Nineteen percent of flights at San Francisco International Airport were delayed in the past year, levels not seen since the dot-com boom days of 2000 and 2001.The percentage of delayed domestic flights increased 2 percent in the year ending March 2006 over the previous year, and 6 percent from the year ending March 2004, according to figures released Thursday by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The number of flights remained relatively stable during that time, around or just under 130,000 per year.
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Embattled from fighting potholes and street flooding from behind his steering wheel in North Fair Oaks, John Shott hopes some relief may be on the way for local drivers in the form of $18 million for county road repairs.His neighborhood, in unincorporated San Mateo County, has among the county’s worst roads and storm drains in places, officials said. "Some of the streets are just crummy," said Shott, president of the North Fair Oaks Council. Among the worst is Placitas Avenue, he said.
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Some days are better than others for us columnists. As enthusiastic members of the fourth estate, we are certain of variousfacts. For instance, no columnist is ever going to be on the cover of Time, Newsweek or People. We will never own four houses, three cars and racehorses. Expensive jewelry will never drip from our significant others. Let’s face it, we ain’t gonna get rich on this gig, folks. However, before the violins show up for the dirge and you coax that one crocodile tear out, let me tell you about the other side of the coin.
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The concrete supplier to the Golden Gate Bridge seismic retrofit project and several other Bay Area public projects has been accused of selling substandard concrete.The owners of Pacific Cement Company, Ricardo Ramirez, 65, and Reynaldo Nunez, 55, were arraigned Thursday in criminal court on 14 felony charges, including fraud, grand theft, forgery and the unlawful storage and disposal of hazardous waste, in connection with sale of concrete to the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District and the operation of the company’s Bayview plant.
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In theory, it sounds great: Approach the toll plaza at any one of the eight Bay Area bridges and zip by the long lines of motorists who are fumbling in their pocketbooks or under their floormats for singles and spare change. Barely slow down as you drive through the toll booth, as special antennae debit your prepaid account via the transponder mounted on your windshield. Pat yourself on the back for shaving minutes off your commute and saving yourself the aggravation of one more long line.
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Nicole Alvino had a heart-to-heart talk with herself after her career at Enron Corp. went to the dogs. She was working 15 to 18 hours a day in finance when her job tanked with the rest of the company. Fortunately, she had already made plans to go to business school, so she took the time in the interim to mentally chart out a new path.
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Apparently, the price tag for witnessing history isn’t what it used to be.With Barry Bonds still sitting at 713 home runs after the Giants’ 8-1 loss to the visiting Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night, the scalpers trolling the streets outside AT&T Park figured to be one group of San Franciscans benefiting from the drawn-out process of making history.
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Just days after the slaying of a San Francisco man who was in the district attorney’s witness protection program, DA Kamala Harris on Wednesday stood in front of the Ella Hill Hutch Community Center — the site of another recent daytime slaying — to announce a June 16 summit of law enforcement and community leaders.The summit, Harris said, would be the first chance to "have a conversation between the community and law enforcement about what we can collectively do about witness intimidation."
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Virgin America on Wednesday alleged that Continental Airlines is delaying its certification with the Department of Transportation by filing repeated requests for information.Citing concerns over foreign control of American-based companies, Continental last Thursday asked the department to further investigate Virgin’s ownership. In response, Virgin America filed a motion on Wednesday with the department to strike the request.
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As vacation season starts heating up, Burlingame and Millbrae officials say hotel tax revenue is rising with the mercury.Cities, particularly those with hotels closest to San Francisco International Airport, took a big blow to their much-needed hotel tax revenue, or transient occupancy tax, after Sept. 11, 2001, when travel declined sharply. Officials are now happily reporting that revenue has steadily increased to close to its previous levels in the past four and a half years.
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Like a majority of the 725,000 drivers who cross Bay Area bridges on weekdays, Phil Gontarski hasn’t signed up for FasTrak, and doesn’t see why he should if it doesn’t save time and money.He would be among the 66 percent of drivers forced into fewer cash-payment lanes under a proposal to add 10 FasTrak-only lanes to area bridges.
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Last month, Massachusetts passed a law requiring residents of the Bay State to have health insurance. California Assemblyman Joe Nation has proposed a similar bill, AB 1950, which has passed the Health Committee. There are good reasons why California should not mimic Massachusetts. The number of uninsured in California is greater than the entire population of Massachusetts, and anxious Californians are tempted to force health insurance on everyone. The call to follow Massachusetts comes while its mandate system is new and untested.
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Since coming into office, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has resisted calls to raise taxes, instead urging the Legislature and California residents to be patient and allow his pro-economic growth approach to pay dividends.It has started to, in a big way. Thanks to a surging economy — and a record April for tax collections by the state government — more than $5 billion in unexpected revenue has flowed to the state.
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Federal organized crime laws are being used to try to banish one of the largest building managing companies in San Francisco — the second tenant lawsuit to be brought against CitiAparments in one month.Lawyer Drexel Bradshaw, who represents plaintiff Aida Menjivar, said Tuesday that this is the first use of the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, of 1970 in a tenant-landlord dispute."If it looks like the mafia, smells like the mafia and acts like the mafia, you use the mafia statute," Bradshaw said Tuesday.
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In front of a lively crowd — and with a devoted gathering of boaters, netters and divers milling beyond the right field wall in hopes of snagging a historic home run — Giants slugger Barry Bonds gave his loyal San Francisco fans a decent showing as the Giants’ eased to a 6-1 victory over the Cubs on Tuesday night.But with no home runs by Bonds, most of them went home disappointed.
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