Excellent commentary on the case of the drunk-driver who killed cyclist Ethan Boyes on Arguello Boulevard in the Presidio. Apparently driving drunk and fast enough to bounce of a curb and cross the road to kill a cyclist is not "gross negligence" - an assessment that bewilders me.

https://sf.streetsblog.org/2024/03/18/guest-commentary-the-problem-with-the-prosecution-of-the-driver-who-killed-ethan-boyes

#DUI

Hellllo! @SafeStreetRebel is hosting a Slow Streets ride through the Presidio on Sunday March 24! Should be a beautiful ride.

Meet at 1 at Civic Center Plaza, roll at 1:30.

Details https://www.safestreetrebel.com/blog/presidi-slow

Please share!

"Autonomous vehicles in San Francisco are exempt from traffic tickets if there is nobody in the driver’s seat, according to the San Francisco police department (SFPD), underscoring ongoing legal and safety concerns surrounding the expanding technology."

Well, there you go. In America corporations can break laws and even kill with impunity because they aren't human persons, they're corporate persons. The only avenue that remains to provide justice for their victims are private lawsuits.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/jan/04/self-driving-cars-exempt-traffic-tickets-san-francisco-autonomous-vehicle

Why you should tell your children about vanishing #fireflies

I’ll be telling my son stories about the wild lives that existed in the places we go before anyone thought to call them “Maine” or “California.” If he won’t inherit an ecosystem with all its parts, he’ll have a shot at reassembly.

Advice by Michael J. Coren, August 29, 2023

"The #PenobscotNation is among the oldest continuous governments in the world. Some of its members still recall stories of Atlantic salmon filling #Maine’s rivers and of alewife, or river herring, swimming upriver by the uncounted millions, says Chuck Loring Jr., the Penobscot Nation’s director of natural resources. Last year, fewer than 1,400 salmon returned to the state.

"Loring, who manages forests, game and fisheries across 121,000 acres, doesn’t think in decades in his work. He looks back centuries. 'We have a seven-generation approach,' he says. Unlike most commercial timber harvesters, he’s aiming to create an old-growth forest like those that existed hundreds of years ago across Maine but now cover only 0.05 percent of the state.

"Instead of cutting trees every 30 to 40 years, Loring plans to grow them for a century or more. And he’s not optimizing for wood. 'We’re one of the biggest timber tribes,' says Loring, 'but the most highly regarded goal is water quality.'

"For the #Penobscot, the goal is restoring a landscape and its inhabitants’ place in it — from fish to moose to future members of the Penobscot Nation. 'That’s one of our goals getting into the school, and talking about everything we do,' says Loring. 'The tribe has made ensuring a viable forest in the future the priority, even if we’re not generating income from the forest.'

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/08/29/shifting-baselines-maine-forests/

#Extinction #SevenGenerations #Maine #MaineForests

I noticed that the wave bike racks in front of the Ferry Building are now gone, and partially replaced by circle racks. Assuming they keep installing circles so there's no net loss, this is good.

Now do all the other wave racks in SF.

Our obsession with the fast movement and storage of cars on our public streets is killing our parents, our children, our neighbors.

Now is the time to pedestrianize Valencia Street.