange on the Blackberry phone next to him.
It’s 6:30pm and I’m getting on the 6 bus to go home. Usually, on my way to work, I catch the underground, but coming home, unless I’m getting produce at the market, I like to get door to fucking door.
I nab my favorite seat-towards the back on the right just behind the back doors. I forgo my iPod for a change, look in my bag for a magazine I know I don’t have, check my watch, and slide down into the glossy brown plastic seat.
I look out the window as we pass Powell. There’s the standard crowd with pocket cameras and fanny packs circling around a group of street performers corralling the tourists like a herd. I think back to these two boys I once saw dancing for money on the F train in Brooklyn. One was moving to the beat of the other’s hands. As we approached the stop at Smith and 9th, they came around with a hat and people pulled out change without even looking up from the newspaper. When the doors opened, they ran to the next car. I watched them through the connecting car windows as the train went underground, the other one now dancing. I look back at the performers at Powell and shrug off the thought that I live in a town that wants to be a city.
I haven’t noticed it until now, but the guy next to me is fiercely thumbing away on his Blackberry. He’s young, unshaved, in ruffled jeans. I never understand why anyone would want a Blackberry if they weren’t a business man. It’s sort of like a 16 year old choosing to drive a Ford Taurus.
Did I mention how big and bright the fucking screen is on a Blackberry? So I can’t help but look over at what he’s typing, it’s practically in my face—“You look at things all wrong…that’s not what I meant at all”. He fires it off, drops the phone between his legs and stares ahead, wistfully.
30 seconds later, a buzzing tone comes from his lap. I try to make out what the message says, but he’s cradling the phone towards the window—unaware of me, but still hiding it. He reads it, lets out a sigh: this isn’t good.
(more…)
Photog-on-photog harrassment 11.24.09
Photo by Flickr user skronk!
This bizarre (and we admit, annoying) story comes by way of Muni rider Bhetland:
I was riding the Castro underground, going downtown today and this freak lady insisted on taking my picture. It didn’t matter how much I turned around and told her that I didn’t want my picture taken. Never have I felt like hitting someone as much as I felt like hitting her. I didn’t, but seriously folks. I am an photographer myself. You don’t assault someone which insisting on taking their pictures. She had her camera inches away from my face. What a freak. It’s crap like this that makes me drive my car most days.
So, did Bhetland have a right to get so annoyed? Did they photog have the right to continue shooting? Is it no longer about rights, and simply about respect and chilling the eff out? Let us know in comments.
And as a reminder: we want your Muni grievances, romances, and proverbial tales. Muni Diaries is always seeking out new content.
Recap of Monday’s Muni safety hearing 11.24.09
Photo by Flickr user Steve Rhodes
Our first attempt at spreading a Twitter hashtag goes straight to the dustbin of history. Oh, well. We tried.
Lucky for us (and you), there are some amazing blogs and great newspeople out there attending these middle-of-the-day hearings so that you can keep reading Muni Diaries and Perez stay at work and wish you weren’t. Here are some tidbits from a few:
(Streetsblog SF) Police enforcement on Muni is getting a major overhaul after years of inconsistent officer deployment. Under a revised Memorandum of Understanding between the Police Department and the Metropolitan Transportation Agency, officers will be required to ride lines that most frequently have problems with crime. Station captains will now regularly present Muni crime statistics for their districts at Comstat meetings, where they will be grilled on why crime has increased or decreased. …
At the beginning of the hearing, which was called by Supervisor Bevan Dufty, several Muni riders told stories of experiencing and witnessing violent attacks and robberies on the city’s transit system. One rider, Tim Bishop, said he was attacked in January on a T-Third line vehicle by youths who were shouting anti-gay epithets. When he confronted them, he was beaten unconscious and repeatedly kicked in the head.
(City Insider, an SFGate blog) Deputy Police Chief John Murphy, Muni’s new security boss, detailed plans to significantly improve Muni safety. He said that as opposed to officers randomly boarding buses, a new Memorandum of Understanding between the police department and Muni outlines that officers will be deployed according to the “zone strategy” now used for all crime in the city. Basically, that means tracking crime hot spots on Muni and deploying officers accordingly.
And an audio report of the hearing, from KCBS.
So there you have it. Now that you’ve been a good online citizen and read these reports, how do you feel about Monday’s hearing?
Muni Cinepoem 11.23.09
LaDonna Witmer sent us this “cinepoem,” which she shot stealthily on the N-Judah. She is an Outer Sunset resident and says that the N was easily her first choice in picking a backdrop for her poem called “Homogenous.”
LaDonna is featured in today’s I Live Here: SF, photographed and curated by the wonderful Julie Michelle. Check it out!
Ride Muni like a boss. Our Fast Pass Clipper card holders and Muni Diaries T-shirts are all on sale 
