Daily Archives: January 27, 2020

New Hampshire Man to Appear on Upcoming Season of ‘Wicked Tuna’ TV Show – wokq.com

Posted: January 27, 2020 at 12:30 am

Reality shows have quickly become one of the most popular things we watch on television. For fans of fishing, "Wicked Tuna" is a must see.

The show is a series about commercial tuna fishermen based in Gloucester, MA and their quest for the lucrative Atlantic Bluefin tuna.

This season you may see someone you recognize!

Sam Law of Greenland will be making his debut this season on his boat FV/Kraken out of Seabrook, NH!

Law went to Portsmouth High School and has been a fisherman his whole life. He studied at Maine Maritime Academy. New Hampshire is already well represented with Tyler Mclaughlin of Rye a series regular.

National Geographic Channel says the new season will be full of drama on the high seas, as the show follows a group of salty fishermen from the nations oldest seaport, Gloucester, MA.

According to Premieredate.news, "Wicked Tuna" will debut sometime in March.

Check out the trailer here:

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2015-member database floats off through breach in Royal Yachting Association’s hull – The Register

Posted: at 12:30 am

The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) has told members that "an unauthorised party" may have pilfered a database containing personal information from 2015.

A statement issued by the boating organisation, which awards sailing qualifications and safety training to the Great British Public, said it had spotted the breach just over a week ago.

"On 17 January 2020 we became aware that an unauthorised party accessed and may have acquired a database created in 2015 containing personal data associated with a number of RYA user accounts," it said.

Stolen information included names, email addresses and "hashed passwords", including a "majority held with the salted hash function." No payment or financial information was said to have gone walkies.

The association statement, seen by The Reg this morning, continued: "Our investigation into this matter is ongoing and we have engaged leading data security firms, including forensic specialists, to assist in our investigation." The Information Commissioner's Office has been informed.

All boaty people with RYA online accounts have had their passwords reset, with account access being disabled until this is done. In an email sent to RYA members and seen by The Register, the association said: "We will provide more information to those users potentially impacted by this possible breach as soon as possible."

The standard post-breach advice is to change one's password, particularly on other sites or services where you've reused the same combination of email address/username and password. This helps prevent miscreants from using the same combination elsewhere to get into your online life.

Breaches of old credentials are a cause for concern. Many people simply keep using the same username and password until forced to change it, despite the best efforts of the infosec industry to convince them not to do that. It isn't plain sailing out on the cyber high seas.

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After 23 years, Ash Ketchum has finally caught the best Pokmon of all – Asap Land

Posted: at 12:30 am

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Okay, the best Pokmon by definition doesn't exist. The legendary pseudo captured by Ash Ketchum in episode 10 of Pokemon 2019 however, it really is one of the most loved and powerful of the entire saga, as well as one of those additions that served the young champion's team to be able to conquer other important trophies.

Feel free to pinch yourself if you have to because Ash Ketchum, 23 years after his first appearance, has finally managed to catch a Dragonite. At the bottom of the article you can take a look at the video of the capture, as well as some fantastic fan reactions.

Episode 10 opened with Ash and Go aboard a ship. Once you get off, Go manages to catch a Dewgong and rides him along with his companions to try to further expand his Pokdex. After losing control of his new Pokmon, engaged in the pursuit of a female Dewgong, the two end up on the high seas and find themselves beached on an island populated by Dragonite.

Here Ash manages to make friends with a Dragonair and helps him free one of his companions captured by Team Rocket. With the help of Pikachu the two emerge victorious from the confrontation and the Dragonair evolves in Dragonite. Ash prepares to resume his journey but the legendary pseudo seems to have become too fond of the protagonist and consequently asks to be captured.

Dragonite is currently the third Pokmon traveling with Ash, along with Pikachu and Mr. Mime.

And what do you think of it? Are you happy? Let us know by leaving a comment below! Meanwhile, we take this opportunity to remind you that the next episode of Pokmon will be dedicated to Koharu and that in the next one, the number 12, we will instead see a great battle.

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Outside the box – Otago Daily Times

Posted: at 12:30 am

Converted shipping containers are used as shops, storage facilities and workers' accommodation but there are still very few examples in Dunedin. Kim Dungey reports on one.

A Dunedin couple thought outside the box when building this property from shipping containers.

The shape and the cladding might give away its industrial roots but inside, it is difficult to believe you are in steel containers that carried goods on the high seas.

Former Otago rugby player Nick Moore said the project had taken longer than he thought, cost double what he expected and was something he would probably not do again, but once he and wife Nadene had committed to the project, there was no turning back.

As South Island manager for SEA Containers New Zealand, Mr Moore was already familiar with repurposed containers and keen to use them for their next rental property.

Designed to be stacked on top of one another, the units can also be placed side by side to provide multiple living areas and bedrooms.

On the bottom level, the containers serve as a kitchen-living area, a guest toilet, a bedroom and with five bedrooms the maximum permitted on site a large storage area.

There is also a carport, underneath the top level.

"Each container also has substantial structural support over and above what is required for housing as it had to be able to survive being transported and lifted by crane on to site."

Outside, landscaping is still to be completed. Inside, MDF offers a hardy wall lining and chipboard placed over the existing plywood floors provided a flat surface on which to lay carpet.

Closed-cell foam insulation, together with double glazing, keeps noise from the one-way road outside to a minimum.

While the couple planned to demolish the existing house in 2017 and have the new one ready to let at the start of 2018, the project took more than three years.

One big expense was moving the containers three times firstly from the container depot in Christchurch to an engineer in Southland, then to storage in Dunedin while foundations were completed, and finally to Ethel Benjamin Pl.

In hindsight, it would also have been better to remove complete walls as leaving part walls where the containers met meant framing them up on both sides, Mr Moore said.

Both, though, are happy with what they have created and delighted with feedback on the project.

"People have said that they didnt expect it to be this big inside, that it doesnt look like containers and that its very quiet," Mr Moore said.

"Im happy to see the end of it but Im really proud of the way its turned out."

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Game of Thrones-inspired cruise is coming to travellers in 2021 – Express

Posted: at 12:30 am

Cruise of Thrones - inspired by the game-changing book series and HBO show - will take to the high seas in 2021, and bring to life the epic story that has inspired a generation and amassed a legion of followers.

This exclusive luxury cruise will visit various Game of Thrones filming locations throughout Europe, offering two unique itineraries which will travel through Iceland, Northern Ireland, Spain, Malta and Croatia.

The brainchild of Lynette Durovic, owner of Dalmatian Travel & Events, the inspiration for the cruise came from her die-hard appreciation for the George R.R Martin books.

It started with a day in Dubrovnik. I had just made the rounds of the city on a Game of Thrones tour and was sitting on a wall looking at the Red Keep, recalls Ms Durovic.

My heart was still pounding with the excitement of the experience. I wanted more. I wanted to see it all, from North of the Wall, to the Free cities, and everything in between. I also knew exactly how I wanted to do it ... from the decks of a luxury cruise ship, surrounded by thousands of fans like me.

Ms Durovic tells Express.co.uk that the cruise is for fans, from a fan, and will feature key elements which will be recognisable to GoT lovers everywhere, with extensive planning and innovation going into the entire experience.

READ MORE: Cruise secrets: Ex crew worker reveals what he wishes he could tell guests about the food

The creative process of conceiving, planning and orchestrating logistics on an international scale has been daunting but exciting, she says.

Ive done weddings, conventions, a humanitarian relief project to Syrian refugees in Croatia, coordinated a community women's conference and reunion cruises but nothing compared to the scope of Cruise of Thrones.

In the midst of developing the concept of Cruise of Thrones, the entrepreneur underwent some difficulty at a pivotal time.

About a year after I started developing the Cruise of Thrones project, I became ill and had to put my business on the back burner.

That was tough, says Ms Durovic. I don't enjoy letting people down and that's exactly what I felt I was doing."

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"It took me about two years to bounce back from that. It is pure joy to see this cruise come back together and to surpass where I was before.

Cruise of Thrones will set sail September 2021 and offers cruisers the chance to take the Northern Cruise of the Southern Cruise.

The Northern Cruise will take passengers to The Wall and beyond visiting Iceland, Northern Ireland and Ireland, while the Southern Cruise will sail to warmer climates in Spain, Malta and Croatia - otherwise known as Dorne, Essos and Kings Landing.

We wanted to make the cruise available to as many people as possible. One aspect that can be difficult for a traveller is to get time off of work. The amount of time they spend on vacation sometimes means being away from family and their job, states Ms Durovic.

We approached the idea of breaking the cruise into two 8-night cruises in an effort to address this issue. If you look at a map of the filming locations, amazingly there is a distinct dividing point between the North and the South. And if you do happen to have that extra time, we invite you to take both the Northern and Southern cruises, which qualifies you for a bonus two-day side trip to see the steps of Dragonstone.

Beyond the iconic locations, passengers on the ship will also have the chance to engage in some cosplay and fully embody the Game of Thrones spirit.

Passengers should expect innovation, energy, surprises and endless activities, said Ms Durovic.

On this one of a kind luxury cruise, they can expect to have all their senses indulged.

"We'll have celebrities, panels, lectures, musicians, dance performances, storytelling, top-notch dining experiences, cosplay, fan art, specialty drinks, games, casino, spa, wine tasting, ice carving -- I could go on, and on.

They will also get exquisite service, indulgences and some fun treats along the way. What they will not get is boredom. I guarantee that one.

More information can be found at cruiseofthrones.com.

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Archive: ‘My two years with the bootleggers’ – Cayman Compass

Posted: at 12:30 am

In this July 1973 column, published in The Norwester, Bodden Towns Justice of the Peace William J. Wood relates some of his memories from the Prohibition Era, when Americas Great Experiment in banning the manufacture or sale of liquor put a special value on liquor that could be imported despite the Customs mens close watch. Wood was among the Caymanians who sailed aboard boats which took part in the lucrative trade of getting foreign liquors to US buyers on the high seas.

In the 1920s, Prohibition was in full swing in the United States and the country was dry. All the distilleries were closed and the importation of liquor was banned. Millions of dollars were spent guarding the Canadian and Mexican borders and the long sea coastlines. Of course, this was almost impossible, as there were no planes in those days to patrol the boundaries of sea or land.

And so arose the profession of bootlegging, or rum-running as it was called, in order to make a quick dollar. What actually happened on the land borders is unknown to this writer, so my story is based on the sea boundaries.

Captain Ben Granger, from Texas, was the first to come here and spread the news. He bought an island-built schooner by the name of Island Home and shipped a full crew of Caymanian seamen. He also installed in his vessel an engine which was essential in this kind of work. Large cargo ships brought loads of the finest liquors from the Continent and placed them in bonded warehouses in Havana. Captain Ben, in the initial stages, loaded his boat in Havana and then came to Cayman and had the liquor taken ashore and removed from the cases into sacks, which would stow better and be less conspicuous when landed in the US. This was done on several trips and helped the island greatly as our economy was very low during that period. Shortly afterwards, this practice was discontinued and all boats in that trade loaded at Havana and went to their pre-arranged sites off the American coast.

It was a common sight to see eight or nine boats anchored in Havana harbour awaiting their turn to load. These boats were manned by seamen from the Cayman Islands and British and Spanish Honduras. It was at that time that I joined the gang at Havana. We would leave by sail or motor vessels for the Isle of Pines, take a ferry to Batabano and a train from there to Havana.

When $1,000 bills were used, I worked as a seaman on several boats during over two years there the schooner Cayman, the yacht Narkeeto, and the auxilliary boat Carson, just to name a few. We were well paid and well treated. In fact, there was the first and last time that I ever saw $1,000 bills. We would load at Havana with the best whiskies, gin, cordials and Champagne and would go to a pre-arranged rendezvous off the American coast. This was necessary so that our associates from the American side would know where to locate us.

When their boats came in sight, they would have to give us the correct signals, otherwise we would not allow them to come alongside. We always kept outside the 12-mile limit, so that Coast Guard boats would not interfere with us. Some boats had a purser aboard and sold direct to the smaller boats, while others were unloaded by their owners.

All boats had to be armed with high-powered .303 rifles, in case hijackers wanted to come aboard and help themselves. This happened on several occasions although the crew were armed, because the hijackers came as friends and bought some liquor, and then with pistols caught the crew off guard and compelled them to load their boats, besides carrying off any money or valuables they could find.

One schooner named the Emerald left Havana and has never been heard of since. It is believed that hijackers took the cargo, killed the crew and sank the boat. All boats would have several blank manifests; if some of the liquor was sold, a new manifest would be made showing a different amount and kind, in case they were boarded by the Coast Guard.

It was all very nicely planned and many millions of gallons of good liquor got into the United States. Only the rich could buy this kind of liquor, as it was priced at $35 to $40 a bottle on shore. It was all very thrilling and lucrative, but dangerous, as well. Besides hijackers, when bad weather came, we had to take up anchor and get underway. With our contraband cargo we could not go into port, but had to stay out there and take it.

I remember one time when a heavy northwest storm came up. We had to leave our anchorage and go out to sea for many days and nights, battling the high seas and winds, before we could return. With the exception of Captain Ben Granger and Thomas Jackson, both now deceased, no one seemed to save their money. They spent it all in Havana on women, wine and a jolly good time.

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Canada isn’t as great as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle think here’s why – Page Six

Posted: at 12:28 am

Meghan Markle has fled the United Kingdom for the safety of her former home, Canada, with her husband Harry and baby Archie in tow. Hoping to find respite in the Land of Nice, Markle has suggested she expects to be treated better by the press, neighbors and general public than she ever was in England.

And in some ways, that is true. Billionaires and celebrities alike are rushing to loan the Duke and Duchess of Sussex homes and help them get settled.

But is Canada specifically, British Columbia, where the couple has set up camp the utopia Markle thinks it is? Here are five ways it is most definitely not.

The Highway of Tears

Just down the road from the Sussexes safe house is Highway 16 a k a, the Highway of Tears where dozens of women have been murdered or vanished.

According to the New York Times, A special unit formed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police officially linked 18 such cases from 1969 to 2006 to this part of the highway and two connecting arteries. More women have vanished since then, and community activists and relatives of the missing say they believe the total is closer to 50. Almost all the cases remain unsolved.

The Pig Farmer

Also nearby is the site of a notorious pig farm owned by Robert Pickton, described as the Worst Serial Killer in History.

Pickton was found guilty of murdering 49 women just shy of his goal of 50 and feeding their bodies to his pigs.

Racial issues

Canada may be the land of nice if youre white.

The country has a long history of treating its indigenous people, especially females, harshly. The government only closed its final residential school, where aboriginal Canadian were taken from their family and assimilated, in 1997. Since then, things havent gotten a lot better.

The majority of women missing along the Highway of Tears, as well as Picktons victims, were indigenous. And ignored. Across the nation, more than 4,000 women have gone missing in what a formal report calls a genocide.

The report, by theNational Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls, determined that state actions and inactions rooted in colonialism and colonial ideologies were the cause and that cases were ignored by the police due to racial factors.

And its not just indigenous people who have had issues. On The Province newspapers site, theres an interactive timeline that goes into depth on British Columbias racist past.

The Press

Meghan and Harry may have thought moving to Canada would solve their sticky issues with the press, but while the British publications may have been harsh with some of their headlines they also followed strict stringent British laws.

According to FreedomHouse.org, Canadas 1982 constitution guarantees freedom of expression and freedom of the press Both print and broadcast media, including the public broadcaster CBC, are free to express diverse views.

Perhaps the couple is relying on goodwill. But threatening to sue the Canadian press for publishing a picture of Markle and Archie frolicking in a public place is not the way to engender it.

The Public

While some Canadians (mostly those with an income of over $1 billion) seem happy to have Harry and Megs as their neighbors, others are cheesed off after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the country would foot their security bills.

Op-eds have already been written about this (Prince Harry and Meghan: Welcome to Canada, but pay your own bills), 73 percent of the country is against paying for the duo, and a petition is circulating to get the former royals to cough up their own dough for security.

On Thursday, the couple announced they will reimburse taxpayers for the cost of security for their private business engagements that are not connected to royal events, sources told the Telegraph.

However they will only do so when (and if) their new, non-royal business plans take off and how much they end up paying will largely depend on how much they make.

Telling people well pay if we make money doesnt usually go down well.

Earthquakes

On Friday a 4.5 magnitude earthquake struck just off Vancouver Island and was felt in the mainland reminding us all that Markles nirvana lies directly over the Cascadia Subduction Zone, one of the most potentially dangerous fault lines in the world which scientists say has the capability of a 9.0 or 10 magnitude earthquake.

So, good luck, Meghan and Harry!

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Heres whats new on Hulu in February 2020, and whats leaving – MarketWatch

Posted: at 12:28 am

Hulu is loading up for Valentines Day with a ton of rom-coms, a classic reboot and even some holiday-themed horror for February 2020

Headlining the new additions is High Fidelity (Feb. 14), a series that reboots the 2000 John Cusack romantic comedy about a lovelorn pop-music obsessive, based on the 1995 Nick Hornby novel. In a gender flip, Zo Kravitz is the lead this time around, playing Rob, a broken-hearted record-store owner who tracks down her exes to figure out why shes doomed to be rejected.

For those who like their hearts with a little more blood, Hulus anthology horror series Into the Dark is dropping a holiday-themed episode, My Valentine (Feb. 7), about a pop singer who confronts her ex-boyfriend/manager and his new proteg.

And among a flurry of new movies being added to the Walt Disney Co. DIS, -1.49% -controlled streaming service are romantic classics such as Bridget Joness Diary,Ghost, Say Anything, When Harry Met Sally and Hitch (all Feb. 1).

Feb. 1

300 (2007)

28 Days Later (2003)

Adam (2019)

All About E (2005)

Bridget Joness Diary (2001)

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)

Bridget Joness Baby (2016)

Buffalo 66 (1998)

Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974)

Cheech & Chongs Still Smokin (1983)

Cherry Pop (2017)

Earth Girls are Easy (1988)

For Colored Girls (2010)

The Fugitive (1993)

Getting Go: The Doc Project (2013)

Ghost (1990)

The Girl King (2015)

Hitch (2005)

Henry Gambles Birthday Party (2015)

Hot Guys with Guns (2013)

John Q (2002)

Judgement Day (1999)

The Last Stand (2013)

The Last Warrior (2000)

Liz in September (2014)

Lord of War (2005)

The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959)

Margarita with a Straw (2014)

Ms. Purple (2019)

Menace II Society (1993)

Mimic (1997)

National Lampoons Christmas Vacation (1989)

National Lampoons Dirty Movie (2011)

National Lampoons Dorm Daze 2: College @ Sea (2006)

National Lampoons European Vacation (1985)

National Lampoons Vacation (1983)

Naz and Maalik (2015)

The Phantom of the Opera (2004)

Precious (2009)

Robin Hood (1991)

Say Anything (1989)

Southie (1999)

The Spy Next Door (2010)

Those People (2015)

Touched with Fire (2016)

Vegas Vacation (1997)

When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Where We Go From Here (2019)

Feb. 2

A Madea Family Funeral (2019)

Feb. 3

The Masked Singer: Season 3 Premiere (Fox)

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

Feb. 5

Warrior (2011)

Feb. 6

Lego Masters: Series Premiere (Fox)

Angel of Mine (2019)

David Crosby: Remember My Name (2019)

Disaster Movie (2008)

Wrinkles the Clown (2019)

Feb. 7

Into The Dark: My Valentine: Episode Premiere (Hulu Original)

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season 7 Mid-Season Premiere (NBC)

Indebted: Season 1 Mid-Season Premiere (NBC)

Feb. 9

Alive (2019)

Feb. 10

The Oscars: Special (ABC)

Feb. 12

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: Complete Season 9 (Bravo)

For Life: Series Premiere (ABC)

Whered You Go, Bernadette (2019)

Feb. 13

Mister America (2019)

Feb. 14

High Fidelity: Complete Season 1 (Hulu Original)

The Other Guy: Complete Season 2 (eOne)

Utopia Falls: Complete Season 1 (Hulu Original)

Beverly Hills Ninja (1997)

From Hell (2001)

Racetime (2019)

Radioflash (2019)

Villains (2019)

Feb. 15

28 Hotel Rooms (2012)

American Ultra (2015)

Anchor and Hope (2017)

Monogamy (2010)

Princess Cyd (2017)

Feb. 17

American Idol: Season 3 Premiere (ABC)

Duncanville: Series Premiere (Fox)

Good Girls: Season 3 Mid-Season Premiere (NBC)

Feb. 18

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Hit the weights – Dallas Voice

Posted: at 12:28 am

7 LGBT-friendly workout spots

As we cruise into the new year, few places await folks hoping to embrace their resolutions as much as gyms do. Whether maintaining last years workout regimen or starting a new one, you need to be at the right place for you. Gyms and fitness centers should be sacred realms where people looking to stay healthy can test their bodies and minds in a safe environment. Most of us like to feel comfortable wherever we workout, a place where few judging eyes stare, so heres a list of queer-friendly area gyms to check out.Club Dallas. This specialized 18-and-over Swiss Avenue sauna and fitness center caters to Dallas gay men always looking to keep fit and stay well. Just steps away from a DART station, Club Dallas provides its members a full gym, cardiovascular-focused area, whirlpool, steam room, outdoor pool and private dressing rooms. But most important, the Club prides itself as a safe and discreet place for its members to rejuvenate and stay healthy with others. Membership costs $32/mo., with one-time visits costing $8 on weekdays and $10 on weekends. The-Clubs.com.

Diesel Fitness. This uptown gym located in City Place off North Central Expressway offers weekly classes to help members work on their body tone. On Mondays and Wednesdays, the Iron Body Bootcamp could whip any newcomer into shape, and the spots Buns & Guns workout suits the more advanced types on Tuesday nights. And along with the usual fitness amenities, such as barbells and various lift machines, Diesel features a designated space for boxing and an indoor turf. DieselFitness214.com.

Equinox Fitness. For those looking for a facility promoting luxury, Equinox provides high-end equipment and machines, with membership usually running about $180/mo. Locations are in Plano, Highland Park and Preston Hollow for Dallasites of all types. And members can utilize the establishments cycling space, personal trainers, Pilates studio and spa, featuring massage and facial stations. Along with purchasing one-on-one training sessions, members can take unlimited group fitness classes for free. Equinox.com.

Golds Gym. One of the definitive health centers nationwide, the Uptown branch of this national chain has remained popular in the community for years. GoldsGym.com.

LA Fitness. The sprawling center in the gayborhood, with its pool area, weights, treadmills and more, is perennially popular with queer fitness folks in Dallas. LAFitness.com.

Planet Fitness. One can find a PF almost anywhere, but the membership rates here offer the convenience at a real bargain. For about $10/mo., members can exercise in a 24/7 facility that prides itself as a Judgment Free Zone. PF even allows its members to use the restrooms and locker rooms they identify with as their preferred gender. But if patrons upgrade to Black Card membership, they get exclusive access to the gyms massage and tanning center.

Utopia Food + Fitness. Utopia offers a unique take on fitness for those always conscientious about their diet before and after workouts. Different from a typical gym, this establishment focuses on pairing personalized workouts, which last about 20 minutes, with healthy meals ordered, prepared and ready to pick up on site. Utopia keeps a chef and dietician on site that aim to create organic cuisines to supplement the short workouts. Membership of $129/mo. comes with a $40 food credit, customized 20-minute workouts, free full body measurements and body composition analysis.

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Car-free Market: What happens to the side streets? And where will they ban cars next? – San Francisco Chronicle

Posted: at 12:28 am

A once-radical idea to purge all private cars from Market Street becomes reality on Wednesday.

New turn lanes will stripe the roadway, diverting traffic from a transit spine thats intended to be a grand promenade, rife with bicycles and clattering streetcars. The citys new quick-build procedures allowed transit officials to banish automobiles east of 10th Street within three months of approving the project. Meanwhile, a more substantive redesign is inching forward.

Eventually the old lollipop traffic signals will get a full overhaul, gray pavers will replace the red sidewalk bricks, and officials will swap the green bunker toilets for a more futuristic model.

Already, transit backers and city officials are contemplating what comes next. Shift the 14-Mission over to Market? Ban cars on a nearby alleyway in the South of Market area? Anxious motorists grit their teeth, preparing for an even more circuitous drive downtown.

The long-term effects of this transformation remain unknown. Boosters hope to reduce vehicle collisions and create a more inviting city core. But other goals seem elusive: No one can quite predict the future of Mid-Market, a troubled stretch that draws theatergoers as well as transients and drug dealers.

For now, heres what you need to know:

Municipal Transportation Agency crew member Ron Aquito (right) uses a blowtorch to melt down red paneling on a bus-only lane while Rene Menjivar (left) goes over it with another melting machine along Second Street leading to Market Street.

How many drivers use Market Street, anyway? Not as many as you might think. According to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, 200 to 400 cars travel in each direction on Market Street every hour during the peak commute. Thats roughly half the number on Mission Street, which sees 500 to 900 cars per hour in each direction.

People wait for the bus on Market Street. On Wednesday, private cars will be prohibited in favor of public transit and bicyclists.

Traffic wasnt always that sparse. The city gradually steered cars off the thoroughfare by installing forced detours in 2009, adding more turn restrictions over the years to stymie east-west travel. Many of the vehicles that currently use Market are Uber and Lyft cars, and those drivers will face the biggest shock. As of Wednesday, they will be relegated to loading zones on side streets.

Is this going to speed up the buses? With rapid, subway-like service in the center lane, Muni estimates that 464,000 riders who board buses on Market Street every day will save lots of time. Faster service unimpeded by automobiles would shorten each trip by 15% to 25%, according to transportation planners.

Graphics: Changes to SFs Market Street, block by block

From a transit perspective, Market is the beating heart of the city, with 200 buses and streetcars running down the strip per hour at the busiest times, while BART and Muni Metro subway trains rattle underneath. Roughly 500,000 people walk along Market each day, and 650 cyclists roll through each hour during the peak commute.

What about parking? Parking on Market, already limited to six metered spaces east of Spear Street, will disappear entirely with the redesign. The more drastic change will occur on cross streets and side streets, where 227 spaces will be converted to commercial loading.

Once this is done, people will see it was a great idea, said Donald Shoup, a professor of urban planning at UCLA who specializes in the economics of parking. He pointed to studies showing that streets are safer, and more productive, when curb space is used for short-term loading instead of car storage. It saves Uber and Lyft passengers from having to step out in the middle of traffic, and opens space for many more people to arrive and leave.

If you look at Paris, Vienna, or Madrid, all great cities are moving in this direction, Shoup said. San Francisco will be very proud of this once its finished.

Wont pedestrians wander into the bike lanes? Distracted people, absorbed with cell phones or earbuds, pose a risk mostly to themselves on any bustling artery. So do rule-flouting cyclists a wide buffer between the bike lane and the sidewalk will include bike racks, benches, trees and historic lampposts.

If cars are pushed off Market, will they start flooding Mission? Not according to the transportation agencys preliminary traffic analysis, said department chief Jeffrey Tumlin. Yet its hard to predict motorist behavior in the real world, drivers dont always follow traffic analysis models.

Were going to be watching carefully and collecting data, Tumlin said. And were ready to make adjustments.

Commuters ride their bikes down Market at Sixth Street. About 650 cyclists per hour pedal along Market during the peak commute times.

That could include shifting Munis 14-Mission bus to Market Street, which will have more transit capacity once the private cars are gone.

Should cars be banned on side streets, too? Why stop at Market Street when we could turn the whole downtown core into a free-flowing utopia for bikes and buses? The prospect makes some advocates giddy, but Tumlin said it might cause problems.

Market Street itself is not essential for the through-movement of car traffic, because it doesnt actually go anywhere, Tumlin said. But closing the cross streets would have a significant impact on the overall mobility system, and would tend to push traffic from one street to a parallel street. So thats not something were looking at now.

He noted, however, that he would happily entertain proposals from merchants or community groups that want to close their streets to automobile traffic.

What longer-term changes are coming to Market Street? Its too early to say whether Market will become the urban utopia that captivated planners and politicians for years. But changes are afoot: The sidewalks will be widened from 35 to 37 feet and resurfaced with concrete pavers. Crews will repave the street with concrete instead of asphalt. A new loop near United Nations Plaza will allow streetcars to shuttle back and forth, carrying more tourists.

Once complete, the project will revamp a 2.2-mile stretch from the Embarcadero to Octavia Boulevard, at an estimated cost of $604 million.

Separately, BART plans to install glass-and-steel canopies over its station entrances, protecting the escalators from downpours and giving the street a cleaner feel.

Which streets are next? Transit advocates already want to extend the car-free ideal to other San Francisco arteries. The most immediate and desirable target is John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park, a road where cars mix uneasily with cyclists, skateboarders and rollerbladers. Its among the citys high-injury roadways the 13% of streets that account for 75% of traffic injuries and fatalities. In 2016, cyclist Heather Miller was killed by a hit-and-run driver on John F. Kennedy Drive near 30th Avenue, a crash that jolted the city.

This is a place that people come for recreation and fresh air, said Olivia Gamboa, a doctor in the Richmond District who helped organize a ride along JFK this Sunday, to press for the removal of automobiles. Its ultimately up to Phil Ginsburg, general manager of the Recreation and Park Department, to decide whether to pursue a ban.

Advocates have also eyed the Tenderloin another area known for road mayhem and fatalities as a potential car-free zone. They have the ear of Supervisor Matt Haney, who invited the transportation agency to study that part of his district.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan

Timeline: How the car ban finally happened

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Car-free Market: What happens to the side streets? And where will they ban cars next? - San Francisco Chronicle

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