Car Culture

When Congress tripled the size of the "cash for clunkers" program in July, both Congress and the White House billed the $3 billion program as a boon for struggling domestic automakers. But when those Detroit car companies released sales figures today, the numbers didn't quite match up to the hype.

According to Movieline (via New York Mag), Jay Leno's new prime time show, set to debut on NBC in September, hasn't exactly been generating a lot of buzz. But since nothing says funny like a grisly hit-and-run, this promo, co-starring Fred Armisen of "Saturday Night Live," should turn things around.

The Obama administration plans to close the door on the politically popular and environmentally slipshod auto trade-in program known as "cash for clunkers," according to a report this afternoon in the Wall Street Journal:

At a press conference today immediately after Mayor Gavin Newsom swore in SFPD's new police Chief George Gascón, the city's top cop, responding to a question from Streetsblog, addressed a number of issues central to his command, including, notably, how driver behavior can endanger certain neighborhoods as much or more than violent crime.

In 1978 I was a field manager for an environmental group's canvassing operation and was driving "my crew" in an old beat-up Volkswagon from one suburb to the next. From about 3 p.m. we'd visit every house in a given area, knocking on doors seeking donations and support, ending around 8:30 or 9. One time I was in Walnut Creek or Pleasant Hill or one of those Contra Costa bedroom communities, and I did a typical San Francisco rolling stop at a stop sign in a quiet residential neighborhood. Sure enough I was stopped by a squad car and given quite a lecture on how San Francisco behavior was unacceptable out there in the 'burbs.

A couple of real stinkers over in Mainstream Medialand today.

The Washington lobbying firm of Bonner & Associates is facing protests and a possible wire fraud probe after it was revealed to have forged at least a dozen letters to Congress this summer that claimed to represent local grassroots groups opposed to fighting climate change.

Wade Crowfoot, Mayor Gavin Newsom's Director of Climate Change Initiatives, quietly transitioned out of his role in city government last Friday to become the West Coast Legislative and Political Director at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a new post created just for him. His portfolio will be primarily climate, water safety, and oceans. Transportation and transit won't be as central to his work as it was for Mayor Newsom, except as it relates to climate change.

In case you don't qualify for the federal Cash-for-Clunkers rebate program, Mark Muller of Max Motors in Butler, Missouri, has an offer you might want to consider: get a free AK-47 with a new truck.