The property manager of a building where a woman fell three stories to her death during a Fleet Week Blue Angels party is investigating the incident, according to the building’s property management company. 

The woman, identified Tuesday as Patricia Hamon, 51, apparently tripped and fell during the rooftop party on Oct. 7, according to her ex-husband, Clark Hamon, and a Facebook post made by a friend. Hamon was known to her friends as Tricia O’Connor—her maiden name.

“Our office is investigating this matter and will follow up when we have more information,” said Stefan Calic, property management director at Hanford-Freund & Company. “Our office is still gathering all of the relevant facts of the incident.”

READ MORE: Woman Died Falling From San Francisco Building During Blue Angels Party

The roof of 2940 Van Ness Ave., where a woman fell to her death during a Fleet Week party, was easily accessible to a reporter from The Standard. | Source: Garrett Leahy/The Standard

Tenants and neighbors said the party happened on the roof of the apartment building at 2940 Van Ness Ave. and that about 10 people may have been present.

‘You’re Not Supposed To Go Up There’

The Standard visited the apartment building Thursday and accessed the roof via an unlocked door that was slightly ajar. Signs reading “keep out” and “emergency exit only” were posted to the door. The roof did not appear to be built for leisure use, felt spongy, was covered in gravel and had no guardrails or significant ledges around its perimeter.

In San Francisco, a roof does not need guardrails or protective walls, known as parapets, unless a building has a permitted rooftop deck, or has machinery on the roof being worked on, such as an HVAC system.

Signs warn tenants not to access the roof of 2940 Van Ness Ave., where a woman fell to her death during a Fleet Week party. | Source: Garrett Leahy/The Standard

“It’s not the owner’s responsibility; you’re not supposed to be up there,” said Engin Yagmur, a structural engineer with San Francisco firm ECS Engineering.

The property is owned by three individuals and two trusts. The Standard was unable to reach them for comment.

‘I Knew She Was Dead’

A witness who lives across the street from 2940 Van Ness Ave. said Patricia Hamon fell onto the steps of the neighboring home at 2930 Van Ness Ave. | Source: Garrett Leahy/The Standard

A witness who lives across the street from where the incident happened told The Standard that Hamon fell onto the outdoor steps of the neighboring home at 2930 Van Ness Ave.

The witness, who asked to remain anonymous because she said she feels traumatized by the incident and wants privacy, said she heard a “loud sound” around 4 p.m. Saturday before seeing a woman’s body on the concrete steps. The Standard has been unable to verify where Hamon landed after her fall. The San Francisco Fire Department said it could not confirm the location due to legal reasons.

“Then I saw blood pouring out [of her head], and I just screamed,” the witness said. “Her friends were looking over the roof. I was screaming for them to call 911, because I was too horrified to do so myself.”

An old exercise bike on the roof of 2940 Van Ness Ave. | Source: Garrett Leahy/The Standard

The witness said a passerby called 911 and they performed CPR for about five minutes until police responded and continued to administer medical aid. The witness said medics arrived shortly after and tried to use a defibrillator on Hamon.

“When they gave up, I knew she was dead,” the witness said. “They were taking the body away, and [her friends] all held hands, and talked about her,” the witness said.

A friend of Hamon, Alix Rosenthal, posted a message on Facebook Tuesday on behalf of Hamon’s family.

“I am sad to announce that Tricia suffered a fatal accident at a Blue Angels party on Saturday,” wrote Rosenthal. “We are still working on plans for a memorial, and will announce details as soon as we have them. Trishie was a bright light in our community, her passing is an unspeakable loss for all of us. Please seek support from one another as we grieve together.”

Rosenthal and the O’Connor family declined to comment further.

The post San Francisco Blue Angels Get together Loss of life: Roof Lacks Security Rails appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Sometimes transit planning and the state of streets get so ridiculous, one doesn’t know whether to—as the saying goes—laugh or cry.

Los Angeles-based comedian George Coffey decided laughing was better. That’s why he built the website and social media feed “Local Metro.” Streetsblog first became aware of his work after seeing a tweet about a new subway being planned that would be ten stories below the surface. The reason: “After feedback from multiple local businesses that Metro construction may inconvenience them, we’ve completed a new design for the central Downtown station! Building 300 feet below ground ensures the least disruption while adding less than 15 minutes to each rider’s travel time.”

As with most good satire, the plan for this fictional subway wasn’t far off from reality: several readers of the tweet took it seriously and were outraged by the proposal to build so deep because one or two local business owners “were still uncomfortable with the possibility of losing street parking for three weeks.”

Streetsblog thought it’d be fun to have a virtual sit down with Coffey and find out what inspired him to start the site, what it says about real transit, and how he became a transit nerd in the first place.

***

Streetsblog: So I assume the 300-foot-deep subway is a spoof of VTA’s ridiculous BART extension plans?

George Coffey: That is what it’s parodying, yes. Although once I tweeted it, people responded about a proposed subway in Seattle that’s also ridiculously deep. But yes, it’s a parody of the San Jose extension.

SB: It seems you started with a real rendering of it in fact?

GC: It’s based on a real rendering with four or five escalators.

SB: So you’re based in Los Angeles. Why are you picking on a Bay Area project?

GC: The Bay Area transit systems provide a lot of material. And it’s the place in America with the most NIMBY people trying to mess with everything. With the whole BART San Jose extension there’s just a lot there. I also ended up following a lot of YIMBY housing people with my personal account and their activism points out flaws in zoning around transit and flaws with the frequency of service.

SB: I’m assuming you’re a transit nerd.

GC: Yeah, I’m a little bit of a transit nerd.

Transit spoofer George Coffey

SB: Just a little bit? You run a whole site dedicated to making fun of it.

GC: I had the idea in my head for a couple of years. At some point I just had too many ideas and jokes not to do it. Okay, yeah, now that I’m running the account I guess I’ve earned the credit of “transit nerd.”

SB: Where did you first begin to suspect you had this affection?

GC: I grew up riding the T. My dad worked in Boston and my grandparents lived there. I used to collect the little punch tickets.

SB: Punch tickets?

GC: Yeah, from the Boston-area transit systems. Each conductor had his own ticket puncher that made a unique shape. So I used to collect them to see how many symbols of the little punch-things you’d get. So I always enjoyed it.

SB: That is meta transit nerd status. Do you still ride now?

GC: I do.

SB: What’s your commute?

GC: About an hour and a half across LA. I take one bus down Cesar Chavez, then the Purple line to Wilshire and Western, then the 720 bus to Beverly Hills.

SB: That doesn’t sound fun.

GC: I’ve been reading lots of books. It’s almost an hour by car too, but it’s way more stressful to drive down the 10, so mentally it ends up being pretty even.

SB: So why make fun of it?

GC: I am pro-transit and I want it to get better. So I intentionally try to ridicule things that are clearly bad moves by a transit agency. Or sometimes I stick to things that are obviously absurd.

Northbound B trains are delayed while we take a train with a mechanical problem upstate to live on a farm

— Local Metro (@GoLocalMetro) February 6, 2022

SB: So you have standards?

GC: I’m not going to ridicule a bus operator.

SB: You have a thread and video on your site that’s got to be inspired by the Los Angeles airport Rube Goldberg transit connection plan. What is it going to be, three different vehicles and over an hour to get to Union Station, where you can catch a fourth mode to hopefully finally get home?

GC: I was more inspired by how LAX transit is now. I think what they’re working on will be more reasonable than having the audacity to call the Green Line station nearest the airport the “aviation station.”

SB: Right, where you wait around for a bus under a freeway with your luggage to travel the last couple of miles to the terminals.

GC: So I was making fun of their first try. But yes, the new try is also pretty ridiculous, considering you still won’t be able to take a single train to Union Station from the airport.

SB: I like your video about it (which I’ll embed in the interview) about the train to the train to the train to the bus to Lot B to the other bus to the terminals.

SB: You also like to poke fun at transit systems and their customer-last perspective. You did a video about a new line that was cheap to build because it has no stops. Is there a transit system you’re picking on in particular with that?

GC: That’s inspired by real promotional videos you’ll see for new transit lines, where they’ll try to claim they’re reinventing the wheel or doing something really innovative or revolutionizing transit.

SB: Instead of just building a God-damn train or bus line that works for riders?

G.C. Right. They should just be sticking to old standbys. So that was based on just thinking about what would be the most ridiculous thing they could do technically, which would be a line with no stops.

SB: It does save money—as does making people get off BART in the middle of a freeway to change to a cheaper BART at a transfer station that has no entrances or exits.

GC: Right.

SB: You also go off about the lack of customer service, like when agencies randomly cancel bus and rail services and the poor announcements about it. The quips on your site are so close to what really happens. I’m thinking of the frequent shutdowns of the Muni subway. Did you have Muni in mind for that?

We’re hearing concerns about the 6 week subway shutdown. Rest assured after intensive construction, there will be no difference in appearance or service

— Local Metro (@GoLocalMetro) August 7, 2022

GC: It almost doesn’t matter.

SB: Right, one of your tweets had people responding as if you’re lampooning Philadelphia, or Boston, or Washington. It really didn’t seem to matter.

GC: When I tweet something with one specific agency in mind, people always think it’s about their metro, wherever they’re from.

SB: That says something about the status of transit in the US You also go off about bike lanes on the site.

GC: That’s definitely something I like to parody because I don’t think painted bike lanes are taking things seriously. Just look at the whole Sixth Street bridge debacle in LA, all because they didn’t think they should close the bike lanes in with Jersey barriers and in the first week cars crashed and spun out into both bike lanes.

The west side bike path will be closed for 2 years for no discernable reason

— Local Metro (@GoLocalMetro) April 19, 2022

GC: I once posted something about how our city’s bike lanes are delineated by some of the thickest paint in the country. And what are sharrows? What is that? Is that a request that you try not to run over bikes? Which also implies you are allowed to be mean to bikers on other roads?

SB: Sharrows are a city’s way of telling cyclists to go f’ themselves.

GC: I’m sure Sharrows were originally pitched as a clever innovation.

SB: Ha! No doubt they were. So we’re just about out of time. Any final thoughts?

GC: Probably the most fun, wildest thing I’ve ever experienced on transit was taking a bus back from West Hollywood on a Saturday night and everybody was still having a great time, partying on the bus on the way home. I want to reiterate that I’m pro-transit. Everyone who follows the account is also pro-transit. I make fun of it because I want it to be better.

This interview was edited with a rusty machete.

The post ‘Native Metro’ is off the Rails – Streetsblog San Francisco appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

There are usually many conditions attached to a San Francisco apartment lease. You may need to carpet 75% of hardwood floors, or burn candles, or be unable to accommodate a pet that weighs more than 30 pounds. But perhaps the most common warning is to drill holes in the walls, a decision that could result in a break in your deposit if you ever move out.

But for those in older buildings, there is usually one simple workaround that you might not even have realized existed – image rails.

What you might initially think of as crown molding is likely the splint molding running horizontally in space. It’s usually located about a foot and a half from the edge where your walls meet your ceilings, and this molding is specially provided so you can hang artwork or whatever your heart desires on it. With the right hooks, you can easily attach your item to cords hanging from the hook that rests on top of the rail.

Image rails are also useful for heavy old mirrors. pic.twitter.com/nip3jXtUrW

– Rachel Bennett (@mckosky) March 16, 2021

Americans began using picture rails around 1840, and the indispensable home decor remained in vogue for about 100 years. You were born for practical reasons, said Bonnie Spindler, a real estate agent and “the Victorian specialist” of San Francisco, like so many features of the time. Prior to 1940 and the invention of drywall, most of the walls were made of plaster of paris and laths, which can easily crack if someone puts a hammer and nail on the wall to position a painting. Repairing these cracks has been and is difficult and costly, which is why your landlord wants to make sure you don’t.

“Plaster and lath are quite a sturdy form of wall construction, but are prone to the loss of cleaning keys (the cleaning pears that they attach to the horizontal wooden lathes that are lined up between the wall posts) through knocks like a hammer driving in a nail”, said Rob Thomson, president of the San Francisco Victorian Alliance. “Picture rails allow decor to be installed without damaging the walls. They are richly decorated, plain, and everything in between. “

The middle class of the time still wanted well-equipped houses, so residents used picture rails to make their homes look more affluent. “In the Victorian era, these bourgeois people wanted to look like an upper class so they would decorate and make things look like they had a big mansion,” Spindler said. “… They put up portraits, tapestries, large mirrors, framed works of art, and even plates and china. And they didn’t want to screw up their walls. “

Typically, the 1.5 “to 2” molding strips are placed at the junction where the wall ends and the ceiling begins. In homes built in the 1900s, it usually aligns with the top of a window. The rails themselves are sturdy and can be repositioned along the wall.

The construction of these items quickly developed into its own industry, in which craftsmen specialized in various shape patterns as well as hooks for hanging.

Today, San Francisco residents looking to restore a home or stay true to its original design have only one place to find original picture rails. Lorna Kollmeyer, designer, sculptor and mold maker, has owned an ornamental plaster shop in Hunter’s Point for more than 37 years and has an extensive collection of stylish picture rails. If a picture rail in a home gets damaged or someone needs extra, he can bring a piece of his current style to Kollmeyer and she will try to adjust it and make a whole new shape if she can’t.

Image rail exhibited on Lorna Kollmeyer Zierputz in Hunter’s Point.

Lorna Kollmeyer

“It’s a very interesting collection. We tried to create an archive, ”said Kollmeyer. “I’ve come across a number of patterns over the years, but people keep popping up with new and pretty ones.”

She said she was always impressed with how uniquely people use her.

I love her!! Especially for hanging up album covers. pic.twitter.com/owouQPTdIr

– Nikki Collister (@ncollister) March 16, 2021

pic.twitter.com/ZbmntcR717

– Jeff Wozniak (@wozlaw) March 16, 2021

While Kollmeyer’s store supplies ornate and historic moldings, basic versions are sold at your local Home Depot or Lowes and are usually easy to install.

Despite her long history, Spindler said she met a lot of local residents who have no idea what the rails are, even though most houses still have a picture rail. “Very few homes in San Francisco are missing picture rails, and those who do look like someone with their eyebrows shaved,” Spindler said. “You can see that the picture rail is missing.”

Wait is this what this is for? I just moved to SF a few months ago and learned new things every day! pic.twitter.com/6PH00pqv0a

– Josh Jacoby (@xJeebs_) March 16, 2021

Is that a picture rail? Cool … I learned something new today.

– Siva Raj (@jaravis) March 16, 2021

The post The story behind image rails and why so many San Francisco houses have them appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.