I was puzzled too as there are some hills here that make me think even walking up/down is a bad idea.
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Except for those of us who actually do live on main streets?
Some people may be confusing privileges they have paid for with a supposed human right.
I think they’re called “stoplights.”
If we could get one installed in front of our house my cats might be allowed outside again.
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I grew up in San Francisco so I’m well versed in driving a manual through the hills of the area (I’m still traumatized by the time I was driving up Lombard in the rain and got stuck at the stop sign at the top by some pedestrians and majorly cooked my clutch trying to get going again).
That said, I do love how my current car has automatic hill holder functionality which holds the car in position for a few seconds when the clutch pedal is depressed after taking my foot off the brake.
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Right? I lived in San Francisco for 15 years and Baxter seems extremely ordinary to me.
Yeah my experience driving around LA and checking traffic is that every time I divert to avoid something congested that ends up congested because everyone else is avoiding the backup as well. I mean, that’s the point, but I’ve found that when there’s traffic or an accident everything is fucked, and chasing around a better route is a mug’s game. I’ve learned to have the discipline to just sit in traffic, but it’s hard to fight the urge to try and solve the puzzle.
He’s the rolling stone
Cue the almost-anonymous sax solo, the long sustained squealing of the tires
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Move fast and break things?
I’m a Wazer, too, and do get directed to cut through residential streets. For example, a route on thoroughfares that took two sides of a narrow isosceles triangle would usually recommend diverting through the residential streets along the base of the triangle. Not to be all Mr Virtuous here but I take the longer way. As commented several times up-thread, residential neighborhood streets just aren’t designed as arteries, not to mention just being courteous to the folks living there.
Possible solution (which I’m offering here for free! 
would be to have Waze’s routing algorithm de-rate streets with a speed limit of, say, 25 MPH or less down to 2 MPH. An escape valve if the main roads are at a standstill but otherwise left alone. Locals “in the know” could still sneak through but commuters and those just passing through wouldn’t disturb the skateboarders or ol’ Frank out walking the dogs.
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I’ll be satisfied with being 1%. I’m not greedy.
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This street is featured in the great video by Cherry Glazerr “White’s Not My Color This Evening”
And fuck Waze and all you shmoes who feel the need to ruin other people’s lives so you can optimize your commute. I had Waze in the “first to get a driver killed” playoffs but Uber pulled out the win.
Is this the hill that Laurel and Hardy and the little Rascals used in their movies?
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Yep! I come from the poor branch of a family of inherited wealth. My (second) cousins drive around in mini-vans, wear Dockers, and live in cramped houses on public streets. Oh, yeah - and cheap haircuts. Until he remarried, I had a cousin whose bachelor pad made me want to sneak in at night and redecorate.
Are there any videos of the shenanigans? All your videos linked are skater videos.
My kid goes to school at Elysian Heights Elementary (on Baxter) so I drive it daily, don’t live there, and have a totally legitimate reason to be using that public street with a freaking school on it. Everybody would rather use a different street but that’s what is there and I’ll be pissed if the residents close it off.
Our problem isn’t Wazers, but tourists. There is a circuit past my house with narrow streets and steep grades (12% on one, 21% on the other) that bicyclists have decided is an excellent training route, especially at rush hour. It is extremely irritating to be stuck driving home behind a bicycle or three creeping up one of these.
We don’t have mobile internet so only use Waze from a computer at home/work, but we found it quite helpful last year during the Santa Rosa fires. Right this minute my wife is stuck in a stupid traffic jam that Waze would have warned her about. Ultimately, I think it will be must-have technology if a reasonable way can be found to stop the routing of fast traffic through quiet residential streets.
There is a less steep road next to it, Twtil, that is only 25%.
expanding mass transit and increasing the walkability of cities would be great for reducing car traffic. im all for that. for everybody’s sake.
if people feel like it’s not pleasant - or even outright dangerous - to walk down their streets, they’re going to drive. cars beget cars. waze it seems helps speed that process right along.
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Man, did that guy ever get the raw end of that deal (which sadly is typical of season musicians).
I particularly loved this line:
He also said that year that hearing Baker Street still annoyed him. He said: “I’m irritated because it’s out of tune. Yeah, it’s flat. By enough of a degree that it irritates me at best.”
Nope, it wasn’t the one time £27 payment that bounced, or lack of fame and recognition for an iconic piece of music that he found troublesome. It’s that it sounded slightly out of tune to his highly trained ear. A true musician.
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Well, yah, me too. (-:
But “rich” is when you can say, “Oh that sounds like terrible problem. What would it take to fix that? Only three million? Really? It’s done, then. But no names. Just a “generous donor who wished to remain anonymous.” Deal?”
That’s “rich.” I’ve seen it, up close and occasionally personal over 40 yrs in and around “The Biz” in Hollyweird (“It’s not a place, it’s a state of exhaustion. Mind the hallucinations!”) It can be lotsa fun to be around, but, boy, it’s a dangerous machine with no guardrails. (-:
I’m comfortably well-off, but really, not even the lowest rung of “rich.” I still have a mortgage. (-:
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