[Write On] Repurposing San Francisco’s Old Bay Bridge

December 4, 2014December 4, 2014Leave a comment

Bustling with energy, Muni’s and metro stops – San Francisco boasts tan exponentially growing Tech Bubble, swarming with passionate, hungry young professionals seeking to make a name for themselves. Rolling hills full of painted ladies, vertigo inducing buildings and shorelines full of wildlife engulf the city from all sides. Even though places like Delores Park, Lands End and Golden Gate Park are scattered throughout the city, I’m typically left feeling over-industrious and slightly out of touch with nature. Good news, is there’s a new plan in the works that could change all that.

Recently, London’s Westminster Borough approved a ‘Garden Bridge’ for the city – and the more I’m enamored by the idea of converting something so rote and industrial into a whimsical world engulfed by local flora and fauna, the more I’d love to push for San Francisco to take on something similar with the Old Bay Bridge. For the last year, it’s been made increasingly clear that the initial plans to disassemble the Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge over the course of two years has caught a kink; slowly, but surely, the CalTrains budget of $6.4 Billion has been dwindling and there’s been no actual end in sight for the project. To boot, with the abundance of natural wildlife around the area in the wetlands, sand flats and eelgrass beds – there are multiple ecosystems that would effectively be destroyed if said plans to take down the former Bay Bridge follow through.

Growing up in the South Bay, I’ve seen ample changes to the city. Over the last three decades, ginormous buildings have drastically altered the SF skyline while earthquakes like Loma Prieta have done their duty to attempt and level it. Back in ’89 when the quake hit, the Bay Bridge as we then knew it collapsed from the upper deck. In one of the largest public works projects in the history of the United States, the new bridge finally commenced building in 2002 and after a decade of work, finally opened to the delight of the city in 2012. At the time, there wasn’t a question on what to do with the former Bay Bridge – disassemble it, destruct it, destroy it; just get it out of there! But by the time the Summer of 2013 rolled around, their bank account had zeroed out but the Eastern Span was only half gone. In lieu of upping the toll fee to subsidize the high cost of taking down the rest of the bridge, there are a few other ideas in the works that I think are just phenomenal.

In an effort to pinch a few pennies on demolition costs, the city is considering leaving a few piers standing, which means the options and opportunities for repurposing the Bridge are effectively endless. Minus converting the entire thing into a parking structure (which, one could argue, the city desperately needs), or apartments, condos or – heaven forbid, more tech offices, I vote the still standing Eastern span of the bridge is converted into a garden, park or the like. Much like the Garden Bridge in London, if the old partition of the Bay Bridge was saved and reinvented, it would be a wonderful compliment to how corporate San Francisco has become while giving the city a breath of fresh air – literally.

What do you think should come of the old Bay Bridge?

Let me know in the comments below!

[I Can’t Breathe] The Dawn of the New Civil Rights Movement is Here

November 26, 2014December 5, 20141 Comment

It’s time for a new civil rights movement, a community rights movement, where as citizens we feel safe in the presence of police officers instead of in fear of them. The looting – the violence – they’re not the answer; but you – you’re listening now, right? Protestors are blocking freeways, stopping people from getting to work- you might be mad; but imagine how it feels not being treated as an EQUAL in this country. As a multiracial member of society, as a woman, as a HUMAN BEING: I’m disgusted by the type of responses I’m seeing and I’m sad at the direction this country is going.

Change has never come easy, and it’s always had a price; if you’ve never had to fight for your freedom, to fight to be seen as an equal, if you’ve never had to think twice about your unequivocal right to be treated humanely by society – rethink what’s happening to your brothers and sisters, your neighbors and community.

Violence, theft, destruction of property; they’re not the answer – but neither is treating a proportion of this country like they’re subclass citizens while inappropriately placing the police on a pedestal.

Do you have friends who’ve been arrested for bullshit? I have. Friends tased, put into the hospital with a broken nose and collapsed lung? Yep. And you know what scares me- knowing that if he was of color he would have been SHOT. So stick that in your pipe and smoke it, and if you DONT have an issue with the outcome of the grand jury, the ourpouring of community response on all fronts and the protesting – please get an education or see yourself out of my life. For the rest of us, it’s time. Raise your voice, raise your spirit, raise your community up and let our nation know that you DEMAND change, and you need it now.

[Real Talk] Cat Calling is Only Cool if You’re a Cat

October 30, 2014October 30, 2014Leave a comment

Earlier this week, a group called iHollaback took the initiative to conduct a social experiment on the streets of NYC to show just how much unwanted attention a woman can get by simply stetting foot out the door. Since 2011, they’ve been giving people a social soap box to engage their communities and share stories – stories of when they’ve felt verbally and physically intimidated, harassed, threatened and assaulted. This video encapsulates what each and every woman has gone through – multiple times in her life, and sometimes – multiple times in her day. Haven’t seen it yet? Before we get into it further –

First, we need to define cat calling – and I want to make it very clear, there’s a difference between acknowledging the presence of another human being – and making a woman crawl in her skin.

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Cat calling is street harassment – it’s unnecessary verbal contact that typically comes from a distance – much further than casual conversation would happen in your personal space; it has an intention – and it’s usually physical. Because let’s face it, you didn’t have a sudden affliction for my personality, my intelligence, my wit or incredibly awkward sense of humor; you’re commenting on how I carry myself. Because words tend to mirror desired action, women have learned to read through the lines – if you’re talking about my body, it’s because it’s desired, even if that desire is momentary and fleeting. Most Men won’t understand what it feels to feel physically intimidated on a daily basis, but for women – that’s everyday life. Being 6′ tall, I can safely say that I don’t feel that way the majority of the time, but it happens – it happens much more often than it should. Though the video shows a predominantly vocal minority audience, don’t believe for a second that a wink, nod or lurking look can dissuade women the same way that verbal assault does.

If there’s one town in the US that’s synonymous with Halloween – it’s Santa Barbara. Gaining notoriety for their annual week long rager, I didn’t attend UCSB until 2003 – a tad after it was “good”, according to every other class before us. But what I noticed, and was part of, were a generation of young women taking hold of their sexuality and their bodies. Unfortunately, that comes at a price. We live in an age where the greater community is more likely to tell me to put some clothing on than they are to tell a man how to treat a woman correctly. There is absolutely nothing wrong with feeling sexy, and it’s a shame that men have created an atmosphere where your physical safety feels threatened if you show some skin. Our twenties are supposed to be when we’re at our physical peak, so why not; but we’re more than our legs, eyes and lips – we enjoy thick books and nice scotches, a hearty burrito and video games, and are the perfect storm of beauty and intelligence.

My worst fear is that somewhere in some strange town, there’s some woman that’s responding, appreciating and loving the attention and reinforcing bad behavior. Somewhere, along the line – these things have become learned and deeply ingrained in modern, male society. Walk down Hollywood Blvd, Venice Beach or through Downtown LA and watch as the women with headphones on expertly weave through the crowd, avoiding interaction at all costs.

I view strangers as friends I haven’t met yet, and chances are you’ll catch me waving, nodding and saying hello to dog walkers of any ilk, adorable old couples and young professionals doing their thing. I say ‘Hello’ as a form of acknowledgement. That’s my intention, to acknowledge. Whenever I’ve interacted with a man on the street, there’s three ways it happens: frequently, there’s eye contact and a head-nod; cool. Sometimes, there’s a head nod and then they try to stop me to talk to me. I’ve been followed home more times than I can count on one hand. And then I’ll walk around the block so they don’t actually know where I live, because that’s scary. Or there was the time I was followed into my parking garage. But sometimes, if they’re looking at me like they see through me, my clothes – I feel threatened, I don’t want to acknowledge them. And in those situations, I’ve been verbally harassed, berated, followed – and at times, even been called racist. Im not saying don’t say hello, I’m not saying don’t acknowledge people – but your comments compound upon countless others so think of your intention before you speak. If, after all this conversation, you’re still unsure whether you should ever catcall, just follow this simple flowchart: