George Jones R.I.P.

 

More lies and anonymity from Folks for Polk

 

Someone from Folks for Polk sent in this response to my critical post of a week ago:

 

Folks for Polk here, Rob.

You were asked to ‘keep it real and civil’ on our Fb page then requested to participate in a one-to-one conversation via email. Apparently ignorant of Folks for Polks’ mission to foster civilized public discourse, you were blocked when you persisted in a fact-free rant. When your clear misinterpretation of statistics was challenged, you retreated to the safety of your sniper blind, aka blog. I invite you once again to make your points where you aren’t grandstanding but mano a mano with the facts: folks@folksforpolk.org

Perhaps you haven’t traveled the globe, but I have. You may choose to disbelieve the data, but you cannot deny the evidence: alternative means of transport make economies thrive. Here’s why this matters to us: We love the US and it will be outranked and outperformed if we do not progresses[sic] in this regard. If you choose to hold back progress, do it within the sphere of your own life, not in our city and not in our country.

As to anonymity, we chose to remain anonymous because
1). like many others on websites, including savepolkstreet.com, we aren’t out to grab the spotlight as individuals
2). the vitriol leveled at people who front their ideas is frankly pathetic and not worth being distracted by.

We all know that bullies were often themselves bullied and made to feel diminished so we do understand. But actually no one likes the bully’s M.O. of lies and intimidation so you haven’t conquered your past after all. And, as I wrote earlier, you are ruining your health and your life by keeping yourself in a constant state of rage.

I’m happy to continue an exchange of ideas via email and maybe even in person, but on the grounds, again, that it remain real and civil.

 

Rob replies:

This is your idea of "civility," insulting me---and the Save Polk Street folks---anonymously? By "real and civil" you mean "private"? You try to make your anonymity sound high-minded, but thats not very convincing. My comments were a "fact-free rant"? That's a lie. If you can retrieve my deleted comments, I'll post them here so my readers can judge the validity of your charge.

 

The "mission" of Folks for Polk is "to foster civilized public discourse"? Bullshit. Your mission is obviously to promote the bogus MTA "improvements" to Polk Street, taking away a lot of street parking to make bike lanes.

 

Instead of engaging in a public debate, I was supposed "to participate in a one-to-one conversation via email," that is, a private discussion with you, whoever you are. This is an important public policy issue, not a private "mano a mano" personal conflict to be dealt with out of the public eye. Your verbal chest-thumping is not only beside the point, as a "mano" you seem pretty wimpy hiding behind anonymity.

 

My blog is a "sniper blind" and public debate is "grandstanding"? I put my name on my opinions and allow my readers to comment, unlike you people at Folks for Polk, who are fronting for an increasingly unpopular MTA bureaucracy and its unpopular Polk Street project.

 

"The vitriol leveled at people who front their ideas is frankly pathetic and not worth being distracted by." That's one way of putting your timidity. I get some "vitriol" from time to time on District 5 Diary, but it comes with the turf, which someone who "travels the globe" should understand.

 

"We love the US and it will be outranked and outperformed if we do not progresses[sic] in this regard. If you choose to hold back progress, do it within the sphere of your own life, not in our city and not in our country."

Preposterous. If we don't implement the Bicycle Coalition's agenda on Polk Street, it will "hold back progress" and be bad for the country? It's pretty clear why you're anonymous. You don't have a clue how to conduct yourself in a democracy. Maybe you've spent too much time in undemocratic parts of the "globe."

 

"We all know that bullies were often themselves bullied and made to feel diminished so we do understand. But actually no one likes the bully’s M.O. of lies and intimidation so you haven’t conquered your past after all. And, as I wrote earlier, you are ruining your health and your life by keeping yourself in a constant state of rage."

I don't know who you are, and you don't know me, but you feel free to offer this silly character analysis that sounds like you cribbed it from a Dear Abby column. I'm not in a "rage" at all, and you're the one who's lying about the nature of my comments. It was evidently intimidating for you to deal with a real argument and the facts in the city's collision report that I linked for you. Have you read it? If so you will have noticed that not a single intersection on Polk Street is on the list of the city's most dangerous intersections, as I pointed out in one of my comments.

 

The city has not produced any real evidence of a serious safety problem on Polk Street, for cyclists, pedestrians, or anyone else. It's a phony claim the MTA uses to justify bicycle projects for a small, obnoxious special interest group at the expense of everyone else that uses city streets.

 

Recruiting

Oliphant

Featherbedding in the fire department

 

This letter to the editor was in the April 25 Chronicle:

 

Matier and Ross (Overtime puts firefighters ahead of chief, April 24) point out the abysmal record of the San Francisco Fire Department in controlling overtime costs.

 

To me the solution is simple but, of course, politically incorrect for today's pathetically cowardly politicians. I have several elderly sick neighbors, and every one of the six ambulance visits in the last couple years has been accompanied by a fully staffed fire engine.

 

Is there an explanation for this that is not just union dogma?

 

Edward Lortz

San Francisco

 

Rob's comment:

Yes, that has to be featherbedding. According to the Grand Jury, city firemen also game the retirement system more than other city workers, when they aren't bullying elected officials and wallowing in self-pity whenever a fireman dies in the line of duty.