8/17/07

Blue Angels survive the Chris Daly ban

Controversial City Supervisor Chris Daly apparently has nothing better to do that to try to ban the Blue Angels from their annual fly0ver event in San Francisco. Fortunately for fans of fun, the public and media backlash, and lack of support from fellow Supervisors squashed the proposal.

Daly's reasons for his proposal are several... safety being one since there was a recent crash and death of a Blue Angel pilot. However, as someone who is on the Bay nearly every year to watch the show, I know that most of their trickiest stunts happen over the Bay in the center where the Coast Guard keeps all boats away from. And why should Daly care... he seems to hate what he calls the "privileged class"... which would describe every boat owner most likely to be injured if there were a crash... since we are not his constituents... is this just a publicity stunt on his part?

While accidents are always possible... and I'm not a fan of most other air shows because there seems to be little in terms of safety precaution... these pilots are the best of the best, and take nearly every safety precaution. And if city wide safety is such an issue for Mr. Daly, I've got several suggestion for him:

1. Put up Stop signs at all intersections that only have two... you see this throughout the city, and even locals can be totally surprised to see a car barreling down on them at an intersection we haven't been to before.

2. Stop playing Police Chief or Police Captain. The Board of Supervisors dictates to the Police where patrols should go. Are you kidding me??? Who better than those with feet on the street to position themselves to stop crime. A recent decision to move more patrols into the Western Addition has spawned a rash of armed robberies in the North side of town. One man was shot in Russian Hill after refusing to give up his wallet and last I heard was still in Intensive Care. Crime is clearly a problem throughout the city... but having civilians with no public safety background making decisions about where and how Police should be distributed is ridiculous. They Supervisors actually fight each other over distribution of cops to their districts. HOW can something like this be politicized?

3. Ban bikes... one article cited a California HIghway Patrol database that 60% of bike-car accidents were caused by bicycles. And there is an average of 2 deaths per year of bicycles. A bicyclist nearly killed a friend of mine who was jogging two months ago when the biker ran a stop sign racing down a hill. Oddly stats say that bicyclists are 3 times more likely to be under the influence in accidents compared to car accidents. So.... lets ban all bikes... it's safer for them, for cars and pedestrians.

4. Ban buses... a blogger over at Venture Chronicles says there have been 1200 injuries and 7 deaths from bus accidents in San Francisco. Nearly every day you see a bus running a red light, not pulling into the bus stop causing cars in a hurry to jump into the oncoming lane to get around them, etc. So... let's get rid of buses too - clearly they are a public safety issue.

5. Never leave your house again... it's dangerous on our streets... if you're so concerned about safety, avoids cars, food you yourself haven't prepared, any and all city streets and intersections... and the way your mouth goes... you ought to avoid City Hall because as I hear it, you've got a lot of enemies.


Or... you can go on living your life realizing that risk is unavoidable... and the Blue Angels are no more of a risk than getting into your car... and much less risky that crossing an intersection with only 2 stop signs instead of 4.

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