Ernst Schoen-Rene

10 Sep 2021

If SF is “Transit First”, Why is Western SOMA a Black Hole of Parking Lots?

San Francisco has what’s called a “transit first” policy. This is supposed to mean that public transit, bikes and walking should be prioritized over cars. You can read it right here. Although this is the official policy of the city, you’d never know it from the way some neighborhoods are set

Ernst Schoen-Rene 0
20 Jun 2021

Bay Area Music Loses a Legend with the Passing of Scott Alcoholocaust

On Thursday, the San Francisco underground music scene lost a pivotal figure. Scott Rogers, better known to many as Scott Alcoholocaust, died after a year-and-a-half-long battle with cancer. The pandemic shuttered the clubs where Scott booked shows, but as the city opens back up, his loss will be felt tremendously

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08 Oct 2024

The November 2024 BAS Voter Guide

A Big Change to This Year’s Voter Guide We’ve been doing voter guides for a really long time. I’m pretty sure we put our first one out in like 2010 or something. And I know that thousands of you rely on our voter guides to help you make decision. But

BAS Editorial Team 0
04 Jun 2021

People in San Francisco Work Too Much. It Wasn’t Always This Way.

In 2010, when I moved into my current home and at least ten years after San Francisco had sold its soul to the devil, there were two old-time commercial tenants on my block. One was an awesome gallery in an old stable building, the other was a metal-working shop of

Ernst Schoen-Rene 0
07 May 2021

San Francisco’s Long History of Catastrophic Sinkholes

We all hope that the pandemic is starting to loosen its grip on San Francisco. As it does, and we emerge, blinking, into the light, we will be presented with the obvious question: what existential threat should occupy our minds now? I would like to propose that we spend our

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26 Mar 2021

San Francisco’s Sharp and Subversive Public Art

I went to Entwined recently, an installation in Golden Gate Park that answers the pressing question, “What would it look like if b-roll from Avatar was rendered in 8-bit?” It led me to think about what more public art could do to confront the public and ask questions that might

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26 Feb 2021

3 San Franciscans Who Died in Bizarre Ways

There has been an onslaught of articles in the press recently claiming that there is an exodus from San Francisco, a gold rush in reverse, as it were. While I’m skeptical that this trend is real, those articles seem to neglect the unique character and trailblazing nature of San Franciscans.

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05 Feb 2021

I Joined a Cult on Zoom So You Wouldn’t Have to

After a hypnotic two minutes spent waiting for the loading wheel on zoom, our host came into view. He was a diminutive man, dressed like Johnny Carson doing one of his Carnac the Magnificent bits, although he was sitting in what seemed to be the brightly-lit office of a mobile

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22 Jan 2021

With All This Empty Commercial Space, Maybe it’s Time to Start Squatting

With the money running out and the uncertainty of the eviction moratoriums, I’m sure many San Francisco renters are wondering where they will go when it all comes crashing down. Those with a good grasp of history will find inspiration from the past, and in San Francisco, that past is

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