Dear Mayor Gilmore,

Last month, I freaked out when I realized I was biking straight into oncoming traffic near the Posey Tunnel one Saturday afternoon. Luckily, I was able to navigate to safety.

While the sharrows and “Bike Route” signage is great in the heart of Alameda, the directional cues for bikers seems to disappear on the edge of the city.

When money becomes available for the next round of bike program improvements, I hope the council puts a serious emphasis on signage to help direct riders in and around the Posey and Webster Street tunnels.

Google Maps tells me its safe to bike through the Posey Tunnel, but I’m still skeptical. Are the skinny raised pathways on the sides of the tunnel meant for bikers? I have no idea because there’s no information at that location that I could see. If they are, I hope an emphasis also is placed on smoothing out those pathways, widening them and/or bending parts of the fence.

Again, I ask that you pay more attention to bikers operating on the edges of the city.

Thanks for your service to the city.

Got a nice reply from city officials in response to that.

—-

Dear BART,

In my month in San Francisco, it’s become a common sight to see tourists fumbling around with cash, tickets, cards and luggage at the ticket vending machines at Powell Street Station. The downtown station is obviously near many major hotels. These tourists just want to get to the airport. But the seem unable to easily comprehend the machines or fare schedule posted on them.

I would suggest creating a poster dedicated to explaining how to buy a ticket for the airport. Or even better, how about installing a new machine dedicated to only issuing SFO or Oakland Coliseum tickets. Such a booth could enhance the experience of tourists and speed up queues for existing machines.

You could even recoup costs through a small surcharge for using that machine. I’m sure airport-bound folks can spare a nickel or two.

AL East

Rays

Yankees*

Blue Jays*

Red Sox

Orioles

AL Central

Tigers

Indians

Royals

Twins

White Sox

AL West

Angels

Rangers

Mariners

Athletics

— Rays beat Angels to go to World Series —

NL East

Braves

Marlins*

Phillies

Nationals

Mets

NL Central

Brewers

Pirates

Reds

Cardinals

Cubs

Astros

NL West

Giants

Diamondbacks*

Padres

Dodgers

Rockies

—Braves beat Giants to go to World Series—

Chipper Jones and the Braves win the World Series over the Rays

Kiwis love their grilled sausages. They squeeze them into one or two slices of white bread — with or without condiments — and call it a meal.

For us vegetarians, most eateries have options that fit our needs. There’s lot of falafels, burgers and sandwiches. Tofu certainly isn’t as huge here as it is in California.

Many restaurants seem to blend in different ethnic flavors. So when you get a burrito, it kind of tastes like a dosa. But Mexican places are few and far in between. That’s the biggest downfall of the island. Most nationwide American fast-food chains are here, except for Papa John’s, Round Table and anything Mexican.

Meanwhile, the New York Times’ Seth Kugel did a great job of summing up some of the differences between America and New Zealand.

Yes, Auckland’s regional public transportation system, known as MAXX, almost always arrives at a stop right at its scheduled time. I haven’t had to wait anymore than five minutes past the scheduled time. Even in the worst cases, MAXX stops in urban areas generally have an electronic signage board that lists estimated arrival times of the next few buses.

The buses are also amazing clean. They definitely do not smell as nasty as L.A. buses.