FiveThirtyEight Podcast Comes to San Francisco

It's Pride season here in San Francisco, but this post isn't about Pride.

A few weeks ago, I found out that one of the podcasts I listen to was coming to San Francisco and I posted on Facebook to see if someone wanted to join me.  And one of my favorite students/advisees, Nick J. of all time joined me.

The FiveThirtyEight podcast taping at the Herbst Theater.  This is why I moved back to San Francisco, to participate and enjoy these events that don't come to any other city.

The podcast panelists.  Topics included Brexit (this was being taped on the day of the vote in the UK), the introduction of Nate Silver's upcoming models on predicting the US election and a trivia round.  I have to state that Jody Avirgan, on the right, is an excellent moderator.  Something about the way he kept the discussion going really stood out.

Nate Silver checking the Brexit results.....when he announced that Leave had prevailed, we were all stunned.  The Q&A time at the end specifically sought out Brits for their perspective.

So Silver talked a lot about the upcoming Electoral College map, but the one he wanted to point out is that Arizona, a potential swing state, is an interesting state. If Clinton wins Arizona, she can win the election while still losing Florida, Pennsylvania AND Ohio.

One of the interesting points that the panelists talked out about is how Trump isn't necessarily popular with religious conservatives, like Mormons (of which there are a LOT in Arizona) and how we might need to start separating religious conservatism with cultural (we want things the way they were) conservatism as two separate factors.

So there was a quiz battle between Silver and Harry Enten (in the middle).  See how well you can do.  Answers posted below. 

At the end another FiveThirtyEight reporter, Farai C., came up to talk about her experiences in reporting on the ground and meeting with those in the Midwest and how they are moving towards Trump.

My bingo card.......these cards were BRILLIANT.  Overall, it was a totally fun night.  Nerding out like this....

Answers:
1) 37,100 (about)
2) 1960
3) Never
4) 11 (California, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia and New Jersey)
5) 1876 -- Rutherford B. Hayes vs. Samuel Tilden (81.8%)

The Promised Land (COSTCO).....Finally!

Since our return to the States, Onions and I have COVETED a Costco card, but been too cheap to pay for a membership.  Patience paid off.  With the switch to Visa, Costco sent my father an EXTRA card, which we inherited!  And today, Onions first day off of work, COSTCO RUN!

We didn't buy much, but it was knowing that we finally COULD that made it so special.  We're Costco "members!"

But we all know...it was about the hot dogs.

Civic Engagement Part 2: Bus Lanes

Since I've returned to San Francisco I've become a devoted reader of the Bernalwood blog, which reports on all things Bernal Heights.  I find out so much of what is happening in the "hood" on this blog.  Some of it humorous, some of it about people and residents of the area, but most importantly, it reports on civic issues that affect all us residents.  This, recently has been an issue that has stirred up amazing amounts of controversy and debate.

The new "red carpet" bus and taxi only lanes on Mission from 30th north up through 14th St (or even further north).  Photo stolen from the Bernalwood blog.

Reading the blog, I found out that there was going to be a community meeting about these red lanes held at the Mission Cultural center at 25th and Mission last night. I don't have much of an opinion about these lanes, but if I were to fall into a constituency, I would be a bus rider who finds that when I do ride the Mission buses they certainly SEEM to move faster and feel like a less frustrating experience.  But I went to the meeting thinking that a few people would show up, but I just wanted to hear what other people had to say, AND, it's part of my summer of civic engagement.  Well, let's just say "a few people" turned out to be standing room only and upwards of 250 to 300 people.  But as I expected, the discussion was heated.

The meeting started late by 15 minutes and the first to speak was the district supervisor.  He stated he wanted to organize and invite the San Francisco Metropolitan Transit Authority (aka MTA which runs MUNI) to hear what the community had to say.  Then the head of the MTA spoke, said the same thing. Then the project manager of the Mission corridor project spoke for about 15 minutes giving us the history and goals of the project.  These bus/taxi only lanes were implemented with the intention of providing better bus service (in addition to the lanes, stops were removed and consolidated as well) and to improve pedestrian safety along the Mission corridor.  A huge change is that there are NO locations to take make a left turn from Mission.  In addition, there are forced right turns at certain intersections, the biggest being at Cesar Chavez, pictured above.  So the two representatives of the MTA were Caucasian men in suits, obviously well educated and the project manager looked like he might have been, at most 25 years old. This is just data for something that I will mention later on.

Once these three introductory speakers were done, it became open mic.  If you wanted to speak, you submitted a speaker card and were called up and got two minutes.  For the first 20 speakers, it was a civil discourse.  Anyone in the audience that was out of line or tried to interrupt a speaker was handled by the audience and attendees.

About a third of the speakers were like me, people who generally don't drive (or have to drive on Mission, or if like me, when I do drive North/South, I take Guerrero or South Van Ness) and take the bus and have found the the new lanes a boon to our bus riding experience.  However, I did come to hear about other perspectives and I got what I came for.

If there was one theme, it was that MTA did not inform all stakeholders about the changes and they came as a sudden surprise.  Granted I'm one of those people who considers myself somewhat well informed but these red lanes were a surprise to me.  I probably wasn't paying attention, but I don't think that there was much outreach or if it was done, the MTA wasn't exactly thorough.

There was someone who spoke up for the elderly for whom the changes to the bus lanes weren't the real issue, but it was the reduction in bus stops, therefore they had to walk further to board a bus.

A taxi cab driver, a constituency that felt uninformed, requested that at somewhere on Mission there be a place where the can take a left turn.

One speaker accused the MTA of using this to make money.  Turns out that there aren't any places to drop off people and so any double parking is automatically ticketed.  There is a sense that a LOT of tickets are being issued for this as well as driving in the red lanes, which is sometimes unavoidable.

A number of speakers were from the merchants association which say they are feeling the economic pinch.  They claim that there are fewer parking spaces and that it is harder for people to drive to the Mission to spend money.  No access means no money and the effect is on their bottomline.

Apparently UBER drivers, who technically aren't taxis are using the red lanes.

The forced right turns onto Cesar Chavez is "dividing" the Mission into two.

There was a sentiment that "change is hard" and the right now this is painful to adjust to new ways of moving around.  Don't give up.  A piggy back on this is that anyway we can get people out of cars is a good thing.

Someone suggested moving the buses over to South Van Ness.

THEN it inevitably happened.  A speaker came up and pointed out that the two MTA guys were Caucasian and didn't represent the neighborhood.  This person then, in essence, stated that the MTA is out to "kill" business on Mission, and in the pockets of those, leading the effort for future redevelopment and gentrification. And there was the word that I knew would eventually come up and the room exploded.  It was stated (by someone else) that was this saving of time on the bus worth the inevitable gentrification and displacement of long time residents of the Mission District? 

At this point, I sensed that the meeting was going to devolve into a session where people were going to vent about the changes in the Mission and it would no longer be a discussion about the bus lanes and changes to transit flow along the Mission Avenue corridor, so I left.  Perhaps the meeting managed to right itself into its original intent, but the seal had been broken.

It's a hard thing to watch as San Francisco changes right before everyone's eyes.  Some people are affected and I have no solution. 

 

Equity and Transparency

I haven't stepped into a voting booth since 1996.  I have voted, but since I moved to San Francisco back in 1998, I have voted by mail.  When I moved abroad, I switched my residency back to the State of Washington and King County allowed by to receive my ballot by email, vote, print out my ballot and fax it in from both Italy and China. Color me impressed at the ease at which I could vote with a bit of effort and foresight (registering as an absentee voter!).  So, this past May, I again received by election guide and voting materials in the mail and I'm perusing the guide and the City of County of San Francisco is looking for clerks to staff the precincts and will pay $145 for the day. Since I was out of school on June 7th (California Primary Day), I went down to City Hall and took a 20 minute computer test which gave me some rules to read and master, make sure I could alphabetize and put numbers in ascending numerical order.  During my interview, they asked if I had a car and I suddenly was promoted to a precinct inspector and would return for a three and a half hour training class the following Saturday, three days before the election. On that day, I was assigned a inspector wheel-y bag in which I held the ballots, voter registration booklet as well as other important papers (most importantly a custody transfer sheet) and took them home.  I had some 2000 ballot cards in my possession.  This is how I found myself at in front of Fire Station #29 at the northern base of Potrero Hill at 5:45AM the morning of June 7th with the inspector wheel-y bag.

As I recount my experience, what I want to point out is how many of the acts and requirements I had to perform and attest with my signature to were all in the name of equity of voting and transparency of the system.  You, like me, will be impressed at ALL of the thought and care that has been put into this election system and hope that where you vote cares so much about the integrity of the process as the City of County of San Francisco.

6AM  My three assigned clerks, one a late-20's (maybe early 30's) French guy with green hair, a Chinese-American rising high school senior girl from San Francisco and another Chinese-American graduate of an independent school here in San Francisco and lives in Oakland all arrive and start setting up the station.  We have to set up the voting "booths" and the clerks get the ballots (ballots are translated into Chinese, English, Spanish and Tagalog)  set up, the signs teaching people how to vote in the languages above as well as providing facsimile ballots for prefer Korean and Japanese. One clerk is out posting the voter bill of rights as well as signs pointing to the fire station polling place. I as the inspector have to set up in electronic vote counting machine, which requires me to match security codes on the plastic ties keeping machine doors closed as well as zippered bags. I break them open and then have to attach temporary plastic ties and record those numbers as well.  I have to have all the clerks attest and sign a sheet of paper stating that the reader is at 0 and that there are no ballots in the machine. 

The second machine I need to set up is the touchscreen voting machine. Every voter is allowed to use an assisted voting device and in this case for those who want, they can use a touch screen voting machine. This machine also has to be set up so the voter can get a private printout of their vote for their eyes only.  In addition, this machine comes with an audio assistance machine as well so those who are hard of sight can also vote by holding a device in their hand and wearing headphones.

The voter registration table is also full of items that deal with issues of equity. For instance, magnifying glasses are provided, special pens that help those who have arthritic hands as well as signs in all the four languages are on the table.

7AM: Polls open.  The clerks and I take the oath of pollworkers to provide assistance and to not influence voters.  Between 7AM and 830AM is the rush of morning voters.  We have, on the roster around 1,200 registered voters in the precinct.  About 40% have already been issued a mail ballot and it's noted in the roster.  Since this is a primary, we have ballot cards for the following parties: Democratic, Republican, Green, Libertarian, American Independent and the Peach & Freedom. However, we also have other ballot cards.  Some people are registered as Non Party Voters, however, the Libertarian, American Independent and Democratic Parties all have invited Non Party Members to vote in their primary.  But a Non Party Voter can also just vote unaffiliated and therefore not vote in the presidential primary. Therefore we have 10 different voting cards on the table in three different languages (all ballots are a combo of Chinese/English, Spanish/English or Tagalog/English) that a voter can choose from.

VOTING PROCESS:
The easiest to process is a voter from anywhere in San Francisco, comes in with a completed mail ballot. We check to see it's signed and sealed. They put it in a ballot box and get an "I voted" sticker.  Total time?  10 seconds.

So a voter comes in and gives their last name (no ID required and that surprises almost everyone) and we look them up in the roster.  Their name is there, they haven't been issued a mail ballot, they agree with their party registration it's the most straightforward voter.  The clerks hand them a blue ballot secrecy folder in which their ballot and ballot receipt number inside and they voter goes off to vote.  Once done, the voter then puts the card into the electronic vote counter and if a happy sound is made, they get an I voted sticker.

Oh, if it were all so easy!  So, as voter comes in and asks for ballot but they have already been sent a mail ballot.  A couple of options.  The voter can go back, get their ballot fill it in and drop it off.  Bring in the ballot, surrender the mail ballot (by writing VOID on all sides of each ballot card and putting it in the ballot box) and then vote regularly. Or they get a provisional ballot, which simply means their ballot is NOT counted electronically and is counted by hand at City Hall and processed later.  It turns out that many people do not like the idea of voting provisionally and not having their vote processed immediately. However, they vote provisionally unhappily.

Some voters come in and their names are NOT on our precinct voter roster. If they know they are registered in San Francisco, we can redirect them to their precinct or they can vote provisionally at our precinct.  I would say that most people went to their home precincts but some couldn't make it back and voted provisionally.

Some voters were from other counties (Alameda, San Mateo, San Diego) and we had to explain to them that the only votes that would count on their ballot is the presidential primary and the vote for US Senator.  Otherwise all the San Francisco specific elections, initiative and propositions would not be counted.  In addition, their votes would eventually be transferred to their home county and used in those results and not in San Francisco's results.  We had a number people who did this and they again vote provisionally.

Some voters come in and are unhappy with their party affiliation. For instance, someone is registered in the Republican party, but wants to vote in the Democratic primary.  They again, have to vote provisionally.  Seriously, I would NOT want to be one of those people who has to figure out and process the provisional votes at City Hall.


The most interesting and heart warming case was a couple guys who had never voted before and knew that they weren't registered to vote but wanted to vote anyway.  We can't turn anyone away so they voted provisionally and took selfies with their ballots.  Their votes won't count, BUT they filled out voter registration cards.

We even had one voter request and use the assisted voting machine.  One of my supervisors was actually there when it occurred and watched me struggle through the instructions of how to get it to work, but we did it.  At the end, he told me it was the first time he had ever seen that machine used as well!

Throughout the day, elections inspectors are checking in and seeing how things are going.  The Department of Elections called to see how many votes we had processed.  A technician came by to make sure our machines were working. The fireman in the station were coming in and out on calls (the guy who backs in the fire truck drives that thing like a BOSS).  And a American With Disabilities Act inspector came by to check the claim that the slope into the station was compliant for wheelchair users.

8PM Yes, 13 hours later, polls close.  The last voter, provisional from a different county starts voting at 7:58PM.  And now the real craziness begins.  Clerks are counting unused ballots, counting the many different items in the ballot box (voided cards, vote by mail envelopes, provisional ballots) and everyone is tallying.  As the inspector, I am in charge of transferring the electronic tabulations from the machine as well as the assisted voting machine.  I get a printout from the electronic voting processing machine (had 130 voters -- 10%) go through during the day and the clerks and myself have to sign it.  The memory cards and the printout summarizing the results are secured by an agent of the Department of Parking and Transportation.  He seals the bubble bag and I sign a form transferring custody of those items to him and he goes off to City Hall.

Then, the clerks have packed up all the unused ballots, the provisional ballots, voided ballots all in different colored bags.  I pack out the ballots from the electronic voting machine, the printer off the assisted voting machine and the roster (again all in different colored bags).  These bags get put into the wheel-y bag and I sign over the custody transfer of these to a Sheriff of the City and County of San Francisco.  Then he takes off.

The clerks and I clean up and I have to post three items outside on the wall for anyone to come by and see what happened that day.  I post the summarized printout of the electronic voting.  I post a copy of the number of ballots we were issued, how many we used, how many votes we received by mail, how many voided ballots, how many provisional ballots were used.  And lastly, I post a sheet stating that we had no mechanical issues or any irregularities in voting.

We breakdown all the tables and voting booths. Pack up all the supplies and make sure we leave the items in a nice pile for pick up.  The fireman were out on a call and so I got to close the big fire door.  Turn off the lights and go home.  Exit time: 9:25PM.

It's a fascinating experience and I'm still amazed at the amount of those and planning that goes into running an election and to think that there are so many different moving parts from each precinct having a different ballot because they might be in a different assembly district or congressional district and having to take care of those details.....I say KUDOS to the Department of Elections here in San Francisco.

Lodi Italian Fest

The Kelly's were back down this weekend and invited us out to the Lodi Italian Festival!  We've now mastered the drive and can get out there in about an hour and a half.

Calamari, Gnocchi al pesto and a Tiramisu Smoothie!

Wine! Bouncy Houses for the kids! Cooking Demonstrations!  Music and Entertainment! Salami Toss?

....and Bingo!  We sat down, I bought a couple cards and we were playing.

After a tense 10 minutes, I24 was called, Onions completed the "Z" and yelled (after some coaxing from the caller) "BINGO"

$10 turned into $57.  Onions flashing the Jacksons!

After a couple hours at the fest (and a game of bocce) we drove back to the Kelly's.  This was our first time to meet Alex who had a great time with the astroblaster and squirt guns.

Cherry Season!  Unfortunately the sorters weren't in use that day...but we got to take home some free cherries!

Graduation Day -- MEDA

Back in January, Onions began classes at City College. One day, the Mission Economic Development Agency came by to recruit for a Bilingual Bank Teller Program.  Yesterday, was graduation day.

Onions had been raving about the teacher, Olivia, and she helped the students get online resumes and to practice their interview skills.  In addition, she has made contacts with banks and each of the graduates has a few interviews lined up.

Each student came up and gave a short speech in appreciation of the program and to give thanks.

Diploma time!

Surprise!  They were called up again.

Turns out that one of the parts of the program that funders provide is a stipend ($500) to help graduates purchase business attire.

Onions was the only graduate to speak Chinese (turns out he'd be even MORE desirable if he spoke Cantonese, but Mandarin is a selling point),  four are Spanish speakers and one is from Syria and speaks Arabic

Olivia, Onions, Edwin from El Salvador and Angelina

Turns out Onions invited a friend from one of his City College classes, Wilson, also from El Salvador.  Who would ever have guessed a year ago, Onions would have TWO friends from El Salvador?  The program is great and fingers crossed for his interviews in the upcoming weeks.

Obscura Day -- A Walk About Trash

I'm a huge fan of the website Atlas Obscura and every year they have a day where they host these events (Obscura Days) to expose people to the interesting things in their own neighborhoods.  This year, being in San Francicso, I decided to check out one.  Well, the only interesting one (Seattle had many cool ones...bummer for me) was one of the self-guided walks through a neighborhood I never go to (Bayview-Hunters Point) about San Francisco's self-imposed challenge to go trash free by 2020.

So I dragged Onions out to Bayview (ooohh, he was not happy or interested) and we took a walking tour.

The tour started INSIDE the Walgreen's there.  It had us contemplate how much trash there is in the world and then showed us the CRV redemption for the plastic bottles and cans.  It talked about how California is taking the lead on charging for plastic bags.

Turns out the most interesting part of the walk was simply exploring a neighborhood I (and probably many San Franciscans) deem as "unsafe" and a "no go zone."  Neighborhood parks were the interesting part of the walk, the discussion of SF's, green, blue and black trash cans...not so interesting.

I did learn that there is a brewery out in this neck of the woods (hipsters drinking beer, playing bean bag toss) but we did learn that since businesses were being charged by weight to haul away their trash and organics, this brewery gives away it's post beer grains to farmers who come and haul it away.

Here's the remnants of the huge power plant that was once here in Hunter's Point.  It's still being remediated.

Development is happening as well.

But this shoreline has historically been a dumping ground.  Some of it has been reclaimed and turned into Heron's Head Park, but here's where all the things we throw into the blue (recycling) bin end up.  This is Recology's processing plant.

The old Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard.

From the end of Heron's Head Point.

The city's goats, who help clear brush.

Old dirt and gravel that will end up being recycled and used elsewhere......it ends up here in this neighborhood.

An old trainyard.....

Yosemite -- Hetch Hetchy

On our last day, driving out through the NW part of Yosemite, we drove to see the Hetch Hetchy Valley, a parallel valley to Yosemite.

After the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, the city managed to get the US Government to allow the valley to be dammed to provide water and electricity for the city.

The resulting reservoir is eight miles long.