We don’t care how “green” this may or may not be, it is a bad fit for the neighborhood.

It is plain ugly ugly ugly.

The project sponsor obviously did NO neighborhood outreach.

And hey, does Code really allow a gas tank to be buried in a residential neighborhood??

The owner never did a Pre-App meeting, and when the plywood sheathing went up around the exterior siding, we thought it was to protect the facade. Little did we know that what they were doing inside of that wall of sheathing was what seems to have been an illegal demolition.

The Building Inspector says that there is nothing we can do about any of this.

We call the Monster on the Corner various things; the most obvious is “the refrigerator.”

Another of us says it reminds him of Ren & Stimpy. I think he says that because it’s so ugly, with no redeeming neighborhood character whatsoever. Or maybe because it’s the ghastly color(s) on unremittingly cheap composite siding.

Leafing through the Architectural Design Guidelines,
http://www.sfgov.org/site/planning_index.asp?id=29558
what stands out are the sheer number of items which are “out of compliance,” “out of character,” “out of place” in contrasting this structure with the house which was demolished.

It’s difficult to say which of the many many Design Guidelines/ Design Principles it violates are the most egregious, but perhaps in the two top positions may be
- the lack of a 15-foot 3rd-storey setback,
- the bad fit with the rest of the neighborhood in each and every Design Guideline category.

The sheer Ren & Stimpy refrigerator-ness of it is appalling, and as we learned today we are looking forward to a windmill rising in its backyard which will tower over 15 feet over all surrounding structures. Aren’t we lucky to have this as a neighbor!

We know this was supposed to be “green,” but we know from the trash blowing around the neighborhood during construction that the builders took no care to contain the materials and trash.

yes, JT, RN & and a number of other posters are sock puppets for someone out there who really hates Chicken. That person has put up a bunch of websites that are critical of Chicken… everything ranging from accusations of thievery and corruption to name-calling as “corporate sellout” and “shut the fuck up, Chicken.” Someone who devotes so much time, money and effort in attacking a harmless public figure like Chicken John is clearly unhinged. In general, I try not to feed the trolls and in the future will continue to ignore this person.

As for your thoughtful comment, I have a different perspective. The purpose of the Chicken for Mayor campaign is not, as you put it, to make a mockery of American politics. The object here is to have fun, do a good job of publicizing the issues that Chicken and his friends care the most about and, most importantly, to show that political outsiders actually can engage in the political process without playing by the rules.

Chicken John may be a clown, but that’s doesn’t mean he’s not serious. This campaign isn’t just about putting on a good show— it’s about putting democracy back in the hands of the people (or at least some of the people). He doesn’t have to win the race to achieve this goal. Hundreds of people in the city are so jazzed that one of their friends is doing this crazy thing that they gave him $25K to do it. People have voted with their wallets— they want Chicken to run and to do a good job of it. Otherwise, the election would a rubber stamp win for Gavin.

As for the issues, I’m sorry to say this, but the problems facing this city (homelessness, drugs, poverty, pollution, etc.) are endemic social ills that are not solvable by any one candidate. Candidates who promise to fix these problems are lying to you or to themselves. Of course these things are bad, and of course we all want solutions, but quite honestly these problems are beyond the scope of this particular mayor’s race. This isn’t to say that we should just ignore these problems… that’s why we collectively elect a Board of Supervisors and the next mayor, who of course will be Gavin Newsom.

I think Chicken wants to focus on the things that matter most to his constituents, which is to put local artists in the spotlight, to promote homebrewed green technology, to show that we can come up with clever, innovative solutions to hitherto neglected problems and to show that politics doesn’t have to be gloomy or corrupt (which is the traditional choice between left and right in this town).

By the way, for disclosure purposes, I am involved with the Chicken for Mayor campaign but this message is entirely in my personal capacity, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Chicken John.