I showed up to do phone banking and the campaign worker informed me that due to a recent push of donations they had been able to hire people to do that, which is great. She said my other option was to go to 16th and J and hold a sign. I really question the efficacy of that, but she's a pro and she said that's what the campaign is currently focussing on, so I did it. I walked from 5th and J in the rain, stopping by the Crest briefly to kvetch and check out the haps as far as the Creature Feature doc that Midmo blogged about. I noted that the Cosmopolitan restaurant is now open.
It was pouring down rain, and I picked up my plastic sign and started waving it around. There was a small group on each corner. We got about 20 to 1 positive reaction with tons of honking and waving. There was some kind of Christian convention going on at the convention center yesterday so we got a lot of flack from folks in nametags. As soon as I arrived this teenager came up to me and asked why he should vote no on 8. I stammered, "because..." and he quickly said, "just because?". Then I recovered and said I felt my gay friends should be allowed to marry their partners and he interrupted with, "even if it's against Biblical principles?". Well he had me stumped there, and he quickly turned and walked off anyways. Others took great delight in yelling "yes on 8" or flipping us off or yelling "faggots". But like I said, the majority were positive. One women gave us her giant Monarchs umbrella to stay dry, and then she went and bought a bunch of rain ponchos. It was very touching. It was crazy to see how many people were talking on the phone in the rain and dark and rush hour traffic at downtowns busiest intersection.
Then I headed back towards my car and decided to get a drink at the Cosmopolitan. Even though I was in sneakers and soaked and musty smelling they were quite nice to me at the bar as I drank my ten dollar cocktail. Holy shit is this place filled to the gills with white-haired richies, recession be damned. It's because the first show next door is "Forever In Plaid" and it was starting in an hour. The menu is boring as hell, the beer and wine list are terrible, but the food I saw looked damn good. I want to try the roasted chicken with pomegranite seeds, which is quite lovely, and they have corned beef and savoy cabbage, also.
Then it was on to the movie "Watch horror movies, keep America strong". This was the slogan of "Creature Features", which ran on late night TV in Sac and the Bay Area. It was one of the first places that "Hardware Wars" was shown. Even I remember that. I was very stoked on this movie as soon as it started. All of this was just a scoche (is that real word?) before my time, as Bob Wilkins retired as the host in 1975, but Bob Wilkins is a complete badass. There aren't many clips online, and the one below doesn't demonstrate how fucking funny he is. Look at him, though! So rad. He smoked the cigar the whole time the show ran.
40 comments:
Wow, my Yahoo email account greeted me this morning with a big fat "Yes on 8" advertisement. Man, I can't believe I have to dump my goddam ten year old email address because the Yahoo idiots took money from those (summons great restraint here)... people (sigh). Of course if I pay to upgrade their service I don't have to look at the ads (now I'm really glad I didn't)....
Any other "free" email services doing this???? Ugh......
-Whause
Laurence Oliver, Burgess Meredith, Maggie Smith and Harry Hamlin came to me in a dream and told me that the Kraken would destroy California if I didn't vote against 8, so I have no choice but to do what the gods tell me to do.
Facebook is pushing Heather Fargo ads at me.
And if Yahoo will turn over Chinese dissidents for blogging, why not accept those ads? Fortunately Google came out against Prop 8 and has donated funds to the No on 8 Campaign.
awesome! i just discovered from the kj website that target is not building a store at downtown plaza and is not going to demolish and rebuild the store on riverside.
Check this link on cockeyed for an important guide for trick or treaters tonight
http://cockeyed.com/archive/candy_code/candy_code.html
Why would you think that it's awesome that Target cancelled it's plans to redo the store on Riverside?
Ads for candidates I have no problem with. These are people with careers and accountability. Ads for these "Protect Whatever" orgs that exist to anonymously funnel money donated by people who are offended that somebody they dislike has civil rights, on the other hand, I do not like. Ahhh, sweet sweet new Gmail........
-Whause (sorz for run-on!)
Because that Target is fine the way it is. Why destroy it only to rebuild it? Plus, I was guessing, perhaps wrongly, that that would hinge on the existence of a second store that could take the business while the first store was being rebuilt, otherwise Target would lose months of downtown Sacramento business.
switch to gmail!
google came out against Prop 8, and donated tons of money!
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/27/google-comes-out-against-proposition-8/
by the way, Corine and I were doing the same thing (holding up signs) on Tuesday night!
It was great, and I was so happily surprised to see how much support the No on 8 movement has!
Someone needs to go to El Dorado, Amador, and Placer counties, because I feel like maybe we're (ahem) preaching to the choir here.
Here's many Wilkins clips and things from the old days:
http://www.subcin.com/wilkins.html
I always remember his show back on Channel 40, but he was at KCRA for years before that and my dad worked with him there, which as a kid I thought was really cool. It's amazing how people far and wide remember him and his show ... even if they're mostly old guys like me.
Oh, and a big shout-out for No on 8 from up here in Humboldt County. I don't want to just get sentimental on monster movies 'ere on the eve of an important election.
That target is decrepit! The roof leaks, the locker rooms are the smallest in the NBA & there are barely any VIP booths.
-miller
latest polls show yes on 8 is close to 49% support. no on 8 is 44%. undecided make up the rest. so, yeah, a lot needs to change in the next few days. and btw,
"Tim Gill and Scott Miller will match your donation up to $100,000 if you respond NOW."
i hope you weren't planning on using that money for something else, miller. cuz it's going to 'no on 8'
Has anybody gotten a call from Bill Clinton asking you to vote no on prop 8?
I'm trying to think of a joke involving Clinton, make-up sex and DOMA, but I got nothing.
Target is not fine the way it is. Target has publicly stated that the store is not large enough, and was too small to begin. Most of the former Gemco buildings I know of have had to undergo heavy remodeling to adapt for Target stores.
They initiated the idea of a remodel and have worked with the Land Park Community Association, the city and other neighborhood groups to come up with a plan that would satisfy their needs while addressing neighborhood concerns.
It took a long time and a lot of effort to come up with a great remodel plan that would keep all the essentials while providing an improved street scape, small retail shops and improved parking configuration. The new plan would eliminate the horrid, suburban-style swath of exposed surface parking, add over 30k square feet of additional space and keep the garden center that neighbors fought to keep.
This is not a subsidized project or a threat to the Sacramento you hold dear. And it's not cancelled, it's on hold.
Though, from your answer, it doesn't sound like you live in the neighborhood, or understand what the goals of the project ever were.
Was that a target redevelopment zing?
Ahh the internet.
-Natalie.
And as a sort of aside: I think lots of people who work and live downtown especially those of us who ride bikes are just sick of construction everywhere for the past ten years. I just want to live my life in all the lanes, and sidewalks, without the sound of construction equiptment.
Zing! You got me. I don't care if Target doesn't think the store is big enough. Big enough for what? They worked with the neighborhood associations because they are forced to do so, and all credit goes to the strong neighborhood association, not to Target.
That would be cool if the parking lot were better, I guess. I've lived in that neighborhood on and off over the years and in the last few years I have managed to avoid going to Target more than a couple times a year. That whole stretch of Broadway is unpleasant to the eye. I don't think a nice looking box store (which is a contradiction) would change that.
I just hope that this doesn't effect The Yorozu negatively.
That's funny, we both felt the zing of that remark. I am feeling zing sting, which is better than sting ring, but still hurts.
Look, I don't mean to sound as snotty as I'm coming off (I'd like to sound 23% less snotty). If you worked on this with your neighborhood association and you are disappointed because you thought it would look nicer than it does, and now it's on hold I'm sorry. It sounded like a wasteful plan to me. I really didn't want there to be two Targets within 10 blocks of each other so I lumped the whole thing together in my head.
I hear Portland has a remodeled Target.
-miller
Hey, snotty is what fuels these giant comment threads, which are the envy of the sactosphere.
Okay, the envy of me and my blog with three readers...
I heard somewhere Portland is perfect ...
Well, I'm bummed that the Target is no longer going to be upsized to the sidewalk for street-level parking and second floor shopping because now my all-you-can-rape parking garage is on hold. bummers. bummers. 4 me and 4 u.
Fuck! The new Target was going to start selling alcohol. Fuck!
The Field Poll released today has 44% Yes, 49% No on Prop 8 (not the other way around), so it can still be defeated. I got a big glossy ad in my mailbox that reminds me that Obama and Biden are against gay marriage.
Ben
Target says no on 8.
For what it's worth, I was not looking forward to the downtown plaza Target either. I thought that pretty redundant, and not much an improvement on the Walmart idea. But the Riverside store was a different story - it's already there and they planned to make it better than it is now. It was a win-win.
Regardless of whether they were forced to work with neighborhood associations or not, the outcome was a positive one. In my opinion, they really went above and beyond expectations.
So in summation, I'm probably just spreading the zing, because the real sting is that after all the time and effort, they're not doing a thing.
PS: The anonymous comment about the "all you can rape" garage was silly. Target has some of the best surveillance systems in the world, and I'd feel as safe there as anywhere else in this admittedly high-crime city. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but the woman who recently shot that man downtown and disappeared in broad daylight, was arrested in the Target parking lot.
Here's an interesting read from the Washington Post:
"Besides running its forensics lab in Minneapolis, Target has helped coordinate national undercover investigations and worked with customs agencies on ways to make sure imported cargo is coming from reputable sources or hasn't been tampered with. It has contributed money for prosecutor positions to combat repeat criminals, provided local police with remote-controlled video surveillance systems, and linked police and business radio systems to beef up neighborhood foot patrols in parts of several major cities. It has given management training to FBI and police leaders, and linked city, county and state databases to keep track of repeat offenders."
link to story
PPS: Thank you for campaigning for our civil rights.
ben,
i am sooo hopeful those stats are correct! i got the ones i posted yesterday from a 'no on 8' email asking to donate more money. so maybe they made it look a bit more grim than it actually is in order to get me donating more cash.
i got that mailer too yesterday with the obama quote. i guess there is a response ad to it going up on tv and someone told me there would be automated calls going out with magic johnson saying vote no on 8 in it.
it seems like no matter how many public figures and celebrities the no on 8 campaign manages to get on board, there are still a crap load of people out there who just don't see the issue the same way we do. i just don't get it.
My friend was mugged at gunpoint in the Target parking lot. Their surveillance sucks ass.
BTW- the Woodland mega Target sells alcohol, but just a bunch-o-wine.
I hate wine. Where's the beer? The good beer.
-hk
I want the target to turn into a super target so they'll get all the cheap food to sell and I won't have to go to safeway as much. The west sac target by the nugget isn't bad.
I am impressed someone was giving target props for it's survaliace. Target = batman!
Today there are two yes on 8 signs by my work on the highway overpass. I am going to walk over there and take them down as soon as possible. That will give me a small measure of satisfaction. It's weird to pass people with the yes on 8 stickers on their cars. I wonder if they will leave them on after the election because it's strange to see a clear indication of who is a homophobe. Very depressing. In better news, my spy in the Arden area reports that not one does El Herraderro have kick-ass food, but they now are sporting a rainbow flag! Speaking of Arden, how was the sign waving, jamattack?
I agree that if there were a supermarket inside Target that it would be a big improvement. As a lad in Land Park, my mom did all the grocery shopping at that Lucky inside Gemco.
-miller
uh, "not ONLY does herradero" is what I meant to say
Down here in the hell that is Valencia, California, I have seen nothing but "yes on 8" for weeks. We saw 100 white christians at a giant interestection with signs. Willy and I were the only people flipping them off. Everyone (and it's a busy, 8 lanes each way intersection) was overjoyed, honking and waving.
It is so awful that people like that want to govern our country by "Biblical Principals". What about people who don't believe in their bible? arrgh. It's very McCain down here too, naturally.
Ella
Sign waving at Arden on Saturday was very wet.
Sign waving on Sunday was more pleasant but dang it all if my back isn't f***ed. I don't know how homeless people stand at intersections with signs for hours on end. It takes some real stamina.
People waved and honked and were nice. Other people tsked us, flipped us off (grow up all ready) and waved bibles at us, especially on Sunday.
The Yes on 8 people had some things written on their signs which I didn't understand, and would honostly like to know what the argument is. Yes on 8 = Free Speech for example, or is for Higher Education. It's not my intention to stop straight people from going to college. Now that that's all straightened out I hope we can be friends. Also there was a really bad trumpet player on Friday night.
jamattack!
Getting back to the google/yahoo mail debate, I've noticed several Yes on 8 provided by google ads on various politics pages across the web. And in my gmail side bar, I get ads that tell me to get the "Real news not Rhetoric" on prop 8; clicking through takes you to a Yes on 8 web site. (Has anyone noticed how excited the right has gotten about the word "rhetoric" recently?)
It would have been a big surprise to me if google refused to sell ads for objectionable political causes. At least you can feel better knowing that some of the money they make on those ads is funneled back into No on 8 contributions.
Ben
Those signs were already taken down before I could do it. Thanks for being so Davis-y, Davis.
I'm so glad you went to the Wilkins thing!!! OMF and I were bummed that we were gonna miss it. I hope they raised a bunch of moola.
Speaking of election signs... to entertain ourselves on the way to Seattle we counted campaign signs on the side of the highway on the way up and the way back. We didn't so much count the proposition ones because they ran out at the Oregon border.
From Sac to Seattle we counted 15 McCain/Palin and 4 Obama/Biden. Coming home I counted 20 Obama/Biden and 5 McCain/Palin before I zonked out in the back seat just before the Oregon/California border.
We took the same route both ways so it was kinda weird that it was so disproportionate.
On a closing note that Target thing is silly. I'm glad we not tearing it down to just rebuild a new one. When I first heard that my ire was raised.
Don't get me wrong that big expanse of parking lot doesn't make my day but disposable, franchise architecture makes me even less happy. When they tore that McDonald's down just to build another one in it's place, the wastefulness of it made me crazy. Why not build something, even a chain with a nod to a bigger picture. Instead of this lets just shit it up and then tear it down and waste all those building materials so we can shoot another bigger, better one up in it's place a decade or two later.
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