10.07.14 Photo by Lydia Chávez

(First published September 27, 2014 @ 11:37. Scroll down for updates on the escalator that can’t get a break).

UPDATE: 10.06.14 9:30 a.m. We’re trying to make this easier with a calendar and yep, the escalator was out again this morning. They said it woud be up in 10 minutes. But see promises below. Anyone out there on it now?

September 27, 2014:  It is out—again. We should have known. A reader on yesterday’s post about the escalator on 24th Street running again said that as he rode up it that afternoon, he smelled rubber.

What he smelled was indeed trouble—or another vacation for the jinxed and rarely moving stairs at 24th Street.

To catch you up on what has become something of an obsession:

Escalator goes out April 4, 2014.

Many promises of when it will go up—July, August, September 17.

Many forecasts of how long it will be out—2015, Forever.

Actual date it begins working again: September 22, 2014.

Out again: September 25.

Back: September 26.

Out Again:  September 27.

A screw or two was missing. September 29, 9:30 a.m.
A screw or two was missing. September 29, 9:30 a.m.

Update: Still out on September 29th at 9:30 a.m. The technician working on it said it was just a matter of a few screws. It could even be up by now. Anyone know?

Funny to hear the mechanic talk about screws and nearby a tech worker was on his phone talking about fonts. It is the little things in life.

Anyone out there want to work on a data visualization of this? info@missionlocal.com

There is movement again.
There is movement again.

Update: 6:22 p.m, 9.29.14: It’s working, a reader wrote in and sent the pic. The screws, it appears, were found. I wonder about the fonts.

10.01.14. 10:17 p.m. nope, not working
10.01.14. 10:17 p.m. nope, not working

Update: 10:15 p.m. 10.01.14: Well, that certainly didn’t last. It’s not working.

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I’ve been a Mission resident since 1998 and a professor emeritus at Berkeley’s J-school since 2019. I got my start in newspapers at the Albuquerque Tribune in the city where I was born and raised. Like many local news outlets, The Tribune no longer exists. I left daily newspapers after working at The New York Times for the business, foreign and city desks. Lucky for all of us, it is still here.

As an old friend once pointed out, local has long been in my bones. My Master’s Project at Columbia, later published in New York Magazine, was on New York City’s experiment in community boards.

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  4. I still don’t understand why area escalators aren’t covered and enclosed when BART shuts down. What brilliant planner decided that machinery should be left in the open air, subject to the elements (and any human looking for a place to dump waste) 24/7 365?

    We’ll just leave those escalators outside. What could go wrong?

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  5. I knew it. You don’t need data vizualization to see cronyism, corruption and general incompetence lurking behind this escalator. Note: April 2014 was not the first time this particular escalator has gone out — for extended periods.

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