(Art diary) J-Church comin’ through 06.07.10
J-Church Disruption 05.25.10
Photo by Flickr user vision63
SFist and 511.org both report that there’s an obstruction on the outbound J-Church line, at San Jose and Baden. All trains are switching back at Glen Park and shuttles are in place. Did you see this happen? Send us pictures and let us know.
‘If Muni were …’ 05.03.10
Choose the face that best describes how you feel about Muni (pain scale by the super awesome Allie at Hyperbole and a Half). We know how rider Steven feels about it. He sent us the following Muni-etry:
If Muni were my brother, I would coldly turn my back and let him reap the fruits of his poor life decisions…
If Muni were a sunny day in SF, it would be a sunny day in the Sunset to say that it wouldn’t be sunny at all…
if Muni were pizza, it would be delivered in a Delfina box but instead of pizza inside it would be a box of hatred and disappointment…
Muni doesn’t trust Steve Poizner or anybody else at all…
Finally, I wanted to feel what it was like so I stole $2 from this guy on the street, then made him prove that I took it…and when he couldn’t right away, I wrote him a ticket and took $75 more bucks from him.
S.M. Williams
J – Inbound 7:23 a.m.
2010
Okay, okay, sometimes it’s actually :), right? We take Muni stories that land anywhere on the reference chart.
J-Church derails between 20th and 22nd Sts (w/updates) 05.01.10
Update (10:54 a.m., Sunday): I guess SFMTA (5:09 p.m.) and KTVU (5:43 p.m.) don’t have Muni Diaries in their RSS feeds. Wait, do those folks have RSS feeds?
Update (4:38 p.m.): Shuttles are available between 16th and 30th Streets. (511)
Original post: Suzanne sent us the photos (above and below), and had this to say:
I waited on Market Street from 1:55 until 2:35 for the J Church to arrive to go to Bernal Heights. Then, just past 20th Street, past the park, in that narrow rail road channel the train derailed. It was a two car train packed with people and old people. The driver waited about 3 minutes without any communication then just told people to get off the train. There was nowere to go in that narrow passage way. Some people walked down, others walked up. Another muni train came up behind and it told people to get off the tracks and to walk away because it was a dangerous place to be. So people walked two blocks up the passage way.
There’s no word from MTA about this incident. We’ll do our best to keep you posted.
More photos after the jump.
Meet the Artist for New Public Art for Church and Duboce 04.14.10
There’s going to be some new art and seating areas along the N-Judah line as a part of the Church and Duboce Streetscape Improvement Project. Wanna know what the new seating area will look like on Church and Duboce, and meet the artist who will create the sculpture there? Primitivo Suarez-Wolfe will be at the Harvey Milk Recreation Center tomorrow evening:
The Arts Commission recently approved artist Primitivo Suarez-Wolfe’s conceptual proposal for a series of new public artworks that will be implemented in conjunction with the Church and Duboce Streetscape Improvement Project. Inspired by the surrounding architecture and the history of the neighborhood, Primitivo proposed to create a series of steel chairs that, in addition to creating a distinct identity for the intersection, will provide much needed seating for the area. The artist will also design a vertical sculpture for the corner of Church and Market that will serve as a gateway feature for the neighborhood. This is your chance to meet with the artist and engage in a dialogue about his artwork concepts before he develops the designs for presentation to the Arts Commission.
WHEN: Thursday, April 15, 2010, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Get there by Muni: N, 71, 6, 24, 22
WHERE: Harvey Milk Recreation Center, 50 Scott Street (at Duboce Avenue), Downstairs Exhibit Room
The artist’s proposal (PDF) mentions salvaging and reusing Muni tracks – melting tracks that were slated to be demolished and recasting chairs out of them. Suarez-Wolfe wrote that “the chairs themselves will be cast replicas of domestic seating from local cultures and contexts. To me, this begins to connote the shared diversity and character of the Church and Duboce community.” I’d be interested to see how this turns out in real life.
Thanks, funcheapsf.
Infrastructure pr0n: even more photos of J-Church track replacement 03.24.10
This set of photos of last weekend’s J-Church track replacement comes to us from Tom of Church Street Media, who adds his vote of confidence for the workers laying the tracks. Thanks, Tom!
I’ve lived at this corner for 20 years and I had a front row view of the construction — for better or worse.
I can report that the noise was HELLISH over the weekend — no sleep on Friday night, a little better on Saturday, but they seemed to finish ahead of schedule on Sunday night. I’m no expert, but from what I could see, the workers did a first-class job. The machine operators moved the rails and materials with expert precision and with a minimum of wasted effort. There were no workers standing around as we have come to expect to see on other public works projects.
I am happy to report that the hassle and confusion was worth it! The line is much quieter at the intersection and there is little vibration compared to before. I give Muni credit where credit is due.
More photos after the jump.
(more…)
Video of J-Church Track Replacement 03.23.10
Reader Debbie sends a video of the 56-hour work that took place over the weekend. Yesterday, we posted Brian’s photos of the rail replacement at Church and 18th.
As Telstar dubbed it on Twitter, more “infrastructuralist porn” (SFW).
Ripping Up the J-Church Track 03.22.10
Reader Brian M. sent us these photos from the construction on replacing the J-Church tracks at Church and 18th Street over the weekend. The J-Church rail improvement project continues for two more weekends when San Jose Avenue will be closed to southbound traffic between Day and Dolores, but the dates of those weekends have not been announced. We’ll keep you posted.
More of Brian’s photos after the jump.
Thanks, Brian!
Open Doors on a Moving J-Church 02.11.10
Photo by Flickr user octoferret
Yesterday (Wednesday) morning on the J-Church (train number 1469 B if you want to get really specific) underground between Church and Van Ness, I heard a commotion behind me. I looked up and noticed all of the passengers facing me were looking behind me, eyes wide. Never a good sign on Muni.
I turned around and the rear left door (if you’re facing back towards Church street) was wide open as we cruised through the tunnel at high speed. Right next to the open door, kind of sitting or crouching (it was hard to see), was a boy who looked like he may have Down Syndrome. A man had a hold of him and was trying to pull him back away from the open door. A lady was using the emergency intercom to tell the driver “The door is open! The door is open!” I believe the boy was panicked and unsure of how to react. The man hanging onto him was also gripping a bar in the train to keep himself from falling.
It took about 20 more seconds of cruising and a passenger running up to the front of the train for it to stop. The driver walked back, used his key to manually shut the door, and we proceeded. Meanwhile, people got the boy away from the door.
I place blame squarely on the poor condition of Muni light rail vehicles. The driver reacted as fast as he could and apologized on the intercom. But one day a door will open up, mid-underground cruise, and some unfortunate person will go from bystander to victim.
- Nate
Fracas/Clusterfuck/Armageddon at Church Street Station 01.27.10
Photos by “Doot doot, bleep bleep!”
A Muni rider whose only identification (I shit you not) is “Doot doot, bleep bleep!” sent in this photo of this morning’s N/J Church Street Station free-for-all, along with this dispatch:
I took a few snapshots of the Church station this morning after the N and J started dumping people off before the tunnel. These were taken at around 8:15am – as you can see it looks more like New Years Eve.
We’re gladly accepting more accounts, be they written or photographed. Here, please.
