Year: 2013

St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Festival
On Saturday the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Festival will be held on Market Street and in the Civic Center Plaza.

Starting at 10 a.m. the parade units will gather along 2nd Street between Market and Brannan streets. At 11:30 a.m. the parade will move west along Market Street to McAllister Street and proceed west to Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place and south to Grove Street where the parade will disband.

Market Street between 1st Street and Van Ness Avenue will be closed to traffic beginning at 11 a.m. There will be no cross traffic along Market Street during the parade which should end by 3 p.m. Streets will reopen as the marchers pass and the streets are cleaned. The reviewing stand will be on Carlton B. Goodlett Place.

The festival in Civic Center Plaza will begin at 11 a.m. and continue until 5 p.m. Grove Street between Larkin and Polk streets will be closed for the event from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Motorists should be advised that traffic in the area may be congested.

The following Muni routes and lines will be affected by the parade as early as 10 a.m.:

· F Market
· 2 Clement
· 5 Fulton
· 6 Parnassus
· 8X Bayshore Express
· 9 San Bruno
· 10 Townsend
· 12 Folsom Pacific
· 19 Polk
· 21 Hayes
· 27 Bryant
· 30 Stockton
· 31 Balboa
· 38/38L Geary
· 45 Union-Stockton
· 71 Haight-Noriega

Muni customers wishing to see the parade or who otherwise want to go downtown are advised to take Muni Metro.

World Baseball Classic
From Sunday to Tuesday, the semi-final and championship games of the World Baseball Classic will take place at AT&T Park. First pitch of each game is listed below:

· 6 p.m., Sunday
· 6 p.m., Monday
· 5 p.m., Tuesday

For more details, please visit www.worldbaseballclassic.com.

Muni customers may purchase their fares in advance at the Embarcadero Metro Station from 3 to 6 p.m., Sunday and Monday and from 2 to 5 p.m., Tuesday.

Alternatively, Muni customers can also purchase their fares at AT&T Park from 7 p.m., Sunday and Monday and from 6 p.m., Tuesday. The sale window at the park will be closed after 30 minutes from the close of each game.

For more information, please visit AT&T Park Service.

Heavy traffic is expected both before and after the games. Game attendees and those traveling in the area are encouraged to take public transit.

Controversial “Jihad” ads are back on Muni again, but city officials want you to know that they don’t like it. The ads feature quotes by Osama bin Laden, the alleged Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Hassan, and other Muslims, reports KQED. KQED also reports that the ads were purchased by Pamela Geller and the American Freedom Defense Initiative, who also put ads critical of Islam on Muni buses in 2012.

From SFWeekly:

Readers may have noticed the Osama bin Bus motoring around the city this week and stridently pro-Israel ads on buses last year. Muni claims it must take these paid ads from anti-Muslim extremists or end up on the losing side of a First Amendment case — as New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority did last year.

SFWeekly says that the ads appear on the 16X, 31BX, 52, and 108 lines.

You might remember that last year, Muni decided to donate the proceeds from the ads. Supervisor David Chiu is again proposing a resolution that the proceeds from this round of advertisement be donated to fund a study on the impact of post 9-11 hate and discrimination on Arab and Muslim communities, reports KQED.

Have you seen these ads and what do you think the SFMTA should do with the ad proceeds?