SFBG Blogs

And it all went down

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By Tim Redmond

It’s no surprise that all of the governor’s measures failedl. The Chronicle is already doing what the mainstream spin is going to be:

The defeat of the measures would put the state that’s already in financial abyss into a deeper hole, but the voter rejection would further confirm Californians’ disapproval of the way Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature are handling the state’s fiscal crisis

And:

The opposition, made up mostly of anti-tax groups and some labor unions, raised about $5 million .

Part one is absolutely true — the governor and the Legislature together have a dismal approval rating, and that just confirms the fact that something major, structureal is going to have to change in California. What the voters don’t like is gridlock. So the question for next year is: Can the Democrats convince the electorate (and the voters in some swing districts) that things would be better off if one party was running the show and could actually get results? Because the only way this paralysis is going to change is if (a) GOP moderates have a resurgence — fat chace — or (b) the Democrats take over the governor’s office and a strong majority in the Legislature and the voters get rid of the two-thirds rule for passing a budget and raising taxes.

That’s a hell of a sales job and will need an Obama-size movement behind it. So far, none of the Democrats running for governor give me much hope.

The second part of the Chron’s analysis is just wrong.

Yes, the money came from anti-tax zealots and some unions, but this defeat is the result of both the left and the right finding the compromise unacceptable. There was as much opposition from people who thought the notion of a spending cap was disastrous for the state’s future as there was from people who don’t want higher taxes.

And while the Democratic leadership tried their best to sell a bad deal to their constituents, the defeat here belongs to the governor, who has become California’s version of George W. Bush.

Avalos seeks greater transit justice

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Round three of the battle between Mayor Gavin Newsom and the Board over the Municipal Transportation Agency’s budget saw Sup. John Avalos, throw a powerful one-two punch at the Mayor’s Office, with the backing of Board President David Chiu and Sups. David Campos, Chris Daly, Eric Mar, Sophie Maxwell and Ross Mirkarimi.

Last week, as Avalos observed, the Board did not have the votes needed to reject the MTA budget, but today
they had enough to delay decisions on the MTA budget until at least next week: a special meeting was set for noon, May 27, to discuss the details in an alternative, transit-first budget that Avalos is calling the “Transit Justice Package.”

Under Avalos’ proposal, the MTA 2009-10 budget would roll-back proposed fare increases for seniors, youth and lifeline uers, restore bus lines to public housing, while increasing parking fees in the city’s downtown core on Sundays and evenings, and eliminating public subsidies in city parking garages.

“Given our grave economic crisis , we owe it to seniors, youth and other low-income MUNI riders to come up with a better budget that ensures MUNI accessibility and accountability, “ Avalos said, while his progressive colleagues noted that transit advocates are concerned that the under the budget that Newsom has been pushing, MUNI riders would pay four times more than drivers of private vehicles.

And then Avalos ntroduced a charter amendment to reform the MTA Board composition. Currently, the mayor appoints all seven members of the MTA Board and all the supervisors can do is confirm or reject these nominations.

Avalos’s charter amendment, which will be on the November ballot, proposes to split these appointments, so that the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors each get to nominate three commissioners, and the seventh is elected by the voters of San Francisco.

“The new MTA Board composition will create greater checks and balances and also ensure that the MTA director is not solely accountable to one person, but a Board that is more representative of the City and County of San Francisco,” Avalos said.

Most measures failing

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With almost 20 percent of the vote counted, all but one California ballot measure is failing by margins of at least 20 points. The only winner looks like Prop. 1F, the largest symbolic measure to dock legislators’ pay when they can’t pass a timely budget. This will hope send a clear message to Sacramento that voters want them to get back to work and find a better solution to this fiscal mess.

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today’s look: Lauren, Market and Grant

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Tell us about your look:“I shop the sales racks.”

BART police: It just gets worse

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By Tim Redmond

Well, maybe that’s a bit misleading: The BART board’s committee on police oversight first proposed a very weak model, but that got shot down at a community meeting last week, and now member Tom Radulovich is proposing a somewhat stronger approach. He wants a BART police commission with professional staff and the ability to investigate misconduct cases. There are still a bunch of issues — the civilian review agency should get all police abuse cases and should have a clear role in recommending discipline. I prefer a San Francisco-style model, which is what Assembly member Tom Ammiano is pushing, and I still think the Legislature needs to move forward on this.

But as Radulovich has looked into how the BART police really operate, he’s learned a lot — and some of it is truly amazing.

For example, he told me, the BART police union contract spells out the terms of allowable discipline for BART cops (which is crazy to begin with), but the result is mind-boggling in its insanity. Right now, by contract, the chief can only impose three types of discipline on an errant cop:
— A letter of reprimand
— A one-day suspension WITH PAY (that is, a paid holiday)
— Termination.

And since it’s very hard to fire a cop, that means there is basically no effective discipline.

In every American police jurisidiction I’ve ever heard of, a cop can be suspended without pay — and in San Francisco, serious offenses lead to 30, 60, or 90 day suspensions.

But if you’re a BART cop, you can screw up pretty badly and nothing at all will every happen to you.

That contract comes up in June, and the BART Board must change it. “This clearly needs to be an issue in the negotiations,” Radulovich told me.

Another looney provision: All of the officers other than the chief have union protection — and the chief can’t fire, demote or in any way control his own commanders. Nobody works at the chief’s pleasure.

So there’s a weak chief reporting to a bad general manager and no effective discipline at all. No wonder the force is such a godawful mess.

Surrender Dorothy!

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By Juliette Tang

A mix between an acid trip and a wet dream, Surrender Dorothy is a San Francisco version of the Wizard of Oz, except gayer and more fabulous. In this adaptation, a yellow brick road climbs up Bernal Hill to a portal that transports oversexed bacchanal partiers to the fictional world of Oz. If the sight of 40 comely, glistening queer bodies mounting Bernal – decked in gold, no less – is of any interest to you, this is a movie you surely won’t want to miss. This film promises to shock and scintillate, and includes a medley of performances ranging from BDSM pornography to choreographed dance (because really, the two aren’t that different).

Described as “a constellation of performances reconfiguring themes of surrender, transcendence, sensuality, spectacle, queerness, quest, decadence, endurance, and safety,” the film explores these motifs through a reading of Oz that is at once campy and, in its unique way, meaningful. Surrender Dorothy is currently shooting in San Francisco, and the cast will be at the Make Out Room this Friday for a party to benefit the film. Tickets are $7 and the benefit features live performances by Amass, Oblio, and Heticide, as well as DJs J9, Bunnystyle, and the appetizingly dubbed ‘DJ Scabby Dagger’. At midnight, the film’s trailer will be screened, which will include three oz-lings engaging in an oral shower scene. Bring your friends, and your pretty little dog too.

It’s election day…really

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By Steven T. Jones

Maybe you didn’t notice, but there’s an election today. Whether you support or oppose the half-dozen state measures on this ballot (the Guardian opposes all six), I think it’s fair to say everyone just wants this ugly episode to be over. So don’t expect the Guardian’s usual full-court coverage of what the League of Pissed Off Voters calls “this train wreck of a ballot.”

But we will be blogging a bit about the results tonight, and I plan to swing by the League’s election night party at the El Rio, 3158 Mission, to commiserate, report, and have a couple of their $3 margarita drink specials. Because whether these measures pass or fail, I think we’re all going to need a drink.

And then tomorrow, it’s time for state officials to get back to work and try to find some honest solutions to this fiscal mess we’re in.

P.S. If you have any other election night parties you’d like to promote – or observations you want to offer – please feel free to add them in the comments section.

Editorial: Downtown’s missing history

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Reject the new condo tower project next to the Transamerica Building. It’s too big, the city would have to give up a block long section of Merchant Street, an alley filled with small businesses, and it passes over a key bit of Manhattanization history.

EDITORIAL To hear the proponents of a new downtown condo complex talk, you’d think they were giving the city a wonderful deal. In exchange for an exemption from height limits that would allow a tower twice the allowable size just a few yards from the Transamerica Building, the developer would give the city a little patch of parkland that’s now privately owned. Even the city planning director, John Rahaim, seems to think the special treatment is acceptable, since none of the other buildings in the area are nearly as tall as the Pyramid, and, he told the Chronicle, “usually you cluster tall buildings together.”

Of course, the usual crew of downtown boosters love the architecture (a sort of spiral design), love that it would create housing in an area that’s generally empty at night, and figure that something only about half as tall as the high-rise it’s next to can’t be all that bad.

But there’s a stunning lack of historical perspective in all this discussion.

Rush Limbaugh runs nude in Bay to Breakers

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Today’s Ammianoliner:

Rush Limbaugh indicted for running nude in the Bay to Breakers. He said the devil and Ms. California made him do it.

(Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, speaking on his telephone answering machine, the day after the race, Monday, May 18, 2009. So, Tom, how are you voting on the state props you and the legislature and the governor put on Tuesday’s ballot? Tom? Tom? Tom?) B3

Examiner denies climate change

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By Steven T. Jones

I’ve learned to have low expectations of editorials in the San Francisco Examiner, which endorsed John McCain for president and seems to always reflect the right-wing extremism of the paper’s Denver-based owner Phil Anschutz. But today’s editorial, which questions whether climate change is happening, is a new low.

In “Cap-and-trade scheme will wreck economy,” the paper refers to how some people believe burning fossil fuels is “allegedly” causing global warming and writes, “The problem for such advocates, however, is that Earth average temperatures have been declining for the last decade, and a fast-growing number of climate and other scientists now question the root idea of a global warming crisis.”

That statement is a lie. It is the opposite of truth, and not simply a matter of opinion or perspective, but a ridiculous and calculated effort to fool readers (I’m waiting for a response from Executive Editor Jim Pimentel and Managing Editor Deirdre Hussey and will add it to comments if I hear back from them).

Global temperatures in the last decade are some of the hottest on record, which is why the polar ice caps are melting. And the scientific community – real scientists, not those who work for industry or right-wing think tanks – is united (as much as scientists ever are about anything) in its belief in climate change and its connection to excessive carbon output.

It’s so clear that even George W. Bush and most Republicans believe it. Even the oil companies, the biggest single cause of global warming and the industry that will be hit hardest as we combat it, run ads acknowledging that it’s happening. But the Examiner appears to be the last holdout. Wow.

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today’s look: Stacey, Market and 5th

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Tell us about your look:“Wear what you feel comfortable in.”

Appetite: Bar Crudo’s new digs, Bruno’s good evening, sweetbreads, pastas, and more

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Every Monday, Virginia Miller of personalized itinerary service and monthly food, drink, and travel newsletter, www.theperfectspotsf.com, shares foodie news, events, and deals. View the last installment here.

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Campy/classy Good Evening Thursdays

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EVENTS

Good Evening Thursdays at Bruno’s… a sexy, weekly, speakeasy-like supper club
Take "Pussycat" in giant, Parisian ’60’s lettering, white tablecloths and waiters in vintage suits, a Rat Pack-vibe menu (reasonably priced) of Filet Mignon with bone marrow, chop salad, martinis, and Oysters Rockefeller, throw in a leering cat from the rafters, and, yes, a gold pole in the middle of the room (hmmm…?) and you have Good Evening Thursdays (at least until another name is decided upon). Up leopard-carpeted stairs in Bruno’s intimate, 35-seat private room, you’ve got yourself about the coolest non-restaurant, meal ticket in town. The genius behind this concept? A cracker-jack chef line-up of Chris Kronner (from Serpentine), Slow Club, Chez Panisse), Danny Bowien (of Bar Tartine), Sam White and Howie Correa (both front of house at Chez Panisse), and Oliver Monday (from brand new flour+water) who create and cook the meals each week. I went on debut night, May 7, and found it worth dressing up for. Sans reservations, the downstairs ’60’s-chic lounge celebrates Thursdays, too, no res. required, with old school imbibements and killer bar food, like Let’s Be Frank dogs with kimchi and bacon mayo, or pork banh mi. Read more and see photos in my latest Perfect Spot newsletter.
7pm-1:30am
Reservations: goodeveningthursday@gmail.com
2389 Mission, SF
415-643-5200
www.brunossf.com

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Prison report: 3,600 layoffs — and WHAT programs?

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By Just A Guy

Editors note: Just A Guy is an inmate in a California state prison. You can read some of his past columns here, here, and here. He will try to respond to all comments and questions, but since it’s often hard to communicate from prison, it may take a while, so be patient.

I was gratified to see that Arnold is, supposedly, laying off 3,665 correctional officers and correctional employees. While I don’t wish anything bad on the employees or their families, I do feel it’s about time something like this was done and it sets the stage for releases. Not only that, but people out there seem to forget that government shouldn’t be immune to the harsh realities of rough economic times. Any business worth its salt would have laid off lots of people long ago and eradicated redundancies, unproductive workers, and unproductive positions. A normal business that is run well also takes inventories, which, I really don’t think California does in any measure. California really needs a six sigma methodology, BAD. Ask Meg Whitman, she was the CEO of eBay and is planning to run for governor, Meg said she would lay off at least 30,000 workers. Hmmm.

This is from the San Francisco Chronicle:

Lance Corcoran, a spokesman for the prison guards’ union, said the union doesn’t know how many guards will be laid off. He blasted the inmate–release proposal.

“This short-term savings is going to have long-term costs, and the costs will be measured, unfortunately, in lives,” Corcoran said. “I anticipate some incredibly sensational crime committed by an individual that should have been incarcerated.”

I understand that it’s Corcoran’s job to ridicule anything the California Correctional Peace Officers Association sees as a threat to its ability to protect union members and their jobs, but I think it’s really funny that he’s saying that some sort of sensational crime will be the result of releases. Corcoran seems to think that the general public is so naïve (or are they?) as to not realize that any person being released is going to get out anyway!

The fact that a person was released early has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not he or she commits another crime, sensational or not. Obviously another scare tactic perpetuated by the CCPOA with no counter point to Corcoran’s assertion offered by the Chronicle — imagine that. (And why is it that the mainstream news media always seems to quote the CCPOA on prison issues — but rarely talks to, say, prisoners rights groups, or anyone else, for the other side of the story?)

Interview: “The English Surgeon”

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By Sean McCourt

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In the medical world, there are serious risks associated with any kind of surgery. If a mistake is made during a procedure on a leg or arm, there might be some loss of movement or ease of mobility, but the patient can still generally go about their lives, perhaps with a slight physical handicap. If something goes wrong during a brain surgery, however, a person can lose their memory, their control of motor skills, even the ability to think. This is the challenge that faces British neurosurgeon Dr. Henry Marsh every time he operates on somebody, and is one of the personal revelations about his work that he shares in the film The English Surgeon, which has its San Francisco theatrical premiere at the Red Vic from May 17-20.

Director Geoffrey Smith tells the story of how Marsh has been traveling to the former Soviet republic of Ukraine since 1992, volunteering on his own time to help in a region of the world that has a medical system that lags many decades behind those in the industrialized west — and where many cases of brain tumors and other illnesses go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed for so long that what would have been easily taken care of with a routine operation or procedure at Marsh’s hospital in London have now progressed to the point that there is little doctors can do to save the patient’s life.

Big afternoon at City Hall

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By Steven T. Jones

A series of progressive groups will take to the steps of City Hall this afternoon for rallies supporting Sup. Chris Daly’s renters’ economic relief legislation, laying out the budget priorities of Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth, and opposing the damage to Muni that would be inflicted by the Municipal Transportation Agency’s budget.

San Francisco Tenants Union sponsors a noon rally that precedes the 1 p.m. Land Use Committee hearing on Daly’s legislation, which would expand renters’ rights to add roommates, suspend rent increases that would exceed 33 percent of a tenant’s income, and limit rent increases that have been banked over several years.

At 2 p.m., Coleman Advocates launches a preemptive strike on the June 1 release of Mayor Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget, calling for City Hall to be mindful of the needs of low-income families that are being forced from the city.

And then at 3 p.m., the Transit Justice coalition will make a last ditch effort to save Muni from service cuts and fare hikes. Although the Board of Supervisors last week approved a negotiated deal to approve the MTA budget, progressive supervisors on the Budget and Finance Committee revived it the next day and it returns to the full board tomorrow.

While Sups. David Campos, John Avalos, Eric Mar, Ross Mirkarimi, and Daly – who oppose the MTA budget deal – need two more votes to be successful, they’ll highlight how Muni fares will have doubled to $2 under Newsom and they’ll push for drivers to share more of the Muni riders’ pain and a decrease in the $63 million in payouts to our departments.

Solomon: Obama and Anti-War Democrats

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Norman Solomon, the author of a dozen books including “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death,” was an elected Obama delegate to the Democratic National Convention. He is on the advisory board of Progressive Democrats of America. For more information, go to: www.normansolomon.com.

Obama and Anti-War Democrats

By Norman Solomon

In mid-June, a warning shot from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue landed with a thud on Capitol Hill, near some recent arrivals in the House. The political salvo was carefully aimed and expertly fired. But in the long run it could boomerang.

As a close vote neared on a supplemental funding bill for more war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that “the White House has threatened to pull support from Democratic freshmen who vote no.” In effect, it was so important to President Obama to get the war funds that he was willing to paint a political target on the backs of some of the gutsiest new progressives in Congress.

How now Chow Nasty? The local combo not on for Bay to Breakers

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By Kimberly Chun

There are a few things you can count on in Ez Eff: the big tree goes up in Union Square every Xmas, summer will be freakin’ freezing west of the Park Presidio fog line, and Chow Nasty will bring the boogie to the wackies walking, running, and huffing in Bay to Breakers each year.

So what happened? First word had it the band was rocking it up as usual at the corner of Hayes and Webster on Sunday, May 17. Then today, according to the shopkeep at the corner market, the group will not be making its date out front, validating all the zany goings-on in that fine every-day-is-a-par-tay SF tradition. Explanation, guys? And band dormancy is no excuse when it comes to those lil’ reminders of only-in-the-citay goofery.

Rally this Sunday against torture and killings of gays in Iraq

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By Rebecca Bowe

Gays Without Borders S.F., the Rainbow World Fund, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and others will host a rally and fundraiser Sunday to speak out against torture and slayings of gays in Iraq.

Reports in the New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and elsewhere have described atrocities against gay men that occurred in Iraq’s Sadr City, where victims were fatally shot and found with the word “pervert” on notes attached to their bodies.

“This news has been under the radar for the past few years due to the overall confusion and killing in Iraq,” a press statement released by the rally organizers points out. “But the heinous torture and murder of gays in Iraq has escalated.”

The groups hope to attract international media attention to the abuses, and they plan to urge the U.S. State Department to investigate, denounce the killings, and support asylum. The goal of the fundraiser is to send $10,000 to organizations aiding Iraqi gays who are fleeing the most dangerous areas.

The rally and fundraiser — featuring speeches from S.F. Police Commission President Theresa Sparks, State Senator Mark Leno, Supervisors Bevan Dufty and Ross Mirkarimi, and others — will be held Sunday, May 17 from noon to 4 p.m. at Harvey Milk Plaza, near the intersection of Castro and Market streets. Speakers are scheduled for 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

Donations may be made through the Rainbow World Fund. Those interested in volunteering at the rally should email MrSFL96@aol.com.

Is cable access worth $28?

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By Tim Redmond

That’s a key question that will come before the Board of Supervisors Tuesday.

The board is voting on a resolution by Sup. Ross Mirkarimi that would seek to save the city’s PEG — that is, public, educational and government — cable TV access program. If the resolution doesn’t pass, the current PEG system, run through the nonprofit San Francisco Community Television Corporation — will shut down June 30.

The Comcast lobbyists are all over City Hall, working every supervisor, trying to stave off a move that would make the company pay a few million dollars a year to keep CTC running. Comcast’s biggest argument: We will simply pass the costs along to the consumers. Cable subscribers who now pay $6.24 a year for PEG fees will wind up paying $28.20 a year.

Comcast is calling that a 352 percent hike, but the reality is that $28 a year is, in my mind, very little to pay for the kind of cable access we now have. As CTC chief Zane Blaney noted in a message he sent around this week:

The question is whether PEG access is worth $2.35 per subscriber per month? That’s less than the price of a latte or a pizza or a bag of chips. It’s less than the price of a movie or three iTune downloads. For a year, it’s about the price of a movie for two with popcorn. Most subscribers get hundreds of channels that they don’t watch or care about and get nothing but mindless programming in return. With PEG they get access to television training and production facilities; 2,500 hours of relevant local, community-based, grassroots programming; gavel-to-gavel coverage of government meeting and distance learning courses.

The vote on Tuesday will determine if the cable industry will continue to rule at City Hall; diminish the return to San Franciscans for their use of our public-rights-of-way and continue to collect nearly $2,000,000 per year from San Francisco cable subscribers without returning anything substantial in the public interest. We can make a difference, but not without your help. Here’s what you can do.

Call and email the following Supervisors:

Bevan Dufty
415-554-6968
bevan.dufty@sfgov.org

David Chiu
514-554-7450
david.chiu@sfgov.org

Sophie Maxwell
415-554-7670
sophie.maxwell@sfgov.org

Tell them PEG access is worth $2.35 per month and, if you’re a cable subscriber, tell them you’re willing to pay this fee and to support the State Video Franchise Holder Ordinance at 3%.

Also, if you’re available, come to the meeting of the Supervisors on Tuesday, May 19th with an object worth at least $2.35 and hold it up with a sign supporting PEG. No food or drink is allowed in the Chamber.

Sounds like a good idea to me.

Arnold wants to scare us: No on 1A-1F

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By Tim Redmond

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The gov’s speech yesterday was designed to frighten the voters — and his message — that the budget deficit will grow to $21 billion and schools will lose teachers, MediCal receipients would lose benefits etc. — is pretty scary.

But remember: Most of that will happen no matter what the voters do May 19th. Only about $6 billion of the projected $21 billion would in any way be due to the failure of his budget deal.

And that’s money that would come from increased lottery sales (regressive) and cuts in childrens’ programs and mental health.

If Prop. 1A passes, on the other hand, California will have a fiscal straighjacket for the indefinate future. It will be our generation’s version of Prop. 13. And you know how that one turned out.

You can read our endorsements here.

Street Threads: Look of the Day

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SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today’s look: TJ, Leavenworth and McAllister

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Tell us about your look: “I like the skateboard look.”

Bicycle Art: Committing Cyclecide, part 1

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In honor of Bike to Work week, we’re featuring one aspect of bicycle art per day. Yesterday we featured the Derailleurs, a local all-female bicycle dance troupe. Today, we post Part 1 of an interview with Jarico Reesce, founder of the Cyclecide Bike Rodeo. By Molly Freedenberg

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Part club, part social group, part roving band of merry misfits, has been delighting audiences – and certainly themselves – with their “Heavy Pedal Cyclecide Bike Rodeo” since 1996. Bound by a love of bikes, beer, and building stuff, the crew has grown from its humble origin as merely the idea of Jarico Reesce into what is now a cohesive, extensive network of rowdy goodness. Now, Cyclecide builds pedal-powered rides and mutant bikes, assembles mini carnivals at events nationwide, hosts contests like barrel racing and bike jousting, and even provides a musical backdrop with a mariachi-country-punk band “Los Banos.”

SFBG: So what is it about the bicycle that’s so inspiring to you?

Reesce: In my opinion, it’s a very versatile machine. It’s something that’s kind of common. And it’s democratic in the sense that it doesn’t have a certain set of people who ride them or do things with them. I also like the geometry of bike frames and the mechanics of the bicycle. I find both very inspiring.

SFBG: And how do you understand what Cyclecide does with the bike?

Reesce: We try to take this common machine and alter it into something that’s different or fun. It’s funny; Some peoples’ mediums of art are painting or sculpting. We’re kind of sculptors of the bicycle — the bicycle is our canvas.

Bikes rule SF streets

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By Steven T. Jones
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Market Street was packed with cyclists this morning. Photo by Dustin Jensen, courtesy of SFBC.

There were more than twice as many bicycles as cars this morning on Market Street, a tribute to the popularity of Bike to Work Day and the growing bicycle movement that I discussed in this week’s cover story (an article that has provoked lots of passionate responses, both positive and negative).

After conducting traffic surveys, the SF Municipal Transportation Agency (which will soon be considering almost 60 new bicycle projects) announced that from 8 – 9 a.m. on Market, there were 776 bicycles and 374 cars, an even bigger ratio than last year, when bikes doubled cars for the first time.

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