June 8, 2007
Chris Daly Backs Down (Blue Angels)
Quick, look out your window! Are pigs flying? Mark this day on your calendar, because pugnacious Supervisor Chris Daly has actually backed down on something he's proposed (other than running for mayor, that is).
After getting inundated with calls from the media (presumably right-leaning) about his statement the other day about introducing a resolution before the Board of Supes calling for a permanent ban on the Blue Angels' noisy air shows over San Francisco, Daly's conceded defeat and decided not to bring up the issue next week after all.
Why?, asked the Examiner. "Because of YOU, I haven't gotten any work done today, and because of YOU, I am not going to introduce it on Tuesday [the next Board of Supervisors' meeting]." (emphasis added by us, because we like imagining Daly snarling this into a phone as he chomps down on a cigar on the other side of his mouth, and then SLAMS down the receiver! The phone makes a little ringing noise from the impact.)
We've checked in with SF PartyParty on this issue, because we're not really sure how to go on this. Why is it okay to ban Halloween (or the How Weird festival, or any other of the bazillion street parties that Gavin Newsom has cancelled), but not okay to ban the Blue Angels? If fun-loving progressives want their fun-loving urban life street parties, shouldn't they in return support other people's parties, even if they're in the Marina and kind of loud and maybe in favor of a lifestyle they don't support (the military)? In exchange, can the Newsom-supporting Blue Angel-loving citizens out there help scruffy Mission-dwelling folks keep street fairs open too? Deal?
Picture of the Blue Angels from 2005 off flickr by kumasawa.
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I, personally, love the Blue Angels show- like... to no end.
I read that Supervisor Daly has decided not to introduce the resolution next Tuesday. Where did you find that he had backed down on the issue?
Hi Joe Lynn -- sorry, I was probably unclear in the post. By "backed down," I meant that Daly had backed down on introducing the resolution on Tuesday, not that he'd backed down on his position.
The last paragraph of the post is just me thinking about the issue, not any kind of statement that Daly's changed his mind on the underlying issue altogether.
remeber joe that writers from this blog go on to write at the Chronicle.
and get cut for becoming to much of star in their own rights.
The SF Examiner actually wrote the story that I was CONSIDERING introducing a resolution. As if that's news. I hadn't done more than 5 minutes of work on the thing and certainly wasn't pitching the story.
However, since their first story ran I've received a bunch of emails complaining that I'm wasting time by forwarding this resolution. Since I like to be responsive, I've now spent well over an hour responding to these emails. How's that for irony?
Sabatini kept asking me if I was going to introduce the resolution on Tuesday. A bit annoyed, I told him that if they wrote their stupid story, I wasn't going to introduce the item on Tuesday.
SFist, you get the scoop, I'll introduce the reso on Wednesday!
So far local correspondence is coming in about 50-50. Much of the support is from Russian and Nob Hills.
Meanwhile, I have to agree with Joe, Rita. Your headlines on me have been consistently negative. I expect that from the Ex and Chron. But SFist? Don't tell me that Elaine is right about you!
Ah, so you guys are finally telling the truth that you don't support the military instead of always saying, "We support the military but not the war." That is superb. Glad to see your true feelings. You've really proven yourself here. I'm embarrassed to live here.
And BTW, the military ins't a "lifestyle." It happens to be a job. Oy vey.
I hope that means you're sticking to your guns, Chris. It's high time that we rid SF of the screeching spectacle called the Blue Angels. Let's keep our beautiful blue skies free of screaming warplanes that make the city sound like a target of aerial bombing.
Right on Kathleen! I'm sick of the Blue Angels as well and all that needless noise and air pollution they generate. What an useless "event." All that fuel wasted flying around. I can't stand all that military nonsense and that phony, plastic so-called "patriotism." I support Chris Daly.
As for Shannon, you're embarrased to live here, eh? Is someone forcing you to live here? If not, here's a suggestion:
MOVE!
I'm very proud of my City especially when we have someone like Chris Daly on the Board of Supervisors.
a city without blue angels is a city without the haight street fair (or halloween in the castro or what the fuck ever). we live in a loud and (sometimes) obnoxious city; i'm annoyed by it and sometimes i'm annoying someone else. i will never give up my right to annoy my neighbors with my rock and roll and my booziness and therefore i will not only tolerate the blue angels, i salute them.
Thanks for the scoop Chris and here's a scoop for you - at the next election you are going to be voted out of office. I'll bet that is news to you! Now you can get back to dodging the real problems that plague San Francisco.
We know you mean well, but let's face it, you're not very bright or forward thinking.
You're the type that makes my home town, San Francisco, the laughing stock of US cities and quite frankly, I'm just about done with it.
How about you table something worthwhile like 'recall Ed "kickback thief" Jew' or would that take actual guts and real bravado? You obviously possess neither, nor are you capable of tackling the REAL issues.
Eh, just pass another "resolution" telling us how much Bush's regime sucks, or how the sun is big and yellow, or why fog rolls in every night. You know, the things that matter to the citizens of SF.
I can't decide right now who is the bigger bunch of blood sucking useless cretins, the BOS or Team Gavin.
I don't follow the BoS shenanigans too closely (politics used to be about public service, civility and balance; but now seems to be a game that leads to high blood pressure or shouting matches) and I certainly don't agree with very much of Chris Daly's agenda, but I am very thankful that Mr. Daly takes some time to interact with SFist'ers.
So, Rob, please keep it civil.
As for the Blue Angels, they're damned annoying when they "practice" over the city with afterburners rattling windows and setting off car alarms, but you have to admit that they put on an impressive show when they perform on Saturday & Sunday. Fleet Week would just not be the same without them. If the Supes cancel the Blue Angels, they might as well cancel Fleet Week. Progressives can thrill and console themselves that the "War Machine" of the military is pretty much entirely absent from the Bay Area today, but Fleet Week is an excellent tribute to what San Francisco used to be, it's a massive tourist draw, and as it pulls most everyone (tourist and locals) outside for at least part of the weekend, it's great for the economy as well.
It was before my time, but I heard that Fleet Week is a time honored tradition that goes back over one quarter of a century to the mid 1980s when then-mayor Fineswine wanted to kiss ass to the Navy (related to home porting the Missouri?) and started Fleet Week.
After the recent crashes of Blue Angels during their air shows, I'd feel safer and more secure if we didn't have supersonic warplanes joy riding over the densest population center west of the Mississippi.
That, and our cats would be much less freaked out for a weekend.
-marc
To Rob and others that consider this a useless, symbolic gesture: this is a matter of public safety. A Blue Angels crash (such as happened recently) in San Francisco would cause enormous loss of life and property. It's simply not worth the risk. At least move it out to over the Pacific where the potential damage is much less. Or instead of jets screaming overhead, have a Navy Blimp that can fly from Moffett up to SF and back. It would use a hell of a lot less fuel and cut down on pollution too. How's that for a reasonable compromise.
Rob - thanks to term limits it is actually impossible for Chris to be voted out of office, as he is unable to run again.
I think in the wake of the accident this April where homes caught on fire, and after considering the overall track record (24 Blue Angeles pilots killed in training or shows) it's pretty clear there is a considerable public safety issue. The compromise should be to move the show over the ocean, or to a less densely populated area.
I witness noisy parades, protests, and parties from my living room window on a weekly basis in my Civic Center neighborhood, and I object to none of them, no matter how intrusive or noisy they might be. It's part of living in the middle of a city.
However, the Blue Angels are a dangerous, heavily polluting attraction that should never be allowed over ANY populated region. Especially after this year's rather spectacular crash at the air show back east, there is NO reason to put up with them again for another year.
F.W.I.W., pretty much ALL of the Blue Angels aerial acrobatics happen over the water.
When they are flying over the city, they're just maneuvering back to the Bay.
Cut the public safety crap. This is about throwing a bone to the peace activists, knowing full well that nothing will happen.
It's not as if Daly has any political future. Let him throw his tantrums now.
I have mixed feelings about the Blue Angles. My grandpa was a naval flyer in WWII and I have warm and fuzzy memories of him taking me to air shows as a kid. So I can understand how they mean a lot to some people. There's also a part of me that thinks they're pretty f*ing cool.
But ever since the war started, the Blue Angels also make me cringe. I can't stop thinking about how these are war machines that are primarily designed to drop bombs on people, and how so many people in Iraq and other places react with sheer terror to the sound of American jet engines. Most of my friends in the City feel the same way.
So as symbolic statements go, how about calling for a ban on the Blue Angels until we finally end this god awful war? I would be interested to see how San Francisco would vote on a measure like that.
But whatever you do, Chris, don't take away the Red Bull air race. Those guys are awesome!
www.redbullairrace.com
campers,
Kids, ever been on an aircraft carrier? I was stationed on one. You think Club 6 is loud at 3am? These giant jets loaded with the same fuel that collapsed the World Trade Center Towers are flying between our skyscrapers for hours on end for 3 or 4 days. It is positively insane! These guys are the best pilots in the world. And, they are loaded on the best meth in the world. They cut hair-pin turns at 700mph within 6" of each other.
This turns you on? They die at the rate of one every 27 months since 1946. You want the next one to die in your front room and take grandma with em?
You go Chris, and get your sorry ass into the mayor's race.
h.
The whole show can be made considerably safer (and easier to enjoy as well) by simply moving the entire show over the ocean.
To the people comparing the Blue Angels to local street fairs, you gotta be kidding. There's no street fair that desecrates the the skies overhead with screaming war machines for days on end, that makes it virtually impossible to work in downtown offices during business days or to enjoy a beautiful October weekend, that shakes windows and sets of car alarms across the city, that has people ducking and covering their ears, that turns San Francisco into the aural equivalent of a blitzkreig-bombing target.
The truth is, few people who actually live in SF want the Angels here -- they're a carnival sideshow for the bridge-and-tunnel crowd who schlep in from the East Bay and other hinterlands for a quick fix of macho militarism that they define as 'patriotism'. It's nothing more than a NASCAR event -- an imbecilic display of noise and metal that pollutes the majesty of our skies and bay.
Do we have to wait for a crash and the ensuing fatalities to free our fine city of these flyboys? It's not enough that we don't want our homes and parks put under siege one more year by pointless and dangerous military joyrides? If the East Bay crowd wants the Angels so bad, let Pinole have em. I say good riddance.
Sorry Chris, I disagree with you on this one, let them fly. I am as anti war as the next guy, but we are a city open to all....... This sets a bad precedent........ the safety thing is not an issue as they are over water when doing stunts.....
Laguna,
Get em out of town entirely. Cancel their act. Like the NFL and the cops and Major League baseball, they are just another steroid loaded macho manifestation. It's different when it's on TV. It's personal when they do that shit 100' over playgrounds.
h.
When did San Francisco become a bunch of no fun, radical left wing party poopers without direction or cause? Do you people realize that you are the same as the blithering idiots at the extreme far right wing?
San Franciscans really need to get a collective clue. If you're all so concerned about "public safety" then let's focus your energies on the rising crime rate, afternoon wild west style shootouts and public displays of rampant drug dealing and usage. The chances of getting injured or killed by a Navy jet in San Francisco is as close to ZERO as mathematically possible. You have a better chance of the N Judah attacking you with a burrito at Fisherman's Wharf.
Go for a stroll through the Tenderloin tonight and your chances of personal injury or demise increase remarkably. But tackling that problem would require intelligent discourse and hard work to fix, not another useless proclamation against "the machine."
Those are the issues, not a bunch of Navy jets flying over the city for a few days each year. The blatant stupidity of your arguments astounds me. Is anyone in SF capable of reasoning or rational thought anymore?
Ah, screw it, let's go for a big bike ride and terrorize some old people...
Rob
Ahhh,
Rob Anderson whacko at bicycles.com. Wherein bitter be better n' bottom? Whyfore bicycles fly in the sky? Vrrooom, vrrooom, ahhh, love the smell of CO2 in the morning.
h.
I've live in San Francisco and I am tired of the Supervisor's wasting my tax dollars and their time on issues where they have no control. Please post this help us get San Francisco back. I live in San Francisco and on Friday I was watching the morning news and I learned that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is considering a policy to ban the Blue Angels during Fleet Week. Since the tragic accident in South Carolina the US Navy has cleared the Blue Angels to perform. I am under impression this is more of political move than an issue about safety. Historically you'll see that the Blue Angels have an excellent safety recorded and the FAA and US Navy take every effort to protect the pilots and the spectators. The pressure to cancel the Blue Angels is coming primarily from special interest groups not San Francisco residents. Keep in mind that Fleet Week generates over $4 million in revenue for the city annually.
In addition to safety Code Pink sites "fuel waste" as an issue. We would save more fuel and energy if everyone in the city used energy saving light bulbs than an annual 2 day air show. See link below. Buy am energy saving light bulb and spend your on educating American's on that issue. The airhsow is not only a point of pride for citizens also for the men and woman in the arm services. This is chance from them to display their professional excellence with honor.
This policy is being considered and introduced by Chris Daly (Chris Daly | chris.Daly@sfgov.org 415-554-7970) NEXT WEEK, therefore please take just a moment and email your Daly and the Supervisor today. Additionally, take a few moments and email this to your friends, family and co-workers. If you're not a resident please email the Mayor.
Keep in mind we don't have any special interest groups to help us this is entirely a grassroots effort. If you want to save the Blue Angel's please act today and encourage others to do so as well.
Thank you,
Adam
EMAIL TEMPLATE
It is best to put these type if letters in your own words but feel free to use this template. Also use your contact information so you're identified as a real person and not spam.
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I want the Blue Angels to continue to perform at Fleet Week as they have for years. In addition to clear economic benefits of the event this is an annual tribute which I have enjoyed with my friends and family for years. Please do not let special interest groups take away one of the most unique events in San Francisco.
Thank you.
Light Bulb Facts :
.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=cfls.pr_cfls
How about Supervisor Daly first worry about cleaning up parts of his district where killings do occur before he worries about the supposed danger of the Blue Angels that has never killed or injured a San Francisco resident.
"Since the tragic accident in South Carolina the US Navy has cleared the Blue Angels to perform. "
Well, sweet! I know that sets my mind at ease. That means there will never be another Blue Angels disaster, ever.
Eight people on the ground were injured in the most recent crash in South Carolina, which occured in a largely wooded area. I doubt they will find any comfort in your estimation of the chance of them being injured as mathematically non existent. And I don't think the odds of a far greater number of people being killed or injured in San Francisco are so insignificant as to not be worth worrying about.
One team of six aircraft, flying roughly 70 shows at 34 locations, two of which are over metropolitan cities (SF and Seattle). 261 pilots in the 60 year history of Blue Angels, of which 26 have been killed leaving a mortality rate of roughly 10%.
Given the small size of the team, and the small number of shows, that is a surprisingly high mortality rate. For comparison, commercial pilots have a mortality rate of about 2% over a thirty year career. When you consider the average Blue Angel career is about three years long, you are left with a comparitive mortality rate of 100% over a thirty year career!
We know with a fair amount of certainty that there will be another accident. What we don't know is when. But let's say, for arguments sake, that there will be an accident once every three years, which is close to the historical average. Given that they do roughly 70 shows a year with 3 of them in SF, this translates to a 9 in 210 chance that they will have an accident while in SF, a ratio that can be desrcibed as roughly 4%. Notably, not zero.
Is this accurate? There's no way to know for sure, but all it takes is one accident for hundreds, perhaps even thousands of people to be injured or killed, so long as they continue to fly over the city. The chances of a catastrophic loss are what makes the Blue Angels show a public safety issue in my mind, as you aren't very likely to encounter that level of catastrophic potential while strolling in the Tenderloin.
And the simple fact is that this catastrophic potential can be avoided, and the airshow still enjoyed, by simply moving the flights over to the ocean.
I get so tired of the argument that opponents of symbolic resolutions always fall back on: "I am tired of the Supervisor's wasting my tax dollars and their time on issues where they have no control." I'd like to think that we're all mature adults here who can chew gum and walk at the same time. These resolutions are 1-2 page affairs that a supervisor or aide knocks out in maybe 30 minutes. The Supervisors consider a bunch of them every week and they only take maybe 5 minutes out of meetings that usually run longer than 3 hours. I assume most of us commenting here have jobs and lives outside of the Blue Angels, but they don't prevent us from briefly discussing our beliefs here.
Sooo...
If you are all concerned about safety of of low-flying dangerous machines overhead, then it looks like you are also on board to oppose the ill-conceived helipad at SFGH. Right?
Dear CRS: Well, no. My understanding is that a helipad at SFGH would be for a helicopter trying to save someone's life after a tramautic accident.
The Hornet jets the Blue Angels are flying are Death Machines, pure and simple, performing daredevil tricks as a recruitment tool. I don't see the equivalence.
Well, no. My understanding is that a helipad at SFGH would be for a helicopter trying to save someone's life after a tramautic accident.
An accident such as, well let's a say jet fighter plowed into a densely populated city...
@schachter--Piss off. I'm a native here. Why don't you move back to whatever god-forsaken fly-over state you're from originally? Kthx.
Any time this god forsaken pandering to whitetrash display is in town all I can think of is: 40 million without healthcare (the rest of the nation without DECENT healthcare), our schools crumbling, people sleeping on the streets, and THIS is what we choose to spend our tax dollars on. Pathetic. And it says a lot about our society that we would support such a pathetic, wasteful display.
It's like NASCAR, but in the air. YEE HAW, I LUV AMURKA, BY GOD.
Right on, Bluecanary! It is absolutely pathetic and whitetrash indeed.
While Chris Daly is at it, I wish he would author a resolution banning that militaristic Fleet Week nonsense as well. What the hell is THAT doing in a City which stands for PEACE? When all that the military stands for these days under the illegitimate Bush regime is mayhem, prejudice (against gay and lesbian people), death, destruction and killing of innocent people all over the world! And using US troops like they are easily disposal. Human life means nothing to the military these days. BAN FLEET WEEK AS WELL dammit!
Someone said to have the ban for the Blue Angels in effect "until we finally end this god awful war?" I'm all for that because that would indeed make the ban permanent. The U.S. occupation of Iraq will not end until the last drop of oil has been extracted from Iraq. Period.
And Shannon: I'm a native San Franciscan as well, so piss off yourself and start packing.
Oh look its h, marc, Joe Lynn (most corrupt commissioner you never heard of) and Chris Daly all in the same I-wanna-be-Hugo-Chavez gangbag. When h is mayor they can all sit around and circle jerk and think of ways people different from them can wear yellow stars or brown cars. I'm glad they do post here so people can see there's a group of people who work together to force their views on normal taxpayers not tranny gangbaging bums they value more than children.
Campers,
'Yogo' is [DELETED] of the Mayor's Office of Communications. High class, huh?
h.
[this comment has been edited per the Gothamist comment policy.]
and yogo has volunteered to be the pivot post.
Hide the woman and children its h. We see you stare at City Hall. And the Sherrifs know about it. Jerry have you ever had an original thought in your life? Your like Rain Main with your posts here. And sooner or later some of the shit will come out about Lynn and his 'favors' when on the EC. Biding our time boys biding our time.
"I'm glad they do post here so people can see there's a group of people who work together to force their views on normal taxpayers not tranny gangbaging bums they value more than children."
[DELETED],
Could you define what you mean by "normal taxpayers"? Are these "normal taxpayers" united 100% behind airshows over the city? Would they still be if there was an accident?
And I'm confused by the structure of this sentence: are you saying the group of people here normally force their views on "tranny gangbanging bums"? Or is it that they value "tranny gangbanging bums" more then children, unlike "normal taxpayers"? Honestly I can't make heads or tails of what you are saying here.
Do you use this kind of language in the mayor's office? Do you view your posts as helpful, friendly, courteous, kind and cheerful, in keeping with your justifiable pride as a former Eagle scout?
Just asking.
[COMMENT EDITED PER GOTHAMIST COMMENT POLICY]
It's truly amazing to me that in this day and age there are that many people scared of a few jet airplanes. With the hundreds of air shows every year in this country, accidents are very rare. And if you're a spectator, not a pilot, the chances that the accident will affect you are indeed very close to zero (not zero, as it's happened before, just very close to it). It's far more likely you'll get killed crossing the street tomorrow. If you're that afraid of airplanes maiming people, you should worry more about being in the flight paths of SFO and OAK. Blue Angel pilots have a lot more training than your average airline pilot, and with the Navy, they probably feel a duty to put the lives of ordinary citizens above their own.
I don't understand this whole "move it over the ocean thing." Sounds like it's either a ploy to make it less economically viable, cause less people will show, or that you want to put the perceived danger over the Sunset District instead of your house (presumably, the show would be near the coastline and the planes would circle back around over land, just like when the show over the bay).
As for the noise complaints, I can't believe y'all live in a big city and think there should never be noise. That's like moving next to an oil refinery and complaining that it brings down property values. Occasional noise should be expected, and I don't think a once a year event should be a huge disturbance.
Boris-
I see you too.
I'm not sure what yogo has against our beloved SF tranny population. Why just think, if some of the blue angel pilots were trannies, they wouldn't be so butch with their flight plans. They would turn the engine noise way down too. Most of SF would be safe from accidents, as they would limit their flight paths to over the Castro and the TL ONLY. That would be a DRAG, as we would not get to see them blowing and streaming pink smoke puffs over the GG bridge. SIGH.
mariconsoy, Yogo isn't quite synched up with reality. It's a bit of a conspiracy theorist. If you're bored, ask it to tell you all about how the SF homeless advocates organize legions of homeless people to camp out and destroy public spaces.
what was that Yogo?