[pefloresjr]

Too bad Super Bowl L is such an abomination. They have turned Market Street into a tacky noise machine with automatic weapon toting storm troopers. A lot of the merchants in the area are getting hurt. As far as I can tell, the visitors are not patronizing the local businesses much and the regular customers are being kept away. Enough people are staying out of downtown that I have gotten a seat on BART every day  this week. Traffic patterns won't return to normal till three weeks after the initial closures. I think most of the businesses would have been better off with an Elks Club convention.

On the plus side, the Old Mint looks pretty for a week.

I went down there last night to check it out.  I thought it was kind of cool and really liked the free Matt Nathanson concert.  A friend told me Chris Isaak was really good on Saturday night and Alicia Keys should be fun this Saturday night.  It is kind of loud and there isn't a whole lot to do other than go through the lines of the different corporate sponsors.  CBS's zip line was popular and the fan zone in the middle where you could stand and simulate making football moves like you were in a video game was awesome.  It seems like the out of town visitors were mostly arriving today and tomorrow so most of the crowd last night was from the Bay Area. 

I'm sure it has an impact on local businesses and saw the owner of Boulevard complaining on the news last night but the lower level food restaurants I saw in the Embarcadero were packed with visitors.  My understanding is that this is one of the slowest times of the year for tourist oriented businesses so I am sure they will get a boost compared to their baseline for this weekend. 

My attitude is that I'm going to try to enjoy the free parts of the Superbowl even if it causes some traffic problems and costs the City some money.  I like living in a city where there are a wide variety of events happening even if I don't participate.  (I missed Chris Isaak because I was at the Noir Film Festival that night.  It causes traffic problems around the theatre but I sure want it to continue.)  I refuse to join some of my friends in criticizing the event just because it is a big corporate event.  The Superbowl has supposedly raised and donated 12 million dollars for youth charities and activities in the Bay Area so that might be a good enough reason to put up with some traffic problems.  Bottom line, it's part of living in a big city and I think people should find the positive side of any event if they can.

Cheers,
Pete F.

[pefloresjr]

Too bad Super Bowl L is such an abomination. They have turned Market Street into a tacky noise machine with automatic weapon toting storm troopers. A lot of the merchants in the area are getting hurt. As far as I can tell, the visitors are not patronizing the local businesses much and the regular customers are being kept away. Enough people are staying out of downtown that I have gotten a seat on BART every day  this week. Traffic patterns won't return to normal till three weeks after the initial closures. I think most of the businesses would have been better off with an Elks Club convention.

On the plus side, the Old Mint looks pretty for a week.

I went down there last night to check it out.  I thought it was kind of cool and really liked the free Matt Nathanson concert.  A friend told me Chris Isaak was really good on Saturday night and Alicia Keys should be fun this Saturday night.  It is kind of loud and there isn't a whole lot to do other than go through the lines of the different corporate sponsors.  CBS's zip line was popular and the fan zone in the middle where you could stand and simulate making football moves like you were in a video game was awesome.  It seems like the out of town visitors were mostly arriving today and tomorrow so most of the crowd last night was from the Bay Area. 

I'm sure it has an impact on local businesses and saw the owner of Boulevard complaining on the news last night but the lower level food restaurants I saw in the Embarcadero were packed with visitors.  My understanding is that this is one of the slowest times of the year for tourist oriented businesses so I am sure they will get a boost compared to their baseline for this weekend. 

My attitude is that I'm going to try to enjoy the free parts of the Superbowl even if it causes some traffic problems and costs the City some money.  I like living in a city where there are a wide variety of events happening even if I don't participate.  (I missed Chris Isaak because I was at the Noir Film Festival that night.  It causes traffic problems around the theatre but I sure want it to continue.)  I refuse to join some of my friends in criticizing the event just because it is a big corporate event.  The Superbowl has supposedly raised and donated 12 million dollars for youth charities and activities in the Bay Area so that might be a good enough reason to put up with some traffic problems.  Bottom line, it's part of living in a big city and I think people should find the positive side of any event if they can.

Cheers,
Pete F.