The Way It Is Now: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the City closed certain public streets to private motor vehicles, reserving the streets as public open space for recreational purposes. These closures included the Great Highway between Lincoln Way and Sloat Boulevard (Upper Great Highway), adjacent to Ocean Beach. In May 2022, the City replaced the pandemic restrictions on the Upper Great Highway with a pilot program closing the Upper Great Highway to private motor vehicles on Friday afternoons, weekends and holidays. The closure does not apply to emergency vehicles, official government vehicles, intra-park transit shuttle buses and similar vehicles authorized to transport people. This pilot program is scheduled to end on December 31, 2025. When the pilot program ends, the Upper Great Highway will be open to private motor vehicles. The City’s General Plan sets objectives and policies for land uses within San Francisco, including streets. The California Coastal Act guides land uses along the California coast. Changes in use to the Upper Great Highway may require amendments to the General Plan and approvals under the California Coastal Act. The Recreation and Parks Commission has jurisdiction over most public parks and other recreational facilities in San Francisco, including the Upper Great Highway. Under the Commission’s direction, the Recreation and Parks’ General Manager oversees the use of those recreational facilities. The Proposal: Proposition K is an ordinance that would allow the City to use the Upper Great Highway for public open recreation space, permanently closing it to private motor vehicles seven days a week, with limited exceptions. It would continue to allow emergency vehicles, official government vehicles, intra-park transit shuttle buses and similar authorized vehicles to access the Upper Great Highway at all times. The General Manager of the Recreation and Parks Department would have the authority to determine an emergency exists and allow private motor vehicles to use the Upper Great Highway. Proposition K would require, within 180 days of voter approval of this measure, the City to seek any other approvals necessary to permanently close the Upper Great Highway to private motor vehicles. Those approvals may include amendments to the City’s General Plan and approvals under the California Coastal Act. If Proposition K is passed by voters, the current pilot program would remain in place until all necessary approvals are obtained and permits granted, or, until the pilot program is scheduled to end on December 31, 2025. A "YES" Vote Means: If you vote “yes,” you want the City to use the Upper Great Highway as public open recreation space, permanently closing it to private motor vehicles seven days a week, with limited exceptions. A "NO" Vote Means: If you vote “no,” you do not want the City to make these changes.

The kids call 'em discs. I can't have the whining. It's not acceptable behavior. It's so hard being a person on this planet. Try to eat the couch and then get upset about that. The cost of vinyl. The human supremacist toll of touring with burning fossil fuels a quarter of the way into the 21st century. The Pacific Gas and Electric bills which keep going up inexplicably. There are some positives to being in America. I voted for Ronald Reagan in the school election in first grade and we won by a landslide. Collaboration. Long Pause. Off The Charts. Bandcamp. Decoding.

https://longpause.bandcamp.com/album/off-the-charts

The more signs you have, the more ugly it is. Yes We Kam? Production collaboration? Unknown unknowns. Recording Tour? Diddies for Dads! Lunchtime. 100 Audiodes? Steve Miller Band + Journey + Def Leppard concert review. Millions and millions of listeners. Overinflated Capitalist Cathedral. Human Supremacist. Love bites.

What a month in American politics! Whew. Here's how it all unfolded.

https://johnelliott.bandcamp.com/album/it-doesnt-matter-why-it-is-it-doesnt-matter-if-its-wrong-v

Audio liner notes to accompany the release of the fifth episode in the "It Doesn't Matter Why It Is, It Doesn't Matter If It's Wrong" series! Only on Bandcamp (for now).

Some personal news.

“When I pay the money I pay these days to go to a movie I hope it’s got a lounger. Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's. Ask, Seek, Knock. We are a nation of immigrants, but we are also a nation of laws.”

Theologian guest Pierre Bourgeois talks Jesus and the gospels and provides context for my mom’s favorite bible verse.

I watched the Super Bowl and I don’t think there’s anything healthy about that. It’s just not how most of us are experiencing our time on this planet. We’re these privileged, fat, wealthy, bloated, greedy, plastic-eating monsters…and also just beautiful lights of humanity dancing through the cosmos. The contradictions of America are so fraught with conscious ridiculousness. I’m almost finished mixing a new album: the fifth in the quadrennial series “It Doesn’t Matter Why It Is, It Doesn’t Matter If It’s Wrong.” I’m going to honor the instinct of honest creation that brought about this collection of songs, but I’m very conscious about the content and the fact that it might be quite alarming and offensive to some people. Nothing’s gonna stop us now. Being a self advocate. Different strokes for different folks. Let freedom ring. We do what we want to do in this life that we all love so dearly. We are free. There are other ways of doing things besides just one way. Other avenues, other doors.