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 mattymatt@gmail.com • 415-244-9943 • vCard • |
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To reach me, dial "THE-KNIT-ELM." Yes, it's my real phone number.
mattymatt@gmail.com
AIM: mattbaume
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Date:
04/26/2010Category:
· Writing » Op-Ed » Gays
· Writing » News Coverage
· Writing » News Coverage » NewsTilt
· Writing » Topic » lgbtView article as originally published The announcement that gays, their families, and their friends had all been dreading came on Monday, April 12. A frantic signature-gathering campaign had officially failed, and Prop 8, the ban on equal marriage for same-sex couples, had just received a new lease on life. Back in late 2008, every progressive in California -- and beyond -- was riled up and ready to fight. Celebrations over Obama's presidential victory were dampened... [Read more...]
Date:
04/21/2010Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » Streetsblog
· Writing » Op-Ed » Urban Planning
· Writing » Topic » scienceView article as originally published Source: Chicago's Green Alleys Handbook During the heavy rainfall season, San Francisco faces some daunting challenges: Draining the water, keeping the roads from getting slippery, and containing and treating the runoff. Some storms are so severe that the city can't keep pace. That's when we see flooding in the Muni tunnels and sewage discharges into the bay. But the solution -- or at least part of the solution --... [Read more...]
Date:
03/24/2010Category:
· Writing » Op-Ed » Gays
· Writing » News Coverage » Queerty
· Writing » Topic » lgbtView article as originally published Their name's mispeld, The Awl called them "retrograde," their dancing-gays video missed the mark, and nobody's seen their actual product yet. And judging from the results of a sneaky trick that we pulled during its beta launch, Fabulis.com is going to be a hit. Fabulis made a name for itself a month ago, when Citibank inadvertently did them the favor of shutting down their business account in a move... [Read more...]
Date:
09/02/2009Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » NBC Bay Area
· Writing » Op-Ed » Urban Planning
· Writing » Topic » miscView article as originally published Recent reports that San Francisco's Muni is "more reliable than ever" are a real headscratcher to anyone who was caught in Monday's subway meltdown. Despite Muni trapping passengers with no explanation on Monday, Gavin Newsom's mayoral office/gubernatorial campaign just sent out a press release touting the agency's on-time performance. How could the Gavinator be so out of touch? Maybe it's because Muni's keeping the mayor's office in the dark,... [Read more...]
Date:
08/20/2009Category:
· Writing » Op-Ed » Gays
· Writing » Topic » lgbtView article as originally published Anyone who thinks that we learned from our mistakes with Prop 8 needs to take a look at this TV ad that just started airing in Maine. In case you hadn't heard, the anti-gay people who took over marriage in California have packed up and headed east--literally, it is exactly the same company that pushed Prop 8 -- to try to take over Maine's equal marriage laws. And we're starting... [Read more...]
Date:
08/11/2009Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » Curbed
· Writing » Op-Ed » Urban Planning
· Writing » Topic » scienceView article as originally published Can we revive the recent conversation about faster Muni and growing population in the Richmond one more time? We'd like to point out this post about Transit-Oriented Design (TOD) on the blog of the same name. In a nutshell: Faster transit and denser populations go hand-in-hand: more space for people equals less space for cars, which equals more need for transit, traffic calming, and pedestrian amenities. Or you can... [Read more...]
Date:
07/27/2009Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » Curbed
· Writing » Op-Ed » Urban Planning
· Writing » Topic » scienceView article as originally published San Francisco City Hall is an inescapable black hole! Okay, so everybody knows that already. But we're talking about electricity: every day, the building consumes power several hundreds of times greater than that of a residential building. Several HUNDRED times? How is that even possible? What is Mister Green Mayor DOING over there, splitting the atom? Fortunately, the Public Utilities Commission is working on cleaning up City Hall's act,... [Read more...]
Date:
07/15/2009Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » Curbed
· Writing » Op-Ed » Urban Planning
· Writing » Topic » miscNo big surprise: the great new pedestrian plaza at Market and Castro has been extended for four more months. Well of course. Streetsblog reports "surprise and pleasure at how well the plaza is functioning" but who the hell is surprised that people would rather have a nice sit-down than dodge cars amongst baffling traffic lights? The conversation is now turning to making the plaza permanent -- it's still a... [Read more...]
Date:
07/06/2009Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » Curbed
· Writing » Op-Ed » Urban Planning
· Writing » Topic » scienceView article as originally published California recently tried to take away $1 billion (billion!) in gas-tax funds from transit -- but no, the 3rd district court of appeal just ruled, the state can't do that. Voters approved the gas tax specifically to fund buses and trains, but so far Arnold's stolen $152 million from Muni, and $30 million from BART last year alone. The governor plans to appeal the ruling; so when fares to go... [Read more...]
Date:
05/01/2009Category:
· Writing » Op-Ed » Gays
· Writing » News Coverage » The San Francisco Appeal
· Writing » Topic » lgbtView article as originally published It seems like every day, there's a new online database of people who are publicly opposed to gays -- but each time it happens, the list is shorter and shorter. The latest one is in Arkansas, and it lists the folks who signed a petition to keep foster kids in orphanages rather than placing them with gay parents. (The petition was eventually voted into law, and is now being... [Read more...]
Date:
11/11/2008Category:
· Writing » Op-Ed » Gays
· Writing » News Coverage » SFist
· Writing » Topic » lgbtView article as originally published So what's the deal with the next round of Prop 8 protests? Oh, we are so glad you asked. The next big one in SF is this Saturday at 10:30am at City Hall. The organizers put out a call for help -- they need folks to put up flyers, among other things. So, if you've got some spare time, what worthier cause could there be? There's also a protest... [Read more...]
Date:
10/10/2008Category:
· Writing » Op-Ed » Gays
· Writing » News Coverage » SFist
· Writing » Topic » lgbtView article as originally published A few days ago, there was a new ad released by the people backing Prop 8 (the ballot amendment that would allow an out-of-state group to veto whatever California marriages they want). The ad condemned gay marriage and featured "Professor" Richard Peterson (pictured at right) making a number of demonstrably false suggestions. You can watch the ad here -- don't forget to rate! Thankfully, the lawyers for No On... [Read more...]
Date:
02/29/2008Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » SFist
· Writing » Op-Ed » Urban Planning
· Writing » Topic » scienceView article as originally published Good news: Translink will be up and running on Muni in the late fall/early winter of 2007. Or at least, that's what Muni said last year, and surprise! It's still not working. (And before that, it was January of 2007.) Translink is the work of a company called ERG, Ltd (emphasis on the "limited"); and in the decades (decades!) that it's been bandied about, lots of other cities have... [Read more...]
Date:
02/08/2008Category:
· Writing » Op-Ed
· Writing » News Coverage » SFist
· Writing » Op-Ed » Urban Planning
· Writing » Topic » miscView article as originally published Well, whaddya know. No sooner did we lavish praise upon the SF County Transportation Authority than Nat Ford, head of Muni, decided that he might be interested in committing a hostile takeover of the SFCTA... thereby making the TA as flawless as Muni. Good idea! If our agency was melting down, and there was another one making us look bad, we might want to buy it and run it... [Read more...]
Date:
06/27/2007Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » SFist
· Writing » Op-Ed » Urban Planning
· Writing » Topic » miscView article as originally published 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... [Read more...]
Date:
01/26/2007Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » SFist
· Writing » Op-Ed » Urban Planning
· Writing » Topic » miscView article as originally published We don't have anything funny to say about this one -- we're simply at a loss. Rumor had it yesterday that Gavin picked Stuart Sunshine to be his new Deputy Chief of Staff, and now the mayor's Director of Communications Peter Ragone (not to be confused with houseguest John Nelson) has confirmed it. Stuart will be leaving the MTA and moving to the mayor's administration, where he'll be "focusing on... [Read more...]
