MW Mobile Blog: July 2010

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Dinner Time

Nazdrovya

We were concerned about Roy's mental state after watching the beat down the A's put on his White Sox at close quarters, so we grilled some steaks to buoy his spirits.

Tuscan marinated steaks grilling on the terrace

Putting Roy to work

Salad Caprese with heirloom tomatoes and fresh baratta mozzarella -
accomapnied by a Villa Antinori Toscana

Steak and potatoes

Roy is drowning his sorrows on the terrace after a rather poor performance by the pale hose. Sloppy defense, errors, poor hitting, and stranded runners all contributed to the 6-4 defeat. I guess that is the kind of baseball one should expect to see in the minor leagues.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Threets is warming up...

...a little late.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Front Row!

Sox are in town, so Roy is treating his uncle to a front row - visitor bullpen - seat at the Coliseum. I'm not sure what they call this game. It is a lot like baseball - but with a weird rule where all the players do not have to hit. Reminds me of tee-ball.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Sharp Park Budget Battle Beat Down

Sharp Park 16h adn 17th fairway from the berm

In a victory for rationality and common sense in San Francisco, The Board of Supervisors passed a budget with the Sharp Park Golf Course intact despite the disingenuous, misleading, and demonstrably false representations of those who seek to destroy the course.

Richard Harris of the San Francisco Public Golf Alliance summarizes the latest skirmish admirably in this dispatch from the front, included here in its entirety (embedded links added by MW) :

Dear fellow San Francisco Public Golf Alliance members,

Here is our latest update which includes some very good news. Thanks to all of you for your support!

1. Sharp Survives San Francisco's Budget Battle.

The SF Board of Supervisors on Tuesday July 20 adopted a final 2010-2011 budget that leaves intact funding for Sharp Park Golf Course. The vote was 10-1 to adopt the $6.5 Billion budget, with only Supervisor Chris Daly objecting. The Sharp Park issue was not mentioned by any Board member in the Full Board's public deliberations.

Golf opponents, led by the Center for Biological Diversity, argued in Budget Committee hearings in May and June that the golf course should be closed to make money available for social welfare, arts, and parks organizations and services; they were supported by a coalition of social services providers and some environmental organizations and a newspaper article, "Bleeding Green," which appeared on the cover of the June 2 SF Weekly. But Public Golf Alliance members and their allies defended their turf, with nearly 150 letters and e-mails to the Supervisors, and a dozen golf supporters who, on June 21 waited through a 5-hour Budget Committee meeting to give public testimony in support of the golf course. At the end of the day, the Supervisors agreed that it made no sense to close Sharp Park Golf Course.

Since April, 2009, when Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi opened the Close-Sharp-Park Campaign with a Board Resolution to study possible closure of the golf course, Sharp Park Golf Course has won the support of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Northern California Golf Association, World Golf Foundation, the Pacifica City Council, San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, Sons-in-Retirement, Pacifica Chamber of Commerce, the Sierra Club's Loma Prieta Chapter, Laborers' Local 261, and 4,500 new members of the Public Golf Alliance.

In December, 2009, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission and its Park, Recreation and Open Space Advisory Committee both approved the Rec and Park Department's six-month Sharp Park Study, which found that continued golf operations at Sharp Park would be compatible with restoration of habitat for the endangered species, and recommended restoration of both the natural habitat and the golf course.

With its July 20 Budget vote, the Board of Supervisors now joins the list of San Francisco governmental bodies that have heard and rejected the close-the-golf-course arguments of Center for Biological Diversity and its allies.

2. SF Supervisors Reject Proposed Charter Amendment to Change Selection Process for Rec & Park Commission

By a 6-5 vote, the Supervisors on Tuesday night also rejected a proposed Charter Amendment that would have split appointment-authority over the Recreation and Park Commission members between the Mayor's office and the Board of Supervisors. Commission members are currently, and historically, all appointed by the Mayor.

This means that this proposed charter amendment will not be placed by the Board on the November, 2010 election ballot. Both the SF Public Golf Alliance and the Neighborhood Parks Council wrote letters opposing the proposed charter amendment. Voting against the amendment were Supervisors David Chiu, Carmen Chu, Sean Elsbernd, Sophie Maxwell, Bevan Dufty, and Michaela Alioto-Pier; in favor were Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi, Chris Daly, David Campos, Eric Mar, and John Avalos.

THANKS TO ALL WHO HAVE WRITTEN LETTERS AND E-MAILS, ATTENDED PUBLIC MEETINGS, AND DONATED TIME, MONEY, EXPERTISE, AND EFFORT TO SAVE SHARP PARK GOLF COURSE.

WE HAVE AN ALISTER MACKENZIE GOLF COURSE FOR THE PEOPLE.
LET'S SAVE IT.
Richard Harris
San Francisco Public Golf Alliance
415-392-5431, ext. 203

The Golf War is not over of course. Despite being shown to be wrong on the science, wrong on public support, and wrong on the operational budget for the golf course - we can look for the WEBLEEDU cult (Wild Equity Biodiversity Litigation for Ecological Extortion and Deep Untruths) to look for another venue to press their case.

No one can say for certain where the next front will open up, but it is likely we'll see more opposition when funding is secured for the capital expenditures to provide enhanced habitat for the endangered frog and snake per the Park and Rec Department recommendations. Litigation is in the WEBLEEDU DNA, so this will likely not be over until the legal battle is joined. They'll lose any litigation just as long the The City shows some backbone, calls their bluff and stands up to them in court.

Perhaps it won't end until the people and organizations that contribute to WEI and CBD ask whether their ecological contributions are better spent on something other than the destruction of a beloved landmark golf course that has existed in harmony with the endangered frog and snake for over 70 years.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Shimo

Nephew Roy is in town to do battle in some top secret internecine union battle. His first visit to The City since I took him on a power tour as a high school senior five years ago. We went to my favorite sushi bar in SF - Shimo on Clement. Will update with more sushi porn pics later.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

UPDATE:
Roy claims that all "Chicago iPhone-toting progressives" like sushi. I am unconvinced. Shimo has been our sushi standard in SF for over 20 years. Consistent high quality with an unpretentious neighborhood ambiance. The prices have gone up over that time, but it is still a favorite. I thought I should take this opportunity to expand Roy's sushi horizons. As promised - some sample Sushi porn from the evening:

ama ebae

tempura shrimp heads

maguro and hamachi

ankimo (monkfish liver)

caterpillar roll

saba

MW RECOMMENDED: Shimo

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Only one hole left

Thank god. They should just shoot me, put me out of my misery and throw by body in the frog lagoon. Fortunately no skins game today. I'd have been bankrupted.

UPDATE:
Due to the fragile state of some of the delicate psyches involved in this round, we (by general consensus) decided to break from our usual convention and not post the actual final scores for all of the world to see. Trust me - this is best.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

17th tee

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Beer Hole

12th hole - some swing comparisons. We competed for the two extra beers on this hole. For the second week in a row, I do not get to drink the extra beer I brought to the course. This is so wrong.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Bob's birdie putt

As I recall, this was on 10 or 11...

For reasons I have yet to determine - the upload from the Pre to blogger does not work with video clips. So, because I knew this was important to Bob, I dug the clip out of the pre and added appropriate musical accompaniment to Bob finally overcoming the yips for a fine bird.

Somewhere after the turn...

BP 47*
RZ 50*
RE 51
MW 60

*DQ for recording wrong score.

Yes I'm having a bad day. Two 8's and two 9's on the front.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

A couple of sand shots on 6

We both got out. That is all I need to say about this hole.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Roy tee shot on 4

He does not like his form.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Ricks approch on 3

Not a bad tee shot, but 30 yards short of the ball in the fairway in this picture - which is my tee shot

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Moment of impact

2nd tee - Bob is proud of his form

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Live blogging Sharp Park

Larry, Moe, Curly

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Allegro Romano

Lorenzo photographed with visiting celebrities

My abalone dive buddy Doug and his wife Peg were in town for the weekend. We took them our favorite neighborhood place - Allegro Romano. Lorenzo took care of us (as usual) and we enjoyed an evening of excellent company, great food and a fine chianti.