Is there anyplace in San Francisco more charming than SOMA at night? No, there is not. And this President's Day, it'll be even charminger: construction and traffic reroutes on the Bay Bridge may cause a few heavy-flow days over the holiday weekend. If you're clever, you'll probably want to avoid SOMA in the late-night and early-morning hours. But then again, if you're clever, you probably already do. But it's not all blocked onramps and......

Good news! The FTA says that building a Central Subway would be a great idea. The FTA, whose local website hasn't been updated in about a year, evaluated project justification, mobilitiy improvements, and land use; and they gave the project a "medium-high" to "high" rating in those categories. They're also supposed to rate alternatives analysis and local financial commitment, but those criteria aren't mentioned in Muni's chipper press release. Once category that doesn't appear......

We got word today from an anonymous source that two residents of Bernal Heights -- including a former President of Golden Gate Audubon Society -- spotted a burrowing owl a block from their house on the southeastern side of the hill. The (sub?)species was confirmed by another Audubon-er. So, why does this matter? Because at the moment there is construction going on in the same area (i.e., landscaping improvements such as steps, etcetera) where......

Via Slog comes this excellent debate candidate. They're doing that thing again where they make the presidential contenders watch YouTube videos before speechifying, and this is possibly one of the best questions we're seen so far. You can vote for the question here. Of course, even if it wins, nobody will answer it -- good politicians never answer the questions that they're asked -- but it'll be fun to see them hem and haw......

As previously noted, one of the best weekend guides in the city is produced by Muni and sent out exclusively to the press. (The PresidiGo, meanwhile, extends that courtesy to its riders.) So, what's on Muni's radar this weekend? Some kinda Nike thing! The "Fiesta on the Hill," which sounds like the name of a children's television program! The Portola Festival, which has been celebrated since 1909 according to this hideous webpage! And also,......

Ah, beautiful Diviz. Is there no boulevard more perfect, more blissful? When we think "nice places to take an afternoon constitutional," we are drawn instantly to its divine charm. It is, simply put, an Eden. To alter it would be to play God. But SOME PEOPLE want to change all that. The out-of-touch bureaucrats in City Hall think that the stretch from Haight to Geary needs to be improved. Strange terms like "greening" and......

Photo of the revivified roller skate area on 6th Avenue in GG Park ...

All of you YouTube addicts out there are probably familiar with many of the "absoludicrous"* found video clips from Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett's touring Found Footage Festival (*Mr. T makes an appearance in the "Celebrities Who Teach" series). The critically-acclaimed event will be in San Francisco tonight and tomorrow night at the Roxie Red Vic at 7:15 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. and this Sunday at the Parkway in Oakland for a 5 p.m.......

Today we found one of many of the following flyers posted on Stillman Street, a strip of eastern SOMA where overpass construction dominates, dangers lurks, and Giants and Shitty Nights fans use as a urinal. Appended text: "Must be new to the area!" We see a lot of these missives around the area. (What's most infuriating, though, aside from the criminal activity, are similar flyers posted at Whole Foods begging the public for the return......

So, obviously, SFist can't even pretend to be neutral when it comes to Prop A. We've been covering its progress for months, and now it's evolved into a smart, fair compromise that has just about everyone on board -- everyone except a local Republican group. Our local GOP is backing the loathsome Prop H, which would, no joke, replace bus stops, trees, and bike lanes with parking garages. Could this be any more like......

We used to think we couldn't stand Sean Penn, but he never really did anything to deserve our ire. He's talented; seems to have similar political to ours; married to her, wonderful her; surfs; from Southern California; lives in the Bay Area; and above all else, is attractive. Then we figured it out: we didn't hate Sean Penn, we feared him. He seems like the kind of guy who could and would kick our......

So many characteristics contribute to Pacific Heights’ identity: affluence on eager display, giant square parks, commanding views, boutique shopping, dogs! dogs! dogs! But, one element up here is continually overlooked. Of course, we’re talking about portable latrines on sidewalks. With home construction such a constant in this district, and with so many laborers needing to “tend to personal business” throughout the long workday, it’s no wonder Pacific Heights walkways are lined with blue or turquoise fiberglass toilets. Jackson St. between Pierce and Scott, where three of the nine buildings on the block are currently undergoing some sort of makeover, and where each construction site features its own port-o-let, demonstrates our point as well as any in the area....

Well, we suppose this is sort of like those Portraits In Grief type thumbnail portraits of murder victims we suggested to the Chron -- yesterday's paper featured a long article about Allan Broussard, a serial car burglar who was shot to death last month. He was shot clutching a car stereo he'd just stolen. A suspect has been arrested in the case, who has a long rap sheet of his own, but the cops won't......

You think Gavin means it when he tells Ken Garcia that it's kind of freaking him out that no one's running against him? Well, there's one more down: ABC 7's Dan Noyes has the scoop that Tony Hall has dropped out of the race too. Hall was the one unambiguously-serious mayoral candidate running against Gavin Newsom (and by "unambiguously-serious" we mean was a wedding singer but does not have an animal in his name and......

A reader asked: "Hey guys I was wondering what is the best gym to go workout at in San Francisco? Which offers the best amenities and a friendly staff? What gym should I avoid at all cost?" We think he may have left off a word, but that's okay, we get the idea. Much as with our search for a good Italian joint for a reader the other day, we'll offer one quick opinion then open it up to the brain trust of our readership, who probably a hell of a lot more about this than we do....

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt,......

Last week's winner, the Bay Guardian. More problems with the construction at Hunters' Point (this time: asbestos). Chris Daly is on it. A construction worker falls off the Golden Gate Bridge and his employer avoids liability because they used the wrong legal name on the OSHA citations it received. Send all legal paperwork to FSist, everyone! More taxi permit shadiness. Man vs. Wild -- who cares if he stayed in a hotel, he drank water......

-- Jarring tale about employees wearing flip-flops and shorts to work? Or story about famous writers reading to employees at Google headquaters? You decide. [Chron] -- Making a buck out of lice-topped children. [Examiner] -- California wants construction equipment to run cleanly. [LeftInSF] -- Noontime Market Street shootings. [Chron, KTVU, KPIX] -- Republicans screwing with and screwing up the budget. [BeyondChron] -- Marke B. says bye-bye to Tammy Faye. [SFBG]......

You mean those train tracks are actually used by real trains? The City of Berkeley is working to implement a quiet zone to prevent the freight trains from sounding their whistles at intersections due to complaints from residents of this traditionally industrial area. While we find train horns romantic, we must admit that we might find them less so if they were not so off-in-the-distance. Though we wonder why the City didn't make the developers......

Here you see an image of construction on Stillman and Third Streets that started a few weeks ago, more or less. (What was a precocious orphanage was violently burned to the ground to make space for a much-anticipated Bed, Bad, and Beyond! No, not really. We kid you.) A new overpass is going up in place of the old one, and we’re dying to know what it will look like. (Rumor has it that......

You know you’re dealing with an isolated stretch of Montgomery St. when a driver can’t reach it without first leaving Montgomery St. And in an addressing quirk that must drive new workers at the North Beach post office bonkers, the northernmost apartment building on this block is actually 303 Greenwich, even though Greenwich as a cross street doesn’t exist here. After all, the only cross traffic up here on the precipitous eastern slope of Telegraph Hill is on foot. Stunning bay views, folial grandiosity, and hill-hugging construction schemes dominate this block of Montgomery, bookended by the famed Filbert and Greenwich steps. The street itself is a bi-level roadway divided by a tall center wall lined with numerous pine trees, not dissimilar to Lawton St. in Golden Gate Heights, or Arlington Ave. in the Berkeley Hills. It’s designed for neither speed nor mass amounts of auto traffic. Aesthetically, however, it’s nearly unbeatable....

Say hello to your new next door neighbor: a parking garage. Petitioners are currently collecting signatures for a "build more parking" petition, but the terms are insane: it wouldn't just allow developers to install big garages, it would require that all new homes build on extra parking, at the expense of living space. Require! As in, the government says that you don't have a choice! More room for cars means less room to house......

--Pride was fun! (Have you noticed we always have great weather for Pride?) [Chron, ABC 7, CBS 5.] --Who were the bloggers floating the Newsom coke rumors? We don't think it was us. [Chron.] --They're trying to apply the lessons from the Kim family search in looking for the Alameda County woman and her priest friend. [KTVU.] --Cal students getting hyphy. [Clog Blog.] --Don't try and fix the worst house in San Francisco yourself......

We stopped by the Victoria for the second-to-last day of the Frameline film fest yesterday afternoon to check out Homos by the Bay, the collection of short films by local queer filmmakers. And it was jam-packed! We had to elbow our way into the petite theater, and there was a line down the aisle just for popcorn. After thinking about it, it made sense -- who's going to be the most able to pack a......

--Here's today's mini-blotter: a family murder-suicide in Tilden Park; Man hit by a BART train at Balboa Park in the late morning today; a guy drove off the side of Mount Tam [Inside Bay Area, the EBX 92510, the Chron; CBS 5; Marin IJ]. --They're laying people off at the Merc News too? [SFBG Politics Blog]. --A blogger gets sued for defamation in small claims court by a journalist who didn't like, among other things,......

--They are going to reopen the Macarthur Maze by Memorial Day weekend! That construction company totally deserves their $5 million bonus. --We know why Chris Daly interrupted Newsom's meeting with the Venezuelan ambassador! To tell Gavin there's another Daly on the way! Congratulations, Chris and Sarah! --Someone died at Bay to Breakers. --The city may try to move Halloween to behind AT&T Park. --They're going to try and get Wi-Fi on BART. --Condoleeza Rice is......

PG&E set up what they call a "sustainable pop-up cafe" in the Tenderloin last week; but it closed after a single day, so it doesn't sound very sustainable to us. It was part of PG&E's sponsorship of Hood Games 6, a skating/art fest, and featured furniture made out of debris reclaimed from the dump; coffee was supplied by Ritual Roasters; and patrons got green mugs from which to sip. And it was all offered up......

--There were more bikes than cars on Market Street today for Bike To Work Day. Soon we will realize our dream where every car driver is assigned an individual biker to yell at them with a camera in hand. --Better to be biking to work than on MUNI -- as some of you reported to us, there was a massive meltdown in the tunnel this morning when the computer system crashed. Maggie Lynch says......

According to an article on PC World, Yahoo's mapping product is undergoing some improvements. The company is switching from a third-party data provider to an in-house platform that it hopes will prove more accurate, scalable, and user friendly--including better print-outs. Of note to us, visitors to Yahoo Maps, supposedly starting today, will have access to more detailed renditions of neighborhoods and buildings in New York City and San Francisco. ...

--The SF Board of Supes has imposed a moratorium on SoMa studio condo construction. --The Bay Area author of "Searching for Your G-Spot" was attacked by a shark in Maui. --Gavin Newsom's sneak-announced Fifth Fake Question Time this Saturday, in West Portal and on the topics of public works. "They're for your wife." --MUNI officials meet about the troubled T-Third. --The Newsom administration is forcing KFOG to charge for the KaBoom fireworks festival this year......