The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 3

SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER TuexJay, Septembei 22, 1998 A-3 IS mm JDdr (Mspdl Ml mid pair jJLUjj I 7 If. I i P1TK AID Agency admits there won't be enough cars to ease crunch soon 17 --g 1 stw nc maw MALL ON 7 1 SQUARE PARK- In Washington Square in March, neighborhood activist Aaron Peskin protests plan to move Rite Aid drugstore into rv 3SDStS The latest from Muni and Muni passengers on the state of the commute. Muni Metro The word from Muni TUESDAY A.M. COMMUTE: 69 metro trains were running. There were two minor backups one before the rush hour when an L-line car had no power from 6:22 to 6:39 and a second from 6:55 to 7:25 when a car's connection to power lines failed at St.

Francis Circle. Shuttles were used in the latter case to get around the stall. The delays slowed traffic through the tunnel to 26 cars between 7 and there were 33 between 8 and 9, one every minute and 48 seconds. MONDAY P.M. COMMUTE: 75 metro trains were running with no major delays.

However, trains bypassed the Civic Center station between 3:47 and 4:02 because a power failure on the BART level of the station also turned Muni's lights out. Also during the evening commute, two teenagers were arrested for attacking the driver on the 14-Mission bus. Quote of the day we privatize the system it will cost a great deal more money. They'll raise prices for passengers to ride the bus. I don't think it's that bad.

Tony Fernandez, via voice mail Tips and info EXAMINER TIP LINE: Do you have a story you want to share about Muni? Something good? Something not so good? We want to hear from you. Call (415) 777-7972 and leave your recorded message, fax to (415) 777-2525, or e-mail muniexaminer.com. MUNI COMPLAINTS: To contact Muni about a complaint, call (415)923-6164. MUNI INFORMATION: Call (415) 673-6864. ticing what they preach.

They are seeking other sites that are agreeable to the community." Neighborhood activists from North Beach, Telegraph Hill and Russian Hill weren't in a celebratory mood Monday, despite the fact that national drugstore chain Rite Aid had announced it was abandoning plans to move into the vacant Pagoda Palace theater space, on Washington Square. Instead, they stood in protest. Carrying anti-chain store signs such as "Unchain North Beach" and "Read our lips, chains aren't hip," protesters, represented by Nancy Shanahan, said they abhor chain stores of any kind anywhere in their beloved North Beach and were concerned that City Hall would cut a deal to move the Camp Hill, chain to another site in North Beach. "No chains period," said Shanahan, a North Beach resident. "Rite Aid destroys neighborhood character.

Moving it two blocks away isn't examiner isee Pagoda Palace theater. ter of the good things we do that they are not aware of. "We hope to come up with alternative sites that meet with the neighbors' approval," he said. "We want to try and address their concerns and show we can be a good neighbor and provide services we think the neighborhood needs." Halbert said Rite Aid has no potential sites in mind in North Beach. The North Point Theater, which once was offered as a possible site by the North Beach Chamber of Commerce, has been purchased by another company and is no longer available.

One thing is certain: More Rite Aid stores will dot San Francisco's landscape, Halbert said. "We are looking at all areas of The City," he said. "We're not cherry-picking neighborhoods. We're working on sites all over. We're working with the mayor's office to find sites.

We're very far along on a site in Bayview-Hunters Point" CHUCK KftMAN VENTURA STAR VM Af on U.S. 101 in Ventura Monday. and his tow truck to right the involved in the crash. DUMP-TRUCK ROLLOVER ON 1 0 1 By Tyche Hendricks OF THE EXAMINER STAFF Despite Muni's assurances that the troubled system has turned the corner and is starting to run smoothly, the hard fact is that there's no quick relief in store for metro commuters. It will probably be sometime next year before the system is able to provide full, uncrowded rush-hour metro service, Muni acknowledged Monday.

Although the minimum needed to provide swift, comfortable service for metro riders is 99 cars, the system was able to supply just 76 Monday, and it had fewer on the rails last week. The problem, said Municipal Railway spokesman J. Johnston, is that the system has just 52 new made-in-Italy Breda cars, while the rest of the metro fleet is made up of older Boeing cars, which are prone to breakdowns and are being replaced. "Each month, we're able to get closer, taking delivery on Breda cars, and well have 77 by the end of the year," Johnston said. "For each one we take delivery on, we phase out the use of a Boeing." Breda is turning out the $2 million cars as fast as it can, he noted.

Johnston said it now appeared that "I'd say we're looking at early next year before we hit the 99" that should accommodate rush hour crowds without packing them in. "Right now, we're aiming for 75 during regular commute runs," said Johnston's colleague Alan Siegel. "What that means is that some of the runs that should be two-car trains are one car, so they're crowded." It's impossible to have a smoothly functioning metro system with that number of cars, said Rescue Muni spokesman Dan Murphy. "Even if ATCS (the computer control system) worked perfectly, I'm not sure you could make it work," he said. "And it's safe to say they couldn't make anything close to their schedules with a Breda-only fleet (proposed by some Muni managers).

Until they take delivery on some more Bredas in 1999, we can't seriously consider taking the Boeings off the street." But Murphy suggested that the mixed fleet might work more smoothly if the two types of cars were used on separate lines, Boeings on the and and Bredas on the and for example. That way, if a train broke down, it could be pushed or towed to the streetcar barn by a compatible train, an option that is currently impossible, he said. Monday, metro riders on the and lines were stuck for 34 minutes between 6:41 and 7:15 a.m. by a power failure at the Church Street station. "Something fell out of an overhead fan and shorted out an electrical feeder," said Muni spokesman Alan Siegel.

Such glitches are inevitable, and eat some bighorns, but insisted "it has never been proven that eliminating lions will take care of the bigger problems bighorns are facing." Sadler said that the sheep lived in a harsh environment and that killing lions wouldn't help because another big cat would take over the territory. Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep once roamed along the spine of the Sierra, But by 1900, a combination of over-hunting and disease cut the creatures down to a few isolated herds. Just 250 or so were left by Dropping Pagoda Palace plan fails to mollify residents By Gregory Lewi OF THE EXAMINER STAFF Supervisor Mabel Teng and a neighborhood activist holding a "Rite Aid Wrong Place" sign were standing in Washington Square explaining their views on the debate over Rite Aid's desire to open a store in North Beach. "North Beach has such a unique character and charm," the activist explained. "We don't want it turned into Anywhere, USA.

We want to preserve our homes." Responded Teng: "That's why I'm here. That's why I've talked and convinced them that (the Pagoda Palace) is not an appropriate location." "We should celebrate with Rite Aid," Teng argued. "They are prac- Dad jailed in death of tiny daughter EXAMMER NEWS SERVICES FREMONT A 9-month-old girl who was allegedly abused by her father has died at Children's Hospital in Oakland, police said Tuesday. Fremont police Officer Dennis Madsen said the child, Tatianna Lofton, was taken to the emergency room at Washington Hospital with critical injuries on Saturday. Police arrested her father, 38-year-old William D.

Lofton of Fremont, on suspicion of child abuse. Madsen said the girl had been on life support after having emergency surgery at Children's Hospital on Saturday. She had reportedly suffered brain injuries consistent with "shaken-baby syndrome" and died Monday night, Madsen said. Tatianna lived in Stockton with her mother and two brothers. Madsen said her father had been baby-sitting her on Saturday.

Lofton is being held in Santa Rita Jail His next court appearance is scheduled for Friday in the Fremont-Newark-Union City Municipal Court Fremont police and the Alameda County coroner's office are continuing to investigate the death. Anyone with information is asked to call Det John Anderson at (510) 790-6900. WOT going to do it. Chains run out 12 to 15 small family businesses, people who live and work here." As Gerry Crowley, president of Telegraph Hill Dwellers, explained it, the neighborhood residents are opposed to "megastores" that could eventually turn the area into a series of strip malls or out-of-scale chain stores that would chip away at North Beach's charm. But Rite Aid real estate director Jeff Halbert said there is a lot of misinformation and stereotyping going on about chain stores, such as Rite Aid.

He ticked off a list of benefits his store provides, including job programs, hiring from the neighborhood, supporting schools and anti-litter, anti-graffiti and anti-loitering programs. "Eighty-five percent of a store's revenue stays in the local community, including payroll and sales tax" Halbert said. "We are anxious to become a part of the community and San Francisco. It's just a mat gal to kill a cougar unless it threatens people, pets or livestock. Meanwhile, resistance to changing the law by the Mountain Lion Foundation and other cougar supporters makes change almost impossible.

They have no vision of conservation," said biologist John We-hausen, a cougar expert with the University of California's White Mountain Research Station. "They're an animal rights group, not an environmental group," said Wehausen. "We (wildlife biologists) are concerned with 1 xj. 7 i EXAMINER.COM: Join the debate on-line at www.examin-er.communi SOURCE Eumner Matt report are understandably outside Muni's control, said Murphy, the question is how Muni handles these routine problems. "Instead of responding with a service correction, they respond with an explanation of why it's not Muni's fault," he said.

'The mayor and Muni have tried to sell us the idea that these delays are an inevitable characteristic of urban life. People believe that until they go somewhere else where transit does work." Muni General Manager Emilio Cruz, re-hospitalized for treatment of complications arising from arthroscopic surgery on his left knee for an old football injury, returned to the office Monday. But he won't be around for long, because he's getting married Monday and will be honeymooning until the first week of October. In Cruz's absence, chief operating officer David Stumpo will be in charge of the system. the late 1970s, living in two herds.

In 1986, biologists began transplanting animals to an area outside Yosemite National Park, and the animals thrived. By 1991, the population stood at about 400 animals and was expanding. "It was fantastic," said Wehausen. "The herds were growing at 24 percent a year that's a remarkable rate." But after Proposition 117, the cougar population climbed quickly. Expert now say there are some 5,000 animals.

Bobber Wedeklnd, wearing a cap, studies a dump truck rolled onto its side Wedekind, of McCarthy Sons Towing Lowbed Services, used a chain splayed behemoth The driver was slightly injured; no other vehicles were Law shields cougars, but hurls Sierra's bighorn sheep habitat preservation and maintain ing rich biodiversity, but they're concerned with the life of a particular animal in a particular place. They essentially reject science." Lynn Sadler, executive director of the Mountain Lion Foundation, said there was no firm link between mountain lions and the decline of bighorn sheep. "Predators eat endangered species all the time," she said. "It's what they were put on this planet to do." Sadler said mountain lions did ASSOCIATED PRESS People and disease almost wiped out the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep before the animals began making a dramatic comeback about a decade ago. Now, some scientists say mountain lions are killing and eating the endangered sheep at an increasing pace and a 1990 ballot initiative means there is little that can be done to stop them.

Warned about the threatened survival of the big cats, voters passed an initiative making it ille.