Richmond author documents space race: facts and fantasy

by Thomas K. Pendergast

Her family can trace ancestors back to pioneers that settled around the Eugene Oregon area in the 1840s, and she grew up with a strong sense of western lore. As a child, however, author Megan Prelinger’s earliest memories were of the Apollo moon landings on television, plus episodes of “Gunsmoke” and “Star Trek.”
Perhaps, as she browsed a collection of old aerospace industry trade magazines from the early days of the “space race” while sitting in her Richmond District apartment in 2006, it was inevitable she would notice certain connections between cowboys, or pioneers, and space exploration.
The articles were mostly about different projects that various aerospace companies were working on and industry trends, yet the advertisements told a very different story, in which science fiction fantasy dominated.
Two recurring themes of the advertisements showed images of commonplace domestic scenes on some other planet or in future space stations. Frequently, they used a strong western motif.
“It’s not just the domestic environments but also the transference of the sense of the west and westward expansion onto outer space,” said Prelinger. “Like, settling space, it’s about using visual imagery to make space exploration feel natural, inevitable and an extension of things that we’re already doing. And, natural like it’s going to be comfortable when we get there and space is going to somehow warmly receive us.”
She also noticed that the idea of peaceful space exploration was being used as a recruiting tool for companies that had little to do with peace, yet everything to do with building missiles for expanding US nuclear war capabilities.
In 2010 the end result of these insights was the publication of her book “Another Science Fiction: Advertising the Space Race 1957 – 1962,” by Blast Books. It’s a slickly produced, glossy-paged documentation of a grand mixing between the realities of a brave new technological world and the scientific fantasies of future possibilities.
“Most of the research, development, manufacturing and funding was focused on weapons systems and a relatively tiny percentage of federal funding for rocket and missile development really got applied to NASA, the first civil space exploration. Think about the Cold War military. It was nothing compared to that,” she said.
While the articles informed her of the reality, the advertisements were about something else entirely.
“In each of the ads there was a picture and the picture was often of a fantastical landscape. The artist maybe imagined a spaceship that did not yet exist. The imagery is a real fantasy space but … the very copy in the ad itself says ‘actually what we’re recruiting for is we need engineers to work on the titan missile and ICBM projects and Nike, Zeus rocket programs.’ What they’re showing is astronauts heading to Saturn or something like that and I was thinking hmmm, there’s a discrepancy there.
“The advertisements are their own body of literature and they’re like science fiction. They’re telling stories. They’re spinning ideas about the future. … And I thought ‘wow somewhere there’s got to be a really beautiful book that’s been done about this artwork. I’m going to see if I can find it.'”
She went online and tried to find a book about aerospace advertising artwork from the Cold War era but found nothing. She asked in bookstores but no one knew about such a book.
“I decided that it actually had not been done and it needed to be done and that I was going to do it. That was my “Eureka” moment.”
Prelinger first discovered San Francisco when she visited City Lights bookstore as an 11-year-old girl, while on a family road trip to Mexico. She lived in the Richmond District briefly in 1985, then after graduating from Reed College with a BA in anthropology, she moved back to the district in 1993.
She met her husband Rick in 1998. The next year they married and moved into the mid-district house where they still live.
In the same room where she was inspired to write the book, she recently talked about the Cold War period and the space race.
“The ads don’t directly reference the Cold War because they tend to be about a fantasy space, about technology and peace and space exploration,” she explained. “The reality was that people didn’t know how many warheads the Soviet Union had and they didn’t know what the space capacity of the Soviet Union was going to be. They just knew that the U.S. had to be on top. Later, intelligence found out that back when we thought we were behind in the ‘missile gap,’ that we were actually ahead but we didn’t know that. We had a sense of being behind and having to just work as hard as humanly possible to close the gap and have the largest nuclear arsenal.”
Prelinger thinks the ads also served to create a cultural mythology and to show off in front of their competitors.
“I think they thought that the space mythology was a very powerful recruitment tool and at the same time … the space mythology really will come true and it’ll get funded and they’ll get the jobs.”
All of this was being fueled by a pervasive fear of nuclear war that was an ever-present fact of life for many during the Cold War.
“I had some awareness of it even when I was six, seven, eight, Watergate era,” she recalled. “I remember thinking when Watergate happened ‘does this mean we’re all going to get killed in a nuclear war if we don’t have a good president?’
Many ideas in the advertisements are obviously prototypes for today’s high-tech weaponry, like flying drone planes that spy and cruise missiles. Other ideas seem downright laughable today.
“I think it’s an interesting look at the rapid pace of the change of technology,” she said. “We think technology is moving fast now but it was also moving really fast back then. Stuff that was very real in 1965 had been complete fantasy in 1955. So, there really were a lot of ideas, especially in the 1950s. Technology moved so fast in the 25 years post war that people really did tend to over-imagine what might be possible.
“Another Science Fiction: Advertising the Space Race 1957 – 1962” is available at http://www.Amazon.com, the Booksmith on Haight Street, Green Apple Books on Clement Street and online at http://www.anothersciencefiction.com. For more information, send an e-mail to megan@prelinger.net.

McCoppin Square Re-opens with Memorial for Taraval Officer

By Thomas K. Pendergast

When San Francisco acquired the land we now call the Sunset District in 1868, people already lived there. A part of the deal to get them off the land was that a certain portion of it would be set aside for parks, said local historian David Gallagher. That is how the 8.9-square-acre McCoppin Square, located at 24th Avenue and Taraval Street, came to be.
After a $3.8 million renovation, McCoppin Square was dedicated once again by city officials and local citizens on Oct. 22. It is the first project funded by the Clean and Safe Neighborhood Parks Bond to be completed. San Francisco voters passed the bond in 2008.
On an unusually hot, summer-like Saturday, about 100 people gathered next to the new playground for a ribbon-cutting ceremony, which began with performances by the Abraham Lincoln High School band and drill team.
“What you see before you is a beautiful playground renovation, new sport court renovations, new field renovations, new pathways, new ADA accessibility, and a brand new restroom,” said Phil Ginsburg, general manager for the SF Recreation and Park Department. “And the best news of all is that this project came in over a million dollars under budget. This was another project done with great cooperation amongst our city agencies, so we’re really incredibly excited about it.”
District 4 Supervisor Carmen Chu, who represents the Sunset District, began her speech with some historical trivia.
“When they first opened McCoppin Square in the 1930s, they actually had a huge parade that came down Taraval Street, with drill corps, drum corps, marching bands, everything. And today it’s only fitting that we actually have Lincoln’s presentation here,” she said.
She noted that in the area of the square sitting across the street from the San Francisco Police Department’s Taraval Station, there is a garden memorializing police officer Bryan Tuvera, who was killed in the line of duty in December of 2006 while trying to arrest an escaped prisoner in the Sunset.
“We really wanted to make sure that we honor his memory and create a contemplative garden in that area so we can remember him always,” Chu said.
“We have today a beautiful opening. We have a newly-renovated library and a beautiful playground. But the hardest part of all this is really how are we going to maintain this playground and park over time? So, I really want to encourage you to get involved with the Friends of McCoppin,” Chu said.
Ginsburg said that 146 years ago Frank McCoppin became mayor at the age of 34 and is considered one of the founders of the city’s public park system.
“Under Frank McCoppin’s tenure the city and country of San Francisco purchased from the federal government an area in this City known as the ‘Outside Lands,’ which included Golden Gate Park. So, this is one of the reasons why this particular plot of land is called McCoppin Square,” Ginsburg said.
Supervisor Scott Wiener, who has been involved in a number of library and park renovations throughout the City, was also at the opening.
“When you look at what the library and Rec. and Park have been able to do in delivering these projects under budget, saving the taxpayer money and being able to make those capital investments to improve our community, it’s been pretty amazing,” Wiener said. “Spread the word on that so people understand how effective our parks department is.”
David Gallagher of the Western Neighborhoods Project noted the square’s history goes back much further than when it was named after McCoppin during its first dedication in 1935.
“This park is one of the oldest in the Sunset District. It was laid out and set aside for public use in 1868. That makes it the same age as Golden Gate Park,” Gallagher said.
Local residents Tyson Jue and Judy Riggle are starting a citizen’s support group called Friends of McCoppin Square. They are looking for volunteers.
“We really need your participation to make great stewards for this park and to have a clean and beautiful playground for us to play in and for the kids to really enjoy,” Jue said.
Kevin Martin, vice president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, talked about the memorial for officer Tuvera.
“We’re very, very happy to have a memorial plaque for Brian,” Martin said. “Although Brian, a young man when he was taken from us, was married, he never had any children. But it’s only fitting that there will be a memorial plaque dedicated to him just beyond where children will be able to play and grow for generations to come. So, on behalf of the police department and the San Francisco Police Officers Association, we’re very, very grateful to be a part of this project. Thank you.”

Beach Preservation Plan Released

By Thomas K. Pendergast

The future of Ocean Beach is beginning to take shape and the first glimpse of it came when the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research association (SPUR) made its recommendations for a new Ocean Beach Master Plan at an Oct. 29 community workshop.

The recommendations include rerouting the Great Highway around the east side of the San Francisco Zoo, avoiding a section of the beach starting at the end of Sloat Boulevard that’s been eroding severely over the last few years. Both that intersection and the intersection at Sloat and Skyline boulevards would be completely reconfigured and that section of that Great Highway would be reduced to one lane in each direction with another lane between them for a turning lane.

If this draft of the plan moves forward, the Muni L-Taraval light rail line would be extended to a new terminus at the San Francisco Zoo.

The Great Highway would also be reduced from four lanes down to two starting at Balboa Street and running all the way south to Sloat. With the two southbound lanes no longer being used, the open space would be used for public amenities, like bathrooms, etc.

Parking along the beach would be revamped, with small pockets of parking distributed at key access points and the Zoo.

“With the road absent in the area immediately in front of the Zoo … we then get the opportunity to withdraw from the existing bluff’s edge, the existing revetments and so forth, and incrementally demolish the roadway, restroom and parking at Sloat and really pursue a managed retreat strategy,” said Benjamin Grant, program manager at SPUR.

Grant explained that the process for coming up with a new Ocean Beach Master Plan, which started in January, is now nearing the end.

“We are actually coming toward the end of the process,” said Grant. “We will take your input from these draft recommendations and work to develop a draft document by the end of the calendar year. There will then be a period in which that’s open for comment by the public and by all affected stakeholders and agencies and so forth. We will be trying to finalize that by the end of February of next year.”

The Army Corps of Engineers regularly dredges a section of sand from a sand bar off the coast of the San Francisco Bay to keep a large ship channel open. The Corps is planning to use that dredged sand to create sand dunes in the heavily eroded area, essentially sacrificing those artificial dunes to the ocean forces and hopefully taking pressure off the cliffs and bluffs to help preserve them.

“The dredged sand from that ship channel represents one of the major opportunities in terms of managing sand at Ocean Beach because that sand can be placed directly on the beach,” Grant said. “There’s a process underway with the Army Corps of Engineers to permit that and figure out a way to deliver a lot of sand right on the beach.”

Another issue is the sewage and utility infrastructure south of Sloat that is being threatened by erosion. Grant said the most visible part of this system is a wastewater treatment plant with most of its infrastructure below ground.

There is the Lake Merced sewage tunnel, a 14-foot-diameter sewage and storm drain pipe running from north to south though the bluff at about the same level of the nearby beach that’s being eroded.

There are also two transport boxes that handle water overflow from storms about where Lincoln Way ends at the beach and another where Wawona Street ends.

“The reason that’s so important is that infrastructure is also immediately adjacent to the coast and hence very, very threatened by the erosion that’s taking place,” said Grant.

There are also two bird species listed by the federal government as threatened that use the beach around that area as a breeding ground, the snowy plover and the bank swallow. The former uses the dunes for nesting while the latter burrows into the bluffs near the southern end of the beach.

Alma DuSolier, a principal landscape designer with AECOM, a consulting company advising the planners, said a balance between all these issues and the public’s desires for using the beach needs to be struck and this in turn requires public input and dialogue.

There is also the challenge of coordinating this plan with several different, local, state and federal agencies, including the city’s Department of Water and Power, California Coastal Commission, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and National Park Service, which runs the publicly-accessed areas of Ocean Beach.

“This is why we have a combined system of outreach, so there’s public events like this workshop, this is the third one that we’ve had,” said DuSolier. “We have a steering committee that has representatives from all the different agencies. We have a PAC, which is a planning and advisory committee that provides a lot of input at the staff level, gets into the details and keeps us in check. We’ve had a lot of work sessions with them that are separate from these public meetings. We also have input that we collect through the SPUR website.”

Grant added that the PAC includes representatives from advocacy organizations and local community group leaders.

Although most of the Lake Merced sewer tunnel is drilled through the hard material of the cliffs and bluffs near Fort Funston, some of it is not and instead it is covered with sand and therefore is especially vulnerable to further erosion, especially when rising sea levels due to global warming are taken into account.

For this section, SPUR is recommending the sewer pipe be covered by a cobblestone berm, which in turn will be covered with more sand by the Army Corps of Engineers.

“We would use a revetment made of softball-sized stones,” Grant said. “It’s excellent at diffusing wave energy but it also can move and can take shape according to the natural process.”

Cost estimates for the alternative, moving the entire pipe, run up to $160 million.

Mayoral Candidates Take On Park Issues

By Thomas K. Pendergast

In front of a standing-room-only crowd at a recent community meeting, most of the San Francisco mayoral candidates talked about two controversial proposals for the western end of Golden Gate Park that city government is advocating for.

There is a project by the SF Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), which wants to build a $152 million water treatment plant, in which partially-treated water from the Oceanside plant near the SF Zoo would be subjected to additional treatment before being distributed for non-potable irrigation uses in the park. The water would be used at the Golden Gate Park Golf Course and the California Academy of Sciences.

As well, the plan calls for the pumping of water from an underground aquifer to augment water the City gets from its Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.

Then there’s a proposal from the SF Recreation and Park Commission to install artificial turf and 60-foot-tall lights at the soccer fields near the Beach Chalet restaurant.

Both the water treatment and turf replacement projects are currently under environmental review.

“I would oppose the water plant,” SF Public Defender Jeff Adachi told the forum crowd. “It’s 40,000 square feet. It’s got 30-foot-tall walls. It’s got lights and it’s going to be owned by Homeland Security. That’s not exactly why we come to the park. In terms of the artificial turf and the soccer fields, I don’t think that it’s a good idea to have seven acres of Astroturf; I think that it should be grass.”

Many in the audience burst into applause at this and shouted their approval, although at least one person booed.

“I don’t favor having all these bright lights out there. This is Golden Gate Park. It’s not just a parking lot somewhere.”

Another candidate, Cesar Ascarrunz, said he used to play professional soccer.

“I hate artificial turf. You can kill yourself on it,” he said. “The 60-foot lights, it’s not very proper for Golden Gate Park. San Francisco is a tourist town. Tourists come because San Francisco is the most beautiful city in the world. Millions of people come to see Golden Gate Park. Artificial turf in the Golden Park, I don’t think so. It’s not healthy.”

San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos also expressed a dislike for the proposed artificial turf and lights.

“I’d feel like I was right smack dab in the middle of civilization. We certainly are a civilization, but we would lose a lot by having a park with lights on at night. That could cause a lot of glare for people who live in the area,” Avalos said. “I also don’t really think it’s a good idea to put an industrial use, the water treatment plant, within Golden Gate Park. I think we’d be losing a lot in terms of what the park has to offer.”

Terry Baum, the Green Party candidate, said the water treatment plant went against the goals of those who created the park and she also did not think the artificial turf was healthy for people.

“I have a report here that was done that summarizes the toxic effects of the artificial turf, potentially,” Baum said. “Some of it’s been proven, some of it’s not: severe irritation of the respiratory system, systemic effects on the liver and kidneys, irritation of the eye/skin, cancers, developmental affects. We need these kids to be playing on real grass.”

Board of Supervisors President David Chiu was approaching both issues with an open mind.

“I have a very healthy skepticism of both of these projects,” Chiu said. “With regards to the water treatment plant … I have serious questions about whether we want to put such a heavy-duty industrial use in our park. I’m going to be looking at the EIR (Environmental Impact Report) when it comes to us, through that lens.

“With regards to the soccer fields, I got to tell you, when I was a kid in elementary school I did play soccer as well. I was not a professional soccer player like my fellow candidate but I got to play on real grass. If we can find a real alternative, which is what an EIR is supposed to do, we should look at that very seriously.”

Former SF Supervisor Bevan Dufty did not directly answer the water treatment question but he supports the concept of artificial turf and said a parcel tax would be a good idea to pay for Rec. and Park needs.

“We passed park bonds to renovate our facilities but we don’t have staff at them,” Dufty said. “Now, I’m willing to have an honest conversation, and there’s not a lot of that when you run for office in this town, that we need to talk about a parcel tax dedicated for our Recreation and Park system. … I think we have a responsibility to either pony up and stand up and say you’ll support a parcel tax for the parks or step aside and let’s have fields that kids and young adults can play on because they need something positive.”

Former SF Supervisor Tony Hall, who is running as an independent candidate, joined the majority of the candidates in opposition to both proposals.

“I’ve got seven children. Five of them have gone through college on athletic scholarships. I was very careful as a parent to watch the surfaces they were playing on,” he said. “Cesar’s right. You can’t cut when playing soccer. You can’t curve. Your knees go out on you. And those growing ligaments, it’s so important to play on natural ground. In Golden Gate Park, artificial turf, are you crazy?

Hall would not pump water from the underground aquifer in the park. As a member of the Board of Supervisors Hall helped create a plan for raising the water levels at Lake Merced.

“I know all about water treatment plants. They do not have to pull water from the underground aquifer. In fact, the way we replenished Lake Merced was stopping the extraction of water from the underground aquifer.”

Entrepreneur and candidate Joanna Rees said she’s been canvassing the city in her election campaign.

“What I’ve heard loud and clear from all the neighbors is: ‘We don’t want big bright lights and we don’t want Astroturf.’ And these are the people we should be listening to and supporting,” she said.

“So much of this is due to how we budget because we don’t do bottom-up budgeting in San Francisco, where we go department by department to figure out what’s the investment we have to absolutely make, because we have to support critical services for the community, and what are some things that we’re funding that are no longer meeting their intended purpose and we should not continue to fund,” Rees said.

“There’s no reason in a budget of $6.8 billion, granted we’re a city and a county, for a city of 800,000 people, that we can’t afford to keep our parks and make great open spaces for all in our community,” Rees said.

Other candidates attending the forum, which was held at the Richmond Recreation Center on Sept. 19, included SF Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting, state Sen. Leland Yee, SF City Attorney Dennis Herrera, SF Supervisor John Avalos, Public Defender Jeff Adachi, Paul Currier, and Wilma Pang.

Two candidates, Michela Alioto-Pier and SF Mayor Ed Lee, were invited to the forum but did not attend, citing previous commitments.

Mayoral candidates battle for district’s votes

by Thomas K. Pendergast

Mayoral candidates came together at a candidates’ forum in an effort to win Richmond District votes. They explained their positions on several local issues, including the Geary Boulevard Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) proposal and the needs of small businesses in the Richmond District. The forum was held at the Richmond Recreation Center on Sept. 19.
The candidates were asked about their opinions concerning the proposed synthetic turf soccer fields at the west end of Golden Gate Park. They were almost unanimous in their opposition to the new turf and outdoor lighting stands that would light the fields up at night. Only Bevan Dufty defended the proposal, citing the dearth of playing fields for youth and adult soccer players in the City.
Concerning the proposed re-claimed water facility that would also be located in the west end of the park, the candidates were unanimous in their support for keeping the facility out of the park.
Concerning the Geary BRT, state Sen. Leland Yee said he supports the Geary BRT project but would proceed with caution.
“There are concerns on the part of businesses that if we move ahead with this particular project it is going to create even more havoc along the Geary corridor and as a result devastate even more of the business community,” Yee told a standing-room-only crowd. “There are many individuals, residents, who are absolutely concerned about the congestion that’s going to be created if in fact you take a lane out of the lanes that are currently existing on Geary and dedicate it to buses. What is important for the mayor to do, and I will do, is ensure that different elements that are important to our community … we all understand what those problems are and make sure the BRT is going to deal with all of those issues.”
San Francisco’s Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting said he would support either the Geary BRT or an alternative plan, the Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP), which would be less expensive. This plan would include relatively inexpensive changes to the Muni 38 bus line, including self-service fare collection, low-floor buses, traffic signal preemption and optimizing bus stop locations.
Local entrepreneur Joanna Rees said she would support the TEP proposal.
“We need to be continually looking for ways to improve service on Geary Boulevard,” said Rees. “If we have a limited-stop bus line, we should be testing, should it stop every 20 blocks, should it stop every 25 blocks? What happens to load? How does that improve travel time? What happens when we change the timing of the lights? How about having dedicated lanes on the road? This is the stuff that we need to continually do.”
San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said he would support both plans.
“We know that the 38 line is incredibly overtaxed,” Herrera said. “I happen to believe that the Transit Effective­ness Project provides a great strategic vision as to changes that we have to make to not only benefit the Muni system citywide but also the 38 Geary. I also believe that the BRT is a great step.”
Tony Hall is running as an independent candidate. He said he favors implementing the TEP plan.
“You could put 15 different alternatives on how to approach rapid transit on Geary Boulevard, but the two things you cannot forget about are: How does it affect the residents who live here? and: How does it affect small businesses?” Hall said. “What­ever plan comes up has to start with those two things in mind.”
Dufty, a former San Francisco supervisor, also threw his support behind the TEP and Geary BRT projects.
“At this point, I do support the TEP and I do support Bus Rapid Transit if it’s done right,” he said. “It’s got to be done the right way, with your district supervisor and the community pulling together. Ultimately, if there is a desire in this part of town to have an enhanced transportation service, we ought to have the vision to be able to go after it.”
The current president of the SF Board of Supervisors, David Chiu, said he favors both plans.
“I do think there’s a way to do (the Geary BRT) that will make sure we can really build the type of transit system out here in the Richmond that we should have envisioned many, many years ago. I also have been a huge proponent of the Transit Effectiveness Project,” Chiu said. “We do have in a lot of parts of the City an awful lot of bus stops, particularly when we get into the downtown part of San Francisco, which I represent. I happen to have two bus stops on my block. We’ve got to figure out a more efficient way to do that.”
Green Party candidate Terry Baum also supports both Muni projects.
“We need transit so great, you don’t even want your car. The future of this planet depends on us getting out of our cars more and more. We know that. We want to have this beautiful little jewel of a planet with good air to breath and the oceans not washing over whole continents for our children and our grandchildren. One of the things we have to do is to have truly great public transit so we are living in a more sustainable way.”
SF Supervisor John Avalos supports both plans but thinks the TEP should be implemented first.
“We need a Bus Rapid Transit system along Geary Boulevard. I support that idea,” Avalos said. “I think that’s more of a medium-term solution and I do support the Transit Effectiveness Project as well. There are so many solutions to our needs around transit in the TEP that it needs to get enacted right away.”
Public Defender Jeff Adachi was the only candidate at the forum to call for a third option: a Muni light rail line going down Geary Boulevard.
“I think it would really help the businesses along Geary if we had a light rail. That’s really a concern because people don’t come out here as much as they should. You’ve got great businesses out here, including restaurants. You saw that with the (Outside Lands) festival and all the folks that were out in this area, utilizing services and patronizing businesses. We need to have more of that and the only way to do that is to have a dedicated light rail.”
To help spur economic growth along the Geary Boulevard commercial corridor, between Arguello and 34th Avenue, three candidates, Avalos, Baum and Paul Currier, argued for amending the City Charter to start the creation of a city-owned bank.
“The idea of a community bank simply takes a City Charter motion and we need a California state charter as a county. That’s all and then we’re off to the races,” said Currier. “We need a small business development corporation that’s funded by our bank to handle our investments. We could go ahead and fund this plan right here with our own small business development program, which would help many districts.”
Baum concurs.
“Right now the Bank of America gets the profits from all of our pension funds. If we had that municipal bank we would get the profits. It could be lent to small businesses in the Rich­mond and also to individuals in San Francisco,” Baum said. “I also would start, as mayor, Clean Power SF. This would build all over the City very small installations of renewable power – wind and solar. We could start it right now if we had the political will. It could create up to a thousand new green jobs. It would pay for itself in 10 years and then the City would get the income from selling power to residents.”
Rees said she would push to eliminate some of the tax and permit burdens for small- and medium-sized businesses.
“I think it’s interesting people are talking about getting loans for small businesses. We need loans to pay for all the burdens that the City puts on us for licenses and permits,” said Rees. “We need to alleviate that burden on our businesses. I do agree with removing the employee payroll tax systemically across the City. We have to get much more consumer friendly about parking, and the way we manage parking. Our parking rates are too high.”
The forum was sponsored by the Planning Association for the Richmond, Richmond Reform Democratic Club, New America Media, Chinese American Voter Education Committee, Coalition to Save Ocean Beach, Friends of Sutro Heights Park and the Clement and Geary merchants’ associations.
Two candidates, Michela Alioto-Pier and SF Mayor Ed Lee, were invited to the forum but did not attend, citing previous commitments.

By Thomas K. Pendergast

Jennifer Chang and Lisa Dazols left their home in the Sunset District to embark on a year-long journey around the globe that will take them to three continents and two subcontinents, and through at least 17 countries and 24 cities, to find what they call “supergays.”

“Anyone who is gay and is out is taking a stand, whether or not they want to be, is an activist, in a way, because they’re doing something pretty radical,” said Dazols. “But, we would define supergay as someone who is doing something pretty extraordinary for the community, whether it be in the arts, in business and community organizing or non-profit work.”

For the next 12 months the couple will be traveling through Australia, Asia, India, Africa and South America, blogging on their website Out and Around about their adventures and the supergays they meet. Chang expects their experiences will change that definition to some extent.

“We realize that as we go abroad our definition of what a supergay might look like will change and be very different and what being “out” means in these countries can be very different than what it means in, say San Francisco,” Chang said. “So, I think our understanding and our definition of that will evolve as we travel.”

Dazols explained that they’re seeking role models for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

“We know that we have some role models but we still lack everyday people that our youth can look up to,” she said. “We also want to help decrease homophobia, so by telling peoples’ stories, by telling our own stories, we hope to familiarize people with everyday gay life. And we’d also like to raise issues about things that are going on in the developing world that we’re not too familiar with here in the U.S.

Chang said they plan to visit a lot of developing countries in the southern hemisphere.

“These are places that being gay you can face a lot of potential consequences and so we wanted to highlight issues in those countries,” she explained.

Dazols was a social worker in HIV counseling for the past decade and last worked in San Francisco General Hospital. Chang has taken a leave of absence from her job at EBay to go on the year-long journey.

“I think that we wanted to contribute in a bigger way,” said Dazols. “I know in my job I was doing a lot of band-aid work in terms of counseling and helping and I wanted to do something where a message of hope could get out on a bigger scale. That’s why I wanted to step out and try something new like this.”

Chang agrees.

“There’s a lot of depressing stories out there, especially with regard to the LGBT community, between suicides and bullying and all that,” Chang said. “We really want to focus on the positive stuff, you know, people who are living thriving and happy lives, people who are really pushing for change.”

They both acknowledge that they are hitting the road at a time when much seems to be changing in the LGBT community throughout the world, though they did not intentionally time their trip for that reason. It just worked out that way.

“In terms of timing, it just seems like every day, whether it’s New York passing same-sex marriage or the United Nations standing for human rights in terms of protecting gays and lesbians abroad, we feel like there’s so much to write about, so much to research and look into that we’re very fortunate,” Dazols said. “We’re very hopeful that in a short time we’ll be able to get married in California and life will be very different for our kids.”

Travel expenses are coming out of the couple’s savings but they plan to produce video interviews along the way for a short documentary film, which is only about half funded.

“We want to use this documentary after we come back, to speak about global gay issues,” said Chang.

The public can follow the adventures of the couple or make a donation toward their project by going to the website at www.outandaround.com.

Cars Sideswiped on 19th Avenue

By Thomas K. Pendergast

Eight months after lines were painted along the outer edges of traffic lanes on 19th Avenue to designate street parking, city officials are proclaiming the program a success. But, since the change and a crackdown on vehicles parking on a portion of the sidewalk, residents along the busy avenue have been getting their vehicles sideswiped.

This past May and June, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) painted edge lines all along 19th Avenue, in both directions, from Lincoln Way to Wawona Street, to designate legal parking areas along the busy thoroughfare.

Before then, many people parked their cars with a portion on the street and a portion on the sidewalk, to avoid getting their vehicles clipped by traffic on the busy avenue.

After the lines were painted, enforcement of the parking laws against blocking sidewalks began.

Sunset District Supervisor Carmen Chu indicated that although she’s sympathetic to the parking issues that residents face on 19th Avenue, there are others to consider, like disabled people. When she kicked off a publicity campaign to raise awareness about this issue about a year ago, she was joined by representatives from the Rose Resnick Lighthouse for the Blind, Independent Living Resource Center and Senior Action Network, all of whom were concerned that the cars on the sidewalk were blocking and impeding disabled and elderly people.

“All these things have been part of the greater conversation. It’s long been the practice to park on the sidewalk,” Chu said. “I completely understand that 19th Avenue is very narrow and sometimes people can get their side mirrors swiped off. The Department of Transportation (DPT) said there needs to be demarcation before they start to enforce the parking rules there, so that people would know where they could legally park. So, number one, it’s a safety issue and number two, we need to make sure that people with disabilities are able to use the sidewalk.”

Phillip Cory, a resident on the 1400 block of 19th Avenue, agrees that it’s a safety issue but not that the edge lines make anyone safer.

“I think it’s not safe because when you open your (driver’s side) door you step out into a really busy thoroughfare,” Cory said. “My car got totaled. It got rear ended a few months ago by a hit-and-run driver. We used to park with our tires on the sidewalk and we weren’t stepping out of our cars into traffic.”

Some people have suggested there is another motivation, however, that might have played a role in the crackdown. Money collected by DPT from parking tickets all goes to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority (SFMTA), which runs the bus system. To keep itself afloat financially, recently Muni cut service, redesigning routes and increasing parking meter hours. The transit agency keeps parking money revenue for its operations.

Judson True, a spokesperson for the SFMTA, denied that the crackdown had anything to do with making more money to run the bus system, and said that there are no quotas for tickets. To his knowledge, he said, no one is keeping track of how many tickets have been written for parking on the sidewalk on 19th Avenue or how much money the SFMTA has made from those tickets since the stepped-up enforcement began in June.

He noted that it’s never been legal to park half on the sidewalk, but before the edge lines were painted it also was not clear where cars should be parking. He estimated that before the crackdown, about two-thirds of the cars parked along the avenue were parked illegally on the sidewalk. He now estimates those cars at less than 10 percent.

So, although immediately after the edge lines were painted there was a sharp increase in ticketing for parking on the sidewalk, it’s probably not as much now.

“The purpose is changing the behavior and that’s been successful, as far as we’re concerned, and that’s the bottom line,” True said. “We don’t really need the level of enforcement that we did because essentially it’s a problem that’s been solved.”

Jason Jiang, a resident of the 1500 block of 19th Avenue, indicated that to him it was more a case of a solution looking for a problem.

“I think the situation beforehand wasn’t too bad. People parked on the sidewalk but it didn’t really block anyone and I don’t think it was a big issue because it was the vehicles of the owners who lived here,” Jiang said. “I don’t think it was blocked so much that a wheelchair can’t come by here.”

Jiang admitted that flyers were on cars up and down the avenue warning of the crackdown, but he added: “If your vehicle wasn’t parked on the street on that day, you didn’t receive the warning. We were all a bit surprised when they started giving out tickets because it was pretty sudden and a lot of people were very displeased about the policy, that they suddenly decide to draw a line and not have people park their vehicles safely.”

Anne Marie Nixon said she’s lived on the 2000 block of 19th Avenue for seven years.

“As far as I could see on my block the sidewalk’s always wide enough for anyone to go down them,” she said.

Nixon said so far she’s managed to avoid getting a ticket or getting her car clipped, but her housemate wasn’t so lucky about three months ago.

“His truck got crashed into. I guess in the middle of the night somebody sideswiped it and drove off. He was parked within that white line, legally. It was a pickup truck so he had to replace its bed because the whole side of it was ripped open.”

Patrick Keelan, who lives on 19th Avenue near Taraval Street, said he had no warning about the crackdown. Instead, he found out about it when he got a ticket. He also thinks his upstairs neighbors got their car sideswiped a couple of months ago.

“One day I heard a loud crash and I could hear the guys upstairs running around and cussing.”

Later, he noticed their car had been damaged on 19th Avenue, on the side nearest to traffic.