THE DAY AFTER
I try to avoid the city these days because it's hell to park--if you can find a parking space and not get a ticket for the 2 grand they charge for a half-hour; I hate all the dust too from the construction; the restaurants are mostly great, well, maybe not this one for a while. That said, I had business to take care of on Tuesday and had to trek into the heart of darkness; Market and Montgomery, and you saw a saddened look on everyone's faces. At least it looked that way as the city by the bay reckoned with the sudden death of its mostly popular mayor, Ed Lee.
Walking around town near North Beach and the Financial district I felt a certain malaise; it was earie and almost surreal. Like everyone walking on the street went about their business but you could definitely feel a sad vibe. I know this may sound a bit out of the loop but it reminded me of the time when Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were murdered by Dan White. That horrible day --the Monday after Thanksgiving in 1978; remember, the city was just getting over the horror of the Jonestown massacre and then the awfulness at City Hall. It was the darkest two weeks in San Francisco history; at least in my lifetime nothing even remotely came close to the creepiness of Jonestown and the Moscone-Milk assassinations so soon after. It took a lot of time to heal the wounds; a city emotionally wrecked and broken.
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*I wonder if Herb Caen would have liked Ed Lee. Oh I'm sure he would have liked him personally but given Caen's often lamenting columns of the "Manhattanization of San Francisco", I think Caen would have blown his stack over SF, 2017. Have you noticed that Salesforce Tower, as impressive as it is, has totally obscured the Transamerica Pyramid? I don't think Herb would have liked that nor the sudden irrelevancy of the Bank of America building. I don't want to get pseudo political here and it's way to early to begin ripping Mr. Lee --I'm just saying I don't think the universal love affair will remain eternal. The construction mess; the homeless problem (Lee wasn't alone here); the takeover of the techies; all under Lee's watch made him less than perfect.
*What really annoys the hell out of me are reporters doing live shots at City Hall trying their best to look sad and show emotion. It's fake and phony. Especially ones who weren't even born in 1978 and have no sense of how it really felt here. That's why I criticize KGO-TV (which did a great job of coverage) for its curious pick to send Jessica Castro to City Hall. Sorry, but it didn't look good --Wayne Freedman or Lyanne Melendez would have been a much wiser choice.
*I've heard the new top of the hour news sounder on CBS Radio (via KCBS) and it sounds terrible. Why can't they leave well enough alone or is this Entercom trying to screw things up early.
*How many times do I have to say it? John Rothmann is too smart for the morons who run KGO Radio. They don't have the intellectual prowess to see that Rothmann has a huge following; maybe they haven't gathered the fact that this region has a big PBS legion and that, for the most part, a slightly more erudite radio broadcast audience; Rothmann is top-tier on all levels and can really move the meter too, something the forkacta schmucos don't get. No wonder their parent company has filed Chapter 11; they don't know how to run radio stations, let alone any business.
*KNBR: "Your Uber and Intern Sports Leader."
*The Blue Box? Just be patient.
*Ronn Owens schmoozed with Willie Brown on the radio this morning and it was good, old-fashioned Ronn and Willie talking Ed Lee and politics; of course it would have sounded better had not the 810,000 commercials wrecked an otherwise fluid fifteen minutes.
*A reader said this --"good thing Ronn wasn't on the air Tuesday; he might have had the coroner read the mattress commercial."
*I didn't realize Megan Goldsby and Jon Bristow have become the voices of KCBS Radio.
*Can George Rask sound any more monologue on his traffic reports? Dear God.
*A real entertaining voice of reason on Bay Area Radio: the eternally cool Jack Kulp of 98.1 FM 'The Breeze.'
*By the time you read this KQED will have a small revolt on their hands because someone HUGE in marketing recent got screwed and they're going full on loyahs.
*No one has even remotely groped me since 1996 and 'scuse me, I'm a little pissed off. Bloggers are sexy too.
I happen to catch Ms.Castro on TV in front of City Hall, I remember looking at my cat and saying, what the hell is she doing out of her cage? Phony downer look isn't a good look for Ms Castro.
ReplyDeleteHer continuous blinking was downright strange.
Delete1996? more like 1986!
ReplyDeleteCBS Radio Network (which includes the TOH news) wasn’t part of the Entercom deal - just the radio stations.
ReplyDeleteKGO-TV should have had Ed's brother, Vic, reporting from City Hall.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Melissa Caen went a little overboard with the mock emotion during her live shot (on the Lee story).
ReplyDeleteDidn't see it, but I can't think of a better reporter to handle this sensitive matter.
DeleteRothman is smart but he puts me to sleep. Sorry Rich. I can handle like 10-15 minutes of him but it's droning.
ReplyDeleteRich said:
ReplyDelete*I've heard the new top of the hour news sounder on CBS Radio (via KCBS) and it sounds terrible. Why can't they leave well enough alone or is this Entercom trying to screw things up early.
I couldn't agree more...I think I heard some other new sounders also which I did not like...If it aint broke don't fix it...
Sad faces over the sudden demise of Mr. Lee are utterly not comparable to the pall over this city when Moscone and Milk were assassinated. I'll always remember that moment in front of the SF Ethics committee, when Lee was hustled out by his security. The questions from Shep Kopp in the Mirkarimi matter had become way too intense. Please don't tell me that Lee wasn't a politician, or just a fellow forced to be mayor. He was an interim mayor who swore he wasn't interested in the full time gig. He was lying..simple.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, not only were the Moscone and Milk murders completely unexpected and shocking, it was anathema and diametrically opposed to the direction the city was headed. I believe Dan White was intentionally pushed beyond his limits by those in power at the time since it did not appear that kind of violence was in his nature. They just expected him to "shut up and go away." It's very difficult as a native to sit back and see your city overtaken by limp-wristed, weak-willed liberal interlopers with no respect for tradition. I'm sorry he resorted to murder, but I can certainly understand his dismay.
DeleteI knew Harvey Milk. YOu are no Harvey Milk . He had much more courage than you will ever know. Dan White, you seem to say, had a right to kill two people,because he was a "native"?, because his "tradition" was a certain kind of sex?
Delete"earie"??? seriously?
ReplyDeleteJessica did a good job and was the perfect choice. If not, you want to put Reggie and Natasha in the field showing fake tears. :(
ReplyDeleteIf Rothmann puts you to sleep you obviously don't care about sober intelligent knowledgeable analysis of the issues of the day.
ReplyDeleteWho do you listen to Ethan Bearman, Chip Franklin? They jump from subject to subject and usually talk about nothing, or not much, of importance.