Harvey Milk

Every time I fly in and out of Terminal 1 I'm so proud that this is in our city. Rotating museum exhibits that are genuinely well done, interesting and engaging art, local food and shopping options, lots of device charging, seating, pleasant clean architecture, the list goes on.

Whenever I used to travel in Europe I would get super jealous of how nice so many of those airports are. I feel like Harvey Milk Terminal meets and exceeds my hopes for what an airport terminal should be in the 2020s.

There are criticisms to be had about SFO, and there is certainly a conversation about the commodification of SF food and brands, but still - it's a refreshing travel experience in a country full of horrendously bullshit airports.

My biggest complaint is that because I live here, I'm usually in and out and don't get to actually spend much time here. I'm usually stuck in like, O'Hare or something.

Edit: I forgot the bathrooms! I'm peeing in here as we speak and the vibe is immaculate. Great chill jazzy music too.

Hey -- just wanted to take a sec to describe what it was like at the new terminal this morning, vs. past experiences with terminal 2. I fly out of SFO for most things, because I pretty much only fly AS. Our household has a whole system -- we don't drop off at departures, we part in hourly, near the elevator, etc. I check luggage, I have Clear and PreCheck.

At Terminal 2, I could reliably go from parking to being at the gate in 15 minutes tops, usually less than that. 2-3 minutes to get to the Alaska ticketing area, 5 minutes to get the bags checked. Usually no wait at CLEAR, maybe 2-3 people ahead of me in the TSA line after that, then a quick walk to the gate. So, we planned to arrive about 1 hour before flights, just in case, and that's always been fine -- generous even.

Today was the first time going to the new terminal. Here's the differences:

1. Bigger space, so more walking between everything, landside.

2. We used the bag tag kiosks for my partner, then waited for the self-bag drop. There seemed to be a lot of confusion about those, people were taking a really long time to do it. We spent maybe 10 minutes on that.

3. BIG difference at CLEAR. There was a line outside the CLEAR+PreCheck area, 15 people deep. So, my partner waited for that, and then AFTER the scan, there was a line of maybe 20 people waiting to be "handed off" between CLEAR and the TSA agent. After 10+ minutes, my partner was still waiting to get handed off.

4. There's are digital signs telling you the wait time for regular TSA and PreCheck. When he got into the CLEAR line, it was showing 10 minutes and 6 minutes. By the time he was towards the front of the "handed off" line, it was showing 13 minutes/14 minutes -- so, a longer wait for PreCheck.

We parked at 10:02. My partner hit his gate at 10:38. That's more than double the usual time it's taken in the past.

Coincidentally, while I was there a group of 4-5 men came *out* of the TSA "crews and staff" line. One of the dudes then began explaining to the other folks about issues about congestion, the line, signage, etc. It sounded like an airport operations manager of some sort trying to explain what's going wrong at the TSA checkpoint, and the CLEAR and PreCheck lines in particular.

I’m working on a personal research project about Harvey Milk and I would love to hear some facts about him that not a lot of people know about. Thank you in advance!

Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi, Mayor London Breed and high-ranking officers with the U.S. Navy welcomed the USNS Harvey Milk to San Francisco Friday.

It was the first time the ship arrived in San Francisco. It's named after gay rights activist and former San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk.

The 800-foot long vessel is an oiler. It's designed to offer fuel, food and water to other navy ships around the world. It can last for the next 40 years. The former House Speaker says these ships are usually named after civil rights icons. Milk used to serve in the Navy.

"You see, this big ship that says 'Harvey Milk' on it," she said. "Just think what the world would have been like without Harvey Milk. Everything that would come later. Harvey showed us the way to fight discrimination."

Those at Friday's event hoped this ship would serve as a message of equality around the world.

"It also represents some of the values San Francisco prides itself on," said Mayor London Breed. "Inclusion, diversity and representation."

Outside the gates where the ship was docked, protestors were concerned the ship would be on its way to send aid to Israel.

"The Bay Area says enough is enough," said Wassim Haj, one of the protest organizers. "Our elected officials need to stand on the right side of history. They need to stand with their constituents."

Police arrested over a dozen protestors after they locked themselves to the stairs of the ship. Pelosi says the ship was not heading to the Middle East at this time.

"It is not up to us to decide the assignment of ships but that is not what is happening right now," she said. "Right now it is on it's way to Norfolk, Virginia."

The protestors claim the U.S. is not doing enough to help starving people in Gaza. Pelosi says the decision to send aid is stuck along party lines.

"The president is trying very hard in the congress to get humanitarian assistance for the people in Gaza," she said. "That is being held up by the other side of the aisle."