Monday, April 16, 2007

Pandora rights waver; another Giant conspiracy


First of all, those of you who are music buffs but haven't heard of customizable sites like Pandora, should definitely go check it out.

At present, they're being threatened by D.C.'s Copyright Royalty Board, and are looking for your support.

Now, to complaining about the Giants...


As you may recall, I blogged last week on the Giants' under-reported reduction in parking spaces. I haven't driven to a Giants game this year (remember how you used to be able to park for free by the driving range off 16th Street, when there was one?) but I did say I'd look into it further. So:

On March 27, just days before the season started, the Giants sent a disturbingly upbeat email to their season ticket holders. After a little throat-clearing about the area becoming increasingly developed, they reveal:

Starting this season, Parking Lot A will be the only dedicated parking resource for Giants season ticketholders and the number of spaces available for day of game parking has been substantially reduced.

You may be sure, the Port Authority, who operates the land, gave the Giants the opportunity to shell out and keep the spaces. Not only did the Giants decline, but what they did not do -- given the front office's cloak-and-dagger proclivities -- almost seems like a cover-up.

For one, the link I threw up last week still refers drivers to the over 5,000 parking spaces in Parking Lots A, B and C, and the March 27 email actually refers season ticket mooks (or isn't that how the G'ints think of them?) to their directions page, which also contains outdated, but more pleasing, information.

It's another big Red Herring for these guys. This is the same organization that had (along with the Seattle Mariners) the first interactive, almost open source website in baseball. They can't update one paragraph telling people where to park?

But, wait for it. Wait for the time when the Giants are 65-67, fighting for that last, miserable NL playoff spot against the Padres this fall. There's no sense complaining before the offending item reaches its apex.

Incidently, a really interesting article here takes you inside the mind of Salomon Torres -- beloved at 21, then hated; retired at 25; now, at 35, a successful big league closer.

Yep -- he's even better than Tyler Walker.

2 comments:

Arman P. Medina said...

I just wanted to leave a comment because I felt sorry for you. Does anyone actually read your stuff? I am the first comment in days. Can't you have your mom leave a comment once and a while. I guess that would require her to read your blog. NEVERMIND!

“The Port of San Francisco is undertaking a public planning process for the 14-acre site south of China Basin Channel that is currently used for Giants and commuter parking. A subcommittee of the Port Commission is leading the process to evaluate potential land uses and development scenarios.” http://www.sfgov.org/site/port_page.asp?id=56101

This means one of two things. The Giants were not making enough money from the parking lots or the City of San Francisco wanted to raise the rent on the parking lot. Either way you cannot blame the Giants for making a sound business decision.

Jayzed said...

In fact, word is the Port Authority did try to raise the fees. The Giants, to coin a phrase, balked.

As you said, perhaps, a sound business decision. It's the Giants' failure to update anything or inform anyone that makes me worry for their souls.