Amazing mural man seeks IPO billions in synesthesia b2b play, in Palo Alto

Posted on March 10, 2015 by markweiss86

partmanpartmuralsilverstein
Sam Whiting of the Chron had a story about a mural in the lobby of a start-up and said that they don’t mind walk-ups, at 555 College, near Cali Ave (or across from the hole in the ground we call JJ & F’s, for you experts).

I met Al Siverstein director of marketing, but no relation to Rich Silverstein my old boss at GBS (“Got Milk?”). He kindly posed for me. They say blogs work better if you are super-specific, like I could quickly get a million readers and enough ad revenue to actually stay here, my home, if I did nothing but review and publicize and subtly pump start-ups as judged by their lobby art and murals (And I did meet David Choe one night at Facebook, above Jing Jings for you experts, and lend him $20, ok I bought a calendar).

I should probably redact this and not digress to too many things like Woody Guthrie lyric I’m going where the water tastes like wine, or comparing somehow Jerry Garcia or really Mountain Girl and the nice lady being arguably not treated too nicely at a big VC firm. But that Paul Thorn song intro speculating about how monogamy actually works and

that takes the cake or the Tokyo style hot dog, I am jonesing for just this minute. Dig?

Eliot Smukler's wife made this. Or makes jake on this.

Eliot Smukler’s wife made this. Or makes jake on this.

wealthfront541cowper

(a previous version of this was called “Michael Lewis Flashboys w. David Gurle Symphony but that sucked. An amazing version of this got lost by weak PA library wireless snafu)

This is a music blog mere than tech but since here I am walking distance from literally billions of dollars of hedge funds and ventures, here on Uni Ave, 400 block of Ramona, where Jerry Garcia in a pleistcene era gave banjo lessons, -, so I had to notice Sam Whiting writing not about retail but not-public art at a start-up called Symphony at 555 College, which sounds like either a former laundromat or Klutz Press — and a few blocks from here, a lie or two from there, there is a 7-11 that wanted to expand into a defunct or failing laundramat and instead a group of female entrepreneurs, presumably not funded by Ellen Pao, move in instead.

The mural thingy is by Ok Go? Can that be right? Jump to:
shit, I mean snap, I have Sunday March 8, two days ago, Datebook in the Chron, E1/E2/E7/E8 but no E3.

I have to move my car so I am tempted to roll by 555 College to see if indeed, as Whiting claims, “is open to drop ins”. Unless they see this first.

to complete the circle, Michael Lewis book about high frequency and high speed trading, Symphony is doing for financial services what Hook Up does for booty call?

its in a mortuary not a laundromat, thank god! But my yoga space on Cowper is now Wealthfront, with am impressive installation of shiny penny, and wife of founder Elliot Schmukler Jacquetta Lannan is meanwhile putting a pretty penny into her hot dog stand, on Cali Ave. So presumably the Symphony crew can eat Jacquetta’s weiners. I recommend the tokyo:

edit to add: clearly even a luddite like me if he links to the story can jump to E3 simple enough electronic-like; the artist is Brent Hermann, 27 , although this appears to be his first credit. i will probably redact to eliminate reference to adult sexual acts and a current case involving possible sexual harassment at Kleiner Perkins. I will double-check “schmukler” My research for this story did involve eating “Tokyo”.

and1: since the company is Symphony and the artist Hermann, I have to add that I was digging if not dogging “Psycho” and “The Birds” at Stanford Theatre both featuring music of Bernard Herrmann(sic).

plays simultaneous-like with

edit to add: this is a hot mess. But I did get to meet, as promised in the Chron, the Symphony Company director of marketing Al Siverstein (no relation of Rich) briefly and shot a few from the lobby of the start-up which targets the finance realm b-to-b as far as I need to know. They were real nice, and gave me a free soda. I suggested “Tim’s Vermeer” and WealthFront, for different reasons.

And why wouldn't I wish them well?

And why wouldn’t I wish them well?

edit to add a mere four months later: The Wall Street Journal reports that thanks to the propitious plug from Plastic Alto, Al Silverstein and his art loving and music loving buds over there at the former Tinney mortuary (nice touch!) are indeed now billionaire singular.

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‘McDonalds Fast Food Soul’ destination at Edgewood Plaza, and I’ll waive my finders fee

Posted on March 10, 2015 by markweiss86
Jeremy Enecio of Times

Jeremy Enecio of Times

I’m lovin’ it, bringing a McDonalds lab to Edgewood Plaza, where Fresh Market is slip sliding away.
The New York Times had a big story Sunday about McDonalds re-tooling itself under the leadership of a youngish, hippish Brit named Easterbrook. Did you know that their customers are the world’s largest consumers of Apples (the ones that grow on tree, were prominent in Milton “Paradise Lost”)? Did you know that they sell more chicken than cow? And they are revolutionist the produce business by swearing off antibiotics?

So why not have hipster Palo Altans as beta-testers for the new Mickey D?

Or, let SAP Labs HAHAhaus (grand opening March 17, 4 p.m to 8 p.m.) have Edgewood Plaza and get Lincoln Center Jazz West with PA-Native Jason Olaine to take over the historic and beloved Varsity Theater? (Stuff of dreams, I know).

I am literally sending this to Peter Pau of Sand Hill Properties. (and Chop Keenen, and Jim Baer, and Elizabeth Wong.And John McNellis)

I ate at McDonalds just last week, on my way to Independence High, to watch St. Francis v. Sacred Heart. If this fries, I will waive any finders fee.

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Sung Terry

Posted on March 10, 2015 by markweiss86

helensungclarkterry
Helen Sung, among glad tidings, also sends respect for master trumpet player Clark Terry, who passed away last month at 94.

All Music Guide lists him with 2,827 credits and 144 as a leader discography.

Among the long list of things I did not realize, he was also in the Tonight Show band(when it was in New York), so maybe I was listening to him without knowing. He was from St. Louis, originally.

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Simi w. Tsimmes

Posted on March 9, 2015 by markweiss86

Simi is a new nickname for Joe Simitian, a leading local politician.

Tsimmes is a Jewish soul food, a sweet stew made from carrots.

tsimmes

edit: No, “simi” is Joe, “tsimmes” is Simitian/Hughes.

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‘Heaven Help Us All’ by Claire Daly, at Blues Alley, 2013

Posted on March 9, 2015 by markweiss86

(Claire Daly,more known as a bass clarinet side person than leader, composer or singer, sang this same song, originally recorded by Stevie Wonder, at Art 21 Gallery, on the corner of Hamilton and Alma, very near the tracks, in summer, 2007, part of a music series I produced there. I name-checked the song following the lead of Michele Dauber, who quoted some Whitman, on today’s Palo Alto Weekly dialogue board and web site).

and1: it’s actually by Ron Miller, written for Stevie in 1970 and among other covers is by Joan Baez:
Heaven help the child who never had a home,
Heaven help the girl who walks the street alone
Heaven help the roses if the bombs begin to fall,
Heaven help us all.

andand: I admit it took me this long to go back and read Michele Dauber’s suggestion, of a Whitman group of verses, from 1899. And I admit I cannot wrap my brain around it, the Wonder comes much easier. I took these verses, as a dose, a potion not a poison, as Paracelsus would have:

We mourn the old, the young untimely drawn to thee,
The fair, the strong, the good, the capable,
The household wreck’d, the husband and the wife, the engulfed forger
in his forge,
The corpses in the whelming waters and the mud,

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Za 4 BV w/Simi

Posted on March 9, 2015 by markweiss86

Dear Friend,

I’m asking you for one hour of your time tonight to help save the homes of 400 Palo Altans.

The Buena Vista Mobile Home Park is in danger of being shut down. Not only is it the last mobile home park in Palo Alto, it’s also home to 400 low-income Palo Alto residents. In January, the County set aside $8 million dollars in affordable housing funds to help find a solution that allows the residents to stay in their homes and to preserve the site for affordable housing.

Last week, the Palo Alto City Manager conditionally matched that $8 million with City funds. Tremendous news, but it’s important that we both thank the City for this critical first step and ask for the Council’s continued support.moresimi

That’s why I would like you to join your neighbors and me TONIGHT, Monday, March 9 at 5:30pm at Palo Alto City Hall as we rally to save the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park.

Let’s thank the City, and encourage the City Council to ratify the funding at the earliest appropriate opportunity.

For more information, see the flyer below or visit our event page.

Hope to see you there,

P.S. The pizza’s on me!

edit to add: I called over to Delia at Pizza Chicago, across the street from BV to see if by chance Joe Simitian our pizza popi had placed a large order, on the size of 20 pies, and she said not to her knowledge. I had actually written about this before, government pizza, not to be confused with the Van Buskirk-ian “stale popcorn”/”state popcorn”. I am suggesting that our man Simi choose wisely in his pizza order. Something like this:

The Fridge, by Pizza Chicago

The Fridge, by Pizza Chicago

Mor ego the pint, I am trying to wrap my brain around what is actually happening at BV. Not to be a cynic, but is Joe Simitian the leading mover and shaker here trying to broker the deal, the way I have been saying at least since the fall the public sector ought do, or is he merely ensuring a fat profit for Jisser. Fair question, given the recent rout of the real estate interests here. I hardly know Joe, or Simi. (does anyone actually call him Simi?) He approached me after the campaign event at Etz Chayim and said I did a good job, (appreciated). I had approached him at his booth at the Los Altos Farmers market and suggested that the GJR of 6/14 indicated a leadership problem, and one that he could capitalize on, and show us the way (I was being serious, non-cynical and not ironic, although people have their doubt. As you say, you can fool some people some time but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. And I’m not sure if Simitian endorsed 4 or 5 people in the campaign; based on his enthusiasm that one night, I wondered if he was kinda hinting that I should kiss that ring and ask for his name).

I was sussing around earlier my own email archive to try to document what I’ve said about BV. I believe I was among the most vocal in favor of trying to broker a public-led solution. for instance, as part of my application to the Sierra Club endorsement process, they asked and I stated that I think there should be a brokered solution. (Meanwhile, City Attorney Molly Stump had initiated a gag on candidates, and I openly defied that, thru a group email and other places. Aram James, a private attorney, even forwarded an on-point refutation of her stance: candidates cannot be gagged by leadership or staff during an election cycle).

I was not endorsed by Winter Dellanbach, the leader of the BV tenants, but I certainly dropped her name during the campaign. I was asked, at the panel at City Hall, “what do you think about BV?” and my reply was “we should talk to Winter — I pointed her out, in the audience — “she has the answers.”

I’ve been saying privately and maybe here on Plastic Alto that its a criticism of our superficial horse-race campaign season that a natural outcome of the campaign, with 10 candidates seeking 5 Palo Alto council seats, should have been a resolution of the case.
Scott Herhold last month lauded Joe Simi; today I just added my two cents:
I’ve been saying publicly since at least August, 2014 that leadership i.e. public sector should broker a deal to be rid of the bad actor and greedy current ownership, which is in place relatively short-time (although that fact is mis-reported, even by the Merc) and bought in well-aware of the pro-tenant covenant. Kudos to Joe for going all in here.

I lump together as birds of a feather three local debates: on Buena Vista, on Maybell and now on Stevenson House. Or as the pepperoni, sausage and cheese on my pizza, of social consciousness, of affordable housing, of tenants rights. Is there a pizza called The Saul Alinsky?

and1: Delia said that KJ the manager will be in at 3. Maybe we could come up with an ongoing Pizza for BV campaign, or a pie called Chicago Freedom Movement.

My basic stance is that Jisser bought it (from his family) for about $10M, in 1999 or so, A liberal bank found by the current tenants’ advocates offered to help the renters become owners, lending them bona fide $15 M to buy the owner out, he refused, saying if we the people only upzone him beyond the 4.5 acres at 15 units per acre, his land will be worth $20 M or more. So the $8 M each from City and County low income earmarks gives him his $20m+, right? Meanwhile, the Samantha Weigel of the San Mateo Daily Journal says that a foreign based entity bought a luxury apartment building with 111-units there for $73.6 M, and that a proposed 599-unit project in Hayward Park sold for $67 M, and DivCoWest spent $130 M to bury 210,000 square foot fully leased office complex on Concar, home to SalesForce. Or, as I say, the commercial real estate industry just here in Palo Alto is a billon dollar entity, and highly motivated so it is nearly impossible to regulate. (Our civic budget is more like $150 M, with about $10 to regulate builders, yet staff sometimes acts, it is a fair observance, like they work for the builders not we the people, and there is a bit of a revolving door, see Steve Emslie).

this is like the little peppers or parmesan dry cheese you shake on your pie, after-market: yes, in October under title “Palo Alto Pizza Democracy” I noted that when council was vetting Planning commish candidates they were served New York Pizza and I said that they should have served something better like Pizza Chicago. Then I addended that the City Manager office was having pizza office hours at six or so places, including both of the aforementioned, and some pretty good stuff.

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Rachel Garlin ‘Wink at July’

Posted on March 8, 2015 by markweiss86

I texted Rachel Garlin to tell her that Paul Freeman in the Merc and affiliates reviews favorably her new release “Wink at July” and says it’s “warm and wonderful..” which for a text message is an adequate review of a review but here in the infinite and plastic and ever-expanding blogosphere I am going full-freeman:
Garlin, who grew up in Berkeley and now lives in San Francisco with her wife and two young boys, has impressively made the transition from teacher to troubadour. The singer-songwriter’s new album is warm and wonderful. Poetic lyrics and pleasing melodies, combined with Garlin’s appealing vocals, make this album difficult to resist. She paints vivid pictures and tells intriguing stories. Highlights include the rhythmic “This Winding Road” and “Spin,” as well as the winsome “Flying Together.” “Wink at July” will be released on iTunes April 21. Pre-orders are available now. Garlin plays San Francisco’s Viracocha, March 14.

Meanwhile i notice Rachel has a pr-consultant Wendy something who also once worked on Archers of Loaf. I thought I am the only person who loves AOL and Rachel Garlin!

I also have more photos to post both from her sneak preview show in Menlo Park and her big todo in Sf. I have a two-shot of she and Julia Wolf 4-handing the piano.

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Richard Price $1M cowboy

Posted on March 8, 2015 by markweiss86

IMG_20150308_113009954_HDR

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Let’s play two balloon (weird Ernie Banks tribute, w. Eiko Okura)

Posted on March 8, 2015 by markweiss86

I actually have live photos of Eiko the twister at Rockage the event, a month ago, with DJ Coco dressed in an Eiko costume

I actually have live photos of Eiko the twister at Rockage the event, a month ago, with DJ Coco dressed in an Eiko costume


Balloon art by Eiko Okura

Balloon art by Eiko Okura

and1: compare “let’s play two” (Ernie Banksism) with “IKO IKO” Meters/Dead dealio.

andand: it would be pretty funny if because of this post someone consufes DJ Coco with Dr. John, who say dis:
The song was written and recorded back in the early 1950s by a New Orleans singer named James Crawford who worked under the name of Sugar Boy & the Cane Cutters. It was recorded in the 1960s by the Dixie Cups for Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller’s Red Bird Records, but the format we’re following here is Sugar Boy’s original. Also in the group were Professor Longhair on piano, Jake Myles, Big Boy Myles, Irv Bannister on guitar, and Eugene ‘Bones’ Jones on drums. The group was also known as the Chipaka Shaweez. The song was originally called ‘Jockamo,’ and it has a lot of Creole patois in it. Jockamo means ‘jester’ in the old myth. It is Mardi Gras music, and the Shaweez was one of many Mardi Gras groups who dressed up in far out Indian costumes and came on as Indian tribes. The tribes used to hang out on Claiborne Avenue and used to get juiced up there getting ready to perform and ‘second line’ in their own special style during Mardi Gras. That’s dead and gone because there’s a freeway where those grounds used to be. The tribes were like social clubs who lived all year for Mardi Gras, getting their costumes together. Many of them were musicians, gamblers, hustlers and pimps.

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Alphabet soup: ‘lie-tech’ jargon w. Wu Tang Clan

Posted on March 8, 2015 by markweiss86

Today I am shedding up on “low income housing tax credit” sometimes referred to as “lie-tech” or “lit-C”. Dig? I have a list of 31 TLA three-letter acronyms on the topic. And since this is a music column, it brings to mind RZA and Wu Tang Clan. There was also a band in SF on Prawn Song Records called Alphabet soup.

First, the meal, your acronyms. (Then, the dessert, the music):

AFR applicable federal rate
AHIC Affordable Housing Investors Council
AMI area median income
ASC accounting standards codification
CFR Code of Federal Regulations
CRA Community Reinvestment Act
DDA difficult development area
EITF Emerging Issues Task Force
FASB Federal Accounting Standards Board
FHA Federal Housing Administration
FSA federal savings association
GP general partner
HCA housing credit agency
HCDA Housing and Community Development Act of 1974
HERA Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 HOLA Home Owners Loan Act of 1933
HR House of Representatives
HTC historic tax credits
HUD U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development IRC Internal Revenue Code

until this moment RZA probably thought HUD was a movie

until this moment RZA probably thought HUD was a movie


IRS Internal Revenue Service
LIHTClow-income housing tax credit
LLC limited liability company
LP limited partner
PHA public housing authority
PWI public welfare investment
QAP qualified allocation plan
QCT qualified census tract
RETC renewable energy tax credits
USC U.S. Code

RZA (pronounced “risa” like “the son also risa” the hemmingway joint) is Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, 45, from Brownsville, where they probably have a fair amount of Section 42 housing. I question it here, and for the elderly. Diggs?

Will it take a “samurai showdown” between The Residentialists and the Pro Developer Establishment, to shed a little light on Stevenson House deal?

edit to add: I admit, I am kind of frontin’ regarding Hip Hop. I don’t actually know Hip Hop as I do speed metal or skronk, for instance. I have to crib on the internet to distinguish RZA from GZA or Ol’ Dirty Bastard; I am more like a Michael Franti kind of guy. Although at Gunn in the championship years, we were early adopters of Sugar Hill Gang, during warmups. Anyhow, it turns out that Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, RZA, spend formative years not in Brooklyn but Hill District of Pittsburgh, working his pop’s convenience store; maybe Hill District of Pittsburgh is a better place, compared to Stevenson House or South Palo Alto, for Low Income Housing Tax Credit investments. Here’s a little sumpin sumpin on that area:

In 1996, the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh (HACP) was awarded a $26.6 million grant to redevelop the 460-unit HOPE VI complex called Bedford Dwellings. Working with the Hill CDC, the Bedford Resident Council and the City of Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), and HACP selected McCormack Baron Salazar, the developer of Crawford Square, to redevelop the Bedford site.

This development aimed to remove blight and to replace the dilapidated apartments with units designed as townhouses that blended in with the existing architecture of the surrounding neighborhood. Based on input from the residents’ desire to not be relocated more than once, the final redevelopment plan was implemented in phases.

Also in the late 90s came the redevelopment of the former Allequippa Terrace – a 1940s-era public housing complex. The first phase was completed in 2003 with 639 townhouses, about 70 percent of them low-income housing; a sub-phase was completed in 2010 which included 86 housing units.

The $90 million second phase will result in nearly 450 townhomes and apartments — the majority market-rate — office, retail and recreational spaces.

These Hope VI housing developments: Crawford Square, Bedford Hill and Oak Hill, have brought more economic diversity to the neighborhood. However, displacement of existing residents has been a major concern. The Greater Hill District Master plan outlines anti-displacement strategies to assure that current residents are able to enjoy the redevelopment of their neighborhood.

Bingo: Feel me this: anti displacement stragies (ADS?) Maybe we needs, at the very least, not just to “pull” the proposal, unlucky number 7 from tomorrow’s consent calendar, we need to add an ADS, an “anti-displacement strategy”. Yo. Word.

and1: or and3:
1) What is the history of LIHTC in Palo Alto?
2) What is the history, anywhere, of LIHTC for seniors?
3) What are comparable Stewart Company LIHTC, in San Francisco.
This looks like mere shark bait; we are using these 120 seniors to lure in these “savvy investors”.

Announcing: The RZAdentialists. We got game. We got teeth.

two hours later: I’ve got 20 other things to work on, and have posted twice since this, but circling back to the Stevenson case, I am re-reading the CMR and took these notes: 1) a for-profit entity managing a non profit seems to violate the PC ordinance, which specifies that Stevenson project is a non profit, period.
2) “an interpretation of the PC ordinance is required” see also our two hour discussion of the term “building envelope”
3) “which would continue”, the senior housing emphasis, with the changes, but for how long? typical LIHTC projects have sunsets, meaning that after 15 or 30 years it could revert to market rate.
4) CMR report references “a for profit entity that pays taxes must own the project” but here they are forming an entity to AVOID paying taxes. Seems contrived.
5) see also CMR 3176 — I have not seen, (dated 11/5/2012 see the link) but searching it sends me to:
6) CMR #4606 from April, 2014, i.e. recent relevant history, 4/7/14 regarding a TEFRA hearing that was posted in Weekly by advertisement in March, 2014. $23 M from CMFA California Municipal Finance Authority. If a public hearing was necessary for a bond issuance (which I am presuming failed? or what?) why is consent calendar sufficient here?
As cited in the published notice of March 21, 2014 in the Palo Alto Weekly, the public hearing is simply an opportunity for all interested persons to speak or to submit written comments concerning the proposal to issue the debt and the nature or location of the facility to be financed; however there is no formal obligation on the part of the borrower or the Council to respond to any specific comments made during the hearing or submitted in writing.
7) was there a TEFRA hearing? And why wasn’t that recent history referenced in this weeks staff report?
8) TEFRA is Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1983
9) the current staff report, that is flawed and should not be approved without pulling, says that the house was built in 1968 “and now requires renovation”. More true is that, according to the staff report in 2012, the City of Palo Alto no fewer than nine times, between 1991 and 2012 has allocated funds totaling $1.2 for maintenance at Stevenson.

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